It has been almost 2 years since I made a post about Manga & Anime Talk 1, and the time has come I think, for me to make the second entry for this topic. I know it took a while, but to tell you the truth, there were literally hundreds of anime & manga out there that had become my favourites, and thus, making the selection process a lot harder and harder for me. I had thought long and hard for what this second entry is going to be (which explained why it took 2 years, haha) and at long last, the final decision had been made.So, here it's - the second Manga & Anime Talk is going to be about one of my top anime favorites; A Cheeky Angel or 'Tenshi na Konamaiki'.
About A Cheeky Angel:
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| Meet Megumi Amatsuka, a confused 15 year old girl (boy) |
A Cheeky Angel is basically a story about 15 year old schoolgirl named Megumi Amatsuka, a popular and energetic tomboyish who always seems to get into fight and have a terrible secret. This secret were only shared with Megumi childhood/best friend, Miki Hanakain and it wasn't long before we were introduced with what this dark secret is - when she was young, Megumi used to be a boy. Had been living as a girl for more than 6 years, Megumi is now desperate to turn herself back, but in order for her to do that - she would have to find the magical book that had turned her into boy at the first place. It's during this search, that Megumi and Miki started making friends with other boys ( Genzo, Fujiki, Ichiro and later on, Kobayashi) who created a club dedicated for her - Megumi Protection Club.
The Whole Franchise. Build based on the idea; 'You may not know this, but I get turned into girl by an accident and used to be a boy." - this anime is quite quintessential for a gender-swapped/ identity crisis anime genre. Created in 1999-2003 (manga) and 2002-2003 (anime run), this anime hold a dear spot in my heart because of its comedic and nice interpretation of a young girl who confused about her gender, how she managed to fit in with the whole situation, and her journey of finding out the truth behind the magical book. As a character, Megumi hold both strong and feminine personality - some personality that proves to be quite troublesome for her because all she ever wanted was to be the strongest man among man, but other people (boys, especially) view Megumi as an extremely beautiful girl and couldn't stop themselves from falling in love with her. Yikes, that must be tough right?
What You Should Know About The Characters?
Hanakain Miki:
Megumi Amatsuka childhood/best friend. She is the only person who remember about Megumi former state and present during her transformation. She enrolled at the new school with Megumi to assist her in finding the missing magical book in order for Megumi to be re-transform again but, gradually shows her conflicting feelings about it. She is very loyal and protective of Megumi, has been at her side since pre-school, to an extent that she even accepted an arranged marriage just to go to the same school as her.
Genzo Soga:
One of Megumi biggest fan and a former punk, Genzo likes Megumi so much to an extent that he's willing to risk his own life for her. Generically a very strong and stubborn person, he was feared by most of kids at school and nobody dares to cross their path with him. Although originally Soga was hated by Megumi - over time, he's proven to be quite reliable to have around and soon, the two of them started become friends. Megumi is also seen to be gentle and caring towards him at times, such in one of the episodes after she found out that the reason of Genzo is late and hurt is due to his action of helping his friends.
Ichiro Fujiki
'Normal' or 'Average', in any possible way - Fujiki had a big time crush on Megumi Amatsuka and were secretly in love with her. Together with his friend, Yasuda - they created a special club dedicated for Megumi in hoping that someday, she will go out with one of them. Fujiki effort to become just 'normal' however, were severely affected when Megumi biggest rival, Keiko entered the scene.
Yasuda Tasuke:
A self-declared pervert and a nerd, Yasuda were one of the earliest members from Megumi Protection Club. He's the weakest when it comes to physical attack, but his intelligence were his saving grace. Often get nosebleeds when he get excited and enjoys flipping through girls skirts, Yasuda were very timid when it comes to showing Megumi his feelings. Yasuda mostly wear glasses in the series, although there were the time when he removed them (where he looks like a girl) for a good and not-so-good cause.
Hitomoji Kobayashi
A samurai in-training and possibly, the most decent man in the club. Kobayashi is the second strongest (after Soga) and had learned martial arts since childhood. Although he seems to be pretty smitten with Megumi after she helped him retrieve a very important momento, near the end of the series he seems to develop some feelings for Miki.
Keiko Tanaka
Megumi biggest rival and a spoil brat. She suffers from superiority complex and seems to hate Megumi at best because she thinks that Megumi is stealing all the attention away from her. Her scheme of defaming Megumi consisted of one-on-one challenge, public humiliation, and slandering.
There's a lot of things that you could find in this anime that can be considered as interesting and for those who haven't watch this anime yet - well, don't let me spoil all the fun for you (in which I already did, for most of this entry). In overall, this is pretty great anime, very enjoyable and funny, romantic in it's own ground and leave you with whole lot of pondering after you finished reading the manga/ watching the anime. My rating for this anime is 4/5, and for those who had watched it and thought that it deserves higher than that - well, this is just an opinion, okay? No need to get emotional over it.
Okay, then. All said and done. That's it guys for my Manga & Anime Talk 2. I hope you guys enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Have a nice day!
Mimi says: Just gotta watch this anime, despite for its 50 episodes long
