Kobayashi Ga Kawai Sugite Tsurai

Here is another short shoujo anime that I coincidentally stumbled upon. What is with me and such genres these days? Despite Kobayashi Ga Kawai Sugite Tsurai is only 2 OVAs long and worth 16 minutes each, it is bundled with the limited edition of the manga volume. Sounds like a marketing and promotion ploy to me. But I thought the storyline is fairly interesting although it might not be original. Twin brother and sister, Mitsuru and Megumu Kobayashi are attending separate single-sex high schools. One day, they decided to exchange places without knowing what fate had waiting for them. Cross-dressing, love triangles, romance and confusion. Ah, such familiar ingredients for the shoujo genre.

OVA 1
Megumu and Aoi Sanada are too close to each other. The former wants to be by his side and confesses she loves him. And then they kiss. Aoi pinches her cheeks and calls her a fool for getting hurt like that. Then the kissing continues… Change of scene. The school’s queen, Azusa Tokugawa is stuck in a hole! What the hell?! 2 hours ago, she saw Megumu and Shino together. She got jealous thinking they’re close enough to be in love with each other. As such, she starts digging a hole as a trap to make them fall in. However she dug too deep that she herself cannot get out! It starts raining and everyone has gone home. Will she be stuck here for the rest of the night? Thank her lucky stars somebody has passed by. Too bad it is Megumu. She forgot something and turned back. Seeing Azusa’s predicament, she jokes that she might have dug a hole as a trap. See Azusa’s mad face? Spot on. Megumu helps her out since it would be in bad taste if she leaves her down there. Azusa could feel her warmth and such strong arms she has despite putting on her tsundere attitude. As she struggles to climb out, they fall back into the hole. But Megumu’s wig fell off. OMG… Megumu is a boy???!!! Or is that her twin brother, Mitsuru?

Meanwhile the real Megumu is in Aoi’s house as she gets treated for her injury. She wonders if that kiss meant anything or was he just licking the blood of her lips. Aoi actually thinks Megumu is a guy and is pondering why the heck he kissed ‘him’. Don’t know. His body felt so natural and moved on its own. Each time he looks at Megumu, he can’t help fawn over ‘his’ cuteness. Does it mean he likes boys? His inner consciousness starts fighting among themselves over this argument. He is thinking too much that he breaks the cup’s handle. Seeing Megumu’s cute face again, he can’t resist it and hugs Megumu. He wants to stay this way a little longer in hopes he could understand how he feels. The longer they hug, the harder their heart beats that they can’t breathe. Finally they pull apart. Aoi comes clean. It is not like he is into guys but whenever he is around ‘him’, he gets emotional and his heart pounds faster. Megumu wanted to say something important too but she sneezes. What a way to ruin it. Megumu is forced to take a shower and she must do it fast and get back to looking like a guy. Otherwise her real identity will be revealed. As she ponders of Aoi’s words and how happy she heard him say that, Aoi comes in to give a towel. And she was just pondering what she will do if she is found out. Yup. Now is the chance. Because that shock look on Aoi’s face just indicates he realized Megumu is a girl. That same panicky expression with Azusa for Mitsuru.

OVA 2
A black cat, Shigezane is totally in love with Mego, Megumu’s affectionate name that he calls since she takes care of him. However she is in love with Aoi. Shigezane likes this guy once but now he is his rival. Today they are meeting up so the cat is going to put a stop to their plans! He bumps into Aoi’s head and the next thing we know, they swap bodies! Yeah. Perfect chance for Shigezane to go on a date with Megumu. Megumu is pretty excited to see Aoi and especially the different way he talks. Meow? But she finds it odd. Walking through small holes and on walls? Besides, Aoi who was never good with girls will get a seizure when touched and now he is alright. Meanwhile Aoi wakes up in a cat’s body and realizes something amiss. That bump must have caused them to switch bodies. Because Megumu is not at the meeting place, he fears the worst. Mind boggling fact: How the heck is Aoi wearing an eye-patch seeing his original body also wears one? Anyway Mitsuru is on his way to sneak into a supplementary class when he sees the cat. It’s hard for Aoi to communicate so he uses sign language. Oddly, Mitsuru could understand and although he brushes it off at first, he realizes this cat is Aoi. No, you’re not dreaming. Meanwhile Megumu and Shigezane are at the park. He lies on her lap and has her touch his face a lot. A lot. So much so she is bleeding a fountain of nose bleeds. Seriously. She’s loving it. He’s loving it. What a happy world. Shigezane gets poetic. He says he only once likes cats but after meeting her, he realized she is the only one and will never make her cry. That’s why right now he wants to make babies. SAY WHAT???!!! It took Megumu long enough to understand after all that echoing of ‘making babies…’.

