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science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
and
romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series directed by Yasunori Ide, written by
Yōsuke Kuroda is a Japanese anime screenwriter from Mie Prefecture, Japan. He has his own studio, Studio Orphee. Kuroda is noted for his work on authoring the scenario, screenplay, and story composition of the anime series ''Excel Saga'', '' Please Teacher!'' ...
, and produced by
Bandai Visual was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution company, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and ...
. It was later adapted into a
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
and
light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...
and centers on a group of friends and the odd things that happen to them after they get a new teacher. The ''Please Teacher!'' anime series premiered in Japan on the WOWOW
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...
network between January 10 and March 28, 2002, spanning a total of 13 episodes, including twelve originally premiering on television plus an OVA episode released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
on October 25, 2002. It was adapted very soon into a
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
, serialized in MediaWorks's shōnen manga magazine, '' Dengeki Daioh'', in January 2002, and was also later adapted into a
light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...
, entitled ''Onegai Teacher: Mizuho and Kei's Milky Diary'', published in March 2003. The ''Please Teacher!'' anime series was soon continued with a spin-off sequel, '' Please Twins!'', which premiered on WOWOW between July 15 and October 14, 2003. The setting of the series, though left unsaid in either anime or manga, is Lake Kizaki, located in Nagano, Japan, and the region and its surrounding locations are featured prominently and accurately across the series. The novel states that the school the characters attend is the Nagano Prefectural Kizaki High School. This school is based upon the Old Matsumoto High School located in Agatanomori Park of Matsumoto, about an hour south of Lake Kizaki on the JR Ōito Line. The tower on which Kaede and Hyosuke stand upon can be found in Joyama Park on the northwest part of the city.


Plot

''Please Teacher!'' is a story mainly revolving around a tight-knit group of friends in
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
and how they cope with several life-changing events that are never too far off from
intimate relationship An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves emotional or physical closeness between people and may include sexual intimacy and feelings of romance or love. Intimate relationships are interdependent, and the member ...
s. The main character is a boy named Kei Kusanagi who suffers from a very rare
disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...
which causes a
coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...
tose state referred to as a " standstill" whenever he is under severe emotional distress. Before the beginning of the story, Kei, at 15 years of age, had fallen into a "standstill" lasting three years after witnessing the suicide of his elder sister. After recovering, he quietly moved away from home in order to avoid social difficulty due to his long absence, and began living with his uncle, a
medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...
, and aunt. Due to the strange nature of how he came to live there, Kei wanted to keep the situation a secret from his new friends for fear of being ostracized as being too old to associate with them. After Kei had established himself in his new surroundings and had entered into a close group of mutually supportive friends, a Galactic Federation starship had entered Earth's atmosphere stealthily, approached Honshū Island and landed surreptitiously in Lake Kizaki. The story begins with Kei suffering a minor 'standstill' while in the vicinity of the lake, witnessing several unexplainable phenomena happening there, and then watching as a beautiful half-human alien named Mizuho Kazami materialize beside the shore. Kazami was sent to observe planet
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
by a seemingly benevolent Galactic Federation in order to prevent humans from making developmental mistakes. Kei, upon observing the materialization, attempts to escape the pursuing Kazami. Kazami is under strict orders to prevent her true identity and mission from being discovered. During his attempt to escape, Kei falls into the lake. Kazami rescues Kei and, using information from his identification, is able to return him home in secret. The next day, Kazami has become Kei's new
homeroom A homeroom, tutor group, form class, or form is a brief administrative period that occurs in a classroom assigned to a student in primary school and in secondary school. Within a homeroom period or classroom, administrative documents are distri ...
teacher and next-door neighbor. During assisting her in moving in, Kei suffers another standstill, and while in a weakened state explains his predicament to the compassionate Mizuho, who ends up revealing her own origins and purpose on Earth. Several accidental activations of Mizuho's teleport technology (which were inadvertently caused by Kei) eventually place Kei and Mizuho in a couple of compromising situations in front of his uncle and aunt and his school's headmaster, but Kei protects Mizuho from charges for an inappropriate relationship between student and teacher by impulsively stating that they are married, resulting in an actual civil marriage that later blossoms into genuine affection for each other. The headmaster relents, partly because he, too, had married a former student younger than himself and can understand their situation personally. Both are allowed to stay so long as they do not reveal their status to the other students, and do not engage in any public displays of affection. The remainder of the series concerns the budding intimate relationships between the close friends, one of whom (Koishi Herikawa) is romantically interested in Kei, and another (Ichigo Morino) who has suffered even greater loss of time from the same disease as he has; the problems of having to maintain the secrecy of the marriage; an interfering parent and sibling visiting from the Galaxy Federation; and Kei learning to overcome the ever-present threat of another lengthy 'standstill' stealing more of his life, particularly as he has fallen deeply in love with Mizuho and desperately wants to remain with her. Eventually Kei falls into another major "standstill" and in order to bring him out of it, Mizuho has to use her technology which is against the law. As a result, her status on Earth is revoked, she is banned from the planet and all memory of her is erased from everyone's, including Kei's, minds. With the help of her mother and sister she sneaks back and is devastated to learn that Kei, who she is deeply in love with, has no memory of her. While helping her move back in, Kei reveals that his memory has returned and the two express their love for each other and get married again.


