Asatte no Houkou.

About to enter junior high school, Karada Iokawa is a cheerful and reliable girl, who hates being treated as a child more than anything. After her parents' deaths, her older brother, Hiro, comes back from studying abroad to take care of her. His ex-girlfriend Shouko Nogami, a composed yet sometimes childish and stubborn young woman, follows him to Japan in order to find out why he left her. Between the two girls, the atmosphere is tense, which eventually leads to Shouko calling Karada childish.

Later, Karada stands before a shrine praying to grow up. Little does she know that the shrine wishing stone would grant her wish. As Karada grows older, at the same time, Shouko, who happens to be nearby, finds herself a child once again. With their ages now reversed, Shouko and Karada must come to terms with one another and ultimately themselves.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nogami, Shouko Main

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Iokawa, Hiro Main

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Iokawa, Karada Main

Fujimura, Ayumi Japanese

Amino, Tetsumasa Supporting

Nomura, Katsuhito Japanese

Shiozaki, Kotomi Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Isogai, Tadashi Supporting

Suzuki, Takuma Japanese

Okudera, Masao Supporting

Saizen, Tadahisa Japanese

Yoshimura, Takumi Supporting

Domon, Jin Japanese

Amino, Harue Supporting

Oda, Fumi Japanese

Amino, Touko Supporting

Watanabe, Akeno Japanese

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Ookawara, Takeshi Producer

Fujino, Yuuko Assistant Producer

Reviews

Aug 13, 2007

Meloria

Recommended

Characters/Development
The story then flows through both of Karada’s and Shouko’s life with their new ages, and how they come across the problems and emotions that take place. Karada is concerned about her brother, Hiro Iokawa, doesn’t know where she has disappeared to and to get him to believe that she is actually his little sister. We are shown that the two girls come to deal with their problems differently which then reflects their personalities a bit more to the viewer. Karada is shown to get depressed, having some emotional stress and brought to tears quite easily showing off more of her child like qualities. Shouko ... on the other hand seems to get on with what has taken place while being rather quiet and calm about her situation. However, what goes on inside her mind and what she is thinking may be a different story.

There are several other characters of which are involved in this short story that gives use a nice amount of different personalities between each of them. Karada’s brother seems to be quite a misterious guy whom of which covers his eyes with his hair quite a lot. Then you have Karada’s school friend, Tetsu, a young male who appears to care about her more than just friends. Then ofcourse his older sister and another female friend whom of which seem to be people that support the other characters. Throughout the twelve episodes we learn a little more about each one, their relations with each other and feelings about certain issues.

The story is developed quite well in twelve episodes although with a slow pace between them where Karada can face problems which arise that don’t always get resolved in a single episode. Some episodes we are given some flashbacks which add more to the development of characters with more insight to reasons and relationships, and how they came across adding a few new twists to the plot. The aren’t exactly too much of a surpise however, but not easily expected either. The series isn’t always full of emotional and sad moments since there are some happy times with some light comedy and romance added in their too.

Animation/Scenery
The art uses a lot of soft, warm colour tones throughout the series, which suits the overall sunny weather nicely and keeps a consistant blend between everything. Character designs were rather good but there was nothing exactly unique or special about each one. There aren’t really any similarities though, which keeps a distinctive look between them, hair and clothing styles are the most noticable area for this. Hiro’s character design was rather depressing during several scenes where you rarely see his eyes and the facial hair suggests a lazy mood to the guy, while Karada as a child smiles quite a lot using a few more brighter colour tones for her hair and clothes adding a more cheerful look to her character. The child and adult versions of both Karada and Shouko have a resemblance between them so the viewer can still tell they’re still the same character which was also another good point as it added a bit more realism to that event.

Scenery has also been done rather well keeping the consistant blend of the warm colours in them to detail each of the scenes and make sure the characters fit into them. They aren’t exactly over detailed but give the viewer a general idea of the location or setting the characters are currently at without using any lines to define them more. The art almost feels much like paintings in many areas throughout the series, but overall they were decent with a beautiful exotic look to each one of them where light helps add to the atmosphere quite a bit. Animation is moderate throughout without anything too special to note about, where simple actions such as talking or moving are again done in a simple manner.

Audio/Music
Again to be brief in this area there doesn’t seem to be any major problems with the sound anywhere in this one and keeps a moderate approach to the usage. No problem with the voice acting either which some well chosen voices that worked and suited well for the characters. Both the opening and ending themes are calm in tone, while the latter has a more slower pace to it. Bother were good songs, enjoyable to listen to especially the relaxing ending which uses a fitting sequence at the end of each episode. Background music seemed to be calm melodic tracks but I yet again cannot exactly remember much about them.

Conclusion
An interesting story mixed with its emotion and drama, during a slow pace per episode with some developments between the characters. Decent background and character art using a lot of warm colour tones and blends, moderate auid and animation throughout. An enjoyable watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 23, 2008

MugenPein

Recommended

I'm not usually into the whole twelve episode thing, I normally don't think it's enough time to tell a good story, but did this prove me wrong. Asatte no Houkou is an extremely emotionally complex anime and I was seriously taken by surprise when I learned that by the second episode, because it starts you off making it seem like it just might be a loli anime, but if you keep watching, which thank goodness, I did, you'll learn that not only is she no longer a child after the first episode, but this entire anime is about everyone, including the adults, learning to ... behave like adults.

