A Lineage | Ano Natsu de Matteru & Onegai Teacher

By this point I’ve come to realise that I greatly enjoy tracing historical lineages in anime – observing homages, inspirations and references. To point at To Love-Ru and explain how it’s an amalgamation of Urusei Yatsura and Ah My Goddess, or note Mahoromatic and This Ugly Yet Beautiful World being sister projects with the same cast in largely the same roles between them, for example. Back when I started both Ano Natsu de Matteru and this draft, it immediately jumped out at me how much it plays off of Onegai Teacher. And I do mean immediate, as these similarities present themselves right from the opening theme. The openings each utilize a found footage directing style, a similar sense for cinematography, and a song by KOTOKO.

Right from the word go I found myself thinking that the opening scene of Kaito being hit by a UFO vaguely reminded me of Onegai Teacher. Then when the OP rolled in I again found some similarities. At first I thought they were just extremely cheeky homages. By around the five minute mark I had already observed how every character in the cast had a parallel in Onegai Teacher. At this point I was becoming confused more than anything. Was this not bordering on plagiarism? SSSS Gridman had been drowned in the controversy of its Braves references for far less. By the time I finished the episode I was in disbelief. It was an enjoyable episode, but since MyAnimeList didn’t cite the same original creator then it was undoubtedly plagiarism of the highest order. With screenshots in hand it was around this point that I ventured off to share my findings with my local anime forum. Though I wasn’t  expecting anyone in the thread to really be familiar with both series, someone relayed to me that AnoNatsu is speculated to come from the same creator as the Onegai series under a different moniker. This makes immense amounts of sense. AnoNatsu is for all intents and purposes a 10th anniversary pseudo-remake of the Onegai Teacher anime adaptation, following all of its story beats and character dynamics extremely closely. Frankly it has to be the same creator, otherwise this should be grounds for the biggest plagiarism scandal the anime scene has ever witnessed. Progressing through the series the references and homages continued to rapidly pour in,  each time bringing a smile to my face. Until the finale, that is, where it at long last directly intersected with its predecessor. At that point I simply lost myself in how beautiful it all was. This ending surprised me with how deeply it hit me – even in spite of considering myself a fan of those two works. It was exciting, it was emotional, it was dramatic, and above all else it made me want to write something to preserve my adoration of it. And so I shall, so as to not waste these feelings.

This post does not contain not every single reference in the show. At this point it’s been quite some months since completing it, and I therefore do not intimately remember every single scene of the show anymore. This post features a collection of homages that I found significant enough to note down during my watch in anticipation of inevitably collating them further down the line. There are certainly some that I’ve simply overlooked, and others that I noted down but failed to find the appropriate screenshots for. But I believe that what I’ve provided is ample to demonstrate my point regarding the intertextual pull between these two works.

Where applicable all images will be Onegai Teacher first, Ano Natsu de Matteru second.

Mizuho (Onegai Teacher) & Ichika (Ano Natsu de Matteru)

For both Onegai Teacher and AnoNatsu, these are cohabitation stories of Mizuho and Ichika crash landing in a rural town at night and ending up intertwined with the unfortunate boy witnesses them. It only takes a short glance at the identical premises and near-identical female lead to blow this whole thing wide open. The design similarities are obvious between the busty, bespectacled, red-haired-purple-eyed aliens. While the older girls observe the protagonist from a distance to gauge whether he’s realised their identity, it doesn’t take long before they accidentally end up living together with the main character.

In both instances the girl’s sudden visit to the protagonist’s home happens while the guardians are out, and when they return they end up walking into the midst of a bathroom mishap.

This of course results in an abrupt family meeting concerning the identity of this stranger and what their relationship is.

During their lecture Kanna even throws in a cheeky little nod to the arranged marriage plot premise of Onegai Teacher, mentioning that the interrogation was like a wedding arrangement.

Later on the intimate train scene in AnoNatsu’s finale is akin to an exchange of vows, with the cloth draped over Ichika’s head substituting for a wedding veil.

Being set in the same universe it’s inevitable that the design of Ichika’s jumpsuit bears resemblance to those seen in Onegai Teacher.

The same can be said of their actual spaceships. Marie and Rinon are the same kind of chibi avatar that serve as the control interface for their owner’s ship. They can be issued commands from any location regardless of distance, with no need for a direct terminal. Yet that tends to prove unhelpful considering they both immediately end up malfunctioning, often misinterpreting their master’s orders or ignoring them outright.

Ichika has memories of Earth despite having never been there before herself. She had come to Earth chasing that memory, which is much like Mizuho making her way to the planet for the memory of the pocky her father had left her.

Both shows will often feature smaller frames surrounded by black.

While being a general similarity in direction, there is one particular instance that directly correlates between the two. The screenshot from Ano Natsu de Matteru featured below occurs when Ichika is thinking about the mysterious place in her memories. It shows lush pillars of cloud similar to that seen in one of Onegai Teacher’s shots, and you’ll note that it further highlights this reference by making the image 4:3.

When they first arrive neither of them are particularly fazed about being seen in just a towel by their male roommate.