Characters

; : :Kei is an 18-year-old who retains a 15-year-old body after a three-year-long "standstill", which is a coma-like state that occurs during a time of extreme emotional distress. Standstills are derived from an unknown, possibly psychological, disease that Kei and his friend Ichigo Morino have. He tends to be a very frail and shy boy, not often wanting to assert himself when need be. :After observing the landing of a UFO while on the bank of the nearby lake and subsequently observing the alien on the lake shore, odd things begin happening to Kei in connection with this alien. The next day, Kei is surprised to find, like everyone else, that one of their teachers quit and a quick replacement was found which just happened to turn out to be the alien - Mizuho Kazami. After a few more encounters with each other, Kei is taken to her spaceship where the whole situation goes from bad to worse. Upon striking Marie, a tiny computer helper of Mizuho's, it effectively is unable to perform as well as it seemed to work, which often puts the characters in strange situations if they cannot rely on the help of Marie. :Eventually, after Kei and Mizuho are found in a locked storage room by Kei's uncle and the principal of the school, his uncle impulsively tells the principal that Kei and Mizuho are married. Later, Kei and Mizuho do get married, though only the paperwork is done while there was no official ceremony. This whole situation is kept secret from Kei's friends as Ichigo Morino constantly tries to pair Kei up with a friend of hers, Koishi, and all the while Kei and Mizuho's relationship and attraction for each other only grows. Kei also appears occasionally in the sequel ''Please Twins!'', but as cameos. ; : :Mizuho is a 23-year-old half-Earthling who is visually indiscernible from a regular human being. She is very attractive, which, while garnering the attention of the various male characters in the show, does serve to protect her secret. She comes to Earth to monitor the planet, but inadvertently she was seen by Kei just as she was landing. This leads to a catastrophic set of events that while nearly killing them both leads to a bond materializing between Kei and Mizuho. Although she did not trust him at first, she started to become attracted to Kei and eventually falls in love with him after they shared secrets about their past with one another. In a conversation with Mizuho's younger sister Maho, Kei learns that she is the youngest member of the GF Observers ever to gain a license. She is stripped of her surveyor status in episode twelve after violating several key tenets of GF Law in order to save Kei. Also from Maho we learn that Mizuho apparently has never had a romantic relationship, which is verified when she admits as much to Kei. :One of the main conflicts in the story involves Mizuho and how she tends to have great jealousy and misjudgment. While she underwent training prior to her arrival of Japanese and Earth history and customs, she was ill-prepared for dealing with the social interactions of adolescents. This trouble is further compounded by her initial, almost childlike, lack of understanding of romance. She even went to such great lengths as to spy on Kei while he was hanging out with a friend from school, Koishi Herikawa, in a set-up date. She does eventually realize her feelings for Kei once they begin living together and, at later points of the series, shows restraint and maturity that she at other times lacks. Mizuho's character can almost be thought of as two personalities. The first of a well-mannered school teacher who is soft spoken and kind. The other, seen mostly with Kei and the Edajima's is more outgoing, opinionated, and even violent on some occasions. This last point can be illustrated by the events of episode 13 where Mizuho's mother held Kei hostage in a
love hotel A love hotel is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing guests privacy for sex. The name originates from "Hotel Love" in Osaka, Japan. Although love hotels exist all over the world, the ...
. :She loves to eat Pochy, a Japanese snack food that consists of a biscuit stick covered with chocolate. She eats Pochy because it reminds her of her dead father; an empty box of Pochy was all Mizuho has left of him. Her mother and sister are also seen eating it in several episodes. Pochy is a fictional version of an actual snack known as Pocky. Her catch phrase is "Saiyūsen jikō yo!" ("This is a priority one!"). She also appears as a regular character in the same school in the sequel series ''Please Twins!'' ; : :She is one of Kei's close friends who also pursues a romantic relationship with Kei. Her parents own a grocery store and she often has to go to deliver food that people ordered. :Koishi has a happy-disposition to her personality and is only ever seen crying when it comes to matters that involve Kei. In time, she discovers that Kei has already committed his heart to someone else, and eventually grows close to her teacher Yamada, with whom she is eventually implied to have entered a romantic relationship on her own in episode 13. Also briefly appears as a cameo in ''Please Twins!'' ; : :An evidently shrewd young woman who is seemingly wise beyond her (apparent) years, and who associates with very few friends. Surprisingly, even though she resembles a diminutive 15-year-old or perhaps younger, her real age is 21; her physical development was stunted due to her "standstills", in the same way that they affect Kei. She had been in a "standstill" for 6 years. Ichigo's loss of time and her sense of life cruelly having passed her by due to the illness (she wistfully reveals to Kei that she has a younger sister who is now married and expecting a child) tends to cause her to have a much more cynical and serious demeanor than is normal for someone of her seeming age, which is sometimes commented upon by her (much younger) friends. :Her keen mind causes her to suspect the too-often 'coincidences' regarding their former teacher's departure, the new one's arrival and strange events in their neighborhood immediately after that to be connected, but her much younger and guile-less friends dismiss those connections. She also features in the sequel ''Please Twins!'' as a regular character, but with a much more mischievous behavior as class president and resembling a dictator, in fact the Morino's attitude from "Please Teacher" is completely opposite from "Please Twins" seeming that she chose (thanks to Kei) to enjoy her live to the fullest even after the 6 years she lost, the first time she shows that mischievous behaviour is in the after-credits scene of the OVA where she reveals Kei's relationships with Mizuho, Hatsuho, and Maho. ; : :Also one of Kei's friends, Kaede tends to be a rather shy girl most of the time. Her physical characteristics include that she is one quarter Irish, tall (for a Japanese) and with red hair and freckles. Despite her shyness, during an accidental visit to her hotel room by a sleep-deprived Hyosuke, in which he mistakenly climbed into her bed, she awoke from a lightly inebriated slumber and claimed that he had appeared to her in a dream which now seems to have come true. She then sweetly confesses her love for him and proceeds to seduce him. The two become inseparable and are seen together throughout the series, to the point of being seen exiting a
love hotel A love hotel is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing guests privacy for sex. The name originates from "Hotel Love" in Osaka, Japan. Although love hotels exist all over the world, the ...
together in the OVA. Kaede also features in ''Please Twins!'' briefly. ; : :Hyosuke aspires to attend college at
Tokyo University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...
and become a professional statesman, much like his brother. Hyousuke's demeanor is initially that of a shallow attention-seeker. Despite his negative attitude, he is a hard worker even impressing his friend by his high scores. :He gets very confused after Kaede (half awake believing Hyosuke being a dream) sweetly confessed to him, he overcame that confusion thanks to Kei setting a meeting with her, unbeknown to him and even angering him to the point of almost hitting Kei, he manages to cool down himself in time and grants that his friend actually is doing the best for him, and he manages to talk to Kaede and after a minor hesitation they both proceed to start a relationship. :After he becomes romantically involved with Kaede, a deeper and much more sensitive and reflective side is revealed. Kaede confirms to Ichigo and Koishi that the private Hyosuke is actually a very different person; of him, she says "He's a gentleman and he's sweet." Of Kei's group of friends, he tends to be the most hyperactive of them all and often does the strangest things too. Hyosuke also appears in ''Please Twins!'' briefly. ; : :A rather serious student who is also into astronomy, Matagu seems to be the most hopeless of the cast, a classic 'nerd', never even getting to the point of gaining a girlfriend by the end of the series. He is much less confident and self-assured than Hyosuke, or even Kei, leading one to conclude that he suffers from crippling shyness. His stated fondest dream is to meet with 'an alien creature from outer space', totally unaware of the fact that his teacher certainly qualifies as such, and that he has had several conversations with his life's dream in a very normal setting. He even considered to confess his love to her, but his shyness put a halt to his plans. Matagu appears as a common comic relief character in ''Please Twins!'' He is portrayed as a pervert when his sister is around, who only appears in ''Please Twins!''. ; : :Kei's uncle and doctor of the local clinic. Minoru is something of a lecherous rogue, continually making wolfish comments regarding the attractiveness of passing women. He even does within earshot of his wife, who often retaliates with a measured degree of physical violence. He is openly jealous of Kei's relationship with Mizuho and is more than a little perverted (in the Japanese sense of the word). Despite this, he often covers for and helps Kei and Mizuho out, such as moving Kei's possessions into the married couple's new apartment, purchasing a proper wedding ring for their private ceremony, and paying for an expensive hotel in Okinawa for their honeymoon. ; : :Kei's aunt and nurse of the local clinic. A warm, kind-hearted and quite attractive woman who puts up with her husband's behavior only so much before she starts to get really angry at him. It is evident that she is the more mature member of their pair, and is quite able to curb Minoru's wayward eye and lecherous comments with a significant look or gesture. She is not above using a small degree of force to cause her husband to 'heel' if his behavior gets too outrageous. She seems very sexually amorous towards her husband and loves him deeply. She is very supportive of Kei and Mizuho's relationship, backing Minoru's initial lie to the Headmaster about the couple being married, and then providing a second-hand wedding dress for Mizuho to wear in a private ceremony with only her, Mizuho, Kei and Minoru present. ; : :A quasi-organic master control program for Mizuho's ship. Totally self-repairing and maintenance free. Hovers around in an
