Anime Therapy, Yeah Right

                                                    
                                                     Anime Therapy, Yeah Right

                                                                          by

                                                                             Jay Agan

     A friend of mine was going to get married. Totally knocked over by this babe. He spoke in nothing but glowing terms & was bound & determined to spend the rest of his life with her.

     According to him, you couldn't find a more compatiple mate for him. So much alike, they were. Both PHDs & teachers. Both pretty much the same interests. He liked certain movies & shows. She liked certain movies & shows. He liked history. She liked history. He liked reading/litturature. She liked reading/litt. He liked girls. She liked ..... uh, yeah.

     Her wires must have gotten crossed while she was engaged in correspondance as he ended up recieving a rather explicit letter intended for her "girlfriend". In short, no wedding, gimme back the ring.

     Two years down the road, he drops by to kill some time. I, being something of a sadist, figured he'd gotten over it, thought I'd spring a little something on him. I told him I'd found something he might be interested in & popped the disc in.

     Dirty Pair Flash is a 90s anime reinvention of the original 80s show/series by Haruka Takachiho. Two young ladies, Kei & Yuri, work for a contractural police agency solving crimes with LOTS of collateral damage, hence the name, Dirty Pair.

     One of the three story arcs of the 16 ep series, Angels At Worlds End, involves solving a computer related industrial espionage situation at a planet wide theme park (For some strange reason it resembles Tokyo in the 90s. Why is that?) Along for the ride, is a young man (A computer systems tech/analyst.) named Touma.

     In the fourth & least violent ep of this arc (Sparkling Flower Shop of Love) Touma becomes madly infatuated with Leena, a young lady he meets at a flower shop when he & Yuri duck in to get out of the rain. In his pursuit of her, she inquires more than once about his relationship with Yuri (Wich is strictly professional.). This gets Touma even more fired up. It's only toward the end the viewer finds that it's Yuri Leena is "interested" in.

     It was to this ep I clicked & we sat to watch. At one point, he asked if this had anything to do with him &, with a straight face, I promptly lied (I am an "actor" after all.). He sat there with a semi-puzzled look & every so often I'd peripherally see him glancing my way with a cocked eyebrow.

     For most of the ep, it looks to be another of those dumb romance animes cluttering up the landscape. "Why on earth would anyone want me to watch this krap?" Why indeed. Heh, heh. I was inspired to do this by a former co-worker who once freaked out a poor soul with some yaoi hentai (gay anime porn).

     Well, the end comes around & he's there with a half frown/smirk on his face. He then busts out laughing along with the Kei character & her crude efforts to comfort Touma.

     I was a bit concerned as to how he would take this, but, as he has a sense of humor, he took it quite well. At least it looked that way ..... I think.

                                                     Article copyright © Jay Agan

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