Myself; Yourself

[pfarber]

Just finished watching this anime.. 13 episodes and its actually really, really good.

Its got everything: betrayal, murder, greed, love, hate, remorse, arson, suicide (well, attempted.. TWICE!), crazy old lady kills a bird, a cat and attempts to murder a kid so her wish is granted.. good stuff!

I really liked that everyone has very full character development. I mean there are no unanswered questions as to motivation... well maybe Aoi Oribe is a bit thin (her curse in life is big boobs... keep it frosty, Japan) but everyone else has a really twisted past and the series really shines in putting the characters into perspective. One character they could have left out was Hinako Mochida... she takes up 2 episodes then disappears until the end. Other than be a latchkey kid (evidently that's super common in Japan??) her life is just not that bad compared to the twisted wreckage in the past of the main male/female characters.

While the opening shows them all in a band, music is only evident in about 3 episodes and its just Nanaka Yatsushiro playing violin for less than 5 minutes total.

I really like how Nanaka uses the 'secret mailbox' to try and connect with Sana even though he has been gone for 5 years and never gets the letters.. its a very good way to show how we all cling to past to find comfort rather than move forward into the unknown. When Sana finally opens the mailbox to find all the pain (letters) that Nanaka has hidden there it really starts to put these two characters together again.. and as they grow closer it triggers the memories of the fire and Nanaka's back story (and really the main reason for the series). Its actually a good twist.. I did not see it coming.

The ending is superb. Ten years later the gang is all back to see Nanaka play her violin.. but not before Sana proposes to her in the dressing room. While they never show their faces, the twins also make it back to hear the open air concert in the park saved by Shuri's efforts. And even Asami shows up to round out the reunion.

All in all a very, very good series. I like that the ending is really well done. Something that is just not that common in anime.

I will definitely watch this again.

Time to play fuck, marry, kill. Since these are all the female characters I'll go left to right

Nanaka: Marry, she's smart and talented...
Aio: fuck, well, big boobs.. otherwise just to damn annoying
Shuri: fuck THEN kill, brother/father issues have twisted this chicks head all up but I bet she's crazy in bed.
Hinaka: kill, to young.. and also annoying
Yuzuki: Marry, she really the only normal one of the bunch
Asami: kill, she's gay, and pretty twisted. Would hate to piss her off.

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[pfarber]

I've read some reviews of Myself; Yourself and I really must not have watched the same series...

Here are some popular 'twists' that I must have missed: Everyone thinks the twins are lovers (implied incest?) because they run away after the false 'love hotel' rumor is started by Asami. One background character actually mentioned that they are absent from school because they eloped. Hmmm... lets see... mother dead, step-mom is a slut, father only cares about work and Shuri has Asami out to ruin her life for rejecting her. So they run away to be lovers??!?!!?! I think that the otaku just want something to spank off to. Sure they hold hands.. but twins always have a closer bond that other siblings... and faced with Shuri being sent to London for school so the fake incest rumors to stay concealed they run away because 1. their father couldn't give a shit about them, 2. the mother hates Shuri, and 3. Asami destroyed any possibility of staying in that school with her love hotel lie.

And the incest claim is based of of them simply holding hands and sitting in the back. Hmm... they are pariahs due to Asami's lie. And while Asami does tell Sana and Shuri what she did, Asami NEVER clears their names with a confession. So yeah... it makes sense that they are not going to go up to the gang at a public place and act like things are cool. Now if Asami *DID* confess and clear their name then OK... shit gets weird.. but that never happens.

People thought the ending was bad because it jumps 10 years ahead. So what.. we missed years of Nanaka and Sana going through counseling? Aio's voice never changed: big deal.. she was 17 at the time of the story, and 27 in the last episode... who has a voice change that late in life?? I agree if they would have jumped only 5 years (everyone in their early 20's) then the timeline is much more plausible... but 5 or 10 years... its just a number. It could easily have been 3 or 4 years. Pick a number.

Sana's attempted suicide was 'rushed' and not fully explained. Well, Sana's past was not the main arc. Nanaka and her memory loss and parents death were. I knew something was up because whenever anyone asked Sana about his watch (to hide the scar) he shut down. Yeah... hiding obvious shit is obvious. Sana left because he was bullied and attempted suicide. OK, that clears that up. Kind knew it from the watch thing. The REAL question is why did he come back??? Answer: THE PLOT.

Some people really, really hated this anime. These are mostly the same people who say Klannad is the best anime ever (yet they forget the starfish, about 3 characters from season 1 that mean absolutely-fucking-nothing and the bullshit magic orb ending) so I dismiss them as mind numbed drones.

Myself; Yourself is a good series that tells a good story... I think that's why some people hate it... they are used to bullshit magic orbs fixing things with time travel.