Shin Dousei Jidai: Hawaiian Breeze (New Era of Cohabitation: Hawaiian Breeze) is a 1992 OVA based on a manga by Saimon Fumi. It's an unusual project, even for the era: a seinen domestic drama, with a very limited cast (three characters) and a less-than-happy ending. It was only released on VHS tape.
Hawaiian Breeze follows two twenty-something adults, Peter Honda, an illustrator, and Eri Todani, a planner, who have been living together for two years since meeting on vacation in Hawaii. They seem reasonably happy, but there's an underlying conflict. Peter really loves children. He wants to get married and start a family. Eri doesn't want children and sees no reason to get married. Their happiness gradually erodes, and eventually Eri leaves to "think about things." Peter's editor, Reiko, who wonders if she'd be a better match for Peter, unravels the underlying reason for Eri's reluctance. Peter must then make a choice. Will he give Eri up, in order to have a family, or will he accede to her feelings, in order to be with her? There's no easy answer.
The voice cast has just three featured roles:
The director, Futukomi Hiroshi, was an industry veteran. Other shows include Kaibutsu-kun series and movies, Galactic Patrol Lensman, High School! Kimengumi, and Captain Tsubasa J. He also directed both Sei Michaela h-OVAs.Hawaiian Breeze follows two twenty-something adults, Peter Honda, an illustrator, and Eri Todani, a planner, who have been living together for two years since meeting on vacation in Hawaii. They seem reasonably happy, but there's an underlying conflict. Peter really loves children. He wants to get married and start a family. Eri doesn't want children and sees no reason to get married. Their happiness gradually erodes, and eventually Eri leaves to "think about things." Peter's editor, Reiko, who wonders if she'd be a better match for Peter, unravels the underlying reason for Eri's reluctance. Peter must then make a choice. Will he give Eri up, in order to have a family, or will he accede to her feelings, in order to be with her? There's no easy answer.
The voice cast has just three featured roles:
- Hori Hideyuki (Peter) played Zach Isedo in Al Carl no Isan, Sid in Ai no Kusabi, Falk Green in Hi-Speed Jecy, and Baraba in Eien no Filena, all Orphan projects. He played the title role in Baoh, Phoenix in the Saint Seiya franchise, and Tezuka Osamu himself in the Black Jack TV series.
- Yamamoto Eriko (Eri) played Iczer 1 in the Iczer OVAs, Rumy in the Gall Force OVAs, Sally in Mahou Tsukai Sally 2, Sandybell in Hello! Sandybell, Georgie in Lady Georgie, Tomoe in Tomoe's Run!, Nora Scholar in Nora, Rihabi and Sayuri in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, and Telenne in Hi-Speed Jecy. The last four are Orphan releases.
- Nagahori Miho (Reiko) is best known as Lebia in Silent Mobius.
Iri translated the show and did initial timing. Yogicat fine-timed. I edited and typeset. BeeBee and VigorousJammer QCed. Our Intrepid Media Maven™ encoded from a VHS tape ripped on his All-in-Wonder capture setup. The colors are very muted, which seems appropriate for the tone of the show.
The audio track is also muted, with long periods of silence as the unanswered (and unasked) questions grow into a barrier between Peter and Eri.
Shin Dousei Jidai: Hawaiian Breeze is easy to summarize but less easy to categorize. It's challenging, and its challenges resonate even today. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
Late breaking news: here's a patch to fix a typo in one of the lines.
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