Please Twins Vol. #1: Three's Company
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Maiku and his two problems...
Mizuho - Alien Teacher
Karen & Miina
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November 23, 2004
by: Ray Almeda
"Please Teacher fans will find its sequel, Please Twins even more rewarding than the original series."
Review Hardware Used: Sony 36-inch WEGA KV636 w/ S-Video Out, Toshiba SD-4900 DVD Player – Progressive Scan Region, Grado SR325 Prestige Series Headphones
Disc Description
Maiku Kamishiro grew up in an orphanage with no history of his family or of his past. Left with only a childhood picture of himself and another person in front of a house, he believes that the other person in the picture is his long lost twin sister.
Upon discovering his old home, two young girls show up on his doorstep one day both claiming to be his long lost sister. Maiku's life is about to be turned upside down and with two pretty girls living under the same roof as him.
How will Maiku be able to keep his mind on school and work while trying to figure out which one of these girls is his sister and which one is the love of his life?
Features
Episodes 1-4
English/Japanese 2.0 w/ English subtitles
Image Vocals – 4 Music Videos
Promotional Clip
Promotional Commercial
Bandai Trailers
Disc Review
Content: (SPOILER Warning)
In the Please Teacher universe, we met a young alien (Mizuho) that took the form of a beautiful woman. After the landing at the lake had surprised a young boy, the town really started to come around. The woman had begun a career as a teacher, despite her abilities as an unknown alien. The two fell in love, and yes… they married.
Please Twins comes right on the heel of Please Teacher (which ended as if there wasn’t room for a sequel) in that it occurs in the same town, right across from the very same lake in a simple house. However, this isn’t a typical sequel. The events in Please Teacher have already happened, but we’re introduced to new characters and a few new locales. The popular Japanese school is back… however; it’s two years later.
The plot is simple, one guy is introduced, and a rapid amount of girls start to give him problems and situations different from the norm. Sounds a lot like Love Hina right? Wrong. Please Twins’ central character, Maiku Kamishiro is a non-typical character that will surprise most. He’s not a pervert, nor lacking confidence. Living in a house by himself after being let go by an orphanage, Maiku’s past, however, is nothing short of cloudy. He can’t remember his parents, any family members or siblings. All he has is this one photograph of himself and another young girl toddler who appears to be his younger sister. In the background lies the house (which Maiku recently saw on TV in relevance to the photo), the very reason why Maiku, now a sophomore in high school, decided to rent the abandoned house for his own. Could this be where Maiku used to live? Apparently, Maiku has been living there for two months now, and has been going to school as a full-time working student. Working as a prime programmer with a company, Maiku’s hard work pays off just enough to earn him the right to live on his own. He works from the comfort of his own home, which he organized specifically to be living haven. His realistic goal? To live life, make enough money with his job, finish school, and live life in peace. His ultimate goal? Maiku doesn’t know it yet.
At school, Maiku is the “odd” one of the bunch. Although he doesn’t have many friends, Maiku has apparently formed some sort of appeal to the student council members, including the Vice-President and Student Body President – not to mention his rather awkward appeal to one of the more attractive guys at the school.
Before Maiku knows it, two young women come running into his already stressful life. To Maiku’s initial disbelief, both of them inherit the very same picture from his childhood – possibly being the other one in the photo? Could one of them be Maiku’s long-lost sibling? As each of them make their way to the house to meet Maiku, the twin-sister theory is too unreasonable for Maiku, and he quickly panics. The problem is… there are two girls… and only one in the photo, meaning the other is a complete stranger. Although the three possess the same exact eye color, evidence of the photo isn’t enough to convince Maiku of this possibility. Who can he rely on? How can he prove all of this? What happened to just getting by? Before all of these questions become embezzled within his head, Maiku suddenly realizes that the two girls have already moved in with him, despite his implied disapproval. So, we have a teenage boy who’s working to survive and going to school to the same time, and now has these two girls hoping to prove themselves to him. Through rather hilarious instances and scenes, the three combine to fuse the series’ plot.
Miina, wild, cat-like, and obnoxious about just about everything, adds distinct flavor to the series. The Pocky-stick-eating Karen is young and shy, but this develops along quite nicely as the series goes along. The ever-popular Mizuho character from Please Teacher is back, and wacky than ever. The alien teacher appears at times with her husband from the past series, and it’s quite evident that she’s more comfortable with surroundings around her, despite her ability to “teleport.” And Ichigo, the Student Body President has become as snoopy as ever – constantly watching the trio from far-away locales via binoculars or school rooftops.
