Hiwatari Saki - Please Save My Earth, vol. 01-04

[oyceter]

I will attempt to do an incoherent plot summary, but first I would like to say that the manga opens with DINOSAURS! Gazing wistfully at the moon and leaving in their alien spaceships!

Ok, it's all in the heroine's mind, but still: DINOSAURS!

(come to think of it, why hasn't there been more manga with dinosaurs? clearly an untapped well of crack and awesomeness! also, i would like to add dinosaurs to the long-standing battle between zombies and robots, though my current political stance is that giant zombie robot dinosaurs are the best solution.)

Oh right, PSME... (in another aside, the acronym bugs me because I keep seeing "PMS")

Alice/Arisu discovers that some of her classmates have been having reoccuring dreams about a station on the moon; eventually, they all realize they are reincarnations of the scientists there. While most of them attempt to figure out what exactly happened and why they're reincarnating, one of them is manipulating the rest, to who knows what end.

I'm really not sure what to think of this series so far. I'm incredibly uninterested in Alice and Rin and the fact that Rin is eight years old and a romantic interest! Agh! Yes, yes, reincarnation, but still. EIGHT! And while some of the manga meta comments by the characters amuse me ("Look at that two-page spread! Hiwatari just needs more pages."), mostly I wish it were just in the author's notes. I also cannot keep any of the characters straight in my head. Bad enough that most of them look the same, with only minor variations in hairstyle, but then I have to remember their past lives as well!

On the other side, I keep reading because I desperately want to know what happened on the moon. It feels grand and epic and tragic, and even though I already want to whap Mokuren and Alice, I do not care! I want to know! Also, more dinosaurs would be nice.

Comments

[larryhammer]

Around volume 4 or so, I started being able to tell the characters apart -- though I'm not sure whether that's because the art sufficiently improved or I started only reading them in 3-4 volume chunks instead of spaced apart. Fourteen major characters, plus friends-and-relations, is a lot to keep straight when the art's not spot-on.

This is one of those shoujo series where I don't mind that it turns into being about the male lead instead of the female lead, because Rin and his past life is more interesting than Alice and hers. Especially once the reason he's so much younger is explained, and the reason *mumgphlespoilermph*. It doesn't help that she gets progressively more like a bathmat as the story goes on.

It does need more dinosaurs, though.

---L.

[oyceter]

Yeah... I do not see Alice getting much better, as she gets herself engaged to an EIGHT-YEAR-OLD out of misplaced sympathy. I am all for sympathy, but really. EIGHT.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

I love the anime and manga to death, but the start of it is a hard sell. Alice is *such* a crybaby (-"oh noes, I was so unhappy I couldn't eat anything and went to bed hungry!"-), and there's the bit about pretending (?) to be engaged to Rin, and then finally she worries about how worthless she is, etc. Argh!

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Their previous lives are definitely the more interesting part of the story.

[marfisa.livejournal.com]

Exceot for the relatively unglamorous-looking female scientist who pined for one of the male scientists (who, like every other male in the group, was obliviously fixated on the psychic plant-empath Mokuren). This character deliberately got herself reincarnated as a male so she/he could at least be male-bondingishly Best Pals Forever with her reincarnated crush, only to fall in love with him all over again with additional "forbidden love" overtones--and somewhat unsatifactory results, although at least this time he noticed. She was also way better-looking as a bishounen guy than she'd been as a somewhat ordinary-looking woman, which may be why her/his reincarnated version's younger sister developed something of a brother complex. So this character's current life actually struck me as more interesting than her previous one on the moon (where she was just an unexciting supporting character anyway), despite/because her/his present life was more elaborately angsty.

[oyceter]

Do you mind spoiler texting or something? I didn't actually know all that.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I keep reading because I desperately want to know what happened on the moon. It feels grand and epic and tragic, and even though I already want to whap Mokuren and Alice, I do not care! I want to know! Also, more dinosaurs would be nice.

