Yui Yamada, a high school girl with a fondness for plants and gardening, starts dating Tomoka Kase, the ace of her school's track team. Yui is shy, girly, and has never been in a relationship. On the other hand, Tomoka is vivacious, tomboyish, and popular among her friends. Despite being different in so many ways, they try to understand and support each other while experiencing the rush of exhilaration that accompanies the magic of first love.
Asagao to Kase-san is a heartwarming tale of two girls dealing with their ever-increasing feelings for each other along with other concerns that plague the hearts of maidens in love.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
nozoparfait
Asagao to Kase-san is the most accurate depiction of a lesbian couple I have ever seen. Being a lesbian myself, this OVA made me so extremely happy and I really recommend it to other lesbians and bi or questioning women. Although I love this movie, there is little story until towards the end, which is why I gave it a lower rating. The art and music is absolutely amazing. I fell in love with both the main characters, Yamada and Kase. Every moment of them interacting with each other just gave me such a great feeling. Overall, Kase-san had me laughing, crying, and very happy. Ireally related to this movie, especially since I am in a long distance relationship. It had me wanting to hug her so bad! This movie is a must watch for all yuri fans.
Erasariel
(Review is spoiler-free.) The agonizing wait for a good vanilla yuri anime has ended. Asagao to Kase-san brilliantly delivers a finely crafted lesbian love story, with romance and drama blended in perfect proportion. Vanilla yuri fans have had a rough time when it comes to original anime or adaptations. Although there have been tons of series with undertones of lesbian relationships, outright and/or serious lesbian romance hasn't really graced anime since Sasameki Koto and Aoi Hana (2009) or Sakura Trick (2014). With the recent advent of adaptations of derivative yuri series Netsuzou Trap and Citrus, I had hoped that this would herald a revival in good oldvanilla yuri romance.
And it did with this fantastic OVA. Let's talk about it.
The story in itself isn't anything special or new. Two girls fall in love with each other - one is more experienced, the other incredibly naive - and they go through the highs and the lows of their relationship. The first couple of scenes establish their relationship very quickly (thank goodness), so the rest of the anime focuses on the nuances of an already established romance. It is wonderfully paced, giving the viewer balanced proportions of sweet fluff and substantial drama and conflict in turns. The conflicts come up very organically and feel very natural in the course of the characters' relationship, and they're interspersed with sweet scenes that paint the relationship with further detail. The climax of the story is nothing new, but it was built up and executed well. As a result, the anime is a very tidy hour-long package, smoothly summarizing multiple volumes of the manga in a well-paced and well-executed manner.
The OVA is finely crafted, with excellent art style, music, and voice acting. The characters look and sound incredible, and animation is excellent - you can feel the emotions displayed by the characters from the screen. Music comes up appropriately and with impact, further tempering the mood being expressed in the scenes. Such great execution was very critical to enjoying the story being presented in this OVA.
I actually do not share the complaints of this OVA being too short or not covering enough material. It covered very pertinent strains of the manga and stands alone very well as a fantastic summary of the series. In fact, I had not read the manga before watching this and had a very effortless viewing experience despite my lack of prior knowledge.
If Asagao to Kase-san is any indication of what the future holds for vanilla yuri romance, I am incredibly excited. What the OVA lacks in novelty it more than makes up with solid execution of a high-quality vanilla yuri plot, making for a highly enjoyable romantic anime.
yuzuwarning
(Spoiler free !) I had very high expectations for this OAV since I've been following the manga for a long time now. I was not disappointed. The episode tells us the story of Kase and Yamada a little after they start dating (if you haven't seen the PV you should it's only 6 mins long and tells us how they start dating). It follows the general guideline of the manga but since the OAV is only 1 hour long, they decided to cut some scenes which I respect. Story-wise this is excellent. We can see how the girls struggle but it never falls into angst. Thefluff is here without ever being cheesy, and their love matures but the tone is always right on point. Honestly I'm impressed by the choices made here, every bit of story is carefully chosen and well told, I was completely immersed during the whole episode. As for the animation it's simply GORGEOUS, while the music melts perfectly with each scene.
Being a lesbian myself, I was saddened by the lacking amount of good yuri anime and this happened. This is a gift. I can tell a lot of effort was put into the OAV and I'm immensely grateful.
I'm not sure anyone can hate this because the love story told is just so pure and beautiful. Honestly I was grinning during the whole episode! This earns a solid 10.
esmp
This is one of the most shallow, frivolous anime I have ever watched. It has exactly two good points: Art and cutesy moments (which is at least 50% art, the rest voice acting and atmosphere). But outside of that there is nothing I can even find remotely redeemable about this anime. A quick list of some of the very obvious problems with this anime: - SHALLOW characters: Yamada is literally just the insecure, innocent, shy girl. That's everything about her character. She loves Kase, because she is nice? She gardens because why not give her a random hobby. The friend, while being my favorite character,is still basically just the stereotypical spunky friend, with glasses because why not. Kase doesn't even have a personality, she just runs fast, is popular, and loves Yamada because why not. The only personality traits she exhibits is that she is "nice" and she is dense as a brick when it comes to their relationship (although that is obviously just plot reasons).
