Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl

Kashimashi is the story about a boy hit and killed by a spaceship, then aliens bring him back to life and reconstruct his body as that of a girl's because that's what they thought he was. Now that we're past the bogus premise, we can focus on the series as what it really is; a touching, thoughtful romance.

After the smoke clears on the ridiculous catalyst, the series quickly turns into a love triangle between the newly-female Hazumu, the girl Yasuna whom Hazumu has always had a crush on, and Tomari who is Hazumu's childhood friend since he was a boy. The various reactions and plot ... progression revolving around Hazumu's gender-bender are taken with extreme and realistic care, but just as the series picks up some serious steam, it is all exchanged for some needless episodes revolving around mostly useless supporting characters. Fortunately, the series dives back into the drama for the final round of episodes, demonstrating some serious characterization and relationship changes that make Kashimashi more than a throw-away love story.

With a more thoughtful narrative comes more thoughtful characterization as well. Hazumu is a surprising character, not necessarily apathetic to his/her new gender, but not overdramatic about it either. The real shining stars in this drama though are Yasuna and Tomari. You know right off the bat Hazumu will end up with one of these girls (this IS labeled shoujo-ai after all), but they make the love triangle much more richly complex than it had to be with their own personal feelings. This is actually a good thing. Supporting characters are abound, mostly for comic relief, but they don't interfere with the main characters so they aren't too much of a distraction.

The animation is pretty standard for today's anime, clean-looking and a relatively bright color pallette. It flows well throughout.

The gentle melodies of the BGM are nice, but not particularly memorable. The OP is fair as well, but the ED deserves some special credit, being the melancholic gem of the music.

Kashimashi is a series that, for me, becomes finer with every viewing and the subtleties to the characters shine more as well. It is a series that started with a ridculous premise and strived to overcome it's Achilles' heel to becomet he best romance it could be. Putting romance ahead of fanservice, Kashimashi is a delightful surprise of a series that, while a little cliched, never settles for being a cookie-cutter romantic drama.

Overall I give Kashimashi an 8 out of 10

Title: Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~

Manga, Game, Anime: The first incarnation of “Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~” was a manga series, with story by Satoru Akahori, and art by Yukimaru Katsura. It started its run on May 21, 2004 in Dengeki Comic Daioh, with a new chapter released every month; currently, there are four volumes out. The manga has been licensed Stateside by Seven Seas Entertainment, and the first volume was released on December 25th, 2006.

A game based on the series, entitled “Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~: Hajimete No Natsu Monogatari”, was released on March 30, 2006, for the PlayStation 2, published by Marvelous ... Interactive and developed by VRIDGE. The game itself is a visual novel, and is rated 12+ by the Japanese rating system.

And the anime itself was twelve episodes long, and ran in Japan from January 11 to March 29, 2006 on TV Tokyo. Studio Hibari, who are also famous for “Petite Cosette” (2004) and “Oroshitate Musical Nerima Daikon Brothers” (2006), was the studio behind this show, and Nobuaki Nakanishi directed. The anime has been licensed Stateside by Media Blasters as of October 2006, and runs under the title “Girl Meets Girl”.

Story: Mkay, here's your basic series overview for Kashimashi:

Boy (Hazumu) gets rejected by girl he's had a crush on (Yasuna), after being urged on by girl friend who may possibly have a crush on him (Tomari). Boy goes off by self, is slammed into by alien spaceship, which looks extremely phallic. Boy dies, is revived, and has a sex change. Rest of series centers around boy-turned-girl’s relationships with two aforementioned girls and others, and eventually ends up in a love triangle with the two girls.

And that’s Kashimashi’s story in a nutshell. The story itself is full of plenty of twists and turns, and never plateaus. You get to know each and every character that’s involved in the main plot intimately. It also has a tendency to get to you, because of the both of the above; this series is probably the closest I’ve ever come to crying during an episode.

The series ends up being a combination of screwball comedy, romance, with a hint of melodrama. Frankly, that’s a relief, considering that it easily could’ve taken a turn into hentai or something of the like. Fanservice does appear almost every episode, but it only plays a small part overall, and doesn’t drive the series.

The only gripes that I have are that some characters have a tendency to fall into certain roles, and that just about everyone seems to fall in love with Hazumu at some point or another.

Warning: In case you haven’t figured it out, this is a shojo-ai show. That means there are girls kissing. If you don’t like that, stay away from this series.

Art: The art for this series is absolutely beautiful. The 2D is absolutely exquisite, and the colors they use take a turn towards either autumn or spring tones. It’s obvious when CG is used, sometimes, but, for the most part, it blends in well with the 2D.

Music: Again, absolutely no gripes here. The OP and ED don’t particularly stand out, but they’re nice, all the same, and the background music itself tends more towards use of piano and strings. Might try and find it, as it’s very relaxing.

Seiyuu: I couldn’t find anything wrong with the voices for this series. Every voice fit their respective character perfectly, and they sounded like I’d expect their characters to.

Dub: N/A

Length: Just right. Cutting a few episodes would’ve made it too short, and, originally, twelve episodes didn’t feel like enough, but the addition of the OVA was just what the series needed. Any longer just wouldn’t have felt right.

Overall: A nice romance/screwball comedy, with plenty of twists and turns, characters you care about, beautiful music and art, and perfect length.

Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Music: 8/10
Seiyuu: 8/10
Length: 7/10

Overall: 39/50; 78% (C)

I really wanted to like Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~, really really wanted. But I just... can't.

I am a male-to female transsexual and a lesbian, and Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ was one of the first anime/manga I discovered having to do with those subjects at the same time. So when my nerdy male pal recommended it, I had to stop everything I was doing to watch it immediately. Headdesking ensued.

This was not because Kashimashi is shallow and trivial work and I had schoolwork piling up the entire time watching it consumed. It was because of the annoying and and outright insulting nature of it.

While it ... is not uncommon for any media, but anime/manga especially, to not have fully grasped the idea of transsexuality and hence the portraying of such characters and their trials and tribulations tends to be awkward, stereotyped, unrealistic and shallow, I often manage to find some new insights from the overall setting, even if it is there by just accident. This requires, however, that the characters are just plain dull and generic. In the case of Kashimashi they are not, they are way out on the negative scale, disturbing and annoying (or she is). Kashimashi takes all the imaginable half-assedness of handling such themes to a new level, treating the main character literally like an object for the first half. Both she does it herself, and all the males close to him suddenly turn into voyeurists and sex-maniacs. And she's supposed to be a normal girl here, the original Hazumu's Y chromosome just got misplaced with an X during his body's reconstruction with the alien technology. Give me a break! In works like Happiness! OVA this kind of behavior / reaction is justified, and actually manages to be both funny and thought-provoking because of that. Here, nothing is explained.

