Anime Boys Be Episode 1 Tender Cherry-blossoms Opening Daijoubu Ending Minna ga Iine Version watched Fansubbed by #animefactory Summary by Joan Lee (E-mail / Website)
July 12, 2001[ Rating: PG-13, it's a shounen anime. ]
A voice narrates the beginning: Some fifteen million years ago, this universe was given birth. About twenty billion stars sparkle along the Milky Way...and even now, somewhere in space, the fate of those stars...may be fought over in grand battles. However, unaware of that, the seasons continue. [At one point part of the speaker's face is revealed, as he is framing a view in front of him with his fingers and looking through it.] The voice continues to talk: The cherry blossom, passing time, a witness to many meetings, a sublime flower. Cherry-blossom, a witness to many partings, a transient flower. And, this year the flower will bloom yet again, to witness many fleeting emotions, painful emotions, in this very spring, when it all began. A painting of a cherry blossom tree on a hilltop is revealed, propped up on an easel.
[ Opening : Daijoubu, sung by Aki Maeda ]
[ Title screen : chapter: Spring * Tender Cherry-blossoms ]
Beneath the cherry-blossom trees, a boy walks and yawns from tiredness - he stayed up all last night. A cat meows and catches his attention; he kneels down but the cat runs away. A voice asks, "Is that new?" (referring to the package he carries under his arm) and he turns to see a girl with a brown ponytail saying good morning to him. He greets her, Chiharu.
Chiharu guesses that he's holding a painting, and she grabs it despite his protests that he just started it. She opens it and sees the picture of the cherry blossom tree.
Chiharu is not exactly admiring and he says, somewhat sulkily, that he said he just started it. She says she shouldn't have looked. He's about to respond but the time is late, and so they start running towards school. Chiharu's running way ahead of him and she calls him a slowpoke, but he protests and she comes to a stop for him, all the while still provoking him. She says he should join her club, but he says if he joined the athletics club he'd die. They continue to banter until they hear the bell, at which point Chiharu says she'll go ahead. When she turns and runs, you get a close-up of her chest, skirt and legs, face, and her backside as she's running away, with the boy (nameless for a few moments longer) watching her go away silently.
He's broken from his...reverie when someone slaps him on his back, effectively knocking him down. "Yo, Kanzaki," a tall boy with spiky brown hair says. Kanzaki greets Kenjou none too joyfully.
In the hallway three girls, including Chiharu are talking. One of them is gushing about a really cool guy who could be her new love, while the others listen none too encouragingly. The girl-in-love says their eyes locked - for about two seconds. The third girl wonders if he could be nearsighted. The girl-in-love gets irritated and asks Chiharu to explain to Yumi what a "maiden's moment of love feels like." Nearby, a guy looks at his face in a small handheld mirror, then he emerges from a classroom and smirks when he sees the group of girls.
Chiharu is answering, "Even if you ask me..." but someone interrupts. "I have no idea! Because I'm not a girl, but a yeti!" the voice says in a higher-pitched voice than normal. The smirking boy from before is standing among them, wiggling his body (trying to act fidgety and girly?), pretending to be Chiharu. "I'm busy with running around, I don't understand love at all."
Chiharu, angry, says his name - Kurumizawa Makoto. Makoto says he was just telling the truth, and looks to the girl-in-love (Mizutani) for agreement. Annoyed, she asks him what he wants, calling him a weirdo. While he pretends to be hurt at this comment, his eyes on her also lower.
Chiharu looks down and realizes that Makoto is looking at a mirror placed on his right shoe - which is angled so he can look up Mizutani's skirt (and see guess what. :P). Mizutani freaks out and backs away, while Makoto feigns innocence ("What's a mirror doing down there?"). Unfortunately, his smug laughter is cut off when Chiharu slams her duffel bag into his face, and he falls down with a bloody nose.
The girls leave, while Kanzaki and Kenjou walk up and find Makoto on the floor. He says he was attacked by a yeti.
Later inside a classroom, Kanzaki and Kenjou are at a window looking out. Outside in the hallway, Makoto is finishing taking notes from a guy with a handheld computer database and he gives him choco-rings as thanks. After he's done, Kenjou asks him about his choco-ring exchange. Makoto explains that there's a senior, Tajima Eriko, whose boyfriend is in a biker gang. "She doesn't seem to be the type, but you never know," he says, as he looks at her profile in his computer.
Kanzaki wonders that he really enjoys doing such research, when Kenjou interrupts and asks about one of the girls outside on the field holding a volleyball. Makoto says the girl is freshman Kawase Misuzu, of the third class, then lists off her birthday, astrological sign, blood type, interests, and he's about to list her three sizes when Kenjou interrupts and comments on her nice calves with an admiring eye.
