Sunday, July 19, 2009

Yuri Mania 15: Kanamemo 1

Gokigenyou! Another Yuri Mania post so quickly after the last one? Unpossible! But here it is. I've been wanting to write about this new series for summer, but was pushed back for something more important.

I discovered this show in a typical way I approach new anime season. Download whatever new and if the title sounds interesting I'll watch it. I wasn't too interested in watching this show, Kanamemo right away, but I just skimmed through the time slider on Windows Media Player until I stopped at two girls kissing...... WHAT?!

Thus begins the Kanamemo episode 1 review!

Yamada also talked about this recently, but I would like to have this anime as a part of my Yuri Mania since there aren't a lot of people talking about it. In his blog post, he mentions about this show was based on a 4 panel manga. Apparently I've read what this author, Shoko Iwami, has done before. That other work is called Suzunari and also involves some yuri relationship. So there are much more reasons to watch this show for me.

So the story begins with Kana Nakamachi who's been suddenly left all alone when her grandmother died. Kana had lived all her life with her grandma, not knowing about her parents. They've perhaps passed away long ago... but was never mentioned what had happened to them in the first episode.

When movers started to move out her grandmother's furniture, Kana started to panic and tried to save as many decor as possible... Now that she has nowhere to go, what will happen to her? Good thing there's this newspaper company full of wacky characters are hiring and also providing a live-in area... Which brings us to the rest of the characters in the show!

Kana Nakamachi, 13 years old and a very good cook. The only one who still goes to middle school, while the other characters have all graduated from high school.

Yume, a pastry chef student in a culinary arts school. She adds a LOT of sugars and sweets in her cooking, even curry... She is Yuki's partner/lover.

Yuki, Yume's lover. She is normally cool and collective but she can be very sad and jealous if anyone else gets close to Yume. She does not mind Yume's sweet cooking.

Haruka is a student who brews her own rice drinks, such as sake and juice, but also drinks a lot of what she made and other alcohol. She fantasizes a lot about young girls... a lolicon at heart... Drunken lolicon, what a great combo...

Hinata is a ronin, that is, a student who's trying to get into college but has failed her entrance exams a couple of times already. She's very concerned about money and how to make more of them.

Saki may look like a grade schooler, but she is actually the manager of the newspaper company. Very strict on the workers, but has a soft heart. Not quite sure how someone as young as her got to run this company in the first place...

Mika won't appear until the second episode, but if I tell you that she's voiced by Rie Kugimiya, you'd probably know what kind of character she is :P

No appearances by Fumichan, Naochan or Ohtsukasan yet... Most likely Kana's friends from school.

After Kana is introduced we get to see more of the company that she will eventually be involved with.
Yume sharing a frozen ice treat with Yuki... Funny thing was that I actually bought the same item and was about to eat the same thing when I was watching this episode...

Haruka is a loli groper...

She also wants a loli harem from the looks of it...

Kana looks at this hiring sign that also says, "Live in possible". She's intrigued until...
The kiss that started this whole review...

And there's also Haruka swinging around her manager... Looks like panties are no-no in this show...

Kana is not amused... and shocked as well.

She tries to look for other jobs with possible live-in but was shot down at every turn because of her circumstances. She seems to be resigned that she'll be homeless...

And now some cute kitties to give you a warm fuzzy feeling after hearing Kana's plight and before her accident...

Fate hits her like a ton of brick... or like a bicycle. Whatever you prefer.

When she came to she was greeted by the wacky characters she had seen earlier...

And also greeted by a groping... It is like saying, "Hello" in Japan after all.

Although she tried to escape, her hunger can't. So she stayed for dinner but then she realized that this was the only place that she can stay in after all.

After meeting with the manager, Saki, and other bureaucratic jibber jabber that they had to skip anyway, Kana was hired and everyone was happy.

More yuri kisses! YAY!

Kana finally settled in her new room thanks to the other live-in residents. Especially Yume who decided to give Kana her own futon, but hey the potential yuri girls sleeping together (like above) is a good sacrifce. Good job, Kana!

It wasn't until the end of the night that Kana finally know what the heck she got into...

Saki gently and kindly introduced her that she is now working in a newspaper company...

Ending illustrations by different artists ala Kannagi.

