deideiblueeyez

I'm honestly unsure if people have something against this anime and are biased against it, or if they've had strokes, because all of the negative reviews for this anime seem to miss the point--whether by choice or, again, by medical malady...

Story: 7/10

Momo Adachi is a put-together, responsible, athletic high schooler with bleached hair and dark skin due to all of the sun she got as a lifeguard. She's not the most popular girl in her class, so her only sort-of ally is a frenemy named Sae. Momo is self-conscious about her skin because she was told that her crush since junior high doesn't like girls with dark skin. Another problem she has is that Sae instinctively wants anything Momo has, and it's almost like her mission in life to manipulate as many people as possible. Momo, hoping to steer Sae away from her crush Toji, points out the class playboy Kairi as her love interest. Eventually Toji and Momo's mutual feelings are made known and the rest of the series is about Momo trying to get a moment's peace without Sae messing some shit up with her schemes and plans to take Toji away from her. Meanwhile, Kairi finds himself also falling for Momo, which turns this whole debacle into a love triangle as time goes on.

It's the classic story of "jealous bitch classmate wants protagonist's man" and "misunderstandings lead to more misunderstandings lead to bullying and ostracism" that can wear easily on some people, and while this isn't as dramatic and life-threatening as LIFE by Keiko Suenobu, it'll still make you want to throttle some of the characters for their stupidity, naivete, and plain villainy. Later on the show takes great lengths to establish that this sort of deceitfulness can be found among members of both sexes which, while feeling like a bit of a less effective repeat of before, at least makes things egalitarian.

The phrase "We need to talk" is an often-uttered one by most of the big name players in the show because while this is shojo drama, the key players in this show are still semi-rational human beings that act like real people should, i.e. they mostly try to settle things and confront shit. Any time they fail to do so is mostly understandable because of peer pressure, blackmail, or anything else that could hold a person back from telling the truth.

Animation: 6/10

This is mid-2000s, standard animation. Not too flashy, but it has enough pop and life to fill your bill, though of course compared to shojo series nowadays the colors in this anime will seem flat and underwhelming in comparison. Backgrounds are generic and we are not given the treat of moving objects in them, and sometimes the colors look a bit washed-out. 

Sound: 5/10

I don't think I can get used to the opening theme. The vocals sound a bit off-key but its cheesiness and predictable lyrics are almost good because that. Nothing soundtrack-wise stands out other than that.

As for the voice acting, I watched the English dub version. Kairi's voice, Orion Pitts, fit perfectly with the character, with a nice, amicable tone that really captured the slightly mischievous yet good-hearted character that he is. Kate Oxley as Momo was a normal, average voice (though that's not an insult)...if anything she captures "girl-next-door" very well. 

Characters: 7/10

Momo Adachi, our protagonist, is great. I love her. Claims of her being a Mary Sue are unfounded and let me tell you why, with bullet points!

• Momo is sporty. Not only that, but she is physical when she needs to be. Most female protagonists just take blows. Not her. She will whoop your ass if you cross her
• Momo is self-conscious about her skin and if she looks good. This is due to her love of swimming as a sport and a recreational activity. Japanese culture places great value on pale skin, so her seeing her tan as a flaw is not unfounded
• When people put her into a corner, she fights back tooth and nail when most other girls I've read in other series would have given up before the going got tough
• While she has a habit of sulking (with almost every instance being justified, to me), she does not spend whole episodes doing so. She either gets over it or resolves to fix the situation
• She doesn't give up. She never gives up before giving all she has.
• She's straightforward and has a pretty thick skin. 
• She is fine with admitting when she's wrong
• She is self-aware and is concerned if the person she's with is okay or not; she's considerate of peoples' feelings in general, but still firm when she's being mistreated
• She can be a bit naive with love. She does have typical nervousness about it (worries about first kisses, staying true to the one she loves, etc.)
• She is understanding of others' feelings towards other people
• She is not flip-floppy or wishy-washy with her love interests. She understands that at some point she needs to move on.
• She can sometimes be a bit too trusting of what other people say, but to be fair the people who trick her are very good at what they do
• She makes her discomfort with unwanted flirtation and advances known, but she isn't a tsundere, just vocal about what's okay and what isn't with her

Most of the shit she's gone through with love and relationships--and the way she has dealt with it all--is better than I've seen with female protagonists twice her damned age. The amount of maturity she displays is off the charts and something I rarely see in a manga. 

