Video Backlog: “I''s”/”I''s Pure”

Publisher: Viz Media (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 2 Episodes x 29 mins (I''s), 6 Episodes x 29 mins (I''s Pure)
Production Date: 2002 - 2003 (I''s), 2005 - 2006 (I''s Pure)
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Prior to watching this show, I had seen two other anime based upon Masakazu Katsura’s manga; “Video Girl Ai” and “DNA²”, which is probably the two titles of his that most people are familiar with. Both shows are really fun and I even started reading enjoying the “Video Girl Ai” manga for a while. Certainly his material is shonen fantasy and not exactly the most original, however what set those two shows apart was the humour and the sci-fi elements. Unfortunately “I”s” has neither of those elements.

This release from Viz contains two separate OVA series. The latter is a six part adaption of the manga called “I''s Pure”. The first is a two part story unrelated to the latter series and the story is a completely new one and not derived from the manga. It was released as an exclusive to Lawson convenience stores in Japan. If you hadn’t read the manga like I did, then it’s really hard to make head or tail of the show for at least half the first episode. The opening sequences are presented mostly without dialogue in a music video like fashion and made no sense to me whatsoever. Then we get to the story where two characters which are part of the love triangle of the show, Ichitaka and Itsuki are meant to be meeting up with Yosuke (a character unrelated to the original manga) at a certain spot due to a childhood promise. Naturally Itsuki is the only one who remembers and the two boys don’t. But all three are there to due to various circumstances. To cut a long and very stupid story short, in the space of two episodes we have a biker gang, attempted rape, murder, a broken rope bridge over a raging river, an impossible rescue, a near drowning and supernatural themes. It is possibly one of the stupidest anime I have seen in a long time. Just mind numbingly insulting to the intelligence of the audience. It’s also rather averagely animated and poorly scripted. At one point where a character is stabbed in the chest, we hear him immediately after commenting on the fact that the lake wasn’t there a decade ago. Seriously what the fuck? If I was stabbed, the scenery around me would be the last thing I’d be thinking about. The script writers could have written that line in easily before those events (as it’s a key part of the story) but chose to add it awkwardly there for some reason.

The second OVA series made a couple of years latter only fairs a bit better. This OVA is based upon I suppose if you take away the sci-fi elements of “Video Girl Ai” and “DNA²” all you are left with is a pretty bog standard fanservice heavy shonen romance. But surely neither would be as bad as this show. Not only are the sci-fi elements gone, but seemingly the humour as well. Instead the show is made up of some of the most cliché ridden shonen romance tropes ever. Early on in the show there is also a ton of exploitative material such as a stupid side plot where girls are tricked into entering a beauty contest and photographed in the nude by hidden cameras while changing. It is pretty much impossible to suspend disbelief with this one. Teenage girls wouldn’t stupid enough to swallow the line about getting into a swimsuit to be photographed for some school beauty contest.

You also have the main storyline which is pretty silly cringe worthy. You have the implausibility of average boy Ichitaka Seto catching the eye of super alpha girl Iori Yoshizuki, hottest girl at the school, who dioesn’t have a boyfriend (now that’s implausible). You then have the arrival of long lost childhood friend Itsuki Akiba who wishes to make her childhood promise of marrying Ichitaka. Wow, how original! Naturally Ichitaka dumps the bubbly and interesting Itsuki for the dull doormat that is Iori. But because Iori is a superstar in the making, her overbearing manager asks Ichitaka to dump her, just after he had the courage to make Iori his girlfriend. Naturally he fold like a complete wimp and dumps her. Hurrah for original storylines! Then amazingly, he practically becomes a stalker, as he “protects” her from some loony guy who is out to attack her. Does it all work out in the end? Of course it fucking does, but not without a horrible, blatantly emotionally manipulative ending. And let’s not forget the five bonus shorts where Ichitaka has fantasies about girls. It’s boring teenage wankfest crap. I don’t hate fanservice, but there is a line between incidental fanservice and pure gratuitous exploitation, and this has jumped over the line by a mile.

I just could not wait until this show was over. It’s just so dreadful on so many levels. It almost redeemed itself during the fifth OVA, but then it went back to shitsville soon after. Also the character designs were quite nice, so that’s two positives. To makes things even more annoying, Viz have printed the wrong labels on the discs, so the “I''s” disc contains the “I''s Pure” OVA series and vice versa. In short, the first series was quite bad. The second had its moments but these were very, very rare. I don’t know if this is the worst time I’ve had with an anime for a couple of years, but I think it must be close. This show shouldn’t have narked me off so much, but there was just something about it that really pissed off and made my blood boil (besides the awful elements that made up the show). 3 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).