- SHALLOW, STUPID, PREDICTABLE story: Shy girl loves the popular girl. Jealous of the attention she gets. Acts shy. Other girl has a misunderstanding, think she doesn't love her. Makeup. Rinse and repeat. Then towards graduation end it with "I'll follow you to Tokyo". Literally the whole story.
- REDUNDANT, OBVIOUS Exposition: She repeats herself multiple times in monologue saying when she started dating Kase & that she loves her. Why? Just show the damn story.
- CONTRIVED Plot & Conflict: Misunderstandings only absolute idiots would have just to further the conflict. Also, they come to the point of tears before communicating at all. Just ask her if something is wrong, stupid. Also, dumb random things. You could clearly see the view of the clouds out of any of the windows, but she was like "You have to see this." Dumb af. Apparently texting somebody in the middle of the night, and them not responding, should be enough to cause drama. Also, the way they make the ending sound was so stupidly predictable.
- LOOSE ENDS & NO CHAR DEV: The little bit of drama, conflict, and character development that might have been dealt with was just left hanging. Yamada never really faced her briefly explored issues of jealousy and trust (proving the relationship was shallow at best). She basically went to Tokyo because she thought Kase would move on, not because she actually was just going to miss her. It was clearly a selfish motivation (or else she would have said something along the lines of "I don't want Kase to feel lonely" which she didn't). She also never addressed her naivety and innocence (Made painfully clear when she didn't know what "do it" meant). They just never brought it up again and she stayed the same sheltered child. Kase never got to truly explore a deeper relationship with Yamada even.
-ENDED RIGHT WHEN THE STORY GOT INTERESTING: The normally innocent shy girl made the rash decision of following her love to Tokyo, and has to deal with acclimating and actually getting into a college there. Kase, who spent the whole OVA trying to deepen their relationship, finally got the step forward she wanted, and their relationship could finally step beyond the shallow bits of high school puppy love. That should have been the rising action, the real start of the story, not the conclusion.
So yeah, it was trash everywhere except the art and VA.
Jaguar-chan
A six out of ten. I liked it, however I have one minor complaint near the end of the review. The amount of fluff in this thing is real high. I wouldn’t call it the fluffiest romance ever, and definitely not the fluffiest show ever, however it’s up there. The character acting is top-notch. As in, QUALITY. The lead character’s emotes are ridiculously cute and the little leaves that sprout out of her hair were honestly genius. Character sakuga in this OVA is off-the-charts. One could definitely go about analyzing the animation much further. The rest of the art is also fairly beautiful, but it has nothing strikingstyle-wise. It’s pretty, but it’s “generic high school late 2010s anime” pretty. It rides the trend of “heavily lighted, plant-abundant background art with almost-fragile outlining” that has been running strong recently. It’s nice to look at but it doesn’t stand out, and standing out is ultimately more important.
The art, however, does contribute to the overall tone which I can only describe as “these are the good days of life” or “lightly sunny” or, simply, “a quiet niceness”. The long takes, the long establishing shots that come in succession, the sound design, and the amount of light that comes in every room add to that. The mostly objective and relatively distant camera also makes sure that that tone is never disturbed and maintained throughout the OVA. It adds much to the fluffiness.
An exception to the objective camera occurs when the main girl is confronted by her best friend about a problem she’s been having. Suddenly, the main girl appears to be floating in a cloudy space and the best friend is with her in person saying the problem matter-of-factly.
It’s the only real visually metaphorical or heavily stylised moment in the OVA (other than the character animation) so I believe I should talk about this. I tried to imagine the scene done completely objectively, but it just came off as cliche, making an already unoriginal trope worse (we’ll get to that in a bit). So, I believe stylizing the moment was the better choice.
Visual metaphors work well in anime and animation because transitioning from realism to stylization is much less jarring than it is in live-action. While I can’t deny that the whole thing felt a bit sudden, the act of putting the two characters right next to each other, the best friend staring straight at the camera, makes the whole dialogue feel more direct and, in turn, more effective. Doing so also adds a sense of power to the best friend’s words.
I also kinda liked the ED but I didn't notice the rest of the music.
Now, the OVA’s scenarios and characters have to be its weakest points.
The OVA, as I alluded to earlier, uses common and unoriginal tropes and presents them perfectly straight.
Story examples include the “obliviousness to sexual advances” trope where one partner is oblivious to the other partner’s sexual advances, the age-old “sexual advances get interrupted” trope, the “kiss at a bus stop” trope, the “this rooftop is our private meetup” trope, and, the ever-classic [spoiler] “I’m applying to a different college” [/spoiler] trope that is pretty much universal.
[While the “I’m too shy and embarrassed to see you in the bath” trope and the “People have distanced themselves from me because they saw me naked in the bath” trope are new to me, but I can interpret them as a yuri translation of the “We’re seeing each other naked and the difference in our bodily attractiveness is making me uncomfortable” which, while not exactly “common”, is a trope I’ve seen before a few times.]
There’s nothing inherently wrong with these. Every trope, no matter how used, can further character development, move the plot forward, deepen characterization, and spark interesting character drama.
The problem is they are not memorable.
