Please Twins!

Please Twins!
The main characters of Onegai Twins: Miina, Maiku and Karen
おねがい☆ツインズ (Onegai ☆ Twins)
Genre	Drama, Romantic comedy
TV anime
Directed by	Yasunori Ide
Studio	Bandai Visual, Studio Orphee, Daume
Network	WOWOW, Bandai Channel
Original run	July 15, 2003 – October 14, 2003
Episodes	12
Original video animation
Directed by	Yasunori Ide
Studio	Bandai Visual, Studio Orphee, Daume
Released	April 23, 2004
Runtime	26 minutes
Light novel
Written by	Gō Zappa
Illustrated by	Taraku Uon Hiroaki Gōda
Published by	MediaWorks
English publisher	ComicsOne
Demographic	Male
Imprint	Dengeki Bunko
Published	2004
Volumes	2
Manga
Onegai Twins
Written by	Akikan
Published by	MediaWorks
English publisher	ComicsOne
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Dengeki Daioh
Original run	2005 – 2005
Volumes	1
Anime and Manga Portal

Please Twins! (おねがい☆ツインズ, Onegai Tsuinzu^?, Onegai ☆ Twins), is an anime television series, scripted by Yousuke Kuroda and produced by Bandai Visual, which was later adapted into a light novel and one-volume manga series. It centers on a family of three teenagers in high school all living together who are unsure which two of them are related to each other due to a reference from an old photograph. The Please Twins! anime series is a spin-off sequel^[1] to Please Teacher!. It first aired in Japan on the WOWOW satellite television network on July 15, 2003 and finished with a total of 12 episodes plus a later OVA episode released on DVD. The series was later adapted into a light novel in 2004, which spanned a total of two volumes and, soon after, into a short one-tankōbon manga version (authored by Akikan), which was serialized in MediaWorks's Dengeki Daioh magazine in September 2005.

Plot

Please Twins! is a story mainly revolving around three high school students: Maiku Kamishiro, Karen Onodera, and Miina Miyafuji. The three were drawn together by a photograph of their childhood home which later makes all of them seek out the house in the picture. However, the picture only has two children - a boy and a girl. Hence, only one of the girls, Karen or Miina, is related to Maiku. The only other identifying feature of the pair in the picture is that the boy and the girl have eyes of the same unusual color; a feature that furthers the ambiguity as all three of them have the same eye color.

The main concern of the male lead, Maiku, is that he is in love with both of the girls, and he does not know which one is his twin. In addition, the two girls are in love with Maiku, forming a love triangle that can't be resolved until the truth of their relationship is known. The three main characters, mostly the two female leads, are in a predicament of wanting to discover their past versus the risk of losing a romantic relationship.

The events of the story are set the year after Please Teacher! and characters from that series appear in supporting roles throughout Please Twins!.

Setting

As with Please Teacher!, the setting of the series is Lake Kizaki, located in Nagano, Japan, and the region and its surrounding locations are featured prominently and accurately across the series.^[2] For instance, in one episode, characters travel to Karuizawa, Nagano located on the Nagano Shinkansen and Shinano Railway line. The shopping center, staircase, and Church Street all are located 2 kilometers north of JR Karuizawa Station off the main road. The track that Miina and her childhood friend run on is said to be in Ueda, Nagano, also on the Nagano Shinkansen and Shinano Railway lines just south of Nagano City. The time it takes place is following the Please Teacher! series, which did not occur before 2009.

Characters

Left-Right: Karen Onodera, Maiku Kamishiro, and Miina Miyafuji.

Main characters

Maiku Kamishiro (神城 麻郁, Kamishiro Maiku^?)

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)

The main protagonist of the story, Maiku (pronounced 'Mike' in the English dub) tends to be very secretive and stoic. He treats the two potential relatives harshly frequently calling them idiots and bossing them around, however we find out later in the series he does this to avoid getting hurt by people he cares about. Later, he warms up to them a bit more but still maintains a tough exterior. He is a computer programmer and student in high school. At the beginning of the story, he is living alone but is soon joined by Miina Miyafuji and Karen Onodera after they each trace their copies of the photograph to the house.

