The Show:
Weather Report Girl started out as a manga series written and
illustrated by Tetsu Adachi. A two part OVA series was released in
1994, but the series really gained cult status with the 1996 live action
movie, Weather Woman, staring Kei Mizutani. Having enjoyed
the Mizutani film for years, I was eager to see the animated version.
Unfortunately, the earlier version isn't nearly as wild and outrageous
as the live action film, but it still has it's moments.
Keiko Nakadai gets her chance at stardom when she's picked to go on
a local news show in place of the regular anchor, Michiko Kawaii.
Sure, it's only for one night, and she doesn't get to do anything but the
weather report, but for Keiko, that's all the chance that she needs.
While wrapping up the weather report, Keiko flashes her panties and the
ratings soar. With such a positive reaction, Keiko gets the evening
weather report, while poor Michiko gets pushed to the 6 am news.
Michiko is going to take this laying down though, and she sets her sites
on taking down the new upstart. Has she bitten off more than she
can chew?
In the second episode, Keiko's riding on top until Kaori Shimamori shows
up. Having spent the last few years studying in France, Kaori wants
to add a bit of class to the station, starting with the cancellation of
the Keiko's show.
When Kaori's news show gets swamped with calls of support, Keiko starts
getting worried. She fights back of course, and it's a cat-fight
of epic proportions as the two try their best to outwit each other.
This was a fun show, but not nearly as twisted and bizarre as the live
action movie. The level of humor just isn't as high, which was a
little disappointing. This isn't a clone of the movie though, there
are a lot of differences. Some of the plot points are the same, but
the ending is very different, and they include some nice gags that weren't
in the Mizutani film.
The highlight of this anime are the amusing and cruel tricks that the
characters play on each other. There were some delightfully evil
gags that worked well. I liked the way the fight with Michiko ended,
as well as her final fate.
Make no mistake, this isn't a show for kids though. There is some
sex and nudity in these programs, especially in the second episode, but
they never show anything below the waist. It's more of a comedy than
a hentai feature, with just some lesbian fooling around.
The DVD:
Audio:
The DVD comes with a choice of the original Japanese audio track or
an English dub, both in stereo. Both tracks sound very good with
no distortion or background noise. There's a good amount of range,
and the dialog is clean and clear. A nice sounding disc.
Video:
The full frame video looked pretty good with only a few defects.
The colors were bright and full, and the image was sharp. There were
a spot or two on the print that was used for this transfer, and some minor
aliasing was visible, but these weren't major problems.
Extras:
The only extra included on this disc is an art gallery of images.
Final Thoughts:
A fun show that doesn't quite live up to the live action feature.
Even so, it's worth checking out. Some of the tricks that are played
are hilariously cruel, and the light sex action works well in the context
of the show. It's nice to see a hentai anime where they actually
try to work on the story and humor instead of just stringing together a
lot of fetish scenes. While this won't be everyone's cup of tea,
if you have a keen sense of the bizarre, check this out. Recommended.
Buy: