This Ugly Yet Beautiful World: Falling Star

Reviewed By: Carla Land

ADV Films DVD

Review based on volume 1 (episodes 1-4)

Rating TV MA

What it’s (basically) all about: Takeru is a lazy, unmotivated teenager living with his aunt and uncle. One day he and his friend Ryou are riding a motorcycle when a great, flashing beam of light crashes into the forest. Chasing after it, they discover a naked girl in the treetops, and a large cosmic bug that is trying to kill her. After saving the girl, whom he names Hikari, Takeru decides he is going to take care of her, thus assuming more responsibility than he has ever had before in his life. While he’s at it, he’s going to try and unravel the mysteries of who Hikari is and where she came from.

Nitty Gritty: Fan service abounds here. There is realistic nudity, and lots of it. Hikari arrived naked, and it takes her a while to get used to covering herself up. Several other female characters, including Mari (Takeru’s cousin), Akari (another “alien” who arrives at the same time as Hikari) and Jennifer Portman (a rather well endowed scientist investigating the strange occurrence that brought Hikari and Akari to Earth) are all seen either naked or partially so at various times. There is even a scene where Jennifer and Hikari shower together so Jennifer can “investigate” Hikari, to see if she’s human or not.

There is some foul language used, mostly hell, sh*t, and damn in the subtitles. The dubbed version is a little worse, with God damn and several colorful phrases added in.

In the first episode, Takeru is transformed into a super-being to protect Hikari, but this seems to get dropped for the other three episodes on the disk.  Also dropped is the creepy way Hikari seems to enjoy watching Takeru beat the life out of the alien bug that was attacking her.

There’s a live triangle between Takeru, Hikari and Mari, the cousin who suddenly realizes that she’s in love with Takeru. This is yet another cultural difference between Japanese society and our own that might not sit well with some parents.

Special features include clean opening and closing animation, Japanese CD and DVD spots, Translator Notes (which explain some of the nuances of names and idioms), and DVD credits. Previews included are for Full Metal Panic!, Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie, Macross, Raxhephon, and Princess Tutu. The disk also opens with promos for Anime Network, Anime Network on Demand, and Newtype-USA. There is also a preview for volume two that is accessible form the menu and plays at the end of episode four.

Survey says: Well, this deserves its MA rating. Definitely an adult title.

Personal Ad: Well, it started off really interesting and science fiction like, but then it changed and became a high school comedy. There are some really poignant moments and some really silly ones, but I’m not sure what this show is trying to be. It looks like there may only be three disks in the whole series, so it’s worth finishing just to see what happens.