plot summary

Sunako Nakahara is a reclusive goth gal who long ago renounced her femininity after she was shot down during an attempt to profess her love. Sunako’s aunt, a beautiful and eccentric woman of means, wants to transform Sunako from an unkempt lump into a lady fit for high society.

To that end, she enlists the help of her four bishishounen tenants, Takenaga Oda, Yukinojo Toyama, Ranmaru Morii, and Kyohei Takano. Auntie, as she’s known, makes the handsome lads an offer they can’t refuse: Change Sunako into a classy woman or pay triple the rent!! All four readily agree to help, but after meeting Sunako face to face, they realize they might be in over their heads.

Sunako represents multiple challenges to the boys, as she’s antisocial, uninterested in her appearance and frightened by the four beautiful men she dubs, “Creatures of Light”. The boys try to reach Sanuko through her self-imposed darkness but to no avail; Sunako prefers her misery, and is blinded by the four’s unearthly beauty, literally.

What are four fashion-consciousness, totally hot boys to do with a gothic girl who has no wish to change her dark and dingy ways?

review

I laughed and laughed till I hurt with this anime. To judge by the DVD cover would be to assume that the anime is about four bishonen and their shojo-esque interactions. The roses and petals liberally scattered across the cover also point in the shojo direction. Anyone who so judged The Wallflower would be wrong, wrong, wrong!

This Beauty and the Beast tale is funny as hell to watch, as the four bishies duke it out with the socially inept Sanoku. The boys try their damnedest to bring out the feminine side in Sanoku but they only have the effect of driving Sanoku deeper and deeper into her dark world. Kyohei actually spurs Sanoku into homicidal thoughts as he continually causes the overwhelmed goth to gush geysers of blood from her nose.

The two go to head to head in each episode as Kyohei schemes up ways to pay the rent or to transform Sanoku into a lady so he won’t need to pay rent. The other three try to passively change Sanoku, but Kyohei’s hot-headed manner won’t let him be a by-stander in the train-wreck which is Sanoku. Ironically, Kyohei and Sanoku have much in common below the surface; way, way, waayyyyy below the surface. They seem to eventually connect on some level at the end of the first volume, but not in any deep way.

Character Development

Sanoku is given plenty of backstory in the first episode so viewers can understand how she turned into the person she is, if not relate to why. We’re given frequent glimpses into her mind and thoughts whenever the boys try to impose their will on the poor girl. Sanoku comes across as sympathetic, pathetic and stoic all at once. Her self-imposed social and feminine exile is at odds with some of her actions throughout the volume and she’s, thus far, a very sympathetic and interesting character.

The boys are less developed in comparison, except for Kyohei. Kyohei is different from the other boys in that he doesn’t want people looking at him solely because he’s so handsome. He could do without his good-looks and be thankful he didn’t have them. In that regard, he’s kinda like Sanoku: neither one of them want people to gawk at them for their physical appearance or to judge them by it. They both want to be left alone.

Character Design

Really, this anime is about hot men and a goth girl and they nailed it in making the men bishie as all get out. The boys look fantastic with their shimmering good-looks and naturally flowing hair. The super-deformed persona of Sanoku is amusing as is any of her ass-kicking incarnations. I’m thinking especially of a certain scene involving a chain-saw, an SS uniform and bondage gear.

Other interesting character designs are the four, wiggly-armed gothic lolita sisters: Goth, goth, loli, loli! Scary. But far scarier are the ganguro girls. Yikes times ten.

Animation

The sparkling shojo effects are dazzlingly done by Nippon Animation. The animation company made the boys seem tantalizing enough to touch and Sunako skeezy enough to want to avoid at all costs. The animation is good, but has some excellent shots whenever Sunako’s ire is raised. Amazing shots, those. Everything about the animation is pure shojo and it’s a treat to watch the dewy effects shimmer on the television screen.

Music

Kiyoharu, the popular J-rock singer, crafted the OP, “slow“. It’s a perfect companion to the overt use of Shojo Mojoâ„¢ in the opening credits.

Kiyoharu also did the ED, “Carnation“. Carnation is a great J-rock tune with enough get-up and go to get an anatomical dummy to shake its rump. Amazingly enough, an anatomical dummy does dance to the ED in the end credits.

Voice Acting

The Japanese voicecast is fantastic and the voice actors for the bishie men made them that much more bishie. The Japanese voices were smooth and oozed sensuality. The English voicecast was good as well, but Sanoku’s Western voice actress most approximated her Japanese counterpart.