I've watched the second episode already, and there are more yuri abounds... so I think I will continue to bring you more coverage of Kanamemo ^_~

25 comments:

  1. What, there's another yuri show besides "Aoi Hana" and it slipped under my radar? 0_0

    Thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely watch it. ^^

    Will you be blogging it regularly?

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  2. Heheh, I was actually just thinking about writing a first impressions for Kanamemo =P

    But yeah, I rather like how they show actual lesbians rather then just overbearing subtext.

    That said however, Haruka annoys the fuck out of me. Honestly, I can't express how much I want that fucking pedophile to be run over by a truck. Preferably Optimus Prime.

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  3. Kanamemo!!! I think the show is cute and loving it.

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  4. @bluebluewave: Hehe, I actually checked your blog first to see if you reviewed it since I know you seemed to have the yuri anime covered. ^_^ Which is why I didn't touch Aoi Hana :)

    I'm gonna try to cover it regularly, but I won't summarize it to the point of spoiling the episode (I hope). So mostly yuri screenshots and some shots I like and brief descriptions of what happened in the anime.

    @Snark: Haha go for it man. I just noticed that there weren't a lot of exposure for this anime. You have a quite different perspective than I ^^;

    Hahaha true, Haruka is quite disturbing to the point of us wanting to smack her. Good thing Saki, the loli, can defend herself. ^^

    @Chappy: I'm loving it a lot too, and the cuteness isn't too overbearing, at least for me XD

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  5. Kanamemo is yuri??

    How did I not know about this?

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  6. Oh Shi~ Its been along time, since you snagged a yuri series^^. Haruka FTDW!!

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  7. Sold?

    Yeah sold. But on the Groping, not the Yuri. Yuri as blatant as that isn't as much fun as, say, Tsumugi in K-on or the entire cast of Marimite and their "about to boil over Lesbian undertones"

    But groping is always fun!!

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  8. I HATE YOU ROBERT U KNOW WHY?!?! BECAUSE U ADDED ANOTHER SHOW TO MY WATCHING LIST~!!! UGHH =__= XD ^_^ but its a good show~~ =3 well Saki, Yuki, & Mika FTW~!!! whoooo I think those are the best characters already even though I havent even watched it yet ^^ XD hehe :P Keep the Yuri meter up~!!! ^_^

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  9. when I first saw Yume and Yuki kissed before work, Kana's reaction are the same like me. I didn't expect that one coming lol Haruka's 'interest' didn't annoy me much ;)

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  10. @Yi: A lot of us almost didn't know about it either XD I just watched it on a whim and found this!

    @GunStray: LoL I haven't really done a lot of series reviews on Yuri Mania, especially not a new series ^^

    @chris: The groping is indeed fun! I don't mind it being a yuri groping either :P

    @Argyle: AHAHAHA! It's only one more series to watch :P I am also intrigued with Mika's potential here. And I just realized that I've already done the Weekly Lily series on DannyChoo.com for half a year no! 0.o

    @Yamada: Heheh I would've spit out something if I had something in my mouth when I saw that kiss XD As for the last sentence, I expected that, Mr. Thursday Loli :3

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  11. excellent. another yuri! thanks for the find

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  12. lol its only one more...-_- yeah add that to my 30+ watch list >__< haha :P
    w00t thats good ^_^ keep it up =3 I enjoy reading them and I'm sure a lot of people do too~!! hehe

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  13. wow, i haven't watch Kanamemo yet, just made the download, but I was busy with Ga-Rei Zero, now I have to start to watch Kanamemo and continue to watch Saki *.*

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  14. @Wynn: Glad to be of service ^^

    @Argyle: I have way more than that and I have no intention to finish some of them. I just keep them on my watch list in case I get bored (which is almost never!).

    Thanks ^^ Let's see what happens when I get to a year XD

    @Yuri Downloads: Ah yeah, I haven't finished Ga-Rei Zero yet... nor Saki... I should really get going on some of these, lol.

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  15. Man, so many yuri titles nowadays, where's the love for the fujoshi?? XD

    Kana: no way you'll never find a 13 year old who cooks... unless she's got some screwed up family then the cooking skills get outweighted by all the psychological issues ^^U btw how can she just be kicked out of her grandma's house like that? no insurance O_o?