Kashimashi is obviously oriented primarily for males with a fetish for a thought of themselves as lesbians (as a fantasy it's completely different thing from reality, after all lesbian porn is highly popular among men), or just extra kicks from the knowledge that a hot female used to be a guy. Probably both. That means, as you'd guess, the fanservice is inevitable. We can't just have Hazumu behave like any normal person in a bit strange new situations, we must have her be an complete idiot without any common sense. Or how many of you guys think if you suddenly were dressed in a skirt you would reflexively use it as a fan and having to have someone else to tell you that's not a good idea? Yep, this is what Kashimashi is largely about.

The result of this is that actual lesbians, transsexuals, and ESPECIALLY transsexual lesbians, who would be interested in the show's premise will not be able to identify with the main character - unless of course they're exhibitionists - and will end up with mixed feelings with probably the negative ones triumphing the positive over time. The last thing you'll remember about Kashimashi will be the episodes consisting of nothing but fanservice comedy, and how they ruined all the potential.

The last few episodes were like I would have wanted and expected the whole show to be like - serious, realistic drama. Still nothing outstanding.

It has been a few years since I watched Kashimashi. And time has not goldened memories. I viewed it in the most positive light maybe two weeks after watching, when I compared it to other pure-fanservicey series and thought it stilll had some desperate trying (in this sense, I think of Kashimashi much the same way as of Code Geass R2). I still have very mixed feelings and don't know whether it should get 1 for completely ruining the good premise or 2-4 for having that good premise and a few relatively good episodes toward the end that make up for those preceding them.

The last episodes have completely their own problems though. Another thing that highly pissed me off was Yasuna's mental health problems and how they're handled. While I have never heard of a disorder which would prevent you from 'seeing' things associated with a traumatic experience, in this case, men (it is never explained though, how come she sees both effeminate males and rough tomboy girls), this is not the problem here. But at no point anyone, male or female, says to her straight on how wrong her twisted thinking is. They just go along with it and discreetly want her cured because it would easen her life. And for the time being, the girls just enjoy their being girls, and the guy(s) are excluded from any emotional scenes most if not all of the time. All notable male characters in Kashimashi are either borderline rapists or violents. I guess most feminists would like Kashimashi because of this.

--

Story - 4. The main setting is simple yet interesting and usable, however, badly executed. Also the whole Yasuna thing is so black-and-white and poorly handled, that while the latter half becomes progressively better on one level it stil retains the same level of stupidity and offensive undertone.

Art - 2. Nothing ground-breaking in the animation section. Typical school and city and forest settings. All the girls are über cute and males dull-looking, like with all male-oriented fanservice series. And I happen not to like that, it's unrealistic and sexist. Also, the alien was just very, very ,very stupid looking. It was totally out of place among those über cute girls and immemorable guys. The designs also would subtract few points from the character section if you could get lower than 1.

Sound - 4. I think the opening theme is supposed to add to the 'girly' motif of the series, and while in a honestly girly series (where feminine caring is the main theme instead of bashing one group of people after another) it could have been perfectly in place and nice, now it just adds to my rage for being part of the 'how being a girly girl lesbian radical feminist is so much über alles' message. Nothing else is memorable.

Character - 1. Main character who is pure fanservice machine and offensive to several minorities, the most ladylike girl on the planet who detests all 'normal' males because of her traumas up to the point she becomes completely unlovable, all 'normal' male characters being unemotional jerks? Definite 1.

Enjoyment - 1. While it has got some good moments really, the bad things cause so much rage and nausea throughout the ride it would take something of a cosmic level of goodness to override those. Nothing of the drama / psychology / romance section is so touching it would be remembered.

Overall -1. After careful consideration, I decided to score Kashimashi only for it's distinctive themes, what it stands for. After all, you could make Nazi propaganda cartoon and it could manage to be entertaining, but it would still be Nazi propaganda. And that is.. male-oriented fetish fuel of various sorts and more or less subtle radical feminist / misandryist propaganda combined? There's little room for positive viewing of something like this.

So, should you be a misandryist radical feminist who also happens to think that transsexuality is all about autogynephilia, e.g. getting sexual kicks from practicing exhibitionism with a female body, this is a series for you. All others, stay away, it can corrupt.

Kashimasi ~Girl Meets Girl~ is a Sci-fi, Gender bender, Yuri, Romance anime about a feminine boy that was talking a walk along the mountain, after being rejected by a girl when he was involved in an accident with an alien spaceship. The aliens managed to regenerate him however they made him into a girl and that’s the beginning of this messed up gender bender.

From the summary of the show it may be difficult to take this anime series seriously, however the way the first episode is done, actually allows you to do just that. It introduces the strange concept of a boy turning into a ... girl fairly well, for an anime that is an adaptation of a visual novel. After that it is just Hazumu getting used to his new life and the affect it has had on those around him. The romance aspect of this anime moved fairly quickly, developments occurring in the first couple episode however after that, it quickly became dull. Of course it managed to end well, with a few twist added in, but it didn’t feel original. Also what else were not original were the characters with their 2 dimensional personalities. Apart from the 3 main characters, the rest were pretty much there for comic relief or to fill in the quota.

The animation is nothing short of beautiful, with cutely designed girls, which is pretty standard for this type of anime. The detailed environments add something to the look and even though there’s also some CG used it isn’t too noticeable, half the time.

Apart from the usual silent moments, the music is pretty great and suited the show well. The OP and ED themes were somewhat catchy and there was a bunch of insert songs added every now and again, but it was the string symphony that added towards the ambiance.

Overall this turned out to a good Yuri anime with a decent, heart-warming story to match. The comedy is very generic and stupid however you just can’t help but laugh at this enjoyable and weird anime. What also helps is that something as insignificant as well spoken Engrish (in the Japanese dub) adds quality to the show, because it is so hard to find an anime where the Japanese can find people who can speak good Engrish. Well if you know what you’ll expect from this series, then go ahead and watch, otherwise you should just stick to what you usually go for.

^_^

First off this is a really hard anime to review on... In all honesty I want to call it a masterpiece, problem being I don't know why! I mean seriously... boy runs into forest, gets run over by alien space ship... aliens turn boy in to girl, girl falls in love with girl breaking other girls heart, blah blah blah... Can the plot get any more retarded. But... the way the story is told is captivating. The characters are amazingly simple but effective. It must have taken pure genius to make a boy that turned ... into a girl be a very believable character and to top it off... he/she is a crybaby and a damn good one!?! The killer about this story especially for guys who watch it. The entire time your watching it your thinking: Wow... why am I watching this. I should think this is the worst anime ever made... but the reality is your liking it and the panty shots are far and few.
I found myself seriously torn through the entire story: Who is better for Hazuma, Yasuna or Tomari?! To make matters worse, I honestly couldn't decide if the ending was right or not; and I think that is exactly what was supposed to happen. Bravo on the way your emotionally involved in the stroy at ever step from Hazumu fanning air up his skirt to Tomari having a royal heart attack about it. I'll be the first to say that there are no great leaps in anime history in this series but as a total package I can't imagine it being done any better. There are a few annoying parts of the story but nothing you can't get over. The father dieing to bathe with his daughter thing gets old real quick and so does Namiko-Sense. You'll hate her for just existing a few times in the series. Over all, definately enjoyable. It's pretty light hearted which is definately one of it's strong points and although your emotionally involved your not strangled by it's intensity either.


