His and Her Circumstances: Her Circumstances

His and Her Circumstances: Her Circumstances
TV Tokyo
October 2, 1998
Anime, Romance
DVD
B+

Housekeeping:

• I'm watching this series with an English dub and English sub (subtitles);
• Nonetheless I'm going with the original airdates rather than the 2002 release in English;
• I will do the same for Fruits Basket.

Based on the manga by Masami Tsuda, this is mostly directed by Hideaki Anno (but we'll get to that).  The American voice actors for this and most if not all episodes are as follows:

• Jessica Calvello as Tsukino Miyazawa
• Megan Hollingshead as Kano Miyazawa
• Rachel Lillis as Miyako Miyazawa
• Christopher Nicholas as Soichiro Arima
• Veronica Taylor as Yukino Miyazawa
• Oliver Wyman as Hiroyuki Miyazawa

This debut episode is funny and insightful, with visuals that include just about every anime style then possible.  The set-up of the girl obsessed with her image starting a one-sided rivalry has a lot of potential, although that set-up would quickly morph, even by the episode's end, where Mr. Perfect finds out she's not Miss Perfect.  The voice-acting is spot on and the music is bouncy and fun.  And I do recommend that you watch it with all the available subtitles on, because there are translated Japanese characters that add a whole layer of jokes and information.

As the title (translated from Kare Kano) suggests, we'll be getting "his circumstances," too, but not just yet....