    Yume: just wait until her metabolism slows down and she gets diabetes.

    saki: IRL, she'd be a dwarf (nothing against dwarfism!)

    It's the first time I see that frozen treat in an anime. I used to eat it when I was small (now I think it tastes horrible ^^U)

    Saying hello in Japan: you know, there must be something wrong if I don't get bothered by this...

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  16. LOL XD lazyy but~~ d(*3*)- hehe with my site in progress and growing..I have no chance at being bored kyaa~ XD :3
    ur welcome ahha hmm...for your year milestone..there BETTER BE AN EPIC YURI ANIME..MORE EPIC THAN THIS ED SONG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-cESWfWqtQ
    \(>o<)/ギャーッ!

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  17. @Yaku: Ahaha yeah, I notice that's lacking these days. XD And it's not like Hetalia runs forever...

    Hmm... I'm thinking that the parents are actually alive and Kana didn't know about this. I'm just guessing that she was supposed to go to her parents... I'm hoping they touch base on this again. It really makes me curious.

    Yume puts in two bags of sugar in curry... I think she's gonna get it MUCH sooner XD

    LoL nice explanation for Saki. I didn't find the frozen ice thing I bought too bad, it was a nice snack for a while until I ate it all :P

    Yep, it's become the norm to say "hello" like this, eh?

    @Argyle: Yeah, I'd kill myself if I said I'm bored (being at work doesn't count). I have so many things I can do at home. LoL gonna be tough to top that video for the anniversary... Maybe I can do a special Daily Lily for that 52nd Weekly Lily XD

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  18. @Argyle: Yeah, I'd kill myself if I said I'm bored (being at work doesn't count). I have so many things I can do at home. LoL gonna be tough to top that video for the anniversary... Maybe I can do a special Daily Lily for that 52nd Weekly Lily XD

    haha XD :P yup yup our home is our fortress and playground ^_^ =3. hehe there is still a chance~!! muahah =3 XD

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  19. @Argyle: I'll get to it when it gets to that point. Should be sometime in February or something. Hopefully I won't be too busy for that XD

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  20. lol I completely forgot about Hetalia! need to watch...

    From the first two pics, I wonder if Kana will fall in love with that long-haired lady, please keep on posting about series that grab your attention, it helps when one considers what to watch next ^^

    Well the frozen snack is not horrible per se (a bit of an exageration from me), I guess I just moved on from most sweet junk food (except chocolate, but it can be considered a delicacy depending on which you buy)

    Hahaha the scary thing is that if a friend ever does that to me (say hello in japanese), I wouldn't make a big deal out of it ^^U

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  21. @Yaku: LoL I need to watch that too. I was curious about it when it started, but fell behind and never got around to it anymore XD Hopefully I can find a collected torrent of it...

    The first two pictures are just eyecatches. It's really cute how they have two characters and one of them saying "Kana" and the other say "memo", plus they say it very humorously according to the situations ^_^

    I'll definitely keep posting about this one and once I do, you'll see whose Kana potential matchup will be ^_~

    Ok yea, sweet junk food lol. It's summer so I wanted something cold ^^;

    "Hello Yaku!" >:)

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  22. I watched the first episode. Hmm...not sure if I'll keep up with it. Saki is sure cute though ^^

    I'm wondering how Kana had absolutely nowhere to go. No child welfare services? O_o

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  23. @Coco: Haha Saki was really cute in the third episode. I'll make sure to take a screenie of her from the 3rd episode soon ^_^

    I suppose the grandmother's death was very unexpected so no one told Kana what to do when she died ^^;; What did you think of Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket when that happened?

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  24. I've found the Hetalia videos in veoh, I think it's faster than torrents.

    Have you watched Umi Monogatari? it seems the whole cast is female, so lots of yuri galore everywhere! (I just read briefly about it in a blog, so I can't confirm anything)

    Erm you said "hello" in English ahahahahaha it doesn't count =D

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  25. @Yaku: Oh no worries. I already have the Hetalia all downloaded from torrents XD I loves my cable internet!

    I heard about Umi Monogatari too, have it on the HD, but haven't found the time to watch it yet >_< Will have to see that one too when I'm not busy.

    Oh you... stop being a nitpick and accept my "hello" XD

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