Even if your dead set against the mere thought of this anime's existence, watch it! If you approach it with an open mind and really allow yourself to be taken by the story you will not regret it. Especially you guys, put away the manly pride. It is definately worth a go.

As transgender woman myself, I thought I should give my two cents on this series.

Going into it, I was only aware of the bizarre occurrences that set the story going, and that people were very mixed on the series. Now that I've seen it, I can confidently say Kashimashi is a beautiful romance that unfortunately gets bogged down by the author trying to be funny.

I was very thankful to see that the series was void of any transphobic themes or jokes and was generally pretty respectful. Only thing I find strange is that throughout the course of the story, people constantly refer to Hazumu ... with male pronouns. There are some outliers sprinkled around here and there, but Hazumu doesn't ever object to being referred to one way or the other, so I'm going to assume she's cool with it. Gender is a fuck, be whatever the hell you wanna be. Oh and for anyone concerned that Hazumu turns back into a guy at the end of the series—don't worry, she doesn't. She becomes a girl at the end of episode 1 and never goes back.

The first two episodes consist of some very strange plot themes around aliens and... fanservice. They're unfortunately required for plot purposes, but if you can get past those two though, you'll finally be treated to the good stuff. Episodes 7 and 8, being the beach and "test of strength" episodes are basically filler and you could probably skip them entirely and only miss out on one or two important details. Basically any time you get a comedic scene you can just skip ahead until it's over to avoid any gross shit. Especially the dad, the dad is the WORST part of the show. I wish he just dropped dead.

If you can grin and bear through all the bad stuff, or find an edit that removes all of it, you'll find the rest of the series is really touching and heartbreaking at the same time. I adore the three main characters and didn't want to see any of them hurt. I'd elaborate further, but I don't want to spoil anything, but trust me, Hazumu, Yasuna, and Tomari are great and I love them.

There's a lot working beneath the carefree surface of Kashimashi if you stop to think about it. I'm going to try to dig into nuances that might be easy to miss if you're just a casual watcher/reader, and try to keep spoilers to a minimum (but there will be some; you should watch the series for yourself first if you mind spoilers, and if you don't the ones here shouldn't affect your enjoyment). Also, it's gonna get pretty long.

Let's start by saying Kashimashi is one of my favourite yuri works. The manga is slightly preferable but only slightly; overall, both it and the anime ... are great stuff, sweet and earnest and with some true drama that never feels like they simply slammed the Drama Button. I won't go into a lot of detail up front about the basic plot, since I think the synopsis at the top covers that: Hazumu was a boy, now she's a girl, and all of her relationships change. Chaos ensues.

Before we get into the meat of my review, I want to take a moment to mention the title: "Kashimashi" is an onomatopoeia that basically means "blah blah blah" or "noisy", but is only in reference to three or more women gossiping. Specifically, three or more. That it's used for a series that focuses on a love triangle between three young ladies is a stroke of brilliance that should be appreciated. Names are important.

Also, quick note: the dub is awful. If you really can't watch subbed anime, then it can be charmingly bad if you don't mind charmingly bad dubs, but none of the VAs will be winning any awards for these performances - though some are not as bad as others. Reminds me of Tenchi Muyo! and other victims of the early process of English dubbing, though not nearly as terrible as the Speed Racer days. Just something to keep in mind for those of you who can watch either; subs are preferable. Anyway...

First, I'd like to address the issue of Hazumu's transition. Of course this transition is a ridiculous; it's a science-fictional version of suddenly being flipped to one gender from the other. Coming to this expecting an earnest, realisitc portrayal of transitioning genders is like going to McDonalds and expecting a Michelin 3-star restaurant. For that, you might want to read the Hourou Musuko manga. Keep in mind that the overall attitudes toward gender and sexuality in Japan are complex, and not the same as those of the Western world; that tends to colour every anime in ways that are hard to define. But that's too deep to get into for this one review.

Let's look at our main character, Dude-Hazumu, at the beginning of the story. He's a boy who's always been highly feminine in the ways most people would view femininity. His best friend is a girl (and I mean Tomari; I think we can agree that his friendship with Asuta is mostly a survival mechanism for him, since he's not very masculine and he needs a "guy buddy" for support), his only thriving interest is in flowers and horticulture, and he has no desire to do anything sports-related, or ogle women with Asuta, or anything else typical of the average high school boy. Ayuki (another girl) is his only other friend, though not close as he is to Tomari or Asuta. Yasuna, the girl he's flower-buddies with but has a crush on, presents something he doesn't quite know how to navigate because (here's a red flag) HE DOESN'T QUITE RELATE TO HER IN THE USUAL BOY-HAVING-A-CRUSH WAY. His confession to her in the first episode can be seen as just a really awkward love-declaration from a boy, but by the same token, it could be because he feels a little guilty for trying to change their important friendship, which is why he blurts it out like he's confessing to a crime - and only after encouragement to do so.

Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that Hazumu was always a closeted, blissfully-unaware trans woman. Because of Japanese attitudes towards gender (and let's face it, the same goes for a lot of the rest of the world, too), it's completely conceivable that she could have gone all that time without ever having considered the possibility that maybe her lack of masculinity is because she's not actually a man at all. There's sort of this unspoken expectation that anyone who's trans should have figured it out all on their own during early childhood, but without any queer friends or other transgender/transsexual examples to look to, she's content with being a feminine boy because she simply never thought about any alternative. It's a very "it's something I can't change, so why worry about it?" attitude. This carries over to her body being transformed, as well; she's shocked, but doesn't spend a great deal of time fretting over it since it's beyond her control.

Now... about the crash itself and the transition. The ludicrous premise of the aliens landing is actually beautifully brilliant in an oblique way. Why would the aliens remake her body to be female? It's never stated openly, but considering how she was before the accident, her demeanor, and the fact that Yasuna could almost see her (I'll get into her Male Blindness later), it can be assumed that since her body was eradicated, they reconstructed it in the way that best matched her soul. Her brain chemistry seemed more "girly" to them, so they naturally constructed her that way. Later on, they reveal (spoiler!!) that their entire purpose on earth was to learn about love; it makes sense their instruments would be finely tuned into emotion and other spiritual aspects like those. Again, not realistic at all, but in a series that already has a spaceship that can transform into a cute, floating, "-puu!" exclaiming, pink-haired "mascot", let's not get TOO wrapped up in realism.

