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Midori Days - Handle With Care
Midori Days - Handle With Care
Genres: Drama, Television, Anime & Manga, Animation
UR     2005     1hr 40min

As Seiji continues to live out his days with Midori as his loving right hand, her real body rests at home in a coma. Kouta is Midori's childhood friend. Desperate to wake her from her coma, he tries to convince Seiji to g...  more »

     

Movie Details

Genres: Drama, Television, Anime & Manga, Animation
Sub-Genres: Drama, Television, Anime & Manga, Animation
Studio: Anime Works
Format: DVD - Color - Animated,Subtitled
DVD Release Date: 07/26/2005
Release Year: 2005
Run Time: 1hr 40min
Screens: Color
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 0
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English

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Movie Reviews

The story of the right-hand girlfriend concludes
P. Krug | portland, oregon United States | 09/08/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the last four episodes of the series, Kota, Midori's old male (non-romantic) friend seeks the help of Seiji, since he knows Midori was in love with him, hoping that Seiji might come to Midori's house and a kiss from him will wake her up, like in a fairy tale. Of course, the first and the last time Seiji came to her house there was a disasterous misunderstanding, so he's not too keen on coming back.

In the second episode Kota decides to come and once again ask for Seiji's help, and then overhears a group of delinquents talking about him. Thinking they might be Seiji's friends, Kota decides to ask for their help in finding him. However, they are guys who want to beat Seiji up, and when Kota refers to them as delinquents, they grab Kota and drag him away. When Osamu, Seiji's best friend, sees this, he goes and asks for Seiji's help. Now it's up to Seiji and Midori to rescue Kota.

(The rest of the review may contain spoilers.)

Before I talk about the next two episodes, I'd like to discuss two little complaints I have with this last volume. At times Seiji can be very kind to Midori and to others, but at other times he can be rather cruel. Now I realize that he's supposed to be a rough-around-the-edges delinquent whose manners aren't completly refined, and that he'd really like a regular girlfriend he can embrace, but still, I'd get irritated when he'd act mean twords Midori, especially in the later episodes when she's been his right hand for a while. Seiji doesn't bother trying to hide his attraction twords other girls, and you get the sense he'd even sleep with one if he got the chance. When Midori tries to tell him about the importance of a first kiss, he snaps at her and tells her not to tell him what to do all the time. In their last conversation they have together, Midori is knitting a scarf for him for the coming wintertime, and he says how he wishes a girl would do exactly that, ignoring what Midori is doing. When Midori tells him she's knitting a scarf for him, he says he'd want to have a girlfriend whom he can wrap a scarf around both of them. Midori then says,"I'll always just be your right hand, won't I?" Seiji hesitates for a moment, then, rather than trying to make up for his insensitivity, says,"This can't last forever, can it?"

My other complaint may sound a bit strange. Now, this being the last volume, we know that Midori has to go back to her old body, mostly because of her mother who is growing increasingly worried and frantic about her. (Of course, the plot thread with Takkako is wraped up as well, where Seiji tells her kindly that he's in love with someone eles, and she then tells him he should go to her.) But anyway, I wish that Midori didn't go back to being normal just so soon; it happens at the very end of the last half of the third episode on this disk! I would have preferred to see this happen at the very end of episode three (episode eleven in the series,) or even halfway through the very last episode, then see everything get wraped up in the last episode or in the last half, rather than having one whole _and_ one half of an episode where the two are seperated.

Still, everything does all and well for everyone. You'll definetly want to finish watching the series if you've seen the first two volumes."
THE PRINCE ARRIVES
Sesho | Pasadena, TX USA | 07/19/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's been almost two weeks since Midori slipped into a coma and her family is beginning to lose hope that she will revive. Her mother has resorted to using any means necessary, including every spiritual quack in the city. Midori's old friend and class mate Kouta has even talked himself into believing that a kiss from Seiji-kun will revive her just like in a fairy tale. Of course he has no idea she's stuck on his right hand! It's rapidly becoming apparent that Midori rather likes the situation she's in, able to be with the person she loves. Speaking of, Ayase has been trying to work up the courage to confess her own feelings to Seiji.

