Kitoshi Himura, as a well-known manga artist and illustrator in Japan, the fandom produced by his community Bimura Dairy can be said to be the favorite of countless old drivers.
In 2017, he was involved in the production of an anime with Kamo Shida, the author of Sakura-soo Pet Girl, which is the protagonist of today's article.
《Just Because！》
《Just Because！ The story of (hereinafter referred to as just) is not complicated to say, that is, the college entrance examination preparation of several protagonists is the main line, and the passage of time is used to advance the plot.
There are three main female characters, namely the heroine of the story, Natsume Mitsuru, the female Morikawa Yezuki, and the late stages of the anime, Keina Komiya.
Among them, Mei Xu is a third-year student like Ye Yue, so she is facing the pressure of college;
Komiya, on the other hand, is a second-year student of the photography department that is about to be abolished, and his personality is more lively and cheerful than theirs.
As for the male protagonist of the story, there are only two, namely the male protagonist Quan Yingtai and his good friend Xiangma Yangdou.
Although these two are third-year students, Ying Tai has already obtained the qualification of escort due to his excellent grades, while Yang Dou knows that his grades are not good and decides to go to work immediately after graduation.
Perhaps seeing this, you may feel that there will be a "sense of estrangement" between the characters because of their achievements and ways out, which is indeed reflected in the plot, but it is much more complicated than you think.
Therefore, I need to do a simple science popularization of Japan's college entrance examination system to help everyone better understand "Just Because! this work.
01
The "college entrance examination" system across the water
Speaking of the college entrance examination, I think that people born in recent decades must have been exposed to or at least heard of this system, some people have changed their lives by relying on it, and some can only regret it for life...
As for Japan, which is separated by a river, because it belongs to the same East Asian cultural circle, the spiritual core and traditional culture of the whole country have great similarities with us, and the same is true of the college entrance examination system.
Take the college entrance examination model, for example, Japanese people apply for universities, and there are two situations: "national" (public) and "private".
For both the state and the public, there are two exams, and their names are "センター試験" (center exam) and "second test" (second test)
Their timing is January and February each year (which is rarely postponed to March), which is why in the anime, Omi took the exam in heavy snow and almost missed it.
For the "central examination", it is very similar to China's college entrance examination, which is organized by the national unified examination, but unlike China, they are a national volume, and there is no domestic one-two-three-volume division.
After the exam at the center, the test results will come out about ten days apart, which is a reference or rough standard for candidates to register for college.
After having a score in mind, generally speaking, Japanese candidates will apply for 1 national (public) + 2 private universities, and the national admission rate due to low tuition fees is a "rush";
Private will be high and low, the score is low as the bottom, that is, in the 11 episodes of the anime, Suzuki Momoka said to her because she was envious of Misuke's good grades.
Another private university with higher requirements needs to conduct a "second examination" in February or March, which is very similar to the "independent enrollment" in China, and the content and time of the examination are arranged by each university itself. (Generally not repeated, and the difficulty is quite high)
(PS: The picture shows the volunteers of the two members of komiya, and you can see that there is a significant gap in the strength of the three schools. ）
Moreover, the focus of the two examinations is also different, and the purpose of the "unified examination" is generally to allow the university to better determine the student's high school education level, that is, the comprehensive learning ability.
The "secondary examination" will focus on the students' volunteerism and strengths, and pay more attention to the candidates' professional knowledge, thinking ability, or some other qualities.
(PS: This is also the reason why Mitsuru, although the center test results are good, but the follow-up is more intense review.) ）
If you have good results in the unified exam and the second exam, then you can wait for the admission notice at home, and in April, that is, in the early spring, you can step into the beautiful university campus
For the "private university" application is relatively flexible, the enrollment method is also very different.
Generally speaking, the school will take a certain proportion of the score of the unified test, and then supplement it with the score of the independent test, and combine the two as the final score of the student.
(PS: Pictured is Waseda University, two-dimensional filter version.) ）
And as a private university, naturally there is also a "recommended admission" system, in addition to the "designated school recommendation" controlled by the local tycoon class, there is also a "general recommendation" this road, similar to our Concept of Chinese Specialty Students, Guarantee Students, its difficulty is very high, which is why the male protagonist Quan Ying is called a bully.
As for the types of Japanese universities, there are three types: national universities, public universities, and private universities.
Among them, the national and public governments invest in the construction of the state and local governments respectively, and the more famous ones are the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Yokohama City, and Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
As for private universities, they are founded by foundations or private investment, such as Waseda University, Keio University, etc.
