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[R2 DVD box art]
AKA: マイセルフ；ユアセルフ (Japanese)
Genre: Romantic drama/comedy/slice-of-life
Length: Television series, 13 episodes, 23 minutes each
Distributor: Currently licensed by Maiden Japan through Section 23 Films, but also available streaming on Crunchyroll..
Content Rating: 15+ (violent/dark themes, suicide, light fanservice)
Related Series: N/A
Also Recommended: Kanon 2006, Clannad.
Notes: Based on the light novel game released on the PlayStation 2, published by Yeti and developed by Regista.

A light novel, Myself ; Yourself Sorezore Overture, was written by Takumi Nakazawa and illustrated by Wadapen months before the game came out.

Myself; Yourself


Hikada Sana returns to his childhood stomping grounds after a five year absence, only to find the place largely unchanged. As he meets up with all his childhood friends, however, he finds that most of them HAVE changed, some more than others.


The most immediate change can be found in Aoi. Case in point...

All that, and glasses too. Meganekko for the win!

*cough* ...anyway, when I started watching this show, I did actually expect good things from it. In fact, it did start out pretty okay, despite the whole childhood memory and promise thing it got going for it (and even despite the fact that Aoi's voice made me cringe every time I heard it. Five years, and it's still retained it's ear-gnawingly rate of cute. I think I preferred her as a cat in Sketchbook).

I guess it's not a bad looking show. The characters are a little plain -- nothing wrong with that, I guess -- and the animation's certainly decent. The intro and ending themes are horribly generic, though, especially the opening theme's way of incorporating the cast as a "live rock performance". With Aoi on Keytar. No, seriously. First that, then the fact that her voice never changes.

But then, by the time the show ended, both of us cherished her every appearance. And by the end of the review, you will learn why. Oh yes, will you ever learn....

Storywise, the setup reminded me vaguely about Kanon in that it stars a guy who's not a complete loser, who returns to his old town and meets various people, most of them girls or teachers/parents of said girls. Unlike with Kanon, however, these are people he already know. Which was fine, really, because for a good number of episodes, the show kept a fairly decent standard. Our group of teenagers met and hung out with each other, fishing, meeting at the local retirement home to help out, attending shrine festivals of sorts... things like that.

Then, things went downhill. Fast!

In fact, it's only been a couple of hours since me and our very own organ harvesting maiden synchroed the last episode of this show, and we're still reeling by the sheer ineptitude of which they pulled off the dramatic parts of the show. Myself; Yourself is the poster child for the Myspace generation who like to take pictures consisting of close-ups of half their face to go with their emo poetry, with the same lack of sense of consequence and closure. Hell, during my millitary service, I've personally been inside a warship cannon -- which has a three-story reloading system and that, or so we were told, got one and a half kilograms of steel peeled off from the barrels by each shot -- which wouldn't be able to breach the layer of emo surrounding this show.

Yes, you read me right. If you went into this show hoping for an average romantic comedy, then you'll most likely walk out disappointed, if not horrified. Myself; Yourself turns into such a massive trainwreck in the last half, with materials that gets cut short far too soon to leave any emotional impact. I still sit here shaking my head and wondering just where things went so horribly wrong.

Undoubtedly, shock value was originally intended to play some part in this. You see, Myself; Yourself got the bright idea that just about everyone among the main cast should have horrible pasts or other kinds of teen issues. The twincest twins have issues with their father and their new stepmother, up to the point where they insult them to their faces. If you're wondering why I'm hitting them with the twincest label, then understand that while I initially wouldn't believe it myself at first, the two basically breach every single romantic cliche there is and then some. The whole thing culminates with the two eloping running away due to an anonymous letter that was sent to their school, stating that the two had spent the night in a love motel. No, seriously. The school even handled the letter in all seriousness, even if it offered no proof of any kind. I guess you're guilty until proven innocent in Japan, instead of the other way around. That, and being underage is not a problem if you want to spend the night in a love motel. And just wait until you learn who sent that letter and for what reason, because you will.

You also better get used to things not running its full course. As I mentioned above, this show has no concept of closure at all, so for everything that went wrong with everyone, the audience are pretty much left with the only option to assume and guess what happens next. The only mystery that even gets close to being explained is Nanaka's past with the fire and the amnesia. To the show's credit, Nanaka's amnesia is portrayed in a believable manner, but they still manage to conclude the whole show in a most unsatisfactory manner by dragging the ending out for almost half an episode, only to rush through a short "ten years later" scene at the end. Hilariously, even then, Aoi's voice remains unchanged.

I don't mind vague endings, I really don't. But Myself; Yourself just makes such a show about not giving a rat's patootie about its own characters that I find myself seriously unable to care about anything and anyone. It victimizes its characters based mostly on vague and grossly illogical instances to justify their irrational behavior. The only character who behaves somewhat rationally -- who actually deals with her issues in a positive manner instead of letting them grow to festering levels -- is... Aoi of the unchanging voice. And, surprise of surprises, she's severely underutilized in this show.

I'm really done with this show. Seriously, I think I need to lie down for a while and rub my aching head. Maybe it'll help me forget what I just watched.

Despite getting off on a decent start, I have a hard time coming up with names for shows that left me less entertained than this one.Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: There are quite a few scenes in this show that makes it unsuitable for children. Topics in this show include sacrifice, murder, arson, suicide, domestic violence and violence towards children. You don't actually see any of this onscreen, but it's certainly presented in a far more than just implied manner.

Oh, and there's some light fanservice and some boob-related comments. At this point, I say "big deal".

Version(s) Viewed: digital source.
Review Status: Full (13/13)
Myself; Yourself © 2007 Dogakobo, Happines Pictures, Myself; Yourself Production committee
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