The Essentials
Name: Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~
Genre:: Romance, Comedy, Sci-fi
Episodes: 12 TV episodes + 1 OVA episode
Released: January 11, 2006 - March 29, 2006; OVA: October 27, 2006
Based On: Manga Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ by Satoru Akahori
Director: Nobuaki Nakanishi
Produced By: Bandai Visual, Lantis, Media Works, Studio Hibari
US Distribution By: Media Blasters (reportedly licenced)
Major Japanese Cast
Hazumu Osaragi: Kana Ueda
Yasuna Kamiizumi: Yui Horie
Tomari Kurusu: Yukari Tamura
Ayuki Mari: Masumi Asano
Asuta Soro: Daisuke Ono
Hitoshi Sora: Keiji Fujiwara
Jan Puu: Ryoko Shintani
Namiko Tsuki: Yuko Mizutani
Toru Osaragi: Makoto Yasumura
Kahoru Osaragi: Yuko Nagashima
Major English Cast
N/A
Scores
Animation: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherency/Story Arc: 9/10 (x 2 = 18 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 5 = 40 pts)
Total: 162/190 (85.3%)
Review
Kashimashi is an interesting anime that attempts to blend romance, comedy, and some science fiction together in a way that I haven’t really seen before.
Hazumu was largely similar to most other male boys in the school. However, several things about him were different. He was into ecology and especially gardening, having almost single handedly improved the landscape and garden of the school he attends. He also physically has a more feminine look to him than most boys. He has a crush on one of the girls at school - Yasuna - and is also childhood friends with another - Tomari.
However, everything changes after Hazumu asks Yasuna out. She tearfully rejects him. Hazumu, attempting to get over the pain of rejection, climbs a nearby mountain which he loves hanging out on. While on the mountain a spaceship crashes on top of him. In accordance to their laws, the aliens in control of the spaceship rebuild Hazumu’s body. However, they mistakenly make him female - breasts, sexual organs, DNA and all.
If I had to give a series that I’ve seen that this felt most similar to, I’d probably say Please Twins. In fact, this anime reminded me quite a bit of that series, even down to the fact that I thought some of the characters looked somewhat similar to each other. But of course, this is a different story, but it does touch upon another touchy topic: lesbianism.
Though this isn’t lesbianism in the typical sense. Both Yasuna and Tomari liked Hazumu before the spaceship accident. In this sense, it may not truly be considered lesbianism because their feelings for Hazumu started when Hazumu was still a boy. However, there still seems to be a significant underlying social message at work here: does it really matter what the sex of the person you love is?
Yasuna seems to accept the possibility of being with another girl easier than Tomari, probably due to the condition she suffers that makes it so that she cannot tell the difference between one boy and another - just like we can’t, generally tell one elephant from another or one Irish setter from another (with the exception of Hazumu). However, because of this condition, she has always avoided boys, and she had already relegated herself to the fate of being alone.
Tomari, on the other hand, had to struggle with the person she likes suddenly becoming the same sex as her, and so did Hazumu to some extent - at least to the point that Sora - the alien who crashed into Hazumu and reconstructed his/her body - asked whether “homosexual love is forbidden on this planet.”
I felt that the feeling of the story was kind of uneven at first, with the first two episodes - especially episode 2 - being more comedic (Hazumu having to learn how to be a girl), but then switches into a more serious romantic angst mode in episodes 4 and 5.
The anime concluded with an OVA episode which actually flips which girl Hazumu ends up being with at the end of the series. I don’t really think this episode really doesn’t damage the series, but seemingly with most tack-on OVA episodes, it appears to be mostly unnecessary.
If you don’t mind a romance anime which is seriously lacking in males (other than Hazumu’s confused best friend, the space alien, and Hazumu’s father of questionable morality), then you’ll probably like Kashimashi.
First Watched: July 2006, October 2006 (OVA)
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes
