His and Her Circumstances

As they and their friends endure the jealousies, fears, longings, victories, and enmities of high school with all their attendant drama, Arima Soichiro and Yukino Miyazawa discover the real sources of their love. Yukino calms the demons of an unhappy childhood that still haunt Arima; his gentle strength reassures her, eliminating her need to demonstrate her superiority over the people around her. The now-handsome Tonami learns that the grudge he's nurtured for years over the way Sakura mistreated him when he was a pudgy little boy is a sublimated desire for her to accept him. As this funny yet accurately observed series concludes, director Hideo Anno (Evangelion) deconstructs his characters' world, then rebuilds it with greater clarity, noting that the love that links Arima and Yukino will continue, even as the circumstances around them continue to change. (Rated 13 and older: minor profanity, cartoon violence, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon Amazon.com

I need more

What happens after that! Gimme more. THis is unfair...somebody do something! IT ends way too soon. January 3, 2007

PEOPLE CHANGE

The last volume of His and Her Circumstances isn't much of a wrap-up. When you finish this series you feel as though you've only had a glance at a larger world that is more fleshed out in the manga by Masami Tsuda, called Kare Kano. These episodes are mainly about the preperations for Culture Fest in which Yukino has agreed to play a part in a drama written by one of her friends. At this point in their relationship, both Yukino and Arima begin to question what they really want out of it, with Yukino wanting to have her own life and Arima becoming more dependent on her and wondering whether the imagined "bad seed" in him will come to the fore. We also have our obligatory recap episode here, which seems pointless, since it comes at the end of the story. Especially funny is an episode where Yukino's younger sister, Kano, takes the starring role, and begins to believe she is being stalked by a fellow female classmate.

Of the two series I have seen directed by Hideaki Anno, I would rate His and Her way above that overrated and overly depressing classic Evangelion. The many different styles of anime and manga that Anno uses in this series is breathtaking at times and is high art. The relations between and the characters themselves are people we can all relate to. His and Hers works best when it doesn't take itself too seriously. This is a classic.

I would also recommend: Amelie, Azumanga Daioh (anime and dvd), and the Kare Kano manga. January 22, 2005

At least it's over...

I know that all other reviewers hit on the fact that the series ends very abruptly. And they are right, of course, it does end abruptly. However, I was tremendously relieved that it did end when it did. To me, it was kinda like watching a train wreck...I just couldn't look away.

Of course, you may want to take this in with the information that for me, this series ended after the 1st half of the series. For the most part, I found the 2nd half too experimental, farily dull, and not at all keeping with the tone of the 1st half. (if I wanted to read the manga, I wouldn't have bought the DVDs, now would I?)

That being said, I've started reading the manga and it is great! (I'm not very far yet, though)

So, final thoughts....? If you've already gotten this far in the series, you will want to see it to it's conclusion, but don't expect anything. June 9, 2004

A bit of a preview... if you will

I feel inclined to give you all a bit of a preview as to what happens after this so called "TV SERIES" ends. Welll..... I don't want to give away too much, but Sakura knows who Tonami is, and even so she... doesn't at all hate him. *HINT HINT*

Yukino grows farther and farther away from Arima, who is tormented by his past, and one day Arima makes a drastic gesture that may change and bind his and Yukino's lives forever.

We get to see a but more of each character's background (Maho's boyfriend and how they met, Rika's secret love, and best of bests, we get to see Kazuma's growing realization that he feels... just a little bit more for Tsubasa ^_^) No one for Asaba yet tho.

Arima's father shows up, worsening Arima's already jumbled psychological situation. That's all I know so far, I'll keep ya posted. Oh yeah, this dvd is pretty good, but half of it is just summing up what happened before, so yeah. December 17, 2003

read the manga

As has already been pointed out, the 5th volume of His and Her Circumstances ends incredibly abruptly. And while the last couple episodes include a great deal of recap and filler part of the reason for the abrupt ending is that His and Her Circumstances is based on the manga Kare Kano by Masami Tsuda which was still running when His and Her Circumstances was being produced. And as is often the case when a manga is made into an anime the anime producers will catch up to the current manga and then either make up the story on their own or insert filler.

There is actually a great deal of story in the manga Kare Kano after the end of the anime series. Unfortunately, everything I have read has indicated that while Gainax expressed interest in making another season of His and Her Circumstances there were some disagreements with Masami Tsuda over the direction of the show and so there most likely won't be another season.

Therefore I highly recommend that anyone who really loved His and Her Circumstances check out the manga which is currently being released in the US by Tokyopop. They currently have the first 5 manga volumes out which ends with the first half of the story on how Yukino's parents met. October 30, 2003

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