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REVIEW: Dagashi Kashi BD+DVD


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zztop



Joined: 28 Aug 2014
Posts: 642
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 9:16 am Reply with quote
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Hotaru herself is mostly an ambiguous presence in the show.


I've heard manga readers say Hotaru's character was developed better in the manga, but the anime director sidelined her in favour of Saya, Coconuts's friend (Apparently director was more of a Saya fan).
I recall some angry viewers venting abut this on some other forums.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 9:16 am Reply with quote
Dagashi Kashi probably is more for people that like slice of life a lot. I enjoyed it quite a bit as a simuldub, and I took the chance to rewatch it with a friend who hasn't seen a lot of anime and wants to experiment with different genres.

Tabith Ray was a great choice for Hotaru. Her voice has a certain quality that lends itself well to manic characters.
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Snakebit1995



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 842
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 9:33 am Reply with quote
zztop wrote:
Quote:
Hotaru herself is mostly an ambiguous presence in the show.


I've heard manga readers say Hotaru's character was developed better in the manga, but the anime director sidelined her in favour of Saya, Coconuts's friend (Apparently director was more of a Saya fan).
I recall some angry viewers venting abut this on some other forums.


As someone caught up on everything that's translated I can't recall anything about Hotaru egregiously left out of the anime (Based on what they adapted at least)

On other notes I like the show, The dub worried me when it started because I was worried it be one of those shows where the jokes just don't translate well but it worked out pretty well. I loved Tabitha as Hotaru, it's probably her best role and I hope she pops up in more dubs. I know there were a lot of people who were agaisnt her as Hotaru at first but her theatrical take on Hotaru really worked for me, she does professional theater so you could feel some of that coming through.

One of the reasons I liked the show was because it was just a nice little happy show, no force drama, no sudden tone shifts, it's just a nice little show that's happy to be a positive show and I liked that. It's good to have these happy simple cooldown type shows every so often. I hate that people think a series needs to redefine it's genre to be good, sometimes things can follow all the beats and just be a story that makes you smile.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2165
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 9:40 am Reply with quote
I tried watching this show but it bored me to tears. After episode 3 quite literally put me to sleep I dropped it forever more.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:00 am Reply with quote
That questionable feeling you get when you can't tell if you watched an entire series? "Did I watch all of it or not?" That's Dagashi Kashi. Honestly, I think calling it a slice of life show is kind of insulting to slice of life shows with actual life progression, what possible could be called "plots" or at least "things that happen in sort of escalation or at least with a definite consecutive order, that matter to the characters".

The main conceit here is that Hotaru is trying to convince Kokonotsu to allow his father to work for her candy empire if/when he says yes, the series ends so that's not going to happen. Remove that nonstarter of a plot starter, you would have a show about kids hanging out at a candy shop... wait, that's a sitcom which this series most certainly is not. Because if this was a sitcom they'd talk about things other than candy. Sometimes. Usually even. Matter of fact, wouldn't the subject be anything but the candy?

What is this series, when you get right down to it? Author: "I know things about cheap candy. Here, let me act out what I know using these characters I created." and I think that's about it. Imagine the Clerks movie if the only thing they talked about was convenience store food.... or VHS tapes. Not the movies, that could be interesting, just the tapes.

I went into the show hoping the premise was just a starting point, not a gimmick or excuse but a locale for the characters to be in while things play out. Not "a school" or "a magic school" or "a magic school in another world" but "a candy shop". Start simple, go from there.

But it didn't. And that says it all right there.
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Spike Terra
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Joined: 21 Mar 2016
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Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:31 am Reply with quote
Dagashi Kashi for me captures what it's like to be in a rural town during summer break with nothing to do. Since it's mostly about a group of regular teens goofing off during the summer, I was okay with it not having a plot. As a skit show, I think Dagashi Kashi was able to get away some failing jokes because it had a charming cast of characters. I think the relationship between Saya and Hotaru ended up being my favorite aspect of this show. There's a really cool scene in the beginning of the show where Hotaru orders a cup of coffee for both her and Saya in order to get to know her a little better. It's a really short and concise scene that shows that Hotaru can be more than just a candy fanatic.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:41 am Reply with quote
There was a doujin that gave Hotaru an expanded backstory but I guess I shouldn't mention it here because, you know...
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Lord of Fire



Joined: 28 Apr 2010
Posts: 16
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:57 am Reply with quote
Spike Terra wrote:
Dagashi Kashi for me captures what it's like to be in a rural town during summer break with nothing to do.


I think Non Non Biyori does a far better job at that. It's funnier, too.

