SHIN KIMAGURE ORANGE☆ROAD: SOSHITE, ANO NATSU NO HAJIMARI

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MOVIE ComedyKimagure Orange☆Road: Ano Hi ni Kaeritai
MANGA DramaKimagure Orange☆Road

REVIEWS

• 

  KamuiSakurazuka

  76/100
  The Satisfying Conclusion of a Temperamental Love Triangle

  SPOILERS: For the entire Kimagure Orange Road Series. This also serves as a review of the entire series.

  Kimagure Orange Road: Summer’s Beginning concludes the Kimagure Orange Road series and wraps up the adventures of Kyosuke Kasuga, the iconic Madoka Ayukawa, and Hikaru Hiyama. I think the movie is essential to watch to see how the main trio’s personalities and characterizations grow from the main series and the previous movie; seeing them shift from immature teens to more stable young adults. My interest in Kimagure Orange Road stemmed from the character of Madoka Ayukawa, who prior to the arrival of Madoka Kaname from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, was the Madoka of the anime world. Madoka is always cited as having foundations in the modern-day tsundere trope, not exactly fitting the definition of a tsundere as we know it today, but being a proto-tsundere of sorts. She’s a skilled girl with the reputation of a delinquent but cares deeply for her friends and is whimsical in her treatment of Kyosuke; one minute she’s kind and sweet and the next she’s ignoring him and being cold. The ‘Kimagure’ in the title refers to her as being capricious or whimsical.

  Kimagure Orange Road is also known for setting the precedent for ‘love triangles’ in anime. Kyosuke serves as the somewhat dense and indecisive protagonist who loves one girl (Madoka) but can’t turn down the other girl who’s interested in him (Hikaru). Madoka is the cool beauty and Hikaru is the cheerful younger girl who’s deeply in love with Kyosuke and always wants to be around him. The show undoubtedly helped set the foundation for anime romcoms with wacky antics, simple misunderstandings that get blown out of proportion, and the ‘will they or won’t they?’ question that gets you interested in coming back for the next episode. The addition of Kyosuke having psychic powers almost makes it feel like a gender-swapped Sabrina the Witch at times. As a binge-watcher, however, the show can be infuriating to get through at certain points, especially when they ramp up certain traits of characters to the extreme. Kyosuke not being able to speak his mind, Hikaru not being able to handle the most simple rejection, Madoka being overly fickle in how she treats Kyosuke, and down to the side characters as well.

  In fact, I think the show's biggest flaw comes from characterization and it's only cemented by the fact that it takes 2 movies to solve it. While watching the show, it feels like you’re stuck in this limbo of no one developing. Kyosuke doesn’t grow a backbone until the first movie, I Want to Return to That Day. It takes Hikaru getting viciously rejected to understand she needs to give Kyosuke personal space, and Madoka takes a step back from solving Kyosuke’s issues while also beginning to understand she needs to prioritize her own happiness over hurting Hikaru, her best childhood friend. The side characters suffer even more: Manami and Kurumi get less relevance as the series goes on to just barely appearing in the movies, Komatsu and Hatta are pervy side characters that don’t even feel like Kyosuke’s real friends, and Yusaku never learns to get over Hikaru and doesn’t get to appear in the movies. The only interesting side characters are Kazuya, Kyosuke’s bratty but confident kid cousin with mind-switching psychic powers, and Akane, his cousin who crushes on Madoka and has the ability to make people see her as a different person. They are very underused and should’ve been the ones to round out the main supporting cast instead of Komatsu and Hatta. Kyosuke may have his irritating flaws as a main character, but in a way, it feels like he really has no one in his corner. He’s constantly getting pushed to accept Hikaru in order to not rock the boat amongst the group (except Yusaku who wants Hikaru for himself), so with a lack of supportive friends it's no wonder he struggles to handle Hikaru.

