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Aug 29 2012 08:03 PM

Let the kids take their time as far as that fated kiss goes...it will come all in good time. The creator of this wonderful series has his reasons for such and if those who are harping about it read what he thinks...well, you can cool your jets a bit.
I read this in one of the MAL forums on the OVA. I post it here for those of you who care to read it:
As for the people who are disappointed that the relationship has not progressed more physically, he talked about the reason that he placed the age of the characters in the 16/17 year-old age range. He said something to the effect of:
If you tell a story about two middle school students who are attracted to each other and end up spending the night together, your assumption is that they would not have sex, if the same story were told about college age students, you would assume they would. High school is the middle ground where you don't really know what will happen. They are legally old enough*, but inexperienced, so they may or may not.
[* In Japan, and most US States, but not all...]
That age group holds a great wealth of narrative possibilities. I think that is part of the reason that so many romance stories are set at that age. In that same author's note section, he talked about how he thinks that modern youth are too quick to enter into physically intimate relationships and this story is about the wonders of the pre-sexual relationship and the joys and sorrows the emotional roller-coaster (my word, not his) that such relationships put you on provide. From that point of view, once the relationship reaches a point of physical intimacy, the mystery is gone and the story over! It is a story about the journey, not the destination.
That says it plain and clear and makes perfect sense to me.

A great piece of trivia: The characters that were "possessed by fox spirits" were the main couple from Ueshiba-sensei's earlier manga Discommunication, Matsubue Takaomi and Togawa Arika.

In my humble opinion I thought those two mysterious characters were great. They added a wonderful spooky atmosphere to the festival and that little "abandoned shack" next to the Shrine. They were playful and delightful and also, on the brink of falling in love. The Mangaka wanted to pay them tribute by adding them into the OVA.

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Aug 29 2012 04:00 PM

those are some reasons why I'm kinda disappointed with this summer festival episode expecting Tsubaki to kiss Urabe finally in such romantic atmosphere, but no it didnt happen again -.- in a new OVA maybe we get a better conclusion or just more body fluid fetishes like the kitsune guy drinking tears instead of drool... I wish to be wrong but I doubt there will be another season after reading a 'see you' graffiti in the last seconds ¬¬ I have seen something similar in other series, which didn't continue besides the manga so as mentioned in my previous post I waited for something better but in average my final score is 5/10

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Aug 29 2012 02:19 PM
A nice OVA. This feels like we really need a second season: Ueno thought he was doing Tsubaki a favor by setting him up with Urabe. Of course he was helping but now we need a followup on it. Namely Ueno asking Tsubaki how it went after him and Oka suddenly went missing. We didn't get to see that part. Also Tsubaki still hasn't kissed Urabe. What would happen then to both of them?
One thing was a bit puzzling: we get the two ghosts...did we really need that part? Could it have been done with something else. A bit too far fetched.
For me the OVA is a 7 out of 10.

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Aug 28 2012 01:26 AM

The manga is still ongoing and without an end in sight so all remains to be seen...but, rumors are flying there just might be a second season but I ain't gonna buy it until I am actually downloading the first episode of the second season. Loved how Ueno-kun thought himself the great friend by setting my boy Tsubaki-kun up with sweetie Urabe-chan.
Watching this sweet summer OVA made me smile to remember just how much I enjoyed watching the series...drool and all. 7/10
Glad you enjoyed it too, Woofie-san.

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Aug 28 2012 12:29 AM
The OVA came out today... well was translated today, and it was pretty much your standard summer festival at the local shrine.

I have to say that Urabe did look lovely in her yukata, and not only that even went to the lengths of doing the unwritten rule of: If you wear a yukata then you shouldn't wear panties.

Still with how the OVA played out I have to say that I look forward to seeing if they ever do a second season of this series at all now.

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Jul 2 2012 01:34 PM
So the last episode and to have a focus on Tsubaki's sister Yohko was surprising. She is a nice feature to the series. Too bad we only get to know more about her in this last episode and she sure is not fooled by Akira and Urabe..it is pretty clear she suspects them to be a couple.
The visit to the grave from Urabe was strange but to be expected i guess. One thing i didn't like was that exchange of saliva at the grave. Why no kiss? Urabe hints that they are going to do even more things but it still is pretty weak in the end. That may the biggest problem with this series: Tsubaki and Urabe's relationship seems to go nowhere soon. Also we don't get any information about why Urabe is so strange with her drool and probably other bodily fluids...

In all it was an entertaining series with some nice episodes. The drool exchange is something to get used to. The characters are good but sometimes we don't get any information on them. The major problem lies with its storyline. It is a story about Urabe and Tsubaki's relationship and how strange Urabe is..we don't get any big progression on that part. For me that makes this series not the best it could have been: just a 6.5 out of 10.

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Jul 1 2012 05:03 PM
Nazo no Kanojo X (Mysterious Girlfriend X) is based off an ongoing manga that began serialization in 2006. The anime premiered during the Spring 2012 anime season with a simulcast by CrunchyRoll and a US license by Sentai Filmworks. The anime is a 13 episode series following Akira Tsubaki who decides to taste the leftover drool of his classmate, Mikoto Urabe, when she fell asleep in class. The result is gets sick but in a withdrawal manner, meaning he can't live without her drool anymore. Thus, the relationship between Mikoto and Akira began where they met each other every so often such that Mikoto would give Akira some of her drool so that Akira would not continue to suffer his withdrawal symptoms. Okay...this show already sounds weird enough as is, so I'll stop there with the introduction...

So, as you might have read above, this is obviously a fetish show. If you are disgusted by the idea of exchanging drool (not via kiss by the way), then you may as well stop at episode 1 as this is a recurring theme throughout the entire show. No, this is not a hentai title. Anyways, the concept, while disgusting, is unique. It's definitely not something that has been done before and I give the show props for that. As for story, it's a typical school-life romance show as the students go through puberty and act on their sexual instincts. Surprisingly, the ecchi factor of this show is rather tamed and not overdone in a way where "you must show a panty shot or nipple to keep the plot moving." So those are its good points. What about the bad ones? Well, the show is told from a very monotone standpoint. The characters are not very interesting and they basically all talk as if they were robots, especially the two leads. The story is very linear so having it told from a monotone standpoint only makes it really boring to watch.

Art wise it gives off an unusual late 90s/early 2000 feel. It's certainly different from many other titles shown nowadays, which gives it a nice niche in the season. Character designs are by Kenichi Konishi, who did the designs for Tokyo Godfathers and Bokurano and I definitely do see the resemblance. It's not exactly my favorite for this show unlike the other titles, but it definitely matches the retro backgrounds.  Animation wise, tt can almost be guaranteed that this show could be mistaken for a 90s/early 2000 title instead of a 2012 title. Take that as you will but it's fairly decent. My only major complaint is the stiff movements in this show. Fluidity isn't exactly the strongest points for this show and facial expressions often don't change when a character is talking for a period of time. Nevertheless, a big step up overall by Hoods Entertainment, which is the animation studio behind Seikon no Qwaser and Manyuu Hiken-chou.

OP/ED were pretty much forgettable for this show. As I've said earlier, voice acting is pretty weak overall and background and sound effects were pretty much weak and soft throughout the entire show.

Enjoyment? There was one segment that really interested me, particularly when Aika showed up. Those set of episodes were at least decent and managed to keep my attention. Of course, Aika quickly dropped out of the running as expected.

Overall, the series is below average. The drool can be a major turn-off for many and while the show does manage to progress, it's nothing groundbreaking. It's unique but it's not really useful when the show itself doesn't take full advantage of  a unique theme and move with it. I remember a lot of people bugging me to watch this show after being behind 9 or 10 episodes for it's good plot, but at the end of the day, all I felt was "meh" coming out of it. Can't say I look forward to the OVA in August.

Preliminary Score: 4/10
Final Score: 4/10

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Jul 1 2012 10:52 AM

you know Oka admires her a bit too much to the point about her suspicious preferences and even try or imitate whatever she does considering her a very cool and mysterious girl (most likely her best friend), anyway final episode was nice involving the Tsubaki family specially Akira's sister Yohko and first/last time the father appears visiting their mom's grave (later by Urabe in an emotive saliva exchange) ^^ ...a pleasant slice of life with a touch of weird stuff and awkward drool moments but then again I'll wait for its OVA (would be interesting to watch Urabe's parents in it) to give my final score which started with 6/10, I'm kinda disappointed with "the end" written after credits discarding a second season because we never saw them confess they are an official couple to nobody else except for Oka and Hayakawa of course

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Jun 24 2012 08:09 AM

I agree. Sawano acted really nice to him. Maybe we are finally going to see Urabe and Tsubaki showing the class that they like each other? That would be a pretty logical continuation after this episode.
By the way why is Oka trying to be like Urabe? Her actions feel pretty strange.
The dream was really nuts this time. Urabe in a bunny suit...If that was Tsubaki's dream, what was Urabe dreaming to get her pillow damp??

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Jun 24 2012 05:39 AM

yup finally Tsubaki was able to hug Urabe by surprise but it came with a risky cost because her mind wasn't focused enough while using her scissors skill, accidentally caused his forehead to bleed and shred the curtain from her house when she cut that portrait into pieces (for a second I though it had the pic of her first crush but she only did for practice)... also I think Sawano acted a bit too friendly with him when she replaced the gauze Urabe put on his wound with a bandaid and clinged on his arm making her jealous, I wonder if she likes him as she still doesn't know he has a girlfriend and if she has something to do with Urabe wanting to break up in the finale (err sorry I confused its airing date last week)