This anime is based on the manga series Jyoshi Kousei (High School Girls in English), which I reviewed in August 2005. For the first two episodes, at least, the anime has followed two manga chapters closely – but not the first two, and in a way that is putting off some manga fans.

As with the previous to New Spring 2006 Yuri Anime I have reviewed – Jyoshi Kousei is not Yuri, but is of interest to the Yuri fan community.

If you read the earlier review of the manga, or if you have read the manga itself, you know that there are two Yuri-ish couples in the story – Yuma and Ayano, who are childhood friends and so close that their relatives and even Ayano’s boyfriend assume that they are going out. “Outsider” Eriko and “insider” Kouda Akari hit each other on every single raw nerve almost immediately so, of course when they become friends they become really *close* friends in the way such people do in anime. I am not alone when I noted that these two are a quite implicit couple. However, at least for the first two episodes of anime, neither of these couples are implicit or explicit. Yuma and Ayano have barely spoken, much less bickered emotionally – and Kouda has yet to suggest something outrageous and suggestive to Eriko. Boo hoo!

Okay, so the anime really does follow the manga closely – the first episode is the the first chapter of the manga and the second episode is the first chapter of the fourth volume? Why? I have no idea, except that maybe they were the two most panty-shot and perviness-filled chapters that the animators could find. The first two episodes of the anime have so many panty shots that I found myself feeling a little ill. At least in part because the shots are long, detailed, *very close up* and…did I mention they lingered? It was SO irksome, I picked up the manga to see if it was that bad, convinced that it couldn’t possibly be that awful.

It is. ^_^

Apparently the problem lies with myself once again. When reading the manga, I can skip over annoying bits quickly. When watching the anime, I have to abide by the pace set by the animators – and they like panty shots much, much, much, much, MUCH more than I do. So if I want to watch the anime, I’m going to have to deal.

So here’s the swing vote on this. If they give us back our Yuri, I’ll suck it up. No Yuri – no Erica watching. They get two more episodes to make me happy. ^_^

The opening credits are very cute 90’s shoujo anime looking, but the ending looks as if a box of Mezzo-Forte opened on the characters of this anime. The characters then do little dances to the closing theme, which appeals to me mightily.

Ratings:

Art – 8 (At least the variety of underwear color and design is refreshing…)
Characters – 7
Story – I really can’t tell yet. At the moment 5, but here’s hoping it gets better.
Music – 7
Yuri – 0 grrrrr
Service – 8 (Did I mention the variety of underwear color and design? Sigh…)

Overall – 7