Repeated exposure to a trope takes away from its ability to stick to your mind. You don’t remember common and used ideas far less than new and original ones. They’re easy to forget because they blend in with all the other stories you’ve experienced and don’t stand out in your mind.
Actually, after listing down all the story tropes above, I’ve softened my stance. Those tropes, although not exactly new, weren’t exactly cliche. They list also failed to cover everything the OVA had in its scenarios. You could definitely use the tropes listed to create something memorable and even iconic.
I’m not going to say the same thing about the characters.
The memorability problem extends to and is more prominent with the characters who are as straightforward as straightforward gets.
The main girl is shy, easily flustered, and easily doubts herself but easily excitable and particularly expressive. Kase is cool and emotionally honest about herself with others but rarely fully grasps other people’s emotions. The dynamic the two have can be summarized as Kase being first to open up which prompts the main girl to open up in turn, but Kase doesn’t always fully detect or understand the main girl’s emotions so it’s the main girl’s job to make her emotions clear which sometimes needs some prodding. That’s them summarized.
Although I wouldn’t call this two-dimensional and some people will find this satisfying, I don’t find it complexly-written enough or detailed enough in its presentation to be memorable. Again, the characters are somewhat cliche and you’re bound to bump into at least some of these tropes explored in more depth and nuance if you spent enough time watching or reading other yuri or even straight romance in general. I’ll probably forget what happens in the OVA in a span of a few days. I don’t even remember the main girl’s goddamn name (although it’s probably just because they don’t say her name much while Kase’s name is in the goddamn title of the OVA and the main girl mentions her name over and over and over).
To clarify, I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PRESENCE OF CLICHES. I am complaining about THEIR USE which is simplistic and ultimately lacking in depth and nuance. The OVA didn’t play with tropes so much as place them in its story as is and leave it at that. It doesn’t take the time to explore each trope’s full potential, making these tropes lead to something interesting or create nuanced character development or, hell, do something actually rememberable.
Don’t get me wrong. I did end up liking the two leads and finding them cute both on their own and together. Their motivations were clearly defined, so it was easy to get motivated with them. The whole thing, as I said, was very fluffy. Fluff is always a good thing. I just didn’t feel like they presented anything memorable to them.
Man, did I say a "minor complaint"? That actually was far from "minor".
Ultimately, the OVA’s main problem is its memorability. None of it stuck with me and I’m sure I’ll forget all about it by tomorrow. As a fairly big fan of yuri myself, going through Dynasty Scans will probably get you something more interesting than this OVA.
Anyway, watch if you like gay fluff, character acting sakuga, and nice art but it ain’t the masterpiece everyone says it is. Forgettable.
Karhu
I was blinded by the lesbian-lensflare, then made speechless by the fluffy things, and further impressed by none other than the innocent, 2pure4thisworld romance development. I really dig into that cute lesbian shit -- such as Tamen De Gushi and Stretch-- but both of these are manga series and not Taiwanese-origin cartoons which obviously sucks. Asagao to Kase-san is here to offer what has always been missing from this medium. We find two lesbanese school girls in a relationship which focuses on them doing cute relationship thingies in awkwardness, experiencing what loving someone is all about. Unfortunately, it proves to be quite hard because they justlike each others that goddamn much. Gladly, they both manage to be honest to themselves and muster the courage to talk about every inconvenience like any brave lesbian would.
This short movie is an incredible feel-good experience that focuses on genuine feelings and love in its purest form. Every bit from it art style to background animation exist in the series to serve its innocence. It's pretty to look at, offers an atmosphere that's almost tender. Those who are into this type of romances and appreciate girly love, will find this piece to cleanse their souls from everything that's evil.
Botmj
The only good thing I have to say about this is the art and sound. Anything else, including the plot, character, and character interactions ranges from mediocre to cringeworthy. In Asagao to Kase-san, the anime rides itself on the fluff as well as the small dramas in their relationship; it's really the only two things that happens. Before I talk about the bad parts of the anime I want to say, if you enjoy art and like the aesthetic you see going on, Asagao to Kase-san will be an utter delight. Also the voice actors are nice and Yamada sounds precious. As for Kase, I'msure I would have gotten used to her voice if the anime was an episodic thing. Overall, everything just looks good and sounds good. I think it's totally reasonable to just watch it for that.
With that out of the way, let's talk about the fluff, which can demonstrate how weak the characters and their interactions are. It was cute but feels shallow because the characters are shallow. Kase and Yamada really can be boiled down to nice and has nice intentions, except one is athletic and the other one is timid. Following that, the only difference is the people around Kase who always pull her away from Yamada. These two dimensional characters stumble around a bit, smile at each other, and do romantic things which a major part of their interaction. From that stems the main problem, which is that their chemistry is lacking, and they feel like templates for cute lesbian things to happen.
So in order to compensate, because Kase and Yamada are boring when they aren't building up to that one fluffy moment in the otherwise dull sea of pleasantries, we have the melodramatic bits. While I might be biased because I don't enjoy melodrama, I find it manga like Bloom into You handles it well by not treating it as momentous or as a reason to cry. Asagao to Kase-san on the other hand, utilizes very nice directing and art to make everything seem sad but I'm on the side wondering if the situation actually warrens that. The situations don't justify how sad Yamada is feeling, so the way the show does so much to communicate it (and very successfully too) makes it seem blown out and over-emotional. I couldn't actually watch the last bit of the anime because at that point I had stopped due to how cringey the moment the background turned white felt.
