"The Wallflower", Watanabe's first anime adaptation from a manga comic, is a noteworthy series. The hyper-active jokes in this shoujo anime are non-stop, and the characters are more unique that the off-the-wall heroine Excel.
"The Wallflower" stars Kyohei, Ranmaru, Takenaga and Yukinojou, four transfer high-school boys who are looking for a place to stay, nearby their school. They found a luxurious mansion, and they were lucky enough to find a landlord who would let them stay for free if they made her niece, Sunako, a prettier girl in two weeks. And Sunako is actually a gothic recluse girl, who loves to watch horror films and prefers to stay in the darkness. This task seemed impossible, and the landlord often runs away with her boyfriend, leaving the house alone to the four boys.
Fortunately, Kyohei is willing to get the creepy Sunako to act more dignified. He wrestles with her so that he could see her face underneath her long bangs and he tugs her to school. Although Sunako despises Kyohei, and even plots to kill him, she grows to like this boy, even if he has a hard time getting a job.
Although Kyohei and Sunako despise each other, their chemistry is the spotlight of the entire series. Whenever Kyohei gets beaten up by school gangs or yakuza, Sunako explodes in a violent rage, beating up guys and destroying entire buildings. Needless to say, she's definitely not feminine--she's a tough girl. Also, Sunako's nose bleeds every time she gets captivated by a pretty boy or pretty girl's radiant glow. Sometimes blood squirts out in the air, but many times her nose squirts blood into Kyohei's face.When the landlord discovers that her niece isn't beautiful after two weeks, she asks for the four boys to pay the bills. Kyohei is the money-maker of the group, looking for whatever jobs he can find to pay the landlord. He helps Sunako make her horror booth the most popular in the school festival, in order to earn a prize of 50,000 yen (equal to five hundred dollars). He brings Sunako to a photo shoot, after a photographer fell in love with a photo of her at the school festival. Not to offend Sunako, but I have no idea how he fell in love with that picture.
The anime seamlessly mixes loud metal rock with hilarious sequences, where Sunako is either beating people up or fighting with Kyohei over proper etiquette. The crazy scenario makes for a great comedy series, with a gothic edge, as Sunako whips out a samurai sword to chop off a bully's clothes and chops recklessly at fish in the kitchen (with blood splattering all over) to cook for the four boys. This is just so much fun to watch for its off-kilter atmosphere.
Photos courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net
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