Ano Natsu de Matteru Is Just Like Onegai Teacher

It is one thing when some new show gets compared to some other show for some reason. Sometimes it’s quite superficial (Guilty Crown:Code Geass) other times it’s because they come from the same staff (Ghost in the Shell SAC:Eden of the East). Sometimes, it’s because of both. On occasion, you know a show is just like this other show, made by the same people, with the same themes and ideas, telling more or less the same story, but just a reboot (Utena:Mawaru Penguindrum). Once in a blue moon, you get some show that is just like some other shows because the same people that worked on both shows are aping off the same idea they made a long time ago into some new show that is suppose to make you go “oh hey this is just like Onegai Teacher.”

Where do they start? Setting? Nah. Music? Eh. Character design and color direction? Background art?

The opening.

I pity the fool who skips openings. Because anyone who knows his anime production costs know like, a good chunk of the total budget goes into that 90 seconds. It’s kind of like eating a strawberry shortcake and not eating the strawberry on top. Actually, it’s more like having excellent ramen but not drink the stock. Yes, I admit, sometimes it’s okay to skip the OP. Especially for long running shows. But sometimes it makes the difference of having the right mood and expectation going into a show and end up liking it, and not having that set for you and end up hating the same show.

So if you would have a look down memory lane:

Onegai Teachers OP (the bonus version w/o credits)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0UtDMKr8xc&feature=related]

Onegai Twins OP (It does an audio lead in, so sometimes the effect vary! Whiplash~)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPfK8R8zLKQ]

And now AnoNatsu OP (wwww onetits)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-ogI1VMTzM]

The feeling of the three OPs are similar, but not the same. I think Onegai Twins OP is very similar to AnoNatsu simply because of the same cuts technique, except Onegai Twins has a more upbeat affair, and the visual shows. Well, there are really just three people in that show, versus something like 6 here. Gone is overlapping fades and in is weird CG effects to play with the colorspace. The photo/film effect is in for all three, but the way they’re done is different–Oneti uses that candid cam motion thing, OneTwi is a slideshow, and AnoNatsu is using filters.

Well, I’m not very good at this but there are plenty of other things you can point out. It’s just right there.

===

One thing I want to comment on about AnoNatsu right off the bat is that the character that made Oneti for me has a parallel in AnoNatsu. Koishi single-handedly sold me Oneti. I thought Ayako did an awesome job in it, and I remember still vividly trying to talk about it with some director, who pointed out how the schtik was suppose to work. The girl carrying the torch right now in AnoNatsu is played by Kaori Ishihama, who is mostly a newbie. Kind of excited! On the other hand, maybe the more service-friendly and mysterious Mio played by perennial moe queen Kana Asumi could also make a  move. Everyone made moves in Oneti and Onetwi, after all.

And yeah, Yukari Tamura reprises her deadpan role in Remon. Although Ichigo is more deadpanned by an order of magnitude, actually. Happy 10th anniversary for this character.

The biggest question is, though, can Tomato pull one out of her butt? I guess it depends on how you feel about her role as Anaru.


9 Responses to “Ano Natsu de Matteru Is Just Like Onegai Teacher”

  • Digibro

    Onegai Teacher by way of Ano Hana is what it looks like. Probably more fans today will recognize the latter, and then be corrected by oldfags at every pass that it’s really the former. Either way this should be liked, right? Both of those shows are anyway.

  • Taka

    I know I watched Onegai Teacher back when I was like MILFS, HAWT TEACHERS and ALIENS?! I’M SO THERE!
    Unfortunately for the life of me I remember very little of this show but I will admit that the OPs do look and to me sound similar. In the same vein as Nisemonogatari’s current OP feels like it could be a sequel to Staple Stable.

  • omo

    MILFS, HAWT TEACHERS and ALIEN are as good as any other reasons to watch Oneti.

    It looks to be a repeat, except somehow sexing up your classmate is somehow more acceptable than sexing up the alien/teacher that you legally married?

    And we don’t even have to open the door with Onetwi lol to get anywhere objectionable.

    @Digibro
    >> Either way this should be liked, right? Both of those shows are anyway.

    Well, there were a lot of haters back in the day for onegai teacher and twins for the reasons I just listed. I think you’re not going to get an Anohana vibe. The subject matter should be closer to Toradora, given it is just a high school romance story rather than ZOMG INVISIBLE.

    It’s always notable when a shounen romance sort of story actually have sex in it.

  • omo

    One comment I wanted to make once I get more sleep and rewatch a couple times: is Remon wearing the seifuku from Onetwi?

  • Momotato

    Very close. Must be the big secret.

  • fencedude

    I already like Ichika a bajillion times more than I ever liked Mizuho. Also Kai is, at least so far, better than the leads of either of the two previous shows.

    And Lemon is…Ichigo. I really am expecting this to turn out to be a sequel, and Ichika is actually Mizuho’s cousin or something.

  • omo

    Ichika is definitely a little…less troublesome than Mizuho or Karen/Miina. But let’s be clear here, the fapworthiness of the show is not its main draw, nor what made the two original series more outstanding than their peers at the time.

    Personally I think the lead in Onegai Twins is by far the best out of all of them. I mean what kind of highschool kid does freelance programming for a living, that is just lols. Well, time will tell.

    Also, I capped the uniforms. It’s not exactly the same, but very close. Most notably, Ichigo wore a sweater outside, and the neckerchief is different. Some of the way the sleeves flare out is also slightly different.
    See it here.

  • Fencedude

    I quite liked the lead of Twins as well, certainly more than the one from Teacher (though not enough, apparently, to remember his name. Then again male characters really have to be super-duper amazing for me to remember their names 8 or whatever years later.) Kai certainly has done well to set himself up as a decent character though. He’s kinda Jintan in the hair department though.

    I always felt Twins was the better show, because the situation was more legitimately difficult, and way, way, WAAAAAAAAAAY less contrived. It will be interesting to see if AnoNatsu can split the difference

    As for the uniforms, accounting for artstyle differences, I’d say they are supposed to be the same thing. I wonder if Ichigo uses her eternal-loli status to just go and troll random highschools. That would be hilarious, actually.

  • Smithy

    The opening sequences really do feel similar don’t they?

    Really liked “Please Teacher!” and “Please Twins!” when they aired so many years ago, sure they weren’t perfect shows and had flaws but they were still enjoyable.
    While the similarities with those series and “Ano Natsu de Matteru” are obvious, the visual influences of the people that also worked on “Toradora!” and “Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi ha Mada Shiranai” is apparent, so let us hope that they will also influence the story in a positive way making it more potent than “Please Teacher!”.
    If memory serves me right (which it rarely does) the past years most romantic comedies or love stories are very harem centric so it will be refreshing to get a love story again like “Please Teacher!” or like “Toradora!” with less harem and more romance.

    Yamano’s uniform indeed looks about 90% the same as the one worn in “Please Twins!”, there’s slight differences but not that many.

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