Review for Midori Days: Volume 2 - Wrong Hand Man

Introduction

"Those crazy Japanese!" is a cry I often hear when someone spies just what the latest fantastic anime show that I'm watching is. I don't know exactly when the complaint began, but every other show elicits constant looks of bemused tolerance in those who aren't familiar with a different cultural worldview. It isn't just anime, I've been hearing that cry ever since I was a boy watching Clive James and Chris Tarrant on TV, using clips of the game show Endurance to show just how crazy the Japanese can be. On the face of it, the tale of a boy whose right hand gets replaced by a little girl could be considered crazy, if not downright perverted. Then last year I saw a music video for a song called Big Bad Wolf, by Duck Sauce. Look it up on Youtube if you're in a NSFW friendly environment. It certainly isn't Japanese, and it makes Midori Days look like a Sunday school sermon!


Almost every teenage boy goes through that rather messy phase where his most meaningful sexual relationship is with his right (or left) hand. There may come a point for some boys that the fear grows, that this relationship will be the only such relationship they ever have. Seiji Sawamura has such a relationship. In fact his right hand gets so much of a work out that its toughness has become legendary. Seiji is a delinquent, which makes his iron fist useful as he's always on the receiving end of challenges from rival schools. Except being a delinquent he has no luck at all in finding a girlfriend. Then one night he goes to sleep, lamenting his single status, only to wake up the next morning with a miniature girl where his right hand used to be. Midori Kasugano has secretly nursed a crush on Seiji for the last 3 years, but now being his right hand girl may be a little closer than either of them expected.


Media Blasters present the next four episodes of Midori Days on this disc.

6. Shiori's Big Love Love Strategy
While Seiji never had any luck with girls his own age, he does have the affections of a young neighbour named Shiori. Of course he never took it too seriously. Then one sunny Sunday, when Midori hopes to have Seiji all to herself, Seiji runs into Shiori and her parents, who are going out for the day. Except that Shiori would much rather spend the day with Seiji, ostensibly to let her dad and her new stepmum have a day together. Seiji's completely oblivious to Shiori's crush, but not Midori. Then Seiji's school friend Ayase sees Shiori clinging to Seiji and gets the wrong end of the stick. To make matters worse, Seiji's sister Rin shows up, and decides to help Shiori with her object of affection.


7. First Date
If the previous episode did one thing, it crystallised Ayase's feelings, and convinced her to make these feelings clear to Seiji. A couple of tickets to a horror movie ought to do the trick, although just to make certain, Ayase's planned the day down to the finest detail, in order to make Seiji aware of her most impressive qualities. Midori's worried that she may lose Seiji, although with Seiji as usual completely oblivious to Ayase's feelings, maybe Midori should worry more about Ayase wanting to hold hands in the cinema.


8. Right Hand Seiji
You'd think that there would be a threshold where strange events would cease to shock. After all, waking up with a girl where your right hand used to be is as far out a situation as is likely to develop. But shock hits again when the situation is suddenly reversed, with Midori waking up the next morning with a little Seiji where her right hand ought to be. In fact, the shock is doubled, as the world takes on a Sliding Doors effect, as if it is split into two. In one world, Seiji gets to see the world from Midori's perspective, and begins to understand just what she is going through. In another Midori finds that despite her dream of being close to Seiji coming true, her life truly isn't satisfactory.


9. Takky Days
Shuichi Takamizawa, Seiji's classmate, and secret otaku whose discovery of Seiji and Midori's secret in the previous volume briefly threatened their bliss before losing his memory, has found it again, in the form of a digital camera memory card. Trouble looms once more for Seiji and Midori when Takamizawa starts a Midori website. The only thing that will get him to take it down is if Seiji helps him sell some Midori merchandise at an anime convention. It doesn't hurt that he offers to split the money with the ever-broke Seiji. If that isn't enough, Takamizawa then goes and falls in love with a real life human girl, and asks Seiji for his advice.

Picture

Midori Days gets a 4:3 regular transfer, which on this US disc quite naturally is in NTSC format. It's really quite a pleasant experience, clean, sharp and free of compression artefacts. Colours are well defined, and the animation is smooth and reproduced well on this disc. Midori Days is an older show, and that does come across in the simplicity of the character designs, and in the world design. However the animation is energetic and fluid, the characters stay on model, and the backgrounds have an atmospheric feel to the lighting, shade and warmth that really makes this show appealing to watch.

Sound

You have the choice of Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo in English and Japanese, with optional translated subtitles and a signs only track. There are no problems with the sound, the dialogue is clear and the music and action sequences come across without distortion or dropout. The credit sequences get appropriate songs, and as always my preference was for the original language track, which I found most satisfying. The English dub on the other hand is not quite as appealing, it's one of those comedy tracks that emphasises loudness as a source of humour, so characters will be screaming at several points during the show. Teen girl voices in English dubs for anime usually are high pitched and annoying to begin with; with Midori miniaturised, that irritation goes off the scale for me.

