Asatte no Hokou review

Rating: B

Some anime blogs would rate this series highly because it started good. Forgivable, but to me, Asatte no Hokou fell short of being an A rank classic because of its last few episodes. The premise was nice, and they actually came close to pulling it off. They already got the drama seeds sown by episode 9 but chose to blow it on 10, 11 and 12.

What is it? I mean the series should've focused on the three characters. I admit they are unevenly developed. Shoko and that guy had a past, but virtually no emphasis is given to their "patching up" phase. Okay, you might say this came slowly when Shoko grew close to Karada, but if they chose to end it without wasting an episode on that cheesy as hell arc with Tetsumasa probably things would turn out to be more "mature". The last two episodes made it a series for teens.

On the positive things, let's just think about the first 9 episodes or so. The story flowed quite well. I actually am surprised they made it work. Although, Karada, or whatever her name is was portrayed as too "small" that it was hard to picture her as a sixth-grader no matter how they repeat the line. The male lead sucks. He's brooding to the point that he lost all manliness... Hey dude, you a real man? He lets things happen instead of agressively acting upon them That little train chase does not count. His weakness made it happen anyway. Shouko ironically made things worth watching. Though I don't like smart-asses especially if they are in the form of little girls (which cannot back their words up anyway, that or cannot resist VIOLENT retaliation to their words), her unease as an adult kid made me chuckle a bit.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this series. Not that I don't like it, it's just clearly a B grade anime. Just watch it on TV.

Stay tuned.