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4. Ganoen 
Onegai Twins centers on Kamishiro Maiku, an orphaned loner. Life gets complicated for him when two girls, Miina and Karen, show up the same day with the same old photo he has, depicting him and a girl in an outdoor pool, and the same blue eyes that set him apart, each claiming to be his twin.
I was pleasantly surprised by this series, having low expectations for a sequel that is really its own story. The sci-fi and "teitai" plots of Onegai Teacher are gone, replaced by the Maiku-Miina-Karen love triangle that quickly develops. The main conflict of the series arises from the trio trying to find out which is Maiku's sister and which can declare her love for him. Unfortunately, the series could've used another plot point; it gets along fine, but just about every episode has a cast member saying 'maybe we're relatives, maybe not' at some point.
That said, Onegai Twins gets along fine on its own. The characters are all appealing: Miina is the spunky girl-next-door (in fact, she looks and sounds so much like Herikawa that it's almost like the Onegai Teacher writers felt bad about her losing Round One to Mizuho and brought her back for Round Two), Karen's the shy, timid one, and Maiku is the stoic loner. Maiku especially stands out for having an exceptional amount of backbone and decisiveness for a romance protagonist, and is one of the few anime males who (usually) isn't reduced to blushing and stammering by the slightest sexual suggestiveness; a welcome change. The art is bright, attractive, and smoothly animated.
There are cameos from most of the Onegai Teacher cast, but only a few make much of a contribution and all in much more comedic roles than the first go-round. Oddly enough, though Kei appears several times, he never speaks, making me wonder if the seiyuu was working on another project.
All in all, it's a good watch, even if you haven't seen or even liked Onegai Teacher. As a series, it stands on its own.
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| 3. h8er13
 
Twins is the sequel to Onegai Teacher, but most
of the main characters in Twins are new. Its only relation to Teacher
is that the events of Twins takes place approximately in the same location
as Teacher, which therefore allows a few of the characters from Teacher
to make cameos. Unlike its predecessor, Twins is basically about two girls
who live with a guy whom they both believe is their long lost twin brother. All
three have the same childhood picture, but in it are only two kids. Because of
this situation, the girls must find out who the real twin sister is. Twins
is more of a fanservice anime than anything else. Teacher also had fanservice
aspects, but Twins utilizes bath scenes much more often, and there are
frequent "oops, I tripped and fell on him and my panties are showing"
situations. The artwork is the same as Teacher, which means it's clear
and nicely drawn. I was disappointed that Twins
wasn't an exact sequel to Teacher, but I suppose it would have been difficult
to prolong the original story even more, since a conclusion was strongly confirmed
in Teacher. The main problem with Twins was that there was nothing
particularly special or exciting. I don't necessarily recommend Twins unless
you've seen and enjoyed Onegai Teacher or if fanservice is what you want
(but then again, you can just watch Mahoromatic or Popotan, which
was another show aired during summer 2003, but much better and with a much stronger
dedication to fanservice). Though, the ending was
simple and sweet. |
| 2.
Tempy
Maiku is an independent orphan who suddenly decides to visit
a town after seeing a house on TV that looks exactly the same as the house in
the picture of him and his twin sister. But then Miina and Karen enter his life,
both bearing the same picture! It's clear that one of the girls is Maiku's long
lost twin sister, and that the other girl is unrelated. They decide to live together
while trying to find out about their past. Things get more complicated when the
girls fall in love with Maiku. They're torn because they don't know if they're
related or not and that their love might be... "forbidden". Onegai
Twins takes place in the same village as Onegai Teacher (Please
Teacher), but with new characters, although many Onegai Teacher characters
appear in supporting roles. Onegai Twins does away with the sci-fi elements
and focuses more on the love triangle. There are plenty of amusing and genuinely
funny moments, but unfortunately the show is dragged down by the incessant reminder
that the girls might be related, or that they might be strangers instead. This
is the main conflict of the show (and basically the only one), which gets repeated
over and over again, until I just wished they'd forget they might be related and
just hump Maiku. Onegai Teacher is the superior
show, both comedy- and drama-wise. Onegai Twins definitely has its moments,
but after a promising start, it grinds to a halt due to repetition. |
| 1. Neko
Tsukimi
Kamishiro Maiku is a high school student living all by himself
in the house he saw in a photograph that was given to him while he was living
in an orphanage. He's a pretty lonely guy who doesn't really have any friends.
Then one evening, two girls who happen to have the same eye colour as he does,
Miyafuji Miina and Onodera Karen, show up saying that they're his twin. They present
to him the same picture he has of two children with blue eyes in a pool in front
of the house where Maiku lives. Since neither of them have a place to go, Maiku
offers them a home to live. However, the big question is who is the relative and
who is the stranger? The question gets even tougher when both of the girls fall
in love with Maiku. I was really looking forward
to this ever since I heard of it and I wasn't disappointed. It was a silly, slightly
dramatic show with a somewhat surprising ending. Truthfully, I couldn't wait to
see the end because I wanted to know which one was Maiku's twin. Surprisingly,
the writers would not let the audience forget that. Almost every episode had all
three of them chanting "We might be relatives, but we might be strangers."
Even though there was a possibility of either one of them being his twin, they
fell in love. Also, with all of them being in the same house, sexual tension rises
and as the end comes closer, you'd expect them to forget about the "We might
be relatives/strangers" crap and jump each others' bones. Miina and Karen
often end up in awkward situations with Maiku that look suspicious when taken
out of context; and to see if Maiku really likes girls, they do everything but
walk around naked, nearly sending him to an early grave. But
even though the hijinks Miina and Karen keep up annoy Maiku to no end, he gradually
appreciates them because for the first time in his life, he is no longer lonely
and has a family. Miina and Karen also share such a mutual feeling. Overall,
it was a wonderful show. Somewhat repetitive, somewhat corny, but all-around heart-touching
and memorable. |
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