Miina Miyafuji (宮藤 深衣奈, Miyafuji Miina^?)

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese), Kari Wahlgren (English)

Miina tends to have a hyperactive personality and is generally outgoing. Eventually, she develops feelings for Maiku but is afraid to act on them since she might in fact be his sister. She outwardly expresses herself as happy-go-lucky, although she is actually hiding things about her past. She is actually the girl in the photo with Maiku, although she is not his sister.

Karen Onodera (小野寺 樺恋, Onodera Karen^?)

Voiced by: Ai Shimizu (Japanese), Lara Jill Miller (English)

Karen is usually a very shy and timid girl who is even prone to passing out (called "The 'nyu's," for the syllable she utters before eventually passing out) when a situation gets too intense for her to handle. She frequently calls people by a title, such as calling Maiku, "Mr. Maiku", or "Maiku-san" in the Japanese version. Like Miina, she also develops feelings for Maiku, though she doesn't act on them for the same reasons as Miina. Karen is Maiku's twin sister in the anime.

Supporting characters

Haruko Shidō (四道 晴子, Shidō Haruko^?)

Voiced by: Ryoko Shintani (Japanese), Therese Nguyen (English)

Haruko is Matagu's younger sister and is usually very bubbly and hyperactive. She has a very immature personality and while she acknowledges that her brother is a pervert, she seems completely oblivious to such mature matters. She attends class 1A. She, Akina Sagawa and Futaba Mashita greet Miina and Karen on their first day of school.

Kousei Shimazaki (島崎 康生, Shimazaki Kōsei^?)

Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English)

He sits next to Maiku in class and becomes a bit too friendly with Maiku. He is bisexual and can be seen trying to flirt with Maiku to an extent that when Maiku needs money, he actually tells Maiku that if he stayed with him for a night, he would give as much as Maiku wanted but instead Maiku punches him as the result of many of their conversations. Surprisingly, he harbors deep feelings for Tsubaki Oribe.

Tsubaki Oribe (織部 椿, Oribe Tsubaki^?)

Voiced by: Michiko Neya (Japanese), Jessica Straus (English)

She is the vice president of the student council and usually has a very serious personality. Intelligent and outgoing, gifted with a busty figure and possessing a more mature personality than the 'twin' girls, she is a source of concern for Karen and Miina as being an obvious rival for Maiku's affections. Her attempts to interest Maiku in a relationship, however, are met with Maiku's tacit plea for just friendship. It is not until she confers with (the much older and wiser) Ichigo that she realizes that Maiku cannot engage in any casual romantic relationship due to both his obligations to his new-found 'family' and his own forcibly matured, responsible nature. This causes her to gain a higher degree of respect for Maiku, and to focus her attentions on the one person she once thought too forceful in expressing his affection for her, Kousei Shimazaki. In the anime she had objected to Kousei putting his hand on her breast when they kissed for the first time. In the light novel she had been psychologically traumatized when her brother died at a young age and she had been trying to fill a void, first with Kousei, then with Maiku.

Yuuka Yashuro (Yashuro Yūka)

Miina's friend from Middle school. She appears at the end of episode 9, recognizing Miina and recalling the history that Miina has been trying to put behind her. Miina comes to terms with it in episode 10, and Yuuka is seen again at the beginning of episode 11. In the light novel this section of the Please Twins! story is entirely rewritten and Yuuka is omitted, replaced with Yukiko Kachofugetsuin, Karen's rival in playing the piano.

From Please Teacher!

Some of the Please Teacher! characters return in various supporting roles.

Ichigo Morino (森野 苺, Morino Ichigo^?)

