Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #22 is now online! In this podcast, I re-review the anime series Koi Kaze.
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Name: Koi Kaze
Genre:: Drama, Romance
Episodes: 13
Released: April 1, 2004 - June 17, 2004
Based On: Koikaze manga by Motoi Yoshida
Director: Takahiro Omori
Produced By: Rondo Robe, TV Asahi
US Distribution By: Geneon
Koushirou Saeki: Kenta Miyake
Nanoka Kohinata: Yuuki Nakamura
Zensou Saeki: Ryouichi Tanaka
Kaname Chidori: Akemi Okamura
Kei Odagiri: Kousuke Okano
Ouko Tamaki: Risa Shimizu
Futaba Anzai: Satomi Akesaka
Koushirou Saeki: Patrick Seitz
Nanoka Kohinata: Stephanie Sheh (as Tiffany Hsieh)
Zensou Saeki: Doug Stone
Kaname Chidori: Michelle Ruff
Kei Odagiri: Liam O’Brien
Ouko Tamaki: Heather Klinke
Futaba Anzai: Tara Hudson
Animation: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Story: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Music: 10/10 (x 4 = 40 pts)
Coherency/Story Arc: 10/10 (x 2 = 20 pts)
English Dubs: 8/10 (x 1 = 8 pts)
Gut Score: 9/10 (x 5 = 45 pts)
Total: 181/200 (90.5%)
Koushirou seems to have hit the bottom in life. He still lives with his father at the age of 26, he was just dumped by his girlfriend who wonders ifKoushirou has ever “truly loved someone,” and he hates his job as a marriage counselor. Then one day, on his way to work Koushirou notices that a high school girl on the train he’s riding drops her train pass as she’s getting off the train, Koushirou runs after the girl to give her back her train pass. The next day, Koushirou runs into the girl again outside of a client’s office and gives the girl two tickets to a nearby amusement park that the client gave him. The girl wants Koushirou to go with her as thanks for helping her the morning before.
While riding the ferris wheel, the girls says that she’s been down after being turned down after asking a boy out, and even though the boy gave her a button off his school uniform at their middle school graduation, she wants to throw it out of the Ferris Wheel window if she could. This prompts Koushirou to ask how her love is so pure, and gets him to confess that he had just been dumped too, but that he wasn’t even sure he loved his girlfriend at all, so the girl should keep the button so she can remember her pure feelings. This exchange seems to seal Koushirou’s and the girl’s feelings for each other.
When leaving the amusement park, the two are about to go separate ways when Koushirou’s father runs up, and both Koushirou and the girl have the same response: “hello father.” Koushirou realizes that the girl is actually his younger sister, Nanoka, who is coming to live with he and their father so that she can be closer to her high school. The rest of the series is spent, mostly from Koushirou’s point of view, but also quite a bit from Nanoka’s point of view, as they both struggle with their feelings for each other even though they’re siblings.
This is one of the few anime series that is largely geared for an older audience. While there are a few comical moments, the series is a drama and has a serious atmosphere. The series tries to tackle the question of whether there is any type of love which is wrong. The series allows the viewer to make up their own decision, spending it’s time showing Koushirou and Nanoka’s relationship dispassionately without passing judgement on it.
The animation is mixed, with fantastic character designs but with background art that goes for a more washed out than detailed look, though I think it does fit the overall atmosphere of the show. The music, while rather subdued, is fantastic, and the music is also used very well - both when it is played and when it isn’t played. The dub is also pretty good.
Obviously the subject matter that is being dealt with may drive away some viewers, if one can get past that or don’t mind it, then I think this is a series that can stick to you.
First Watched: September 2005
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes
On August 6, 2005, I popped Volume 1 of DNA2 into my DVD player. That disk was the first one I watched after starting renting from Blockbuster online, and is the first time that I voluntarily chose to watch an anime series while realizing that it was an anime series. It was, by most accounts, the start of my anime viewing.
So, how far have I gotten in 1 year? I’ve rated 17 anime series or movies (of course, this site has only been up for the last 6 of those 12 months). I’ve completed 14 others, and I’m currently watching 9 more.
If my counting is correct, in the past year I have watched 503 anime episodes or movies for a total of something around 200 to 215 hours of shows (or between 8 and 9 days).
