We'll keep on trying. We'll tread that fine line. We'll keep on trying, until the end of time.

I admit that I didn't expect Marina Inoue to voice both versions of Natsuru. When I read the manga, Guy!Natsuru seemed like he'd be voiced by a Standard Harem Comedy Protagonist Voice Actor. I shouldn't be surprised, considering some small plot points hinged on Girl!Natsuru sounding a lot like Guy!Natsuru.

Speaking of which, the fourth-wall-breaking voice actress jokes in this episode fall just short of excessive. Yukari Tamura got the longest mention, which is a little brain-breaking in her role as a foul-mouthed plush bunny post-ritual disembowelment. Yui Horie and "the original Shizuka" (Michiko Nomura; reference to Doraemon) were also mentioned. One gets the feeling that the writers felt like being a little too clever.

This can also be seen in the vast amount of double- and single-entendres which pass for much of the comedy. I cannot find fault in this, seeing as I usually do much the same thing anyway. Clearly this is not a show to be taken seriously.

Gender-bender premises, especially aimed at the male demographics, are a fascinating source of observation for the reactions. We've seen it in action with Mizuho in Otoboku and Jun in Happiness, as well as unofficially with Kyonko. Anime, already a commonly-used art style for good-looking characters in general, is able to sidestep all the messy biology inherent in the problem.

And so we end up admiring what is, to all intents and purposes, a cute girl, while still knowing that there is still a technical male presence in that picture, be their magical transformation sequence ever so pretty and sparkly.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 4th, 2009 at 12:06 am and is filed under first impressions, kampfer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.