ARGH! I had almost gotten that song out of my head. Evil. --Vitenka
Angsty yaoi shoujo romance. Set in the world of bands and rock singers. Think To-y, but spread over a series. The OAVs aren't so good, sadly.. Having actually seen it, it's a very good series. It's sweet and silly and has enough going on to keep the viewer wanting to watch more without the feeling of 'this is being dredged up to fill out the middle episodes'. It reminded me most of KareKano - SunKitten
My friend David has episodes Vol 1 - 1 and Vol 2 - 5 to 11, and was wondering if someone had a copy of the rest he could duplicate somehow. - ChrisHowlett
We've got all of the fansubs on CD. AlexChurchill is currently borrowing them. So long as we get them back, feel free to borrow them from him.
Hmm... the splitting into volumes makes me wonder if this is referring to manga, DVDs, or what? SunKitten and MoonShadow are currently lending me their CDROMs of the anime video files, so if that's the format you're after, contact me and I can duplicate/lend you episodes 2-4. If you're after manga, can't help I'm afraid. --AlexChurchill
Reasonably sure it's the anime (as in, QuantumFluctuations? are probably the only thing that would make it not). We don't know enough to explain the volume numbers. Duplication or lending of eps 2-4 would be appreciated, I should be able to collect on Tuesday at GamesEvening. --CH
This series breaks a large number of the more irritating romance story conventions. Namely - it gets on with things. They don't spend hours and hours and days and weeks fo viewing time working up to confessing to one another - they sleep with each other in episode two. I saidSpoilerWarning. It's your own damn fault. To be fair, they never get around to saying ILoveYou? until well after they have moved in together, but...
Anyway. The plot revolves around two stories. Firts of all, the cat is a young rock star. His label is building him up and as the story opens he is about to release his first single. By the end of the anime he has released his second and gone on tour. His band includes a brother-like figure who (in the only real filler episode) gets a bit discouraged with having to keep the cat on track and then decides he'll stay after all. They also, quite quickly, pick up a synth player who is, quite possibly, the only sane person in the show. Other major characters here include their producer and managers and the labels president who is related to: The author. Introduced by telling the cat that his songs royally suck, this famous writer of romance novels is swooned over by girls everywhere. Luckily for the story, he swings both ways. Frankly, the story works just as well if the cat was female - and that (as well as the utter lack of any sex scenes and thankfully only one extremely short 'eating cotton candy and taking photos' scene) is what makes it work. It is, as the author tells the media "Just a love affair - can't we accept that in this day and age?" So, after a few recriminations, the author kissing him in order to scare off his sister and some very strange cat moments, we start off discovering the authors terrible past. The fact that he is a killer is well established fairly early on, and justifies his character design. He also uses it to save the cats hide a couple of times. But it's only at the very end that it is revealed that no only did he kill his teacher in a fit of rage, not only was it in revenge to him sexually assaulting him, but for his selling him to a male gang rape scene - which in turn was because the teacher did not appreciate his attentions. The message here is a very complex one if you go looking for one. It is probably better to not go looking and instead enjoy the story.
Which brings us back to the cat. As well as linking together two stores of love and rivalry (they have a band who competes with them, and who the lead singer of orchestrates an 'outing' but also appears to admire the cat.) ToDo: ReType? that until it makes sense. He also ends up first on-stage with, and then competing against the bands labels presidents band. I should note that this bands lead is kinda similar in temperament to the cat.
Which takes us to the high point of the review: The cat and the rabbit. They are urtterly, utterly and completely, and ocmpletely and totally insane. Wonderfully so. The cat appears to inhabit his own version of reality - pulling random outfits out of nowhere and acting as (variously) a cat, a puppy, a bannana, a battery and a schoolgirl. But slowly the other characters begin to interact with this reality. When being a puppy (big eyes, drooling after his lover and begging to be allowed to stay) he is kicked out - and when we next see him, he has only his vest. And this leads to the bunny. Who is clearly an evocaiton of the rule that PopStars? never need to grow up. For example, he hides under the table at an announcement, so that he can pop out in a bunny suit and hand over a '1 million sold' trophy. He then wears this outfit for the rest of thre episode, for no good reason. I also greatly enjoyed the contreast betweeen his 'big and mature' singing and the way he acts offstage.
Which leads neatly on to K. The bands manager, and often the only reason anyone is on stage. Because he points automatic weaponry at them until they comply. His orchestration of the last minute recovery of the lead singer and his delivery to the stage is a triumph of silliness.
The only bad point of this series, for me, is the J-Pop. The animation is bad (They have a klens flare, and they're ont afraid to use it), the songs are worse and they happily re-use it. I can only be grateful that they chose to add more silly segments and less singing.
The cynicism of the recording industry is presented, but taken as par. The nepotism that got the keyboardist the job is briefly commented upon ("Don't worry, your predsident wouldn't appoint anyone incompentent") the sudden appointment of a new manager, and the horrendous (and posisbly planned) use of the controversy over the love affair to boost album sales. But this is all a side dish to the wonderful silliness and interspersed love story.
(As you may notice, I am utterly terrible with names.)
Oh. [MixerMan] - This was mentioned and asked about. Probably also ficiton, but with that wonderful air of posisble truth.
Two paws up. To both. (Oh, and what is graviton? Is it the same thing but misnamed?)