On to Hazumu-The-Girl. There have been comments from other reviewers that "common sense" should have helped Hazumu's adapting to her new body be more smooth than it's portrayed, but would it really? Considering that her spirit was feminine but she has literally never been encouraged to EMBRACE that femininity throughout her entire life (during a flashback, when Lil Haz asks Lil Tomari if he can be her "bride", she immediately crushes that dream and says he has to be the groom. It's a pattern of gender reinforcement that probably came at her from all sides), of COURSE she wouldn't know things women take for granted, such as "hold the back of your skirt as you walk upstairs so the boys won't see your panties". How would someone who's never worn a skirt know that? The fanning of her skirt, thinking "hey, it's nice that I can have a breeze in here, pants really suck apparently" is such a pure, innocent moment of self-discovery; it's up to her friends to remind her that no, you can't do things like that in a world full of male gazes. So I think this period of adjustment is not only totally understandable, but also serves to add some needed whimsy to offset some of the more serious themes and keep it a fairly light-hearted anime/manga. Most of the character's attitudes and reactions feel completely natural for me, even if the premise itself isn't at all natural.

That some moments do serve as very mild fanservice is understandable, but to be honest, the fanservice in this series is pretty negligible and doesn't even come CLOSE to ecchi levels. Thank God.

One final thing about Hazumu, and this is a BIG SPOILER but too important to leave out. It's my opinion that, when later offered the option of de-transitioning by the aliens, the fact that she turns it down cements that she was always a woman from the very beginning. She's happier as a girl, things FIT for her now, and her friends have accepted her (some more reluctantly than others, as is normal; it helps that it's an accident that she couldn't control, otherwise there would be more realistic negative reactions from them if it were her choice to "come out" from the beginning). There's a lot of subtlety that could go unappreciated if you don't know to look for it, or if your mind is closed to spotting it.

Let's move along to the other characters. It's tempting to write them off as two-dimensional or "tropes", but tropes are tropes for a reason; they represent real people, and they work. Besides, I think they defy their own tropes on multiple occasions.

Yasuna presents an interesting challenge for the viewer/reader. How are we supposed to accept this girl doesn't see men? Well, actually... it's scientifically possible, even if used a little fantastically in this case. The condition is known as "prosopagnosia", and there are multiple variations and multiple causes. Whereas most patients suffering with face blindness never recover, some do, which especially in a case like Yasuna's that seems to be caused by a feeling of detachment from the male gender, seems as possible as her having the condition in the first place. Think about this from her perspective: she's never been able to see men, so she very naturally is only interested in women (whether or not she would have been from the beginning WITHOUT propsopagnosia is debatable; maybe the condition is a result of her sexuality, or maybe they're unrelated. Who knows? But it's fun to speculate). The first boy she can actually ALMOST-see is an immediate fascination for her, but she can't fully accept his confession of love, because he's not her type; she likes him as a friend, of course, but how could a romantic relationship develop if she can't even recognise his face? Hence her clear frustration and sadness with having to turn him down. The transition solves that for her in a wish-come-true fashion; how many of us have ever had thoughts such as "Oh I like this girl a lot, if only she weren't my coworker/teacher/student/barista/cousin/driving instructor"? There are endless examples. If you take one of them, such as a barista where hitting on her at her job just makes you a douche, and then you run into her outside of work and strike up a conversation, the relief at that barrier being removed is HUGE, and something most of us can relate to (even if we've never been that lucky haha). That's where Yasuna is living from episode 2 onward; a little bit stuck up yet lonely, because she's artistic and clearly affluent, but getting closer to Hazumu through her eager gratitude that she CAN helps her open up to other friendships, as well. Really, she's a very tragic character once they start exploring her more deeply. Though some could write it off as "convenient," personally, I'm a fan of where she is in the end of the series (but I won't get into that for spoiler reasons); it's a fitting and satisfying, optimistic point for her to end on.

Tomari hits the classic childhood friend category, but I love her to pieces. Absolutely my favourite character. While mostly accurate, I think writing her off as "tomboy tsundere" does her a huge disservice. She's used to protecting Hazumu because she's always had to; that's what you do for friends. Of course it also frustrates her, as it does most people who have friends who seem to constantly need protection, and it actually becomes a point of contention between them often. She clearly cares deeply for everyone in her social circle (except maybe Asuta, though I think she doesn't mind him as much as she lets on). Her acceptance of Hazumu's transition is a long and twisted road; she's the one that misgenders her the most often in the beginning of the series. Even after her parents, Asuta, Yasuna, and everyone else have already come to accept it, Tomari still struggles, because under her surface annoyance with his "wimpiness", she's always harboured a deep affection for Hazumu and secretly been hoping they could be closer. Initially, she rejects this gender change because (as she's been told by a largely homophobic society - meaning ALL human society, not just Japan) this means they can't be together. Two women don't get married, right? That just doesn't happen. So she's understandably angry, frustrated, resistant. On top of that, sometimes people just really have a hard time with change. Still, even through this process she helps Hazumu buy a bra, protects her "dignity" on many occasions, tries to help even while she's irritated at having to help. Jealous of how Hazumu still flocks to Yasuna, but never wants to admit it. I won't go into spoilers about how that eventually resolves, but it moves me to tears.

The side characters, I will say, aren't explored much but I don't find them as colourless as a lot of other reviewers seem to. Asuta is an idiot boy who suddenly wants to bang his best friend now that she's turned into a woman; we can safely assume that he might be a closeted bisexual who always felt some attraction to Hazumu, or that he simply really likes how Hazumu looks as a woman. Either/or. Ayuki is the most forgettable, but she's very quiet, always thinking more than she's talking; it would take a lot of metagaming to display anything more for her, though they do take an episode to show what's going on in her head a little better. The aliens are the plot foil, though I think they're both fun comic relief (when Hitoshi isn't outlining some of the deeper plot elements, such as why it was important for them to understand love by turning a hetero love triangle into a lesbian one. I mean, have you ever seen a shipper so intense they literally CREATED yuri?! But I'm kidding). Namiko-sensei is hilarious, and she always makes me laugh even if she's pure comic relief. In closing, the side characters definitely stay on the sidelines, and I think that was smart; I'm always annoyed at series that waste too much time on them when they aren't meant to be the focus in the first place. But they're pretty clearly defined and help round out the cast, so they do their job.

One of my few caveats, and one a lot of people could have with the series, is the pervy father. It's nasty and I greatly dislike him for sexualising his "new daughter", HOWEVER... I think this is actually very clever satire; they show him being pervy, just enough to make your skin crawl (if you aren't equally pervy as the father haha), and then right afterward show the mom literally physically accost him for doing so. Seems more like a pot shot at other anime/manga with "take a bath with Daddy" scenes than anything. Plus it never goes TOO far.

