lamune, first half
Categories: anime, digest of episodes
Tagged: lamune
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Lamune is pretty much the spiritual successor to the original To Heart. For people who enjoyed the original To Heart, skip RMM and To Heart 2 and go straight to Lamune. The setup between To Heart and Lamune aren’t too different: one central too-sweet-to-be-real relationship and a whole-hearted group of friends supporting those two. Both series have a slow, meticulous, prodding style that is not for everybody. The original To Heart was known for having episodes about relatively small things like how to divide up concert tickets, and Lamune isn’t any different… they spent an episode on dividing up pearls, in a sense. But, even with the slow style, I enjoyed the series, and it’s a nice contrast to some other lunatically paced shows out there.
The story of Lamune concerns one Kenji and one Nanami. The two of them grew up together on a surrealistically blissful ocean town, and like Hiroyuki and Akari, everyone but them acknowledge their relationship. Kenji’s a stereotypical harem male, but he isn’t as big of a loser as some others. Nanami is the girl next door slash childhood friend, and she and her mom operates a cafe slash farm. I think that’s the gimmick to this show… they’re part farmers. Unlike most other daters-turned-anime that have nonsensical names (i.e. Kanon, Wind, Air, Shuffle), there’s no central story to the plot for Lamune beyond showcasing Kenji and Nanami. Of course, I’ve only seen the first half, and if Nanami pulls out box cutters on Tae (the hawt upperclassmate) in the second half and leading her to french Hikari (the hawt cousin) during the final epsiode credits, well, woo hoo! Other characters are introduced, including Kenji’s hawt little sister (can’t have a dater-turned-anime without some “Onii-chan!” action), Kenji’s hawt cousin, Kenji’s hawt upperclassmate, and Kenji’s hawt underclassmate. He has his spectrum covered!
Every episode is pretty much one microcosm of their lives, and the story intertwines itself by cross-indexing their current lives with their childhood times together. For example, one episode was about an unresolved incident in their childhood where Kenji had originally promised his sister to watch a meteor shower with her, but then he two-timed her with Nanami. Fast forward to the present and the meteor shower is occuring again, and the emotions from the past resurface. Though, even as kids, all the girls were sweet on Kenji. In one flashback, he talks with Tae, and all the other girls are staring her down. Expect a lot of heart, but not much in terms of action, drama, fanservice, or comedy. Definitely more slice of life than anything else.
The art is barely passable, but I still consider Lamune‘s art quality and direction leaps and bounds better than higher profiler dating sims turned anime (To Heart 2, Da Capo SS). Still, the art isn’t great, and people aren’t exactly mobbing for pictures of Hikari, Suzuka, or Nanami on imageboards. The casting is very low budget as there’s no big names. I really couldn’t recognize any of the seiyuu beyond Nanami‘s, who also did Shuffle‘s Kaede.
People who need a little more oomphf in their anime and people who generally dislike the slice of life genre should probably skip Lamune. However, beyond fans of the original To Heart, fans of ã‚ã‚ã£å¥³ç¥žã•ã¾ã£, Kanon, or Kamichu! would probably enjoy Lamune as well.
(Aside: from what I understand, lamune is the drink with the ball inside that Ayato from Rahxephon kept drinking with Haruka’s sister, but I don’t see them drinking any in Lamune. Where do they get these names for dating sims? They’re almost as bad as the names for the bands on The OC… Zero 7? Fine China? Air? They should have a guessing game, “bishoujo game or crappy frat music band?”)
9 Responses to “lamune, first half”
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I wasn’t really going to watch this anime. But from your posts it seems that I might like this series. I might just check it out. I’m such a slice of life fan.
Agree with the “spiritual successor to the original To Heart” part. Love this series and can’t wait to see the 2nd half because I keeping hearing that it only gets better. As for the lamune, I know there’s an episode about a lamune bottle. :)
Hmmm… interesting. Personally, I think you guys should watch To Heart 2 too. But I like your blogging and so far I enjoyed this series and To Heart 2 at the same time. I am wondering though, why would they always have some kind of “Oniichan” action? Anyway awesome!
I had heard from several people that Lamune was boring, without any real comedy and fanservice. Seeing how I like comedy and lots of fanservice (My pseudonym says it all) I decide I had wouldn’t bother watching it.
However one evening after a partial R.O.D.TV marathon, with nothing else to do, I downloaded the first 5 episodes.
I am now hooked.
This show is sweet and gentle and relaxing. There is very little angst, and after a hard day it literally feels good to watch it. It isn’t really (so far) harem in any way, most of the girls suki Kenji, but they also have affection for Nanami too, and wish the couple the best. Kenji is kind, athletic and bright (although he does fail a test), not the typical harem male in any way. And although one other girl makes a confession to him in episode 8, even she realizes she can’t replace Nanami.
If you want a sweet relaxing break from heavy action or high drama, then this is the show to watch.
On Lamune
Lamune is a drink that makes me think of the older, slower days. The days when as a child, one could buy a bottle as a treat after school and feel like the king of the world. It’s a sentimental title, I think, which holds a deeper meaning for people growing up in a Japanese or Taiwanese (which was colonized by Japan between the the 1880’s and the 1940’s) culture. I’m Taiwanese myself, so I like this title–it’s a bit of a throwback which draws out one’s sentiment and a feeling of relaxation.
HEY WERE CAN I GET A COPY OF THIS SERIES
I have finished watching all 12 episodes-this is my kind of series,no giant mecha, some comedy, well scripted characters, it’s kind of like Binbou Shimai Monogatari, same type of character interactions, on an everyday slice of life catagory. I liked it a lot.
I think Lamune is a very good anime series. Althought it can be slow and boring at first, as you go along with watching you might change your mind. Besides this is one of my favorite series and I watched a lot of Slice of life,Comedies and Drama out there. This Series is very “relaxing.” I recommend it to anyone who wants a good Romance story between two couples. =)
well…its named lamune is lamune is part of the story about ..wat was her name uhh sakura? When sakura was younger she got a lamune from Kenji :3 and kenji gave kenji the fish thingy and the fish thingy was the item at the end that …I aint spoiling it >:(