jeez i need to proofread better. also, only posting two months since the last comment, nbd.

i read the manga, and personally, i loved it. it’s very quirky with its own style and kind of humor, and i can see how the beginning seems sporadic, pointless, and random (though i actually liked it, heh). i was rereading earlier chapters, and hagumi is INCREDIBLY immature. if anything, it was very weird to read those chapters while having knowledge of the ending.

what i want to address, primarily, is the reception of Hagumi, particularly her appearance. she looks 8. when she was first introduced, i thought she was at least 8. people are then disgusted by her extreme loli looks, and how guys who look much older than her are completely enchanted by her.
but this is a deliberate choice by the author, and if anything, her looks actually change throughout the series. in fact, it’s prety interesting to compare the way she looks at the end with her appearance at the beginning- admittedly, she still looks very young, but there is a maturity and seriousness to her that is absent when she is first introduced. Hagu develops and matures from the weird fairy of the beginning to a very real girl with a clear purpose at the end. it’s that very real gradual change and development that makes this series one of my favorites.
beyond hagu, plenty of the other characters mature as well, and there is plenty of painful self-evaluation and reality checks that take a while to kick in… but isn’t the same with life?

if you had a very intensely negative first impression and couldn’t bear to stick around in the beginning…. well, i’d encourage you to stick around. the manga does demand commitment from the reader. and if you don’t care and you aren’t curious… i encourage you to go find another manga. i can’t say anything about the series, because i never watched it, lol. though it sounds like it’s quite similar to the manga.

Lala, you’ve just summed up official Sleep is for the Weak policy for series with shitty beginnings.

Now that I’ve completed both seasons, I have to say that I absolutely love it, and that anyone who doesn’t complete the series is into nothing longer than instant gratification.

1. You’ll only understand the introduction animations and songs if you watch the whole series. You’ll understand the relevance of, for example, the poodle, the Ferris Wheel, and the four-leafed clover. These are seemingly random but they all fit very squarely into the entire story.

2. You’ll only get to know the characters well at the end of the first season. Morita-san will be forever mysterious until the second half of the second season. So will their professor, and the whole story of Rika. It’s very reflective of real life, actually. You don’t know people well until you’ve spent a few years at least getting to know them. Sometimes you don’t even understand them until they’re gone.

3. I totally relate to the main guy’s job-searching, and realisation for what job fits me best. Yes, jobs are THAT difficult to come by in a bad economy in Japan. Especially for an art student.

4. This is the classic way of how slice-of-life manga works, I think. You get thrown into a scene where you feel like a total stranger, but as the years pass in the series, you get to know the characters’ lives and personalities. And after watching the main guy complete his university journey (among other journeys), my stomach feels the same fullness as when I finished reading Jane Eyre. Seemingly mundane at the beginning, but when you finish it, it’s a beautiful story.

I kept saying to myself, “Why is this anime so popular cause I don’t get it?” So I was like,”Well it has 2 seasons so it must be doing something right. Let me check some reviews.”

And I found yours. I feel the same way. I couldn’t relate to the 8 year old trapped in the 18 year old body. On the 1st episode I felt like I walked in on the middle of the series and had no idea what was going on. 4 episodes later I still felt the same way. I just don’t get it.

I didn’t even realize it was a josei. I just assumed it was a shojo. It really does not fit the josei genre. It reminds me of a shojo which I’m so tired of. Like when the two college students were playing with dolls and planning on making a doll house I was just thrown off.

And it is creepy how they are in love with her. In fact I find its quite perverse.

Anyway I agree with your review 100%.

is there a reason you format
your comments like poetry
by e.e. cummings? because you’re
officially allowed to do that
forever.
but only you