inner tube An inner tube is an inflatable torus that forms the interior of some pneumatic tires. The tube is inflated through a valve stem and fits inside the tire casing. The inflated inner tube provides structural support and suspension, while the out ...
and on occasion plays a miniature guitar. Due to Kei fearfully striking 'him' during an initial escape attempt when Mizuho revealed her true identity, Marie's programming became scrambled, endangering both Kei and Mizuho. Communicating partly through indistinct sounds and through gestures, Marie is essentially a portable link to the ship's operating system. But 'he' is also capable of emotion, as witnessed by the romantic relationship formed between 'himself' and Miruru and his sorrow at their parting. Additionally, in the OVA they are implied to have sex, and both of them become embarrassed when they see others display affection. The implication provided in the series 'extras' is that Marie and Miruru are but extensions of the ships themselves, and thus are the ships. Marie also appears in ''Please Twins!'', often eating a different brand from Pochy, called "Prech". ; : :A quiet and shaggy male teacher whose hobby is creating human-powered planes (one of which flies successfully in the final episode, earning him a trophy). At first he appears to be something of a physically developed nerd, obsessed with his hobby. Koishi delivers him meals from her parents' grocery store, and eventually both of them grow close; in episode 13 it is implied that they actually may have entered a romantic (and sexual) relationship. He trimmed his hair after Koishi states that he would be handsome if would do so, he forgets this after Mizuho gets forcefully removed from everyone memories after she is stripped of her rank still he remains his new neat look. Yamada appears occasionally in ''Please Twins!'' ; : :Mizuho's little sister, who disapproves of Kei but eventually comes to accept him. Initially, she is incensed that a member of the powerful Galactic Federation's elite Observers (which it is revealed that Mizuho has the honor of being its youngest member) would stoop to marry such an evident primitive (conveniently overlooking the fact that she is ostensibly the product of just such a union, claiming that the only time that she had ever seen Mizuho cry was when their father died; the implication of wildly different growth rates between alien and human are suggested here, as Maho is much younger-looking than Mizuho and Mizuho had stated that she could barely recall her father's appearance). Maho even attempts to use Miruru to hurt Kei. During the process, she learns just how deeply Kei loves Mizuho and vice versa, and she relents, and later actually shows him a degree of affection with a stolen kiss, but she still possesses a playfully devious nature and is not above blackmailing Kei with videos of intercourse between him and Mizuho to get what she wants. :Hatsuho even states that Maho is in love with Kei as she possibly look him like the ideal boyfriend. ; : :Mizuho's and Maho's widowed mother, who is very fond of Kei. She is a self-assured, bold but subtly assertive woman. She is not above playfully teasing her oldest daughter and son-in-law, demanding to know intimate details regarding their relationship. She greatly resembles Mizuho, with the exception of having purplish hair instead of pink, green eyes and a small beauty mark on her chin. ;: Mizuho's, Maho's father, Hatsuho's late husband, and a Japanese astronaut; no image of him has ever been seen in the series. The 2009 Mars expedition ship he was a crew member of was presumed lost in space. However, a GF vessel rescued the crew, but the (never verified) implication was that he was not allowed to return to Earth. One of the crew of the GF spacecraft that rescued the Mars expedition was Hatsuho, which is how they came to meet and be married. Unable (or unwilling) to return to Earth, possibly due to the Federation's strict laws governing contact with non-incorporated races, he remained in Federation space and raised a family there. The assumption is that he had attained citizenship, either through marriage or through naturalization, and at that point may have been abjured from returning. Eventually, he went on to develop a planetary contact program for Earth for the Galactic Federation. He died when Mizuho was still a child. The only thing of Earth that he had left behind had been an empty box of Pochy, which Mizuho had treasured. ; : :Another computer intelligence hologram and Maho's sister, dressed in female-like clothing. The implication is that both Marie and Miruru are in fact commlinks for the ships, themselves. In other words, the ships house self-aware AIs capable of emotions, which are reflected in the actions of the two miniature beings. Seems also to be romantically involved with Marie. Like her counterpart, Miruru lacks human language, instead she utters "Miru" at random opposing to Marie's high-pitched shriek-like cries. ; : :Kei Kusanagi's elder sister. In a flashback which is shown during a critical 'standstill', it is revealed that Kozue was a very bright, though possibly mentally disturbed, girl who felt that human emotions were the cause of much suffering in the world, and sought to escape them by committing suicide, which Kei had the misfortune of witnessing. The trauma of having done so and the guilt that he had felt at being unable to prevent it led to his first 'standstill'. ; : :Known as the little girl during the summer who finds a boy (Kei in this anime, Maiku in '' Please Twins!'') who she quickly becomes attracted to. Soon after, she finds out the person she falls in love with already has a love interest. Her dog is then pulled on the neck by the leash when she staggers away broken-hearted. She also appears in ''Please Twins!''


