Anime review: Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (1998)

As promised earlier, here's my review of the legendary rabu kome shoujo adaptation by GAINAX and J.C.Staff (and more importantly, largely directed by Anno). I had watched a few episodes some years ago but it didn't gel with my mood at the time, yet I, as an Eva/FLCL fan, already knew that I was bound to watch and love it at some point.

This is how, during the summer that saw me turn 32, I filled that chasm in my culture. Didn't even have to force myself beyond some less captivating segments near the end, it was just the right time for me to watch this masterpiece (perhaps because I'm desperately yearning for love, more than ever) and confirm once and for all that GAINAX is (with SHAFT) the most important studio in my l/a/yfe.

Everything about it is so… vivid, lifelike! It's not just attention to detail, but the soul and passion displayed by the animators, Anno's legendary directing (basically the Kubrick of anime, his choice of framing, composition, angles, timing is hauntingly good), the voice acting, the BGM (especially those piano and cello introducing tension or anguish), everything is beyond excellent and combined to create a genuine work of Art.

Am I a fanboy? Yes, but I still think what I'm now writing weeks after having finished it, and with lots of anime experience under my belt.

Now, let's talk about the content itself. A romcom directed by Anno? Surely it can't be that simple! most of you with Eva-xperience would say… and you'd be right! While the two base ingredients are here and both cooked to perfection, the depths of our intelligent and sensitive main characters is what you'd expect from the man: volatile, confused, insecure and sometimes dark, bordering on manic-depressive. In one word: human.

Even more unusual yet great, both the guy's and the girl's psyches are thoroughly explored, with a constantly switching PoV to allow that feat. They really brought these fictional characters to life with that kind of effort.

The final good point (at least for me), is the strong taste of Eva pervading this work. Like SHAFT's, Anno's work has such a distinct visual identity that you can't help but compare those two. Be it the use of traffic lights and ambient city shots/sounds, the episodes' intermission cards, the EDs very reminiscent of EoE's ending or simply the general technique, it's almost uncanny.

In the end, the amount of anime that made me feel like this can be counted on (maybe) both hands, it's now my gold standard for fictional romance and deserves a 10… Well, it would if (again, like Eva) they hadn't run out of budget near the end and maybe not been hampered by some of the source material and its side plots/characters that felt a bit too time-stealing to me (e.g. Tonami & Asaba).

Now I only have one question left: to God, YHWH, Ahura Mazda or whoever is running the show, please, the joke's not funny anymore, where's my Yukino? I've been a good boy, I swear.