One more bit I want to talk about is how the conflict is set up. Up to three or maybe more times, the conflict was sown or escalated by people pulling Kase away during a conversation or by calling her. It was used once to erupt a fluff scene too. All of these interruptions makes it feel overdone. Even more, Kase always prioritizes the people around her to Yamada, even when it feels like it should be the other way around. Each time they speak, even if they have not resolved the conversation, if Kase's friends call on her then she goes away no argument.
Overall, Asagao to Kase-san is cute, but lacks substance which it tries to make up for with unconvincing drama. If you're starving for yuri or you just like yuri for the sake of yuri, go on right ahead! If you want more, find something else.
GuanYu_7
Asagao-kase san probably is the most satisfying and wholesome movie i have ever seen. The two main characters shining in every scene they meet each other, their bond is strong and the feelings that they share are about the same, feelings of love, of care, affection and all these stuff that melt my heart. Yui's pure intentions but with great anguish to discover and gain new experience and Kase's dynamic with feelings of admiration and allready erotic disposal create a woderful picture of a fantastic romance story. Even if they didnt succed to take their relationship on step futher the excitement when they meet wasall over the place.
It is a well made movie with beautiful colors, great scenography and with an experienced direction alongside with a wholesome romance and loveable characters, more than i need to absolutely love a movie.
I enjoy every minute to the fullest and every momment had impact to me, from the scene at the bus station to the scene in Yui's house and from the scene at the aeroplane to the scene at the train. Their interaction was outstanding, every kiss share so much pathos and the very last hug when Yui jump on the train was enough to make me cry both of the times that i have seen the movie.
I shared 2 emotions about the end of the movie, sorrow and excitement. Sorrow cause i'll god damn miss those two and excitement cause i finally saw a beautiful romance. More yuri romance plz <3.
Helo-chan
Okay this is my first review :3 Well, I think it's missing a review in Portuguese for the community about this incredible OVA. Asagao to Kase-san é simplesmente diferente de tudo que eu já vi (Sakura Trick, Strawberry Panic, Citrus, Bloom Into You). Retrata de um jeito espontâneo e sem exageros a relação entre as duas meninas principais. Não tem cenas desnecessárias, não tem situações revoltantes como Citrus ("Não podemos porque somos irmãs.") e a animação é simplesmente divina. A única parte que me decepcionou um pouco é que a menina mais alta parece "o homem da relação". Os pensamentos mais "atrativos" vinham sempre da Kase ea Yamada é mais envergonhada, inocente, o que causa um certo desbalanceamento na configuração dos personagens. Por que não pode ser duas meninas "normais" do colégio para se apaixonarem? Como "Bloom Into You" ou "Strawberry Panic"? Uma sempre precisa ser masculinizada, algo que é um estereótipo na nossa sociedade atual.
Então aqui fica a minha recomendação. Assistam, porque, realmente, vale muito a pena e o final é emocionante.
"Sabe o que mais significa "Glórias da Manhã"? Laços inquebráveis." <3
- Kase, Tomoka.
elledriverxc
I love me a good wholesome shoujo-ai. And that's what Asagao to Kase-san is. None of the usual yuri fanservice tropes are there; it's just a simple love story between two high school girls. The only problem is...it's a boring story. The best part (realization of love and culmination to confession!!!) happens before the OVA begins, so you're left in this weird zone of not really understanding the relationship between the two mains. Yes...they're dating but...it seems like they're not? They *say* they're attached to each other, but we never have the pleasure of watching the relationship develop, so there's no real chance for viewers todevelop that fondness. Instead, we're treated to 57 minutes of two characters blushing and stammering and getting into mini-misunderstandings about their relationship.
There's also no real discernible plot. That's fine when you're doing a character-driven show -- except that none of the characters are really that well developed. Yamada likes gardening and is fua-fua, and Kase-san runs track and is popular. And they both blush a lot. That's about all we got.
It's pretty frustrating. I wanted to like Kase-san and Yamada. I wanted to cheer for them! But the show never really gave me an opportunity to do so. Their relationship pretty much never developed during the show.
To top it off, the ending was maybe one of the worst narrative options they could've picked for the story resolution. It showed a remarkable lack of character growth, and honestly wasn't even satisfying -- this, coming from someone who loves sappy shoujo endings.
In the end, I didn't really hate Asagao to Kase-san, but I also didn't really enjoy it. It never really made me feel the things I'd hoped to feel, and I never grew attached to the characters or their relationship. If you're looking for good shoujo-ai, I'd stick to Strawberry Panic, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Aoi Hana, and the upcoming Yagate Kimi ni Naru.
01Sharjeel
Asagao to Kase-san is everything I ever wanted in a Yuri Anime. Beautiful art-style, simple yet a really heart warming story and really lovable characters. So let's start with the characters first: Kase, Tomoke who is one of the Main characters of the show. A girl who is very athletic and is extremely popular among other girls. Pretty cliche right? But who cares if it's cliche or not as long as it's done right and looks fine. Yamada, Yui is our second Main character of the show. She is a very light-hearted, shy and innocent type of a girl whose most favorite hobby is gardening.And she is not into guys as Kase Tomoke is literally the first person she is dating and ever had feelings for.