Extras

The disc is presented in an Amaray case, with a pleasing if simple cover. Inside you may find a catalogue for other Media Blasters titles. The disc itself gets static menus.

This time the disc is a little lighter on extras, although you'll find Media Blasters trailers for Gokusen, Seven of Seven, BLAME!, and Shura no Toki.

The only other extra is the Original Audio Drama Day 2, which offers 7½ minutes of character interaction, played out against static scenery taken from the show. This is in Japanese audio with English subtitles.

The case blurb commits the sin of listing interactive menus and scene access as DVD extras. Shameful!

Conclusion

Midori Days: Volume 2 offers little that is different from volume 1, which if you are in the mood for a light-hearted, off-beat romantic anime comedy is just what you are looking for. For me that means that Midori Days continues in its entertaining and charming groove as established previously, but fails really to push the envelope and become something striking and memorable. It's a show that I'm happy to recommend if you are in the mood for something light, silly, and occasionally moving, but it fails to strike me as a show that you simply have to have at any cost.


I think it's because it fails, particularly in this middle section to capitalise on the pairing of Seiji and Midori. It really ought to be developing their relationship more, giving them more reason to relate to each other, or offering more impediments for them to overcome, and in doing so come to a better understanding of each other. The way that Midori Days plays it, is to establish their unconventional relationship almost as a fait accompli, and then concentrates on the humour and comedy supplied by the incidental characters, letting the central relationship just freewheel.


Therefore, these episodes will succeed or fail depending on how much you appreciate the incidental characters in question, which makes the first episode on this disc, perhaps my least favourite of the series, as it features both Shiori, the neighbourhood brat that has a crush on Seiji, and his over-bearing sister Rin. Shiori's probably the only girl, prior to Seiji meeting Midori that expressed any romantic interest in him. The fact that she's just a child led him to dismiss it as simple teasing, but this episode reveals that there is something deeper behind Shiori's interest in him, and uncovering that actually makes this story an interesting one, although seeing a little girl hanging off the arm of an older boy is an uncomfortable situation. What kills this episode for me is the arrival of Rin, who with the tact of an age inappropriate blunderbuss decides to help Shiori woo her little brother Seiji, apparently just for the comedy value of seeing the look on his face. Through the entire episode, Seiji remains oblivious to Shiori, while Midori is reduced to an observer. There is a meaningful reason behind Shiori's pursuit of Seiji as the conclusion of the episode reveals, but any empathy in the story is sapped by Rin's presence in it.


The second story is pretty much a replay of the first, although this time at least Ayase, who is lusting after Seiji, happens to be the same age as him. It's easier to laugh at the situations that develop in this story, as there isn't that age inappropriate nature to it, and neither is big sister Rin present. It's easier to laugh at Seiji's obliviousness to Ayase simply throwing herself at him in various contrived situations. Midori also plays a bigger part in the story, although I think that at this point one of Midori Days biggest flaws is really hampering the show. The need for Seiji to keep Midori secret from the world limits just what she can do, and here it's just a case of trying to deal with her own feelings while she watches Ayase unsuccessfully try to woo her man.


The next episode appears to address my complaint about the show neglecting the central relationship, when it switches the two around, depositing Seiji where Midori's right hand should be. Suddenly, with Seiji seeing the world from a more diminutive perspective, he gets to understand just what Midori has been going through, and with Midori at last back in the real world in terms of her stature and being able to interact with people again, she gets the chance to take stock of her feelings towards Seiji, see where her crush on him has developed, and whether her single minded fascination with him really is enough for her. However, the Sliding Doors format of this story, telling it twice over from two different viewpoints, is a little muddled in its execution, while the conclusion of the story undoes most of the good work it did in terms of character development.


The final episode is the most entertaining, even if it is just another pure comic episode that once again neglects Midori and Seiji's relationship in favour of hi-jinks with a third character. This time it is the return of the class otaku Takamizawa, who has suddenly remembered what previously had happened when he discovered Seiji's secret. It's a fun episode as Takamizawa is an appealing, if somewhat stock geek character, and it's also a fun episode as with Midori's secret not an issue, she can play a substantial part in the story. Here she pretends to be a glove puppet to help Seiji and Takamizawa sell merchandise at an anime convention. She and Seiji also get to meddle in someone else's relationship, when it appears that Takamizawa has indeed fallen in love. It seems like the perfect development, a chance for the otaku to ditch his hand puppet fetish, until they actually meet the object of his desire.


Midori Days is turning out to be a run of the mill romantic comedy, with more to appreciate about it than aspects to find fault with. But those flawed aspects are enough to diminish it in my estimation, while the positives aren't enough to make it stand out as a superlative piece of anime. It is enjoyable enough though, and if you want something inconsequential to help while away the minutes, then Midori Days is an anime romcom that won't break the budget. Still, with one volume to go, there still is the chance that it may find a conclusion that will mark it as something special.