The Wallflower Complete Box DVD Review

The Wallflower

The WallFlower
Director- Shinichi Watanabe
DVD Release- Funimations
Episodes- 25
Original Broadcast: October 3, 2006 to March 27, 2007
Original Creator: Tomoko Hayakawa (Manga)

Most of my anime collection consists of locating programs I watched as a kid from the 1960’s though the 1980’s or recent landmark anime films or TV series. The downside of this is that I am hardly exposed to different types of anime outside that circle. When the opportunity arose to review a recent Funimation’s DVD anime release I jumped at the opportunity, the best part being I was not familiar with any of the titles.

With a careful overview of each title one stood out of the others. Perhaps it was the unique art design or the heartfelt story narrative; The Wallflower won me over the other programs.

Taken from the original manga The Wallflower (ヤマトナデシコ七変化) by artist Tomoko Hayakawa and directed by Shinichi Watanabe. Funmation’s release of The Wallflower is a thin 2-case 4-disc DVD slipcase set. No liner notes are included. Special features include an English Dub, the original Japanese program dub, English subtitles and clean closing and opening titles for the three styles of credits used throughout the series.

I never get upset on a dub but I was not particularly happy with a couple of the dubbing voices, which were a little annoying and I opted to watch it in Japanese. Actually I prefer to watch programs in English with the translated English subtitles selected so I can see if there are any differences with the dub and translation but still enjoy it in English. This set does not have that feature. I do like the fact that you get the entire series in one box and you do not have to go hunting down discs to get the entire series.

The Wallflower is the classic Pygmalion story that you might be familiar with in George Bernard Shaw play or the George Cukor film My Fair Lady but with its own unique twist. Sunako Nakahara is heartbroken when a boy she loves tells her she is ugly after she confesses her love to him. Rejected she withdraws to herself and shuns all things beautiful or as she says “creatures of the light”. She starts collecting horror films, macabre medical jars full of dead animals, and dressing in black. Her closest “friends” are three full sized antimony medical mannequin dolls that she interacts with named Akira, Josephine and Hiroshi. In fact Akira humorously narrates the introduction of each program.

Sunako’s rich Auntie is later entrusted with making the withdrawn Sunako into a proper lady and gives the four male high school students that are boarding at her mansion the assignment to turn her into lady. The conflict is that the four high school students are the most beautiful boys in high school and city where they reside. Where ever they go girls, and even some men, get smitten with them. Even Sunako can not bear to be around “The Creatures of The Light” as she bleeds profusely out of her nose and faints. The four High School students are not only insanely rich but they are also very selfish and very self absorbed and only take the assignment when the Aunt threatens them to have to pay rent if they do not turn her into lady by a certain deadline.

The four students have their own back stories. Kyouhei is blonde and the leader and “most beautiful” of the group. The bulk of the program is the interaction, conflict and budding romance between Kyouhei and Sunako. Takenga has black hair and is the most introspective of the four, and the only one who seems to have a girlfriend in the form of a fellow High School student named Noi who happens to be the only female that talks with Sunako and accepts her for who she is. Ranmaru is the ladies man who is obsessed with chasing women. Yuki is the youngest and most androgynous of the group and although many girls like him he just wants to be a kid and be accepted by the other three.

The Wallflower is a study in Juxtaposition in its animation and art design style. Many of the characters morph throughout the cartoon from a highly stylized Tomoko Hayakawa manga art to cute, super deformed chibi art, sometimes all in one scene. The “beautiful” art design of the High School Students reminds me of yaoi art with some definite homoerotic overtones especially with Yuki who looks like he has a female head on a male body. It really plays off as a satire to yaoi and has fun with the genre throughout the series.

Gothic style is represented through Sunako’s art design with lots of black shadows and creepy harpsichord music when she is presented. About 80% of The Wallflower Sunako is in her chibi form but when she transforms into her human form she is a striking purple eyed, young lady with black hair with a Betty Page style fringe. Actually she is one of the most iconic anime character designs I have seen in a long time. Reoccurring characters include the comic relief Goth-Loli sisters who also have a definite gothic overtone. Finally the high school scenes are represented in the typical large eyed anime style.

Throw those three styles together and you have the madness that is The Wallflower. Each genre has its own rules that the director expertly weaves and satires. Not only is the Wallflower a struggle between characters but a struggle between anime and genre styles. This is was makes this program so smart and very different from the other large eyed high schools anime flooding the market over the years.

The humor is quick and quirky and you have to pay attention to the interaction and the nuance of each character to get the in-jokes at times. Every episode has at least one moment that made me laugh out loud nonstop. One reoccurring sequence that appear when you least suspect it in each episode is the “Road To Womanhood” PSA that teaches Sunako how to be a woman with often very funny results.

What is most important about The Wallflower, and what I placed my bets on, is although it is a comedy it does have some very deep and moving melodrama throughout it, which starts around episode 9 but prevalent in the last few episodes. The program begins exploring the many characters struggles with being young and all the heartache that is involved at that formable age. In one of the most beautifully directed scenes, an ex-girlfriend of Ranmaru calls Sunako “ugly.” The boys put aside their differences and stick up for her informing the ex that she not only crossed the line with the introverted Sunako but with their group as well.

Do the boys ever succeed in turning Sunako into a lady? You will have to pickup Funmation’s DVD release of The Wallflower to find out. If you appreciate gothic style you will love The Wallflower and all its inside jokes about the genre and subculture. Not only was The Wallflower exceptionally funny but the melodrama and honesty of the characters have stuck with me and I still think about the program often. Funimation’s did an excellent job getting this TV series to the USA market and I highly suggest the series to somebody who wants something a little different from the average anime high school comedy.

©2009 Article Leonardo Flores.

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