First shoujo-ai anime?
Brother, Dear Brother [TV 1991]
Alternative titles Oniisama e…
To My Brother…
Onii-sama e
Total Episodes 39 (39 x 26 min)
Release Date 1991-07-14 ∼ 1992-05-31
Director/Creator Dezaki Osamu (based on manga by Ikeda Riyoko)
Studio TMS
SUMMARY
Oniisama e (“To Big Brother”) is a shoujo-ai manga series by Ikeda Riyoko, also the author of Rose Of Versailles. Written in the 1970s, it is one of the earliest examples of the genre, and seems to have had a considerable effect on the series that came after it. It was adapted into an anime series in the ’90s.
Misonoo Nanako is a professor’s daughter looking forward to her first day of school at the prestigious Seiran Academy, a girls-only school that caters to the rich or, in her case, those with high test scores. She soon finds that the school is polarized by three popular and talented individuals, known as the Magnificent Three and distinguished by their nicknames: “Kaoru no Kimi” or Kaoru Orihara, a boyish, but talented sports player named after a character in The Tale of Genji; “Saint-Juste” or Rei Asaka, a flamboyant pianist named for a French Revolutionary character; and “Miya-sama” or Fukiko Ichinomiya, the president of the Seiran Sorority, an elite group of the most beautiful and talented girls of the school.
She narrates the story of the series in a series of letters to a young man named Takehiko Henmi, who she calls “Oniisama” (Brother). In reality, Takehiko was her teacher at the cram school she went to earlier. She feels such a strong bond with him that she asks if she could continue corresponding with him. He agrees, and soon she begins writing to him as a “brother”. When Nanako starts her new school year at the all-girl Seiran School, she is unexpectedly inducted into the school’s Sorority despite having none of the looks, talents, or background needed to become a member. As the series progresses, she becomes involved in the lives of the Magnificent Three.
As Nanako continues to interact with these women, she becomes attached to the great but troubled Rei Asaka, whom she wants to help, but cannot get close to due her obsession with Fukiko Ichinomiya, the Sorority president. Nanako also becomes friends with a beautiful and lonely young girl named Mariko, who is determined to get into the Sorority and make Nanako her best friend at all costs. Meanwhile, Nanako has problems of her own; she is constantly being bullied by her peers due to her membership in the Sorority despite not having any of the requirements.
Throughout these problems Nanako is supported by her childhood friend Tomoko, the athletic but secretly ailing Kaoru Orihara, and the correspondence with her “brother”, who just happens to have some secrets of his own. The series chronicles her first-year at Seiran Academy as she uncovers the past of some of the most popular girls in school, learning of love, loss, and her own family’s secrets, including her true relation with Takehiko.
“Oniisama e” is beautiful, and full of angst. This anime will haunt you through screenshots and pieces of music. The voice acting is superb (watch it in japanese, please, no other language does justice, just read the subtitles). This anime have deep, strong, characters and really touching stories. It is one of the most captivating anime I have ever seen. The presence of strong female characters is one of the things that attracts me. I really adore Kaoru Orihara and Rei Asaka – they both have deep strong personalities. Oh, how I want such women to be in reality!