I said I wasn't going to bother with the anime version of Kasimasi ~Girl Meets Girl~. So, what made me change my mind?
First of all, ARIA the Animation turned out to be far below my expectation especially in terms of animation quality. In fact, HAL Film Maker is now on my "don't buy" list, along with GONZO. I am going to finish buying the first season of ARIA the Animation anyway, though, because there are only two left.
So, with ARIA out of the way, I was looking for something with better animation quality. I learned that Kasimasi was animated by Studio Hibari, which has a history of supporting Ghibli animation. Also, despite receiving so-so reviews on American sites, Kasimasi actually received high marks in Japanese review sites. And finally, I had to give Akahori-sensei a chance. He has his ups and downs, but his ups can be pretty awesome (Saber Marinette J).
So after pondering for many, MANY days, I ordered it.
I'm glad I did.
Animation and character designs are very pretty. Lines are not quite as sharp as I'd like, but I believe it's just a side effect of the animation process. And contrary to the few screen captures I saw on review sites with out-of-context focus on H scenes, there are no meaningless H content, such as the commonly overused panty shots. I hope it stays that way, too.
As predictable as the characters tend to be, they're all very lively and fun to watch. And one can't forget the all-star cast. And the commentary is pretty wacky, too. I think Horie Yui and Tamura Yukari make a great weirdo combi.
There's no way that an animator uncertain of his/her abilities could have drawn with such decisive lines.
