KIMAGURE ORANGE☆ROAD

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MOVIE ComedyShin Kimagure Orange☆Road: Soshite, Ano Natsu no Hajimari
MOVIE ComedyKimagure Orange☆Road: Ano Hi ni Kaeritai
MANGA DramaKimagure Orange☆Road
OVA ComedyKimagure Orange☆Road OVA
OVA DramaKimagure Orange☆Road Pilot

REVIEWS

• 

  LunaKoi

  78/100
  An important and influential piece for the romcom / slice of life genre that has garnered renewed interest recently.

  Kimagure Orange Road, if you thought a romcom like Nisekoi is peculiar in a magazine like Shounen Jump, then Kimagure Orange Road did it decades prior. Abbreviated as KOR, it was popular during its run in the 80s with a 48 episode anime, 8 OVAs, a movie in 1988 and another movie in 1996. KOR was one of the first, if not, most early famous examples of trying to spice up the romcom genre by incorporating supernatural elements. The setting doesn't get wacky either, everything takes place in a normal everyday town like the one you and I live in, but there is a tinge of otherworldly-ness that aids to the circumstances of the gag comedy format. In my viewing of KOR I've come to realize how much of a pioneer it was for a lot of popular modern anime, as I'll explain throughout the review.

  KOR stars Kyousuke Kasuga, a teenager with esper powers. He can teleport and make things levitate, among other things. He has a love-at-first-sight encounter with Madoka Ayukawa, an attractive female student in the same grade and school as him. Her friend and underclassman, Hikaru Hiyama, falls madly in love with Kyousuke, and with that you have the basic love triangle setup. (which is sadly and predictably one-sided, and it's painfully obvious even early on, a major flaw of KOR.)

  KOR then follows an episodic formula, putting Kyousuke and his friends in wacky situations, where it usually comes down to Kyousuke trying not to make Madoka mad or scoff at him, or him trying not to make Hikaru sad (or both, a lot of the time). Usually Kyousuke has to try to make things right using his powers, and in a way where his friends won't find out, because if everyone discovers that he has powers, then his family will have to move again. This might sound painfully typical, but in the mid 80s, the romcom genre was still in its infancy, archetypal romcom love triangles like Touch were still the norm.

  Now throughout it's 48 episodes... it's extremely hit or miss, probably right down to the middle. There are many great, enjoyable, heart-warming and heart-gripping episodes as there are duds. Believe it or not but I've read that the anime actually alleviates the inconsistent quality in comparison to the manga, which is much longer. This is probably the aspect that makes it harder to recommend, and why KOR flew under the radar throughout the 2000s and early 10s.

  I found out about KOR mainly because of the rise in popularity of future funk, a branch genre of vaporwave. If you don't know, future funk is a music genre that repurposes 80s and 90s pop music (both US and Japan, mainly) into creating upbeat, synth-driven electronic dance music. A lot of YouTube channels like ArtzieMusic use gifs from older anime, like Ursei Yatsura or KOR. Some popular examples for KOR:

  This context adds nor detracts from the quality of the KOR anime, but its important to know in terms of why KOR is more culturally notable today than it was earlier in the millennium, since the popularity of these music videos have garnered interest in the gifs used, leading more people to want to watch KOR.

  In a more anime historical context, the plot elements of KOR will be seen in a lot of modern anime today. I think probably the biggest thing it influenced is The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, though the comparison is a bit spoilery to explain. The dichotomy between everyday life and the supernatural though is definitely something the two have in common. The sequel film, which I might not cover, is very along the lines of highly tense love triangle climaxes such as True Tears and White Album 2. A lot of big modern industry figures have worked on the anime series / films as well, such as Tatsuya Ishihara (which I personally see a lot of the stylistic influence on Kyoani works), Shinji Hashimoto, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Shiro Sagisu and Yuki Kaijura to name a few.

