REC
What about Breakfast at Tiffany�s?
Review by: M.H. "Why don't they all fall in your lap like that?" Torringjan
Length: 9 episodes, 10 minutes each
Genre: Comedy, romance
Watched: Entire series, subbed
I've watched a lot of romance series in my anime-watching time. They usually leave me feeling hollow and depressed when I see the unrealistically attractive and almost perfect female lead end up with a total hoser after about 25 and a half episodes of random boob gags and naked bath-house scenes. And the aforementioned hoser almost always has his pick of about six or seven dozen chicks that would be equally well served dating a porcupine? After about five-dozen of those series, it's refreshing to see a series that breaks the now-popular romance formula and shows a sweet story about two people falling in love (and doing so in slightly over an hour).
Plot summary: Matsumaru is a single guy who works for an advertising agency, waiting for his breakthrough campaign. In the meanwhile, he invites a female coworker out to a movie, only to be stood up. Just as he is about to throw away the tickets, a voice calls out, telling him not to waste them. The voice is that of Aka Onda, who implores him not to waste them and insists that he accompany her to the movie instead. After the movie, the two part ways and return home (conveniently close to each other). In the middle of that night, Matsumaru is awoken by a fire at Aka's apartment complex, causing him to offer to put up Aka until she can find her own place. When she gets the VA job in his new campaign, though, will anyone find out that she's living with him?
Artwork: The artwork is nothing fantastic, but still pretty good. The range of colors used during the episodes and in the opening gives a good variety, and the artwork is usually pretty sharp. However, there are kind of generic character designs, and the backgrounds aren't all that fantastic. One major drawback was that the design of the mascot was actually kind of creepy. I mean, a tree... with a cat head? Wow... Not even that time I tried the South American Insanity Peppers did I see trees with cat heads!
Music: There isn't much time for music during the short episodes of the series, besides the opening theme, sung by the main actress. What they have is a mix of bouncy and slower instrumental music that serves to set mood, nothing else. It's not much of a soundtrack, but what do you expect from a series that's shorter than the soundtrack alone of some other series.
Characters: A short series gives a short cast list, thankfully. Matsumaru is a generic worker guy with a soft-spot for women. He sometimes has a short temper and directs it towards the wrong things (with foreseeable consequences). While at times he may act like a jerk, it's clear that he really cares for Aka, getting her the job, offering her shelter, etc. Aka is a young, energetic, somewhat vulnerable girl who's trying to make it as a voice actress and lives for Audrey Hepburn (perhaps to the point of a frightening obsession). She seems to like Matsumaru, but is afraid of a commitment involved in a relationship, as evidenced by her often violent (and completely called for) protests to Matsumaru's advances. Hatakeda is Matsumaru's coworker who has a crush on Aka (despite the obvious age difference). He is brusque, yet clueless in a convenient sort of way. The best part of this series is probably the characters, since the two main characters are very real. They have real lives, real jobs, real personalities, and this makes the viewer really care about what happens with them. While Aka is a great girl that normally I would begrudge the main male lead, in this case, I was actually glad to watch the story and their relationship evolve.
Plot: It's actually a very simple plot; boy meets girl, girl suffers an accident that forces boy and girl together, and things go from there, ending only in hot sex. Although the writers may have used very little imagination to come up with the actual plot, the execution was well-carried out because of the characters. Also, the length of the series was just right for the subject material, as they didn't drag the pace down with needless angst (what angst they had was very reasonable) or the usual body jokes.
CHICKS!! There's only one real chick in this series, Aka, but she's certainly worth the trouble! Although she can be shy at times, she knows what she wants and is willing to make it happen. Her determination and friendliness are really attractive, and serve well to complement her good looks. Her form isn't too busty, nor is it completely curveless, with a cute face that will keep even the most breast-crazy guy staring for whole minutes on end! Plus she has a hint of vulnerability that'll appeal to the knight in shining armor in all of us.
Overall: It's nice to have a review that takes less time to write than the series was, which is hard to do with such a short series. Anyway, the length of this series alone could be enough to lure someone who doesn't have much time for watching anime (read: someone with a life), but for it to be a well-made romance series that tells the story well with likable characters only adds to the appeal. I'd recommend picking up this series if you can, as it's a good quick watch.
In a nutshell:
+ Likable characters you can relate to
+ Just the right length
+ Non-depressing romance series!
+/- Run-of-the-mill artwork
+/- little soundtrack
Final score: 8.5/10
Note: Many images used in this review were taken from Anime on your Mind and were used without permission. Give them some hits so they don't get mad at us!
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