 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | RIGHT STUF! INTERNATIONAL | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 4:3 FULL SCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 325 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | 13+ | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 03/11/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 03/29/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
SYNOPSIS:
Meet three high school guys with just one thing on their minds: girls. Quiet Kyoichi has been friends with Chiharu ever since they were young, but lately, his feelings have begun to change. Lecherous Makoto, a self-proclaimed master of the rules of romance, is ready to sweep the ladies off their feet. And Yoshihiko, a handsome sports nut, is unfortunately a bit clueless in matters of the heart. Join this hapless trio for a year of romantic misadventures that will change their lives forever!
The complete 13 episode series on 4 discs in a thinpak collection. REVIEW:
A series as much about what happens between romance as what goes on with it, Boys Be is a slice of life look at the lives and loves of three guys and the girls they meet. Following the seasons, the story begins in the Spring and follows through with each segment of three episodes covering one season approximately. So it goes Spring – Summer – Autumn – Winter. At each stage, the anime shows how the cast of boys and the girls in their lives are developing both emotionally and romantically. The boys and girls all suffer some mishaps along the way and perhaps become a little more mature, if not wiser, while experiencing first loves first pangs. It’s a quiet and gently paced anime. There is drama and a bit of mild comedy, but overall the tale is one that looks at the young lives and loves of the various characters within it. The main focus is on the on-again off-again relationship between Kyoichi and his longtime friend turned first love Chiharu, but much time is also devoted to Makoto and Yoshihiko and the various girls they meet and the effects these meetings have on each of them. Eventually each interaction is a step for each person to realize who they really want and what they will do about it. For Kyoichi, this isn’t answered until the very, very end of the series where we are given an impression of what is about to happen at the end of the credits to episode thirteen. It is not tied up with a neat little bow by any stretch of the imagination, but you get the feeling that the next pivotal step in his life is about to be taken. This softer side of anime is along the lines of such classic shows as Kimagure Orange Road without the quirkiness, or Peach Girl from a boy’s perspective (mostly) and without the severe soap opera angst. The anime is based off of the manga Boys Be written by Masahiro Itabashi and illustrated by Hiroyuki Tamakoshi. The anime tells the tale with much of the more dramatic moments actually happening off-screen. Rarely are confessions of love heard first hand, but later we find out that characters have gotten together romantically. Therefore this anime is more about what happens between those times that bring the characters to those off-screen moments. It’s the stuff that builds and changes people to create the growth they need to mature and make the important decisions that will change their romantic lives. The animation, like the story, is soft. Some of it has a bit of a water color impression to the backgrounds and nice soft colors are used. Offering something far from the norm, the opening sequence is actually live action with other images superimposed on the female seen in it (a girl we assume to be Chiharu). The eye-catches are live action film as well and constantly changing and so offer something different visually every time. The music is quite nice too. Both the opening “Daijobou” and the ending “Mina ga ii ne” are sung by Aki Maeda. However one particular episode featuring Kyoichi’s run in with an aspiring rock star offers an ending theme sung by the voice actress who plays her, Shoko, as done by Japanese actress and singer Yuka Imai. She also does another song in that episode and sings the special opening song, “First Love”, for the final episode thirteen. EXTRAS:
This thinpak offers many bonus features including line art galleries, clean opening and closing animation, original Japanese promotional spots and commercials, trailers of other Right Stuf/Nozomi titles, special tracks that include a music video/montage of the series, and commentary on 4 of the episodes by English cast and crew. Episode 8 has audio commentary from Joe DiGiorgi (Dubbing Producer). Lively and amusingly off-topic commentary is provided by Liam O’Brien (ADR Director/Script Adaptation/voice of Makoto), Sam Regal ((ADR Director/Script Adaptation/voice of Kyoichi) and Jennifer Sekiguchi (Yumi) on episodes 9 and 11, while Liam and Sam rejoin viewers for commentary together on the final episode 13. The set comes in a solid art box featuring the entire female cast on one side and the three main guys on the other. It holds the four thinpak disc cases with discs a 48-page booklet on hard card stock that contains full color art work, line art, character bios, and comments from the Japanese cast and staff. IN SUMMARY:
Boys Be is a quiet slice-of-life romantic drama that goes easy on the angst for a softer, gentler look at the pangs of growing up and falling in love.
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