Saturday, January 19, 2013

Otomen Episode 1

Masamune Asuka is a sensitive young boy who wears an apron and holds tea parties with his stuffed dolls. Yet his beloved father is accepting of his slightly different ways. One day Asuka gets his George Washington on and confesses to Dad that he accidentally broke off a branch from Dad's cherry tree. Dad praises Asuka's honesty which leads to confessions from everyone. The most shocking, though, comes from Dad. He always wanted to be.... a woman!

This announcement sends Mom into shock. As she's being wheeled down the hallway of a hospital (with the strangest doctor attending her), Mom makes Asuka promise to never be like his Dad. Asuka goes home and packs all his stuffed dolls away, swearing he'll be more manlike for Mom.

It's a few years down the road now. Asuka is in high school and on the manly Kendo team. He's got his own fangirls cheering him from the stands. (I still refuse to believe teenage Japanese girls act like this in real life.) Asuka defeats every one of his opponents.

As Asuka is leaving the arena, he sees a thin young teenager, Ariake Yamato, being robbed by a group of bullies. He's about to come to the rescue when he's beaten to the punch by a girl who attempts to shame the bullies into giving the boy's wallet back. Shame is a wimpy weapon, so indeed Asuka gets a chance to step in and whack a mole. 

The next day at Asuka's class, we see he has a friggin' pink idiot of a teacher. She and the other girls in the class make fools of themselves over Asuka's victory. Do I spy with my little eye - a Japanese with an Afro?!? Anyway, after the girls stop screaming, the boys take turns being mean to 40-year-old student Isono. I don't understand your humor, Japan.

Lets get to the part where Teacher introduces the new transfer student. It's Miyakozuka Ryo, the girl from yesterday. Since she and Asuka have already met, the fangirls find themselves quite jealous of Ryo, while all the boys are eager to get her email address.

The three bullies from earlier are instructed by their boss, Tonomine Hajime, to take Asuka down.

With Mom away on a business trip (guess she survived that shock over her husband-slash-wife), Asuka has the privacy to relax and sew his little heart out! Knit one, pearl two. It's a good thing. Does Japan have the Lifetime network? Oh no, he forgot to close the blinds and school playboy Tachibana Juta has seen Asuka's secret life.

In home ec class, Ryo is making a horrible mess of a cake. Asuka is just dying to step in and straighten her out, but that would ruin his manly image. Finally he can take no more and takes over her cake education. Ryo does nothing but say "Hai" throughout this sequence. Kind of getting on my nerves there, Ryo.

And now I want cake.

The Bullies have come to bully. They're looking for Asuka and send a text message ordering him to come to the kendojo right now. Problem is they sent it to the wrong email address. It's Ryo who gets the message. She arrives to find the Bullies have trashed the place. 

Asuka, fetched by Ariake, shows up just in time. Tonomine reminds Asuka that if he gets involved in any trouble he won't be able to compete in the next big Kendo competition. Ryo tries her shame weapon again. Once again it doesn't work. Asuka challenges Tonomine to one-on-one Kendo action without protective gear. Finally some excitement. 

Bullies being bullies, one of Tonomine's thugs hits Asuka from behind. Just as Black T-Shirt Guy is about to slug Asuka, Ryo comes in with a high kick. For extra points she takes down all of the bullies, and she doesn't need a big stick to do it. It's about time you did something useful, Ryo.

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