Now I'd like to talk about Yasuna and Tomari. This could easily have gotten as Betty-And-Veronica ugly as most love triangles do, but this series was able to stay away from that. Yes, there's definitely some strife between them, but it's pretty minimal when all is said and done; and understandable. Also, Hazumu, the object of desire, is actually held accountable for her indecisiveness, which is something that rarely happens in a triangle. There are multiple occasions where it's made clear Yasuna and Tomari do care about each other, even if they are frustrated with losing Hazumu's attentions to the other sometimes. Everyone treats each other with care and at least SOME respect, and they are clearly struggling with their emotions; at no point does it feel like any of them views the others as a mere object or obstacle, even when jealousy rears its ugly head. (Quick side note, even Asuta, who does begin to objectify Hazumu, struggles with it because he realises she's still a PERSON; a lesser series probably wouldn't bother.) The resolution at the end is amenable, and I think is fair to all parties.

The ending shocked me, because I thought I saw exactly how it would play out. It didn't; similar, sure, but it took a twist that made me quite happy. The manga version is a little more emotionally-charged (and I prefer it), but both it and the anime have a very satisfying, sappy, end point. That's why I've read the manga twice and watched the series a few times, and would love to play the game. I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

Since this is already super long, I'll be brief with technical aspects: art style is beautiful, I always liked it, though the animation of this adaptation can seem a little stock at times - like Naruto for the first season or two, where it took the GORGEOUS manga art and boiled it down into something easy to animate. Japanese voicework is fantastic. The music is great, though nothing terribly memorable; I do find myself humming the opening now and then, and the ending theme stirs instant feels. The length, if including the specials, is just right; any longer and it would have dragged, and any shorter and it would feel rushed. Simply put, well done and worth watching.

STORY/PLOT: 10/10
CHARACTERS: 9/10
ART STYLE: 9/10
ANIMATION: 8/10
MUSIC: 8/10
VOICEWORK: 10/10 sub, 6/10 dub
OVERALL: 9/10

Before I wrap this up, I do want to mention that this is a review by a trans woman. While I can definitely understand how MOST trans women dismiss it as too fantastical, not realistic enough and thereby think it's damaging to the overall "societal narrative", I think if there was ever going to be a (for lack of a better term) silly, light-hearted, sci-fi story about a high schooler being turned into a girl by aliens, this is about the best you could hope for. It manages to convey a sweet, endearing yuri tale AND portrays a cursory glimpse into transitioning, despite the many pitfalls it could have fallen into along the way. Maybe in another ten years we could have anime deeply delving into gender and sexuality (I'd love to see yuri NOT set in high school, or trans men and women living out their lives - especially if they aren't even the focal point of the series but merely shown as a regular person), but given the social climate at the time Kashimashi was made, I think it handled the subject with care and finesse. "These feelings in my heart" will always have a place there.

Kashimashi started as a yuri manga by Akahori Satoru, the same writer behind the generic Bakuretsu Hunters. He was also one of the writers for Kyatto Ninden Teyandee, which was pretty decent. In 2006, the manga got adapted into a twelve episode anime, and a follow up one episode OVA, by Studio Hibari, the same studio behind the mediocre Venus Versus Virus. So, given the people behind it can we anticipate something that's mediocre or just all right or will it surprise us in a positive or negative way? Let's look at Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl and find find out. Keep in mind, I will ... be covering both the series and OVA.


Story:

We open with young Hazumu wandering around some hills to get over his broken heart after he was turned down by Yasuna, the girl he likes. The melancholy scene is interrupted by a spaceship crashing into him. But it's okay, they reconstruct him, just in a female body. Apparently these aliens can rebuild someone who gets mangled by their ship, but they can't figure out their gender or reverse their reconstruction process. Thus he begins his new life in his female body while caught in a love triangle with Yasuna and his childhood friend, Tomari. Strange, I thought this was a yuri romance, not a romance about a cis man who becomes a trans man due to bizarre and stupid circumstances.

Let's start with the faults of the series, and there are a lot in this one. The first problem is that the romance is really melodramatic. We're talking bad soap opera levels. It's not just really stupid, but it clashes with the various attempts at humour. Speaking of, the comedic elements in this are absolutely horrible. One of our big jokes is that the teacher takes pratfalls, which could work except that they're ridiculously forced. To name an example, there's a scene where someone suddenly shouts in class, the teacher hops backwards on one leg thrice or four times and falls out the window. How does anyone manage that? The clumsiest person on the planet couldn't be that clumsy if they tried. However, compared to the other big joke in this series, that's comedic gold. The second major joke we get over and over and over again is that Hazumu's father acts like a creepy incestuous pervert towards his son now that he has a female body. That's not funny, it's creepy. It's vile. It's nauseating. But it's okay because his wife hits him for it and we all know that domestic abuse makes attempted incestuous relations between father and child okay. Wait, it doesn't help at all.

There's also the dialogue to consider. It's really badly done. There's one scene where one of the other girls is talking to Hazumu and it's supposed to be really sad and dramatic, but she's talking about his future children and grandchildren. Which is odd since he has a body that's biologically female and his potential love interests are both girls. If we're going to give her credit, we could assume that she's talking about adopted kids or possibly children obtained through one of the processes that allow two women to have children together, but it still feels like an incredibly awkward and idiotic thing to bring up in context. There's also the basic premise itself. We're supposed to believe that these advanced aliens can reconstruct a human body, but can't reverse the process or figure out what someone's sex is? Even for a work that has a lot of “comedic”elements, that's pushing it.

Then we have the biggest problem with the series. The fundamental flaw that really makes the whole thing irredeemable. This is a supposedly yuri series that seems to actively abhor yuri. It's like Ice in that regard. Every single character who gets involved with someone of the same sex has to have some convoluted, nonsensical reasoning behind it. For Hazumu, it's that he's a boy who had his DNA mucked with by aliens. For Tomari it's that she liked him when he was still a boy and that makes it okay. Yasuna also liked him as a boy but she gets the additional element of not being able to see men except as shapeless blobs. She must have the same plot contrivance disease as Kei did in Onegai Teacher, just with different symptoms. There are a few girls who offhandedly mention liking Tomari, but they also say she's like a boy. Could you imagine how much it would weaken Sasameki Koto, Blue Drop, Sakura Trick, Grand Pilgrimage or any other yuri work if the writer spent a lot of time coming up with insulting explanations for why the girls liked other girls? It would be a really stupid decision especially since you don't need an overly complicated explanation. Some people are just attracted to the same sex. It's not a big deal.

Characters:

The characters don't help matters. A lot of the side characters exist for a single joke, just one that gets repeated throughout, and don't really have personalities. Even the main cast is just made up of weak stereotypes. The result is that we get a cast that ranges from actively annoying to just being badly done.

Art:

The art in this is kind of weak, but not all that bad. The main problem with it is just that it's lazy with environments that lack detail and character designs that don't seem to be trying. It's odd because there's a computer that gets given a female body based on Hazumu's and we're told that she looks like him, but all the girls in this have basically the same face so I don't know how you'd be able to tell without the exposition. Even the alien spaceship is boring looking.

