Story: Yukino and Souichirou are two top students in their class - they get very favourable grades, they're athletic and are very well liked by their classmates. The beginning specifically focuses on Yukino, who does just about everything to make sure her top spot is kept. At home, however, Yukino is very laid back and doesn't act anything like she does at school. Souichirou finds this out and, while at first he blackmails her, Yukino slowly realizes that they could be compatible after all. They start dating and, honestly, there are many instances where they make quite a pretty cute couple. This series does play out a lot like you might expect of some high schoolers, and when you can relate it, it pulls in the audience even more. There's some pretty strong content written into the story too, which is impressive considering the year in which it was released. The interactions between our main couple are really well played out.
One thing I don't love about many of the episodes is the extensive use of monologuing. It just happens way too often and while many fans won't mind this, I found it took some of the experience away from me. Every so often isn't a bad thing because you get to hear what a character thinks in the moment, but when it occurs as often as this series uses them, you almost feel like you're listening to an anime, rather than watching it.
Many of the episodes take some time to get us to know the backstory of several characters as well - including, but not limited to, Souichirou and side characters Tsubasa, Hideaki, Tsubaki and Takefumi. All of their backstories are fascinating and very different from each other. With 26 episodes to play with, I'm glad they took the time to get us to know the side characters better.
All that being said, the ending leaves a lot more to be desired. It feels like the last few episodes don't really belong here because they focus on a student event, but they never execute it. Much of the planning happens, but we don't get to see anything else about it after the initial episode. It seems like a really strange way to end a series and the last episode doesn't even feel like a conclusion. (7/10)
Characters: Yukino and Souichirou, as alluded to above, are strong characters with some fascinating backstories to them. Yukino tries to hide who she is at home from her classmates, even though she's seemingly perfect on the outside. Souichirou has a past that he isn't particularly proud of, but gets exceptional grades, despite his past, which clearly haunts him. While they more or less try and get through common problems together, you do sort of wish major points of contention were brought up more often. Specifically, the last bunch of episodes don't really show them together all that much.
As for your side characters, they all have strong points for what they are. Hideaki is a bit of a weirdo, but he fits perfectly into the series. It adds some comic relief and his interactions with Souichirou are fantastic. Tsubasa is introduced a little later on and she has some pretty rough problems of her own. What makes her stand out is how the group she's around attempt to help her through those problems and the result is really satisfying. Takefumi doesn't have a great past either and works hard to try and better himself so that he's happy with his life. For the most part, he's a fine character, but I feel like they didn't expand enough on his character.
Characters are generally pretty strong, being propped up by a episodes that are dedicated to them. Not everyone's likable - Tsubaki and Maho I feel were written in to be unlikable - but you don't hate any of them. Even Yukino's dad got some spotlight later on. So while you don't like the whole cast, you can certainly pick out some side characters and say they added well to the series. (7/10)
Art: When you're watching some older anime, the question that comes up is "How well does it hold up today?". Sadly, this series does not hold up well - at least in my eyes. The animation always feels lackluster and the series' reliance on still-photos does beg a few questions. They started doing them less in the late part of the series, but when you're watching our main couple in multiple still shots, it gets old. There's also an episode in the middle where they use real-life backgrounds with cartoon-looking pictures as the character portraits and it really doesn't look good for me. (2/10)
Sound: If we're asking how the art holds up, we can also ask how the sound holds up, right? Because, while the OST and tracks aren't super impressive, the VOs are. Pre-2000, dubbing companies were very clearly still figuring out how to bring a strong audio presentation to the stage and this was executed really well. Kathleen McInerney (Yukino) was fantastic. Perfect, almost. She's obviously known for her work in the Pokémon anime as Ash and his mother, but this would have been one of her early works too and she kills it. Other veterans who grade out well here are Liam O'Brien (Hideaki) and Megan Hollingshead (Kano).
One minor thing I wanted to mention is that I love what they did with the episode previews. You end up seeing two females talking into a mic, very expressively, about the next episode, in the recording studio. In English, the VOs for that are Yukino's sisters (Megan Hollingshead and Jessica Calverro). Obviously the audio isn't synced with what you see on screen, but the energy these two brought to an episode preview was impressive - and very different from what you see today. (8/10)
Overall Enjoyment: His and Her Circumstance is probably the most difficult I've had grading out an anime series, ever. The story they have in place is there, but the way it was executed leaves a lot more to be desired. Normally, art styles don't bother me but I can't help but feel it took so much away from the experience. If this was produced today, I feel like it would see widespread acceptance. It's still good, but this may just be a case of a good anime with poor execution that didn't age all that well. (6/10)
