Diamond Daydreams Volume 1: Atsuko / Karin - Armchair Empire
- Armchair Empire
- Mike Siewert
- 02/06/06
- click here
"...breath of fresh air."
"...not a terrible way to spend two hours..."
Unlike the typical anime genres that we get over here in North America, Diamond Daydreams gives us a peek at style that doesn?t get much exposure ? drama. Through the course of the series, we follow the travails and loves of six young women living in Hokkaido. The preview disc contained 3 episodes, and showed off some bright and pretty animation.
The first 2 episodes contain the story of Atsuko, a 20 year old girl that helps run the family fish market with her mother. Despite the hard work of the two, they are falling into debt and are in danger of losing the store to the bank. To rectify the situation, Atsuko?s mother has set up an arranged marriage with Minoru, a young man who runs a prestigious local Inn and is rather wealthy. As a part of the offer for marriage, a substantial money offer is included which would certainly ease the problems of the store. Despite being a nice guy and a concerned gentleman, Atsuko isn?t particularly taken by him and is instead drawn towards an older jazz musician Kurata, who she is able to be more open with. This love triangle is complicated by both the financial repercussions as well as the traditions of Japanese culture, which affords an outsider (such as myself) a chance to see a more realistic depiction of arranged marriage.
Karin is a 15 year old girl who has been hospitalized in Hokkaido for the last 2 years with an illness. Her doctors insist that she will not recover without surgery, but she is insistent against it. Having lost her father while he was under, she is so scared of dying that she refuses surgery despite their continued suggestion. Karin is alone most of the time, although her older brother is attending college nearby he visits only when his schedule permits and Nurse Kitami does her best to watch over her. So most of her energies go into working on her website about her dreams. Two new people are introduced into her life, a young doctor, Dr. Amakasu will now be her attending physician and a new friend via email who lives nearby (but she hasn?t met in person, nor knows what he looks like). Karin tries to resolve her vivid dreams with reality, especially with her new doctor, who she doesn?t particularly get along well with and wants to meet her new email friend who seems to empathize in ways no one else can.
Diamond Daydreams uses the typical stereotypes but does so in a way not normally handled, which makes for an interesting breath of fresh air. Certainly not a terrible way to spend two hours, even if it wasn?t my cup of tea.
Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 (Archive on Monday, March 06, 2006)