Friday 23 May 2008

Special A - Episode 5

After watching yet another episode of Special A, the only word which springs to mind to describe it is 'okay'. It certainly isn't terrible, but than again it's not all that great either, leaving this plainest of words as the most fitting.

After threatening to dissolve into yet another rather daft contest between Hikari and Kei over a school party/festival, this episode does at least shy away from covering that rather well trodden ground of rivalry between the pair, and instead takes a somewhat sweeter approach. Once again Kei's rather neglected childhood stands out as the reason for any disagreements and his determination to organise everything alone, and I suppose I did find myself warming to this theme somewhat as someone who is often myself assumed to prefer doing things on my own when I would in fact much rather share them with someone else I care about to add to the enjoyment. It's rather ironic therefore that despite this being the theme of the episode, Kei seems to complete absolve Hikari of any part of organising the eventual party - Sure, he all but organises it specifially for her, but that still rather blows a hole in one of the supposedly more touching points of the episode.

Besides that, episode five does hold some fun moments (the use of a blimp to deliver various sweets being a bit of a highlight), but otherwise never does too much to raise a tear, a smile or a laugh - In all honesty, it just seems too straight-laced and stuffy to do that, rather like the main characters of Special A and their upper class position, you could argue. Perhaps at the end of the day my apathy towards this show is just a little class envy or something, but despite having warmed to both of the main characters I still don't feel like I can invest all that much heart in their relationship, and as per Itazura no Kiss the leading duo's roles are occasionally all but ruined by some irritating supporting characters. Hence my overall feeling about this series that Special A should perhaps be renamed Special OK.

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