Synopsis

SYNOPSIS OF THE ENTIRE KASHIMASHI; GIRL MEETS GIRL SERIES

SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>>SPOILERS AHEAD<<<<<<<SPOILER ALERT

Synopsis of the Entire Series
At the start of Kashimashi, a young high school boy named Hazumu Osaragi declares his love to classmate and close friend Yasuna Kamiizumi, but she quickly rejects him because she is interested only in girls. Dejected, Hazumu climbs Mt. Kashima and is killed when an alien spacecraft accidentally crash lands on him. To rectify this, the alien in the ship named Hitoshi Sora brings Hazumu back to life, but regenerates him as a female right down to the DNA level, since the only reconstruction instructions available to the alien where for a human female. This change in Hazumu serves as the catalyst for the development of character interactions between the three teenage females, and others, for the remainder of the series.

After Hazumu returns to school as a girl, Yasuna unexpectedly professes her love for Hazumu, but this serves only to confuse Hazumu as she adjusts to her new life as a girl. Yasuna, a rather feminine girl, has a unique affliction which makes her incapable of seeing males clearly, and instead sees males with their faces covered in a gray, hazy blur. Hazumu's childhood friend Tomari Kurusu, an athletic girl and tomboy, finds Hazumu's change difficult to cope with. Tomari starts to realize her own romantic feelings for Hazumu as Yasuna starts becoming socially closer to Hazumu, especially after Tomari witnesses Hazumu and Yasuna kissing one day after school. A conflict arises between Yasuna and Tomari who compete for Hazumu's affection while she is unable to choose between them. This results in a love triangle emerging between the three female main characters. Hazumu's best male friend Asuta Soro also starts having romantic feelings for Hazumu, but tries his best to repress them. Tomari's good friend Ayuki Mari, an intelligent girl interested in the sciences, continuously observes the ongoing development of the love triangle while keeping a stance of watching from afar.

The very stoic alien being, Hitoshi, originally came to Earth in order to study human emotions, especially those related to love, in an attempt to save his own species from extinction. His species has long-since given up their emotions resulting in a loss of their sexual and reproductive urges, and thus bringing about a continuously dwindling population. Hitoshi moves into Hazumu's home where he is warmly welcomed by Hazumu's parents. He brings with him an artificially intelligent gynoid named Jan Pu, who serves as the automatic pilot for his spaceship. Because Jan Pu's body so closely resembles a human female body, she was the model for Hazumu's own female body. However, Jan Pu, unlike Hazumu, possesses an energetic and childish personality.

While initially citing Hazumu's change to female as an accident, Hitoshi later realizes that an additional factor was an unexpected result of the regeneration of life process. By the time Hitoshi becomes aware of his mistake, he tells Hazumu and her friends she has only one month left to live. However, Hitoshi explains to Hazumu's friends how, if someone very close to Hazumu were to donate "life grains" to Hazumu to sustain her life, she would be able to continue to live. While unaware that her friends actually know about her impending death, Hazumu continues to live her life as normal, and comes to fully accept her fate. The day Hazumu is predicted to die, she falls off the school's roof and Tomari jumps off the roof in an attempt to save her. While in mid-air, Hitoshi sees his chance, and interferes by transferring the necessary "life grains" from Tomari to Hazumu, and both survive the fall. When they later wake up in the infirmary, Hazumu confesses her love to Tomari, effectively choosing her as an intimate companion and lover over Yasuna.

The anime ends differently, with no life-threatening situation and Hazumu choosing Yasuna in order to help cure her worsening sight problem as her affliction begins to degrade so she can no longer see girls as well as males. Afterwards however, Yasuna recovers somewhat, and who becomes able to see all people again, decides to break up with Hazumu, saying she can stand on her own. In the follow-up original video animation episode ( OAV ), Hazumu confesses her love to Tomari on Christmas Day and the two get married in a ceremony held by Hitoshi.

Public Reception and Critic's Reviews

 * Manga

In July 2007, the English version of Kashimashi manga was Seven Seas Entertainment's best-selling title. The first volume of the manga was given positive reviews from such sources as Newtype USA, a popular anime and manga magazine. The first volume was named as Newtype USA's Book of the Month for December 2006, and the review noted Seven Seas Entertainment's "fan-focused" translation, which retained the honorifics and much of the Japanese wordplay without efforts to localize the humor for the mainstream American market. The review goes on to state that "For fans of more mainstream romantic productions, it's a neat twist on the traditional love-triangle formula, and a charming alternative to boys meeting girls." In a review at Anime News Network (ANN), Carlo Santos commented that "The fast-moving events of this first volume combine to form a story of many moods: a gender-bending comedy, but with sci-fi touches, and most of all, a romance more touching than one might expect. The time has come to rethink the love triangle." In a review at IGN, A. E. Sparrow stated "There's plenty to enjoy in the first book, however, Hazumu attempting to buy his first bra is pretty [side-splitting] humorous, as are the occasional visits from the aliens who put him in this situation in the first place."

