With episode 2, I have been officially captivated by the new show Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight. At the end of the show, I had tears in my eyes: tears of sympathy and pleasure. To keep track of the characters and seiyuus, I've made a page showing pictures of the characters and their seiyuus, with links to information about each seiyuu.After one episode, Nodame Cantabile is clearly the best show of the new season, and I'm enjoying Hidamari Sketch and (surprisingly) Kyoushiro to Towa no Sora. But I don't think I've ever seen a show cuter than Manabi Straight. With episode 2, in particular, the cuteness is industrial strength. The show's combination of heartwarming and moe verges on nuclear fusion.The animation is outstanding throughout, and particularly in the OP. The music is great. The story is positive and inspiring, at least so far. And the voice-acting is sheer excellence. Of course, with Horie Yui as the star, what do you expect? But Hirano Aya has developed a new modality of tsundere for her character -- both tsun and heartbreakingly dere -- and Nonaka Ai, Inoue Marina, and Fujita Saki are all extremely effective.
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