This is the most darling and adorable
Japanese animé I've seen
in a while, and I've
been
watching stuff with Pikachu in 'em, haha. It's the animé or TV
cartoon version of a manga comic written and illustrated by a lady
called Naoshi Komi.
It
takes the form of a high school drama with students for protagonists,
which is a type of manga/animé that's overwhelmingly popular in
Japan. Although you could start watching from Season 2 and still pick
up what's going on fairly quickly, there might be some things you'd
find confusing, so I'll give you a quick overview of the plot in
general.
You
already know that it's a high school drama and that the protagonists
are high school students in their teens, obsessed with all the usual
things that teens are into. There's a core group of students that you
need to get to know, but Raku Ichijo seems to be the lead character.
He's the son of a yakuza leader, something you mightn't necessarily
know if you hadn't seen the first season of episodes.
This
might sound a bit crazy but Raku, a handsome young fella with a
healthy interest in the opposite sex but an endearing cluelessness
about them too, is paired up with the daughter of a rival yakuza gang
in order to quell the feud between the two gangs. In other words,
they have to pretend to be dating so that the level of violence
between the gangs is kept to a minimum. Well, whatever works for
them, I guess...!
His
'pretend'
girlfriend
is the cutest girl in the whole school, so you might consider that
Raku gets lucky in that respect. Her name is Chitoge Kirisaki and she
has the most fabulous long blonde hair you've ever seen on a cartoon
character. She makes Rapunzel look like a sack of s**t, haha, and as
for Anna from FROZEN,
well,
she can fuhgeddaboutit...!
Chitoge
is the lead female character. She's typically and delightfully girly
and loves all the usual things that girls of her age love; looking
pretty for the lads, a nice bit of juicy gossip and going shopping
with her girlfriends.
She's
a feisty little thing as well, though, and not necessarily the
airhead her stunning good looks would seem to imply. She gives Raku a
really hard time at times and is even known to give him the odd slap
as well. Of course, it's 'funny'
when
a girl hits a guy, right? It's the stuff that comedy is made of. Not
so funny when it's the other way around, though, but I'm saying nothing...
One
more thing you need to understand is the situation regarding the
keys. The high school students- the girls, that is- in Raku's particular social circle all
carry keys (as
you do!) which
might or might not unlock the locket that Raku carries, the locket
that is a symbol of his lost or past love.
The
series concerns the adventures that Raku, Chitoge and their other
friends have in school and at home every day. All the girls have
secret or not-so-secret crushes on Raku, by the way. The many ways in
which they try to get his attention are hilarious and not really in
keeping with the feminist code of ethics. Looking pretty, downplaying
your brains and acting all coy to get the attention of some guy?
Again, if I may, fuhgeddaboutit...!
Now
you're all caught up and ready to look at Episodes 1-6 of Season 2.
The whole of Season 2 is out now on special release, by the way,
courtesy of MANGA
UK and
ANIMATSU ENTERTAINMENT.
It'd
make the perfect present for the animé lover in your life and, as
it's not too adult in content, the younger teens will be able to
watch it as well as the older ones.
Episode
1 is hilarious. 'Pretend'
relationship
or not, Chitoge is absolutely desperate to get Raku to notice her when
she's changed little things about herself. She hasn't a hope. Screw
that, seriously. I once dumped a guy and he didn't notice it for six
months.
So
what chance has Chitoge got with her new lipgloss and nail polish,
her different shampoo and a change of hair ribbon? The results are
very funny, anyway, and I wouldn't be
at
all surprised to see poor stupid Raku getting a hefty right hook from
Chitoge (Miss
Piggy-style: Hi-yaaaaah!)
before the episode is out.
Episode
2 sees another girl in their circle, Tsugumi, engage in a kissing
competition with a female rival, but what exactly does this
competition entail? Well, let's see now. It's pretty simple, really.
Whichever girl manages to steal a kiss from the hunky Raku is the
winner...!
Raku
is simultaneously terrified and intrigued by the prospect. He's a
guy, after all, so he's not going to object if girls want to throw
themselves at him. But he's supposed to be dating Chitoge, right, even if
theirs is only a 'pretend'
relationship,
so what should he do? Let events take their course or...?
Episodes
3 and 4 are a connected two-parter. Christmas is coming and that
means that Chitoge's mother, the high-powered, ball-breaking
businesswoman Hana Kirisaki, will be dropping by to see her daughter
for a few minutes, because that's all the time she can spare for her
only child. Chitoge really misses her mother's love but her mother's
business interests are more important to her than anything else.
Enter Raku, personal assistant extraordinaire...
By
working his butt off as Chitoge's Mom's secretary for the short time
that she's in town, the surprisingly stiff-backboned and honourable
Raku manages to free up some time for mother and daughter to spend
together. Thanks, in fact, to Raku's hard work, the reunion between
mother and daughter is a million times better than any of the three
of them could ever have imagined.
This
is a beautiful pair of episodes. The colours and Christmas imagery
are both brilliant and dazzling. It's hard not to shed a tear or two
when Hana and Chitoge reconnect properly with each other for the
first time in years and discover that they really do
love
each other after all. As if there was ever any doubt about it!
And
it's all thanks to Raku and his sterling performance as the
ridiculously demanding Hana's secretary. Methinks that there's more
to Chitoge's and Raku's 'pretend'
relationship
than meets the eye. Could there be a genuine affection there after
all...?
Episode
5 is another hilarious one. Marika Tachibana, another of the girls
that has a major crush on the handsome but oblivious Raku, asks him
to 'tutor'
her
for a test, much to the annoyance of Raku's 'girlfriend'
Chitoge.
Chitoge
is totally wise to Marika's little scam (as
any woman worth her salt would be)
but what can she do about it? Well, she can come along and be a third
wheel on their 'study
date,' that's
what. Now it's Marika's turn to be deeply aggravated. Oh, and there's
a parrot involved in this one as well. Polly
wants a cracker, Polly wants a cracker...!
Episode
6 is rightfully called 'DELICIOUS.'
It's
Valentine's Day in Japan and, as per the Japanese custom, it's the
girls who are giving the chocolate to the guys instead of what
happens in this part of the world. But don't worry, folks, the ladies
get what's coming to them the following month in a celebration known
as 'White
Day.'
There
are two different types of 'chocolate-giving'
involved.
There's the kind you give to male bosses, co-workers, fellow students
or friends that has no romance attached to it. Then there's the kind
you give to boyfriends, lovers or guys whom you fancy and would love
to have as a boyfriend, see?
'Obligation
chocolate' versus
'Romance
chocolate.' It's
so cute, especially when you consider that the women often make the
chocolate themselves as that's considered to have more meaning than
something you pick up in a shop. It's really sweet, but I'd honestly
never go to that much trouble for some guy on Valentine's Day. It'd
be shop-bought or nothing and like it!
Anyway,
Raku is being bombarded by chocolate from all the girls in his circle
at school on this particular Valentine's Day. But which kind is he
receiving, the obligation kind or the true
romance
kind? There's no doubt which kind Marika Tachibana's is!
She
gives him a giant chocolate statue of himself which she has
painstakingly prepared by herself. It must have taken her days to
make it. It's like Michaelangelo's DAVID,
for
Chrissakes, without the anatomical correctness. How will this go down
with Raku's 'girlfriend'
Chitoge?
Chitoge also has some chocolate to give to Raku, but which kind will
be?
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA
HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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