Aoi Hana 1 (Sweet Blue Flowers)
Warning: Some nudity
“Aoi Hana (青い花)” by Kukikodan
“Sentiforia (センティフォリア)” by Ceui
Some educational materials about chikan.
Chikan (痴漢, チカン, or ちかん) is a Japanese term meaning “molester” or “pervert”; the term is frequently used to describe people who take advantage of the crowded conditions on the public transit systems to touch girls. As part of the effort to combat chikan, some railway companies have designated women-only passenger cars.
How to Protect Yourself from Chikan
In fact, this paraphilia is so prevalent that there is chikan densha service >.>
“Shibuya Pink Girl’s Club” offers a chikan densha, or pervert train. The “groper’s course” starts at ¥12,000 ($130), where the connoisseur picks out from the menu the girl of his choice, dressed either as a schoolgirl or office receptionist. This girl then beckons him through the window of a mock-up train carriage, which not only broadcasts station announcements, but even shakes and rattles. For the next 45 minutes the connoisseur is under no risk of arrest as he gropes to gay abandon—before joining the slumberers on one of the last real trains home. (Source)
Impressions
I was pleasantly surprised by the first episode because Shichiro Kobayashi‘s art, Takefumi Haketa‘s music, and Kenichi Kasai‘s directing far outweighed inadequate character design transition from the manga due to relatively poor hair rendition.
I am impressed by Kobayashi’s productivity: he also was an art director for Umi Monogatari and Taishō Yakyū Musume this season, and he’ll turn 77 in a couple of months 🙂 It is a pleasure to watch his soft natural backgrounds.
Haketa worked on sevral slice-of-life anime before, so it is no wonder his guitar and piano music fitted the atmosphere well. The opening song by Kukikodan is nice also 🙂
I also enjoyed Kasai’s directing. One of the interesting characteristics I noticed is relatively frequent focus on objects with the conversation in the background rather than on people’s faces. I especially like the attention payed to hands and feet.
Overall, I enjoyed the first episode and will consider covering the show regularly, but I have not decided yet.
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Kitsune's Thoughts 
holy, I didn’t know art director is 77 years old. 0_0 I’m surprised by what he can pull off. I was also worried about the character design at first, but actual episode really blew my worry away. Definitely going to continue this one. ^^
Yes, that art director is quite old – I wonder if that is his last season.
Indeed, the first episode was quite good, and I plan to see the next one 🙂
The design of the characters and backgrounds is quite different in my opinion..
Yes, the character design is much better in manga, but backgrounds were mostly absent in manga if I recall, so the anime improved that area.
If you are referring to the misfit between character and background art, overall, it seems coherent, but the poor hair make the characters stand out more from the background.
Hmm…I’m still not too sure about this adaptation. Ep 01 didn’t really excite me much in wanting to see further.
The rest of the episode will be somewhat similar. It is a very slow-paced story about childhood friends who meet again after several years of separation. I still have not decided if I’ll blog it.
Forgot to add, I quite like the OP song. The ED Song is another Ceui number. She’s everywhere. The ED art/animation reminds me of White Album’s ED sequence.
Yes, the OP song it nice, and I also like the video, especially the moment when they turn into kids and back, while dancing 🙂
Indeed, the ED video reminded me of White Album, but White Album version turned out better I think.
the character desgin is very good… I hope the story is also good too…
buwahhahaha~!!!…
now this is a way of kyaaaaaaaaa~♥
so cute…Fumi’s voice is so sweet , cute and calm…
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