[Review] Slow Step

And so to the other bit of Western Connection anime that I managed to see
again recently. A few years back, Viz released a short series of short
stories called Short Program, based on the work of Mitsuru Adachi. What
often surprised me, however, was that none of the US companies picked up
on a piece of anime that was produced from Adachi's work called Slow Step.
The series, however, did make it to the UK thanks to WC. The show is 100%
pure, unadulterated shojo, much as you might expect if you are familiar
with Adachi, and would probably be familiar ground if you have had the
chance to read the Viz series.

The story starts with a hit and run incident outside an apartment
building. Hearing the commotion, one of the residents, Nakazato Minatsu,
opens the bathroom window and peers out to view the incident and notes
that the car speeding away has an unusual design on its hood. Having
reported this to the police, she then sees the car parked in the road and
calls again to report it but, when she does, she uses the phone in a
cafeteria occupied by its owners. They find out where she lives and,
before they can do anything to her, one of her neighbours, a boy called
Naoto, steps in to help out. Actually, the whole story is a pretty complex
set of plots and subplots but the main plot boils down to a love triangle
with Minatsu as the focus, Naoto and childhood friend Shuu as the main
rivals for her affection (this happens after Naoto falls in love with the
disguised Minatsu, a.k.a. Sudo Maria) and the often lecherous softball
coach, Yamazakura, who turns out to be a foster father to his dead
sister's daughter, Chika[1].

The artwork is pretty faithful to Adachi, as is the storyline, though some
of the subplots were ruthlessly cropped to allow the series to fit into
the five episodes that were produced. Unlike Kimagure Orange Road which I
also recetly reviewed, the story doesn't finish with a big showdown
between the rivals - that happens in the middle! I said it was complex!
The series is now pretty hard to come by and may not appeal to those that
like the more recent styles of anime but, for anyone that is into Adachi
or Tomoko Taniguchi or anything like that, I think you'll like it.

[1] Yes, that's where I got my nickname from! I needed a name for a thread
in CAPOW and I'd just seen the series for the first time. So now you know!

--
//\ // Chika <miyuki><at><crashnet><org><uk>
// \// Mitsuo... Menda... naha naha...

.... He's dead, Jim ... Kick him of you don't believe me

Hello,

Chika wrote:
[color=blue]
> The show is 100%
> pure, unadulterated shojo, much as you might expect if you are familiar
> with Adachi, and would probably be familiar ground if you have had the
> chance to read the Viz series.[/color]

Adachi usually draws shounen and seinen titles; shoujo is actually rare
among his output, Slow Step and Hiatari Ryoukou are the only ones he did
for Ciao magazine in the last twenty years, IIRC.
[color=blue]
> The artwork is pretty faithful to Adachi, as is the storyline, though some
> of the subplots were ruthlessly cropped to allow the series to fit into
> the five episodes that were produced. Unlike Kimagure Orange Road which I
> also recetly reviewed, the story doesn't finish with a big showdown
> between the rivals - that happens in the middle! I said it was complex![/color]

Adachi likes to omit important narrative sentences and sequences in
order to let reader think about the "obvious" thing to happen. In other
words, he treats his readers as intelligent people instead of explaining
them everything until there's nothing left to think about anymore. I
like his elliptic approach in storytelling, especially when it's as
powerful as the drama in Touch with Kazuyas death.
[color=blue]
> The series is now pretty hard to come by and may not appeal to those that
> like the more recent styles of anime but, for anyone that is into Adachi
> or Tomoko Taniguchi or anything like that, I think you'll like it.[/color]

I fully agree. Moreover the opening and ending are quite catchy for
people who like this kind of older anime j-pop (opening on youtube:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMk3VgJPf0s&feature=related[/url])



--
Yaniv Tempelman

[url]http://ani.donmai.ch[/url]