Both of them frequently get jealous because girls for whatever reason just will not leave their partner alone.

There is a particular jealousy-inspiring scene that stands out to me for featuring the counterpart characters sitting on a grassy hill.

In the early stages of living together their partner receives a phone call from Herikawa/Kanna late at night, making the girl jealous. In AnoNatsu Kanna is simply informing them of the upcoming Okinawa trip. While both series do feature an Okinawa trip, in Onegai Teacher this phone call sets up for the date the next day.

One day Kaito and Kanna hang out in town with the rest of the group, but are promptly abandoned by the friends trying to set them up together. Ichika just so happens to see this and misinterprets it as a date, much like what happens in Onegai Teacher.

There’s another example where Kaito is dragged along by Manami and Ichika sneaks around them after threatening Rinon to work properly. Mizuho does the same thing when Kei has his day out with Herikawa.

During this they even go see Highschool of the Dead (an entirely different anime) in theatres, which is very much a throwback to the same thing happening in Onegai Teacher with Shin vs Neo Getter Robo. Both of these of course falling on episode 4 of their respective shows.

The black outfit she dons while sneakily tailing Keiichi too gets referenced in AnoNatsu.

And of course, at some point both of them end up in a similar pink negligee.

One of the most obvious callbacks you’ll find are these shots below. The very first scene of the OP and the final shot that the series closes out with are both massive references. It’s a 4:3 film reel shot of Ichika facing away and then turning around, with her hands clasped behind her back. This is directly paralleling the OP of Onegai Teacher.

At some point their intergalactic family comes to visit, not only to check up on them after their disappearance but to warn them of the trouble they’re causing by inhabiting Earth .

‘Forest Strawberry’ & ‘Mountain Lemon’

Even amongst the myriad of blatant character parallels, the most obvious examples are these two girls – our troublesome loli senpai Morino Ichigo and Yamano Lemon. It only takes a glance to see why. Their designs are near identical with their short stature and long wavy hair, and as part of their referencing AnoNatsu even got the same voice actor (Tamura Yukari) to come voice Lemon as well. Their names are literal counterparts, with Morino Ichigo meaning “forest strawberry” and Yamano Lemon being “mountain lemon”. Though the ties aren’t merely surface-deep, as the personality of both sees them frequently meddling for the sake of their friends’ happiness.

See those twintails above? Those are important. Being the most apparent homage in this entire shebang, the show tauntingly stays its hand. It takes its sweet time showing us Lemon with her hair down, but when she finally does she’s the spitting image of Ichigo.

Despite both primarily being romance stories about cohabitation with an alien girl, Onegai Teacher also adds these mysterious “standstill” episodes into the mix. For unknown reasons those afflicted with it will slip into a biologically self-sustaining coma when under stress. It throws the mind and body out of sync. 18 year old Kei still attends high school due to his body being three years younger, for example. We later learn that Ichigo is under the same curse, though at a much more fearsome degree, having undergone a six year standstill.

AnoNatsu’s seemingly immortal Lemon frequently makes reference to this, such as calling herself forever 17 when asked “are you still in high school?”, or claiming that she’s had her film’s story inside her for twenty years as a reference to Ichigo’s standstill age.

When encouraging Kaito to pursue his love Lemon says “keep moving, don’t stop”, offering the same prayer that Kei and Ichigo would whenever comforting one another about their condition.

Keiichi (Onegai Teacher) & Kaito  (Ano Natsu de Matteru)

Keiichi and Kaito are similar names, often shortened to the near-identical Kei-kun and Kai-kun. They both wear square-framed glasses and have a reddish-brown eye colour.

The opening scenes of the show are similar with our protagonist being out alone at night and then having an accidental run-in with the mysterious main girl during her descent from space

Those are just about the only references I have written down for the male lead. Though I could mention Kai’s inexplicable collapse at the end of the first episode being a small nod to Kei’s standstill incidents.

The Rest of the Cast

The introductory half of the first episode was all it took to cement the show’s relation with Onegai Teacher. They have an almost identical cast size (sorry Matagu you just weren’t very important), with all members of said cast filling the same roles. It’s also worth mentioning that as a successor project they share the same original character designer Taraku Uon.

The first one to really tip you off is the short-haired childhood friend, Herikawa (Onegai Teacher) and Kanna (AnoNatsu). Both girls have a long-standing unrequited love for the protagonist.

By the time they finally work up the courage to confess however, it’s far too late. The protagonist has long since become smitten with his alien roommate. The general aesthetic of Kanna getting rejected is similar to Herikawa. Though she never successfully completes her confession, she still ends up screaming at Ichika to stop being scared of falling in love with Kaito. Though perhaps a loose connection, this is akin to Herikawa’s confession providing an avenue for Keiichi to reaffirm his love for Mizuho. They end up helping one of the deuteragonists to get over their mental hangups –

– walk back along a thin pathway –

– and end up encountering the other guy that had been supporting their romance all that time, who promptly comforts them and offers words of admiration for their courage.

Hyosuke and Tetsurou both fill the role of the protagonist’s overbearing and sleazy best friend

In episode eight of Onegai Teacher the boys chat about love and their future plans on the porch while eating watermelon. This gets paralleled in the AnoNatsu OVA.

