Quick Summary
Fumihiko Matsumaru is an unlucky guy. None of the projects he has proposed in his advertising department have been accepted and he has just been stood up by a woman in accounting to see Roman Holiday (yes thats right the Hollywood movie staring Audrey Hepburn). As Fumihiko is about to throw out his tickets he encounters a cheerful girl (she is 20) who asks him not to throw out the tickets. Being an Audrey Hepburn fanatic she drags him to see the movie with her and cheers him up with dinner after. He learns that she is an aspiring voice actress whose greatest wish it is to someday do the voice of Audrey Hepburn in a Japanese dubbing. They walk most of the way home together and realize they’re neighbors. Although they only casually acknowledge this and go their separate ways without learning each others names. (THE END!…just kidding)
Fumihiko is woken up in the middle of the night by the alarms of fire trucks. He goes to check things out with the crowd and finds the young girl sitting sadly and alone. Her apartment building had burned down and she has nowhere to go so he takes her in for the night and comforts her. Although the comforting ends up leading to consensual…eeerrmmm intimacies shall we say? And we finally learn the girl’s name is Aka Onda right before they do the deed.
Review Blurb
First off there is no nudity or overly suggestive scenes in this so you gotta get your jollies elsewhere for that. But I think it’s a very good more mature romance story…the lack of high school angst and love triangles is refreshing. Maybe it’s cause I’m a similar age but I appreciate a tale of young adults out in the world trying to make their way, this is the first anime in years where I’m not older than the main characters. I also like getting to peek into the life of a (fictional) rising Japanese Voice Actor, you learn a few interesting things about the job. Like how there are 10,000 people every year who graduate from Voice Acting Training in Japan and only a VERY small percentage actually are able to become voice actors.
Another positive aspect is that each episode is only 12 minutes long (there are 9 episodes total) so you get a completely satisfactory shojo anime fix in almost no time. I also enjoyed the opening it’s the typical happy-go-lucky shojo opening but something about it I enjoyed a lot more than your typical shojo opening and I watched it every time.The characters are very lovable and funny…I’m really attached to them. They have a level realism to them that a lot of anime characters are missing, it makes them easier to admire and relate to.
Although the anime in itself leaves you satisfied with the ending there are actually 8 volumes of manga associated with the series. I have every intentions of reading them a.s.a.p. and then eagerly waiting for it to be licensed in the U.S. so I can then purchase it!
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