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Drama

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Hanover Fist:
Asatte no Houkou
<Living for the Day After Tomorrow>

Drama, Romance, Slice of Life, Supernatural
MAL - BakaBT torrent




Be careful what you wish for! You might get it.

Hiro (28) and his adopted sister Karada (12) now live in a small Japanese town. Four years before, Hiro was studying in Boston with his girlfriend Shouko. He went to Japan for a relative's funeral and despite a promise to return, broke up with her - after many months of silence - by airmail: He didn't mention that he suddenly had an orphaned little sister to raise.

Shouko arrives in town hoping for a fresh start in a place where she doesn't know anyone. She meets Karada praying at a roadside shrine and explains about the wishing stone there. Hiro stumbles upon the pair, they all go to the beach to meet friends and drama ensues. Later that night, Karada and Shouko happen to meet again at the shrine, unhappy with their lives. A wish is suddenly granted and their ages swap: Karada becomes 24 and Shouko regresses to 12. Then they have to figure out how to live with the results of the wish.

This quiet little 12 episode show may be slow paced, but it has some great character development, quite the unique story and is plotted very well. The show has pretty watercolor-style visuals, good music and good animation for it's 2006 vintage. The TV release was 4:3 but the DVD rips (linked above) are widescreen.
The two sources are the reason for the different aspect ratios of the screencaps.

Edit: It had been years since I'd seen this, so I marathoned it right after finishing the post. It was just as awesome as I (vaguely) remembered. :D Although now I need to download the DVD rip to archive the widescreen: All I had on my HDs was the TV release.


Pictures
(click to show/hide)

Hanover Fist:
Nitaboh

Drama, Historical, Music
MAL - Torrent




Nitaroh loses his eyesight during an illness as a boy. He inherits a shamisen (a Japanese three-stringed banjo) from his mother and learns the basics from a blind traveling player. Later, when orphaned, Nitaroh sets out on his own to try and make a life playing music - unprecedented for a male of his social class. With support from friends and facing some tough opposition, he develops his own style of playing, breaking free from the drone-like sound of established shamisen monks.

While the basic story is small town boy does good in music, this feature film is set against a backdrop of the cultural changes in the Meiji era. The characters featured are also unusual for a story in this time frame - it isn't about displaced samurai. Despite its 2004 release date, the art is lovely and realistic with smooth flowing animation. The plot moves slowly and surely and the shamisen music is amazing, making up for the so-so background music at other times.

It's a good use for a couple hours of free time.


Pictures
(click to show/hide)

Hanover Fist:
Kokoro Connect

Comedy, Drama, Other, Romance
MyAnimeList overview
Downloads: Rori, 720p batch torrent (1-13TV, 14-17BD), Doki release posts 1-5BD (480p/720p/1080p), 6-13TV (480p/720p)




Five high school students are in the meting pot of the Cultural Research Club. Out of the blue their personalities suddenly begin to swap between themselves at random (for short periods). They suffer many strange phenomena at the whims of an mysterious being called Heartseed/Balloon Vine. The five struggle to keep their sanity and friendship.

While there are may be many tropes used in this show, the strong characters, great plot and stellar voice acting all take it to another level of excellence. It's a favorite I've watched multiple times and inflicted upon many friends. :D


Pictures
Screencaps courtesy of RandomC as usual.
(click to show/hide)The CRC: Aoki, Yui, Iori, Inaba and Taichi.


Iori and Inaba have been friends for years.


Aoki gets a not unusual smackdown, this time due to the mention of the first body-swap.


Aoki and Yui were the first to switch, but even Yui doesn't completely believe it happened.


Iori leaves the club room. Taichi suddenly finds himself in Iori's body. Is it real? What would you do?


The mysterious entity Balloon Vine - inhabiting the body of their club advisor - reveals itself:
The body-swaps happen at random and at its whim.


Even in the lazy and listless Gossan's body, Balloon Vine has super-human strength and reflexes.


The CRC sets some ground rules while they try to deal with this bizarre situation.


Is a love polygon beginning to form?








Subconscious desires are suddenly released in the second arc.

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