I''s Pure

I scored a little strange, didn't I? I can explain :)

Ok, I just wanted to write, so that everybody note:
Don't watch this anime unless you have read the manga first!!!

If you have read the manga, and liked it, then it is an enjoyable recap to the books, can bring up nice scenes, and it is nice to watch the characters animated.

However, I was upset while watching, because people who haven't read the manga, and watching this, will only see a spoiler collection of the manga, with only the main part of the story, without the numerous small, funny scenes, that makes the manga so great.

I ... scored it down because - as i stated above - I really don't recommend you to watch this unless you have read the manga first, but if you have already read the manga, you are going to watch it anyways, and will spend a nice 3 hours watching it. ;-)

I'm not sure if I am allowed to swear, but this anime was shit.

I sat through this entire anime expecting more and got nothing in return. It was a rather mediocre "love" story with really no build, enjoyment or climax and end. Right off the bat it's sketchy, I feel like this anime portrays very bad judgement and what's the right thing to do. I really was sick of the Seto from the start and how weak and selfish he is, it gets worse as you watch more.

Not sure why this is rated R+, or Ecchi because there is no nudity, you see panties ... and hips once, in the entire series, No breasts or anything, so knock that down to PG-13 if that's the only reason. One thing for sure is this anime portrays women's judgement horribly. Not a women myself, but I damn well know women have better judgement than this, or I really hope they know when something doesn't look right.

Really would recommend go watch something else, even for a short film, this is terrible.


I will explain why I think this anime is horrid below explaining why I felt this anime was horrible, this is not big story spoils more about why I hate it, I wouldn't consider this even a spoiler because it plays really no part besides making you hate this anime more.

Sorry to say this but ****SPOILER**** past this point





Iori is nearly get's raped in the first 10 minutes in episode 1. That's not the only time, there are two other scenes where she is almost raped, each time progressively worse. There is terrible judgement on her part and a little bastard that gets her into this position that he has no consequence or anything he gets off without a mention. The main loser, Seto, at one point contemplated not coming to protect her, when he knew she was about to be raped because he was on a "date".

----WARNING: SPOILERS ARE AHEAD----

I picked this anime out of the list of recommend anime on the Chobits page, as Chobits is one of my favourite romances. I love the lightness of it, Chii's innocence and purity, and just the overall romantic interactions. I got none of those same feelings from I"s Pure.

I"s Pure stars Ichitaka Seto, a very indecisive teenage boy. While indecisive Male Leads is normal for this kind of anime, Ichitaka is almost unbearable in this sense. There were parts where even I was saying "Just get on with it", and I've seen a decent amount of this character archetype. I get that ... we are supposed to identify with him and maybe "understand" his worries, but it just comes off as annoying. In the episode where they were in the karaoke bar and there were those long pauses between what Seto and Iori were saying I honestly started laughing, because I thought the translators had been pranking me. It failed to create any sort of dramatic tension whatsoever.

One of the marks of a good romance, or even a good anime in general is getting attached to the characters, and actually caring about their strife. Referring back to Chobits, I got very attached to Chii (Heck, I even named my computer it!) and wanted to see her succeed. In I"s Pure, I did not care for Itsuki OR Iori in the least. None of them had any kind of qualities that made them memorable or made me want to care about them. I get that Chobits was 26 episodes and I"s Pure only 6 OVAs, but that shouldn't stop me from caring about the characters any less. If you're going to make a short series, you have to make your characters likeable in a shorter time, which the people here failed to do.

I don't recall it ever been explained WHY Seto likes Iori in the first place. There's no romantic build up, it's just "I like this woman", and this results in her seeming really kinda boring and bland. Itsuki is a little bit better of a character, but not much is said about her either. I felt like Seto should have just dated Itsuki and ended the OVA in 2 episodes. Sure, the childhood friend thing Itsuki's got going on is pretty overdone, but it definitely would have resulted in a better ending.

One thing I can say is, I really did like Teratani. He was an AMAZING friend to Ichitaka. The bro-levels were high in this one. I would kill to have a buddy like him.

The final episode when Seto is in a come and Iori's "I love you" waking him up and all of that just fell so unnecessary. Why was this big catalyst needed to get them back together? It just felt so cheesy, like I was reading an over-exaggeration of a shoujo manga.

Maybe if this had even been a 13 episode series, they could have planned out the character development a little better, but unfortunately my love of this anime was not to be. I really wanted to find a nice romance series, but this just left a bad taste in my mouth.

By the way, what was with that Samejima guy (Marionette King) not recognizing Seto? It had only been like a year since they were done high school. You'd think he'd remember him from their interactions in high school (unless he ACTUALLY was doing drugs and his memory is shot, then I'm just dumb).

Sorry to any of you who liked this. I just had to do this for myself.

Let's sum up this dumpster fire in one sentence: Stereotypical weepy impotent boy is weepy and impotent for six episodes while every cliché plot device plays itself out in cliché order to the sound of crappy violins and bad midi music.

If that sounds harsh, well, it is true. Spoilers ahead.

Story: Oh look, he has a childhood friend. Oh look, he's about to confess but the phone rings, and again....and again......and again. Oh look he's about to confess but a bad guy kidnaps her. Oh look, he's about to confess but a talent agency wants her and they tell him to break ... up with her, which he almost does because he's a weepy impotent boy. Seriously. Every bad anime cliché ever in one place. It doesn't get any worse than this.

Art: Pretty average. Nothing terrible, nothing great.

Sound: Really pretty bad. Corny violin music and bad synth. Enough said.

Character: The characters are as badly written as the story. You'll roll your eyes so hard so often you might go blind watching them. The boy is weepy and pathetic, the girls are weepy and pathetic. Cliché cliché cliché!

Enjoyment: By the end, I just wanted it to be over. I didn't care about anything, and was just downright irritated that I wasted my time. If I could give enjoyment a 0 I would.

Overall: 2/10. Dreadful. Why anime writers keep pumping out these cringe-worthy cliche train wrecks is beyond me.