Story:
Story of this show was really simple yet really sweet. Just two girls in love with each other and having a fair share of romance and comedy moments without going "Over the top" like in some Anime *Cough* Citrus(I love Citrus BTW). What I really like about this is how Yamada Yui was really nice and sweet character and not like some whinny girl like for example when Kase couldn't able time to talk with Yui, so instead of whining Yui compromised with the situation that's why whenever they meet it felt so good to watch.
Art-Style/Sound:
Art-Style was really really good for this show. It made the atmosphere of the show felt really calm. And music was somewhat good too.
Overall I enjoyed the hell out of it. It was literally everything I ever wanted in a Yuri Anime. No edgy, emo BS Drama. No edgy/emo characters. A really calm and sweet hour long OVA. Though the only down point of this Anime was the ending. It felt kinda rubbish but I'll let that slide and give this show a 10/10. There really isn't more that I can say.
Recommended!
gawarin
I just finished this Yuri anime. I'm new to the GL/Yuri genre, and since this is the first one I've watched, I have a pretty good view on the genre as of now. If you like cute, heartwarming anime, then you should watch this. I worried they would end it on a bad note, but the ending is really cute. I don't think this anime is all that, but it's definitely the type of anime that would make you go: "Aww, that's adorable." I wished they would've kissed a few more times.. But that's a problem for me. It's mostly innocent except for one linethat says something like "Let's do it", but they didn't go through and said they would later.
It's not mentioned another time throughout the whole anime, which is okay since it's main focus isn't that kind of stuff. There's nothing else to say about this anime, not a lot goes on, but it should make you feel happier after finishing it. Overall, I do recommend this anime.
jatrel
Cute, but towards the end the dynamic becomes quite painful. Both girls becoming posessive of each other is a huge red flag, and had it not cut off at the perfect spot, in my opinion, we would either have seen a train wreck of a romance or a fantasy-land, where no sacrifices are to be made and high school sweethearts stay together forever. Still, there are a lot of things to appreciate about the OVA - the animation is quite a beauty - silky smooth and Kyoto-esque; the cuteness aspect is through the roof, with visual gags conveying the feelings of characters in a very accurateand simultaniously adorable way; there's no cheap drama, or painful jealousy that is so prevalent in yuri. It is very grounded in many aspects, so casual and yet so lovely.
Either way, if you are looking for a safe 'cute girls doing cute things' yuri - more likely than not, you will enjoy this one. If you're looking for a deeper dive into a relationship, this isn't it, really.
Occupyingmyeyes
Having read the manga online, I knew I was going to love watching this. I loved watching this. Everyone who is a fan of the Yuri genre should watch this. It's cute, fluffy, and beautiful. It's pretty much everything I was personally looking for in Yuri, being someone who loves vanilla romances. It was everything I expected and I just loved seeing how much love and fluff was put into this :3. As much as I'm enjoying In Bloom, and liked Citrus for my own reasons, I knew this was going to be my favorite Yuri romance just because of how much Yui and Kaselove each other and how their relationship just is.
They make each other better people and compliment each other so well :3 it's too cute. I loved the contrast in their personalities and how it just doesn't matter because they love each other for their differences. This is the vanilla that is just so hard to find, but it couldn't be sweeter.
I should've/could've given it a 9 just because there needs to be a bit more and it can come off as a bit shallow in story, but to me it's a 10. Everything is pretty much on point, if there was more in it to flesh it out it'd be a justifiable 10. But damnit if I score it lower because I won't. I hope to see more Yuri follow in it's footsteps in the future because this is a great watch, no Must Watch, for the Yuri genre lovers.
I'd love to see more of this couple, without question. But I couldn't be happier with this watch. Adorable. :3
captjoe213
Hi! Welcome to another Robert's Too Late Review! Today we're tackling the single episode (OVA/movie/whatever) Asagao to Kase-san! As always check the synopsis, all that boring stuff. As we noted in the Kuttsukiboshi review, it will be a good bit harder to avoid general or even more specific spoilers due to the short duration of the anime. This is not a 100% clean no-spoiler review. If the overall number doesn't tell the story, the quick of it is I do recommend this anime, if you want to opt out now and go in 'blind'. With that out of the way, we can move on tothe meat of the matter and decide if either of our cute couple (or both!) make the RTLR wall of living printer ink! Full disclosure people, the RTLR wall is kind of four walls, and I'm honestly running out of room pretty quickly, so I might have to start spray painting anime characters on the sides of the herd of cows in the next lot over. Wonder what Farmer John would think at seeing Fumi from Aoi Hana on one of his heifers...? And no, taking down one of my multiple Ogasawara Sachiko pictures is NOT an option! Anyways, before I get further side tracked...let's get to it!
