Kanamemo

Middle schooler Kana Nakamachi's life drastically changes when her grandmother passes away. Leaving behind an empty house, Kana learns that no one can provide her lodging due to her young age. Eventually, she stumbles upon the Fuhshin Gazette, a local newspaper delivery business who is able to provide her with a place to stay if she works for them in return.

The small store is staffed by several unique people: the sweets-loving Yume Kitaoka and her girlfriend Yuuki Minami; the frugal Hinata Azuma; the alcoholic Haruka Nishida; and the young but mature Saki Amano. It is not all fun and games at the Fuhshin Gazette, though, as Kana must deal with long working hours, energetic dogs guarding mailboxes, and confusing delivery routes. Add in a small rivalry with Mika Kujiin, a girl from a competing store, and Kana will have more than enough to keep her hands full!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nishida, Haruka Main

Horie, Yui Japanese

Kujiin, Mika Main

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Amano, Saki Main

Mizuhara, Kaoru Japanese

Kitaoka, Yume Main

Hirohashi, Ryou Japanese

Nakamachi, Kana Main

Toyosaki, Aki Japanese

Minami, Yuuki Main

Endou, Aya Japanese

Azuma, Hinata Main

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Marimo Supporting

Takahashi, Mikako Japanese

Nao-chan Supporting

Oohara, Momoko Japanese

Yamanaka, Takahiro Producer

Sawahata, Kouji Assistant Producer

Takayanagi, Shigehito Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Iwanami, Yoshikazu Sound Director

Reviews

Sep 16, 2018

captjoe213

Recommended

(updated 9/20/18 for format and slight content revision)

Hi! Another Robert's Too Late Review coming down! As always, synopsis, minor spoilers maybe, yada, yada. Today we're going to be looking at the interesting case of Kanamemo. This anime is very interesting in that I discovered it via recommendations that don't really fit the style and type that this anime holds. I'll not deny my enjoyment of ecchi and yuri anime genres, and I came to Kanamemo via recommendations about it being one or the other. The thing is, only one character fits the ecchi side of things, and not in any kind of good way, and ... the yuri aspects are limited to that same character we'll discuss, and a lesbian couple that are smaller parts of the overall cast. Let's talk about now, if this show works as a slice of life comedy, and about the overall series in general, and answer the age-old question as to if this anime rates a place on the Great Wall of RTLR fame.

Story: 7
I liked the story for the most part, which is firmly in the slice of life category, with the homeless Kana finding a place first to stay, then a place to call home, in the newspaper office. Most episodes deal with issues that Kana has to face and is framed around her speaking to her now deceased grandmother and assuring the woman's soul that she is learning to make it on her own. The episodes are for the most part self contained, maybe having slight references to the previous one, which of course is a common things among the slice of life genre. Some of the stories are simple, like going to the public bath for the first time, or the first time Kana weathers a bad storm and power outage with her coworkers, who tell ghost stories and scare Kana out of her wits. This bite sized set works well, and keeps the story from bogging down.

If you are looking for something meaty to hold your interest, then pass on, that's not to be found here. In fact there is room for them to have done more with the story than what was done. The Fate series, this is *not*. That's okay, as one doesn't have to have a Game-of-Throne-ish level of story complexity for enjoyment. Some people even prefer simpler, cleaner stories, believe it or not! What we get here is a young girl who faces a new problem at the beginning of each episode, and resolves it by the end with a hopeful prayer to her grandmother.

Art: 4
I did not care for the art form at all. The coloring is agreeable, but the style isn't my bag for sure. I can't put a single word down on the problem, just that the art doesn't seem as expressive as it could be, the lines are too simplistic for the most part, and this makes some of the supporting cast seem a bit wooden. I have heard complaints that the censored version featured overly large grey-out boxes in certain scenes. I have only the uncensored version to go by, but acknowledge that I'm aware of the issue, and that it's reported to be quite overblown, so I'll take the word of those that have reported on this, and pass it along for you guys that do watch the censored version.

Sound: 5
I agree with some of the other reviewers in that the voices are not very well done, and the younger girls' voices can sound strained and/or make you grimace as they are a bit overdone. Overall, some of them seemed to be going over the top, and the others weren't very good matches to the characters they portrayed. The musical aspect felt jarring to me, the themes not seeming like a fair fit to my ears. In fact, I usually skipped the songs.

Character: 6
Here we go. First off, the entire newspaper is ran by Saki, who appears to be a 10 year old girl. They all call her 'chief' though she is the chief's assistant, she's still the highest ranking character we have contact with. She's basically an adult (and a jaded one at that) in a little girl's body. It's a slightly humorous setup for the first few minutes, then the joke wears off. I think the choice to make Saki a child is because there were too many young adult/college aged cast members already, so they didn't want another, and to make Saki a possible target for Haruka. Otherwise she could easily been depicted much older without having to lose the hardnosed edge she has, and none of the 'boss humor' would stop working, like where she's often yelling "pay cuts for everyone!" This would not have been compromised by her being older.