Dagashi Kashi was disappointing. I'm usually quite fond of SoL shows, but every once in a while, one comes by that offends me on all levels. I don't mind that I don't know every bit of dagashi trivia, but when the show has very little else to offer than that, it quickly becomes boring. IMO, Saya was the only redeeming factor in the show, while Hotaru was by far the most annoying character.
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prime_pm



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 2333
Location: Your Mother's Bedroom
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 12:14 pm Reply with quote
I think there was more nothing happening in this than in any anime I'd seen before. And I've seen Setokai Yakuindomo. Nichijou actually had character development. Lucky Star had a cousin moving in at one point. All this had going for it was...candy and...Rule 34?
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:20 pm Reply with quote
Spike Terra wrote:
Dagashi Kashi for me captures what it's like to be in a rural town during summer break with nothing to do.


On a vague level, that's what it did for me. It was a show that kinda sorta reminded me of when I was a kid growing up in the middle of the country where my siblings and I would spend most of the day biking around with not much to do at all. It was a kind of pleasant lazy feeling. Other than that, I didn't get anything out of this though. And unfortunately for the show, other rural based comedy slice of life has successfully captured that feeling significantly better, making it a mostly pointless experience. I'm a very big fan of slice of life, but this really just wasn't all that compelling on any level. Hotaru and Saya both had pretty cool and unique character designs, but... eh.
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Parsifal24





PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:56 pm Reply with quote
I never watched this apparently I didn't miss much, the best girl debates on 4chan when this was being simulcast where fun though.
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 3:12 pm Reply with quote
I agree that the show reflected the feeling of growing up in the middle of nowhere. In my case, we didn't even have a store of any kind within a couple of miles.

While I agree that other shows did the rural bit better, I liked how some aspects keyed in with those shows to give the flavor of a rural area. It gave me an appreciation of the sort of stock Candy Store carried in Non Non Byori as well as the store in Barakamon. I think at least one of the snacks shown was an ingredient in a recipe in Sweetness and Lightning. I also found it interesting that the art work on the snacks in many cases obviously hadn't changed in many years. Some looked like it dated to the 1940s.

I will say that as described, none of the snacks seemed like anything I would be interested in eating. They are very clearly intended for children who have not been spoiled by unlimited chocolate bars.
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Siegfriedl88



Joined: 22 Jun 2017
Posts: 347
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 5:00 pm Reply with quote
I kinda liked it. As others said Tabitha Ray did a great job at Hotaru, Made her sound like she's always on a sugar high.

Sometimes I enjoy watching nonsensical anime with no real overarching plot, like Shomin sample or Shimoneta.
Can just watch one or two episodes at a time without thinking i have to watch the whole thing too understand the entirety of the story like Steins gate or SAO
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:30 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
That questionable feeling you get when you can't tell if you watched an entire series? "Did I watch all of it or not?" That's Dagashi Kashi. Honestly, I think calling it a slice of life show is kind of insulting to slice of life shows with actual life progression, what possible could be called "plots" or at least "things that happen in sort of escalation or at least with a definite consecutive order, that matter to the characters".


"Slice of life" seems to be one of the most ill-defined types of fiction, considering every work of fiction is technically a slice of someone's life (even if they are sometimes very big slices, like The Curious Life of Benjamin Button or Forrest Gump). But I don't think I've ever seen any definition that it has to be a serial. Fans of Friendship Is Magic frequently divide the show's episodes between "action/adventure" and "slice of life," and that is a pretty episodic show.

Alan45 wrote:
I will say that as described, none of the snacks seemed like anything I would be interested in eating. They are very clearly intended for children who have not been spoiled by unlimited chocolate bars.


I feel like with most other countries' snacks, dagashi is something of an acquired taste. I've had some every now and then when I've come across them. Most recently, I had that really iconic one, the one with the gray Doraemon ripoff. They taste and feel like giant stale Cheetos Puffs, only also mildly sweet.

But really, the United States has equivalent snacks too, like Tootsie Rolls, Dum Dums, Slim Jims, and popcorn balls, and Halloween trick-or-treating has kept the fun-size snacks very much viable. I mean, Bazooka gum has comics printed on the insides of the wrappers, and Laffy Taffy has jokes submitted in by the kids who eat them. I think that makes them pretty close matches, the one major difference being that Japanese kids tend to hang out on their own and buy their own stuff whereas American kids are most often bought things by their parents. Still, liquor stores and convenient stores commonly still have small, very cheap snacks by the register, usually several. A local 7-Eleven introduced me to the wonder that is Joyva halvah, for instance. (And if anyone's gone by Los Angeles Union Station and visited Phillippe's, there is a corner of the place that looks remarkably but coincidentially like an American counterpart to one of these dagashi shops.)
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:24 am Reply with quote
@leafy sea dragon

Being old enough to remember when you could still buy penny candy, I can and have said the same thing about a lot of the snacks and candy available then. Mary Janes, those large orange marshmallow peanuts, ugh. Much like what is shown in the show, snacks used to be much less sweet and lower in calories.

There may still be some city locations where you can still find individual snacks but they are fairly rare around here. The local convenience stores charge $1.75 and up for a simple candy bar. Fun sized bars are only available by the bag. Slim Jims are bar snacks eaten only by those too intoxicated to taste anything. I wouldn't give one to a child on a bet.
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