  So the movies come as much-needed relief for the story and characters to grow, but the biggest question is: Was it worth the wait following the television show? I’d say the pay-off was worth it-to an extent of course. It was incredibly satisfying to see Kyosuke turn down Hikaru and make it official with Madoka, but it was even more satisfying to see Hikaru move on to become a professional dancer, showing that the rejection was necessary for her to move forward in life. Kyosuke and Madoka’s relationship feels unstrained now, with them having the freedom to do what they please without having to worry about hurting Hikaru or the bugging of the Kasuga twins, Komatsu, and Hatta. The way Hikaru has to part ways with Madoka and Kyosuke also feels incredibly realistic and Summer’s Beginning does highlight that it was time they needed to spend a part to grow as people before reuniting as friends. The biggest cons of the series as a whole though is the slough that is the show and having to sit through 48 episodes of limbo, many episodes of which aren’t even that interesting or simply just infuriating to watch. While it made the pay-off for both movies greater as it's necessary to the viewing experience and understanding why it’s so important for Kyosuke to finally speak up about how he really feels, it really puts into perspective that static characterization hurt the show in the long run. There are little to no important character arcs outside of Madoka shedding her reputation as the local bad girl.

  That isn’t to say the show has no value at all and should be skipped. For those fans wanting a more in-depth look into romcoms and love triangles in anime, Kimagure Orange Road is a massive influence on how the genre is shaped today and you can see the basis for many common tropes in each episode, similar to Rumiko Takahashi works like Urusei Yatsura and Ranma ½. And as stated above, Madoka Ayukawa helped define the idea of tsunderes in anime and is what I’d say, the backbone of this series. She’s by far the most interesting character it has to offer, with her backstory in the final episodes of the television show being critical in understanding her personality. Her characterization of wanting to maintain her friendship with Hikaru, a girl who’s so close to her they could be sisters, and wanting to be with Kyosuke but knowing it’d hurt Hikaru definitely makes her incredibly sympathetic. You watch this show for Madoka, to see her be incredibly talented, cool, and understand who she is as a person, but then you stay to see Kyosuke stand up for himself and finally turn down Hikaru. As for other factors, the animation is incredibly charming and rarely off-model (except for Kurumi’s simpleton face) and all the openings for the show are catchy and amazing. The third opening is quite revolutionary for its time as it has a long continuous take and constant rotating. One of the earliest uses of time loops is also used in this series in its Christmas episode and the show features many uses of time travel, with the finale movie being centered around Kyosuke being sent to the future while in a coma.

  As a whole, the series holds a significant impact on modern-day anime culture, as well as vaporwave and future funk culture for having a clean 80s anime aesthetic. If you’re interested in seeing where many tropes come from, this show is one you should watch. But that doesn’t erase its flaws; while the movies have incredible pay-offs and its satisfying to see how the main trio grow into young adults, the show is something you should anticipate being an annoying, repetitive ride, especially if you want to binge it or are already familiar with modern romcom anime, so you’ve most likely seen more advanced takes built on the tropes based in this series. So for historic value and for having a fulfilling conclusion, Kimagure Orange Road as a series gets a passing score, but I can’t give it anything higher due to characterization flaws, an odd choice of supporting cast, interesting characters being underused, and the agonizing pay-off to get to the movies.

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• 

  Tobi404

  93/100
  A genuinely touching and immensely human ending for a wonderful series.

  Alright finally I made it to my final review for the Kimagure Orange Road anime series. This is the conclusion to the story so everything is finally wrapped up here and a lot of important things happen for the three main characters. At this point if you've read my other reviews and ideally if you've actually watched the series you're familiar with what's going on and how these characters operate overall. As you know it's been well established Kyosuke and his family have ESP and this film in particular deals with some problems from that. Some of it gets a bit convoluted here with the time travel and ESP abilities and I don't want to cover that as much as the characters relationships so while I'll gloss over the ESP and time travel I'm not going to waste my time getting into the complicated and drawn out specifics of it. After all while they are ever present at its core Kimagure Orange Road is a story about character relationships not supernatural powers.

