This isn't an official anime series despite how professional the art is, today's review is about web light novel series Okashina Futari, but first a bit about the writer Mashiro.
Mashiro is a TG writer, which of course stands for transgender, he produced numerous works on his own website including Kayo-Chan & the sequel Second Chance Hunter Series, Kayo-Chan is about a well dressed little girl who solves problems by transforming the reluctant customer into a girl wearing a fanservice costume, the Hunter series is a taskforce assigned to reverse the process, which is the best I can do with limited translation tools and speaking of translations, another work named Okashina Futari was translated into English by a group of dedicated fans and that is today's review.
Again due to the length of the story as of now not all of it has been translated with only the first 250 chapters translated out of something along the lines of 1500 chapters, if that seems excessive some of the chapters are only something like two sentences long.
The story revolves around a brother & sister who can transform each other into the opposite gender with the power of thought and includes a fanservice costume as well as the rules of the powers are clearly defined through illustration, where when you change gender you must change the clothing to match said gender.
What makes this unique is the way the brother & sister react to the changes; the sister Satori doesn't actually mind being a boy as she believes it to be a challenge where as brother Ayumi is rather uncomfortable about the whole experience as defined below where he's turned into a Chinese Girl.
And it's Ayumi who gets the lead as the story is told from his perspective where many of the transformation scenes are described in great detail throughout the chapters, talking through feelings, describing the unusual feel and design of the clothes, the reactions of the general public and wondering what to do next; Ayumi reluctantly agrees to become Satori's dress-up doll for most of the story, and while it's okay at home, it's not okay in public during one of the most re-posted TG flash of all time where he's transformed into a bride on a public train.
You can find all the translated work on Okashina Futari here along with short stories and another series called BUG. Links to the bride transformation flash is at the bottom, more flash animations on the left side bar which also include a Ballet & Waitress transformation, there's also a gallery of all the pictures which is also at the bottom.
http://castle.midnightaurora.com/mainpage.php?siteID=1&pageID=1&itemID=Okashina_Futari.php
Also I have the link for Okashina Futari's main illustrator Ohyuki.
http://ohyuki.grats.jp/
Ohyuki is a very talented artist who has his own online comic and frequently sends illustrations to Japanese Online RPG sites along with commissioning for Mashiro for Okashina Futari, check out his work, you won't regret it. (Site is in Japanese though)
Final Verdict: Okashina Futari is an interesting read, there aren't many TG story writers who can go into that much detail from a first person perspective and keeps it's audience in until the scene is done and then you do it all again with the next scene but don't expect the translation for this series to be completed in your lifetime, it's already taken 14 years to get this far.
I promised a story world and now it's live, it's called Victory Script.
The aim is to showcase some of the stories I've been writing over the years, long before I came to theOtaku; I don't intend to neglect my other worlds so don't worry I won't drop Walk of Fame or Retro Retrospective, in fact my next reviews are ready to post in the next few hours so stay tuned for that.
Inspired by this weeks discussion topic, I've gotten into thinking of other anime I've given up on so here are my top 10 Anime I've Given Up On.
Rules This Time: Has to be a series I once liked, it's no good putting a series I hate on this list because I'll be here all day otherwise; also I can't use lack of licensing as an excuse either, so let us begin.
10. Little Snow Fairy Sugar
I ended up quitting this series just over halfway when I discovered that the ending was so predictable that it wasn't worth the effort.
9. Digimon
Later series kept spiraling into obscurity to the point where the original concept has been lost along the way.
8. Beyblade
Beyblade had great characters (some even too good for it's own show) during it's first three runs then it decided to come back and ruin itself for good with the Metal series; it's not been healthy since.
7. Yu-Gi-Oh
Another show with a severe decay problem caused by frequent changing of protagonists; I don't even know what Zexal is about.
6. Bleach
Lost it's identity when it couldn't hold itself after hundreds of chapters, they've toyed too much with their universe rules and paid the price for stupid ideas.
5. Fruits Basket
Gave up when the art style became obscure in the manga, a lot of characters looked the same and being told spoilers also sealed the fate of Fruits Basket for good.
4. Shaman King
Had the same problem as Bleach only weirder, Shaman King didn't know how to end itself, it didn't seem satisfied with the Victory Script the anime gave it, so it tried something complicated and ended up cancelled for the trouble.
3. Tenchi Muyo
The Tenchi Muyo extended universe is a joke, the story was already complicated enough in it's original incarnation and yet the creators seem intend on ruining it.
