Saikano Girlfriend

(DVD VOL #1 2004)

As if life isn't complicated enough for the average highschool teenager, what with relationships, classwork, friends, and perhaps the occasional part time job. This is quite a bit to deal with for just the average student, now throw in a full scale war and a girlfriend who just so happens to be the Ultimate Weapon... well you can imagine.

Saikano Girlfriend DVD 1 "The Last Love Song On This Little Planet", introduces two high school students Shuji, the typical layed back Senior type, and an always slightly nervous Chise. Quite the odd couple to be sure, but as you watch their relationship grow and change you really get a sense of despair. A sense of impending doom is almost everpresent; death, destruction, chaos, broken only by the occasional ray of happiness.

Based on manga by Shin Takahashi, Saikano Girlfriend is a visually appealing anime with a story that entrances its viewers. Set in contemporary Japan Saikano manages to create characters that really find a home in your heart. The character animation is a bit more realistic than is sometimes found in anime, in that the animators abstain from using unnatural hair colors/styles to distinguish characters. Rather, they opted for more distinct facial features.

After viewing the first dvd, I became so taken by the story that I could hardly wait for the release of the subsequent episodes.

Released in the States by VIZ, Saikano was one of the more anticipated releases of 2004. So it came as a bit of a suprise to everyone when VIZ chose Voice One to produce the dub. Voice One being not much more than a school for voice acting, so to say the least the dub was slightly sub par with what may have been expected for an anime with such a large fanbase. That being said, the dub was decent considering the circumstances.

This two disk vol. of Saikano comes with japanese/english dub (stereo) and english subtitling. Four episodes and a runtime of 96 minutes. DVD extras entailed an interview with voice actors of Shuji & Chise, a Japanese tv spot "All about Saikano", Japanese tv commercials, and color character sheets.