Kanzaki is kind of lost, but Makoto understands that Kenjou doesn't just judge a girl by her face. "Everyone has special parts that they look for." Makoto's the same - he looks at the part between the shoulder and upper arm. Since Kanzaki still doesn't get it, Makoto demands to know which is his favorite part, since he must have one, even if he doesn't know it yet.
The discussion moves to "bunny girls," as it's the netting (as in, stocking) that attracts Kenjou. [Insert a few shots of a "bunny girl."] Their debate over bunny girls with/without netting is cut short when Kenjou sees a cute girl with a ponytail and a green ribbon in her hair. Makoto notes that she's still single, maybe a senior.
Kanzaki looks at the girl and remembers Chiharu turning her head and running that morning. He asks Makoto for data on Chiharu. Makoto's a bit shocked - Nitta "the Yeti" Chiharu? He doesn't have any info on her, since he's only interested in real women. Kanzaki accepts his answer, but Makoto's brain starts clicking, and he asks him if he actually likes that yeti. He says it's suspicious although Kanzaki denies everything. Makoto drops everything though when Kenjou finds a girl who is braless.
All the different classes are busy, from baseball to tennis to painting, where Kanzaki is looking like he's having a hard time concentrating. Outside, on the track, Chiharu has just finished her run and a guy in a track suit with a stopwatch congratulates her on a good time. She turns and sees that Kanzaki is watching her outside the chain-link fence, but he turns and walks away. She watches him leave, and when her coach asks what's wrong, she asks for one more time.
At home, Kanzaki is flipping through a photo album. He finds a cute picture of him and Chiharu holding hands as kids, and has a corresponding flashback of Chiharu when they were kids, running to where he was waiting. They held hands and run off together. He turns the page and finds another picture of him and Chiharu, but they're around their current age (dressed in same uniform), and their hands aren't touching.
He wonders at his strange feeling, since they're just childhood friends. He's interrupted by the door opening and Chiharu walking in. She asks him what he's doing, while he asks her to at least knock or something.
Chiharu ignores that and sees the painting from this morning, but notes that he didn't work on it at all. He says he's having a problem with the way the petals fall. Chiharu muses at his "slump."
She hands him something she came to return - "Final Quest IV." He didn't even know she borrowed it, and she blithely asks to borrow some cds. He says sure, and she kneels and leans over to browse through his cds. While she's asking about a certain cd, Kanzaki's heart starts beating faster because he has a certain view of her backside.
He's surprised by a knock on his door, his sister announcing that dinner is ready. Kanzaki hits himself with the case he was holding, while the two woman look at each other confused.
[ Eyecatch ]
In the background a song is playing on the tv of the house, while Kanzaki and Chiharu are at the dinner table eating. His sister is in the kitchen cooking. Kanzaki is a little nervous and he asks his sister if his dad and the others will be late again today. His sister teases him, asking him if he's missing mother's breasts again. She brings another dish to the table and Chiharu compliments her, Sayaka, on the taste. Sayaka says what a good daughter she is, and tells [Kanzaki] Kyoichi to make sure to marry her. He's kind of aghast, and demands another serving, but she tells him to get it himself.
Sayaka tells Chiharu that she hasn't seen her in a while, and she's grown into a real woman. She also comments on her increased breast size and that makes Kanzaki fumble when getting some more rice. He turns and, not surprisingly, looks at Chiharu's chest, while the two tease each other.
Chiharu accidentally spills hot soup on her skirt and is yeowling at the pain. Sayaka tells her to hurry and take off the skirt, and Kanzaki is just standing in the kitchen speechless, then he smiles softly.
Kanzaki and Sayaka are at the door as Chiharu is about to leave, wearing a pair of Sayaka's pants, which she thanks her for. Kanzaki gets one of his brotherly jabs in at his sister as he comments on her weight, but she suggests (orders, rather) that he walk Chiharu home.
On the way home, Kanzaki and Chiharu talk comfortably, about her clumsiness in spilling the soup, and he says he'll look for that cd she was seeking earlier. They stop at a bridge, where she says that's far enough, and then she asks Kanzaki if there's someone he likes, right now. He says slowly that he...doesn't, clenching his fist at the same time, and asks why. She says she was talking with Aki and the others, and that they were all talking about that kind of stuff, and she was wondering if everyone is like that. He asks, what about her, but at the same time a car makes a loud honking noise and it's drowned out. He says it was nothing, and Chiharu laughs, saying he really is in a slump. They say good night to each other, and Chiharu comments how cold it is, and she lets her hair fall from her ponytail, because that way it'll be warmer around her neck. She says good night and runs off, with Kanzaki stuck staring at her once again. To himself, Kanzaki says, "No way," looking at his hand.