Next we have the party’s resident shy girl, Kaede and Mio. Though soft-spoken they’re an integral part of the group, and extremely significant when discussing the connection between the two shows.

Though the girls are usually reserved, they both have a hidden eros. Kaede kickstarts their relationship by having sex with Hyosuke on the night they got drunk, and Mio is always seen naked inside of her room. Their designs aren’t as similar as some of the others, but you’ll note both have the same kind of ribbon in their hair.

Mio ends up dating Tetsurou. This is something I called from a mile away due to their position as the counterpart characters for Kaede and Hyosuke. I must reiterate that the homages in this show are so deeply ingrained to the extent that I could predict this side couple forming long before any hint of it appeared, simply by merit of being familiar with Onegai Teacher.

When both pairs finally gather the courage to confront one another and discuss their relationship, they meet at a pier elevated among the trees. This provides similar scenery.

Perhaps the most noteworthy part of Kaede and Hyosuke’s relationship was its sexual beginnings, and AnoNatsu later references this in the final OVA by mentioning Mio and Tetsurou had already reached that stage.

Similarly, both relationships end up at the point where Hyosuke/Tetsurou is planning to move to a different city for their higher education, and Kaede/Mio declaring that they’ll go with them.

The Setting, or “AnoNatsu is a sequel?”

Towards the end of Ano Natsu de Matteru things begin to turn south. In revealing herself as an alien to save their lives, Ichika had violated the primary directive preventing first contact with primitive civilizations. The idea was that a planet would have to first prove itself by becoming a space-faring species. Having broken the highest law they planned to retrieve her at all cost. Deeply in love, she and Kai began moving to overcome this trial. After spending long nights wracking their brains in strategy meetings, they eventually arrive at a major epiphany – the place in her memories. The very reason she came to Earth in the first place. The mysterious memory of a landscape she’d never seen before was so crisp in her mind, yet it never showed up on any of her scans of the surrounding area. After changing their approach they stitch together a collection of maps and discover there was a single area which Rinon failed to chart. The only viable reason for this to be happening would be a barrier beyond humanity’s current level, and thus they realise that aliens must have already visited Earth before. If they could find evidence of that it was possible that it could acquit her of any charges. So off they go.

And my goodness is it beautiful.

Having been noting the heavy Onegai Teacher parallels right from the very first scene, and around the midpoint learning that AnoNatsu is supposedly by the same original creator under a different moniker, this leapt out at me. Aliens have visited Earth before in this story, so when would that be? The answer should be obvious. Frankly I flipped out. As the characters continued to push forward while evading the pursuit of the repatriation droid, so too did my excitement continue to ramp up. With a nervous tension as  I pondered how heartbroken I’d be if I were wrong, each step of the journey brought me closer to what I so desperately anticipated. “Is that what they’re doing? It’s gotta be what they’re doing. It has to be!”

With the aid of their friends the pair finally make it to the train that would carry them along the rest of their journey. It is here that the promise comes to fruition. The train pulls up to the station and the two depart onto a familiar platform. Indeed, Ichika and Kai had just set foot in the world of Onegai Teacher.

Entering the town, they waste no time searching for the point where first contact was established. As they chase the signal they’re eventually drawn to a lake on the outskirts of town. Lo and behold, said lake is the place where Mizuho and Kei first met on that fateful summer night that she descended from space.

The two frantically search around for any kind of evidence that could prove prior contact and absolve their crimes, but nothing seems to remain. Having nearly given up hope they do manage to stumble upon one thing, albeit too impermanent to serve as evidence. Placing her hand upon a barren tree Ichika triggers a message that had been preserved there – delivered in a very familiar voice.

Played by voice actor Kikuko Inoue, we can discern that it is of course a message left behind by Mizuho herself, recounting her own tale of falling in love in that very town…though I’m not sure I like what implications this has for Onegai Teacher since it seems to suggest the pair were torn apart by the galactic council some time after the end of the anime. The other option is that the message was left behind during the year where she was detained for interfering with Earth, and frankly I’d just prefer to believe that one instead since I don’t want to believe they had an unhappy ending waiting just beyond the end of the anime…

Unfortunately the message is not enough, and despite all their efforts Ichika is apprehended by the repatriation droids. She’s whisked away to space, leaving Kai alone in despair. Thus this chapter comes to a close. As we timeskip a few months later to the epilogue we find Kai as a melancholic husk, seeming to accept the status quo he finds himself left behind in. It’s not like there’s anything else he could do, really. The others try to comfort him, but he simply offers a meek smile. However not all is lost, thanks to one meddlesome loli senpai. It turns out that her jokes about being part of the Men in Black weren’t jokes at all. Using Ichika’s tour of the ship as inspiration the R&D team was finally close to finishing production on mankind’s own FTL spacecraft – thereby meeting the criteria of a space-faring species and removing any barriers that were preventing Ichika coming back home.

And so the saga ends as it began back in 2002’s Onegai Teacher. Happy and in love, Kai records his cheerful memories together with Ichika, as she turns back and smiles.