zettai shonen

it´s time for another anime review. zettai shonen falls in the supernatural mystery, slice of life category; it was directed by tomomi mochizuki (ranma ½, twin spica) and the character design was done by masayuki sekine (mind game, yokohama shopping log) . the story follows the adventures of a boy, ayumu aizawa who travels to the countryside to spend his summer with his father. the plot can be divided into two parts, one that takes place before the cat dance festival, where the main element is the supernatural and the mysterious occurrences, and the second part, after the cat dance festival, where the story focuses on the characters and the relationships between them – let´s call them summer arc and winter arc.

while during the summer arc the emphasis is on the supernatural element and on building up anticipation (you just know from the start that something will happen during the cat dance festival), the winter arc is more about the characters and their happiness or sorrow (this doesn´t turn the show into a generic high school romance though, due to the well developed, and somewhat eccentric characters and the constant presence and involvement of the “material fairies”). another interesting aspect underlined several times in the winter arc is how the advent of modern communication (internet, cell phone) affects our relationships with others (perhaps this is even more acute in japan than in europe).

overall zettai shonen is a pleasant anime to watch in those moments when you're just looking for some relaxation without having to strain your brain cells and you aren´t in the mood for action movies (hellsing, black lagoon). the characters are lovable in their own way (i liked the way kisa kept sending e-mails to her future self) and the ending is also quite satisfying.