Every facet of The Wallflower is loaded with comedic elements and never seems to get into too deep a place without then turning into a good laugh. The anime does have messages about self-acceptance and and the what it means to be beautiful, but it doesn’t ever make these messages into speed bumps which would stop the easy flow of the anime. The Wallflower lets the viewer make their own decisions about self-worth since, hell, this is a comedy!

Rating

Wallflower, Volume One gets 4 outta 4Hammies!

On November, 26, a new online service was launched called BOST TV. The service is owned and operated by Tokyo based BOST Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. What is the goal of BOST TV? BOST Digital Enterainment’s President, Aaron Lai, commented about this on the BOST TV’s About Page:

“We want to bring you anime more quickly than before and titles that see little chance of a DVD release.

We are all anime fans here at BOST and we have all lived overseas. We know how hard it is to get anime outside Japan. We know there’s a lot of cool stuff here and we want to bring a piece of the action as best we can – Direct from the Source.”

BOST TV has signed licensing agreements with Pony Canyon and Milky Cartoon. They will offer titles for rent and for free. These shows will be subbed (English only). There are no plans to offer dubbed versions. Currently, they have three titles (synopses from BOST TV):

• Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora (Looking Up at the Half-Moon):

Yuuichi is unexpectedly hospitalised for hepatitis at Wakaba Hospital in the winter of his junior year in high school. As he recovers, Yuuichi constantly escapes from his hospital room and is scolded daily by Nurse Akiko. Then one day, Yuuichi meets Rika, a girl his age, who is hospitalised in the adjoining wing. He is instantly attracted to the beautiful Rika, but discovers she is insufferably spoiled.

Yuuichi is confused by her unreasonable behaviour, but is drawn to her nevertheless. But when Rika confides in Yuuichi about her illness, he understands the reason for her wilful behaviour. Rika doesn’t have long to live.

• Ballad of a Shinigami: momo the girl god of death:

Momo, a girl dressed in white. In her hand is a scythe, glowing dimly. By her side is Daniel, a winged black cat.

She is a “shinigami” — a god of death — who carries the souls of humans to the other side.

Every time a human heart is touched by the white shinigami, the world is filled with kindness, and sadness…

• Keitai Shoujo:

Hiro Aida is a second-year high school student. Christmas is approaching, and he is uneasy since he cannot seem to get a girlfriend. Out of boredom, he visits a web site on his cell phone called “Gal☆Mode” and downloads a wallpaper for his phone.

The instant the download is finished, his phone emits a bright light, and transforms into a little girl the size of his palm.

“My name is Rin. What’s yours?”
“The fact that you were able to download me must mean that you don’t have a girlfriend… Am I right?”
“It’ll be a bit of a problem for me if you don’t become happy by Christmas. To put it simply…”

…If Hiro does not get a girlfriend by Christmas, Rin — and Hiro’s phone — will vanish, and Rin will be unable to return to her world.

The first two have been available for rent since Nov. 26 and the third was made available for free (through Feb. 26, 2008) on Dec. 3.

The only major caveat is that due to licensing issues, there are geographical limitations for the availablility of the titles. Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora and Ballad of a Shinigami are currently available to Australia and New Zealand, while Keitai Shoujo is available to North America, Oceania, and the United Kingdom.

The recommended requirements for viewing include Windows (2000 or newer), Mac OS X (10.3 or newer), Linux (only Fedora distribution tested), Flash Player 8, modern browser (e.g., Firefox 2 or Safari 3), Fast internet connection (500 kb/s or faster), and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768.

Anime Anime Article (via Katana Xtreme translation):
BOST TV launches for direct on-line anime delivery from Japan to abroad

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RightStuf! will be streaming (via IGN.com), for a limited time, the first episode of Ninja Nonsense, which will allow fans a chance to sample the series. The Ninja Nonsense Complete DVD Collection – Limited Edition will be released on December 4. Here is a synopsis from RightStuf!:

“Take one totally cute (and naive) ninja-girl trainee, add a ninja horde under the tutelage of a perverse headmaster – a strange, yellow, spherical, pudgy… creature… named Onsokumaru – and you get the kind of ’super-explosive ninja insanity’ that can only be found in what’s been called ‘the runaway nuclear reactor’ of anime comedies!”

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A.D. Vision’s 24-hour anime channel, The Anime Network, has started streaming episodes from 12 different series. There are advertisements which appear before, during, and after each episode, but the player will allow you to jump around within the episode. There are 3 episodes for each series that are currently being shown. New episodes will be added every Thursday and each episode will be available for 28 days. The current crop of titles:

• Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy
• Air Gear
• BASToF Syndrome
• Chance Pop Session
• Comic Party: Revolution
• Gilgamesh
• Jinki:Extend
• Kurau: Phantom Memory
• Magical Play
• Pani Poni Dash!
• Saiyuki
• Utawarerumono

Requirements are a fast internet connection and Adobe Flash 9. The only major caveat is that this is a regional service. It is good only for the US and Canada.

