His and Her Circumstances

A Review

by MattBoySlim

Having just finished watching the 3rd disc of the domestic release of His & Hers Circumstances (Kare Kano), I've finally been compelled to review them. This'll be mostly a DVD review, but a large chunk of it will deal directly with the show (story, characters, etc.). As a matter
of fact let's get that outta the way right now.

Story

I did some research (about 5 minutes worth) and found that H&HC was not based on a manga, but was created by good old Hideaki Anno. Now, since I really didn't search too hard I may be wrong, but for now let's assume I'm not.

Also, lets get it out in the open that I've only watched the first 3 discs (16 episodes), and I don't know, or want to know what happens from episode 17 on. Not yet, at any rate. I couldn't imagine watching fansubs of this show. There'd be way too much to read, what with a few people talking a mile a minute at the same time, while there's important, must-read kanji all over the screen. It'd be chaos, and I'd never get anything out of it because I'd be pausing all the time.

Anyway, let's get back to that big word up there. The story. If someone ever asked me what H&HC is about, I'd have to say that it's about high school relationships and romance. But, the fact that it's by Gainax (and Anno in particular) pretty much means that H&HC is a normal high school anime like Evangelion is a normal giant robot anime. Or like FLCL is any normal anime. Yes, the story is only driven by character development and the interactions between these characters. That's it. No action. No civilization-threatening aliens or quantum-dimentional disaters. Sound boring? For me it couldn't be any farther from boring. Imagine if the last two episodes of Evangelion were a high school comedy instead of just Shinji mentally flogging himself via his own interpretations of the people around him and you're starting to get the idea.

Essentially it's about a girl and a boy. They're both high school freshmen (or however they work their school system over there...). Her name is Yukino Miyazawa and his name is Souichirou Arima. They were both at the top of their class in middle school, and were both very popular and respected (and desired). However, Yukino, always a model student, finds Arima to be abrasive and annoying because he is stealing the attention and praise she feels she deserves. Until this point, she has built a carefully crafted facade; always perfectly polite, perfectly conscientious, and just perfect. Her real self, however, is nothing of the sort. She accidentally revealsher real self to Arima, embarrasing misunderstandings and situations ensue, she finds out that he has done similar things, they decide that they like the real them better and they like hanging out together, and they fall in love. Of course, there's a lot more going on than that, most of it inside the psyches of the main characters. Most of an episode is spent in monologues or soliliquies showing the thought processes or the characters; thier wants, fears, memories, etc. All of this is done using lots of still b&w shots, odd animation and more symbolism than you can shake a metaphorical stick at. All of which is pulled off perfectly by Anno. This is what he's really good at, and why I love his series. Any show that engages you and forces you to think like this one does makes me happier than Freddy Fecalface in Flushing County. (Sorry, that's just some random story title I came up with for somebody today.) I just love how Anno does character development/deconstruction/redevelopment. The characters are in a constant state of change, and it in turn affects thier relationships with the other characters.

I could go on and on. And I will, but not about the story anymore. Suffice to say that for me, this show is like crack cocaine; just instead of smoking it, it goes in my eyes and ears and directly to my brain, setting it ablaze. Goddamn, I love shows that make you think like this. I guess that's why I like David Lynch movies like Mulholland Drive. But that's another review....

I will say, though, that 2 out of the 5 episodes on disc 3 were the obligatory "mid-series recap" that so many animes do. Seeing as every episode starts out with an almost 5 minute recap of everything that happened in the episodes before, I thought this seemed a little unnecessary. Especially to devote 2 episodes to it. (1.6 episodes, actually. The last part of episode 15 has some actual new conent.)

Good God, that was a lot of stuff for one section of my review!! Don't worry, the rest'll be somewhat shorter.

Audio

Well, it's a TV show, so I wouldn't expect 5.1 or anything. Though I hear some series are starting to be released on DVD with 5.1 rigt out of the gate. Arjuna, for example. Anyway, this is in stereo, but it still sounds good. It gets the job done. As seems to usually be the case with most anime DVD's I've watched, the English track is a little clearer than the Japanese one. The music's pretty good. Obviously done by the same guy that did Evangelion's. What's really outstanding, though, is the dub.

