I''s

(covers I's & I's Pure)

Today’s topic revolving around this anime is romance, considering at the time of writing this review, it’s close to Valentine’s Day, mostly the holiday that many people either get excited about or dreaded as it goes by. Anyway, the anime du jour is based on the manga that was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan from 1997 to 1999; the series was collected into 15 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. There were 2 OVA adaptations, the first From I’s is a 2-episode OVA while I’s Pure is a six-part OVA.



The story's main character is 16-year-old high school ... student Ichitaka Seto who is in love with his classmate Iori Yoshizuki, but too shy to tell her. Again and again he plans to tell her his true feelings, but each time something (usually a misunderstanding of some kind) gets in the way. Things become even more complicated when Itsuki Akiba returns to Japan; she is a girl Ichitaka was friends with in their childhood before she moved to the United States, and who had a huge crush on him. Now, that part is more from Pure rather than the first outing From, but some of the time, they both have similar plot details with the first OVA being something that actually resembles a plot that’s involves Itsuki meeting Yosuke, another childhood friend & Ichitaka in the woods to fulfill a promise they made ten years ago.



I will say that the first OVA, while being the shortest, is possibly the more interesting one to watch but it doesn’t hold up well to the second series in part of story continuity and cohesion and yet, Pure focus more on the romantic aspect with it being played straight although it needs up being generic and typical, especially the most awkward misunderstandings, oblivious characters who really seems more dumb than they appear, and obnoxious editing tricks.



For characters, Ichitaka Seto, the main character of the series is the shy teenage boy who has trouble with relationships due to his earlier misfortunes but to me, I get his shyness and where he’s coming from but often he has his foot in his mouth a few too many times, although that is bound to happen to many people. For Iori Yoshizuki, she’s very friendly, gorgeous to look at but honestly, she’s the blandest character in the series. For the first OVA, she definitely showed no purpose there except for her doing her job and in peril. The second series show more purpose with her but is still in peril with the dumbest antagonist who wants revenge for finding out that he spies on girls changing clothes. Next time, buddy, make your cam more unnoticeable. Itsuki Akiba, on the other hand, was actually one of the greater things about the show. She’s playful, characteristic and often shameless and loud but somebody that seems fun to hang out with and of course, there’s the other plotline that she’s a childhood friend and she has real feelings towards Ichi and we all know how that goes along. Then there’s Teratani, Ichitaka’s best friend who think himself as a pro with the females and gives him advice on how not to mess up his relationship but he’s also a jackass when it comes to messing with Ichi a few times.



For animation, it was provided by two animation companies; the first being Studio Pierrot, the guys responsible for 2 of the Big Three, Naruto and Bleach; and Studio ARMS, the one animation company that I bitch about for being hacks…….plus they made Master of Marital Hearts and for it, the character designs are very consistent from both OVAs while the first series looks older, which is more understandable considering the years. There is a little amount of gratuitous fan service in the second OVA on the sections of “Ichitaka’s Fantasy Diary”, where he sexually fantasizes about the girls (Iori, Itsuki, etc.) and their intimate moments. The music score is mainly decent although it’s forgettable most of the times, including the openers and ending songs in Pure.



Funny thing about the dub is from New Generation Pictures, this is a Viz Media release and NGP is usually associated with Geneon most of the time but this dub was…off. Darrel Guillbeau and Erika Weinstein gives tiresome and stilted performance as the main would-be, kind of couple Ichitaka and Iori, respectively. It could be the direction they were given but I wasn’t feeling their performances. I will say that Carrie Savage did a better run out of all the performances in the show than anybody else.





FINAL VERDICT: This is a passable series that doesn’t drag at all but you’ll be bored by some of the characters and irritated by the cliché elements and you’ll wonder why there are even there if they don’t provide anything to the story. I would just give the series a rent rather than buy.