ANN Story:
The Anime Network Streams Episodes Online for Free

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This next piece is not a freebie or a sale. It does involve A.D. Vision again. ADV Films has just announced that they are dropping the prices on their video downloads. The standard downloads (with a resolution of 320 x 240) are priced at $1.99/episode. You can also get the episodes in premium resolution (632 x 480) for $3.99/episode. Their original service offered episodes at $4.99 each and feature length works at $19.99 each.

Two caveats…downloads are limited to US residents and they require Windows (2000 or XP) with Windows Media Player 10 or higher.

ANN Story:
ADVFilms.com Lowers Prices on Episode Downloads

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AnimeOnDVD is sponsoring two contests. First, they have a daily contest called the 44 Days of Christmas. They will be giving away a prize a day for 44 days. Since the prizes are different each day and a new prize is announced as the old one has been won, I cannot give you a list of what is available. You will just have to visit their contest page and see. The first 3 days featured Hellsing Ultimate, Vol. 2, Zegapain Vol. #1 w/box, and Tekkaman Blade Collection 3.

Second, AnimeOnDVD is partnering with ADV Films on a contest called Magic, Mayhem and Pretty Boys from ADV Films. The winner will receive Vol. 1 of three series…Magikano, Tokyo Majin, and The Wallflower. This contest runs until 8am, Monday, December 24.

Both contests are random drawings. Check their site for rules and details.

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Publisher Dark Horse has a contest. The prize is the complete trade set of Blade of the Immortal (Vol. 1 – 17). This contest will be more of a challenge than the one above. It is an essay contest. From their contest page:

We’ve drummed up a great essay contest with some sweet prizes–all you have to do is tell us how the popular manga series Blade of the Immortal has affected YOU. Tell us your story. Who’s your favorite character and why? How has studying Hiroaki Samura’s techniques changed your own work? In short: tell us how Blade of the Immortal has made an impression on you in 400 words or less. The top four selected essay winners will receive our grand prize–complete trade sets of Blade of the Immortal (Vol. 1 – 17). So read the fine print, put on your thinking caps, and have fun writing. Good luck!

Submissions must be made by midnight (PST) on Dec. 20, 2007. Go to their contest page for the full rules.

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Now on to the sales:

Rightstuf! has a new sale called 12 Days of Anime. From December 3rd through December 25th, RightStuf will be posting a list of holdiay bargains…adding one item to the list each day. This will actually be 12+ days of savings on DVDs, box sets, and bundles.

The first day features an Eureka Seven DVD bundle. You can get Volumes 1 – 10 for $89.99 which is 63% off the retail price of $249.80. Here is a synopsis from RightStuf!:

“Eureka Seven tells the story of a young boy named Renton, whose life just plain sucks. That is, until a giant robot crashes into his house. Piloted by a girl named Eureka, this encounter will lead Renton to be pursued by the military and pulled into a web of drama, intrigue, and non-stop action. Renton’s time to daydream is over.”

They have made things even easier this time. There are no coupon codes needed for this sale. Sale ends December 25, 2007 at 11:59pm CST.

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AnimeNation is no longer running their Holiday Studio Sales. But, they do have a new sale called the Red Hot Holiday Overstock Sale.

For a limited time, you can save up to 60% off a select list of items.

Plus, AnimeNation is offering a couple of coupons as added incentive:

• Get free economy shipping on orders over $49. The coupon code is SHIPPING49.
• Get 10% off any order over %99. The coupon code is ANHOLIDAYS.

Also, AnimeNation will be having a Holiday Giveaway:

All through the holidays, when you take advantage of the great deals and specials at AnimeNation, and place an order on our website, you’ll be automatically entered in a contest to win 1 of 5 complete AN Entertainment collections! That’s 16 discs in all, a $369.00 value! Get Risky Safety, Miami Guns, and of course the Hare+Guu TV and OVA series!

Winners will be selected on December 30th.

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Robert’s Anime Corner Store has a Holiday Specials List which offers up to 50% off the MSRP on select DVDs and figures. You may also be able to get additional discounts if there are any sale coupon offers running…the Holiday Madness Sale is an example (though it ends Dec. 4).

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Finally, here are a couple of coupon offers:

Barnes & Noble.com has one coupon. You can take 25% off any 1 item. The coupon code is T4N3B6W and it expires on December 10.

Target.com is offering one coupon. You can get 10% off any purchase (no minimum). The coupon code is TCTARGETWELC. It expires on December 31.