I can say, without a doubt, that this is by far the best dub I've ever heard in my life!!!!! Best...Dub...EV-UR!!!!!!!! I'll be blasphemous and say that it's even better than the BeBop dub, and that's saying a lot. There I've said it, but I still feel dirty for saying so. Yet every voice is so damn subtle in it's emotional delivery! They run the full range from quiet reflection to screaming anger to heart wrenching sorrow and everything in between. Yukino's two sisters are kind of annoying, but they're supposed to be. (Nowhere near as annoying as the new Excel, though. Guh.) Everyone else is just a treat to listen to, no cookie-cutter character voices. I can't say enough good things about the dub. I'm spoiled for all other dubs from now on.

12/30/05 Update - It's been a while since I've even really thought about this show.  One thing I'd like to add about it, though: If you're going to buy the whole series, skip the last DVD.  Just buy the first 5 or whatever and pretend the series ended there.  The alst few episodes were evidently made while the manga was still running and it seemed to have wrapped up hastily.  Actually, I'd say it might be the most unsatisfying ending to a good series I've ever experienced.  Be warned.

Video

Y'know, this was never really a big issue with me before, since I used to watch DVD's on a crappy 20 inch TV using my PS2. Now that I have a nice 27 inch HDTV with a Sony progressive-scan DVD player, I guess I can start to get picky. I won't though. This DVD looks nice. All of the colors and motion come through loud an clear. The opening animation looks generally cleaner than the main body of the show, but I suspect that Anno was going for a "film" look, much like Evangelion. But still, no yucky block noise in dark scenes. No digital noise crappin' up the place. Just some pretty-lookin anime.

Here's another area where the sheer effort that The Right Stuf International put into this show shines through. These discs were made for hard-core anime fans. Y'know, the real nerdy, nitpicking guys who are impossible to please. Even the most discerning otaku would be hard pressed to complain about these DVD's, though. There are no hard subs anywhere on these discs. Any kanji that's translated is done so with soft subs. That includes the title card. If you set the language to Japanese, the opening credits are all in Japanese. Barely a romanic character in sight. Even the soft subs can be turned off, if you like it raw and wrrrrriggling. If left this way, the "next episode" things at the end of each episode will be video of the Japanese voice actors for the two sisters. If you turn the language to English, it'll be the American voice actors for the same characters. The credits will be in English with no kanji, and the title card will say "His and Her Circumstances" in nice red script. TRSI really went all out for these DVD's, and God bless 'em. They make me proud to be a quasi-otaku.

Extras

Y'know, I'd have to count that language stuff as extras, 'cause no other DVD has gone that far to be that thorough. Each DVD so far has "translation notes", detailing how and why they translated the show the way they did. Not knowing Japanese, it seems pretty accurate to me. The most recent disc, volume 3, has an interview with two voice actors that voice two secondary characters. It's generally boring, but nice to have. Most DVD's just have previews for other anime. An interview with Anno would be awesome, but the closest we get is some actor guy talking about how Anno would come to the bar with them after work. Meh. Overall, though, pretty respectable.

Conclusion

Can I say again that they just took crack and molded it into a disc shape and put it into a DVD box? No? Ok. My girlfriend and I cannot get enough of this show. No matter how much money I have, I will pay in pennies if I have to on the day the 4th disc comes out. I must have it. MmmmMmmmMmMMMmmm. The dub and the features and the animation and the story all come together to form a great anime experience. I lub it like Mrs. Butterwurbs.

Here's the rating scale:

1 = Guaranteed to make your nose bleed on your pants in utter contempt.

2 = Guaranteed to make your nose bleed on your pants with general misgivings.

3 = Guaranteed to make your nose bleed on your pants with a vague, apathetic nonchallance.

4 = Guaranteed to make your nose bleed on your pants with an all-around warm feeling.

5 = Guaranteed to make your nose bleed on your pants because you were screaming "Oh, dear Lord in heaven!! This show is perfection and all I want to do is see more, then you can take me from this Earth!!!" too loud.

Well, I won't go that far, so I'll give it a 4.6. I like it a lot, but it won't make me scream its praises until blood vessels burst. That's an event saved only for BeBop.