  Since the events of the last film we this time have had a time skip. Kyosuke , Madoka and Hikaru are all older here. Kyosuke is now 19 years old and he and Madoka are in college. Hikaru has been in America and is focusing on her stage acting and dancing career. Madoka tells Kyosuke that if he does well enough on exams they will finally have sex. This is going to come up later and it is a lot more important than you would think. Kyosuke also goes to the ABCB cafe and feeling a pain in the bottom of his heart he has bittersweet memories of himself , Madoka and Hikaru having a wonderful time together on the beach. This is a particularly emotional scene for me as at this point their friendship has fallen apart and the two have drifted from Hikaru to the point they are not even in the same country. Kyosuke himself laments at this. To me this scene in particular captures the pain of these sort of memories. That time of their life is over and all Kyosuke is able to do at this moment is look back in a mixture of fondness , longing and sorrow. This scene in particular feels so raw and so real to me.

  Kyosuke ends up getting a call from himself warning him of a car accident and his 22 year old self is ( who is now photographer like his father ) is lost in Bosnia while covering a military conflict and is believed to be dead. Kyosuke foolishly decides to write off the phone call as a prank. You'd think that after 19 years of having these powers and some of the insane events he experienced throughout the series he'd have the foresight and acquired experience to actually take this seriously but there's a reason he's known as a " blundering " protagonist lol. Anyway Kyosuke of course does get hit by a car and because of his powers he is hurtled through time once again. This time with dire consequences. What's important to note here is that while Kyosuke is sent into time his actual 19 year old body is left in a coma like state. Madoka and his family are worried and don't know what to do.

  Kyosuke is sent 3 years into the future where his 22 year old self is also missing. Kyosuke is worried because he thinks he died in the car accident and that's why everything is different now. His family is no longer living at their apartment the old ABCB cafe is no longer run by the friendly owner who they called " master " ( It's a japanese custom to refer to a cafe owner as master. ) Instead the store is now run by a comedic perverted old man. Kyosuke doesn't know what is going on and why things are so different. It is here that Kyosuke has a fated meeting with an older Hikaru. After years of having no contact and not seeing Hikaru. It should be noted that Hikaru has grown a lot. While she still shows her excited and happy go lucky nature she is a lot more mature here and doesn't fawn over Kyosuke like she used to. She has also grown out her hair and her bust has developed considerably. At this point I would say she is actually a bit bustier than Madoka. Hikaru for her part is extremely excited to see him again and it feels somewhat like old times. This is until she asks how his relationship with Madoka is going but because he misshears her due to a passing truck he " says not doing well " because he thought she asked if he was feeling sick or not. After this a pained Hikaru leaves.

  He eventually goes to Madoka's house and finds her working with the male pop idol from the earlier ova. Earlier we had been lead to believe this guy had turned over a new leaf and was going to start a new life with his girlfriend in the ova but here he is trying to put the moves on Madoka. I guess some men really just never grow up. Madoka of course has no interest in this pissant and is worried about Kyosuke to which he replies that Kyosuke is dead and she should move on before promptly being thrown out of her house. After the insect leaves Kyosuke thinks to himself that even if Madoka was a ghost he would desperately want her to appear in front of him. He decides that even if he is a ghost he can still tell show himself to her but he loses consciousness and once again returns to the staircase where they first met. However Madoka is able to sense him and it's here that she begins to piece together what's going on somewhat by asking his grandfather While on that fateful staircase Kyosuke then runs into Hikaru and they hang out again.