  Cultural importance and isolated quality are two different things but not exclusive of each other in my opinion. If I watched KOR at my age in 1985, I might think differently about it the way I do today, because the way you see an airing anime that came out yesterday is different the way you might see it 10-20 years later. However, there is a reason why KOR stood the test of time for me to be interested in watching it in 2018. Partly because of memes / internet culture, but... there is quality there, as well as influence. It might be inconsistent sure, and if I were recommending this to someone, it would be someone who is interested in anime historically, or someone who can appreciate the older aesthetic even when the writing quality is lackluster. Even then, I think the films make watching the TV anime worth it. Excluding the films though, and rating only the TV anime, I give KOR a

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• 

  unimportantuser

  50/100
  A lesser in every way version of Maison Ikkoku

  Kimagure Orange Road is a romantic-comedy slice of life anime that was made in 1987, so two years after Touch began its adaptation & 1 year Maison Ikkoku began its adaptation. Kimagure Orange Road was an anime that I was overwhelmingly recommended based off of my strong love for Maison Ikkoku, going into it, it looks pretty promising. Will it live up though? Let's find out. Just to throw it out there, this review will contain mild spoilers, read at your own risk.

  Story:

  The story of Orange Road revolves around the Kasuga family, but more specifically, Kasuga Kyousuke. Kyousuke & his family have moved to a new town due to the fact that he and his two sisters are espers and they were caught with their powers. Kyousuke soon meets this girl named Madoka Ayukawa, falling in love with her at first sight.

  Much like Maison, the story set-up isn’t complicated, but it doesn’t need to be, as Maison Ikkoku proved with its incredibly strong writing. The big problem with Orange Road though, it just doesn’t make the effort. This isn’t to say Orange Road is poorly written or anything, but it doesn’t push its story concept to its potential. There’s an incredible lack of development on the part of both the story, & characters throughout the entire show’s run. Orange Road also doesn’t have a strong enough cast to make this simple story work as well it could, but more on the characters later.

  The comedy in Orange Road is pretty good for the most part. Much like Maison, the comedy in this show revolves around timing & character quips more than it does being loud & random. So I’m going to have to give the comedy some credit. There is this one repeating joke between these 2 characters called Ushiko & Umao. It’s pretty much the creators being Kunihiko Ikuhara before Ikuhara started getting more involved in anime, I found it a little bit humorous & charming the first time, but the joke wears thin pretty quickly.

  Orange Road also likes to reference & parody a lot of movies, both of its native-land & foreign. I’m personally not too big on this aspect of Orange Road, I can appreciate that the creators were passionate about these movies, but they’re incredibly intrusive to what lacking plot there is in this anime, and are usually just thrown in randomly for no reason.

  Orange Road gets fairly good use out of the fact that Kyousuke is an esper, his powers will usually come into some form of play that help move the plot along. The creators were also able to make some pretty creative dream sequences out of Kyousuke & his family's powers.

  Characters:

  This aspect unfortunately kills a lot of the enjoyment of Orange Road for me, these characters are ruthlessly lacking in character. They aren’t irritable or awful, they just leave a ton to be desired. Our main man Kyousuke is the typical rom-com protagonist, he’s indecisive, caught in a love-triangle, he’s pretty much Godai from Maison Ikkoku, unlike Godai however, Kyousuke doesn’t really see a lick of development, he stays the same throughout Orange Road’s entirety.

  Ayukawa is probably the best character in Orange Road as she actually has more than one character trait attached to her. Ayukawa is often labeled as one of the founding Tsunderes in anime, but Ayukawa isn’t annoying. She can go from angry to happy on a dime, but at least the creators didn’t exaggerate her personality for the sake of an unfunny joke. Much like Kyousuke however, Ayukawa suffers from a lack of development. Near the end of the series, they reveal bits about her past that show us how Ayukawa came to be the person she is today, but by that point it’s too little too late.

  Hikaru is the other girl in the love triangle which consists of Kyousuke, Ayukawa, & Hikaru. Hikaru isn’t much honestly, she’s defined by being the innocent and happy-go-lucky character of the cast, though her happiness doesn’t feel too forced to the point of irritability. Hikaru is pretty much Kozue from Maison Ikkoku, though if Kozue was stripped of her personality & only had one defining character trait attached to her.