Sound:

This is one of those series where they got talented actors but you wouldn't know it to hear their performances in this. Our main trio is voiced by Horie Yui (also the voice of Nepgear), Tamura Yukari (the voice of Nanoha) & Ueda Kana (the voice of Toosaka Rin). All three of them are really good actresses who have given some amazing performances. The problem is that their characters don't really have anything to them and their performances come across as weak. They don't get it as badly as some of the actors for supporting characters. Mizutani Yuuko & Yasumura Makoto both sound terrible in this with really exaggerated performances that are just obnoxious to listen to. Hosoi Soshi's music is forgettable but inoffensive.

Ho-yay:

There's a little. Hazumu's friend, Asuta starts to develop a thing for Hazumu based on Hazumu's new female body. There's also the disturbing stuff with Hazumu's father and the girls who mention liking Tomari because she's like a boy.

Final Thoughts:

Kashimashi is complete rubbish. The romance is overly melodramatic. The characters are pants. The comedy is painful and disturbing. There are a lot of things that are completely stupid. Then we have its biggest failing. It's a supposedly yuri series, but not really, that seems to have serious problems with yuri existing. My final rating for Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl is a 2/10. Next week I'll look at Koutetsujou no Kabaneri. It would be hard for it to not be better than this.

Gender Benders are my personal favorite, By the exception of "Kashimashi: Girl meets Girl" Oh god that anime still makes my blood boil, The message of the creator and the labeling of the tittle and genre totally contradict each

I'm not an expert in romance but i'm quite the observer and use common sense, when creating "Yuri" based on GENDER BENDING, Timing is crucial, The 2 female characters in love, Had history with "Hazumu" the gender bending victim

A) Was a childhood friend

B) Was a classmate and love interest

If it was to be a "Yuri" romance, Hazumu the character in question. had to have ... no ties whatsoever to the heroines , Thus creating a chance in which the heroines fall for the after known female "Hazumu" Thus making it "yuri genre", If it's done before their history and timing of infatuation causes It's "Yuri" Genre to be automatically "NULLED". making the author and labelers complete morons

1. The 2 main female characters fell in love with the main character before the "Gender Bending" accident.

2. The 2 females in love, Were never lesbian or had any lesbian interest, They were both attracted to the MALE character, They just overlooked the "Gender Bending"

3. The message was,"Love is Unbound" but totally killed it while placing genre, their love was to be unbound to gender, Due to the orientation was set, but bypassed.

(Example: Straight people fall in love with opposite gender therefore setting a condition to follow for it to happen, Gay with same gender, both conditional setting for falling in love. Even Bisexual people, as it's still an orientation that lead to sexual appreciation, Their case was different due to the gender bending was simply received as "A Soulmate residing on a different vessel or body, Even though it was the same body, it was tempered with, The girls played an exception to him, not caring for his after state as a girl, As the girls were never lesbian oriented. It's quite stupid to give a message of "Unbound Love" and Label the thing "Girl Meets Girl" and put it under the "Yuri Genre".

4. The Sci-Fy is a given, but even that has it's limits, The reactions and the acceptance of the main character were unreal, As there was no "Anger, Resentment, and Desire" towards losing ones "Gender" that you were born with, and had your life turn upside down, No parents receive their FORMER SON, back with a change of wardrobe. Much less a DAD being happy about it, Call me stero typist, but a DAD always longs for a son and always is the first desire, have their son change is enough to find the responsible moron and put him/her through the wood chipper.

5. The former boy is way too forgiving, Furthermore the "Gender Bending" wasn't perfect, As he retained his orientation while being changed, but can't be in any way be labeled a lesbian.

6. The author should learn not to contradict the message he wants to give out to the viewer and reader, With the erroneous labeling he tagged on his work. As an anime fan, and praiser of the genre give it.

10/ 10 Romance
2 / 10 sense of story
0 / 10 relating message to labeling
0 / 10 on slice of life that has to be implemented even on Sci-Fy


This is the anime that totally nearly destroyed the fun in "Gender Bending", I hate this crap. This was just an FYI, For those who appreciate the genre. It's sad there isn't a lot of anime featuring this genre,

Kampfer in the other hand is a masterpiece on this, The Sci-Fy exist, But there is some common sense to it, There is also a well balanced and expected things that can happen if one were to think on a Sci Fy scenario,the MALE isn't destroyed beyond repair. just a small FYI, For those who have not seen KAMPFER, Do not under any circumstance watch (EP 12) It kills it, I mean I loved kampfer, but Ep 12 gave me a serious headache, Just watch 1-11 then 13-14. Everything will be fine.

As a huge yuri fan I was happy to find out that Kashimashi isn't quite your typical girl-loves-girl romance. It's so much more and in this review I'll try my best to explain why I think so.
First of all, apart from the slightly absurd first episode (check the story summary) this anime is very calm and down-to-earth. Nothing about it is rushed, or exaggarated or extreme. I'm pointing this out because this is a very strong quality in anime, and even more so in the yuri genre. In most yuri anime relationships tend to be very exaggarated and, well, too perfect.This is not the ... case with this anime.

Story: 8

Read the plot summary. This isn't the best story ever offered in anime, but it does stick out when we're talking about purely romance stories. The gender bending aspect is used as wisely as possible and it moves the story in unlikely directions, making the anime unpredictable and fun. Some would point out the "deus-ex machina" aspect of the first episode's ending as a major weakness in the plot, but this is not the case. It's actually a strength and makes way for the second reason I think this anime is special: it's light hearted spirit.

Art: 8

Very bright, beautiful and light hearted. A lot of flowers, eye candy nuances and at times, beautiful sceneries. Other than that it's nothing special. There is some occasional CG, which is used fairly well. Couldn't ask for more in this anime's case.

Sound: 7

Nothing outstanding but there are some good moments. As other reviewers may have pointed out, the ending theme is quite good and has a slightly melancholic tone. The opening theme is, well, cute and sets the mood, some background music pieces in the anime, especially in the more dramatic moments are spot-on.

Character: 9

In my opinion, this anime's strongest side. There is some very serious character development going on, especially in the main character, Hazumu's case. He starts out as a shy and not particularly sociable boy, hindered by his effeminate nature in his male body. Others expect him to be more masculine which he cannot help, but his transformation changes all this. The female Hazumu gradually gets more comfortable in his own flesh, becomes sociable and charming and his life gradually gets a lot better. As time progresses he also becomes more feminine, finally being able to relieve the pressure from his heart.
Yasuna is also very interesting. She's a classmate of Hazumu's who's also pretty quiet and lonely, but also very beautiful and cute. Despite all this she doesn't have any "suitors" which is due to her having an unusual, dark secret, revealed later in the anime.
Tomari is your typical violent, coarse tomboy. She's a childhood friend of Hazumu and will crush anyone who means him no good. I didn't find her particularly likeable at first because I'm not really fond of this type of characters but by the end she had me won over. She might certainly look like that typical sledgehammer bearing "BAKA" spitting anime demon woman, but in her heart she's hardly anything like that. The firefly scene with her has to be one of the most beautiful and heartwarming moments I've witnessed in anime.
The supporting characters are nice, if mostly for comic relief, and they work well. I didn't like the teacher as she was a bit TOO comical, but she might appeal to some. My favorites were definately mr. Sora and Jan Pu, and they did give me a few good laughs.

