Anime: Asatte no Houkou

Official website: http://www.tbs.co.jp/asatteno/index-j.html

This anime is about a little girl called Karada Iokawa who made wish through a stone one summer. Her wish came true and she turned into a woman. Her brother's ex-girlfriend, Shōko Nogami became a little girl. I think Karada Iokawa was very adorable.


This is Karada Iokawa when she was a girl. Cute right?

Episode 1: "Wishing Stone"
Shōko returned to Japan, and met Karada kneeling in front of a stone shrine. Curious, Shoko asked her what she was doing. Karada replied that she was praying. Then Hiro came along. Shoko was shock to see him. Shoko was Hiro's girlfriend when they were in America, but Hiro left fo Japan and never returned. Shoko joined Hiro, Karada and their friends, Tetsu and Tōko at the beach. Tetsu was Karada's classmate although he looked like a college student for his height. Toko was Tetsu's sister. She worked at a coffee shop. Shoko watched how Hiro adored Karada and was feeling jealous. She purposely offended Karada by saying she was childish. Karada was upset because she dislike being treated as a child. She ran off crying with Tetsu running after her to comfort her. Hiro commented that Shoko should not have make such a remark. Shōko slapped him for not saying anything when he left. Shoko met Karada in front of the stone shrine. An amazing thing happened. Karada suddenly became a woman and Shoko became a child. Karada was scare and upset.

Karada and Shoko by the shrine

Episode 2: "Chance Encounter"
Karada and Shōko switched ages after Karada wished to become older. Shoko took Karada to her apartment. She was very calm and tried to comfort Karada. Karada cried herself to sleep. She was afraid to go home. Hiro spended the entire day and night trying to find Karada, but was unable to find her. He tried calling Shoko but she refused to pick up his call. Hiro remembered that Karada liked to visit the shrine. He reached the shrine only to find a woman and a child he don't recognised. He left after apologising.


Hiro did not recognised Karada and Shoko

Karada was upset that Hiro did not recognised her. She felt it was her fault for making such a silly wish.



Episode 3: "A New Lifestyle"
Shōko and Karada began adjusting to their new situation. Shoko took Karada shopping. She helped Karada to buy new clothes and advised her how to act like an adult. She nearly forgot herself when she was choosing a bed and talked to the salesperson in her usual calm and serious tone. She quickly changed to a childish pitch when she realised that the man was watching her curiously. Meanwhile, Hiro who was not able to find Karada was not able to concentrate on his work. He remembered Shoko's rude remark about Karada and was suspicious. Unfortunately he did not know her address. By luck, someone was asking for direction. Hiro recognised the name as Shoko. He paid a visit to Shoko's apartment only to be greeted by a little girl who claimed she was Shoko's sister. Shoko invited him in and lost herself when she suddenly lost temper over a conversation about her 'sister'. She ran out of the house. Hiro chased after her and revealed that Karada was not his real sister, but Hiro felt responsible for the child after his parents died. That was the reason why he could not returned to America as promised. Shoko tried to tell the truth about switching of ages between her and Karada. He did not believe her. Karada was very sad that Hiro refused to believe

Kid Shoko and Adult Karada

Episode 4: "I Want You to Believe"
Hiro was forced into believing Karada and Shōkō's age switch, which was quite hard for Karada. They went to the Summer Festival because that was the activities that Hiro and Karada used to do. Shoko excused herself to allow Karada and Hiro to reach an understanding. Hiro took Karada to a place he had brought her before. It had a very beautiful view of the firework display. Hiro asked why Karada would want to make such a wish. She revealed that she did not want to be a burden to him and started to cry. Shoko was glad that the siblings were back to normal and tried to leave. Karada insisted that she should go home with them. Shoko agreed. Meanwhile, Tetsu who had always adored Karada was anxiously searching fo her.

Adult Karada and Hiro

Episode 5: "A Place To Return To"
Karada persuaded Shōkō to come live with her and her older brother. At first Shoko was uncomfortable, but slowly she got use to the new lifestyle and tried to help around the house. Both Karada and Hiro was glad that Shoko was around because both of them do not know how to face each other in their current stage. Shoko commented that as usual, Hiro was only thinking about himself. Shōkō met Kotomi (Toko and Tetsu's relative) who came to back town to stay. She was two years older than Tetsu and was his playmate when they were younger. Kotomo saw Shoko sitting on a bench watching some children play. She understood the meaning of being new in town and tried to make her play with the children. Shoko refused. After being alone for a while, she decided that she should take it easy and accepted the children's offer to join their game if tag. She had great fun and enjoyed herself very much. Meanwhile, Tetsu was being forced into staying home studying while he wanted to look for Karada. He visited Karada's house and met the adult Karada. Of course, he did not recognise her. Karada lied that Karada was visiting with her relatives.

