Kashimashi

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Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~
かしまし ～ガール・ミーツ・ガール～ (Kashimashi ~Gāru Mītsu Gāru~)
Genre	Comedy, Drama, Seinen, Yuri
Manga
Authored by	Satoru Akahori (story) Yukimaru Katsura (art)
Publisher	MediaWorks Seven Seas Entertainment
Serialized in	Dengeki Comic Daioh
Original run	May 21, 2004 –
No. of volumes	4 (as of October 2006)
Light novel
Authored by	Mako Komao
Artist	Yukimaru Katsura
Publisher	MediaWorks
Publish date	January 2006
No. of volumes	1
TV anime
Directed by	Nobuaki Nakanishi
Studio	Studio Hibari
Licensor	Media Blasters
Network	TV Tokyo
Original run	January 11, 2006 – March 29, 2006
No. of episodes	12
Game: Kasimasi ~Girl Meets Girl~ Hajimete no natsu monogatari
Developer	VRIDGE
Publisher	Marvelous Interactive
Genre	Visual novel
Rating	Ages 12 and up
Platform	PlayStation 2
Released	March 30, 2006 (limited/regular ed.) November 16, 2006 (Best ed.)
OVA
Directed by	Nobuaki Nakanishi
Studio	Studio Hibari
No. of episodes	1
Released	October 27, 2006
Runtime	27 minutes

Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ (かしまし ～ガール・ミーツ・ガール～, Kashimashi ~Gāru Mītsu Gāru~^?), sometimes romanized as Kasimasi, is a fictional Japanese romance series written by Japanese author Satoru Akahori and illustrated by Yukimaru Katsura centering around the lives of a group of friends and the relationships they share through life-altering changes.

Over time, the series gradually became a part of several different media types. The Kashimashi story began as a manga first serialized in the Japanese seinen manga magazine Dengeki Daioh published by MediaWorks. A light novel written by Mako Komao and illustrated by the same person as with the manga edition was published under the Dengeki Bunko label by MediaWorks in January 2006. Later, an anime series based on the manga first aired on January 11, 2006 in Japan, with the tagline: Even though I became a girl, I love her still (女の子になっても、僕は彼女が好きです, Onna no ko ni natte mo boku wa kanojo ga suki desu^?). An OVA was released on October 27, 2006 in Japan included with the seventh and final DVD. A PlayStation 2 video game published by Marvelous Interactive was released in Japan on March 30, 2006. A drama CD was released on May 18, 2006 based on the anime version of the series.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Adaptations 3.1 Manga 3.2 Light novel 3.3 Anime 3.4 Audio CDs 3.5 Video game 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Plot

Kashimashi revolves around the lives of a group of friends in high school and how they cope with the dramatic change of their friend, Hazumu Osaragi, the main character. One day after school, Hazumu declares his love to Yasuna Kamiizumi, one of his classmates, but is summarily rejected much to his dismay. In a heart broken state, he climbs Mt. Kashima (鹿縞山, Kashimasan^?) to find peace among his beloved plants and think on what to do next. Little does he know that his excursion up the trail will lead to a number of changes, the most major of which being his physical sex, which takes place after his accidental and somewhat tragic first contact with a UFO. Afterwards, the plot often revolves around whether Hazumu's new female body changes or doesn't change her relationships with her friends and loved ones.

Throughout the manga and anime, a love triangle emerges between Hazumu, Yasuna and Tomari. This usually consists of the characters unsure whether to act on their feelings due to them being the same sex or otherwise Hazumu's two close friends fight for her affection while she is still unable to choose between them. The drama that ensues between the three is often quite melodramatic.

[edit] Characters

Hazumu Osaragi (大佛はずむ, Osaragi Hazumu^?, Seiyū - Kana Ueda)

The story begins with Hazumu, the main character, as a boy, who always seemed to have a crush on his friend and classmate Yasuna Kamiizumi ever since he first met her. He was not very masculine in either his appearance or his actions, and so as a child he would get teased for being so feminine. In addition, several flashbacks have been featured in both the manga and anime featuring Hazumu dressed like a girl at a young age. Whether he wanted to do this of his own accord or his mother just dressed him up is never specified but regardless he didn't seem to be bothered by it; indeed he was shown to enjoy it.