Media


Anime

The ''Please Teacher!'' anime series, authored and scripted by
Yōsuke Kuroda is a Japanese anime screenwriter from Mie Prefecture, Japan. He has his own studio, Studio Orphee. Kuroda is noted for his work on authoring the scenario, screenplay, and story composition of the anime series ''Excel Saga'', '' Please Teacher!'' ...
, directed by Yasunori Ide, and produced by
Bandai Visual was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution company, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and ...
, Studio Orphee and
Daume was a Japanese animation studio that was founded in 1986 by Haruo Nakayama and his wife, Tomiko Yamamoto, with Nakayama taking the role of president of the studio. In 1993, Takeshi Anzai became co-president with Nakayama; however, sometime in the ...
, originally premiered in Japan on the
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...
network WOWOW, between January 10 and March 28, 2002, spanning a total of thirteen episodes, including twelve originally premiering on television plus an OVA episode concluding the series, released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
on October 25, 2002. It has also been broadcast across Japan by the anime satellite television network,
Animax , stylized as ANIMAX in all caps, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. Launched on July 1, 1998, Animax is the first 24-hour network in the world dedicated to anime.The Anime Biz' - ...
, who have aired the series across its respective networks worldwide, including
East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...
,
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
, and as well as its
English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
networks in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
and
South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
. The series has been licensed for North American distribution by Bandai's distributive unit across the region,
Bandai Entertainment was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution company, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and ...
, who have released the series via a four-volume DVD release, and whose English dub has also been broadcast by Animax across its English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia. The series is now licensed by
Right Stuf Right Stuf Inc. (formerly known as The Right Stuf International Inc.) was an American video publisher and distributor of video programming that specialized in Asian entertainment (anime and live action films). It had several divisions includin ...
under their Nozomi Entertainment label. The ''Please Teacher!'' anime series was soon continued with a spinoff, '' Please Twins!'', which premiered on WOWOW between July 15 and October 14, 2003, featuring many of the characters featured in the series, as the series' story happens after ''Please Teacher!''. The series' opening theme is "Shooting Star" by Kotoko, and the ending theme is by Mami Kawada. The song by
Kikuko Inoue is a Japanese voice actress, singer and narrator. She has been part of the singing groups DoCo and Goddess Family Club. She is the founder and manager of her voice-acting company, Office Anemone. Inoue tends to play the " perfect girlfriend" ...
is used as an insert song in episode 11, and the song "Love a Riddle" by Kotoko is used as the ending theme in episode 12. An official AMV of the series was released as "Snow Angel", the music is from the entry #6 of Kotoko's album "Stokesia".


