His and Her Circumstances (or how I like to refer to it, Kare Kano) in a lot of ways might just be the most unabashedly "Gainax" thing Anno has ever directed. What starts off as a fairly straightforward and simple school romcom anime with a quirky edge, slowly but surely drifts off into one of the most uniquely bizarre shows I've seen in terms of direction and just sheer off the wall "shitpostiness". The top review for Kare Kano on Letterboxd really says it best. "Fuck you, episode 25 and 26 of NGE was my true aesthetic". The mending of live action footage with animation, the way character designs often go out of model and distort on purpose, the usage of minimal Powerpoint/manga style presentation. It's just a complete clusterfuck in terms of visual language but in the best, most inspirational way possible. I'll admit, revisiting this show got me initially a little worried because watching those first few episodes again made me feel like I wasn't enjoying Kare Kano as much as I had remembered, precisely because it did feel a little reminiscent of that typical school romcom slant as well as it's tropes, and that in some ways is still present consistently even throughout the show, especially with some of the slight melodrama that gets implemented. However, when Kare Kano goes for lunacy it comes out the other end as probably one of the most unique works with a setting like this. And with that, it honestly fits right at home with Anno's other works exploring adolescence, this time just through the lens of young love and school life. Kare Kano to me reads as a pure expression of all the wild, tender, carefree and sometimes confusing emotions that may come with this portion in a teenager's life, when they truly have to open themselves up to other people with authenticity. If Evangelion explored trauma and mental illness within youth, and if Love & Pop tackled youth in a crooked contemporary Japanese society, then Kare Kano to me is sort of like the light at the end of a tunnel. It still keeps the experimental spirit of the previous two Anno projects intact, but uses it to often amplify more mundane aspects of the narrative and setting for comedic effect. Episode 19 being a great example and one of my personal favorite singular episodes in any show, with the multi media visual imagery being taken to it's absolute heights, largely in part thanks to Hiroyuki Imaishi's directorial credit. Seriously, if episode 19 was just some kinda weird short film it'd honestly make it's way up pretty high on my favorite anime list. I love it so much that it could probably warrant it's own separate review (gonna have to put a pin on that idea...). Speaking of which, I actually really love the last stretch of Kare Kano, even if it is riddled with problems which even I had trouble getting past when I first watched the show. There's a sideplot which isn't terrible I guess, but it just feels a bit invasive with everything that the show was currently trying to do at that point, and the actual final episode, by that extension the ending just kind of abruptly closes off the series on a pretty "whatever" note narratively (although this is no doubt a somewhat common problem with certain anime adaptations). For a show that has such striking characters and an even more striking stylistic identity, it sure does feel like we're left out pretty dry by the finish line. Nowadays though I love how far the imagery is taken in some of these episodes, with my other favorite alongside 19 being episode 25, focusing on the younger Miyazawa sisters. Another case where a lot of great visual fuckery is implemented, and as someone who enjoys one-off episodes like these in a series which deviate from the main plot line, it's a great time. Also the exclusive ending track? Super overlooked and an absolute bop. Actually, all the music in Kare Kano is really fantastic. The opening theme by this point feels super nostalgic, the soundtrack is practically brimming with joy every second along with Anno's trademark mellow piano jams, and oh, Yume no Naka e, man... What an excellent choice for an ending theme, especially with the live action footage that gets accompanied with it in the credits. It's one of the best covers of the song which I've personally heard (even if the Yosui Inoue original is still my most preferred version), and perfectly reflects what Kare Kano is all about. Dare I say, it's my favorite anime outro of all time. Ever since I heard it I've become kind of obsessed with the song, and the many cover versions of it that exist. If you take anything away from this review, then please listen to Yume no Naka e, no matter if it's the original or a cover version.

Overall, Kare Kano is another really solid oddity in Gainax's catalog, and there's definitely more I could discuss with it at some point (all of what I've written here isn't even nearly half of the notes I took while watching it), as even the production, like with many Anno projects, is almost as interesting at times as the product it self. It's easily up there as one of the most eccentric, joyful yet still personal things he's ever made, and I wholeheartedly love it. It might not hit quite the same way for me as it did when I was a teenager and I can sense a lot more personal gripes with it nowadays, but when Kare Kano goes for the punches it really succeeds gracefully, and just for a second it can make me forget about any other anime ever existing