For those who were expecting something more along the lines of the original Futakoi, Futakoi Alternative quickly set them right. Futakoi Alternative is not much of a harem series, and in fact the conclusion goes against your standard “Pick one, or put off the decision” harem ending, as Rentarou’s decision that they will be three is a decision of courage and not one of cowardice. Mix this in with an explosive combination of frantic action and beautifully melancholy scenes designed simply to set a mood, and you have a really unique winner.
While on the surface the plot is some absurd concoction about squids that can shoot missiles and fly, the real intent of Futakoi Alternative seems to be to deliver a deeper message about maturing and learning to accept yourself. And if it takes living in a socially-unacceptable threesome while fighting an underground society, then so be it. This growing process really makes Rentarou an appealing character. After all, he is very far from perfect, and doesn’t always make the right decision. However, his growth throughout this short series is impressive, but believable, and I know I was cheering when he finally felt himself worthy of being Ainosuke’s son.
The other strengths of Futakoi Alternative are mood and pacing. The 13 episode format was a great choice for this story, and I liked the flip-flop between slow and fast episodes (because how much of either kind can you really take in a row, anyway?). The way the background music, and the scenery were used to exude a mood was masterful, helping the viewer to understand the quiet happiness of Rentarou with the Shirogane sisters, as well as the sadness of being apart. As you might expect, the characters were also very well done, and I was pleasantly surprised that Futakoi Alternative did not get bogged down at all in the various cameos. In fact, the other twin-sets were cycled through quite briskly, and generally enriched the story, or at least moved the plot along.
Anyway, overall Futakoi Alternative is an excellent series that really captures a lot of the strangeness of life, and makes it a warm and appealing strangeness instead of a repulsive one. With wonderful characters, great storytelling, and strong mood and pacing, Futakoi is a definite classic, even if you never saw its weak predecessor.
Kabitzin’s Rating: 5/5
This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1970 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I honestly pretend Futakoi never existed at times
Great review of the series Kabitzin and now that it has been fully subbed, I’ll have to sit down one day and watch all the fun and excitement again. Too bad for a great series, it’s R2 DVD release was a real disappointment. Great pricing scheme but horrible extras IMHO. And we all know how I love extras!
Anyway, here’s hoping by some *miracle* Futakoi Alternative will get licensed in the US one day! It can definitely show other ‘classic’ harem series that are already licensed an thing or two on how to get things done right.
I completely agree with everything you said about Futakoi Alternative apart from one thing. Ever since episode 8 and after reading Albert’s and Evirus’ analysis of the extent of the relation between Rentarou and both Sara and Soujyu, I became convinced that Rentarou is more attracted to and more compatible with Soujyu than with Sara. The kiss Rentarou gave to Soujyu in episode 12 was the icing on the cake. I wasn’t surprised at all by that kiss because my mind became so convinced that those two are meant for each other that it seemed the natural thing to do. That’s why I think the ending of Futakoi Alternative was a bit disappointing because it didn’t make Rentarou choose the path of his heart and instead he chose the easy path that will make everyone happy. The real courage was to go with what his heart desires even if it meant causing some pain to Sara (they could have let Rentarou and Soujyu marry in the last episode while still allowing Sara to live with them since she is her sister). In my opinion, this was another form of “putting off the decision” endings that we see in Harem shows. Having said that, Futakoi Alternative is still a great show with excellent drama, comedy, music and lovable characters.
Alberts’ Analysis can be found here:
http://www.moetry.org/wordpress/?p=452
Evirus’ analysis can be found here: http://karmaburn.com/futakoi_alternative2.php
Final thought: When Rentarou asked the crowd if they were happy at the end of episode 13, I remembered my favourite Captain Kaiji from episode 10 of Gun X Sword. (^_^)
But you know, society would say that being three was wrong and so it takes something to go against what society says. Being three also means a careful balancing act for the rest of the relationship. I’m not sure that it represents the easiest path. I felt like the whole point of the Mai/Ai episode and Kimihiko’s role in the plot was to show that picking one was not the correct way to approach the situation.
However, I do tend to agree with you three in that Rentarou is better paired off with Souju. I get these uncomfortable vibes that he is secretly hoping to pimp Sara out to Kimihiko, but in a way that they can go from three to four. That way the Shirogane sisters can always be together, and Rentarou can score some dough.
too good to be called a harem series
thumbs up because the show gives an optimistic view of a realistic male character showing that all males will not end up being spinless, perverted, stupid, overly-macho, static, or giant-black-sword-swinging overpowered crazy, which is the general themes anime seems to portray. A great story about growth and the ups and downs of love, where one feels elated at times, and yet love can cause one to feel uncertain and torn at others.