Once in high school, he confesses his love to Yasuna one day, but is rejected. Afterwards, he climbs the nearby Mt. Kashima to clear his feelings. He is fatally injured by an alien spacecraft crash-landing on the mountain. In an attempt to rectify the accident, the alien pilot revives Hazumu but inadvertently changes his physical sex in the process.

After the change and initial shock of those who know Hazumu, it is shown that she has a personality that is very effusive, expressive and quite sensitive which makes her fit well as a Japanese girl. Hazumu ends up becoming more feminine as time goes on, which is shown through her actions, mannerisms and personality. One exception to this, however, is that she never got over referring to herself using the term boku (僕, boku^?), meaning "I", which is usually only used by males in Japan.

Hazumu, as an amateur floriculturist, loves plants (more specificially flowers), and is very knowledgable about them. She is in the Gardening Club, and takes care of a large number of plants around the school campus with the other members though is seen doing most of the work throughout the series.

When the manga and anime versions of Hazumu's character are compared, it's shown that Hazumu in the anime is much more subdued and reserved when confronted with danger, which makes her depend more on the help of others. In the manga, she's much more of a stronger female character and doesn't get scared at talking back with a smart retort.

Yasuna Kamiizumi (神泉やす菜, Kamiizumi Yasuna^?, Seiyū - Yui Horie)

Yasuna tends to be a quiet and often lonely girl compared to the rest of her friends. Since her parents are rarely around due to being overworked, she seems to depend on her close friends for love and support, especially when it comes to Hazumu, who unfortunately doesn't tend to show her the type of affection Yasuna desires from her. Yasuna and Hazumu first met as classmates, though they rarely ever talked with each other, which means that Hazumu was simply admiring Yasuna from afar.

One day when on Mt. Kashima sometime before the main story began, Yasuna found that they shared an interest in gardening. It was also at this point where she pointed out how feminine Hazumu appeared, which is also the main reason she could see most of his figure minus his face, which as a male was always shown with his hair covering it. As fate would have it, Yasuna rejected Hazumu's first confession of love for her as a boy, but later after his transformation into a girl, ironically she confesses her love to Hazumu.

Her awkward personality and antisocial tendencies towards males in general is due to Yasuna displaying symptoms of androphobia. Astonishingly, she sees all men, minus Hazumu, as covered in a grey blur. This is mainly why she finds it easier to love Hazumu after he becomes a girl, showing much more blatant interest in Hazumu after the change.

She is in the Music Club and plays the flute. Incidentally, the music room where she practiced playing was positioned near a rooftop of the school where Hazumu would maintain a large garden.

Tomari Kurusu (来栖とまり, Kurusu Tomari^?, Seiyū - Yukari Tamura)

Tomari is Hazumu's childhood friend who has been with Hazumu for a long time, and most importantly protected him often from bullies. In direct contrast to Hazumu, her most obvious quality is that she is a tomboy which is shown through her actions and lack of interest in traditionally feminine things such as clothing or shopping. Indeed, Tomari's friends of both genders consider her very masculine which often causes Tomari to get angry at such comments. Additionally, she is a member of the Track and Field Club and enjoys physical activities.

Before Hazumu's change, she shows some latent interest in Hazumu and is at first just as shocked as everyone else when he is transformed into a girl. Tomari has always put a lot of effort into supporting Hazumu and defending him whenever he is in despair. Though Hazumu has always been grateful for Tomari's support, at times Tomari later seems to be jealous that Hazumu hangs around with Yasuna a lot more after Hazumu's sex change. Eventually, Tomari seems to develop romantic feelings of her own for the new Hazumu.