  A little later on we also see that while Madoka and Hikaru have not been in physical contact with one another for years they have somewhat communicated through letters. Or to be more precise Hikaru has written Madoka letters and Madoka has sent her presents. Though they are apart and have not truly properly been on speaking terms in three years their friendship is enduring even this. Or at least it is trying to. Things are going to get pretty important from here on out because the next morning Madoka finally finds Kyosuke and Hikaru. When Madoka does indeed find them Hikaru and Kyosuke are worried Madoka will get the wrong idea yet all she does is briefly chastise Kyosuke for not getting in touch with her and she is more worried about his safety than anything else. Madoka at this point turns to Hikaru tearfully and says " welcome home Hikaru " and finally the two embrace while sobbing. It is now that their friendship is fully healed and they can be together as they once were. Together as the best of friends , together as if they were sisters. Kyosuke thinks to himself that the two have a strong bond which he'll never be able to imagine. While they have indeed had arguments and of course pain and bitterness they do indeed have a bond that simply cannot be broken.

  After some more heartfelt talking between Madoka and Hikaru where they discuss their feelings and all that's happened we finally at this point are treated to the three of them having fun together at the hotel pool. Things are exactly like old times , not only for the girls but Kyosuke too is having fun just like old times. If there is a difference now it's that neither Madoka , Kyosuke or Hikaru are feeling pain or trying to hide their feelings. While Hikaru admits part of her still loves Kyosuke she also says that what's most important to her is her friendship with Madoka and that bond which can't be broken. Unlike in her youth now she is more than happy to just be with both of her friends. She is happy that Kyosuke and Madoka are together and that they are happy, Hikaru from the very depth of her heart is just happy being with them here and the three of them frolic together with a sense of true closeness and unyielding friendship that it is beyond touching. They haven't simply rekindled a friendship they have evolved that friendship into something very few people are ever lucky enough to hold onto. A truly lasting and undying bond that nothing can break apart.

  After this Kyosuke and his grandfather combine their powers along with the help of the song Madoka wrote for him they are finally able to bring 22 year old Kyosuke back. Later the two Kyosuke's combine their power to send 19 year old Kyosuke back to his 3 years prior time. It's at this time that we are treated to imo what might be the most heartfelt scene not only in the entire film but possibly the entire series itself. As promised before it's now time for Kyosuke and Madoka to make love. Madoka who had been so sensual before with her teasing Kyosuke about this reward is of course now extremely shy. She is once again showing that dichotomy which is one of the many things I love so much about her character. Her flirtatious side and her virginal side coexisting. Madoka tells Kyosuke to turn off the light and he accidentally hits the wrong button which turns on the radio. Madoka wearing a towel and trying to cover herself up embarrassed and shyly makes her way to the bed. She finally strips the towel off and gets into bed quickly and gets under the blanket as if she is embarrassed to even be seen naked.

  Finally it is time and Kyosuke gives possibly the most heartfelt and genuinely touching confessions of the depth of his love I have seen. Madoka has tears in her eyes as Kyosuke utterly pours his heart out to her and finally after all of this time and after all of this build up the two make love. It is such a tender scene , you don't really see many sex scenes like this in any media. This really truly feels like two lovers , it feels so real here and even the slightest sensuality ends up completely overtaken by the tender heartedness of this union. I really haven't seen many media portray this as well as I see it here. The awkward yet purely heartfelt confession by Kyosuke , Madoka's tears as she finally is ready and realizes just how much he loves her. There's something about this scene that is so universally touching and so human that it shakes me to my core. Kyosuke and Madoka are not having sex , truly and utterly they for the very first time and with their hearts joined together as one they are making love

  Well I'm finally finished with all of my reviews for this series. Kimagure Orange Road is honestly one of the greatest anime I have ever seen. It combines humour , a heartfelt emotional romance as well as stories of friendship and the transition from teenage years into adulthood to paint a picture so universally relatable and so genuinely human that I don't think any review can fully do it justice. If you haven't watched this series I implore you to do so. I cannot stress enough just how truly fond I became of these characters over time. Kyosuke and especially Madoka herself and even Hikaru are really a part of me now. To journey with these characters for 48 episodes , 8 ova episodes and two films and to see them grow and struggle through the tribulations of youth has been something that will remain with me for the rest of my life. I love this series from the bottom of my heart and if I can share that with even one other person then that brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. For all of you who have managed to read this review to the end and who have read my other reviews of the series , I thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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