Anyway, Asatte no Houkou is about a twelve year old girl, named Karada Iokawa. She's unusually upbeat considering all the crap she's been through over the past four or five years. At least, it seems like she's upbeat. When she was eight seven or eight, she learned that her parents and older brother are not biologically her family, we never learn what happened to her real parents, we assume they're dead, but a year later, her adoptive parents die. Shortly after, her older adoptive brother comes from America to take care of her. Unfortunately, Karada is extremely bright for her age and knows her brother is in a lot of pain over everything he left behind while he was in America to come take care of her. Over the next four years, the guild of her brother having to take care of her all the time and having to work so hard to do so, torments her. Eventually, she meets a woman whom was a friend of her brother in America, but the woman, Shoko Nogami, is very cold to her to Karada and treats Karada like a child so much, Karada runs away. Feeling guilty, with Karada's brother angry at her, she looks for Karada and finds her at a wishing stone near the woods. When Shouko sees Karada praying at the stone, she asks if she can wish too, and sits down next to her. As they sit together, the two wish for what they desire most. And, this is the part that got me to keep watching, When they opened their eyes, Karada had taken on the body of a 20-26 year old girl and Shoko a 9-12 year old girl. I know that this has been done before tons of times, like with the thirty remakes of freaky Friday and all that stuff, but it was really interesting to see the direction they took it where they didn't switch bodies, just ages.

From there on, the anime is surprisingly real. Like if that were to actually happen to someone, everything that followed was exactly like what you would expect in real life.

So the two of them hide out for a while and everyone thinks they've gone missing. The police aren't involved, since they think Karada's with Shouko, but still, everyone looks for her.

the anime is all about Karada learning how to appreciate her childhood and Shouko learning how childish she behaved as an adualt. Shoko learns that she was jealous of Karada, for having taken her boyfriend away, Karada's brother, and Karada learns that even if she is an adult, her brother will always want to be in her life and that she's not holding him back from anything.

There’s also a character, Tetsumasa Amino, who is Karada's friend from school. He's huge for his age and looks like he could be in his late teens to early twenties, which makes him look really bad since Karada was extremely undeveloped for her age and looked six at the age of twelve. But anyway, he's really cool.

He and Karada are in love and he spends nearly the entire series looking for her, even though he meets her on a number of accounts he doesn't recognize her. He and older Karada spend some time together in the last few episodes of the series and he confesses his love for the younger Karada.

Just to spoil some stuff, everyone finds about and comes to believe that Karada and Shouko had swapped ages, which is really cool since usually in those age swapping movies no one knows but them and there's a cute ending that isn't the least bit corny, which made me very happy since I was expecting a very cheesy ending.

All in all, it was pretty flawless for what it was going for. I can't really think of anything they did wrong other than in real life the police probably would have gotten involved. But again, it's a very real anime and that's why I probably appreciate it so much.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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May 16, 2015

vegetablespirit

Mixed Feelings

This is a story of amends and of redemption. It is a tribute to the age-old aphorism, "Maturity comes with experience, not age." But most importantly, Asatte no Houkou shows that you can craft an alright drama with any trope, even the most tired or comedic.

Such are the main merits of an anime with a ridiculous premise. In this case, our protagonist, Karada, is a 12 year old girl who is insecure about her young age. Tiny and always feeling left out, she makes a wish in frustration to a local altar—a wish to become an adult. To her dismay, this rash wish is ... mysteriously granted, swapping Karada's age with that of her older brother's ex-girlfriend, Shouko, and vice versa. The problem? Karada and Shouko loathe each other, yet they're left to work together in secrecy. Or so it goes for a little while.

Here is where execution saves the day. The story, not once played for laughs or thrills, takes itself completely seriously. Unlike a lot of similar dramas, this focuses on how the supernatural element affects every character's life in one way or another, no matter how minor. It follows the reparation and strengthening of these interpersonal relationships throughout this group of friends, and in that sense, its small scale is a double-edged sword. It provides enough for character development, but limits the scope of a potentially vast story. This all roughly balances out in the end, but it's still very disappointing to think of what it could have been.

Meanwhile, Karada has to focus on what being an adult really entails, whether it's through buying new clothes or finding a job, and Shouko needs to outgrow her apathetic tendencies. The scenes detailing these conflicts are some of the best the storyline has to offer, giving a great insight into what each character is struggling with the most. There is a strange sense of terror that comes with either of the two being put in danger, and that privilege isn't abused; since it's only invoked a couple of times, it manages to stay fresh and intimidating without becoming contrived, although Karada's thou-must-cry backstory cuts it close.

Audiovisually, it's as conflicted as the story. While the art is soft and somewhat refreshing, it's awfully plain (albeit acceptable) overall. The animation itself is a little more mediocre, with mouths refusing to move in some scenes, and shading done almost haphazardly. Thankfully, it's all redeemed by some of the best audial presentation I've experienced in the medium. Aside from dialogue cutting through, it is almost like an ambient soundscape at times. There are layers upon layers of unobtrusive sound effects, accompanied by the occasional acoustic music when necessary. Never too much or annoying, it balances this harmony of atmosphere and song flawlessly, and definitely knows when to be quiet. My only gripe was that I could fall asleep to it.

Even though Asatte no Houkou is by no means the greatest anime you'll ever see, it is definitely a one-of-a-kind experience. Or an inconsistent treat, if that's more up your alley. Memorable for the fact that none of it takes place in a school or on a battleground, but memorable nonetheless. It's cute at its worst and compelling at its best, so what's there to lose—a few years?

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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