Ayuki Mari (摩利あゆき, Mari Ayuki^?, Seiyū - Masumi Asano)

Ayuki is Tomari's best female friend, who, much like Yasuna, is quiet and reserved, though seems to be more social than Yasuna. Indeed, she serves to act as the voice of reason between the interactions of the other characters. Additionally, Ayuki seems to have an interest in observing the people around her and she enjoys learning about the sciences, though most specificially, biological sciences.

It is suggested indirectly that Ayuki is also interested in Hazumu, and later in the anime, she also seems to be interested in Tomari. However, she says that she prefers not to get involved with the developing love triangle and simply observes from the sidelines. Near the end of the anime adaptation and into the OVA she resolves Hazumu's problem with decisions.

Asuta Soro (曽呂明日太, Soro Asuta^?, Seiyū - Daisuke Ono)

Asuta is Hazumu's best male buddy before and after the UFO crash, though his opinion of Hazumu changes somewhat due to his taking interest in Hazumu's new female form and feminine personality. Asuta is a good deal more manly than Hazumu ever was, and was trying to find Hazumu to give him some adult magazines (which Hazumu hates) on the night of the Mt. Kashima incident as an attempt to try to console him for getting turned down by Yasuna.

Asuta has found himself more and more attracted to Hazumu after the transformation, leaving Hazumu completely oblivious of this fact. Eventually, Asuta resolves to simply being Hazumu's best male friend and sees that her main interest is indeed with Yasuna.

Namiko Tsuki (月並子, Tsuki Namiko^?, Seiyū - Yuko Mizutani)

She is the homeroom teacher of Hazumu's class who has an excessively cute style shown through her loud expressions of love towards Hitoshi Sora or her passion for protecting her students in her class. Also, she is extremely clumsy which gives rise to her being the butt of many jokes. She unusually can sense Hitoshi when he is invisible, though this may have something to do with her love for him.

Hitoshi Sora (宇宙仁, Sora Hitoshi^?, Seiyū - Keiji Fujiwara)

Hitoshi Sora is a cultural anthropologist and space alien. His research brought him to visit Earth, and he is currently in disguise as the biology teacher at Hazumu's high school. His unfamiliarity with human ways provides the series with an outside perspective on love - the focus of Sora's research. Additionally, his views on other subjects, such as friendly competition or war, provide a somewhat existentialist point of view. The alien's research, explained in the manga, is of great importance to the survival of his species as he fears that if his currently rather unemotional people do not rediscover passions like love, they may all eventually die out.

Jan Pū (ジャン・プウ, Jan Pū^? Seiyū - Ryoko Shintani)

Jan Pū is an artificial intelligence employed by Hitoshi Sora as the automatic pilot of his spaceship. Though Jan Pū is very enthusiastic about new people, she seems to have few social skills and often acts like a human child. Her human body is modeled after Hazumu's female body, whom she addresses as onee-nii-sama (お姉兄さま, onee-nii-sama^? literally meaning "older sister-brother").

Hazumu's parents

They both seem overjoyed to have a daughter in place of a son, which is shown through their eccentricities.

Tōru Osaragi (大佛徹, Osaragi Tōru^?, Seiyū - Makoto Yasumura)

He is Hazumu's father, who loves taking pictures of Hazumu. This often consists of him trying to get Hazumu in provocative poses and expressions which leads his wife to wrestle him down to the ground. Additionally, he repeatadly attempts to take a bath with his daughter but is always stopped. He works as a magazine photographer.

Kahoru Osaragi (大佛かほる, Osaragi Kaoru^?, Seiyū - Yuko Nagashima)

She is Hazumu's mother, who loves to buy new feminine clothes for Hazumu to wear. Usually she buys these clothes without consulting Hazumu herself and regardless Hazumu ends up wearing them, though Hazumu doesn't put up any resistance to her new and ever increasing wardrobe.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] Manga

The Kashimashi manga started its run on May 21, 2004 and was serialized in the manga magazine Dengeki Comic Daioh with a new chapter monthly. So far four tankōbon have been released in Japan. The anime follows close to the manga storyline for the first nine episodes. In episode ten, it starts to deviate from the manga and after that, the storyline in the anime has no connection with the manga.