The next morning Chiharu is stretching in her track suit, smiling. Someone calls her name, and she turns and greets "Sorimachi-sempai" (the guy who was timing her the day before). He asks if they can talk.
On the rooftop, Makoto runs in to where Kanzaki and Kenjou are and greets them with the news that Moritani Asuka, a senior, is on the cover of a magazine. He goes on about her future, but Kenjou isn't really interested. [Insert shots of girls doing archery, playing vollyball.] Makoto mocks Kenjou's disinterest, wondering if he's tired of batting and noting that the club was looking for him.
Kenjou most arrogantly says he doesn't need practice, he can hit without training. Makoto says he gets energized when he collects data on the girls. [More shots of different clubs, and one of a lone girl with twisted pigtails staring outside the library window.] Kanzaki says Makoto's name. There's a pause (presumably when Kanzaki spills his guts), and then Makoto exclaims, "Nitta?"
They ask Kanzaki if he's serious, and he talks about his feelings for his childhood friend. He knows he cares about her...while Makoto says that's not love, but "girlfriend-less disease." Kenjou notes that Makoto doesn't have a girlfriend after a year of puberty, and the latter tells him to shut up.
Makoto wants to know if Kanzaki's going to confess. He's reading from "Dr. Mitsuboshi Kirara's Love Manual," but Kanzaki says he's not going to say that even though he likes her, he doesn't want a relationship right now. Makoto expounds on the importance of timing dramatically. Kenjou disagrees, saying that you should confess when you feel like it. Makoto says he's naive, and then returns to Dr. Mitsuboshi's guide. But Kanzaki is surprised when he sees Chiharu talking to another guy in a track outfit.
She turns when Makoto says her name, surprised, but she runs off, seemingly upset. Sorimachi, the guy in the track outfit who was talking to her, says "Nitta!" and runs after her, while the three boys watch.
Kanzaki is sorting through all of his cds at home, while Makoto's voice echoes in his memory, saying it won't work because the rival is Sorimachi Takahiro, a top athlete, handsome, and popular - Kanzaki would have no luck...but Kanzaki brushed it off by saying it wasn't like that anyway.
Kanzaki is looking at the cd that Chiharu was looking for, when his sister comes in asks him to return Chiharu's skirt tomorrow at school. He gets angry, asking how can she ask him to take that thing to school. She doesn't know what's going on, but Kanzaki runs out of the house into the streets. At a bridge over traffic he stops and thinks. He sees himself walking beneath the cherry blossom trees, and then sees Chiharu running towards him - and then right past him. He watches her run farther and farther away from him.
At school, Chiharu runs again with Sorimachi watching silently.
Late in the day, Chiharu is walking home beneath the cherry trees. She sees Kanzaki in front of her, holding out a cd to her - the one she was looking for. She doesn't meet his eyes, but instead runs past him.
Kanzaki wonders what he's doing. At home he tries to paint, then out on the balcony he looks out and sighs. Then he sees Chiharu looking up at him. After some small talk she asks him to go see the cherry blossoms, right now.
"Seems they will all fall soon. Watch closely and draw them before they're all gone," she says, standing underneath a cherry blossom tree with Kanzaki. She notes that he's quiet, and says she doesn't like this.
The winds blow more cherry blossom petals away, and Kanzaki finally speaks. He says that they looked good together - they're in the same club, and short runs make him gasp for air...he's not tall, handsome... She interrupts and asks him how tall he is. He answers, "162.5 centimenters." She just reached 165.
She smiles and says maybe he'll catch up soon. Kanzaki says her name, but she looks at the cherry blossom tree and quotes Sorimachi - "From now on, let's just be a student and her senior." She says he's gentle, reliable, an all around nice person. "But...I...came to..." she looks at him. "I came to tell you that," she says, turning away.
Kanzaki stops her by saying for them to get her skirt, the miso-soup skirt. And she also smiles and says, let her borrow that cd too. While Kanzaki is walking ahead, she suddenly runs and grabs his left hand, so they are walking hand in hand. She smiles at him sweetly, and he smiles back. Kanzaki recites the proverb again: The cherry blossom, passing time, a witness to many meetings, a sublime flower. Cherry-blossom, a witness to many partings, a transient flower. And, this year it is blooming yet again, to witness many fleeting emotions, painful emotions, in this very spring, when it all began.
Note: If just reading about the "fanservice" in the first episode makes you cringe, check this Anime Grapevine post out. And remember, you can't hear an anime's background music by reading a summary, and I enjoyed the background music for this episode immensely. But no, I didn't like the eyecatch. ;p