2. Spirited Away
Every time I try and watch Spirited Away, I just can't seem to follow what's going on, I've tried numerous times but nothing, I just can't seem to conquer it.
1. Saiyuki
I gave up when the set pieces were rotating more often than Team Rocket's sad attempts at catching Pikachu, it got to the point where I didn't believe they were really going to India and as of now I doubt they've made it there yet as Minekura has released a prequel as well.
Bonus: Pokemon
X&Y might save it, so it's on hiatus rather than giving up on it.
Lilo & Stitch is about an alien experiment who crash lands in Hawaii where he befriends a young girl named Lilo, it spawned into a series where both characters try and reform other experiments who go out of control, but few know that they also did an anime series as well, this is the story of Stitch!
Disney collaborated with Madhouse in 2008 to produce an anime version of Lilo & Stitch but instead of using the same character and same location, we move to Okinawa and this time we have a girl named Yuna, who looks like a rejected digi-destined.
To differentiate from the original series, the Stitch series doesn't use alien experiments instead using Japanese Yokai for character of the week episodes and very standard child cartoon friendly storylines for the other episodes. We even have a pink colored girlfriend for Stitch as well, however it doesn't take long to revert to the original formula of the former cartoon in later seasons & episodes.
So overall if you enjoyed Lilo & Stitch then you'll still find just as much enjoyment in this anime version.
Now to answer a question: Why is this in Cartoon Vault when it is an Anime?
This might surprise you but this is actually a sequel to the cartoon, as in Season 3 a grown-up Lilo visits Stitch in Okinawa. Under those circumstances it's hard to judge it as an anime when it's part of the show's canon.
If your an 80s child then you remember the era when Disney sucked and Don Bluth was grabbing the airwaves with a number of strong animated works starting with Secret of Nimh. In 1986 just over a month after my birth, he released An American Tail, the subject of today's cartoon vault.
We begin in Russia 1885 where a family of mice are celebrating Hanukkah, when a group of cossack cats launch an attack on the village, this reflects a real life event in Russia known as the Anti-Jewish Pogroms. With no home left, the Mousekewitz family journey by boat to America with promise of a better life promoted by songs from Papa, an Italian & an Irishman. Things take a turn for the worst when a massive monster storm (Literally) takes hold of the ship, throwing Fievel the lead character overboard.
The family arrive minus Fievel and quickly try and make the best of a bad situation, meanwhile Fievel through dumb luck and a well placed bottle also ends up in America where he meets a French Pigeon at the site of the Statue of Liberty being built. If it doesn't seem that way don't forget that the statue started off gold color, it's current green color is decades of decay & rust.
Fievel begins his search, briefly ending up at a sweat shop, but doesn't seem to improve as he's almost flattened by a train and taken out by a human.
Then we come to Bridget & Toni (Who we met at the sweatshop) trying to persuade the people to fight back against the cats, this then follows a meeting with drunk politician Honest John and Aristocrat Gussie Mouseheimer who echo the same sentiments. Then we get our Oscar bait song, which is every bit a tear-jerker as the subject matter.
The mice then finally come up with a great idea which is showcased in a brilliant work montage. Fievel sadly ends up getting caught by the cats having discovered the true identity of the films main villain who was supposed to be a rat; Fievel forms an unlikely friendship with Tiger, a large vegetarian cat voiced by Dom Deluise who lets Fievel escape, which leads the cats to the Mice trap at the pier. (No that pun wasn't intended) The mice unleash their secret weapon which is a nightmarish looking giant mechanical mouse which sends the cats off the pier onto a ship bound for Hong Kong.
The victory doesn't last when the pier catches fire and Fievel goes missing again, he's ready to give up after being teased by orphans but the film ends happily when Fievel reunites with his family. The film closes out with a finished Statue of Liberty and credits rolling over some impressive art and orchestra music.
This film could easily stand up to Disney which comes as no surprise when you remember that Don Bluth is a former Disney employee, while it maintains a lot of musical numbers and scenes which are suitable for children, they are balanced out by nightmarish scenes which suit the tone, period and animation style at the time of release.
The music really sells the film but at times the voice acting particularly from Fievel falls a bit flat, yes I know they had a child actor for his role, but he seems to lose momentum frequently which leads to some scenes that lose sound.
Overall it's a cult classic that never fails to put a smile on your face or a tear drop from your eyes, pity the sequels don't follow the success.