Then we have Yumi and Yuuki, the resident lesbians and where I think some people came to think of this as an 'yuri' anime. These two are not overtly romantic beyond a few small measures such as momentary jealousy and such. They were often referred to being in the back in their room and being 'busy'. Considering they live in the same room, sex is the obviously implied event taking place. We are not party to any scenes with them that would show any part of this aspect between the two, nor do we see any real romantic growth between these two either. This is not a yuri anime. It is an anime that features a lesbian couple (and Haruka, we'll get to her) that are treated as normally as any other newspaper staff member.

Hinata is the real cheapskate of the group, being very stingy with her money most of the time. She's not a negative character, however, and is quite likeable in and of herself, just she's the resident money hoarder. I found her a little self centered and selfish, but at least that added a layer to her depiction. She's not a bad person, just a little more fleshed out than the quiet Yuuki of the lesbian couple who comes across as quite one dimensional.

Finally the elephant in the room, the college aged alcoholic perverted (and possibly pedophile) lesbian serial groper, Haruka. This girl is mainly drunk, VERY quick to sexually assault Kana, and even Saki herself. This gets bad enough that the other girls are required to come in and smack Haruka around to get her to stop her lecherous activities. The few times Kana is alone with Haruka, there is tension in the air, and Kana acts like she's kind of scared for her innocence if not her life. This is our ecchi character, and the only one to truly engage in lewd acts, hands all over breasts or butts as often as possible, and when she's not touching, she's fantasizing about sexual encounters with the younger girls. Haruka is played off comedic relief, but most of her actions just come across as utterly creepy.

I think I could have knocked the character score a bit more because of Haruka's hijinks, but I understand what they were trying to do; they were going for a silly pervert. They just failed, so it was clearly a bad idea.

Enjoyment: 7
I actually think this show is a bit more than the sum of its parts. Kana is sweet, and her overall story of coming to be self reliant and coming into fitting in with her new newspaper family are enjoyable. Saki is gruff, but even she's given an episode that shows her softer side. The characters are thin on attributes, but a lot of the time, they aren't really needed to be more than they are. I just can't find Haruka all that funny when she's drunkenly trying to grope a 10 year old girl.

I would cautiously recommend Kanamemo, as it comes together well enough. It has rough edges but if you can look past them, then its a sweet little slice of life with a positive message that life can go on even in the face of loss. I say give it a couple episodes before passing your full judgment on the series. I keep printed pictures of characters from every anime I enjoy on my bedroom walls, so I remember how much I liked those shows. I do recommend Kanamemo, but sadly, she did not make it on my wall.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 14, 2020

liljames326

Mixed Feelings

my main qualm is it got cheap. the first episodes were good start, then the anime got great, but at the end id say 9-13 it was just rushed, no story and good moments but overall crap. id say its about 6-7 for enjoyment overall because of the earlier episodes. so much i can see done but i hate very much when the producers take a good story and decent characters and turn them upside down in an attempt to finish what they started. Mika and Kana couldve been so much more, the yuri is actually slight aside from the underage perversions. but it could ... have been so much more. i wish it couldve been and i believe there could be a second season but i would hope the time would be invested equally in every episode with each one being fufilling instead of rushing it out.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 11, 2023

Nerdodivergent

Not Recommended

Yo this show straight up sucks.
I really tried to like this show, and I went in with an open mind. Reading the summary it has a cool premise with a fun cast of gals working together. But that is not what is happening here. This show is 13 episodes of uncomfortable, gross, yuri stereotyping that feels like a group of horny guys just threw together their fantasies. If it was just some sexualized ladies that would be one thing, and it probably wouldn't be that bad. But like half of the characters are literal minors? One is literally in elementary school??? Honestly it feels ... like something borderline illegal is going down here. I know that censorship and age of consent and sex culture is different in Japan and it's not cool to judge another country's culture by my standards, but this is just okay.
Do not waste your time on this garbage, there are plenty of other shows out there with much better yuri relationships.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: Kanamemo Episode 5 Discussion HawthorneKitty - Aug 2, 2009	47 replies	by wildhood »» Sep 6, 9:24 AM
	Poll: Kanamemo Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) paskyx - Jul 26, 2009	79 replies	by elgatosaika »» Feb 2, 4:44 PM
	Poll: Kanamemo Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Sonja - Jul 6, 2009	79 replies	by Yuri-Crusader »» Jan 1, 2023 1:27 AM
	Poll: Kanamemo Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) HawthorneKitty - Sep 27, 2009	57 replies	by Gendolfas »» Jun 30, 2022 12:10 PM
	Poll: Kanamemo Episode 12 Discussion HawthorneKitty - Sep 20, 2009	29 replies	by Gendolfas »» Jun 30, 2022 11:29 AM