Midori no Hibi

There isn't a single person in Sakuradamon High who hasn't heard the legends about Seiji "The Mad Dog" Sawamura's demonically powerful right hand. His reputation makes it fairly difficult for him to approach girls, and after being rejected 20 times straight, he half-jokingly vows to finish high school with his right hand for a girlfriend.

Much to his surprise, after waking up the next morning, Seiji discovers that his demon right hand has mysteriously turned into a miniature girl, Midori Kasugano, who reveals that she has had a crush on Seiji for the past three years. Because their situation is not ideal for either of them, Seiji attempts to return Midori to normal. But after causing a big misunderstanding at the Kasugano household, the pair decide to keep their predicament between them until a solution is found. Thus begins an odd relationship, and what could be the only chance for Midori to finally be with the one she loves.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kasugano, Midori Main

Nakahara, Mai Japanese

Sawamura, Seiji Main

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Ayase, Takako ing

Takagi, Reiko Japanese

Takamizawa, Shuuichi ing

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Shingyouji, Kouta ing

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Sawamura, Rin ing

Yuuya, Atsuko Japanese

Miyahara, Osamu ing

Nojima, Hirofumi Japanese

Tsukishima, Shiori ing

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Iwasaki, Beniko ing

Kuwatani, Natsuko Japanese

Kyoumoto, Masami ing

Matsumoto, Yasunori Japanese

Murata, Yuuichi Producer

Matsui, Shouji Producer

Kobayashi, Tsuneo Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Kikuta, Hiromi Sound Director

Reviews

Jan 31, 2009

TheLlama

Recommended

How would you ever feel if you went to sleep one day, tired of not having a girlfriend, and the next morning you woke up to find out that a girl who likes you had taken the place of your right hand? Or if you liked a guy but were too shy to tell him, and then you woke up to see that you were the dude's right hand? It's an impossible situation, you would say, but that's what's so great about anime: Anything can happen! A high schooler whose reputation as a delinquent scares away any girl he tries to hit on, Seji Sawamura, ... and a timid girl who's had a crush on him for a long time, Kasugano Midori, are thrown into this very situation. Do we sense romance coming up? Definitely! Comedy? Has to be! Action? Uh, maybe... Ecchi? What!?

No, I am not kidding, the show has all that, with the main focus on the first two. Because when your right hand loves you, that's bound to escalate into a romantic comedy, right? Midori no Hibi (Midori's Days) executes a somewhat standard living-together romantic comedy setting with a refreshing twist, and also does a great job of not leaning too much towards the ecchi side of things. You see some topless females now and then and some bikini shots, but that's all you really get, and after bad experiences with ecchi-intensive shows like Kanokon and Rosario+Vampire, I'm very delighted to see a show that manages to keep it on a decent level and focus on something else. Action scenes are scattered around too; our blond main character is a delinquent after all.

The episodes of Midori no Hibi does nothing special; each episode features a new (mis)adventure in the now jumbled-up lives of Seji and Midori. Be it an otaku who thinks Seji is a doll maniac, a girl who really likes Seji or a trip to a hot spring, you'll be taken through a lot of before-seen situations, and some new. The ending is cute and happy, and when you think about it, the only good ending an anime as Midori no Hibi could have. And while the unoriginal way in which the final episode is played out comes off as borderline facepalm-provoking, it was still an enjoyable watch, right up until the final scene.

One of the things I love the most about Midori no Hibi-- No, the thing I do love the most about it is the whole concept about bringing out what's on the inside of oneself, both feelings of love and supressed personality traits. While the characters don't develop much in the sense that their personalities actually change, they do develop by bringing out feelings of love or personality traits which are in ways hidden from others. And while we have all seen the soft-on-the-inside delinquent and the timid girl, the producers have done a good job with them in regards to the aforementioned aspect. And who can forget the uptight and determined yet tender Takako Ayase whose unrequited feelings of love towards Seji never comes to play, or the otaku who seemingly had a more human side to him inside, but in the end was no more than a crazed otaku anyway? When all comes to all, the cast isn't extremely original nor large, but a lovable gang nevertheless.

