Boys be... (2000) User Reviews

A short but wonderful series

[au_law2001 · 15 March 2005]

Yet another short lived underrated 13 episode anime straight from BS WOWOW, but a very good one at it with a wonderful cast of characters and great music too! Typically it is about six high schoolers learning about life, love, and friendship. Yes it's sweet sixteen for them because they each experience romance, mostly it focuses on the relationship of Kyoichi Kanzaki a shy but kind artist, and Chiharu Niita an athletic girl, they are childhood friends and suddenly their relationship becomes more serious. Yumi the glass wearing girl and Aki are Chiharu's friends and themselves are looking to cure loneliness. And Yoshihiko is a baseball player who is bored with everything and doesn't know what he wants. Makoto is a computer wizard who believes there are set-in-stone formulas for love, and is a complete pervert just looking for love. It is a wonderful series which mostly talks about growing up and the people who change their lives, beautiful animation and story, I liked the way they compared each episode with the four seasons, and they talk about very important lessons of life as well, like about dealing with loneliness and acceptance and friendship. It really reminded me of the Wonder Years a bit because the main character Kanzaki narrates and it focuses on his relationships also. Too bad it was only 13 episodes, they could've made more for character development on the others, there was a follow up series to this, but it has no connection whatsoever. Recommended for those into romantic stories or those about growing up, I loved the opening and ending songs both performed by Aki Maeda, the girl who played Noriko of Battle Royale.

Realism in Anime Romances

[Jeb081387 · 10/10 · 12 December 2009]

I am a newcomer to the world of anime so I don't really care about the quality of the drawings so thats on of the reasons this is a ten. The other, this show provides a rare glimpse of reality when it comes to romances in anime. The story simply tells the tale of a group of high school juniors who are all taking the steps towards their first real relationship. You won't find any damsels in destress situations, no generic high school love triangles. Its simply the story of how relationships start as friends, move on to something a little more and finally being bf and gf. A great series for people who like realism and, yes sappiness, in their romantic anime.