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)

She has changed a lot since the events of Please Teacher!. She has become the president of the student council and somewhat perversely enjoys getting dirt on other students. Ichigo usually avoids male companionship though, in fact, she has normal desires in this regard. This is partly due to a unique disease where she was put into a "standstill", a form of metabolic stasis similar to a coma, for six years, which stopped her aging process. The disease can be triggered by psychological stress, hence her deadpan, phlegmatic personality is a counter to prevent its onset. In effect, she appears to be a grade schooler when in fact she is much older when the story begins. Most of the details of her life are revealed in Please Teacher! and are not mentioned in this story. In the Twins anime series, there were no mention of her standstills, while the light novels make only one vague passing allusion. In the novels Morino and Matagu Shido have a history, which Morino dislikes and guards against.

Matagu Shido (四道 跨, Shidō Matagu^?)

Voiced by: Hiroaki Miura (Japanese), Tony Schnur (English)

Matagu is a senpai to the main characters and tends to come off as an incestuous pervert though is otherwise good natured. His appearances tend to be for comic relief. In Please Teacher!, he is known as a quiet and lonely guy who does not have a chance with women but he is much different in Please Twins!. At the end of this series he is in the hospital, no visitors.

Mizuho Kazami (風見 みずほ, Kazami Mizuho^?)

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Japanese), Bridget Hoffman (English)

She is employed as a teacher at the school where all the characters attend. She is homeroom teacher of Class 1B. Maiku and Shimazaki are in her class. She is in fact a half-human alien. That and her secret marriage to a student, Kei Kusanagi, are the subject of the Please Teacher! series. She can be somewhat ditzy, but also very open-hearted, compassionate and sociable. In a somewhat nostalgic replay of the situation that led to her and Kei being discovered by the former Headmaster, Miina and Karen are forced to hide in the very same sports equipment locker. Marie locates them and Mizuho transports herself to it covertly, and then proceeds to counsel the two girls on the true nature behind Maiku's seeming gruffness towards them, and that it screens genuine kindness and affection for them. Her half-alien nature is never mentioned in the Twins anime, and the scene described in the previous two sentences is the only allusion to it in the anime. From the first episode it seems that her marital relationship with Kei is an open secret at the school.

Marie (まりえ^?)

Voiced by: Tomoko Kaneda (Japanese), Sandy Fox (English)

Mizuho's diminutive assistant and companion. A quasi-organic systems link to the operating system controlling Kazami's cloaked and submerged starship and its transporter functions, he has been nicknamed "Fushigi-chan" ("Little Wonder" in English) by Karen for his ability to materialize almost anywhere, often after being summoned without any seeming communications device employed. 'He' makes occasional appearances in the neighborhood, at school and the protagonist's shared residence. As 'his' master Kazami does with "Pochy", 'he' enjoys eating "Prech", a snack food based on the real-life snack Pretz, for which he has an insatiable appetite. The anime establishes that, Marie's existence is publicly known and accepted (despite 'his' other-worldly appearance and demonstrated abilities such as levitation) by several of the school's students as being a part of the local UFO folklore surrounding the area, thanks to the events of Please Teacher!. It is commented by Mizuho that Marie is a frequent visitor and overnight guest at the Kamishiro residence, and is seen 'sleeping' on the same futon with the 'twin' girls.

Hatsuho Kazami (風見 はつほ, Kazami Hatsuho^?)

Mizuho's mother. She is a very sensual, self-assured, bold but subtly assertive woman. She appears in one chapter of the light novels, hooking onto Maiku at a festival. She does not appear in the anime or the manga.

Cameos from Please Teacher!

During the series, many of the Please Teacher! characters make cameo appearances.

Kei Kusanagi (草薙 桂, Kusanagi Kei^?)

Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi (Japanese), Dave Wittenberg (English)

A senpai (a term roughly equivalent to mentor or senior in school) to the main characters who does not speak in the first 12 episodes (except for when he sneezed in the first episode) of the Twins series, but only in the 13th episode. Kei has the same extraordinary disease as Ichigo which caused him to be in a "standstill" for three years, so when the story begins he appears to be 15 when he is actually 18. He was covertly married to Mizuho Kazami in the original series but their marriage appears to be common knowledge in this series.

Koishi Herikawa (縁川小石, Herikawa Koishi^?)

