Please Teacher! - Anime Legends Complete Collection

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Wow, what a ride, September 1, 2005

By	Eric P. Fretheim "Eric the Fred" (Dallas, TX, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Please Teacher! Complete Collection (DVD)

First let me make something clear: in order to like this series, there are a few things you have to accept. Such as, teenage boys have eyes, and find girls physically attractive. And, that this story pretty obviously must have grown out of the memory of a high school boy fantasizing about his teacher. And, Japanese writers sometimes are a little unrealistic with initial story setup, so just grit your teeth if the part where they get married seems a little contrived. It's the rest of the story you want to see.
If you can get past these, you are going to experience one of the sweeter, and better written, love stories you will ever come across. It starts out a romantic comedy, pretty standard "magical girlfriend" fare along the same lines as "Oh, My Goddess" , and just as you are getting used to that, a much more complex and mature tale sneaks up from behind you and grabs hold.
A couple notes: I am a parent, and became interested in Anime again from watching DVDs first before deciding whether my children should watch them. I am not uptight about occasional nudity (a la Ranma 1/2) or "suggested" sex, but I do try to keep them away from situations where the sexual content is clear, or is central to understanding the story. For this reason, two warnings:
1) If you are more restrictive than I describe, you probably don't want your kids to see this.
2) In any case, don't let your younger kids watch the last episode. It is actually an "add-on" OAV that wasn't part of the original TV series, and it isn't necessary for getting plot resolution. At one point, a high-school couple are clearly having a romantic get-away in a "love hotel", and another couple are clearly in a "bondage, S&M" situation, and another couple are clearly in a situation that would be statutory rape in the U.S. A little too much information for pre-high-school children, even in my liberal opinion.