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Review

Don't Leave Me Alone, Daisy

Vol. 1

Review:
Don't Leave Me Alone, Daisy #1
Don't Leave Me Alone, Daisy can be easily summed up in two words: breathtakingly average. Never before has a series achieved such levels of being almost-but-not-quite adequacy. It's still a mystery to me why it was even licensed...

Techno is a reclusive inventor/high school student who has lived by the words his grandfather told him years ago: Man will destroy itself, so stay down in the shelter where it's safe and watch. In the mean time, he becomes a genius inventor and lives a solitary existence until one girl wanders onto his property. Through the security system, Techno finds the girl of his dreams (Hitomi), near some daisies. He names her Daisy, and proceeds to stalk her at school.

Not only does he constantly insist that Hitomi be called Daisy, but he also fixes up every opportunity to be with the object of his affection. Daisy loses her temper every once in a while, but is totally oblivious to his advances most of the time. A class field trip in the second episode is just one of these incidents.

Among the supporting cast are Miss Rarako, a screwball teacher with a tendancy towards scant clothing, and X Yamakawa, a harmless "bully" who no one really likes. (Even Techno picks on him.)

These characters cling tenaciously to every tired anime stereotype there is: the "normal schoolgirl" that is Hitomi/Daisy just sits there and half-heartedly protests, sometimes not even knowing what's going on right in front of her. Techno brings back memories of "Melvin" from the North American dub of Sailor Moon in terms of lame nerd cliches (as well as annoyingly dorky voice acting). Miss Rarako is slightly original (she's a mix of various stereotypes) but nothing she does is funny enough to warrant mentioning.

In fact, like the art, all of the comic timing in this show is totally flat. Small gags that potentially could be funny end up falling flat on their face. The result is a show that just sits there -- we end up not caring about anything, and lose interest.

There's nothing at all about Don't Leave Me Alone, Daisy that stands out at all -- the art is mediocre, the comedy isn't funny, the characters are ill-defined and two-dimensional, the acting is weak at best (EVERYONE sounds irritating and monotone), and the premise alone seems a little lacking.

The subtitling of this show might be good, but that just doesn't save a series that is just too drab to make an impression.
Grade:
Overall (sub) : C

+ Uhh... Well, there's no mindless fighting here.
Weak voice acting. Weaker premise.

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Production Info:
Director: Yūji Mutō
Series Composition: Satoru Nishizono
Screenplay:
Satoru Nishizono
Kazuhisa Sakaguchi
Ryota Yamaguchi
Storyboard:
Hiroyuki Fukushima
Naoki Hishikawa
Yūnosuke Itō
Nobuhiro Kondō
Yasuhiro Minami
Hiroshi Morioka
Yūji Mutō
Shigeru Ueda
Episode Director:
Hiroyuki Fukushima
Naoki Hishikawa
Susumu Ishizaki
Shigeru Ueda
Music:
Kouki Itou
Akihisa Matsuura
Yutaka Odawara
Original creator: Noriko Nagano
Character Design:
Fumie Muroi
Atsuko Nakajima
Art Director: Mitsuharu Miyamae
Animation Director:
Ryōko Hata
Akira Inoue
Kumiko Kasuga
Fumie Muroi
Yūji Mutō
Sound Director: Kazuhiro Wakabayashi
Director of Photography: Takashi Aoki
Licensed by: Bandai Entertainment

Full encyclopedia details about
Don't Leave Me Alone, Daisy (TV)

Release information about
Don't Leave Me Alone, Daisy - Love is Strange (Sub.VHS 1)

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