Again, too good to be called a harem series
That’s just the point, Kabitzin. In episode 3, Rentarou remained indecisive and in the middle. He even rejected one of the sisters when she confessed her love to him. Look where all that led. The two sisters now barely speak to each other and both of them left town. I think Mai / Ai can be seen as the adult form of Sara / Soujyu and what happened to them will also happen to Sara and Soujyu if they keep this “the three of us living together” thing. Rentarou’s decision is just a quick fix and like all quick fixes, it will not last long. If he was a real person, he will, sooner or later, have to make a choice and that choice will become more pressing as the three get older.
Either that or it’s back to the Utah plan (^_^)
And yes, I don’t consider Futakoi Alternative to be a Harem show.
I think Sara and Soujyu kind of complement each other. It would be unfair to claim each of them isn’t self-contained personality but they seem to need each other. Considering that they are twins (and it’s fictional anime after all), this cannot properly compared with other cases of bigamy. Whilst most cases of bigamy are probably driven by selfishness, I don’t see that’s the case here and I doubt this kind of relation wouldn’t exist if it didn’t suit some people actually quite well.
Whether this will hold forever is a different question and it’s unlikely for any kind of relationship. It’s often better to try something out than regretting it for the rest of your life if you didn’t. Also it seems Sara likes (loves?) Rentarou much more than she’d admit just like Susei Seki. On the other hand, I’m surprised Sara and Kimihiko didn’t become a couple after all because it looked as if she had lightened up to him and he definitely cared about her. I thought the main point of Sara’s and Soujyu’s sadness was the separation from each other.
I almost feel like a spoilsport, but as good as I think FA is, it’s only 4-4.5/5 on my scale. Why? Because it was a little bit too unbalanced for me. Some parts were just exceptional, full of true awesome (for example the first episode, or the parting episode). But some parts did not capture me as much. To be honest, the whole squid subplot fell flat in my book. Several of the twins were completely forgettable (think the missing dog/animal doctor episode, which would have been totally wasted if it hadn’t been for Sara/Souju). Also, the action of the final episodes didn’t really capture me too.
What remains are a string of several awesome episodes, a very enthralling and dramatic triangle of a new kind and some very entralling music (I admit it, the new ED from Sara’s perspective at the end of the parting episode got me to tear up). That’s not quite a 5 in my book, simply because of the shortcomings, but it definitely was a hell of a ride.
I agree that there was too much squid action in a row during the last episodes. I liked the action overkill in the first episode and also the one in which he sets the city on fire. However, but the final episodes about the conspiration were rather a mismatch with the rest of the series. However, the other episodes make easily up for those, so I’ll simply ignore that issue.
I also thought at the end of episode 11 that we have seen the last of Mr. squid but they had to go with the silly squid organisation plot for the last 2 episodes. Oh well, I guess you have to expect that from a show that relies on comedy a lot.
I’m with Mentar that it isn’t a 5 because of the squid plot and it was just fine with the drama between Rentarou and the sisters. It didn’t need Ika Fire at all.
I haven’t seen the whole series yet, but as of right now I actually liked the original Futakoi better. I don’t know, maybe I need to watch the rest of Alternative…either that or I just really love crappy anime (that’s probably what it is).
Oh thats right… there was a awful squid subplot in there… But see, in contrast with the good parts of the show, the entire thing just left my mind completely in a case of benevolent amnesia
Got nostalgic for Futakoi Alternative and went to rewatch the entire season again, for the third time, and I realised some new stuff.
The Daisy Fitzgerald songs that are played in Ep05 are also the BGMs for ARIA! The common link between these two series is that ufoTable was also involved with the ARIA project( they lent assistance). I watched ARIA after F.Alt, so I never realised the connection before. After hearing the ARIA BGMs for well over two seasons, my memory immediately flagged it after rewatching F.Alt.
Sigh… even after all this time, F.Alt still touches me. It is very easy for an anime to make me tear up, but it takes something special to make me sniffle, and I sniffled a lot during F.Alt’s many poignant moments. Rewatching F.Alt also reminded me why Rentarou is still currently my favourite anime male lead( Rock from Black Lagoon is giving him competition though).
Cheers.
Funny, I actually finished marathoning this a couple weeks ago after abandoning it months ago. I think I had dropped it because of the wackiness, but when I picked it back up I realized how angsty and AWESOME it was. RENTAROUUUUU~~~!
I haven’t watched the original, but I probably will at some point. Ah, the life of watching bad love comedies….