Wallflower (Oct 3, 2006 – Mar 27, 2007) Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge 
Director: Shinichi Watanabe
Black-Comedy, Romantic-Comedy, Supernatural, Drama, slice of life, Harem, 
Key Words: Gothic, Bishōnen, implied adult content,
Studio: Nippon Animation American Licensed Publisher: 

Episodes: 25

Sanako Nagahara was a young girl who gave up on the world after her crush told her she was ugly. She stopped caring about what she looked like, how she acted around others, and stayed inside most of the time. She fell farther and farther into what she called the land of ‘darkness’ so much so, that her aunt, Mine Nakahara, became rather worried about her. She decided to take her to her mansion which she made as a boarding home for four very beautiful young men. Because she was always traveling to find love, she made a deal with the men that if they could teach her to be a delicate flower of a lady, their rent would be cut in half but if they didn’t, they would have to pay double rent. Of course they jump on the offer but after meeting Sanako, their chances are slim that they will ever be able to change her. She can’t even look at them without freezing up and getting a nose bleed, feeling as if she will melt which makes her fall deeper into her dark room. It seems teaching this rather gothic child to be an elegant lady will be much harder then it looks.

My Thoughts: What do you get when you have a romantic comedy with a girl that is gothic? Well, you may get a lot of things but you might not get something as wonderful as this. The show has a lot of things that make it fun and memorable. I was surprised that Watanabe (The one that made Excel Saga) actually had a hand in this one. 

We get to the characters and I think in all fairness, we just have to start with Sanako. Sanako is a sad girl but it wasn’t her fault really. I know a couple people that sank like this when someone they liked said they did not like them, maybe not as bad but still. I feel close to her because I have almost the same problem sometimes in where my confidence goes out the window and I feel like locking myself in my room. You can sometimes even feel her pain when you have been threw the same thing she does.

Noi is almost the exact opposite of Sanako. She’s always caring about her looks to hopefully have Takenaga love her even more. The anime doesn’t show that they are going out but it does show that they are close. 

The boys are all archie types of the type of guys girls like in anime. Takenaga is the traditional Japanese man who is quiet and gentle. He is smart and pretty much considered more ‘normal’ then the others. He’s very calm and never was bothered by Sanako’s crazy stuff. He grew up in a rather respected high class rich family but it doesn’t seem to affect him much.

Ranmaru is another rich boy but on the other side of the spectrum of Takenaga. He’s a ladies man and loves older women. He’s not tied down to one women and doesn’t want to be told what to do really. The thought of someone like Sanako made his skin crawl but after seeing how she looks dressed up, he thought twice.

Not much is talked about for Yuki. In the anime sadly, he doesn’t have much story line except for knowing that he comes from a normal family that isn’t rich. He’s the cutesy girlish face and most of the time, he is dressed up in girl clothing even though he just wants to be like the other boys. Unfortunately, he acts like a child most of the time and whines a lot making me unable to like his voice sometimes.

Lastly is Kyohei. He is the relative bad boy, always getting into fights and trouble. He can never keep a job because his bosses weather male or female sexually harass him leaving him with a short-temper. He is a real pretty boy even if he doesn’t try to take care of himself and his hair is always messy. Out of all the men in this show, I think he is the best to be with Sanako because he has gone threw the opposite of her and that they both work so well together. 

The style of art looks much like a version of gothic Bishonen or beautiful men design. The eyes are highly eye-lashed and makes them look almost more like girls. The style is really clean and crisp and they don’t normally cut the design budget without adding a little bit to the show. Most of the time, it’s just to add more to a joke that is happening though they have a strange style for getting out of drawing millions of people in a mob scene. 

The Vocals are elegant mostly, both Japanese and English have the right idea’s in how the voices should sound to me though I believe the English voice of Takenaga tried a little to hard to make his voice a few too many octaves higher then it should when his character got to emotional. It’s sort of funny because this is the voice of Tamaki from Ouran High and Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. Yes, I’m talking Vic Mignogna and sadly, this was not one of his best performances. Some of the jokes didn’t translate right when they did the dub and so they tried to force the English words to work and it seemed out of it. 


Rating:
I SO LOVE THIS! Clearly a must see for anyone into comedy with a dark side.

Link to Wikipedia Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wallflower_(manga) 

Other Reviews:

HC - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY9kBHp0Zno
((Live Action Drama))
ReadyforRamen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvqF2VSMIb0 

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