Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「ベストフレンド」 (Best Friend) by Sonar Pocket
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「#1」
It’s a story of four boys and their girlfriends—they hope. Combine half a of shot idealized male friendship, half a shot goofy romantic fun, mix with something sweet and serve with a smile.
Idealized Male Friendship
Some are going to accuse this of being fujoushi bait; I don’t buy it. Prince of Stride, certainly, actively courts the fujoushi demographic, but here any interest from BL shippers is incidental, or a bonus—like people who get into Love Lab mistakenly thinking it’s a yuri series (as I first did). What this is, instead, is a story of idealized male friendship. And it does it well.
Look—most of us don’t find friends as close as these four. And if we do, we usually do it in high school or early college (I find), where we’re all broadly at the same life stage. But what’s wrong with painting an idealized picture once in a while? It’s nice and fluffy and fun, and I was smiling broadly throughout this episode. That was aided by each of the main characters being goofy and fun in their own right. Hashiba “Natchan” Natsuki (Matsuoka Yoshitsugu) is tied for my favorite, with his heart-on-his sleeve, hopeless romantic, quick to cry and quick to get excited personality. Matsuoka Yoshitsugu really brings him alive. I also like Naoe “Tsuyo-pon” Tsuyoshi (Uchiyama Kouki), just because he’s depicted as quiet and cool and … is actually cool. Matsunaga “Mattsun” Tomoya (Eguchi Takuya) is solid in the cool ladies man role (while still liking to tease his friends), while Katakura “Kei-chan” Keiichi (Shimazaki Nobunaga) is … odd, with his sadistic tendencies, but perhaps that’s just personal preference.
Regardless of the specifics, I like how they depict male friendship here—of teasing but helping, of throwing friends into the fire but trying to cheer them up, and of abandoning them mercilessly but still being there when it counts. It’s idealistic, sure, but it’s also fun. I like fun.
Goofy Romantic Fun
Maybe the goofy aspect arises mostly because it’s Natchan’s romance that’s the focus this time, and he’s a goofy guy. But it had that right mix of doki doki romantic possibilities and goofy setbacks that sends a hopeless romantic like myself gibbering in ecstatic glee. I laughed out loud multiple times, but as with Dagashi Kashi and Ojisan to Marshmallow, this belongs in fluffy romcom territory that I dearly enjoy. So your mileage may vary, as always, but if you’re a romantic, dive right in.
I also appreciate that each guy appears to have a girl who will be the focus of their romantic stories (d’aaawww!). That means we don’t have to focus on one couple, and can enjoy a variety of romances from all of them! I almost referred to this as a “love web” like Hatsukoi Limited or School Rumble, but it doesn’t look like any of the romantic relationships will intersect. But we’ll still get that platter effect, of enjoying many different romances, and I’m already excited sign me up!
Looking Ahead
This is some good stuff. If you enjoy romance or romantic comedies, I suggest it. I also like how each episode is half length (~13 minutes), but it will be lasting for two-cour—that means we get the same amount of content, but divided up into smaller chunks that probably better suit the light and airy fare we’re dealing with. The animation is all right, I can’t especially praise it, but it gets the job done.All in all, I’m looking forward to more.
I don’t know if this will get blogged weekly, though I can say that there was a fair amount of interest among our writers. I’d give it even odds that you’ll see another post next week. Please comment and tell us what you thought of the first episode, so we can gauge if there’s interest in continuing with the show.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Combine idealized male friendship, goofy romantic fun, & sweet, sometimes embarrassing setbacks. Mix & serve with D’AAAWWW #rainbow_days 01
Random thoughts:
- There’s something satisfying about a girl wearing clothes you gave her. Especially if it’s something you’ve worn (there’s just something about it, I could explain it but I probably shouldn’t), but Kobayakawa Anna (Tsuda Minami) wearing the scarf … I’ll be honest, I can’t blame the kid for getting his hopes up a bit.
- Oh yeah, and Katakura-sensei is definitely not dating Anna. I haven’t read the source or anything, but everything from his words to the general atmosphere of the episode points to a misunderstanding. I bet it’ll be funny when Natchan figures that out!
- Don’t creep, dude. That’s a little too close when she’s sleeping. Boundaries, yo.
My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel novella. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: $%&@* cuss words, Stephen, what is best in life?, It depends, and Momentum & mental space.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「Rainbow Days!」 by Uchiyama Kouki, Shimazaki Nobunaga, Eguchi Takuya, Matsuoka Yoshitsugu
As someone who’s been following the manga for awhile I thought they did a really good job so far with the adaptation. There were a couple lines here and there that they cut out, but other than that it followed the manga to a T.
It’s almost bizarre how perfect the VA’s that were picked fit this show’s characters, exactly how I imagined them all and that hardly happens for me.
I wouldn’t say this is fujoshi bait at all. I’d say these guys actually fit the typical male friendship , at least more than you usually see in anime.
so they didn’t start at chapter 00…but there is hope…
https://randomc.net/image/Rainbow%20Days/Rainbow%20Days%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
I’m glad they didn’t. Chapter 0 would set a totally different mood. On the other hand, I can’t wait for the ghost episode.
this is exciting…
I read the manga. My problem is that I can’t really stand the chapters where the Toshiba dude and his crush take center stage. Prefer chapters involving the other three dudes. Hope the anime has a good balance
I don’t remember anyone named Toshiba. Which guy are you talking about?
Sorry, can’t remember his name. The crybaby one who likes that santa chick in the first chapter. Actually, I can’t remember any of their names. Remember them as Crababy-kun, Otaku-kun, Masoschist-kun, and Guy-who-gets-spit-on.
That’s actually Hashiba (the guy in this episode) that is the crybaby. Not Tsuyoshi. Hashiba is naive idiot that never uses his brain, and wastes all his money. He deserved what he got. Then again, he doesn’t have the maturity to deal with all those stuff.
Tsuyoshi, it’s right in the review. I can never remember their names either and I kinda agree with you. I mean I don’t mind Tsuyoshi and his crush, but they’re probably my least favorite romance of them all.
Guy-who-gets-spit on? I like that one. XDD
the guy who is a redhead…Show Spoiler ▼
I knew who Litho was referring to, I just found it funny.
@Diyedas Did you mean Hashiba? Because he’s the one who has a crush on the Santa girl. Tsuyoshi is the otaku guy who…Show Spoiler ▼
Yeah you’re right. I skimmed too fast when I went back to the review.
four tousled haired pretty boy types?………way to mix it up there
I love this series so I hope you will continue blog it, I love the way yo do reviews too! Thank you so much ^^
Something feels not “satisfactory” about the visual (at least for me), but because I love the original manga series I will watch it anyway~
I knew nothing about this beforehand, went in totally blind and ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would. Maybe because I can relate to the group of friends poking fun at each other. This becomes one of the shows I look forward to each week! And damn what a cliffhanger!
Wow! They mixed Kirto(Matsuoka, Ichika(Kouki), Hachiman(Takuya), and Shidou(Shimazaki) into a fearsome foursome, comedy bros. This I gotta see.
It was interesting enough for me. I hope blogging continues following it – it’s always a pleasure reading Stilts’ take.
I am so loving these goofballs. I like how realistic this series is in portraying male friendships. I can imagine myself being with the three other guys poking fun at the poor MC.
Who is subbing this show this season?
Funimation is simulcasting it.