ON - Episode 1 impressions
Judging from this first episode... It's trying to be Strawberry Night, except that the heroine, Todo Hinako, is more a newbie than Takeuchi Yuko's Himekawa was in SN. And... at the moment, I think Strawberry Night did it better. A heroine who's slightly put-upon (but Todo is not derided in the same way as Himekawa), works with a bunch of men and has limited female colleagues. Said heroine also has some sort of mysterious past, and Todo is given what seems to be an incredible memory where Himekawa had sheer determination.
Not impressed with the first episode, actually. I think maybe it's a mixture of the implausibility of this storyline + the fact that I find Haru bland + a nebulous something which I can't place.
Anywayyyyy...
- Yoko’s looking quite striking in ON, with the dark hair and suits (and he does look good in suits *__* ) contrasting with his fair skin.
- Kaname Jun’s not looking bad either, though his character is coming across as a bit of comic relief more than anything else right now.
- Haru doesn't impress me or instill in me any feeling of empathy (rather like my feelings about Yoshitaka Yuriko). I got rather annoyed by her "catchphrase" and her "switch... ON/OFF" at the beginning and end were not interesting either. Like they were trying to make Todo intriguing, but nothing about her interests or connects with me. I don't hate her, but I don't like her either. And when I don't like the main character, it is of utmost importance that I soon find a strong liking for one or more of the side characters...
- If they try to force a romance between Haru’s and Yoko’s characters... I will be very annoyed. As it is, I’m not fascinated by Haru or the character she plays and I’m watching this entirely for Yoko. But if it gets boring or irritating, even Yoko won’t be able to make me keep watching this.