POPS

The Margaret video series was a set of six shoujo OVAs released at monthly intervals in 1993. They were based on manga published in Margaret magazine and animated by Madhouse. In chronological order, they were:

• Oshare Kozou wa Hanamaru (April)
• Singles (May)
• POPS (June)
• Oedo wa Nemurenai! (July)
• Kiss wa Me ni Shite (August)
• A-Girl (September)

Orphan has released A-Girl and Kisa wa Me ni Shite. Now, our shoujo spree continues with POPS.

As with the others in the series, POPS has a rather standard shoujo plot. Harada Kusuko is a high school girl with a secret crush on the class playboy, Mishima Takeshi.

After breaking up with his most recent girlfriend, Mishima asks Kusuko to be his date for the class trip to Kyoto. She's over the moon, but in fact, Mishima is hung up on Shouko, his middle school teacher. Despite the age gap (and general inappropriateness of the relationship), Mishima still sees Shouko, whose marriage is disintegrating. His friend and loyal wingman, Kotaro, openly disapproves of this connection. As the emotional tensions mount, Mishima becomes involved in fights with other boys, and eventually, he's expelled from school. Feeling like he's been a complete jerk, Mishima breaks up with Kusuko and drops out of her life. Will true love find a way?

If the plot sounds familiar, it should - it has almost the same structure as Kiss wa Me ni Shite: the besotted heroine, the handsome protagonist guarding his secrets, his older love interest, and the other boy, perhaps secretly in love with the heroine. Come to think of it, A-Girl had a similar story. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is... enemy action? rote storytelling? You be the judge.

The seiyuu in POPS are less well known that the ones in Kiss wa Me ni Shite.

• Yuuki Nae (Kusuko) has only one other anime credit besides POPS.
• Miyazaki Issei (Mishima) made his debut as Gen in the Barefoot Gen movies. He had featured roles in Azuki-chan, Bomber Man & Bidaman Bakugaiden, and X the Movie.
• Kobayashi Hidetoshi (Kotaro) only appeared in POPS.
• Takamori Yoshino (Shouko) played the arch oujo-sama Sayaka in Yawara! and
  the twin roles of Juliet Douglas and Sloth in Full Metal Alchemist. She also appeared in the What's Michael? OVAs and Yousei Ou, all Orphan releases.

The director, Asaka Morio, has done many famous shows, including Cardcaptor Sakura and its recent reboot, Galaxy Angel, Gunslinger Girl, Yawara! Atlanta Special, Nana, Chihayafuru and its sequel, and Ore Monogatari.

The staff credits for POPS are the same as for Kiss wa Me ni Shite. Sunachan translated, M74 timed, I edited and typeset, BeeBee and Nemesis QCed, and M74 encoded from a VHS tape rip.

As usual, you can get POPS from the usual torrent site or IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. We have at least one more Margaret OVA in the works, so you're not out of the woods yet.