Kotomi Shionzaki

Episode 6: "Summer's Eternity"
Tetsu did not believe Adult Karada because he had a feeling that Karada was still in town. Adult Karada secretly followed Tetsu and saw him walk all around the town looking for Karada. Testsu caught Karada following him but did not mind. Instead he took her to the school to tell her of some of their sweet memories. Then Tetsu took her to a secret place up in the hill where the source of a stream is. It was a beautiful sight. Tetsu revealed that he tried bring Karada once, but she got scared half way through the hill and went home. Adult Karada asked him to bring Karada again when she came back because she felt sure that Karada would love the view. Under Shoko's suggestion, Karada wrote a postcard to Tetsu informing him that she was staying at a relative's house.

Tetsu taking Adukt Karada to the top of the hill

Episode 7: "The Moment Between Them"
It was Hiro's birthday. Karada decided to bake a cake. It was the first time she was baking one. Shoko allowed her to use her apartment because she had an oven. Both went to borrow and book on baking cakes and went shopping. Shoko offered to help. She remembered that in the past, she messed up on her cooking and failed to cook anything for Hiro on his birthday. Shoko was a bad cook. She messed up a bit, but Karada was able to rescue and the cake turned out perfectly. On the way home, they saw a commotion at the stone shrine. They met Kotomi was explained that the people are angry because someone had played a prank because the stone became ash. It was a myth that when a wish was granted, the stone would become ash. When Shoko and Karada turned to leave, Kotomi asked Shoko whether she had made any friends. Without thinking, she pointed at Karada and blushed. The birthday celebration was perfect. When Hiro and Shoko went down to the store, Shoko commented that Karada was a nice girl. While both were gone, Karada found a photo of Hiro and Shoko and realised that they were a couple. She decided to leave town.

Adult Karada


Episode 8: "A Direction Of The Day After Tomorrow"
Karada took a train and leave for another town. She did not know where to go because all the apartment's rental are so expensive. She came across an recruitment advertisement and decided to tried for the job. The fast food owner refused her because she did not have a CV. Karada managed to obtain a CV. The next employer refused because she was writing her CV in pencil and there's no photo and the CV stated that she was 12 years old. She tried again, this time with a photo, a fake name and pretended that she was 20 years old. The employer was touched because when Karada talked about her history that her parents died when she was young and she had been living with her brother. However, the interviewer could not decide because she was not the boss. She spent the night at the playground under a slide to escape the rain. She recalled her childhood. She was introduced to Hiro through a photograph by her adopted parents. She accidentally over-heard that she was not the real daughter of the family, but her parents loved her even more after that. Unfortunately, the parents died and Hiro came home to find Karada alone in the house. Karada had been practising how to introduced herself to her big brother, so when she finally met her, she bravely introduced herself. Hiro could not bear leaving the child alone and chose to stay in Japan. He rented a small apartment for himself and Karada. Karada always felt she was a burden especially since she was not Hiro's real sister. She knew Hiro sacrificed a lot for her. Once she asked him what America was like, but he claimed that he had forgotten. So when Karada found the photographs of Hiro and Shoko, she realised that Hiro had made a big sacrifice and was very upset. When morning finally came, she went back to the train station and was indecisive of whether to get onto the train. Meanwhile, Hiro and Shoko back at home were very worried. Hiro received a phone call from a stranger who asked for Karada. It was a taxi driver who found Karada's CV outside the train station. Hiro left to search for Karada. He spotted her, but Karada quickly stepped into the train. By the time Hiro reached the train, the door had closed. Karada mouthed the word "Sorry". (This episode was really touching. I was crying throught it.)



Karada found the photo of Hiro and Shoko

Episode 9: "Signpost"
Tetsu decided to leave home to find Karada. He refused to go home until he find her. Kotomi who happened to be visiting her teacher's house decieded to help him. She printed posters of Karada's photo to distribute to people. Tetsu was hesitating about this method but still helped in the end. Karada found job and place to stay at a bed and breakfast inn. Shoko at home received a phone call from Karada from a public phone. She refused to say where she was but ask Shoko to tell Hiro that she well. Shoko passed the message to Hiro. She commented that it was a stupid excuse to leave home just because of their past relationship. She suggested that maybe Karada might already had known that she was not his real sister. Hiro refused to think about the possibility and Shoko scolded him a coward. She confessed that she was lonely ever since Karada was gone. Kotomi invited Tetsu to stay at her teacher's place.



Episode 10: "Real Name"

Karada was surprised to see Tetsu. She was surprised to hear that Tetsu like Karada very much as was still looking for her. When Tetsu was caught in a heavy rain looking for Karada, Adult Karada ran out to look for him. She found him fainted on the road and helped him home. Tetsu had a high fever and Adult Karada stayed by his side to look after him. She was very sad and wanted so much to tell him who she really was.