Kare Kano tv Review

Yukino Miyazawa, the perfect student. She's got the looks, the grades - everything any girl could ask for out of a school life. She is envied by all the girls and loved by all the boys, and is #1 in her class. The worst part could be the fact that she knows this and loves it. Her mask was her life, and she lived fine within it.

Enter Soichiro Arima, now the perfect guy. Yukino can't help but notice that Soichiro has been stealing her thunder. Born under a rich name, looks to kill and with grades that equal Yukino's, she can't help but be infuriated by his perfect ways. Day in and day out among her diligent studying, she plots to take down Soichiro, to break him.

Then, Yukino gets a curveball. The midterm results come in, and Soichiro bests Yukino by half a point. Meaning he becomes the #1 student in their class. Yukino, angrier than ever, turns to leave the class, but Soichiro touches her and merely whispers..."I love you."

Thus starts a comical romantic war between the two as they continue to try to get under each other's skin. But they only seem to get closer and close until Soichiro then stumbles upon Yukino's dark secret, and after that, the seeds of romance start to sink in...

Story & Characters

The lead characters are rather excentric but that does not detract from their authenticity. Indeed, when you look beyond their exterior curtains, complex and difficult personalities are revealed. But not only the main characters are interesting. There is enough focus put on minor characters so that the viewer can understand their reasons for action, too.
The story has a very fast pacing although it is a romance show. The hillarious thing about this anime is the constant change in mood from happiness to sadness and the other way around. Kare Kano really gives you something to laugh and to think about.
On the other hand we still have a believable romance plot that goes through various stages of teenage love and the two lovers have to fight the odd circumstances other characters put them in (jealousy for example).
Although the story turns out to be more ordinary than expected after the first three episodes (the first episodes are rather unusual for that kind of show) it keeps a high quality in narration in most of the remaining episodes. This high quality narration gets lost a bit in the last few episodes though, where the focus is taken away from the main characters because their story seems to be finished in episode 18. What remains is a rather chaotic plot at the end.
Despite the weak ending episodes this show has an exceptionally well written romance comedy plot that entertains you with comedy and also gives you some very good romance sequences.

Rating: 8

Art

With the animation being of average quality in the first few episodes it gets worse in the following ones and the second half. The character designs are quite simple and lack shadow and light effects most of the time. Many still images and too many chibi characters are used. Manga images and a few live action sequences make the impression even worse in the second half when the studio runs out of money.
I suppose they had not had enough money for the animation because they could only rely on funds from the broadcast and sale of copies instead of real merchandise. Plus, they even remind you in the story that Japans economical situation was bad at those times.

Rating: 3

Sound

The sound is maybe one of the most striking aspects of this series. The music by composer Shirou Sagisu - the man who composed the Evangelion music - strongly sets the atmosphere with wonderful classical tracks. The theme songs, OP and ED, are very nice as well and the ending song is performed by the voice actors of the protagonists.
The Japanese voice actors themselves are splendid too. It is mostly their performance (and the directors work, of course) that conceils the low budget animation work.

Rating: 10

Presentation

The director Hideaki Anno is famous for excellently depicting the characters feelings and emotions. Thats why Kare Kano is touching and hillariously funny at the same time.
Annos unique directing style can especially be seen in the first three episodes and especially in episode 18 of Kare Kano. It becomes more ordinary in the other episodes though until he quits the Kare Kano project after episode 18 and leaves the work to Kazuya Tsurumaki.
Kazuya Tsurumaki had the hard part to do; as the animation budget having been already used up in the episodes up to 19 he is forced to take some creative but not expensive measures. The cels in episode 19 are quite sketchy and real backgrounds are used to make it fit the sketchy character look. As crazy and funny as he is he inserts himself into the episode and interacts with Yukino. Sadly he is only so creative about funny scences. I did not appreciate his style with the serious scences but that could be because of the plot at the end.
Well, all in all I think the narration is splendid despite the poor animation.

Rating: 10

Final Verdict

8.1667 (good)

Reviewed by harakiri, Apr 14, 2006

Comments

cyd84 Apr 14, 2006

Nice review of Kare Kano...I feel you on the weak ending...it would have been really interesting to see the difference some funding would have made...oh well
The manga does continue the story much further though
evasion Apr 15, 2006

o.O sounds interesting! Nice review - you offer readers like me who have never seen the show an incentive and expectation about it without giving away all the details of the plot. Thanks! I appreciate it :)
phamthuha Apr 15, 2006

^_^ I lile this story too ;) You really Kool >_< to have typed in all of those thingy ^_^ Keep up your great work and 8.17 is sure a nice point XD
kirchu Apr 15, 2006

Ah, that is some good review you wrote, in my opinion. I was also very disappointed at the weak ending since things were going so well, but then ending was just so ...eh. Haha, but other than that, great job on the review! =)
walkure245 Apr 15, 2006

I agree with you. The character and storylines are interesting enough and slightly different to keep your interest. Loves Yukino. True. I don't care for the anime's ending so I'll stick the manga. I didn't care for the art either but it matches well the original artwork. Really nice review~
gel-chan Apr 15, 2006

Hehehe. Nice review. I like the story too. But I kinda find the "Crazy" scenes so annoying! Hehehe!
carlinda Apr 17, 2006

Well, I stoped to watch this serie a long time ago. I think that I neet to give it a second chance rigth now. Thanks for the review!
Machika Apr 17, 2006

I agree with your about the character part. They all have their uniqueness and every character is very interesting. I haven't seen the anime but I've read the manga. I think the graphics in the manga is better. Vol. 13 and 14 are really sad T_T
Anyway, very good review ;) Nicely done :)
alexjohnc3 Apr 18, 2006

I agree completely with your review other than the art work part (just finished Kare Kano today). I would have given the plot a 7/10 because they left a lot of the story unfinished, but nice review! ^_^
rinoa41 Dec 24, 2008

After watching Kare Kano and reading your wonderful and well analyzed review, I understand a little more of why the end of the show ended in that certain way. Like you, I was disappointed with the second half of the series because you can feel the plot slowly collapsing and the animation degrading. Also, the way they ended the series seemed ambiguous with no direct resolution.

For what reasons did Anno leave the job? I'm just a little curious because it's a shame that he couldn't finish the rest of the series completely and thoroughly, despite the fact that they didn't finish along with the manga since the author was not done either.

Overall, I love the anime because these well rounded character, like Yukino and Souichirou, give a new meaning to the characters of anime. They're aesthetically pleasing, but they both contain deeper character. Nice review!

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