First Impressions / Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

「セクハラ裁判が大人気」 (Sekuhara Saiban ga Daininki)
“Sexual Harassment Trials are Popular”

Have you ever had one of those days, where everything just seemed to go wrong? Like, no matter what you did, no matter how hard you tried, everything just always took a turn for the worse? This weeks Sore Machi should have been titled “Murphy’s Law”, with all the crap that Arashiyama goes through. Technically, it’s not really her fault in the beginning, but it quickly turns into a downward spiral of her being teased for being stupid. First, who dreams about their teachers? I’m a guy, and I’ve never dreamed about a female teacher. Nor have I ever daydreamed about one. But for the females who read RandomC, have you?! I mean, thinking about them is one thing, but having them infiltrate your mind and starting to appear in your daydreams? Something’s not right here. As Arashiyama realizes she is really dreaming about her teacher, she starts spacing out until she’s whacked in the back of her head by her little sister who wants to play. I know firsthand that it’s no fun being the oldest sibling, but look how cute her little sister is! (I wish I had a little sister, but then again, my little sister couldn’t be that cute. Bad joke, sorry.) So like most responsible older siblings, she attempts to pawn her off onto her little brother. The problem is that when most males anyone is playing video games, it’s a bad idea to just shut it off to get their attention. I know that if someone turned off my gamecube while I was playing something, before I could even save, I’d be pretty pissed. After getting yelled at by her entire family, Arashiyama heads to Seaside, hoping to turn her day around. However, when you’re having the worst day of your life nothing will ever play in your favor.

From talking about relationships with teachers, mathematical principals, to the meaning of life – no topic is to large to discuss in Sore Machi. When Arashiyama starts to say things like “I get a funny feeling when I think about Mr. Moriaka” I think we’re entering some dangerous territory. Teacher student relationships never start or end well. But before things can get a chance to get hairy, everything returns to normal when Tatsuno misunderstands Arashiyama’s question and starts complaining about how hard calculus is (Mr. Moriaka also teaches math). From derivatives to integrals, to somehow transitioning on to how you can always figure out the culprit in a mystery murder show, Sore Machi switches up some of the jokes for a more slice of life feel. What really surprised me is not the random transitions from topic to topic, but how Arashiyama continues to make fun of herself. This time by revealing her horrible math skills. (No, you don’t flip fractions to divide them.) It’s clear that Arashiyama wants to be praised (even if it is by Mr. Moriaka). Plus, in her dream he did praise her about all of her qualities that Tatsuno didn’t have. Which is why I don’t understand why she keeps setting herself up to get blasted by Tatsuno’s insults.

While most of the laughs in Sore Machi come from character interaction, what really makes Sore Machi funny is when Arashiyama ends up being the focus for a joke. If you compare her to Tatsuno, you can see where she’s lacking in a certain “department”. I myself am a fan of normal sized girls, but I rarely (if ever) point this out – especially to girls who I enjoy knowing for more than 5 seconds. It’s almost like signing your own death warrant. When you decide to point out that a girl has “small ones”, it’s always going to end up being taken the wrong way. It’s becoming cliché in anime to say “Because they’re small they make you, you!” I’m looking at you Sanada. And besides getting attacked for small breasts, the whole shopping district doesn’t seem to be very fond of her. Taking all the possible opportunities to make fun of Arashiyama – the Policeman especially. After getting his manhood bashed by a moped, completely ignored while writhing in pain, and having his apology drink drank right in front of him, it’s pretty easy to see where his spite comes from.

And, does anyone see an “M” in this? I don’t. If I saw it, I would think that it has something to do with Star Trek and not Maids.

 

Preview

38 Comments

      1. Ahaha no need to be sorry 🙂 And thanks to you and the rest blogging xD
        Anyways, I’m a girl and I haven’t ever dreamt of a teacher. Mainly because all the male teachers I’ve had were old (around 30-50+). But eh, everyone has their tastes.

        Btw I wasn’t really interested in Soredemo before, but now I am because of 1. This post tells me it may get better~ 2. I like SHAFT. Might as well see for now~

        green
        Reply

  3. haha i love the police officer part.

    T – “What was he gonna arrest you for?!”

    A – “I had an incomplete hamburger.”

    T – “….???”

    @Takaii, i’m thinking the M is what it would be if the hand was upside-down, i don’t remember but when she says ‘maid-llo’ does she flip it upside down? thats the only ‘m’ i can imagine it resembling.

    Dawn
    Reply

  8. Wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this show…
    Interesting characters, great animation, and loads of laughs as well.
    Definitely a pleasant surprise 🙂

    The OP and ED songs are awesome too!

    P0NCH
    Reply

  11. It kind of surprised me how this turned into the anime I’ve started to look forward to the most each week. xD
    Also it took me a while to really see how the “vulcan greeting” looked like an M.
    -2 hours later and i’m finally beginning to see it- ^^;

    Yukianesa
    Reply

  16. In answer to your question (as a woman)… Actually I might, if any of my previous instructors look like that. However, I happen to have a fetish for older man with glasses, so I am probably not to normal demographic.

    Kaitune
    Reply

  17. i don’t get what went wrong with the sign… the subs i watched said that they ended up writing “childish” instead of “sophisticated,” but 大人気 would be “big people spirit” (i.e. sophisticated) wouldn’t it? …google translate tells me it says “popular,” but that’s still better than “childish.”

    diet otaku
    Reply

      1. OH, i see, they’re including the ない from the other guy’s sign. that makes so much more sense now (i couldn’t figure out why she wanted to take down his sign except that maybe it looked nicer than theirs), although at the same time it’s a bit silly to think people will include the words next to your sign as part of your sign.

        diet otaku
        Reply

  18. Personally I am against this “Maid Cafe” thing because I think it is unethical for teenagers to start selling their sex appeal at such a young age. But this anime is funny in a good way, and it just keeps cracking me up.

    Matroid
    Reply

  20. Something I noted… Onions in Japanese is “tamanegi”. Just as she crashes Tetsuo into the policeman’s you-know… (singing potatoes and onions), he cries out “tama” which means ball. Coincidence or an inside joke missed by the translators?

    Nick
    Reply

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