  I’m actually going to do something a little different here & lump the side characters into this one paragraph. Firstly, I’ll mention Kyousuke’s sisters, Kurumi & Manami. They’re ok, the story doesn’t really get as much out of them as they could’ve, but they’re not bad. Kurumi is the more brash, playful, & carefree of the two sisters, while Manami is the smart, careful, & concerned of the two sisters. Next on our slate, we have Hatta & Komatsu, the only trait about these 2 are the fact that they’re idiotic perverts who really want to get close to girls, but specifically Kurumi & Manami. These two suck, they have barely anything to do surrounding the plot or the series, you cut them out of most of the episodes they appear in, and you wouldn’t lose a damn thing in the narrative. Next we have Yuusaku (not Godai). Yuusaku sucks, the series does nothing with him but repeat the same tired joke, Yuusaku loves Hikaru, Hikaru always rejects him & wants barely anything to do with him in favor of “Darling”. If you’re going to create a side character, actually give them some character, even the smallest of side characters in Maison that appear only once throughout the entire series have more to offer & say about them than Yuusaku does, cut this man out of the story, and nobody would miss him. Finally, we have Kazuya. Kazuya is probably my favorite of the side characters, mainly because Kazuya actually has more than one personality trait & does things that help move the story along. Kazuya is pretty much a younger version of Kyousuke, though he lacks the indecisiveness that Kyousuke has, so he’s more likely to take action.

  The biggest fault with this series is just how little these characters have to offer. They barely develop throughout the entire series. The side characters are mostly just repeated jokes & caricatures, if you’re going to have characters in your story, actually give them some character, don’t make the mistake of giving us this somewhat large cast that has barely anything to offer.

  Art:

  This is one of Kimagure’s strong points. The art in this series looks pretty spectacular honestly, the backgrounds look neat, the series is colorful, the color palette offers us some nice variety, & the character designs look great. There isn’t one that’s really out of place for the tone of this series, which is a mistake I feel as though Maison made by making Yukari look the way she did.

  The animation is good for the most part, but there’s quite a number of times throughout its run where it’s pretty blatantly obvious that the animators were getting lazy & cutting corners. Reused frames of animation, flat images just being moved across the screen, shaking the screen to create a false sense of movement, it can be jarring at times. For the most part though, the animation is pretty consistently good throughout, though not as consistent as some other shows that were out around the time of Kimagure’s release.

  Sound:

  This is another strong point for Kimagure Orange Road, the OST is stellar. Shirou Sagisu, who you probably know for Evangelion & Kare Kano composed the soundtrack to this anime. It's a very 80s disco, city-pop, & some bits of Jazz thrown in there king of soundtrack. There’s a good variety in the pieces & the vocal tracks sprinkled throughout are all pretty good.

  The voice acting is decent, there’s some great performances in there, but also some one’s I’m not a fan of. Hiromi Tsuru is great as Ayukawa, but I’m also not a fan of Eriko Hiro’s performance as Hikaru, though I don’t want to pin the blame entirely on her due to the way Hikaru is written. It’s a solid cast, it gets the job done & fits the show pretty well.

  Final Thoughts/Overall

  I always like to say “Good writing can save bad art. Good art can’t save bad writing”. Although Kimagure doesn’t have what I would call “bad writing” its writing is incredibly lacking, while the artwork is damn near phenomenal. Kimagure is a product of being underdeveloped. It has the blue-prints that would create a great story laid out, but it unfortunately just doesn’t go the extra mile in trying to make something stellar. The characters are underdeveloped & flat, and the story doesn’t really see much development throughout its runtime. On the other hand though, I don’t find myself getting irritated with Orange Road, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this anime overall. I’d say I enjoyed about 50% of the anime. So with that being said, my final rating is going to be a 5/10. The OST & Artwork are definitely the highlights here, but if you want my opinion, you’re better off just watching Maison Ikkoku instead. It may be twice the length of Orange Road, but it has more to say & offer at the same time.