The second volume of the manga was positively reviewed at Anime News Network by Theron Martin, who wrote: "With its second volume the title pushes fully into the realm of romantic comedy, liberally sprinkling its story with humorous asides, pratfalls, and anecdotes while still dealing head-on with the much more serious and involved love triangle springing up around Hazumu. For all its attempts to be funny, though, it is the story's more dramatic side that will keep you coming back." In ANN's review of manga volume three, Theron Martin wrote, "The artistry of Yukimaru Katsura rarely devotes more effort to backgrounds than necessary, but its strength has always been in the character designs and costuming. The array of the female cast provides a great contrast of looks [but] ... the male characters, though easily distinguishable, stand out less." In ANN's double review of manga volumes four and five, Martin commented, "These volumes offer a solid conclusion to this lovely little yuri series. It does handle things rather differently than in the anime version, and those irritated by the anime's ending should find the manga ending more to their liking."

The first manga volume was generally panned by Deb Aoki at About.com where she felt the story was being "too far-fetched" and "ridiculous" to make a good story. However, Aoki admitted the art is "quite nice, and there are some moments of genuine tenderness and humor." In a review of the first manga volume by Matthew Alexander at Mania.com, he thought that while "stories with love triangles or gender-switching protagonists have been done before...Hazumu's change into a girl explores romance between people of the same sex in an interesting and comedic way."

The anime series has been compared with a similar series that involved gender swapping, such as Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½. In a review at T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews, the reviewer wrote, "[The anime is] rather aggravating to watch at times, but seems to have no problem raising smiles whenever it wants to, either. The characters, as they are, bring much of the believability of the show, despite the alien elements. It's very much down to earth and pleasant to look at, if nothing else. The rather soft and detailed art style does help, of course, as does the generally great animation quality." The conclusion of the anime was positively reviewed by Erica Friedman, who is the president of Yuricon, an anime convention geared towards fans of yuri anime and manga, and ALC Publishing, a publishing house dedicated to yuri. Friedman described the anime's conclusion as "So normal - so much like a thing that might have actually happened in real life...that it kind of just went under the radar. So - after all these years of watching crappy unresolved restart endings we FINALLY get a real ending and it's a yuri ending where the girl remains a girl and get[s] the girl and...thud... Nothing [more]." The anime was given an overall score of 7/10 by Friedman.
 * Anime

The three DVD volumes released by Media Blasters were reviewed by Anime News Network. In the review of the first DVD, the reviewer commented, "The series' skillful juggling of different characters' viewpoints puts the audience in a position to sympathize strongly with each one. Director Nobuaki Nakanishi guides the emotional content with a light, gentle touch—wisely forgoing extensive internal monologues, speeches, and emotional outbursts. Instead, he draws you in with soft, effortlessly evocative visuals and a simple, beautifully understated score, relying on subtly shifting facial expressions and meaning-laden actions to communicate the quietly affecting emotional states of his characters." For the second DVD volume, Theron Martin commented, "Every element of the production, from the style of the artistry to the palette of colors used to the soundtrack, contributes wonderfully to the look and feel of the original story, and the anime script not only exactly duplicates many scenes from the manga but also does everything in its power to stay true to the spirit of the original writing." Finally, for the third volume, Carl Kimlinger wrote "...the writers make an ill-advised attempt to remove the "bitter" from "bittersweet" by tacking on some decidedly unconvincing plot developments [in the OVA, although] it isn't as awful as it could have been. The third volume of Kashimashi...creat[es] a deeply satisfying conclusion with all of the vicarious emotional thrills you could possibly want."

The three DVD volumes released by Media Blasters were also reviewed by Mania.com. In the review of the first DVD, the reviewer Chris Beveridge described the anime as "something different from the norm" which "mixes romance and comedy quite well". However, the pacing early on is felt as being "awkward" which "takes time to really find its rhythm". For the second DVD volume, Beveridge commented that "The mixing of the relationships continues to be the most interesting part of the show." Beveridge goes on to state "[Some] mild moments of it are tacky and bad," but "when it comes to the core cast of characters, it's all solid material that is very enjoyable." Finally, for the third volume, Beveridge wrote that "Despite the issues with how the series turns [out] in the bonus OVA episode, Kashimashi has proven to be quite a lot of fun for the situations it presented." The series is seen to "close out rather well," and "not only is it good fun but it's also an enjoyable romantic show with lots of heart and emotion."