A15 Anthology: Cosmopolitan Prayers, Aim for the Hit, Love Love

Overview

Three stories strung out in short snippets in a late-night slot showing PG-15 rated titles.

Cosmopolitan Prayers

In Cosmopolitan Prayers, a Japanese schoolgirl is transported to the legendary land of Izumo, where she must team up with local priestesses to rescue the sun goddess Amaterasu, who has been imprisoned within a network of black towers. Using their mystic powers to transform, or "charm up," to their magical forms, the girls fight demons and demigods to keep the world safe.

Aim for the Hit

Similar allusions might be expected in Aim for the Hit (aka Smash Hit), which, despite its titular resemblance to Aim for the Ace, is concerned not with sporting triumph but a ratings-chasing TV program. Twenty-five-year-old mystery fanatic Mizuki gets the chance of a lifetime when she's appointed as producer of a new show, but she's hardly the ideal choice for the job. She's physically immature, and her childlike appearance goes with a whining attitude that leads to her colleagues making fun of her. Nor is the film much to her liking, since it is a derivative show about a Japanese schoolgirl saving the world. In a triumph of solipsism, the show that Mizuki cannot stand is Cosmopolitan Prayers-perhaps in an allegory aimed at animators forced to put aside their dreams in order to pay the bills on shows like this. But like her media colleague Kuromi-chan, she finally pulls through.

Love Love

Love Love features Naoto Oizumi, a high school student with an off-putting stare, hired as a cameraman by the production company in Aim for the Hit, and tasked with filming the training of the actresses who have been hired to star in Cosmopolitan Prayers, thereby achieving what must be a modern animator's idea of franchise paradise: the pop idols of Kira Kira Melody Academy crashed into Tenchi Muyo!.

Characters