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese), Michelle Ruff (English)

Koishi is, at the time of this series, a high school student, good friend and former love interest of Kei Kusanagi. She is slender, with short brown hair cut straight across in back. Her parents own Herikawa Groceries and she assists there. As such, she becomes Miina and Karen's manager after the two of them obtain part-time jobs at the store, thanks to Ichigo's machinations and her longtime friendship with Koishi. In the OVA it is implied that she is romantically involved with her technology teacher, Mr. Yamada, who is considerably older than she is. She was most of the time behind the counter, out of camera sight, and is reported to be studying for university entrance exams. She is seen with Miina in episode 11, and in one, brief, camera shot in the final episode, along with Kaede Misumi. In the OVA she has a conversation with Miina where she encourages Miina to pursue a romantic relationship with Maiku, then spends the rest of the episode with Ichigo.

Hyosuke Magumo (間雲 漂介, Magumo Hyōsuke^?)

Voiced by: Mitsuo Iwata (Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English)

A brash student with dyed blonde hair, Hyosuke aspires to attend college at Tokyo University and become a professional statesman, much like his brother. Currently going out with Kaede. He only appears in episode 13.

Kaede Misumi (水澄 楓, Misumi Kaede^?)

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (Japanese), Rebecca Forstadt (English)

Kaede tends to be a rather shy girl most of the time. Her physical characteristics include that she is one quarter Irish, tall (for a Japanese) and with red hair and freckles. Currently going out with Hyosuke. She only appears in episode 13 and the end of episode 12 when she and Koishi have a look at the photos that Ichigo took.

Masami Yamada (山田 正臣, Yamada Masami^?)

Voiced by: Tomoko Kaneda (Japanese), Tony Oliver (English)

A quiet male teacher whose hobby is creating human-powered planes. He is in a secret relationship with Koishi. He is homeroom teacher to Class 1A. Miina, Karen, Haruko, Akina Sagawa and Futaba Mashita are all in his class.

Natchan

Voiced by: Chinami Nishimura (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)

Known as the little girl during the summer (both in this anime, and in Please Teacher!). In this series she is seated on a lifeguard's tower, her dog seated beside her, scanning with binoculars for a boy to fall in love with. She spots Maiku and falls for him. A moment later she sees Karen and Miina, which breaks her heart. She tumbles backward off the tower, dragging her dog by the leash after her.

Media

Anime

The Please Twins! anime series, scripted by Yōsuke Kuroda, directed by Yasunori Ide, and produced by Bandai Visual, premiered in Japan on the WOWOW satellite television network between July 15, 2003 and October 14, 2003, consisting of a total of 12 episodes. An OVA episode continuing the story was later released on DVD on April 23, 2004. The series has been licensed for North American distribution by Bandai Entertainment. Two pieces of theme music were used for the episodes: one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Second Flight" by Kotoko and Hiromi Satō, and the ending theme is "Asu e no Namida" by Mami Kawada.

