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His and Her Circumstances review by The Wolf
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You will have never seen anything like this before, and you probably never will again. What I am talking about is 'His and Her Circumstances' (Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou), based on the manga by Tsuda Masami
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Yukino Miyazawa is a model student. But under the facade lies her true self. She is a fraud. She lives only to be praised by others. All through her schooling years, she has been the best: class president, achieved the highest score on the exams, and is good at sports. But, as she enters Senior High School, she is presented with a new obstacle, and he is fellow class representative, Souichrou Arima. He's got it all: good looks, the only son of a director of a hospital, intelligence, and is good at sports. But what peeves Yukino the most is that he beat her on the entrance exam. This calls for one thing, revenge. But a twist of fate causes them to fall in love.
At first, this may look like a simple anime about first love, but in fact, it delves deeper into the minds of the two main characters. Yukino and Arima are constantly given chances to provide soliloquies, which gives chances for the reader to see what the character thinks. This is an effect that not many anime use, but it allows for incredibly effective character development. It allows for the characters to deal with teenage issues that everybody can relate to.
The anime stays true to the manga, in script and in animation. The comedic performances of the characters are so perfect, you'd think they were real. There is only one niggly flaw in the animation, and that is episode 19 "14 Days - 1". According to rumour, there was a spat behind the scenes. So, the animation to this episode was incredibly poor, as most of the animation consists of stills of the characters stuck to icy-pole sticks. This episode can still be enjoyed, but not to the full extent of the previous episodes. There is also another flaw, this time in the script. Many of the episodes contain a playback of what has happened so far, and after watching a few episodes, it can get at you. Also, there is an episode and a half of summaries, which are utterly useless.
On the other hand, the classical music accompanied with the animation builds up the mood so well that you will lose yourself in the moment. The opening theme is loud and catchy, like a pop song. But the ending theme sounds... different.
Ultimately, 'His and Her Circumstances' is one of the most unique things you will ever see. The characters are perfect, the animation is almost perfect, and so is the script. If only the crew behind the anime was perfect, it might have lasted longer than the 26 unfinished episodes that we have now. You cannot miss this one.
~ The Wolf
