"Kimagure Orange Road" (Anime)

[pkristen]

1 Episode of Long TV Series. Originally reviewed April 23, 2001

Summary
Viewed episode “Unexpected Situation” (Special thanks to greenegret for the tip!)

(Jan 11 '10 Note: Unfortunately, I really don't know what the series is about since I never watched the rest of it, and I've forgotten the episode so this review is my only evidence that I looked at the serie at all.)

Review
KOR is obviously a more adult series, approaching the discussion of dating and relationship with a little more frankness than other series that I’ve seen, which I personally found refreshing. Still, the animation and subject seems dated but I’m sure was quite progressive at the time.

Lesbian Analysis
This episode revolves around Akane, the younger cousin of the male lead of the series Kyosuke. Both of them are in love with the female Madoka (who is apparently clueless about the former and vaguely aware about the latter.) The main storyline is Akane buckling under pressure from two female school friends to prove that she does indeed have a boyfriend, which is where Kyosuke comes in.

What’s interesting about the chain of events is that the discussion between the school girls starts off with the friends noting Akane’s crush on Madoka and commenting that she should have gotten over such things now that she’s a senior in high school, which confirms a trend that it seems far more socially acceptable for girls to have crushes on other girls but with the expectation they would eventually grow out of them.

The episode was enjoyable though fairly obvious in what was going to happen to a person who’s seen her fair share of “denying and then standing up for who you love” type stories. Still worthwhile and fascinating viewing.