Megane Na Kanojo

It’s not that I have any fetish for 2D bespectacled girls that made me watch Megane Na Kanojo. I just thought it would be nice to watch short independent OVAs and it would be a good break from watching long running animes or those typical 12-13 episodes seasonal animes. Based on the manga of the same name, the 4 short OVAs of approximately 15 minutes each do not have anything in common except each episode shows the normal lives of 4 teenage girls and how they deal with certain issues like love. The only other thing that they all have in common is of course, they all wear spectacles.

Episode 1
Junichi Kamiya narrates how he joined the Literature Club because the senior girl whom he has a crush on, Kana Asou is also in that said club. However he has something that he dislikes most: Spectacles. Too bad Kana wears them. Oh, those fleeting feelings of her wearing them and taking them off. As Kamiya chats with Kana, he tries all sorts of ‘persuasion’ to make Kana take off her glasses but I guess it has become a reflex to her even if he looked silly going over and standing atop the table just to take them off. So he tells her straight to take them off. Her answer: No way! She even shows him a statistical pie chart the good points of wearing glasses. While Kana’s reason of wearing glasses was to follow the teacher she admired of not wearing contacts, Kamiya’s trauma of them began because of some mad scientist teacher. Bad memories I’d say.

Kana thinks Kamiya’s persistence is because he is stalking her. So he mentions how attractive she looks without them. This has Kana to remember how she got that staring feeling during pool class and knew it was him and was ‘kind’ enough not to tell on him. As they both walk home, Kana spots the time from afar but Kamiya couldn’t see it. This has Kana to test him and concludes that he should get his eyes checked instead of focusing on her specs. Two weeks later, Kamiya is supposedly to have his glasses so Kana bugs him to put it on. She becomes so persistent that during the struggle to take it out of his bag, his specs fell out. She apologizes but it isn’t damage. Kamiya reluctantly puts it on and no matter how much he hates it, he admits that it made his blurry visions clearer. And ironically for the first time, he gets to see Kana’s pretty face clearly. She teases him and thinks now that they match each other. Kamiya suddenly felt this giddiness and hopes it’s because of his new glasses.

Episode 2
Aya Ichinohe is currently the most popular idol. Of course anyone who has reached that status would like to seek their own privacy and it’s no surprise that the only way she is going to go out in public without being easily spotted is to have minimal makeup, wear a beret and spectacles. Like that will work. Okay, it did. As she sips her coffee at her favourite cafe, enjoying every bit of her private time alone, the waiter, Takashi Miyaguchi comes up to her nervously trying to ask her out. From the looks of it, Aya knows that he doesn’t know she is the popular idol. Thinking how this development is as exciting as Audrey Hepburn’s Roman Holiday film, she decides to go out with him under the name of Shizuka Kimura in hopes to see his surprise face when he learns of her true identity. As the duo spend time together, it seems Takashi isn’t getting a clue who Aya is. Not even when the commercial of her pops up on the TV screen behind, he thought she just resembled closely to her! And she’s really starting to think that he is just more than slow. Though risky, she decides to give him a little hint. She took off her beret and well? He completely misses it. Now this is getting irritating.

She brings him to the karaoke box and sings one of her favourite songs. But that dimwit thinks she sounds just like her! Really, really annoying now. They continue singing as Aya felt how much fun she was having. At the end of the day before they part, Aya thinks it is perhaps a blessing that he didn’t realize who she is as Takashi asks her if she would like to go out with him again. Aya’s thoughts on how their status differ like the characters in Roman Holiday and could never be together. That’s when she takes off her glasses and admits she is a celebrity. However Takashi’s density has reached great heights because he still couldn’t recognize her and wonders if she appears on TV and such. It must be heartbreaking for a top idol not to be recognized. Hey, it’s a good thing if you ask me because you don’t want a boyfriend who is dating you just for your popularity, fame and money, right? So take his offer for another date next Friday, girl. Aya resumes her concert as she narrates that capable women are able to separate their love life from their work. As for her, she’ll find her own way.

