beier.noemi - 2015-12-11 04:24:38

Oh what a show to pick up for New Anime Discovery Month. Tokimeki Tonight definitely was something new and different for me. I've seen my fair share of Shoujo anime, but I think this is the oldest one I've seen by a fairly large margin.

The premise here is actually pretty standard when you think about it. Main character has a supernatural family and has to keep it a secret from the world, but this is a romantic comedy so of course there's a boy the main character will be in love with and a rival to challenge this love, all while using her powers more than she should be at the risk of the boy catching her in the act. It's been done. But this series dates back to the very early 80's so at the time it might have been a bit more fresh than it is now. I don't know.

I can't actually knock the show too much though. For something as old as it is, and what it was meant to be, it was actually pretty entertaining for the most part. The stories were simple, yes, but they had a nice feeling to them, like watching reruns of Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie. The only time the plot really becomes a problem is in the last few episodes when the series kinda jumps the shark, so to speak, to progress the romance and we're left with movie spoof style filler episodes (something I saw done in Kimagure Orange Road as well) before we get to a really crap tie-up finale because the manga wasn't done yet (and wouldn't be for another decade or so apparently).

I do like the cast of characters, even if they are almost all pretty much one trick ponies. Eto Ranze is the main character here. The daughter of a vampire and a werewolf, she has the ability to turn into a copy of anything she bites (it sounds weird, but it is original, so there's that). She is in love with Makabe Shun, a boxing enthusiast and sometimes delinquent. And filling out the rival role is Kamiya Yoko, the spoiled brat daughter of the worlds softest Yakuza boss. They aren't great, and probably not even very original for the most part, but they work in the same way as the cast of Gilligan's Island in that you know what to expect out of them, but it's still funny for a while.

The animation is very dated, possibly even for the time. It's not stellar by any means and I have seen older shows that look better than this. Most of them are on the high end of the spectrum for the time though, so this might be about right if we're being fair. There isn't a lot to say about music here since there are just the opening and ending themes and a couple of insert songs that are all standard fare for the early 80's (though I did quite like the ending theme to be honest). Most of the background music is just instrumental variations on the opening and ending themes though. But again, age might play a role in why this is a thing.

So yeah, it was kinda cool seeing a much earlier shoujo anime than I'm used to. It really gives some perspective on how they've grown and changed over the years (and it's interesting to see how much hasn't changed too). As a show, it is entertaining and can be quite enjoyable to the right person. This isn't a show that is going to draw a lot of attention from the anime community at large though, so if you have a problem with older anime, shoujo as a genre or very simple writing and/or characters, you might want to really think about this one before you dive in.