Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitte Iru Episode 1

Err...I am confused.

X_X

@_@

So….yeah. My last anime for the Spring Line-Up has aired. Not on my main site which makes me sad face but it is out there. In all its special glory. And even though I made some silly faces up there Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitte Iru episode 1 was way better than everything showed on Sci-Fi all day.

But is that really hard to do? X_X

Am I the only one blogging this? I hope not but if I am I hope you find this informative. Or scary. How about we go with entertaining?

Cue the sad back story! More angst stat!!!

Episode Summary: The first scene is of a girl (named Yuki) being held by a man (Luka). But the man has fangs so he must be a vampire. Yuki wants Luka to kill her when the time comes but Luka promises to protect her instead. Suddenly the scene is the present day and a boy named Yuki wakes up all confused about dreams and nightmares. He greets his friend/ex-fellow orphanage person Kanata outside where Kanata gives him a picture book for the kids and Kanata is generally being ominous. After talking to the director about plans on moving out one day Yuki discovers someone has left him another piece of hate mail. He hides this from Kanata as they walk to school. Kanata tells Yuki that he will always be there for him which encourages Yuki as he feels unloved in the world. Two youths (Touko and Tsukumo) are at a nearby bus stop talking about how Yuki is a cute boy now. Some kids start picking on an older man while the other adults stand by and do nothing. Touko nearly gets involved but Yuki arrives and stands up for the man. He pulls one youth off the injuried guy but then gets flashes of the youth’s troubled past and starts feeling like crap. Touko and Tsukumo help clear out the rest of the youths and tell Yuki that they are proud of the kind of person he is and will enjoy getting to know him better.

This sounds perfectly innocent. Nothing to worry about.

Yuki arrives at school to find out he has a fan club devoted to his sweetness. Yuki runs into one of his friends Uzuki watering some flowers. Yuki touches Uzuki out of concern and is shown an image of Uzuki getting beat by his mother. Uzuki is outraged that Yuki looked into his memories again and Yuki tries to apologize. Uzuki freaks out and all the girls side with Yuki. Uzuki is having a meltdown in the bathroom, thinking about how Yuki is always pitying him and is always butting in to his business. A voice from above/outside starts talking to Uzuki about how he knows that Uzuki sent the threatening letters and that Uzuki is not at fault. Yuki goes to visit Kanata at his apartment where Kanata is helpful about apartment hunting. But then it is revealed that Yuki has a really weird book in his possession and asks Yuki to change the world with him. X_X Yuki sorta brushes Kanata’s human hating ways aside and tells the orphanage kids a story. Yuki then receives a text from Uzuki asking for help. Yuki runs and finds Uzuki in the streets but when he reaches for Uzuki disappears and Yuki is stuck in the ground by some evil smoke stuff. Before Yuki is squished by a truck (driven by more evil smoke) Luka flies in and saves Yuki. There is the GASP you seem so familiar moment and Luka promises to protect Yuki before walking away all cool like. The end of a super long summary.

So why the odd faces when I started this post? Well I wasn’t expecting Luka to be a vampire (or DEMON according to Wiki). Maybe I should have but I didn’t. So we got a vampire and a person named Yuki who needs rescuing? Yeah I had a mini freak out that this was Vampire Knights part three. I think I have recovered over that part now but I am sure there are Twilight fans out there upset that GASP someone else is writing about vampires and how dare they copy Twilight!!! If Luka is a vampire of course….

I don't think Yuki is going to be thrilled either...

But I am not sure how I feel about Yuki being a girl in his previous life. It puts a damper on my yaoi fantasies. It’s more like OH I loved you as a woman and will continue to love you even though you are a boy now. Of course there is something to say about not caring about what sex the person is and loving the soul of a person. It is kinda romantic and really shouldn’t we all strive to be like that and Luka is amazing and lovely? STILL!!!! I will sit in my corner and stomp my feet at the thought of a loving relationship that is built on true love and that my yaoi experience is slightly ruined at the fact that Yuki used to be a girl. Really, I have my priorities straight people.

Seriously? A picture book?

But talking about the actual episode. I thought the pace was really, really slow at times. I don’t need long drawn out minutes of some orphan kids and how Yuki wants to get an apartment as soon as possible and Kanata buying a picture book. BORING! First episodes are very important to people. It sets the tone on whether or not someone will watch episode 2. Of course unless an episode is truly awful people should at least watch episode 2 before making any judgments but still. Try harder please.

