OP Sequence

OP: 「悲しいほど青く」 (Kanashii Hodo Aoku) by 清浦夏実 (Kiyoura Natsumi)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼

「ささめきこと」 (Sasameki Koto)
“Whispered Words”

Girl-on-girl action at a co-ed school? I feel sorry for the guys attending there.

I’m not entirely sure why I watch yuri anime now and then, but it definitely isn’t the reason mentioned above. They’re rarely about lesbians going at it and usually focus on the emotional baggage… err “aspects” instead. That’s fine though. Male viewers can watch yuri anime in hopes of understanding the female species better and becoming that sensitive guy they all like. (Okay, maybe not.) For me, I think I watch this genre to try and figure out exactly what it is girls see in this stuff. I often enjoy it as well, so that doesn’t hurt either.

In this self-titled first episode, we’re introduced to the two female leads of the series, Murasame Sumika (Takagaki Ayahi) and Kazama Ushio (Takamoto Megumi). The premise is simple. Ushio is a naive girl who is only interested in cute girls. Her best friend Sumika however is not fond of her tastes because she always gets rejected by girls who are straight. In reality though, Sumika’s disproval of Ushio falling for the next girl and getting all excited about it actually stems from the fact that she secretly likes her. The story follows these two as Ushio tries to find a cute girl who likes her in return, while Sumika wrestles with the difficulty of coming out of the closet.

We get to witness the full roller coaster of emotions this entails right away as Ushio falls for the cute senpai she works with at the library. Having noticed her new flavour of the month, Sumika discourages Ushio from pursuing this any further and suggests that it’ll end the same way as always — she’s going to get hurt. Despite losing the support of her best friend, Ushio chooses to go with her feelings, only to find out that her senpai already has someone she likes. Her senpai later learns that this guy actually likes Ushio, causing her to completely resent her for it. Emotions run high on both sides over their failed crushes, leaving Sumika to comfort Ushio.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect coming into this series, but they managed to establish the difficulties Sumika and Ushio have to deal with in a single episode. Through this first heartbreaking ordeal, I’ve already taken a liking to their friend Torioi Kiyori (Katou Emiri) in particular, because she lightens the mood whenever she’s around. From what I’ve read about the manga, things should pick up a fair bit once more characters get into the mix. This includes their (male) classmate Akemiya Masaki (Shimizu Ayaka), who is visibly infatuated with Sumika. On a separate note, Saitou Chiwa also has a role here as Taema Miyako, but I’m sad to report that she’s no Senjougahara Hitagi.

If this is a taste of things to come, I can probably sit through a few more to see where this is headed. I did finish Aoi Hana this past season after all, and found it a nice “change of scenary” compared to the other stuff I was watching. I’d recommend doing the same if you’re into yuri anime, otherwise you’re probably better off watching something else. Both the opening and ending themes are by Kiyoura Natsumi, whom I haven’t heard anything from since Sketchbook ~full color’S~. Yuri anime always seem to get all the nice slow songs, as is the case here.

 

* In retrospect, I probably should’ve mentioned the series that aren’t being simulcasted. Those seem to be fewer and farther between.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「虹色ポケット」 (Niji-iro Pocket) by 清浦夏実 (Kiyoura Natsumi)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼

25 Comments

  1. Hopefully, the second episode will be a bit more light-hearted and fun! IF they follow the manga closely, Masaki will be more involved, and he has a rather…….interesting secret! 😮

    puyomon
  2. 5 manga volumes are out at the moment (the most recent has been released last month). It seems a new volume gets released every 6 months so if AIC and Media Factory play their cards right, they can adapt at most volume 3 and still have more material for a Season 2 later.

    puyomon
  3. It’s been a while since I read the anime, but I seem to remember it as being light hearted and funny. The anime (particularly the background music, but other things contribute as well) seems much to portray itself in a much more serious and melodramatic way and doesn’t really impress me at all.

    I think I’m going to forget this exists so I can keep my happy memories ;(

    Trifle
  4. i really loved this first episode 🙂

    funny to see some of the characters before there proper introduced.

    i prefere this anime/manga over Aoi Hana but that is just my personal preference

    god the leads are just as cute in the anime as in the manga

    Kawaii²

    teutates
  5. I hate Aoi Hana’s ending… Gonna give Yuri genre another go.

    Sasameki Koto, it seems to have better character design and art as compared to Aoi Hana. The seiyuus are better than Aoi Hana.

    sotandem
  6. puyomon: Secret? Oh, is he a girl? How original! (If it isn’t the case, sorry)

    The first episode was really boring, the story is dumb, the animation is poor and the characterdesign is strange. The whole anime is plain like the hell. I really liked Aoi Hana, bit this one disappointed me, so I won’t watch any more episodes.

    viral
  7. Viral: The first chapter of the manga of which this episode was derived from was oddly more serious tone than the rest of the chapters. Once more quirky characters are introduced, hopefully AIC will kick up the comedic tone.

    puyomon
  8. MAN, after reading the Manga ( still coming out ) this show is AWSOME. i really hope they wouldn’t screw it up when it comes to anime. It would really be sad if it dose.

    BLEACH MANGA SUCKS BECAUSE IT”S ONLY 10 PAGES!!

    Mearex
  9. Aoi Hana was the 1st yuri anime I have seen and I liked it. So far I’m not too into this one as the 1st episode threw alot of stuff at us all at 1 time. I’m gonna keep an open mind and watch a couple more and see how this plays out.

    Also anyone notice how the 2 main characters from this anime and Aoi Hana (Fumi?) look an awful lot alike? Guess its an anime standard if you are a tall slender glasses girl with long black hair you must be into other girls?

    Splash

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