I own 9 anime series and part of another as well as 2 movies:
- Ah! My Goddess: The Movie
- Ai Yori Aoshi / Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi
- Angelic Layer
- Cardcaptor Sakura - Clow Book (Season 1)
- Chobits
- DNA2
- Fruits Basket
- Koi Kaze
- The Place Promised in our Early Days
- Please! Twins
- Last Exile
- The World of Narue
There are also several shows on my to-get list:
Not finished, but I know I’ll buy it
Cardcaptor Sakura - Sakura Book
I”s Pure
It’s either still too expensive or I just haven’t gotten around to buying it
Howl’s Moving Castle
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Licenced but not released
Rumbling Hearts (Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien)
Not licenced yet
I”s Pure
Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Back on March 19th, I made a list of anime I had left to review. Lets look at that list:
- Ai Yori Aoshi
- Castle in the Sky
- Chobits
- DearS
- Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventures
- Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien
- Koi Kaze
- Love Hina
- Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind
- Onegai Twins
- Princess Mononoke
- Video Girl Ai
- World of Narue, The
Well…i’ve done well. I’ve reviewed…well…Chobits and Dual! it looks like (though I have reviewed some others that I have watched since then). Here is my now updated list:
Soo…take off the two I did, and add two new anime (Porco Rosso and Evangelion) and two I had forgotten about before (Spirited Away, Akane Maniax) with I”s Pure and the rest of Cardcaptor Sakura coming around the corner (assuming I’m not forgetting anything). And, as I said in a previous post, I own four of these series. Not much of an excuse there to not review them lol.
UPDATE: I decided to add a page listing Anime and Manga to be rated.
Today I was surprised when I was doing my anime and manga releases to see that Koi Kaze was coming out in a box set. Not too long ago I had looked around to see if one existed or if one was coming and I didn’t see anything, so this kind of came as a surprise.
This was probably a middle of the pack series, but I believe it was the third one that I rented from blockbuster when I started watching anime. However, I only watched the Japanese version, and I had wanted to wait until I watched the English version to write a review. That time appears to be soon now that a box set is out and at a non-outrageous price (with tax and shipping I got it for about $50 on circuit city).
Of course this reminds me of all the series I have yet to write reviews on, including Ai Yori Aoshi, The World of Narue, and Please Twins - which I have no excuse over since I own them all. I’ve also received Porco Rosso and Akira from blockbuster (cause they refuse to send me any of the top 6 discs in my queue, even though 4 are listed as available now) so those should be coming in not too long (assuming I don’t get majorly busy).
As for series I’m currently watching, I have 3 discs (and the second movie) left in Cardcaptor Sakura. I also have two discs left in Ah! My Goddess (though blockbuster lists volume 5 as “coming soon” even though the sixth disc has already been released).
There are now two being-released-in-Japan-right-now series that I am currently following (at least the best I can with my internet connection): I”s Pure, which I’ve been watching since it first came out in December; and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which I’ve just finished downloading the six episodes that are out on torrent so far (7 have aired so far).
I”s Pure should be done in June (at least it’s Japan released…as far as being fansubbed…we’ll see about that) and TMoHS, if wikipedia is correct about it being a 14 episode series, should be done in late June as well. I hope to write reviews of both when they finish.
I’m also one DVD away from finishing His and Her Circumstances, so I should be able to post a review of it in not too long. Also, I almost posted a review of Please Twins! earlier, but I wanted to re-write it a little before I posted it.
I’m currently working on my first long series through blockbuster in Cardcaptor Sakura, which is something like 18 volumes long (it has 70 episodes) and blockbuster put volume 5 in the mail just a couple days ago.
I still have quite a few other series I wish to review as well. I’m renting DearS through blockbuster so I can listen to the English dub before I review it (I saw a subtitled fan sub of it before), ditto with Girls Bravo. I’m in the process of buying Koi Kaze, and the same watching it dubbed thing applies.
Ai Yori Aoshi and Love Hina are ones I’m finished with but haven’t gotten into a mode to write a review of. I want to see Neon Genesis Evangelion again first, and, if I don’t run out of anime to review before then, I want to wait until KimiNozo finishes it’s release in December before I review it.
Well, thats all for now.
I went back and looked at when the anime that I have purchased, or in the process of buying, were first released in the US to see if they were relatively spread out or bunched together.
Well, it appears they are bunched together. The anime I purchased, at least in their original releases, totaled 45 DVDs, here is the list:
Ai Yori Aoshi (8)
Angelic Layer (7) [I bought the 5-disc re-release]
Chobits (6) [I bought the 8-disc thinpack release]
DNA2 (5)
Fruits Basket (4)
Koi Kaze (3)
Last Exile (7)
Please Twins (4)
World of Narue (1 - they dont sell the 4 DVDs individually)
= 45 discs
So, how many of those were released, by year?
2002 - 1
2003 - 21
2004 - 17
2005 - 6
Also, as many as 4 series were being released at the same time, with Fruits Basket, DNA2, Ai Yori Aoshi, and Chobits all being released at the same time between March 2003 and May 2003; as well as on October 14, 2003, when 2 series ended and one series began, thus having DNA2, Ai Yori Aoshi, Chobits, and Angelic Layer briefly being released at the same time.
The biggest individual day? October 14, 2003, which saw the release of DNA2 #5 (and the box set), Ai Yori Aoshi #5 (also ending the release of the first season), and Angelic Layer #1.
The only other month which saw 3 releases was November 2003, with Chobits #5 (11th), Last Exile #1 (18th), and Angelic Layer #2 (25th).
I suppose the most “modern” anime I’ve been watching are Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, which is scheduled to begin it’s US release in October 2006, and I”s Pure, which isn’t even licensed yet.