Episodes

#	Title	Original airdate
01	"Triplets?" "Futago ga Sannin?" (双子が3人?)	July 15, 2003
Miina and Karen, two girls with blue eyes, arrive at Maiku's doorstep claiming that they are related to him as they all have the same picture of what they think is them and their twin brother.
02	"We Might be Related" "Nikushin ka mo Shirenai" (肉親かもしれない)	July 22, 2003
Maiku ponders if he should let Miina and Karen stay with him.
03	"We Might be Strangers" "Tanin ka mo Shirenai" (他人かもしれない)	July 29, 2003
Trouble arises when Tsubaki, who likes Maiku, comes to their house on student council business.
04	"Kind to You" "Kimi ni Yasashiku" (きみにやさしく)	August 5, 2003
Miina and Karen search for jobs so as to help Maiku pay their bills. A series of events causes them to end up hiding from everybody at Maiku's school. Maiku also decides that the two girls should go to school.
05	"Do You Like Girls?" "Onnanoko wa Suki desu ka?" (女の子は好きですか?)	August 19, 2003
After hearing rumors about Maiku being gay, Miina and Karen test Maiku to see for themselves whether this is true or not.
06	"Love Alliance" "Ren'ai Dōmei" (恋愛同盟)	August 26, 2003
All three of them feel strange around each other after the events of the previous episode. Miina and Karen create a "Love Alliance" to prevent this feeling.
07	"Making Memories" "Omoidezukuri" (おもいでづくり)	September 2, 2003
After winning the grand prize in a lottery, Maiku, Miina and Karen head to Okinawa and the beach. By bad luck, it is the same beach visited in Please Teacher!, and everyone else soon shows up.
08	"Be Honest in Love" "Koi wa Sunao ni" (恋は素直に)	September 9, 2003
Ichigo Morino reprises one of her roles from Please Teacher!, and tries to set Tsubaki up with Maiku. This leads to frustrations, and Tsubaki, and Shimazaki, learn to be honest with themselves about their love.
09	"Don't Leave Me Out" "Nukegake Shinaide" (ぬけがけしないで)	September 16, 2003
On a beautiful day, the three head to the mall, but end up getting lost from each other.
10	"I Want to Run Again" "Mō Ichido Hashiritai" (もういちど走りたい)	September 30, 2003
Maiku and Karen learn of Miina's past. Karen then find out that the picture of Maiku and one of the girls was taken at a different angle from what they had previously thought, leading her to discover a diary in a ruined house.
11	"I Want to Tell You I Love You" "Anata ni Suki to Tsutaetai" (あなたに好きと伝えたい)	October 7, 2003
After Karen finds out who is the relative from the diary, she goes out on a date with Maiku before telling him ( all the while breaking the Love Alliance) that she is his sister. After Karen tells this to Miina, however, she runs away.
12	"We Are Three Twins" "Sannin de Tsuinzu" (3人でツインズ)	October 14, 2003
Miina runs away, but returns to the school without a word. After Karen talks to her, Miina goes to the train station. Maiku runs over there and they let their feelings out with a climactic kiss. In the end the episode shows that their relationship with each other remains the same.
OVA	"The Summer Never Ends" "Natsu wa Owaranai" (夏は終わらない)	April 23, 2004
Maiku craves for alone time to catch up on work, but the student council, Miina, Karen and more arrive for a party. Miina wants to spend alone time with Maiku, but Karen wants to be spoiled by Maiku and comes between the two.

Light novel

Please Twins! was later adapted into a light novel, authored by Gō Zappa and illustrated by Taraku Uon and Hiroaki Gōda. It was published in Japan by MediaWorks in 2004. It was later licensed for North American distribution by ComicsOne and published in two volumes in 2005.

The light novel covers several different events that did not occur in the anime and omits some events altogether. While the basic story stays intact, there is one large difference: the identity of Maiku's sister in the novel differs from the anime version.

Manga

The series was later adapted into a short one-volume manga version, authored by Akikan, which was serialized in MediaWorks's Dengeki Daioh magazine in September 2005. The manga has since been licensed for North American distribution by ComicsOne and published in 2006. The manga introduces another character in the last two chapters, Hanna Miasa, who provides the explanation for the photograph, and Maiku's, Miina's and Karen's background and relation ties. In the manga both Miina and Karen are related to Maiku. One is his twin sister and the other is his first cousin.

CD drama

There is also a CD drama spinoff of the "Onegaiverse" called Onegai Friends. The characters in the CD Drama are Maiku, Mizuho-sensei, and from class 1-A: Yamada-sensei, Karen, Miina, Haruko, Akina Sagawa, Futaba Mashita and Harumi Shinohara. Girl is in love with boy. Boy is in love with a different girl.

See also

• Please Teacher!

Notes and references

1. ^ "Bandai Entertainment - What's New". Bandai Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 22, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071022061644/http://www.bandai-ent.com/news/pr.cfm?id=75. Retrieved December 19, 2007. 
2. ^ "Comparison denoting the similarities between Please Twins animation to actual images of the region" (in Japanese). http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~kazeyama/one2sato/one2sato.htm. Retrieved December 19, 2007. 

External links

• Please Twins! Bandai Channel website (Japanese)
• Please Twins! Official US website
• Please Twins! (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia