| Less interesting than the first two, but still a delight. |
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| written by JTurner1 |
May 28, 2004 - 6:36 AM PDT |
At the Big Apple Anime Fest 2003, I received voice actress Lisa Ortiz's autograph for her performance as Tsubasa Shibahime on this, the third volume of His & Her Circumstances. The first two episodes involve this cute, but spoiled and bad-tempered little girl as well as her family problems. Tsubasa's father wants to remarry, but because she's always been "Daddy's little girl", she is completely against it. So she decides to stay over at Yukino's household until Daddy drops by with his new girlfriend, a hospital nurse known as Ikeda. Mr. Shibahime tries to reason with his daughter, but his pleas fall on deaf ears and Tsubasa even calls Ikeda a "hag". This results with Tsubasa getting slapped across the face by Daddy. Yukino sums it up best: "I hope that someday Tsubasa will find someone to make her happy."
The tension layed out in this scene is very powerful and emotive; any child who has had this sort of problem can identify with such a strong scenario. For Lisa's part, she gets to be obnoxious, hurtful, and, later on, tormented and deeply angry... and she does all of these so perfectly that I feel very much tempted to call this performance one of her most powerful. Ever. (Of course, I've also heard her in other equally satisfying roles such as Deedlit in Record Of Lodoss War, the title character in Animation Runner Kuromi, and, of course, Lina Inverse in The Slayers.)
The conflict between Shibahime and her father -- and ultimately the resolution of her problems where she gets a new stepbrother, Kazuma, a young punk rocker with a heart of gold (who unfortunately sets Tsubasa off by calling her "cute" and mistaking her for a 7th grader) -- is one of the highlights of Volume 3. The other interesting points are an interesting revelation on Hideaki Asaba's past (after a hilarious sequence where he infuriates Yukino's father, Hiroyuki Miyazawa). It seems that he, too, has had a bad relationship with his father and is now living independently (though his parents still financially support him). This is an interesting contrast to Arima, whose parents have abandoned him. I also enjoyed the pastime story about Miyazawa's father -- when the family pays a visit to Grandpa, who, by the way, is still at odds with Daddy -- where we see him grow from a mischief maker to a caretaker for his aging grandpa ("You are doing well... Hiroyuki....") to meeting his future wife. This sequence is poignant, funny, moving, and touching.
As wonderful as these sequences are, they are the highest points of the third entry of His & Her Circumstances. This is also worth three and-a-half episodes of material. The other one and-a-half, however, are what mar this entry from excellence. Within this time span, we're not treated to anything but a recap of the events that took place in the early episodes (with some throwaway lines to "connect" the edited segments). Granted, I understand the importance of deja vu, but who wants to see this stuff again? Especially since there's more to the story that we are just dying to find out? Sadly, this is a flaw that does threaten to hamper an otherwise enjoyable entry. Thankfully, though, you can always skip ahead (that's the convenience of DVDs!).
Still, it's worth watching not only for the parts that are good, but for more wacky, laugh-out-loud visuals and silliness -- the multi-faceted artwork is a hoot, as is the voice work on the English language track (which I heard for my primary listening). Lisa Ortiz, as mentioned, delivers, but I was also delighted to hear Pete Zarustica as Hiroyuki Miyazawa. He employs his Wagnard voice (you know, the Dark Wizard from Lodoss War TV) when Asaba sets him off, reducing one to laughter. He also does the most emoting in his story, from his troublemaking youth to insecure High School student, to dear old(?) dad. Everyone else in the cast is having a fun time; the only exception is Ed Paul (who played Etoh --rather well-- in Lodoss War), who sounds a little weak and unconvincing at first as Shibahime's Dad. He does improve, though, as he goes along, especially when he plays Hiroyuki's Grandfather.
Speaking of which, the technical and aural aspects are identical to the first two DVDs, which should please fans, but the moments which are good (in addition to already being involved in the show) are the real reason to own this lesser but still entertaining addition to probably one of GAINAX's finest shows. |
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