Review #82: Green Green

• Episodes – 12 + OVA
• Published – 03 (JP), 06 (US)

Antispiral – Welcome back everyone to another review from the Anime Twins! No cat people this week, sadly to say, if you like horrible, horrible anime. This week, we shall instead venture into the realm of the extremely ecchi, or to put it in layman’s terms, a pervert’s anime; Green Green.

Tenjobito – Green Green definitely is dedicated to that;  It’s no hentai, but it certainly squeezes every last drop out of ecchi and harem themes;  jokes referring to all sorts of ecchi things; peeping in the baths, stolen undergarments, tropetastic stocks such as the tsundere girl and the sickly innocent girl…

Well, it makes some sense I suppose since it was based on a harem visual novel.

Antispiral – So it’s worth getting the warning out of the way here at the start; Green Green is not, as Tenjo said, a hentai. THAT said… it does show breasts, and the theme of the show is basically dedicated to sex and sexuality. It is not an anime for kids, and really not for a lot of adults either.

Before I go into more of that sort of thing, we should establish the plot, as it were. Kananone Academy is a boTenjobitoy’s high school out in the mountains. That’s all about to change however as it’s announced that the school is looking to go co-ed, with an all girl’s academy visiting for a month’s trial run to see if that plan would work. Yusuke, the main character, is greeted just as the door to the girl’s bus opens by a girl calling his name and leaping out to tackle him into a hug, much to his confusion.

Tenjobito – As the plot establishes at the start of the very first episode (and episodes after that), there were two lovers in the far past who could not be together for undisclosed reasons.  So they make a vow to be together in the next life before killing themselves.  Fast forward to the girl jumping on Yusuke;  She seems to at least think he and she are the lovers from that past life.  Of course Yusuke knows nothing about that and thinks she’s crazy.

Antispiral – We find out soon enough that the girl (Midori) traveled back in time from the future to find Yusuke because of that vow, even though he doesn’t remember it at all. Midori trying to convince Yusuke she loves him and to have him love her is the main plot… for the most part. Most of the anime is spent following the antics of Yusuke’s 3 “friends” Bachi Guu, Ichibanboshi, and Tenjin as they try to get peeks at girls, romance then, and get them in the sack.

Tenjobito – As well as “character development” for each of the girls, though I wouldn’t say there are really character episodes here.  Apart from the “baka trio”, Yusuke, and Midori there are five more girls:  Chigusa is the busty teacher who is the representative from the girl’s school and quickly slides in as nurse at Kanenone.  Rika is another girl from Midori’s time sent to bring her back, a girl with a sly personality and mature body.  Futaba is a purple haired tomboy and tsundere who instantly hates being at the boys’ school.  Wakabe is Futaba’s younger sister who is obsessed with her ‘pet’ cactus.  And finally Sanae, an innocent sickly girl who is Wakabe’s friend.

Antispiral – Let’s get the good part out first, since it’s shorter, to be honest. There are certainly funny parts to the anime, and the plot has unique parts to it with the past life promise and time traveling. The music’s pretty good too.

With that aside; Green Green has a lot of moments that feel real uncomfortable. There’s really no better way of putting it. Yusuke’s 3 companions take the cake in that department, going out of their way to be as absolutely creepy as they can be. The fact that they’re never expelled is somewhat mind boggling with what they keep trying to get away with, including spying on the girl’s bath multiple times. Even them aside, I’ve never been comfortable with the destiny angle that Green Green took with Midori and Yusuke (look back for my review of Chobits if you want another example of this).

Tenjobito – As far as all that goes, I’m less critical of it;  The baka trio’s humor is really just old style japanese sexual slapstick.  And even if it’s kind of out of place in the west (Very much perhaps) I’m not sure I ever felt overly uncomfortable with it.  as far as the destiny thing goes…  Well let’s just say there’s a reason I don’t mind it in this case.

Antispiral – I’d be more forgiving of the 3 friend’s antics if they were adults, but they’re students, so that makes a difference. Besides, you ARE a good bit more ecchi than I am, though we won’t go into that with everyone…

Regardless, I think we can meet at a middle ground in agreement in that Green Green isn’t targeted for anything really other than those looking for a hentai light sort of experience. If that’s your thing, and your comfortable with it, then it might be worth checking out. If you find sexual antics at the expense of women (and sometimes men) to be low brow and sometimes offensive, steer clear. Deal?

Tenjobito – Ayup;  Old school super ecchi hijinks and so forth your thing or not.  It’s up to you!  But from the perspective of someone who has at least a tolerance for such things, I’ll give it a B in the genre;  Nothing spectacular, but cute and sometimes funny.  And a good ending!  At least worth a check out in the genre.

Antispiral – Spoken like the dirty old man you are.

Anyway, that’s it for today. Stay tuned the next few days for another review! Until then spiral beings!