Saturday, December 29, 2007

Sekimatsu Darling ( The End of the Century, Darling! )


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Sekimatsu Darling is a really hilarious OVA and pokes fun at bl/yaoi stereotypes in general. It's a bit old--- it was released in the '90's before Y2K ( that's partailly another reason why it's called "The End of the Century, Darling" ). The artwork isn't a problem, though. In fact, it's quite excellent for it's time.




The premise revolves around our hot semes ( tops/ pitchers )Ogata and Takasugi, who don't have any problems admitting their feelings for each other. However, it seems that their relationship is doomed to be at a stalemate for quite some time, because neither of them wants to be the uke ( bottom/catcher ). Therefore, the challenge is issued--- they both determine to make the other one fall in love with them so much, that the other will submit to their macho seme-ness and the relationship will progress. Cue the trip to the onsen/hot springs for seduction purposes, and wacky highjinks ( and some hot half-nakedness ) to establish the bigger and better seme-ness. (And just how do they out-macho each other? They played Ping-pong; bot basketball, soccer, baseball or wrestling...but pingpong! LOL! ).




Boys on Boys on Film has a fun review of this fun anime. Contributing writer comments that "Seikimatsu Darling is the funniest boy's love anime ever, even funnier than Gravitation. Smarter, faster and more subtle than most june comedies, this is yaoi for a slightly older, working-age audience. Though enjoyable to all, Seikimatsu Darling puts a twist on some of the conventions of yaoi that fans very familiar to the genre will definitely find extra amusing...the 25-minute OAV is about two adult men battling for dominance in their brand-new relationship. Ogata Kosaku (Ogata-kun) confesses his love for a co-worker, Takasugi Yochiro (Takasugi-san), and is surprised to hear that his beloved returns his feelings. However, Takasugi says that they cannot be together, because their love is too similar. What in the world can he mean by that? It's a rather lengthy scene of dancing around the subject before the animation makes it clear: Takasugi and Ogata are very nearly the same height! Which man should pursue the other, which should fall in love first, and how the relationship would normally proceed is uncertain. Without the typical yaoi Height Rule (in which the taller man is always seme and in charge), Takasugi and Ogata are at a loss.





So, the couple agrees they will compete, each trying to make the other fall for him first. For help and support, Ogata enlists the help of his homosexual friend Shikibu Yukari (Shikibu-kun) and his lover, the utterly adorable Tsutsumi Masayuki (Tsutsumi-san). In my opinion, Tsutsumi completely steals the show from the moment he arrives on the screen with his cheerful, witty commentary. He and Shikibu are the perfect peanut gallery to observe Ogata and Takasugi in their struggles toward an equitable relationship.


Tsutsumi and ShikibuNaturally, to further the plot, all four go away for a weekend to an onsen (Japanese hot spring). The competition continues in all the ways you might expect, and it looks like Ogata is losing ground. However, before the weekend is through, Ogata and Takasugi will discover that they both have weaknesses, and that it really is true that 'if it's him (being seme), then maybe it (being uke) is okay.'





Facillitating the adorable humor of Seikimatsu Darling is the voice talent of Matsumoto Yasunori as Ogata, most notable to yaoi fans as Hiroshi from Gravitation, though he also played serious roles in Samurai Troopers and Please Save My Earth. Playing Takasugi is the very talented Kazuhiko Inoue, whose smooth voice has been Arislan's Daryuun, Fruits Basket's Hatori and Yami no Matsuei's Oriya. Both men take on more emotional, broader roles in this and succeed marvelously at the quickly-delivered comedic lines as well as the overblown dramatic scenes, then tie everything up nicely with sincere and heartfelt emotion at the very end." I agree Wiggler. You can read this great review here.



As mentioned, Ogata even convinced some gay friends of his to come along as moral support, and they were effective...in adding a lot of humor to the situation. I think in the entire series, there was maybe one kiss? So it definitely wasn't anywhere near as physical as some other titles are. It contented itself with having fun with a silly premise, and I'd recommend it to people who are interested in watching something a little offbeat and funny and don't mind the boys-love context. Simplicity, Excellent Romance, Unique Humor and well-done art are some of this film's best qualities, making Sekimatsu Darling indeed a

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.

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