Since Aoi has no idea where Megumu is, Mitsuru texts her. I don’t know how she can reply that she is in the park and ‘Aoi’ is forcing her to make babies with him in such a short time. Because this ‘Aoi’ is on top of her! Getting ready to… But in the nick of them, Aoi charges in and their heads bump into each other. Safe to say, they return to their original bodies. Aoi apologizes he wasn’t himself. Mitsuru realizes he is late for supplementary classes and rushes off with Shigezane. Megumu learns about the body swapping and believes him because of his funny act and besides, he would never lie to her. Of course she had to deny that they went that far in making babies. She thinks it would be nice if they could hold each other close like that again in the future. Megumu says she loves him and Aoi says the same reply. They start feeling embarrassed over what they said. In the aftermath, Aoi holds Shigezane and ‘speaks’ to it. When they swapped bodies, he could read what was on his mind. He knows he treasures her a lot. Aoi won’t give up Megumu to anyone. Shigezane admits his defeat and says Megumu is all his for now. Aoi talks like a cat and Megumu wonders if they switch bodies again. Just kidding. Phew. That scared her for a little while.

So Cute That It’s Funny?
It feels that the OVAs were like prologues and serve as an introductory to the manga series. The episodes are standalones and feel like fun side stories. Even if you do not read the manga, these episodes may give you a good idea on what the series is all about. So those who are interested by what they saw may just be interested in checking out the manga itself. Judging by the looks of it, it is hard to say whether it will get a proper TV anime adaptation in the future or just like many shows that follow this pattern, they just fade into obscurity (example: Suki Desu Suzuki-kun).

As far as this little series is concern, I guess it was rather okay in my books seeing the first episode deals with the cross-dressing ways, the building up of their romance and how they are eventually discovered. While the second focuses more on the relationship between Megumu and Aoi but the damn cat stole the spot. I know it feels really weird to have a cat falling in love with a human being but I guess this is being unique since how far can you stretch the plot and drama after so many shoujo series around? So having a cat and body swapping may seem odd for a shoujo genre but I think it gives a little refreshing pace in this genre.

Something strikes me when I learn that Daisuke Ono was the voice of Aoi and Ayumi Fujiwara voicing the twins. They voiced the leading characters in Kaze No Stigma. There was this thought of mine that they might burst into those characters since Aoi was almost (but not) similar to Kazama although Megumi wasn’t a bit tsundere like Ayano. The drawing and art are okay too, pretty much in line with the shoujo standards. Yeah. Cute. Their chibi form makes it look funny (in a good comical way), though.

Because this is such a short anime, the character development isn’t there although both OVAs concentrate heavy on Megumu and Aoi. Especially with Megumu who is so heavily in love with Aoi that it’s so… Annoying? But that is what makes her cute, no? My guess is that there should be more interesting characters and the plot when their cross-dressing secret is revealed to some. So if they adapt this into a TV series, I would love to take a look at it. A question to ponder: If you’re cross-dressing as an opposite gender but fall in love with a person who is totally opposite your real gender, would that make your relationship yaoi or yuri? Likewise, would it be yaoi or yuri it was the same gender? Argh! It’s so confusing…