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• 

  Tobi404

  84/100
  A timeless endearing classic that perfectly encapsulates bittersweet teenage years as well as it's decade of origin

  I want to start by saying that I had went into the series expecting a reasonably enjoyable and fairly mid piece. I did not expect to be utterly and soundly blown away and to absolutely fall in love with the characters , the music , the setting and the overall mood and even pacing of the series. I did not except this anime to hit me with such immense feeling and to capture something so perfectly. To capture not only a tenderhearted fated love but to perfectly capture the teenage experience. Kimagure Orange Road is a story about three hearts at it's core. Kyosuke Kasuga , Madoka Ayukawa and Hikaru Hiyama. The story is about the love triangle between the three youths but also their enduring friendship. Madoka Ayukawa is the character I particularly fell in love with over the series. I had initially gone into the series expecting to prefer the seemingly bubbly and cute Hikaru over Madoka who I had expected to be a generic sexy character. I could not have been more wrong in this assumption!

  Right off the bat Madoka is introduced in such a pleasant and serene way. Kyosuke and Madoka's first meeting on the staircase where they have a small but friendly disagreement over the number of steps just feels so real. Madoka telling Kyosuke to keep her hat and him becoming absolutely smitten with this beautiful , mysterious and kind girl. Did I mention Kyosuke and his family are Espers?! This causes quite a lot of problems for him throughout the series , almost always resulting in comedic situations. Anyway later on after Kyosuke and his sisters Manami and the bratty trouble making Kurumi arrive at school we are introduced to Hikaru. Surprise surprise her character is initially very abrasive and unappealing. She is introduced by humiliating and insulting a student who gave her a ride to school on his motorcycle and calling him ugly and slapping him in front of the entire school. She then proceeds to insult Kyosuke and act even more bratty. Needles to say the vastness of difference between my initial expectations and the reality of the characters really hit home at that moment.

  At the end of the school day Hikaru is accosted by the boy and his friends when who shows up to defend her but Madoka. It turns out Madoka and Hikaru are unexpectedly best friends. This is a pattern , Madoka will always help people , will always be there when she is needed and will always be the person to do the right thing. This may sound like a Mary sue to some people but Madoka is anything but. Madoka is rather standoffish and distant at school , this is in contrast to her kind and upbeat nature during her first meeting with Kyosuke. Early on we learn the reason Madoka is so standoffish is because she has a reputation of being a " delinquent " at school and not only the staff but the students shun her. Even Kyosuke's bumbling super perverted goofball friends Komatsu and Hatta who constantly lust after girls show no interest in Madoka at this time. The only people at the begging of the series who don't shun Madoka are Hikaru , Kyosuke and the character Yuusaku. A very important note is that we see that the only reason Madoka had developed a reputation for being a delinquent is that she would help people such as protecting girls from gangs and helping people being bullied by thugs.

  The second episode is when the love triangle begins. We are treated to Madoka's excellent gymnastic performance but not a single student praises her or offers even one kind word. It is Kyosuke alone at this moment who praises her. Later Hikaru witnesses Kyosuke sitting alone in the gym using his ESP to make an impossible shot at basketball. Hikaru is instantly smitten at this " cool and pretty cute " boy. It's not long before Hikaru has become his self appointed girlfriend and starts labelling him " DARLING! " Of course the problem is Madoka and Kyosuke have already been growing close. Throughout the series Kyosuke and Madoka continue to develop a tender hearted love where Kyosuke loves Madoka because he sees her real self. Hikaru doesn't have a chance lol. I'd like to take this opportunity to mention Yuusaku again. Yuusaku is hopelessly in love with Hikaru but she usually treats him no better than a lackey or servant. We do at some point get an episode where the other characters believe Yuusaku is going to commit suicide and it's revealed Hikaru at least cares for him enough to want him to live and cries a bit for him. She also goes to try to stop his " suicide. " However Yuusaku's feelings are so utterly one sided and he continues to humiliate and prostate himself while constantly having to watch Hikaru fawn over and crawl all over her " darling! " Kyosuke.

  Now I'd like to really take a moment to discuss the three characters at the core of this story. While Kyosuke doesn't quite have the heart or the backbone to tell Hikaru he has feelings for Madoka it still happens that Madoka and Kyosuke continue to get closer and closer with each episode. However it's also true that Hikaru and Kyosuke get closer as well. Throughout the story we see Kyosuke while he does prefer Madoka he does love Hikaru as well , it's just his feelings for Hikaru are more platonic. At his core Kyosuke is a character that while at times indecisive and a bit of a worrywort is a character who cares about is family and friends and above all he just can't stop his heart from yearning for Madoka.