If you put it in the work "just", it has been mentioned that the heroine's first choice is "Jade Mountain Gakuin University", whose address is Shibuya, which in reality should correspond to Aoyama Gakuin University, which is a very famous private university in Japan. (Later the heroine changed her volunteer)
The male protagonist has always been admitted to "Kamei University", although the name of Kamiko University is made up blindly at first hearing, but its prototype is very easy to find, that is, "Sophia University", a top institution with the same name as Waseda and Keio.
(PS: There is also Komiya, whose volunteer is obviously Tokyo University of the Arts, whose status is equivalent to that of The Northern Film + Chinese Opera.) ）
02
Rare "learning" romance animations
In most of the campus animations, the male and female protagonists are generally in the high school stage, but although they have the identity of high school students, they (she) are often immersed in love with the development of the plot and cannot extricate themselves, so that the melon-eating masses often spit out: Don't you study???
And "just" can really be described as one of the clear streams, the reason is that almost all the plot is around the "exam", their life and learning status are based on the reality of the candidate.
Therefore, "Just" is very representative.
On the one hand, it makes us feel empathy because of the truth, but on the other hand, because of the emotional entanglement of the story, we can sigh the beautiful love of high school students with a hazy sense of youth.
It is precisely for the above reasons that I have spent a considerable amount of pen and ink to popularize the Japanese college entrance examination for everyone, hoping to answer the possible doubts of the audience and thus improve the perception.
As far as the work itself is concerned, the main line of the work is "college entrance examination preparation", but the way it is promoted is a complex emotional dispute between the test preparers.
The setting of the two male protagonists and three female protagonists of "just" must have someone become a defeated dog, and there must be a "triangular relationship" among these people, and even emotional entanglement.
But the good thing is that there are no bad-eyed characters in the work.
For example, although the male protagonist Ying Tai has a more introverted personality, he may be affected by this and appear to be a little passive in love, but his emotional intelligence and IQ are very high (don't forget the setting of the submission), and the most important thing is that his mobility is also super strong, so it is not annoying. (Some male protagonists with low emotional intelligence in Asahi are stark examples)
Another example is the second heroine of the story, Morikawa, although her appearance gives people a feeling of a gentle and well-behaved woman, her performance in the anime is also the image of the standard Yamato Fumiko.
But in fact, her thinking is very realistic, even a little precocious. (Not the body, but specifically the mental aspect)
There is also my favorite character in the whole story, Komiya, who is the last to meet him as a descendant of Yingtai, but her affection for Yingtai is the most obvious.
Maybe it was love at first sight, but in the process of getting along, her feelings gradually got her own confirmation, so after confirming that her feelings were like, she has also been bravely pursuing Yingtai and silently paying.
(PS: The picture shows Komiya running N shrines to get a talisman for Ying tai to bless him with a smooth exam.) ）
Youth is unbridled, so XiaoGong has been bravely chasing love;
Youth is also contradictory, so Mei Xu has been unable to face her own heart;
But at the same time, youth is full of infinite possibilities, so "just because" can create such a touching youth story for us in the cruel background of the college entrance examination.
03
Write stories with your heart and paint with your feet
Generally speaking, when it comes to love, especially non-one-way love, its plot will be criticized by the audience because of the various inauthentic characters or the unreasonableness of the plot.
But in "Just", this kind of sound is much less, not because of how good the emotional story created by "just" is, but because it has another overly obvious shortcoming, that is, "picture production".
To put it bluntly, the production level of "Just" is an industry disaster, except for the background painting because it is a realistic scene copy, which is quite good.
Other problems such as long-range collapse, close-up collapse, uncoordinated face proportions, stiff character movements, and inability to distinguish between characters bumping into faces abound, even those who have very low requirements for painting will inevitably complain.
When we carefully observe the production team, we will find that except for the script of the animation, Kamo Shidaichi, the character of the animation, kishiki Bimura, and the supervisor of the animation, Atsushi Kobayashi, there are almost no big guys who can be named.
Pine Jam, the production company for Just, is a new company that was only founded in 16 years (note that the animation was released in 17 years), and "Just Because!" is their first original work.
Therefore, it can be seen that Kamoshida, Kishi Himura and others are just "tool people" that Pine Jam uses to create topics.
Although it is undeniable that their cooperation does make the animation shine a lot, the poor level of the entire company still greatly reduces the audience's perception, resulting in a decline in animation reviews.
But anyway, "Just Because!" " is still a rare masterpiece.
Love is like a fire for some people, and sweet for others, but for young boys and girls, the beauty lies in that hazy feeling, and "Just Because" is undoubtedly the best display of this hazy feeling.