Toji is generic boyfriend. There really isn't too much substance to him other than being a sweet guy, but people like him do exist--naive, easily manipulated, but chivalrous and honorable and just as clueless about how love is supposed to work but still wanting to make his loved one happy.

Kairi is an interesting character. Dubbed a playboy, he instead strikes me as a guy who just likes flirting with girls. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, and refreshingly he is not nearly as perverted as other male characters of his type would be. While he does fall for Momo, he is also a quasi-wingman for both Toji and Momo because he recognizes that Momo does love Toji and, due to his growing feelings for her, wants her to be happy. Despite this, he still wants Momo for himself, but he rarely does anything that would seriously jeopardize Momo and Toji's relationship like Sae does every 10 minutes. While I usually dislike characters like him, I think his dubbed lines made him much more endearing than usual. He's got a good heart and he has a sense of morality and conduct that he retains even when flirting with Momo, and I respect that.

Sae is what those girls who say "I hang out with guys because girls are too much drama" are referring to. Sae is the personification of those reviled drama-loving girls that you'd find on a reality TV show or something of that nature. She is almost too much and almost too unreal for the audience. Her penchant for manipulation would make Aizen sigh in exasperation; her extremely large ego and scheming makes you regret ever feeling sorry for her for longer than 3.5 seconds; her drive is like that of the Joker of the Dark Knight--a force that exists only to make certain targets miserable and suffer. Well, her self-perception is more that of a self-centered, egotistical Beta Bitch (as opposed to Alpha Bitch, who has a posse as back up) whose shameless refusal to see how narcissistic and vile she is makes for a compelling story. While she seems like a caricature, I can attest that yes, girls like her do exist and she is not just a cutout of the personification of "Detestable Man-Stealer" that other stories love to incorporate and end up doing so, but poorly. 

When I think about it, Sae is basically the Dio of this series. You turn around and there she is, trying to screw shit up. And yet..AND YET she somehow becomes redeemable. Somehow. I don't know how, but the instinct to hate her deflates when a potentially traumatic experience forces her to adopt some humility and best of all, some remorse for her behavior throughout the series.

Ryou, Kairi's older brother, is basically Male Sae and he serves as the wedge between Momo and Kairi much like Sae was for Momo and Toji.

By the time he is introduced, the number of manipulative people that Momo finds herself surrounded by seems to be a bit unbelievable. How can every third person in this anime be a selfish man/woman stealer?

Overall: 6.5/10

If you like high school drama and having a villain that is very easy to hate, this is your show, but there may be a point where you find it to be too much. Someone like me who can't stand people that are unapologetically manipulative like Sae and dread the thought of yet another obstacle that a normal and likeable girl like Momo has to endure made me consider the idea of pausing my viewing in order to catch my breath because damn, the lack of communication and second-guessing and suspicions that build up in some episodes are almost too much to handle. Unlike other series, however, these are usually cleared because the characters do sit each other down and explain their feelings and clear up confusion, but it's only after a certain time of running around while the viewer's heart is screaming "Oh my God, can everyone just chill for five minutes.. please." 

Even though there is lots of drama, it's balanced out with a kickass female protagonist who always stays true to herself, equipped with a maturity not easily found in Her relationships with Toji and Kairi are demonstrations and examples of how it is possible to love more than one person in different ways and for different reasons. "The One" can honestly be multiple people. If anything this anime confirms my belief that polyamory should be an acceptable alternative institution to serial monogamy. It sure would solve a lot of problems had in this series, at least where Kairi vs Toji are concerned.