Story: 8
This is a very solid romantic anime. I am a middle aged, straight white man, but I felt like the anime dealt with what I perceive as the elements of being a Japanese teenage lesbian very well. There was a seriousness and an aspect of weight to the relationship presented that felt very 'real' and appropriate for what the story called for. This anime takes itself in a much more mature way than say other yuri types out there. (*cough* Strawberry Panic/Sakura Trick *cough*) and many elements of the feelings the girls have for each other matches up perfectly with the feelings I had for my first love, in the relationships I've had. There's an authenticity to the romance there, both on the side of the younger girl experiencing her first true love, and the older girl, falling deeply as well. I've always been a heterosexual man, but feelings, *real* feelings like explored in this story are not related to orientation or gender, they are universal and inherent to the human heart.
The story moves us through the relationship in a paced, and interesting manner. As an audience, we're brought in not long after the pair start dating, and we get to watch as the older girl guides the younger one through the complicated maze of being in a relationship, also while learning lessons herself. They go through moments where an issue comes between them, and as it often is in the real world, what one girl thinks is the problem has *nothing* to do with what's on the mind of her partner. Together they at first awkwardly move through the emotional minefield, but as they find themselves, and their feelings for each other, they become more confident.
There is of course the looming problem that every relationship like theirs faces, age. Age is the true enemy in this anime, and as someone who has moved through more life than perhaps some of you guys here, age is often the enemy in whatever matter you wish to consider. Time slips away very easily. But when you're young, and in love, a couple years, or a touch more, can be nearly an eternity. The growth of the relationship, each hurdle they clear, each touching moment they spend just serves to remind them, and us, that hard decisions are fast coming for the First and Third Year lovebirds.
This story is familiar, not only because we've all heard a variation a thousand times, but because the feelings, the relationship is based on situations and interactions that are viable in the real world. There isn't much surprise in some of the event, including the ending, because unless you're too young or for some reason haven't experienced true love, you've been where these girls are. You've had those awkward moments with your beloved, you've had the misunderstandings, the misgivings, the insecurities. You've had the tender brush of your love's lips, you've held them and felt your heart melt. The fact this anime makes me think of all these memories I have of my own romantic past is, in my mind, a powerful endorsement for it being a very well done romance. Let's be real folks, there are some elements of titillation in anime like Strawberry Panic and Sakura Trick and the like. Its meant to be somewhat 'stimulating' if you take my meaning there. Asagao to Kase-san does not have those moments, from where I'm sitting.
There are moments you can feel the almost painful innocence of the younger girl, and moments where the pulsing need to express their love physically comes off the older girl. Both of those are natural feelings, and are presented in a context that I have personally experienced (the exception being of course it was with Texas women, clearly) but the point remains, I've had those moments of heart pounding shyness, and those moments of deep yearning. This anime plays both as natural, which of course they are.
One might think it odd for me to open with such deference and not score the anime or the story elements even higher. My reasoning for this is, although so very well done in my mind, it really didn't have any truly unique hooks in my mind. There's some standard 'how do we make this work' questions to be asked, but that's par for the course. Just knowing from the synopsis we're dealing with an underclassman and an upperclassman points out the obvious 'what about college?' issue, and they did not resolve that in any manner that we haven't all seen before. I don't mean that as a complaint in the slightest, as I've said in my other reviews, knowing (or having a good idea) of what is to happen does not mean you cannot enjoy the story as it gets there. Its a solid romance, as I said, but has no real defining element to really hook into the audience. At the end of the hour run time I thought to myself, "that was a really great show, and I enjoyed watching it!" but in three months I will probably have little more memory of it beyond "I really liked that!" Doesn't take a thing away from the enjoyment I had viewing it, but it's not Romeo and Juliet famous-for-all-freaking-time caliber stuff.
Art: 8
The eyes are just amazing. I really loved how they drew the characters' eyes. The rest of the art is well done, the lines are clean, and flow well. The animation is smooth and the backgrounds don't stick out. The coloring seemed very soft and full of pastels to me, which of course works very well when you consider the story is told from the angle of the younger girl, and is thus a story about first true love. That kind of soft coloring fit the story very well, I believe.
Sound: 8
The background music was nice, adding emotional depth to moments as it played without being overtly noticeable. It was of course light, lingering, and soft, as romance pretty much almost always employs that kind of soundtrack. Perhaps a romance story with teen aged Japanese lesbians backed with a soundtrack from Metallica exists out there (and if it does, tell me it could be EPIC) but usually feelings and stuff gets the light airy sounds. No complaints here. The voices are all also well done, and sound fitting for the characters.
Character: 8
With this being a single hour run time there's not room for much in the way of characters outside our two love birds. Now it could be said that the younger girl is light on character, as she's primarily presented as a bit naive, and an avid gardener, and that's kind of it. She does express in a scene or two a pretty impressive level of devotion to her gardening hobby. It is in fact an important aspect in the girls' relationship. Now the fact that she doesn't have much else going on besides this hobby might seem light to some people. I will say this though, we're talking one hour to tell this entire romance, we don't really have time for each girl to carry several interests and hobbies without cluttering the story with unessential details that serve no point other than to chew up valuable clock time. So by keeping the focus pretty narrow to only one or two aspects of each girl's personality, we have more time to explore the relationship which is, oh right, the entire point! The younger girl doesn't need more 'notes' in her personality. She's young enough that she doesn't even consider that she might be sending a rather 'adult' signal when she invites her girlfriend to her house while her parents are out, to hang out together. Take that innocence, which she openly shares with the older girl, add a hobby that is intermingled into the story of their romance, and we really have all we need. Anything more, like she's into Spiderman comics or likes playing Minecraft is just overkill.
