「好きな子がめがねを忘れた」 (Suki na Ko ga Megane o Wasureta)
“The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses”

I wasn’t going into this with high expectations, purely because of the studio, GoHands, but even so, it still managed to dance the limbo beneath that low bar. I think Mie (Wakayama Shion) wasn’t the only one who forgot her glasses- seriously- what was with those strange angles– it made Komura (Itou Masahiro)look like he was Gumby or something? I have a fairly strong stomach, but those panned shots moved all over the place so horribly, even I felt like I was going to get motion sickness. And what was the point of wasting screen time with random shots (rhetorical question really- budget is probably the answer).

There was so much posturing and hair blowing, I couldn’t tell if it was an anime adaptation or a shampoo/perfume commercial at some points. The manga’s focus was on the situational comedy between the two- any posturing was natural and didn’t distract from what was happening. Unlike this hot mess of an adaptation where it stuck out like a sore thumb, distracting from the situation itself.

The glaring negatives aside, they did still manage to highlight some adorable moments, like with Komura’s nerve-wracking, excitement inducing experience with sharing his textbook with the bat blind Mie. “This textbook will be my family treasure!” LOL. The best scene was with the shoes. Oh, the wonderful irony- it looks like she’s wearing your shoes Komura because they are your shoes! Smooth move there, asking her to look away to protect Mie from the indignity of a frog, not that he fooled her any.

Mie herself is quite the quirky girl- forgetful of her glasses as well as the time period- sometimes lapsing into samurai-speak, which is very cute, especially to the smitten Komura who wishes on the stars that she’d forget her glasses again. Which she does the very next day- much to his mixture of excitement and horror. Part of me wonders if Mie isn’t so innocent as she seems- that leaving her glasses at home isn’t entirely accidental. I’m sure she’s noticed Komura staring at her (who wouldn’t) and what better excuse to get closer to him than leaving one’s glasses at home. Some of that forgetfulness sounds hereditary too, based on her sleep talk about Dad being forgetful of his own glasses and wearing hers instead.

The last half of the episode was a bit better than the first, once it started getting into to the groove of things and I found myself almost enjoying the back and forth between Komura’s inner monologue and Mie’s zaniness (I would have totally enjoyed myself if it hadn’t been for the poor quality of the production). It really is a horrid shame that the anime turned out like this- the manga is truly a gem and I would highly recommend reading it. It didn’t deserve a GoHands. My sole consolation is that at least it wasn’t BokuYaba. I’ll probably try and stick through watching this series purely out of love for the manga, but I may need to take some headache pills prior.

Preview

9 Comments

  1. I know those scenes are a kind of weird choice, but I still don’t quite understand all the hate, really. I suppose I have a high tolerance for GoHands “exotic” tendencies and i do respect the effort they put into getting a lot of things moving on screen, instead of something like Biscuit Hammer.
    And the story beneath this is really cute. Those two were adorable and that last bit with the contact lenses really threw Komura (and me) for a loop.

    ruicarlov
    1. I consider this and Biscuit Hammer to be both equally painful- just in different ways, though of course, that’s just my personal taste. Yes- they are very cute and much more to come with that!

      Princess Usagi
  2. As someone who is very nearsighted, I must say that, when you have really bad eyesight, getting to school, or anywhere for that matter, and only realizing that you forgot your glasses then, is quite impossible.

    I am very aware any moment that I am not wearing my glasses, as I can hardly see a thing without them, and would be struggling tremendously to go anywhere without them.

    hjerry
    1. I think you are on to something there- it might not be just a matter of forgetfulness, which as you point out, is impossible. Of course, in anime, you also often have situations that revolve around hilariously impossible linchpins like this one.

      Princess Usagi
  3. – what was with those strange angles –

    Judging from GoHands other show this season – which is far more fun but has a lot of the same camera foolishness – it feels like the directors/editors there got a new compositor/camera system and they’re playing around with it with abandon.

    I’ve seen fewer low angle tracking shots in ecchi anime and at least there they serve a purpose. All the camera work they’re throwing around here just screams: “look at this cool thing we can do!!!!!”

    Dave

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