Fancy Lala, Vol. 3: Taking Center Stage (1998)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Tomomichi Mochizuki and Takahiro Omori
Written by Tomomichi Mochizuki
Character Design by Akemi Takada
Original Music by Michiru Oshima

Features:

• Text interview with Akemi Takada
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• much cuteness
• girls who don’t see themselves as complete as they are
• baseball

Rating: 7+

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Rent it for a return to innocence.

Lala’s life heats up as her first CD becomes popular, which gives the real Miho even more to juggle. In “Who Are You,” Miho finds herself alone in an alternate Japan, where there is already a Miho there, and “our” Miho looks nothing like her to the denizens. In another alternate world episode, “Miho in Toyland,” Miho takes part in an extended dream sequence that lives up to its name and will remind most viewers of The Velveteen Rabbit.

It’s nice to see more of Miho as herself in this disc, though we haven’t said good-bye to her life as 15-year-old Lala, either. Not only does Miho herself get to shine, adding interest, depth, and warmth to the show, but young viewers see that it is possible to be interesting as yourself, too, and that growing up is not the only way to achieve happiness. It’s only fair to show the real problems and life of a third-grader, after all--such as the “no, I don’t like him” relationship with Taro. After all, that is the target audience. It doesn’t hurt to reduce the gratuitous, underage Lala fan service, either. When Lala does take center stage, as in the baseball sequence, she demonstrates the poise and compassion that makes Miho such an interesting character at any age. As Miho becomes a deeper character, it’s more interesting, if more depressing, to see her dealing with rather adult situations, such as the press spreading a rumor about her and Hiroya.

The audio and video quality here are on par with the previous discs in the series, which is to say that they are nicely done and mostly problem free. The art shows up vibrantly, showing off the emotional aspects of the characters and maintaining a nice balance between Miho’s fantasy life and her dual real existence. The music is also a nice accent with a theme song that’s frankly growing on me.

The extra here is solo, but decent, and nicely different from the first volumes. Where we did have interviews before, we now have a text commentary from Akemi Takada, regarding the Japanese DVD cover art. This is an unusual extra, to say the least, and a nice surprise.

It would be great to say that Fancy Lala is good, solid girl’s entertainment, but it just isn’t quite there yet, though it’s trying. This series is improving, however, as the creativity level goes up and the level of saccharine goes down, so I will look forward to the next installment to see if this trend continues. If it does, this could still be a title as fun to watch, and as safe to watch, as Yu-gi-Oh or Cardcaptor Sakura. This one seems to be branching out a bit, and it’s time too, since this is about the middle of the show. If you have girl children, you might want to pick this one up, or even if you just want some fluffy fun and don’t mind a bit of extra sugar. I’ll look forward to the next volume to see if this promise is fulfilled.