Please Teacher, Vol. 2: Meet the In-laws (2002)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Screenplay by Yosuke Kuroda
Directed by Yasunori Ide
Character Design by Taraku Uon and Hiroaki Gohda
Starring the Voices of Souichi Hoshi, Kikuko Inoue, Dave Wittenberg, Bridget Hoffman, and Wendee Lee

Features:

• Music clip #1
  
• Trailer (short version)
  
• Textless opening and closing
  
• Design gallery
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• Alien jubblies teasing
• Underage girl in her unmentionables
• Gratuitous Pocky eating will make you hungry

Released by: Bandai
Region: 1
Rating: 16+
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Get it.

We rejoin Kei Kusanagi and his teacher/wife Mizuho as they attempt to have a kind of vacation on the beach. But of course since we're talking about rather star-crossed lovers here (and anime comedy), nothing goes quite as planned. Kusanagi's friends and classmates (aka: Ms. Mizuho's students!) are also vacationing there, ostensibly helping the shop teacher with his human-powered aircraft project--a project that becomes a metaphor for moving forward and taking your future into your own hands. Given that Mizuho and Kusanagi can't seem to find any time alone, their feelings for each other remain unsaid for now. Meanwhile, Kusanagi's friend Hyosuke is starting a romance of his own, and Mizuho's mother and little sister have arrived to offer congratulations and death threats, respectively. Will Kusanagi ever be able to move his romance forward, along with his life?

As with the first volume, the show tackles some rather heady philosophy for what is essentially a romantic comedy. Kusanagi's standstills allow the show to address the issue of advancing and personal evolution versus stagnation and retreat in the face of life. People are encouraged not simply to change and produce, but to become better and to live their lives to the fullest.

The audio and video quality are both quite good. The show looks great, due to fantastic, emotionally relevant art, as well as a good digital conversion and nice, saturated colors. The voice actors again do a bang-up job bringing their characters to life. Special kudos to Satomi Koorogi and Sandy Fox both for making the little sister Maho be her precocious, threatening self without making her a shrieking, annoying brat (Rini of Sailor Moon anyone?). Also, even the small parts, like Nacchan, are played to the hilt but never overplayed, making the entire cast, from start to finish, seem like people you should care about.

The features list is nice as well, giving us lots of little things to show off the show's art and jovial spirit. The musical clip is about four minutes long and is much like a kind of opening sequence, showing off various scenes and all the characters in turn. The design gallery again shows off a few characters and lets viewers admire the details of the sketches and perhaps notice more about the characters' costuming during the next viewing of the show itself.

Overall, this continues to be a great series. If you have little patience for romances on the brink of fulfillment that always seem to give way before shyness, bad luck, or complex interpersonal relationships, then this show might not be for you, but if you like solid ensembles, great characterization, clever premises, and good humor, then you'll love it. Give it a chance, and you'll find yourself rooting for Kusanagi, who, after all, just wants to do the right thing, and Mizuho, who just wants to do her job and somehow manage to be happy at the same time.