Dear Santa, this year for Christmas I want a school idol girlfriend that puts out on the first date
Summary:
Wow, John! Oh John! Jooooohn! Er, I mean Johnichi!
We start off with a flashback from last Christmas Eve, when Haruka first met Junichi and cheered him up by pointing out a faraway mountain that is usually hidden by smog clouds. Back in the present, Junichi is pathetically waiting in the school yard in hopes of walking Haruka home, when he is ambushed by Miya and Rihoko and forced to go Christmas shopping. It turns out to be the right choice as he runs into Haruka playing a claw game, and expertly ditches the shoppers and helps Haruka win a bear charm. This leads to a visit to the love compatibility machine, and Haruka is able to up their score from 30% to 95% by changing her initials and declaring that Lovely is her middle name (since she is quarter-Caucasian).
Junichi then brings Haruka to where they first met, and she is surprised that he is the Park-kun she met that day, back when she was feeling bummed about the passing of her dog John. Emboldened by Haruka, Junichi asks her out on a date, and gets a consolation prize of a visit to her grandparents’ party. When the day comes, however, it turns out that Haruka’s grandparents got delayed and Haruka turns the entire day into one of seduction. From the pool fanservice to the trip up to the hotel room that Haruka can’t bear to waste, it’s all a calculated effort to get Junichi in bed with her. However, when Junichi proves too kind to peek on Haruka in the bath, she turns into a tearful, embarrassed, lonely mess. Fortunately, Junichi is totally not turned off by this, resulting in a White Christmas, and a cute flash forward to Junichi and Haruka’s married life 10 years later.
Reaction:
Just because you fault doesn't mean you can't hit a winner on your second serve
Haha, oh man it’s just so perfect that Junichi is a rebound for Haruka’s dog. At first I thought this was going to go the way of a typical H-game romance, but I liked the way it ended. Unlike most pairings, I think both Haruka and Junichi were realistically flawed, and yet both brought something to the table. Haruka got a guy with that puppy dog look she loves, incredible perseverance, remarkable tongue skills, a flair for dramatic roleplaying, a willingness to put up with an outpouring of emotion, and a kind heart. Junichi got a quirky girl with great imagination and easily triggered flags. They really made a cute couple at the end, although you can tell that they would be one of those couples that are just horrible to go on double dates with.
I wonder how we will go about the next arc, and if Junichi will be the main male again. It would be a little sad to see him parallel-universe-cheating on Haruka, but all’s fair in love and dating sims. I guess if that happens, it will make Amagami SS almost a how-to series. I also wonder if all those little supporting character snippets in this arc will come into play in later arcs. I hope they can keep the pace up, because it was a fun little journey, and I always love time skips. I am a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see how Miya took the marriage, and whether or not Haruka succeeded in seducing her.
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About Kabitzin: 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. |
21 Comments
That first picture just made me seriously consider watching this >_<
I agree that it would have been nice to get some more scenes about the Miya-Haruka tension, but I guess that they simply ran out of time
Personally, I have to say that I found this format exceptionally refreshing. The guy actually had to _work_ for the girl, who was NOT fawning over him all the time. Still, the end showed that it wasn’t merely a one-sided spoiling trip, but Haruka had certain issues of her own to overcome. In the end – exactly like you wrote – we have a case of a good match, because each of the two is providing something the other one needs. So, I find it very easy to give the resolution my blessing.
On the technical aspect, Shizuka Itou put in a grade-A++ performance. It’s very hard to credibly fill a all-cheers-and-fired-up character with life, and lord knows that she succeeded. I think that Haruka will become her second trademark character after Hinagiku (whose voice template she borrowed). Also, I liked the level of fanservice: We were spared blatant panty/crotch shots, but some tasteful glimpses on yummy thighs and curvy forms were still added for good measure.
There’s one extra thing I’d like to point out though: The animation of eyes. I’m an eye man. When you want to find out what another person is, what he thinks and why, it’s the eyes that are telling the most. And usually, anime animation doesn’t put much effort into this. Amagami SS is a notable exception to that.
I also like the time jump 10 years ahead. It might be a bit headache-incurring in this case (though Hibiki’s exasperated reaction was hilarious), but I’m definitely looking forward to see the future for several other pairings. So, that’s a good addition too.
So, overall, color me very pleased. A very solid performance somewhere between A and B for me.
The thing I like best about this format is that since the lead male will probably just get reset each arc, there is no reason for him to be wishy washy to keep the girls at a relatively even position in the race for love. Thus, the pace of their relationship was extremely snappy, like the opposite of Kimi ni Todoke.
I noticed the attention to eye animation, and I agree it is very welcome.
As for Haruka, I like that they had her blubbering and trying to sleep with Junichi to ease her loneliness. It totally had BACK OFF alarms sounding in my head, and suddenly it made so much more sense why Haruka was single and available.
I wonder if the game showed that…
Just wait a little more for The World God Only Knows and you will see a true FAQ
I read the general plot summary of The World God Only Knows, and it blew my mind.
Totally just reminded of that. Now I agree.
It should be interesting to see how they plan on keeping things fresh… with or without Junichi. Nice review, Amagami does seem oddly enough to be realistic enough to give us all some pointers
I hope we get little snippets of each girl so that when Junichi tries to get with that girl the viewers can yell instructions at him, like “Compliment Rihoko on her curves while mentioning it looks like she lost weight!!!”
Good ending for junichi and haruka, in the end both of them still use some kinky roleplay though, i bet haruka invite miya sometimes to her place since miya is haruka sister in law after all hahah… XD
I wanna see Miya hearing their roleplaying and then angrily punching a hole in her wall.
Recipe for a perfect marriage: pick your man based on semblance to your beloved dog
Oh, Haruka, you will be missed greatly,
Awesome plot twist: Junichi killed Haruka’s dog.
Correction : Junichi….IS HARUKA’S DOG!
*dramatic music*
Can I replace Junichi just one time, never have a girl friend of that caliber. So next time, I won’t falter. Damn age.
If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. And then reset.
Is this what you meant?
At first I thought this episode wasn’t deviant enough (peeking in the bathtub? yawn), but if you think about it, isn’t Haruka engaging in pretend beastiality with Junichi since he reminds her so much of her dog?
…
Maybe that’s a little too deviant. Hm. <_<;
That’s a really inspiring quote if I say so myself.
I like resets when they are accompanied by lots of loli-emo face distortion killings. But this was a good episode too in a completely different but same reaction creating School Days type of way.
Wow, when I first saw Juichi lick the back of her leg I was like wtf., if you can kiss a girl, then why act like a puppy and lick her knee?! Then he ended up like acting like her dog and Haruka’s friend told her to let him act like a dog then punish him. There are also references throught the episodes suggesting he’s her dog….
Pretty weird but kinky too. =D I guess thats the only bit of this anime that made it interesting!
At first I thought the Lovely middle name was complete BS but then again she does have blue eyes in an anime world where there are no pink or green haired girls. And the end credits for Ep 4 listed her as Haruka L Morishima.
I would have liked to see Miya’s reaction too though it would have been funny also if Haruka’s younger brother Satoshi had met Miya and broke through her bro-con.