Search - His & Her Circumstances DVD Collection (Anime Value/Kare Kano) on DVD

Emotional and touching anime romance

M. Bonds | 01/14/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"His and Her Circumstances is a story of 2 high school students who are seen as exceptional and perfect individuals. Sadly both only put up a front so they can get ahead and please the ideals of others. When they discover that they understand each other rather well Yukino and Arima develop a friendship that begins to form a romance; however, the dark secrets within Arima's past make their relationship difficult, but Yukino tries her best to save Arima from destroying himself with depression.

This DVD set features all 26 episodes and while the series loses some steam in the final episodes, the entire series is definitely worth owning. The writing style and emotional nature of the show is refreshing and pleasant. The DVD set from Right Stuf is well packaged, very well priced, and comes with a nice set of extras. The English dub and Japanese audio tracks are both exceptional."

Amazing romance and comedy

Russell J. LEBAR | O' Fallon, MO USA | 11/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A fun,, romantic comedy. The two main characters are both the stereotypical perfect students, except it's really a facade. The humor is how the facade is revealed and the trials and tribulations the two main characters go through after they start being themselves -- or more to the point, learning who they are.

This isn't a perfect series -- in fact, it's pretty obvious the budget was a big issue by the end of the project. And as another reviewer indicated, the quality of the DVD case could be better. But the first half of the series (especially the first two disks) are amazingly well done with insights into relationships, growing, and discovering who you really are coupled with comedic elements. The presentation often uses manga-like elements, giving it a unique style. And it works really well (at least until the budget runs out).

It reminds me of Fruits Basket (though His and Her came out first). Presentation wise, a lot of different Anime styles are used throughout (e.g. exaggerated ones for comedic scenes and more realistic ones for serious ones). And there are lots of tidbits of wisdom. The difference is His and Her is mainly focused on the relationship and discovering who you are while Fruits Basket is more about life in general (including relationships).

Rightstuf also did an amazing job producing the English version. There is a lot of Japanese on screen at times (the "manga-like presentation elements) and Rightstuf actually spent the extra time to present the English version in the same area on the screen, using similar colors -- something that sounds easy but is actually very difficult.

The way I look at this series is to consider the really well done first half as the main feature, with the weaker second half as extra bonus material. Or to put it differently, the first half is so well done that most people will overlook the weaker second half.

It's that rare series that manages to be different and yet really good."

The Hardships and Rewards of True Love

J.P.F. | Bay Area, CA | 05/13/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This series is the quintessential 'don't miss' for (heterosexual) love in anime, despite its one major flaw - it was grossly incomplete at the end, and I want to see it out to a proper conclusion. The reason I consider this series one of the best is the essential truth taught and exemplified by the characters: that no matter how flawed or fallen we are, love is the remedy for all things and can change any situation for the better.

The characters, lovable from the start, develop brilliantly and only ever become deeper as we learn more about them. While imperfect, the beauty of it is their overcoming their flaws in the name of their love for one another. Unfortunately, this is also the anime's one problem - just as Arima is becoming deeper and truly getting to the root of his internal struggle against his past, and consequently just as their relationship could've either faltered or escalated to untold heights, the series ended without so much as a "see you next season!" Having grown to love both characters, as well as many of the peripherals, I want to see this played out to the end. I could see this series doubling in length easily, and would pay for another box set again gladly to see it."