Episode 3
University students, Mitsuki Kimura and Tooru Tanaka are dating but Mitsuki wonders if her love is one-sided. Things she tried to do like holding his hands or feed him seems to make her embarrassed due to circumstances. During a lecture, Tooru became sleepy and decides to take a nap (don’t worry, they weren’t in the front seats). Mitsuki will cover for him. She notices his glasses and decides to wear them as she wonder if she’ll see the world through his eyes and understand his thoughts. She gets groggy after a while and blackout. Tooru is rushing for his next class so he unknowingly takes Mitsuki’s glasses. When Mitsuki wakes up, she realizes she is all alone and her specs gone. Later Tooru SMS her to apologize that he took her glasses by mistake but Mitsuki decides to give him back tomorrow rather than the end of the fourth period because she feels that having his glasses is as though he’s right beside her and wants to wear his glasses as part of her selfish desire a little longer.

Mitsuki brings the glasses home and notices the dirt and fingerprint marks all over it. She remembers show her friend Maki was appalled that they weren’t doing stuff that lovers are doing though they have been dating for quite some time. She wants her to stop being shy. Because she is too deep in her thoughts, Mitsuki accidentally breaks the nose pads of Tooru’s glasses. She starts panicking and the next day as she waits for him to return the glasses, her mind is filled with thoughts that he might hate her for breaking his specs. When he arrives, both simultaneously apologize to each other. Seems Tooru’s carelessness has got him to break Mitsuki’s spectacle nose pads as well. She also showed him his broken one and they both give out a burst of laughter. As they put back their rightful glasses on each other, Mitsuki notes that though she wasn’t able to understand his thoughts by wearing his glasses, their feelings are similar and is less anxious than yesterday.

Episode 4
Tatsuya Takatsuka remembers how Chiaki Kuramoto, a shy girl transferred to his class during junior high. He teased her a lot (like how her glasses fog up when she’s embarrassed or nervous) but she retaliates in her own way and you could say that’s how their love-hate relationship as childhood friends was formed. Their ‘normal’ lives went on like this till they entered high school. Chiaki seems to have turned cold, avoiding Tatsuya and is no longer that shy girl he once knew. He wonders if she is just single him out since she treats the other boys normally and her extreme change in attitude. During recess, he manages to get a seat next to her and talks about the good ol’ days like being nervous in front of others. However Chiaki says she doesn’t remember of such things, quickly finishes up her meal and leaves.

Later during PE class, it hit Tatsuya that his teasing during junior high may be the cause of it. He goes to apologize but Chiaki insists that she worked hard not to fumble in front of others and overcome such fears and thus the reason why she decided not to remember the past again. This made Tatsuya mad because he took it she didn’t want to remember unpleasant times with him therefore making their relationship pointless. Tatsuya’s pals tease him for being rejected but they back down when they can tell he is in no mood for jokes. He is shocked about this and I know he did have fun teasing her but maybe if you could just see it from her shoes, the torment she had to go through? Tatsuya confronts Chiaki after school. He wants to ascertain the times that they spent together, what they mean to her. He grabs her hand as she suddenly blushes, fogging her specs. They stood there in the snow as Tatsuya realizes her warm skin and fogged glasses filled his heart mysteriously and those questions simply disappeared like the snow. Well, my guess is that Chiaki is being tsundere.

Heart of Glasses…
Okay, it was quite nice since the stories are soft, short and sweet. I personally like Aya’s story because it was the funniest one. It’s like she got more than she bargained for. She thought that being a popular idol means everybody could recognize her easily and thinks she could get some kicks on playing a little prank on honest but dense Takashi but in the end it just backfired. Chiaki’s story is a little mystery to me because I would really like to know the reason why she changed especially towards Tatsuya. But I’m sure glasses weren’t the reason. For Mitsuki’s case, it isn’t just about trying to understand one’s thoughts from the viewpoints of the other but rather understanding their hearts as well. Once you’ve understood that, you don’t need any sight or vision to feel the same. Finally for Kamiya and Kana’s tale, now that he has seen the true face of his crush, I hope he will get over his trauma and hate for spectacles and continue wearing them. I wonder if there is a phobia term of fear of glasses.

I myself wear glasses too but my vision is that bad that I need them to read or see distant objects in full detail. As there are many perceptions or views when one wears glasses. For instance it makes you look smart or mature but that depends on the person as well. For the otaku culture, some may find it part of a moe point. But would a girl find a chubby otaku with glasses attractive? More like the other way round. There is something about glasses that makes them plain and simple but yet so mystifying. Take for instance Superman’s case. Nobody could tell the difference that he and Clark Kent are the same person since it is just a pair of glasses that separates their identities. Oh I forgot, must be the red underwear he wears outside too.