The plot thickens as the school’s student body vice-president, and good friend of Maiku, reveals the two girls as outsiders, wrongfully forcing themselves into Maiku’s life. There is already enough trouble involved, as Maiku needs to find a solution to the “one-girl-two-appeared” problem that will be the backbone of the series. Much like Please Teacher both girls follow each other wherever they go, revealing a bit more about each character with each individual adventure, bit by bit. As always, there are plenty of moments awkward in nature that are taken the wrong way by some characters leading in ultimate humiliation and confusion. These are the types of scenes, which make comedies like these so great.
What works rather well is the series’ ability to add the sub-plots of the series’ more recognizable characters, Mizuho (furthers the plot) and Ichigo (manipulates others for her own amusement). Marie’s character is one of the more memorable additions to the series, because of her weird style of communicating with owners, despite her true position.
Once the two main girls, Miina and Karen get jobs at a grocery store and finally agree with Maiku’s request for them to go to school, things become crazy. Miina has never gone to school in recent memory, and Karen is too shy to make any new friends. The three must work together to survive without any further altercations, and discover once and for the all the true reality of the photograph. Could one love Maiku, and the other reveals herself his sister? Are both his sister by some weird circumstance, or are both of them strangers? Only time will tell with this light-hearted treat.
Video:
The beautiful color palette is well placed, most especially its environmental locales. The character art is well done, as are the little “elemental” effects here and there. The sunrise/sunset scenes are still here, and they’re as breathtaking as ever. Originally released in 2003, the colors blend together so well. Aliasing is near absent, summing up to one pleasant transfer.
Audio:
The soundtrack and opening theme in particular were nice touches to an already well-proven series. Excellent choice of music for each particular scene – an attribute already known to the series. The scores are light-hearted, not overbearing, but give a happy vibe at times needed.
Menus:
This Bandai-made menu was rather impressive. Other than the clear images of the three main characters roaming in the center of the screen, the music that was chosen for the screen won’t drive you insane if left on for a long time. Access times are extremely fast, and the menus are easy to read and load quickly. All of the elements got the job done, all simple enough to give Bandai the thumbs-up.
Extras:
The extras for the first volume included four image vocal pieces – basically music videos for the show. They all have a great feel, and provide a sense of “worthiness” in being added to the extras section. Obviously, these were made with precision and careful timing. The promo clip and commercial are also welcome additions, considering they are rather lengthy and show off the series before it even released. Although interviews or behind-the-scenes features weren’t included, these extras are a treat to the anime-loving audiophile and the curious alike.
Dialogue:
Although the English audio was certainly above average than most mainstream anime, the Japanese audio just had more to get excited about. Certain characters, such as Miina truly act out their outrageous personalities with charm. And who can forget the mesmerizing voice of Mizuho? The solid use of dialogue brings a nice depth to the series, although some scenes were way too implied and uncharacteristic of the previous Please Teacher series. Still, the outstanding overacting works well for the series, especially considering its already hilarious moments.
The Bottom Line:
Please Teacher fans will find its sequel, Please Twins even more rewarding than the original series. Casual fans however, will find that the beginning episodes leave way more to be desired. They start off rather slow, possibly because of the “refreshing” outlook of the re-appearance of most of the previous main characters. Also, the plot is way too generic… “find someone related to your past.” Still, it’s still too early to tell where this series is going. The evolving characters have already shown signs of becoming favorites within the anime community because of their memorable likings, preferences, and er… tendencies. I thoroughly enjoyed the light-heartedness of the sexual innuendo and rather embarrassing scenes for the trio, an attribute that made the previous anime so memorable. This is a show that will be hard for viewers to predict despite its typical plot goal. Is this a bad thing? No, but it might turn away some casual viewers unfamiliar with the other characters. For the more informed Please fan, get ready for more Mizuho-treats galore!
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Content |
Hilarious in some instances, slow in others. Still, fans of Please Teacher will be pleased to know previous characters' critical roles in this one. |
8.1 |
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Video |
Wonderfully visualized. Excellent sense of evironment, most especially the sunset/night scenes. Great color palette. |
9.1 |
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Audio |
Music soundtrack is good, but the presentation is even better. This is an anime for happy people. |
8.0 |
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Menus
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Impressive. The usual Bandai expectation raised a bit more. |
8.3 |
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Extras
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A decent amount of music videos add to a worthy set of extras for this series' first DVD. |
9.0 |
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Dialog
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Voice acting is memorable as always with over-reactions all over the place. The humiliation sequences will make you laugh all over. |
9.2 |
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Verdict
Please Twins is a welcome sequel to an already well-established anime. It sets out to do what it is expected to do. Expect to laugh a lot.
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8.0
[not an average]
+ Familiar characters add depth
+ Character voice-acting matches high expectations
+ Music videos are great additions
- Starts off way too slow for casual viewers
- Episodes don't transition too well
- Too random at times
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