The quality of the animation is quite good for this kind of series. The whole story takes place in a city, and there's frequent scenes on high places with scenic views of said city, which are usually animated quite well, from lights in the streets to the monorails criss-crossing the cityscape. Street views of the city and other close-ups such as furniture in rooms are usually beautiful and detailed, but the quality does deteriorate from time to time. The strongest point however, is found in the gorgeous lighting and shading effects. They are eminently soft and relaxing, and especially during the dusk scenes do they come off as tremedous. The character designs are in an entirely different class however, as they are very varying in quality; often no more than mediocre yet often very good. A few close-ups looked like simple Flash animations, while at times they were detailed and fluid, both in design and movement.

The soundtrack was more than likely the weakest part of the anime. Not that it was outright bad; it was in fact quite atmospheric and fit well with the series, but there were no outstanding songs in the background music, and they were quite standard-fare for a romantic comedy. Two mellifluous themes for the opening and ending make up for some of it however, and the voice acting is superb too; the seiyuu manage to portray the characters very well, both their current mood and their character types.

You may have noticed how I used 'soft' or some variant of it frequently in my review (was there some anti-aliasing feature for this show I didn't notice was on?), and that's just what it was. Soft, happy and cute. And just the right length to make it stay that way. If it was one season longer, I'm dead certain the show's quality would have worsened. And part of its charm is that it is such a short watch anyway. If you want a show that's short and charming, Midori no Hibi is the show for you!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 21, 2010

kekekeKaj

Mixed Feelings

My friend recommended this to me years back, telling me it's about a guy who's hand turns into a girl. To me, this idea sounds like an excuse for an anime packed full of fanservice and vulgar jokes, many of them probably involving the main character forgetting about his hand being a girl and using it for activities such as, er... well, I'll leave that to your imagination.

...and this is why I've never really felt a great urgency to try "Midori no Hibi".

But now that I have finally gotten around to watching this, I have to it it's not as bad as I thought ... it was going to be. Yes it did contain some of the distastefulness that I was expecting, but the dirty jokes didn't get out of hand (*rim shot*) and go as far as I'd feared. Instead, "Midori no Hibi" turned out to be something that's probably best described as a fun, entertaining anime that's not to be taken too seriously.

"Midori no Hibi" is essentially a romantic comedy, and the comedy is the main strength of it. A lot of it is pretty slap stick, but I couldn't help laughing out loud at times because some parts are just so funneh. The romance side has some nice touches too. One of its main strengths is the interaction and developing relationship between the two main characters Seiji and Midori, which is good since that's one of the focal points of the show. The story has originality, and did not turn out as predictable as I expected, but with such a bizarre set up, inevitably there are a lot of character "fudging" going on to make it work, like Midori's reaction after she first finds out what had happened to her. To be frank, I find it almost disturbing that she seems to be able to just accept the strange situation so readily and then adapt to it so quickly without missing the things in her old life that you'd expect to be important to her - she seems to care very little about her family, for example. The characters are generally likeable and it's easy to sympathise with their problems, but some of the character development feels hurried - there seem to be no transitional stage involved as Midori opens up from being an introvert, and the way one of the characters Ayase changed her attitude towards Seiji also seems a bit sudden.

Even though "Midori no Hibi" does not hold up to close scrutiny, it es easily for a casual watch due to its entertainment values. There are some Ecchi jokes that the series could have done without, but as I said there isn't as much as I thought there would be. Presentation wise, "Midori no Hibi" is fairly unremarkable to look at, but it does have a reasonably good sound track with some nice BGM's and a pretty good ending theme. The show was popular around the time of its release, but now the ratings seems to have fallen. Probably deserved - it's a mildly enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 9, 2008

rinhail

Not Recommended

I had high hopes for this anime, but they were dashed after only two episodes. The plot just ... is frankly very pathetic. The characters and artwork (big eyes creep me out) are pretty lame and overall you might get a few chuckles. But other than that the series doesn't hold much enjoyment.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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