hourou musuko ep1: nitorin's dilemma/ sakura, nigedashita ato
source: http://samuraibabies.tumblr.com/
Yes, I finally watched the episode.
My worries about the anime not handling the issues seriously/appropriately/etc have vanished and are now replaced by more pedestrian concerns: I don't think skipping the first chapters was a good idea. The episode started off very much in media res. It was cute that they used the first day of middle school, since that created a formalist reason for them to do introductions and tell you everyone's names, but the relationships between each of the characters are merely thrown out there with a sort of casual "I'll explain later" kind of hand-waving. You end up with the feeling that you've missed an entire 5 episodes of character development. I've heard this is the studio's answer to trying to develop the story in 11 episodes without losing the more complex and, frankly, interesting storylines of the later chapters, but more and more I feel bad for the viewers who have never read the manga and are at the mercy of AIC.
(There was one moment where it really worked, though-- when Nitorin's sister barges in on Nitorin trying on her dress. The scene is obviously set up for everyone to assume she's going to freak out about Nitorin wearing her dress, but instead she's pissed off because Nitorin has done it again. Surprise, audience-- she already knows about Nitorin's dilemma! Also plus: Anna Anna Anna~~~~~)
Basically I'm at this point where I think if you've read the original manga, the anime adaptation is awesome. The first episode ends with Nitorin watching the laundry machine after what we can only assume to be a nocturnal emission, and it reminds me that I last read the manga when it was on chapter 82 and just getting into puberty issues. So yeah, if you're already a Hourou Musuko fan, please please watch the anime with me. It has the wonderful lightness that the original manga had, and Saorin and Maho and Ariga are as adorable in the anime as they were in print.
But if you haven't read the manga yet? I feel like I would still be reserving judgment. To begin, there are so many little things that are confusing. Just take the guy chilling out in Saorin's house. Who the fuck is he, you might ask? And the answer is that he's Saorin's stalker from church... who starts crossdressing.... after finding out Nitorin. Who the fuck is the woman who is chatting with Takatsuki in the cafe? That's Yuki, also a mtf who, along with her boyfriend Shiina, acts as a sort of mentor to Takatsuki and Nitorin. This is all stuff that instantly made the fans go AH! YOU!! when they saw it, but unlike easter eggs, they were prominent enough that I could definitely see where a new fan would be confused. And I definitely felt very, very distant from Takatsuki in this episode. I'm really hoping that the next episode will change that for me, as it seems to be at least partially focused on Takatsuki and ~Chii-chan!!!~
Finally, the art direction is like Makoto Shinkai meets Bokura ga Ita with a few good healthy dashes of Koi Kaze thrown in. Enough cherry blossoms to drown both Nitorin, Takatsuki, and their classmates. Clair du Lune bowed out on strings during a bridge scene that could have escaped directly from 5 Centimeters Per Second. A beautiful eye for light and soft color palettes that really does justice to the original manga covers, I think. The voice acting was neither impressive nor disappointing (though I was shocked to discover, upon researching, that Touma Minami from Minami-ke was voiced by Nana Mizuki?? FOR REAL??). And as blase as I am about Rie Fu in general, the ending theme is really adorable.
update// number of anime blogs I've unsubscribed to based solely on their reviews of Hourou Musuko: 2