This last volume of Midori Days is completely satisfying. A studio like Gainax would perhaps have taken this series into a death laden tragedy with broken hearts and obscure resolutions. But the makers of this show really bring all the plotlines together without resorting to Hollywood schmaltz. In the end, it's really a feel-good series. I'm sure everyone has had feelings for someone but have never admitted it to that person. Don't ask me how a show about having a girl on his right hand could do such a good job of being bizarre and sexy, but at the same time, thoughtful, warm, realistic, and funny that speaks to a basic human experience. To be near the ones we love. Great show.

If you liked this series, I would recommend the anime Azumanga Daioh, His and Her Circumstances, and Full Metal Panic Fomoffu."
The word "love" is a highlight in conclusion of those Midori
Daniel J. Hamlow | Narita, Japan | 07/09/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)

"When Midori, literally Seiji Sawamura's right hand, knits the word "love" on a handmade muffler she knits for Seiji, she happily burbles how that is the highlight. It's also the main theme among other sub-themes in the final four episodes of Midori Days.

"Things can't go on this way, can they?" Seiji asks Midori twice, meaning Midori as his right hand. Things have indeed come to somewhat of a dead end. Midori keeps telling Seiji she loves him, but at one point, she realizes, "I'll always just be a right hand in your eyes." Eventually, he wakes up, and finds his right hand back to normal.

In one of the previews, Midori says, "We've spent many happy days together, but what is true happiness?" Later, Midori's mother tells her, "unless the real you changes, you won't find true happiness." It takes a lot of courage to eliminate old habits and traits. The first step is obviously being open with one's feelings.

Such is the problem of three people. Seiji cannot bring himself to say he loves Midori when she wins a game and he has to tell her she loves her. In flashbacks, a pre-coma Midori sees Seiji passing by but cannot bring herself to approach him and confess her love. Then there's the "serious-to-a-fault" Ayase, the school rep with the crush on Seiji, who also cannot be honest in her feelings. Despite being tough, she does have a timid side, coupled with being headstrong and being too proud. She's gone out of her way to make some notes for Seiji so he can pass a math test and has even knitted a muffler, common for Japanese couples where the muffler goes around both people. Will she confess her love to Seiji? As she tells herself, "I honestly just have no courage. So at this rate, nothing will change."

Midori though, sees a lot of her old self in Ayase, except that the latter is more courageous. In a flashback, we see that despite her cheery and bubbly personality as Seiji's right hand, in real life, she is painfully shy, only muttering a few words during the self-introduction in high school. "Feelings don't carry across just by being felt," her more bubbly and confident classmate Iwasaki tells her. Midori knows that, yet is unable to honestly convey her feelings.

Meanwhile, Midori's mother, at her wit's end, has employed several faith healers to revive her daughter. Only one, a Native American, has the answer. "The girl's spirit refuses to return. All we can do is wait quietly until she someday wakes up on her own." Distressed, Kota Shingyouji, Midori's childhood friend and classmate, summons his courage to ask Sawamura for help to see if he can wake Midori a la the prince and Snow White. Sawamura, though remembers the distressing episode--albeit a funny one to viewers--that that led to his being mistaken for a deviant (q.v. first DVD) and refuses.

It is clear to see what led Midori into her self-induced coma. She wanted so much to confess her love to Seiji, but her shyness prevented her from doing so. Given her fragile nature, she had an excruciating attack of loneliness and despair that forced her to escape into a place where she could retreat, somewhere "very enjoyable, warm, happy, and even fulfilled." Hence her right-hand form shows her potential taken to an extreme.

The English dub outtakes have some alternate and profane dialogue. In a scene where Ayase glares at Seiji, Midori says "No matter how much you like Seiji, you don't have to stare at his p--ker." She also refers to Ayase as a "b--ch" and a "ho."

I feel glad to have met Midori, both in bubbly excitable hand form and shy human form. The title is Midori Days, meaning Seiji's time with Midori, but it also serves as the transformation of Midori from the self-denying painfully shy introvert into someone still shy but who can be honest with her feelings.

Bits of dialogue and flashbacks combine to tie those together in a satisfying finish. Some universal and valuable lessons in love, honesty, and courage, are portrayed here, making this a standout in anime.
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