The older girl could be accused of being somewhat cliche in that she's a tomboy-ish type who is great at sports and is attracted to very innocent, feminine types. Yes, we've seen this archetype used many times before, but that doesn't mean it's just horrible and evil. To discount the entire story because she's a little cliche really does not only the story injustice, but you as a potential viewer as well. I do not have much experience with knowing all that many lesbian American women, but I have met one that is an athletic tomboy. I worked for a handful of years in nursing, and can readily testify that there are in fact pink sequin hat wearing, purse carrying, showtune singing homosexual men. In fact, as an aside, the first time a man ever asked me out on a date, he was wearing a pink sequined hat, having just gotten off his shift at a nursing home. The ones I know do not give a rat's ass if they are 'cliche' or not. They are who they are, and its that simple. You can either take them, or well, that's about it, they have every right to existence and happiness as anyone else that draws breath. So the older girl has short hair and is good at sports, what does it matter? It doesn't. The older girl is never presented in any manner that would belittle her for how and who she is. In fact I would imagine it was very much a story telling decision, as one of the difficulties the couple has to navigate is the older girl's popularity. Let's be honest people, it seems in most places in high school, the jocks (male and female) are often incredibly popular while the more 'bookish' people are somewhat less so. The older girl may well have some generally stereotypical lesbian attributes, but her character is as solid as a rock, and her qualities are perfectly acceptable.
Enjoyment: 8
Okay, I gotta breathe after that little rant there. Enjoyment, yes! I did enjoy this anime, and did find the romance very touching, even if a bit predictable in some manners. I honestly would rate it higher if it had just a hair more about it that was really unique. It's not quite Aoi Hana for me (but then again, no one can fill Fumi's shoes) but it was time well spent and a great story. The one thing I will give this anime that doesn't happen all that much is that the ending falls more in line with what I, as an American, am a fan of. I've mentioned before that my culture has a fascination for grand romantic actions. Its almost like the West wrote in that little bit in the marriage ceremony that says 'speak now or forever hold your peace' for the explicit purpose of allowing a person's 'true love' to bust through the doors of the building at that very moment and interrupt the ceremony. We just love that kind of thing, whereas you have a lot of anime (my beloved Aoi Hana, Sasameki Koto, etc) end on very muted or ambiguous notes. Cultural thing, I'm sure.
Take one solid romance story, add realistic moments and feelings, and slap a grand Western style ending on there, and what do you have? A show you should totally check out, and one more entry (the couple together) on the RTLR wall!
Fire
I've heard nothing but good things about Asagao to Kase-san, ranging from its frivolous cutesy moments to pure and innocent romantic atmosphere, so I had to check it out for myself to see if it really lived up to the praise it had been receiving. To sum up my thoughts, it did certainly match what people had been saying to a tee, but yet I still left feeling strangely unsatisfied with the experience afterwards. Somehow it didn't sit right with me; maybe I'd expected too much out of a 1-hour OVA and thought it would have more substance than what there actually was, or maybeI felt the relationship portrayed on screen felt underdeveloped and very superficial. Now that I've given it more thought, I'm ready to share how I feel about this OVA and why I thought it struck a lot of high notes, but fumbled a bit in the process of reaching them.
Let's start with what I liked about this anime. First of all, the art and animation is fantastic, pretty much the dictionary definition of eye-candy and adorableness. Though I will say that the character designs were pretty uninspired, definitely not anything we haven't seen before. The cute moments between our main couple Yamada and Kase definitely lived up to and surpassed what I had expected going in, leaving you feeling like you've had your daily sugar intake tripled. Their chemistry and relationship is nothing short of beautiful, and I think it's the prime example of how romance should be portrayed in a light and fluffy manner. The soundtrack is also excellent and worked very well throughout the short runtime of this OVA, choosing a more subtle and serene path initially and slowly working its way up to intensify the dramatic moments. The plane motif which is frequently referenced visually works very well with the core message of the story; that the sun always shines above the clouds, no matter how bad the weather gets below.
However, I also believe that the anime's focus on the "cute" moments between our main characters worked against it just as much as it did in its favor. While I understand that this isn't meant to be a deep story and that many liberties needed to be taken to adapt the story into a 1-hour OVA, the entire runtime of this anime pretty much boils down to a compilation of all the cute moments Yamada and Kase share until the eventual climax. Again, that is exactly the appeal of anime like this, but without the proper development of these characters it fell flat when you're supposed to be getting excited over the relationship of two girls you know basically nothing about, including how they got together in the first place. This is the limitation of having a manga adapted into a short hour-long special, but I do believe that they managed to include the elements of the story that mattered. However I can't help but feel like despite it being a worthwhile experience, it could've been a lot better had it been even an hour longer, or perhaps a full 12 episode long series. With the screentime they got, none of the characters were compelling in any way; all of them were generic cardboard archetypes thrown in with some good romantic chemistry added and then blended up. This is particularly true of Yamada's best friend/generic wingwoman character whom isn't even listed on the MAL page because her role was so insignificant in the narrative.