Enjoyment: 10

I definately enjoyed the anime and would watch it again. It made me feel good and content about life. As I said, everything about it was so down-to-earth and light hearted. It flows perfectly and makes you feel good, which is the exact point of this type of anime. Everything which is unnessecary about romance and shojo-ai anime is gone here. All that's left is the essence, what truly matters.

Overall: 10

Since it's a yuri anime, and a yuri of this quality is a truly rare occurrance I'm giving this a definite 10. Most of you wouldn't, but in Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl I found that it has what more than 90% of romance animes lack: a spirit. A love triangle that's actually unencumbering to watch and a story that goes in many ways at once. An ending which doesn't make you feel bad about any of the characters. All that I love about yuri and romance in general I have it in Kashimashi, and I'm thankful it exists and for what it gave me.

Kashimashi is a perfect example for a truly magnificent anime. It stands out in a crowd of anime that anyone could watch. It is a trip of wonderment that viewers will never forget. But what makes it that great? Well, let's have a look see.

Story: I don't have to tell anyone that this is a unique story line. It's story really is fascinating. It's like the Yin-Yang of anime. It is completely normal at times, and at other times, seem fucked up. But both of these aspects are balanced well, compliment each other and are executed perfectly. Another thing, it is paced excellently. The episodes ... run with each other to create a story. It doesn't move too fast or too slow. It really know how to use your emotions as well. It actually feels like you're watching someone's life rather than an anime.

Characters: All of the characters are good and entertaining, and you would find something to love, or at least like about them. They all feel like people, and you can understand how each of them feel. They are really human.

Art: It may seem simplistic, but that's what makes it good. It's simple, realistic, and easy on the eyes. It's not flashy, or dark, or what have you, it's just simple. It again feels like Life is breathed into the anime.

Sound: The voice actors are all talented and do a good job as the characters they play. The OST is just brilliant. Normally, I'm a loud, blaring music, so the soft, melodic music in here normally isn't my style, but damn. This is awesome. It sets the mood perfectly. It makes you feel what you're supposed to feel during the scene that's playing. It is pure ear candy.

Overall: This might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's worth checking out at least. It is a masterpiece and deserves all the good credit it gets. 10/10

I did take my time to write the review because i wanted to think about why exactly i disliked this anime. Concerning Art and Sound the series is in my opinion and experience rather OKAY. There were better made anime in that time but there were much much worse ones.

The storytelling and the idea of the anime are pretty okay too. But what really ticks me off about this series is the obvious forceful behaviour to push and pull a non-heteronormative person into their predefinied position in society. Because of external influence a boy becomes a girl. That is a rather modern concept of breaking ... the habits and the rules our society embodies concerning the sexes. But the entire show focuses on ridiculing the "unnormal" behavior of a boy who is in the body of a girl and of the surroundings that tries to force this "unnormal" person into the heterosexual heteronormativity or reacts with great irritation because a girl dont act in the way she is expected to.

The protagonist themself is written in a way that they is nothing more than a pawn in the hands of those who decide how the society has to be and is completely denied to find their own way.

This series reflects in my opinion the normative, sexist and forceful aspects of modern society in which there is still no completely accepted place for intersex and transgender people either let alone for men and women who dont want to be restrained and repressed by the rules of their secietal sex.

Throughout the whole series I felt very mad since...the plot wasn't going the way normal plots would. The expectation of most love story is: guy loves girl guy tells girl guy and girl go out. For love triangles the guy chooses the one he knows the most. But for this series they screw around with your mind till you had enough. In the end I found it all mad sense and it all was worth the time.

kashimashi is one of those anime that make no sense but people really love..and i can see y this anime is amazing..... it starts of with a boy called hazumu who by some quite odd scences is now a girl..Then the girl that had rejected him early that day, Yasuna, and his friend, Tomari, both fall in love with Hazumu. even though the anime i very one minded with loads of characters i only focuses on a few..

Story..
the story is nothing sort of amazing.. a quite wierd start but in the end everything came together great even if it meant watching the ova.. all in ... all i give the storyline a 10.

Art..
the art is nothing more than what you expect from a well made anime with some parts that stick out. And other bits that are quite dissapointing it gets no more than a 10.

Sound...
hhhmmmm.... sound...... well it worked on my computor....8

Characters......
like i said a very variaty of charcters but very dissapointing how they only focused on a few even some quite inportant main charactors ended up being pushed to the side,,9

Enjoyment....
it may have took a few episodes but i REALLY enjoy and i would definatly recommend it to anyone who asks.

Overall...
i give a nice 10/10 yeah

Um, wow. This is um… something a little different then what I have ever seen before. I give the show props for an idea, but an extremely lousy way of making that idea bare fruit. The story feels shallow, the execution is bland, the English voices are a mess, the animation is just standard fan fair. I would of loved if they got into the physiological aspects of a man turning into a women a bit, but they don’t. They just pussyfoot around like it’s a teenage drama. I know it is one but with a concept this interesting, I wish it could have been ... better done.

Hazumu really freaken sounds and acts like a girl! It doesn’t seem like there is any freaken difference to him being male or female. I do think its somewhat Ironic that when he first sees the ‘star’ coming straight at him, he wishes to be manlier and yet he was turned into a woman. And then after he’s a woman, he accepts it rather fast to the point of saying that nothing really changed. (Kurai: “WHAT THE FUCK!? How can he act like nothing changed at all! When you turn me, I freaken hate it!”) All the characters act really stupid and it’s hard for me to even feel for any of them at all. His parents are the worst to because they just are way to excitable. (Akuma: “Excitable? Her Dad a big fat pervert!” Angel: “Alright, ya, I’m trying to make things better then they are.” ) They look at her as if nothing happened at all and start treating him like a girl the day she gets back home. Everyone around her acts as though she should know exactly how to be a women when she doesn’t know the first thing about it. It pisses me off slightly in that aspect because none of the characters seem to think how she feels. If we really get right down to it, it wouldn’t make any difference weather she turned into a girl on her own with a operation or with space aliens. In fact, it would be better if it was a operation then alien because then it would be more believable.

Tomari was doing nothing for him when he was a guy it seems, and treated him like a child that needed protection all the time. It makes me wonder if she is the one that’s the reason that he never became a manlier guy. The whole second episode was pretty much Tomari saying don’t do this, don’t do that and don’t act like a man but she does it rather harshly. We do get into the physiological aspects of her dealing with a friend that changed into a guy but it sometimes feels bland.

