Title - "Mizuiro Jidai"
Alternative title(s) - "Light Blue Era"/"Water Colored Era"/"The Blue-Green Years"/"Our Blue Years"/"Blue-Green Spring"/"Aqua Age"
Genre(s) - Shjo and drama

If you're wondering why in the world does "Mizuiro Jidai" have so many alternative titles, please visit this part of The Techno Girls' site. Not only does it give an explanation, but it also has some materials not seen in this review. Many thanks goes to them for making my job easier. ^^'

"Mizuiro Jidai" is a 1996 Nippon Animation shjo drama series based on the manga by Yabchi Y-sensei. The series follows the life of Kawai Yko, your standard 13-year old girl. She goes through the usual scenarios in school and life. There are her friends supporting her including childhood friends Takahata Takako and Naganuma Hiroshi. There are 47 episodes total and a quarter of the episodes have been fan subbed by The Techno Girls as I stated earlier.

A while back, the main reason why I wanted to see "Mizuiro Jidai" is because this is the first series of one of my favorite seiy today: Higuchi Chieko-san. I also bumped into "MJ" because of a recommendation at Mega Tokyo. Anyway, so far, I have only seen 12 episodes and I must say that all of the time I used struggling to watch an episode of this series payed off. Despite the flaws that I will go into later on, I like this series.

Fun - 8

I'll say this. It is pretty enjoyable. It is just one of those series where you can just snuggle up in a blanket and enjoy.

Of course, if you want a series that has some kind of flair to make it stand out, well, tough luck for you. It doesn't have some kind of suprising element. Sorry.

If there are flaws, all you have to worry about is the pacing. This is not a series that runs real quickly and with 47 episodes, it will really test people's patience. Other than that, what else is there to complain about?

Life - 8

Honestly, aside from its kinks, "MJ" is good to keep in the long run.

Story - 8

It's a simple story of one girl's life. What else do you need to know?

Audio - 10

Not much can be said here. The music fits the series. Having Suzuki Masami-san playing as Yko and Chieko-san as Takako makes the series run rather well and there are some other seiy people will recognize right away.

Art - 7

If you were to grade the art based on today's standards, you'll say that it is not up to date right off the bat. Yes, the series is pretty old, but it's not that old. That does not mean the art is bad though. The animation is actually decent, given the fact that this was made in 1996.

I like the designs of the characters. I like the environment. It feels so vivid overall.

Overall - 8

It is sweet and I can relate to some of the characters, especially Yko. Maybe you will relate to the characters too. So, go out and watch "Mizuiro Jidai".

+

It's a nice and relaxing shjo series that is backed up by solid performances in every category, especially audio.

-

The pacing does hamper the series a bit.

Date of creation - 9/19/03

Last update - 11/28/04

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