  Hikaru in spite of her obvious faults does indeed have her own appeal as a character. Hikaru and Yuusaku have been Madoka's friends since childhood and her and Madoka are like sisters. Hikaru is often the character who in a way holds the friends group together. Not just Kyosuke but also Hikaru can be said to be one of the people who made it so the rest of the students started to warm up to Madoka and see her as more than just a delinquent. While she is entitled , overbearing and quite foolish at the end of the day Hikaru is a person who loves her friends and wants all of them to be safe and happy. She's just lacking self awareness at her young age. This is something I will get to in my review of the films.

  Madoka is a character who is constantly full of surprises. Madoka at first glance seems " sexy " , mysteries and cool and while she is all these things she is so much more. While Madoka can be a tad flirty and a bit of a tease she in the same breath is virginal and shy. Madoka is skilled at many things including instruments both the Saxophone an the guitar , she is also an excellent singer. But Madoka is shy and reserved due to the discrimination she has faced because of her rep as a deliquent. While Madoka is a strong fighter more than anything is kind , is friend to the weak and downtrodden and always helps ANYONE in need. As I said before Madoka is the one character who tries to put others before herself. Madoka actually tries to quell her feelings for Kyosuke and allow Hikaru to have her " darling. " For the longest time Madoka tries to tell herself that it's ok if Kyosuke were to suddenly choose Hikaru but Madoka cannot stop her heart. She can't stop the pain in her heart at the thought of Kyosuke not loving her. She just can't help falling for this clumsy bumbling at times indecisive yet sweet boy who cares so deeply for her who sees into her heart and yearns to merely be with her. While Hikaru is initially drawn to Kyosuke because of a shallow reason Madoka is the one who is drawn to Kyosuke because of his kind nature and his feelings for her. Madoka also acts like a big sister to Yuusaku and never once criticized or ridiculed his feelings towards Hikaru. In fact Madoka was always there to try to help every one of her friends even at her own expense.

  I want to take this time to talk about the music in the series. Being a title from the 80s it's bound to have a banger ost and I can assure you nearly every track is imo on point. The opening and ending themes ALL perfectly capture the feeling of young love , but also those bittersweet teenage years of uncertainty and wearing your heart on your sleeve. No track in the series better encapsulates this then the second opening theme Orange Mystery. It's not just the music but of course the visuals are utterly brilliant. The scenes of Kyosuke , Madoka , Hikaru and Yuusaku playing for their band in the nearly empty gym personally sparks something in me. Kyosuke looking surprisingly dapper and handsome as he bangs out on the drums and the vocals sung from his point of view " oh baby tell me tell tell me that you need me , tell me lover tell me that you love me " symbolize his unsure feelings in this time. He loves Madoka but he still isn't totally sure if she is as into him. He so often worries she has an older man or a more suave guy she's going with. These worries , Kyousuke's uncertainty and nervousness at that age are so universally relatable. The scene of the ultimate underdog Yuusaku walling on the guitar and looking so cool is so unexpected and it's a blink and you miss it type of thing but it gives this poor simp and butt monkey character a nice moment to look cool.

  All the music in this series every last track is full of totally 80s vibes and nostalgia.For me this is just another reason why this is such a timeless nostalgic bittersweet work. This is a bygone decade but to the people who were there at the time and were young at the time as well as their children and the newer generation after generation it was a decade that is simply unforgettable. Not only did the 80s produce some of the greatest musical talent in history but it's an era where fashion and everything was just so over the top and fun. Anime was booming and the video game industry was really starting to come into its own. Kimagure Orange Road too is part of that timeless and simply unforgettable decade. A decade that's style , music and over the top aesthetic will endure until the end of time. I think anyone should watch this anime not only to be a part of that but to experience something that was so influential and important for anime as a whole. While you don't hear about Kimagure Orange Road too much these days it was an extremely influential work which influenced the love triangle and slice of life genre. Kimagure Orange Road is simply but a classic anime that will forever endure the test of time.

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