This anime is meant to appeal to a certain demographic, and that much is obvious. It isn't trying to be a deep story with compelling character arcs or a significant message. It's supposed to be a cute love story between two girls and the challenges they face in their relationship, nothing more. And this anime exceeds with flying colors when it's regarded as that and ONLY that. So, don't be like me and go into this expecting anything else, because the short runtime and aforementioned clear intentions are guaranteed to constrain this anime to what it presents itself to be and thus leave you disappointed like I was. So if you want a very clear and straightforward fluffy romantic story between two fumbling tyros that certainly isn't lacking in the diabetes department, then by all means you will love this anime. But if you want it to rise above that and perhaps be more than what it initially appears to be, you might be in the wrong business.
yuihzbs
[this review includes the manga] if you need a vanilla yuri anime here's one for you my guy. story: 7 one the first half of the story i loved it so much, just a wholesome lesbian couple doing loveydovey stuff that makes me feel sad bc i could've been like that with one certain person but it didn't worked out (why is this getting personal) but if you compared it to the manga, the ending seems so tacky. i mean yeah they removed kase's senpai bc it's not long enough for the story but makes it awkward and i cant ignore that... art: 10 the artstyle is top notch!pretty! totally my cup of tea. i dont really know much abouy zexcs but they did a great job for this one. the part when yamada's underwater(?) thinking about kase is a bit tacky an eh but it's very smooth and pretty so i'll let that one slide.
characters: 8
yamada is so cute and her scenes are funny but she's kinda cliche like the innocent shy girl who is kind of a loner ends up dating thi popular girl
kase is so hot i want a gf like her but i cant bc corona and im uninteresting (why is this geting personal again fuck)
mikawa is more intresting here than the manga maybe bc she does more stuff here than in the manga or maybe bc shes moving idk lol. out of the three her design is the most apealing in some sort of way(?).
overall they're all cute but cliche
enjoyment: 9
im just a sucker for shojou esc type of anime... they maybe not your cup of tea but i just like to imagine myself in those type of situation with my b/gf.... especially if those are yuri ones... i feel like japan tends to fetize yuri that we rarely get a wholesome yuri anime like this. or at least im not aware of the... if anyone wants to recommend me some that would be cool :D
overall: 8,6
the manga is better but it's pretty. it'll be better if this was a 6 eps(?) show.. maybe it's boring for some people but i'd watch it :3. should stop writing and study for my exam tmr.
sorry if i made a grammar error or a typo english is not my first language.
feel free to add befriend me... im lonely :)
siriuswrites
Asagao to Kase-san OVA was really good. It didn’t disappoint. I could really tell that they adapted the source material really well. I’m so happy! The OVA starts off around the time when Yamada & Kase were just started dating. You get to see their really really cute innocent & awkward moments together. But it’s not only happiness and rainbows, we get to see the struggles of the couple, especially on Yamada’s part, as Kase is quite popular in their school. If we compare this to the manga, they sure skipped alot of scenes and chapters. Still, the OVA feels compact and complete, like the scriptwritertook the right moments to story tell and make it flow fluidly.
I especially love the build-up and the climax of the series. It’s was well delivered in the manga, but dang the OVA made it alot better. Graduation is usually one of the most important moments in alot of highschool series. It’s that moment when the lead characters think of their future and their current state, Yamada & Kase are not exempted to this. Their struggles were quite realistic and relatable. Though, I am abit disappointed that the OVA ended just there. It would have been nice if they added the aftermath but I am still satisfied by how the OVA ended.
For the characters, I can’t really say much cuz I might cross over the spoilers line but I’ll still try. Kase is the typical popular sporty girl who befriends everyone, while Yamada is the shy one. Even though both of them are on the opposite sides of a spectrum, they were able to connect and fall in love with each other. It’s not shown in the OVA, but their development from friends to couple was featured in detailed in the manga so please do read it to know more. As for the OVA, their development looks subtle but its there. It wasn’t really apparent, as the anime only got an hour to tell their story. So if you guys liked the OVA, please do check the manga. 😀
The art and animation is soooo soooo GOOD. Oh my ghad!! I love it. I just love it. They pretty much followed the character designs from the manga, and the animation is so smooth. Everything was done really well. I’m so happy cuz this anime deserves this quality.
I think its already clear that I really really like this anime adaptation even though its only an OVA. I would definitely recommend this OVA to everyone, especially to the yuri fans. At last, they actually made a Yuri anime without any sexual harassment and just plain old love story. So please please check this OVA out.
That is all for now.
Thanks for reading!!
Himarinriin
I named it "homosexual shoujo" Simply love it. This is the type of yuri I was searching all my life, so pretty and pure, also like a real lesbian couple and without that "comedy" or fanservice included in others of the genre (It's totally respectable, but not my type of yuri...) If you're searching for a lesbian romance anime I think this is perfect. I enjoyed it a lot, was like a flash lol, and the art is so sooo beautiful, reminds me a little of Makoto Shinkai films, it has that type of relaxing aura. You can empatize well with the characters and her situations, I thinksit's realistic in this point.
It was a good experience watch this OVA, it's probably that I rewatch it ^^