Daddy didn't love you? Clearly you are allowed to beat strangers then!

That being said there were some important parts of this episode. I thought that Yuki seeing the past/bad memories of two individuals as laying it on a little thick but it was necessary to show what kind of person Yuki is. He had to see the past of the bully so we can understand that while being a bully and beating on a man is wrong there is a reason behind that behavior and people are all hurting deep down. Then Yuki had to see the past with Uzuki so we can see there are negative consequences to such a gift.

Yuki might need some new friends...

I am not saying that Yuki uses his gift negatively, I am saying people react negatively to the knowledge he gains from the experience. No one wants to have someone (either a stranger or a friend) know their deep dark secrets. And any concern showed from this gained information might be perceived as pity. So while I think Uzuki was really out of line with the letters and the crazy cackling I do understand why he was upset at his friend. Yuki just wants to help while Uzuki wants to bury the sadness and the truth in his heart. I mean, given the fact that the girls judge Uzuki based on his crazy mother’s actions I can’t blame him for wanting to keep the truth hidden from such catty people.

Yuki as a character could use a bit of work. I am not fond of whiny girls who need saving so I am not fond of whiny boys who need saving either. That and I think the whole I need to make it on my own as soon as possible despite how impossible and financially unstable I might be for years to come is WAY over done. But that might be the culture in the Japan, that people feel that much pressure to get out on their own despite it making more sense to stay where you are and focus on your studies. I mean, stay at the orphanage and pay some rent. Don’t be a free loader. But when someone wants to give you a hand because you got a lousy lot in life don’t be pig headed and determined to make it on your own when someone’s help would benefit you in the long run.

Not all super powers are made of win.

However Yuki isn’t that pathetic. I weren’t abandoned by my mother and raised with other unwanted kids in an orphanage. I also didn’t grow up with the ability to see people’s pasts and sad memories. So I might be a more reserved person if I could see that crap. The more that I think about it the more I feel bad for Yuki’s situation. He has “dreams” about his past life and when he touches someone he sees their past too. So if I was seeing horrible stuff all the time I might need a little saving too. None of these past two sentences have made any sense. I guess we will just have to wait to see if Yuki is a champion of justice or some tragic character who needs saving.

Everyone in this series is a stalker!

There isn’t much to say about the other characters as we didn’t see much of them. Or what the plot will be about. I do predict that Kanata will turn on Yuki in favor of cleansing the world of humans (IE he gets turned by the baddies). Luka seems like a pretty loyal person/vampire/demon/sparkly person but I hope he lays off the cryptic meetings. Touko and Tsukumo weren’t on screen long enough but I hope they focus on the Yuki in front of them and not the Yuki they apparently used to know.

That makes total sense thanks.

I do wish more of the plot was discussed in this first episode. All we saw was some black smoke and Kanata in possession of some creepy book. We don’t know what anyone wants or why Yuki has his powers or why he/she was reborn. Which is fine. If everything was explained to us from the get go why bother watching the rest of the series. But I do think that the viewers should have some understanding of where the plot is going by the end of the first episode. Or at least be satisfied with the confusion that is the first episode.

More male Yuki less female Yuki please.

The Opening and Closing theme song were okay. Again I am massively picky when it comes to music. But I would have liked both theme songs to focus more on Yuki the boy and not Yuki the girl. I guess deep down they are the same person but still it would have been nice to focus on the Yuki who is alive now and how Luka will protect this Yuki.

Such pointy chins. If they made out right now I predict there would be bruises.

The art was just okay. Nowhere near what I was expecting from the concept art. The faces were way too sharp for my liking and reminded me of the horror that was the X/1999 movie. But other than that everything seems to be on the up and up.

In conclusion I am not sure how I feel about this series. I don’t think it’s going to be a break out hit. I don’t think it is going to be very popular. But I am not willing to give up after one episode. And I am not only saying that because I enjoy yaoi and its subtle undertones. Beneath all the pretty boys might be a decent plot. Let’s just hope the next episode hurries up and gets to said plot quickly. The people who are watching this series probably would like some idea of what is going on. It has promise and I enjoy eye candy. So bring me both next week and I will happily add you to my blogging schedule.