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Rating: 8.8/10

Impressions:

Genres: Romance(?)
Episodes: 2
OP: “Forget-me-not�? by Hiromi Satou
ED: “Winter Garden�? by Asami Sanada
Studio: J.C. Staff
Official Site: http://www.broccoli.co.jp/dejiko/anime.html
Official Site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/wintergarden/

Winter Garden, the spinoff of Di Gi Charat, where ten years have passed and Deijiko and Puchiko are 20 and 15 respectively. It doesn’t look like there’s any connection between the two shows apart from the two characters with the same name. They don’t even look anything like the characters from Di Gi Charat. Well anyway, the quality is rather high, though with one very noticeable flaw; the shadowing. Hardly anything is shadowed, and this is obvious on the clothes and face. However, it does blend in well with the watercolour/washy background, so it’s not that bad. Apart from that though, the character design and animation is exceptional. Walking sequences now don’t just mean making heads bob up and down. The movement is fluid and obeys the laws of physics more closely than your average anime. It is also more biologically correct, since I don’t think any normal person walks without moving their shoulders. I love the character design too, and the character I instantly found as my favourite would have to be Puchiko!

So basically, Winter Garden is a romance/slice of life series. If you’re a fan of those genres, or it simply looks really cute to you, go ahead and watch it. There are only two episodes btw. Because of that I’ve been thinking that this should go in the fall season category, but that would be a bit strange considering it’s called Winter Garden, and the first episode occurs in winter (Christmas to be exact). So I guess this is my first winter series! Anyway, of course the question I would be asking right now is the girl who Takurou is living with. I seriously doubt a guy like him would cheat on people, so I assume it’s a relative. But then again, the love story so far seems a bit too straightforward and simple, with no drama. However, Winter Garden seems more like a feel-good show, so if things go smoothly all the way, it wouldn’t be strange anyway. Only thing I want now is to see more o Puchiko. She’s such an awesome character (who really does remind me of Mikuru from SHnY). I want to see her in school too…

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