The manga has since been licensed by the American based company Seven Seas Entertainment with the first volume released December 25, 2006 using the Revised Hepburn romanization of the title, using the name Kashimashi unlike the traditional name of Kasimasi.^[1] The first volume was named as Newtype USA's Book of the Month for December 2006, and the review noted Seven Seas Entertainment's "fan-focused" translation, which retained the honorifics and much of the Japanese wordplay without efforts to localize the humor for the mainstream American market.^[2]

[edit] Light novel

A Kashimashi light novel, written by Mako Komao and illustrated by the same person as with the manga, was published by MediaWorks under their Dengeki Bunko label in January 2006.

[edit] Anime

The anime series of Kashimashi, which was aired on TV Tokyo in Japan from January 11, 2006 to March 29, 2006, ended with twelve regular episodes, with an OVA that was released with the final DVD in Japan on October 27, 2006. For more information, see a listing of Kashimashi episodes. There is a fair amount of mild fan service in the series, but never to the point to be considered hentai. A cut in the bra shopping scene in episode two was censored out of the TV run, but the DVD contains the uncut version.

The anime series has since been licensed by Media Blasters as of October 2006.^[3]

[edit] Audio CDs

Main article: List of Kashimashi albums

Kashimashi video game cover.

The opening theme for the anime "Koisuru Kokoro" by eufonius was released the same day as the main ending theme "Michishirube" by Yuumao on January 25, 2006 in Japan by Lantis. The anime had actually five different versions of the ending theme sung by the four of the voice actors. Masumi Asano as Ayuki Mari sung the song for the ending theme in episode eight, and the next episode Kana Ueda as Hazumu Osaragi sung the song. Episode ten's ending theme featured Yui Horie as Yasuna Kamiizumi singing the song and in episode eleven it was Yukari Tamura as Tomari Kurusu. Additionally, the opening theme "Koisuru Kokoro" was used as the ending for the first episode while the song "Kimi no Tame ni Dekiru Koto" (キミのためにできること, lit. Something I Can Do For You^?) by Yuumao was used as the ending theme in the final twelfth episode. There were three insert songs in the anime as well. In episode seven, the song "Hanaemi to Kasumisou" sung by Kana Ueda was used while in episode nine, the song "Compass ~Egao no Yukue~" sung by Kana Ueda, Yui Horie and Yukari Tamura was used; these two songs were from the Compass ~Egao no Yukue~ image song album released on December 21, 2005. The last insert song, "Hanbun" (半分, "Hanbun"^? lit. The Half) sung by Yukari Tamura was used in the twelfth episode.

A second image song album entitled Norte Amour went on sale in Japan on April 5, 2006 featuring songs by Kana Ueda, Yui Horie, Yukari Tamura and Masumi Asano. The Kashimashi original soundtrack for the anime version was released on April 26, 2006 by Lantis. Finally, a drama CD based on the anime version was released on May 18, 2006 featuring the voice actors from the anime.

[edit] Video game

The visual novel video game called Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ The First Summer Story (かしまし ～ガール・ミーツ・ガール～ 初めての夏物語, Kasimasi ~Gāru Mītsu Gāru~ Hajimete no natsu monogatari^?)　was first released on March 30, 2006 in Japan with the tagline: But I'm already a girl so... (だって僕もう女の子だから。。。, Datte boku mō onna no ko dakara...^?). The game was released in two editions: limited and regular which were released on the same day. The limited edition retailed for 9,240 yen (~$76.53) while the regular edtion retailed for 7,140 yen (~$59.14); both prices are after tax.^[4] The game was later re-released in a Best Collection edition on November 16, 2006, retailing for 2,940 yen (~$24.36) after tax.^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Japanese) Official website
• (Japanese) Tv Tokyo's Kashimashi website
• (Japanese) Offical PS2 game website
• Seven Seas Entertainment's Kashimashi page
• Kasimasi ~Girl Meets Girl~ at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia