Ranked #2511

Telepathy Shoujo Ran

Jinkies! I have to admit that I was rather surprised by Telepathy Shoujo Ran, as I expected something along the lines of Mokke or Mushishi, and instead I was immersed in a supernatural anime version of Scooby Doo (minus the annoying dog - thankfully!).

Telepathy Shoujo Ran started life as a series of light novels by Asano Atsuko that were collectively entitled Telepath Shoujo Ran Jiken Note (or Telepthathy Girl Ran Incident Notes). The series was popular enough for a manga adaptation to be made by Ida Toshitsugu which were serialized in Shounen Sirius magazine. The manga was well received by audiences, which encouraged the production of a 26 episode anime series which was by NHK.

The anime version of Telpathy Shoujo Ran is essentially a slice of life, supernatural cum mystery series. The story begins with Isozaki Ran, a young girl who has just begun junior high school. She is a rather upbeat and energetic girl who is a member of the track and field club, and is in love with her childhood friend Ayase Rui. One day she suddenly hears a voice which simply says "Found You!", and it's from here that her adventures begin.

The owner of the voice is Naha Midori, a girl the same age as Ran, who transfers to Ran and Rui's school as she wishes to test Ran's powers. Midori is very clearly hostile towards Ran and Rui, and pretty much everyone else, at the start of the show, but she is pulled along by events in the same way that Ran is until the two become firm friends.

The series is actually rather well animated, and the characters are designed to be individuals rather than posessing a generic face and body (unlike so many other shows). The scenery is very well envisioned, as are the various dreamscapes and ethereal planes that appear in the show. A nice touch that was added to the anime was the ability to distinguish whether Ran or Midori was in a heightened emotional state by the change in their aura when using their powers.

Sound for the series was also well done, epsecially Midori's attempts to hide her usage of Kanji in everyday conversation. The VAs did rather well with their respective characters, and managed to make them sound like individuals on the whole.

The OP is a nice mellow J-rock track sung by a breathy voiced songstress (if anyone knows the name of the song then let me know). The ED is a more typical J-rock ballad featuring Rui running along a beach towards Ran.

On the whole, the characters in the anime were rather well done. The main characters of Ran, Rui and Midori, along with Ran's older brother Rin to a certain degree, form the core of all of the stories in the series. There is a certain amount of development given to both Ran and Midori, as they are the two most omportant characters, however I felt that both Rui and Rin needed more development by the end of the show, especially given the fact that Rui seems to act exactly the same as he did when the show begins. Rin is a bigger case for development, especially as Midori has a major crush on him. There were numerous occasions where I wondered why they didn't show him actually being aware of her feelings (which are blatantly obvious by the way her personality changes whenever he's around). Both Rui and Rin needed a few more episodes to flesh out their characters, and it would have been nice if there were more episodes that explored Rui's power and it's uses.

That said, I did like both Ran and Midori on the whole. I found the constant arguing between the two to be a nice change of pace to the typical "friends forever" scenarios, and add this to the fact that Ran and Midori had two very different childhoods and you have a formula for some good character growth. Ran is very obviously the "golden girl" - always nice, polite, kind, etc, whilst Midori is very much dysfunctional because of her childhood. The show makes a great play about the differences between the two, especially during the first few episodes with Momoko.

I was actually surprised by how much I did enjoy this series, and I'd recommend it to fans of Mokke, or quasi-supernatural romance shows like Air, Gift ~Eternal Rainbow~, Wind - A Breath of the Heart, Kanon, etc, although Telepathy Shoujo Ran has more mystery and less romance.

The thing that I was most surprised by whilst watching this show though, was the number of times I expected to see Scooby Doo make an appearance, and how often I expected to hear "And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you pesky kids!" read more

This is an entirely watchable anime. That's why I'm watching it. My enthusiasm is fading slightly as the show goes on.

The cute heroine looks like the heroine of Ghost Hunt, and she's psychic, and she goes on adventures not unlike the adventures from Ghost Hunt.

Mostly the show reminds me that I would have liked Ghost Hunt more if it had featured more psionic stuff.

Obviously, the show includes telepathy. Additionally it has some unrealistic telekinesis, ghosts, some non-human spirits, etc. The paranormal elements seem more realistic than some of the plot contrivances.

I love the characters. That doesn't mean they're very well-written or well-directed. The character Naha Midori is perhaps the most interesting character, but she is pretty maladjusted, and somehow her conflicting emotions don't get portrayed convincingly. One minute she's secretive and sinister, the next minute she's aggressive and aggravating, the next minute she's into some entirely new pose. Yes, maladjusted people can be mercurial like that, but it feels forced. This is a shame, because the other characters are pretty two-dimensional.

I've been known to enjoy some shows that were intended for young girls, such as "Ultra Maniac," and some shows with appeal for young viewers of both sexes. Heck, I even watched more "Sugar Sugar Rune" than I care to admit. So far, "Telepathy Shoujo Ran" doesn't have the style and polish that sets some shows apart. I'm hoping that it gets better. read more