This is EXACTLY how I felt. Parts of this series will be VASTLY ANNOYING and yet it is PURE EMO PORN.

[oyceter]

The art is so bad! Ok, it's not actually bad, but I still can't tell anyone apart except for Mokuren because she has the flower thing on her forehead. And Alice, but if someone else with long black hair comes in, I will be lost.

But... OMG must find out what happens! Also, feel horrible for Enju/can't remember the reincarnation's name and am all for the gender-bending reincarnated unrequited love thing.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

I think the art gets better.

I'm really not sure what to think of this series so far

Watch the anime first? It's got nice music and is only 6 episodes and is pretty faithful to the manga. I saw the anime first, and it makes me choke up in places. Then I read the manga, which has details left out in the anime and keps going on past the anime, and sobbed in places.

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

Bad enough that most of them look the same, with only minor variations in hairstyle, but then I have to remember their past lives as well!

...ugh, I really dislike the PSME artwork. It's especially rough because I saw the OAV before I tried reading the manga, and the anime designs are much better, IMO. I quite like the series overall, though, even though Alice doesn't do much for me.

[This vague comment brought to you by it having been a long time since I read through the manga, and not really remembering what happens in each volume.]

[oyceter]

Sigh, I am guessing that means the artwork doesn't improve all that much? I think all the characters should get identifying tattoos. Or make dramatic changes to their hairstyles.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God.

This may be that one anime?

There's an OVA? How old is this?

I ask because I remember watching the end of this anime that ripped out my heart, and I was sure it had something to do with reincarnation, and I didn't get the title and no one ever knew what it was.

So, does the OVA end...

okay, I can't figure out how to do a spoiler cut. Would you mind stepping over here [http://redbrunja.livejournal.com/78028.html] and answering a question for me? Thanks.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

I stepped over. The details match. Do you run out and buy the DVD (there are only 6 episodes, so they fit easily on one DVD; to my disappointment, it doesn't have music videos, which are pretty damn terrific, too)!

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I'm so thrilled I finally know what that series was!

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! This is one of my favoritest titles. I even bought the music CD.

The ending you saw packs even more punch if you've seen the earlier episodes. And as I mentioned in another reply, the anime makes me choke/tear up, but when I read the manga, it made me sob. So after watching the anime, you should consider reading the manga, too :)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Let's see if I survive the OVA first - I only saw the last 10 minutes, and felt like bursting into tears, and as you can see, still remember it quite clearly a good 12-12 years later. How long is each episode, by the way?

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Each episode is about 25 minutes.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

Seconding the opinion that it's probably what you're thinking of. ^_^

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Oh, PSME... that was my very first anime. I have love for the six-part OAV like a burning thing. Between that and the image video (these gorgeous, slow sequences shot to ethereal music exploring certain relationships and plot points) I never really felt the need to finish the manga. I just wasn't a big fan of how some of the plotlines developed. (I.E., the engagement is treated with a lot more humor in the anime.) Plus Alice is voiced by Shiratori Yuri, aka Nanami Kiryuu, since I just received your thesis. ;)

[oyceter]

My brain is now boggling at the juxtaposition of Alice and Nanami!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Hah! It works surprisingly well, for me at least, in that it makes it clear you're

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<i.supposed</i>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

Hah! It works surprisingly well, for me at least, in that it makes it clear you're <i.supposed</i> to think Alice is a whiny emo-teen.

[oyceter]

Hee! If only she schemed dastardly plots involving kangaroos and curry...

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

The manga would have been much improved!

[larryhammer]

So you're claiming this has a high Ninja Replacement Score?

---L.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I do adore this manga. Emo-porn indeed. You gotta love a manga when the relationship diagrams are that complicated.

I don't mind Rin's being 8 because it is presented as being a problem. Sure it's squicky, but it's supposed to be.

(also, I just friended, hi!)

[oyceter]

Hi! Welcome!

I love that we get relationship charts in the official release. SO necessary!