Manga

''Please Teacher!'' was adapted into a manga series, authored by Japanese
manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...
Shizuru Hayashiya, which was serialized in MediaWorks's manga magazine, '' Dengeki Daioh'', in January 2002, its run consisting of two- bound volume compilations. The manga has since been licensed for North American distribution by
ComicsOne ComicsOne Corp. was an American distributor of Asian Comics (manga, manhwa, and manhua), established in 1999. ComicsOne was based in Fremont, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. ComicsOne also served as the distributor for Videotape, vid ...
and in
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
by Editora JBC, under the title ''Onegai Teacher''. The story maintains the basic plot, but adds comic humor that suits the manga format well, taking full advantage of still frames. However, there are quite a few minor details that have been omitted from the anime or were completely changed: the relationship between Hyosuke and Kaede is deflected, with Hyosuke ending up with Ichigo; Yamada is never introduced; Minoru is much more overt with his lecherousness, but is a great deal of help in Kei and Mizuho's relationship; Koishi's role is diminished somewhat; Hatsuho is only shown in only two frames, as a transmission call to the couple warning them of Maho's wrath and in the other world when Kei has a standstill; and finally, the Okinawan honeymoon is never shown or mentioned.


Light novel

The
light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...
version entitled ''Onegai Teacher: Mizuho and Kei's Milky Diary'' was written by
Gō Zappa is a Japanese author and anime screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, featur ...
and illustrated by Taraku Uon and Hiroaki Gōda. It was published in Japan by MediaWorks in March 2003 and was only one volume in length. The English edition was released by Comics One in October 2003.


Reception

Critical reception of ''Please Teacher!'' has been generally positive. Carlos Ross and Lauren Smoller of THEM Anime Reviews praised the series, giving the TV series 4 out of 5 stars, and 3 out of 5 stars for the OVA. Ross praised the animation, cast of characters, character designs and development, the opening track, the chemistry between Kei and Mizuho, but handed out criticism regarding the plot. He states that "the plot does rely on a whole lot of circumstances and cliches that do get grating as the series goes on. While the accessory characters are often just as well characterized as the leads, you do get really sick of them popping up to interfere with the main relationship." Overall, Ross concludes that "there are moments in this show that are pure magic. While its flaws prevent it from being the best of the best, this anime is very well worth watching and picking up the moment you see it on the shelf." Smoller handed out mild praise for the OVA's animation, and the chemistry between the two main leads, but handed out criticism for the lack of a coherent plot, the jokes, and the supporting cast. She also notes that the OVA's main target audience is for adults, stating that it is "basically soft-core hentai." Theron Martin of Anime News Network gave the series a B− rating, praising the soundtrack, animation, character designs and development, as well as the chemistry between Kei and Mizuho, but criticized the plot for being too cliched. He handed out mild praise for the English dub, stating that it sticks very closely to the original Japanese, and handed out good marks for Sandy Fox's performance as Maho Kazami. Martin ultimately concludes that "it is a mildly entertaining series with occasional strong points and some storytelling aspects which offer a different feel than most current romantic fare."


See also

*'' Please Twins!'' *'' Waiting in the Summer''


Notes and references


External links


''Please!'' official website



''Please Teacher!'' Bandai Channel website

Bandai Entertainment's product page: ''Please Teacher!'' - Complete Collection
* * {{Dengeki Daioh 2002 anime OVAs 2002 anime television series debuts 2002 manga 2003 Japanese novels Anime and manga set in schools Anime with original screenplays Bandai Entertainment anime titles Bandai Visual ComicsOne titles Dengeki Bunko Dengeki Comics Dengeki Daioh Lantis (company) Light novels Romantic comedy anime and manga Science fiction anime and manga Shōnen manga Television shows set in Nagano Prefecture Wowow original programming