Yasuna on the other hand is awkward. It’s almost like she can’t see any men at all and only a hazy look to them when she can. I’m not sure what the hell they did that for because they could of just as easy say she was into girls instead and it would be so much better. It would of actually been closer to a real life story.

This is more of the story that centers around everyone around Hazumu rather then Hazumu herself. We only learn about everyone else and their feelings, and only a little bit of Hazumu’s thoughts and feelings in the first part. When we do learn about Hazumu’s feelings, it feels a bit to late, as we have to go through a lot of crap to get there. Sadly, every single character falls for Hazumu, which makes the damn thing a harem anime.

I have problems when Aliens look exactly like the humans without much difference to them. I also have big problems with the fact that the aliens crash into him, turn him into a woman, and then just leave him to the world. They pretty much do nothing to help him. And when they do show up, they just make things even worse for her. She ends up having a ‘clone’ of herself. (Akuma: “That’s a clone? She doesn’t look like her at all for crying out loud! We look closer then they do and we are just twins!”) Yes… clone… with light pink hair that will not stop hanging on her.

The animation is really based for the fan service. We have a lot of naked shots of girls changing and just doing random stuff. It’s pretty standard and just basic. Many times, they seem to cop out and not even draw the background of go for the close up on the faces. They also do the fucken close ups on the breasts and body too which make me smack my head into the wall.

I have problems with the English voice. Male Hazumu sounds so much like a girl that I see no difference in him being male or female. Tomari sounds more like a boy then he does as a guy! Everyone else sounds so much like a whiny little girl that it just bothers me a lot. The script is so cheesy that I just want to smack the writer. No really, its really really bad! The words sound so much like the person is just reading lines without any feeling what so ever. Even when they do have emotion, it sounds forced. It’s also done rather close to the translation so it feels really choppy. People keep saying ‘it is’ instead of ‘it’s’ and all this other problems. I just want it to end! Though the voices do get a little better (more on the lines that I had to get used to it for necessity rather then it being good) like around the 5th episode, it feels a little late.

this one was really lol really different.. i thought at first it was going to be really cheezy which it was at first but after it got into it and the plot unfolded and you understood and saw what was happening it was actually amazing. this is my summary of it this story is about a guy that liked a girl and the girl at first site didn't like him but only as a friend the guy takes a walk to walk off the frustration. so some how a alien ship hits him in some how they turn in unto a girl but ... he has all the memory of being a boy . well some how it turns in to a love triangle . and the it ends up with two people trying to be good Samaritan and trying not to love the same girl but we know all that doesn't work and it didn't.. but that's all i can say because i don't wanna be a spoiler. but this anime has more drama in it then a reality TV show !!! lol

I'm sure all of you have seen a bunch of shows that had a good premise and an interesting setup, in one word, potential, that unfortunately fell flat on its face after a few episodes and never really recovered. For me, Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl is one of those shows.

The premise of this show was great: we have a guy who is in love with a girl, gets rejected, turns into a girl by some bizarre accident and then maybe has a second chance in winning this girl's affection, this time in a yuri way. Once that accident happened at the end of episode 1 ... I was as hyped as I've could have been, and if someone would ask me to rate this show right then and there I would have given it a 9. But, unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

The two biggest problems with this show were the story and the characters. Sound was OK, art was fine and the OP wasn't bad either, but the story was, well, basically shit. This is first and foremost a romance anime, so it should do good in that aspect of the show, but it didn't. The show used cliché upon cliché: I've stopped counting for the number of times a character in the love triangle just happens to walk in on the other two at exactly the right moment. I mean, if that happens once or maybe twice it is still a bit cringy, but I can deal with that. But when that happens nearly every episode or so and most of the drama comes from those encounters, you have a badly written story. The overload of clichés and the weird turns the story suddenly makes, along with Yasuna's main plot point, are what ruined this story and by extension this show for me.

But wait! There's more!

The characters in this show also really suffered from poor writing. We have mister/misses protagonist Hazumu who is nice and all but A: adapted to being a girl really freaking quickly, and B: is as indecisive as you can get, miss initial love interest Yasuna, who starts out as a selfish bitch in my opinion but gets better sometime later, only to get me to dislike her again right before the end, miss childhood friend Tomari who is was rooting for from the start, but also managed to gain my disliking near the end of the show, and a bunch of side-characters who acted as comic relief and actually did that fairly well... but then disappeared halfway through the series and didn't come back. Whyyyyy?

In short, I really hoped this would be a great show but it let me down. I'm quite sad about that, especially since there is almost no chance that someone else also used this setting and plot, but did it right this time.

You should watch this if:
- You just want to see a bunch of cute girls who are in love with each other
- You really like love triangles
- You like a good laugh (only the first few episodes really)

You shouldn't watch this if:
- You like yuri and you have high expectations for this show
- You like a well written (love) story
- You are easily annoyed by clichés

Initial score: 9/10
Final score: 6/10

[By the way, this is my first review, so please feel free to tell me if I did something wrong or did something right!]

Kashimashi starts out when Hazumu is struck by a UFO and is brought back to life as a girl instead of a guy. Then the girl that had rejected him early that day, Yasuna, and his childhood friend, Tomari, both fall in love with Hazumu. As the story progresesses it can get a little sappy at points, but the story is otherwise enjoyable, Although I wish they did more with Hazumu's friend Asuta's feeling of Hazumu after he is transformed into a girl. The art is absolutly fantastic and the characters were well developed. I highly recommend this anime to everybody

This was a huge let down for me. I knew it wouldn't be as good as Maria Watches Over Us but I hoped for something at least interesting. Poor characters don't help the boring story. Bad run on jokes, a poor thought out romance, and overly dramatic plot twists with the most pointless central idea of a boy turned into a girl make it even worse. Yasuna's weird illness just becomes stupid the instant its mentioned. Hazamu is unlikable as either a boy or girl. I can't say enough bad things about this show.

Honestly, I am not good at writing reviews especially in this situation. Hashimashi is my favorite anime of all time it hits you on every level from super funny to just straight depressing. This show made me reflect a lot on my life and while it probably doesn't deserve all tens (what does?). It has greatly affected my life in ways I do not know how to explain; this show is the embodiment of what makes love so special and also how important it its to be able to balance the mixture of friendship and romance. Kashimashi is a masterpiece it cuts down to the ... core roots of what love really is about. This show is about trying to juggle between love and friendship and not everyone can win. I have never been so emotionally involved with and anime than this one although Strawberry Panic is pretty damn close (maybe better depending on my mood). Anyway I know this might not seem helpful due to my personal bias, but believe me if this is a genre you like your gonna love this show. I hope this can help someone out there who knows anime doesn't have to be what the world perceives it as.