From the popular Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams) manga series by Ragawa Marimo, AKA-CHAN TO BOKU (Baby and Me) finally gives birth to its own anime. Debuting on Thursday, 18 July 1996 at 7:00pm, this anime series spins a story about an eleven-year-old Japanese boy, Enoki Takuya, and his cute baby brother, Minoru, interacting with each other in a number of heart-warming, slice-of-life situations.
Twenty episodes later, on 25 November 1996, the first AKA-CHAN TO BOKU laser disc hit the stores, and features the first two episodes: "Nakimushi wa kiraida!" (I hate crybabies!) and "Mama nanka iranai!" (I don't need a mother!). Character designer, Gotoh Takayuki and art designer Ikeda Yuji (Demon City Shinjuku) hold true to the original manga's vision as they depict the characters excellently in this anime. Studio Pierrot does the production for AKA-CHAN TO BOKU as well as other series such as KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD and FUSHIGI YUUGI.

Happier times...

The first episode introduces Enoki Takuya, voiced by Yamaguchi Kappei and Enoki Minoru, voiced by Sakamoto Chika. The episode goes into how Takuya's and Minoru's mother, Yukako, died due to an accident with a truck. Their father, Harumi, must now work all day at his job to provide for his family. With the death of his mother, Takuya is left with the duty of taking care of not only himself, but also, his little brother Minoru. Takuya is faced with the rigors of fatherhood and learns that taking care of a baby is hard work. With these duties dumped upon him, Takuya must leave his childhood by the wayside, including playing soccer with his friends, Fujii Akihiro and Gotoh Tadashi. All in all, Takuya learns even though he has these tasks to do, it is for the good of his baby brother who he deeply loves and cares about.
The second episode starts out with an everyday morning at the Enoki household with Minoru watching a morning children's show and Takuya and his father preparing for the day ahead of them. Takuya takes Minoru to the nursery school, but finds that Minoru is reluctant to go after he sees all of the other kids with their mothers. Buu! One of the teachers at the nursery school, who is dressed in a pig costume, starts drawing the kids' attention and gives them all a piece of candy. Suffice it to say, Takuya is quite relieved by all this and continues off to school himself. After some trouble with Minoru at school, Takuya is quite angry at Minoru. Takuya's father sees the tension and suggests a picnic in the country.

Family friend Otani.

Enter Otani-san, a special guest and friend of Harumi. She is also the spitting image of Yukako, their mother. Since Minoru is only two years old, he is happy to see his "mama" and happily leaps into Otani-san's arms. Takuya is not very keen on the idea of Otani as a substitute mother and voices his feelings to his father. This heartfelt episode tugs deeply at the heartstrings, and angst as well as happy times take their turns throughout the series' progression.
The appealing aspect of AKA-CHAN TO BOKU is its slice-of-life stories. With realistic, everyday situations, it demonstrates the ability to draw in viewers and relate them more personally to Takuya's troubles. The character development is very apparent as the two brothers start to depend on each other instead of alienate each other, with Takuya interacting with Minoru, not only as a little brother, but as a good friend.

Raising Minoru is a challenge for Takuya...

The first two episodes are just a peek of what is to come, and what is to come is good. The best scenes that make this anime series so enjoyable are those that show the interaction between Takuya and Minoru and how throughout the series they grow to depend on each other and become closer.
The art of AKA-CHAN TO BOKU demonstrates the "shoujo style." Minoru's very largely drawn eyes are an example of this traditional shoujo style. Eyes play an important part in expressing emotions that characters feel as they go through the trials and tribulations set before them.
The backgrounds are reminiscent of some scenes from MIMI O SUMASEBA like the cityscape and stores. Granted, MIMI O SUMASEBA is a movie and AKA-CHAN TO BOKU is a TV series, so the quality of the animation will be very different.
The music of AKA-CHAN TO BOKU ranges from very quiet, gentle music to comedic, bouncy type music. The opening song "B.B.B. (Be Bad Boy)" is sung by Kohashi Kenji, his debut single, and has an upbeat tempo to it. The ending song "You," sung by Kumagai Sachiko, is the complete opposite; it slows down and is sung virtually a capella with only a guitar playing in the background. I like both themes, but the ending theme encompasses the feelings of Takuya, Minoru and their father, Harumi very well. The photo images of the family fading in and out as Takuya looks through the family photo album is very soothing and gentle, not to mention Sachiko-san is a very good singer. Both songs are produced through Toshiba EMI and are available for sale as CD singles.

Cute Minoru.

Sakamoto Chika does a very convincing baby; I was very impressed. Another appealing aspect, although some of my friends disagree, is its ultra-mega-super cute scenes with Minoru and his playmates. There is just no other word other than "cute" to describe the antics little Minoru does in daily life.
The LD contains some free AKA-CHAN TO BOKU extras: a small sheet of stickers, an LD sized notebook, a character card that has nice art on one side and information about Minoru and his mother on the other side, and finally a foldout map of the neighborhood that Takuya and Minoru live in.
The introductory price of ¥3800 is a steal considering all of the little extras that come with it. At the end of the first LD, there is a brief preview of the following four episodes on the upcoming LD. The following LDs will contain four episodes and are being released every 25th of the month from last December on. Each is priced at ¥5800.
A definite purchase for those fans who like cute and angst in an anime title!

HANA TO YUME Bandai Visual ¥3800 / Stereo Color CLV LD / 54 MIN Catalog #: YOUMEX BVLL-523 © Ragawa Marimo / Hakuensha