"SHOUJO ROMANCE TAPE ONE"
...a tape containing two shoujo romance OAV's...
"SHOUJO ROMANCE TAPE ONE"
...a tape containing two shoujo romance OAV's...
This 50-minute OAV was released in 1991, based on one of Mariko Iwadate's
short stories appearing in the shoujo manga monthly magazine "Margaret".
Margaret magazine has had a long history of supporting the shoujo anime
genre by producing OAV's based on work by their most loved manga artists.
When a manga magazine produces or co-produces anime like this, the subject
matter is usually either a short story or a segment from a long series.
If it is a short story, such as this OAV, the viewer is not expected to
already be familiar with the characters and background.
This is a character study of a rather traumatized young woman who develops
a crush on a man who lives next door to her. The characterization
is developed in a remarkably sensitive and detailed manner, and may leave
you thinking about the main character long after viewing the anime.
The OAV has a big-name cast: one of the stars is Megumi Hayashibara
(THE lead in 3x3 Eyes, DNA2, Evangelion, Ranma (girl Ranma), Video Girl
Ai, Slayers, and dozens of other top-rated shows). The other female
lead role is played by Noriko
Hidaka,
who has been in dozens of
roles also but is most famous as Akane in Ranma and Minami in Touch.
The male lead is Takehiko
Koyasu, who was Koji in "Zetsuai 89."
This LD is quite rare in North America, and is apparently now out-of-print.
Another magazine which produces some excellent special animation features
is "Wings". This progressive shoujo manga monthly produced the classic
time-travel romance, "Sequence" in 1992. The author is Ken Mizuki
(if my reading of the kanji name is correct; apparently, a male author,
which is unusual!).
Little is known about the original work (gensaku). The viewer may
actually have to watch the feature twice to answer their many questions,
since the portion of the story which is actually presented in the OAV appears
to be only a tiny part of a larger scenario stretching forward into the
future and back into the past. It's impossible to say whether this
is an original short story with an exceptionally well developed scenario,
or just a key segment of a longer series. Either way, the story is
a surprisingly powerful one. The OAV begins with the appearence of
Kara, a girl from the 23rd century, who has gained illegal access to a
time machine to travel back to 1990 in order to search for her lover who
was lost in a time machine accident. In typical shoujo fashion, little
time is wasted explaining the technological details in this science fiction
fantasy, but a lot of time is spent examining the unique relationships
of the personalities in the story.
Kara is played by Masako Katsuki, an actress known for playing Maya in the original "The Glass Mask" anime series, and Sailor Neptune in "Sailor Moon." Another well known voice is Yuri Amano, who was Alcyone in "Magic Knight Rayearth" and Moemi in "Video Girl Ai."
We are very grateful that work on Sequence was commissioned by Elijah Van der Giessen. The script was based on a translation by Choberigu Translations, with additional translation in parts by Barbara Chambers. The show was timed and edited by Barbara's son, Austin Chambers.
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