From the beginning, Please Teacher has a few obvious qualities that make it "different" from the rest of the fanservice crowd. There are no panty shots being thrown left and right, and there is no obvious nudity. In fact, the "fanservice" aspect takes a back seat to the rest of the series, which is story and humor. While this may discourage a few viewers, it is possibly the best turn the series could take. Please Teacher builds on characters, rather than exploiting them, and creates a story that seems to be odd, but still not too far out of league that it becomes ludicrous. Overall, Please Teacher Disc 1 starts creating a unique, yet very interesting product from the beginning of the first episode.

For Kei Kusanagi, the universe is just a standstill. Although he appears to be a normal fifteen year old boy, he is actually eighteen. He was born with a unique condition that causes his body to enter a near-death state whenever he becomes depressed. In one case, Kei entered a standstill so severe that he was trapped in a coma for three years. However, while in the coma, Kei's body did not age. When he awoke, he was just as he was when he had slipped into unconsciousness. Since he has awoken, Kei has been trying to rebuild his life, and is just starting to move forward again. However, when he sees a spaceship land near a field he is laying on, he soon finds himself narrowly escaping an alien pursuer. The next day at school, he learns that their teacher would not be in for the rest of the year. After a few moments of speculation, a beautiful woman enters the room and claims to be their new teacher. She introduces herself as Mizuho Kazami, an instructor in Modern Japanese. Kei immediately sees a resemblance between her and the alien. Even stranger is the fact that she has moved in to the apartment building next door to Kei's home. After a slight incident at Mizuho's home, Kei finds out that his teacher is actually the alien he saw the night before, which ends up causing a panic in the lad. He of course, gives flight, and ends up triggering a series of events that lead him and Mizuho into a rather "compromising" position.

The next day, after a slight mishap, Mizuho and Kei end up locked in the gym equipment shed. After sharing a few secrets, the two are rescued by Kei's uncle Minoru, who has had suspicions of the two seeing each other. Unfortunately, Minoru got the key from a "janitor," who turned out to be the school's principal. Before Kei and Mizuho can make an excuse, however, Minoru announces the two are married. Unable to come up with a better excuse, both Kei and Mizuho agree with Minoru. To make things even more concrete, the two submit forms to the government to make the marriage legal and binding. The next day, the principal informs the two that they must conceal their relationship at all costs, lest they create a scandal. The rest of the disc sets the scene for the two and shows how they conceal their marriage from the school and other students, oftentimes with humorous results.

Mizuho has a fleeting thought that what Kei is doing ISN'T foreplay.	By Konoha's expression, Minoru can look forward to a nice night on the couch.

At this point in the series, Please Teacher looks to be developing into an excellent series. The idea that the main character is quite sickly as opposed to the usual romantic comedy/drama is a refreshing change of pace. Such a boundary eliminates the focus from just Kei and Mizuho, but also places a new roadblock to be overcome. To advance the story and atmosphere even further, Please Teacher places quite a bit of emphasis on the secondary cast, which ranges from the boorish, yet kindhearted Hyosuke, to the monotone, yet conniving Ichigo. The whole cast is fleshed out nicely, and helps to put an interesting emphasis on the story elements.

Speaking of the story, the episodes on this disc are very well-written, and have an excellent mood about them that ranges from silly to totally serious, but never gets to the point that the viewer wants to stop watching. Instead, it keeps viewers wanting more, hoping to see what happens next, and wondering what the next plot twist will be. Furthermore, viewers won't be seeing what happens to just the primary characters - the secondary cast's development is well-integrated into the series and helps to enhance the overall atmosphere of the show itself, since the world is constantly changing, albeit very subtly, along with the characters.

On the video side, Please Teacher is simply beautiful. Coming from a 2002 release, the transfer is simply gorgeous. Cross coloration and rainbows are literally non-existent. The entire disc is vibrant, with beautiful accentuation of smaller details, such as fabric folds or the registration number on the bottom of a news chopper. There are no visible artifacts or instances of aliasing. Animationwise, Please Teacher truly excels. The brilliant character designs are brought to life with fluid animation which rivals even a few OVA series on the market. If there were to be any flaw, it would have to be that one or two scenes on the disc seemed "washed out" in the color department. However, these are exceptions, and far from the rule. The rest makes up a solid product that would make any anime fan squeal with glee.

Moving on to audio, Please Teacher is a mixed bag. After listening to both tracks, I could find no noticeable dropouts or distortions. However, there is an extreme quality issue when moving between tracks. The Japanese acting is of exceptional quality, with a solid performance from the entire cast. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the Englush dub cast. Many of the English roles sounded too old for their parts, or they sounded as if they were forcing their lines. On more than just a few occasions, I have heard Mizuho's voice waver in the middle of a line. Overall, the English track was mediocre at best.

On the music front, Please Teacher sports an impressive soundtrack that is a treat for the ears. The series balances well between memorable tracks and generic "filler music" that is a requisite in most cases. Shinji Orito deserves much praise for his mix of melodies that creates a very nice balance in the soundtrack. The weakest link would possibly have to be the ending song, which seems a bit too slow for the overall pacing of the show. This is a personal nitpick, however, and doesn't detract much from the overall enjoyment.

For packaging, Bandai has released two versions of Please Teacher! Volume One. One comes with an artbox, the soundtrack, and a few other limited goodies; the other has just the disc. Dual releases seem to be a trend that Bandai is running lately, and really gives an incentive for collectors and casual anime fans alike. For both releases, the keepcase is the same, using the same art from the original Japanese cover minus the "mail" theme . The Japanese versions were actually called "Mails" and had a red and blue series of stripes around the edge, reminiscient of postal envelopes found in other countries, and sported postmark and company "stamps" for logos. The cover illustration features Mizuho in her usual "teacher" outfit, as she sits against a pillow. The back features a "student desk" theme with an illustration of a desk with a notebook on in. The back has a few screencaps from the disc, as well as a brief description of the series and the extras available. The insert features the cover art on the front and an ad for the "Onegai Teacher" manga on the back. As a unique feature, the insert actually unfolds into a mini-poster of Mizuho.

On the disc is a very nice list of extras. First on the list is the original Japanese trailer for the series, which gives a great idea of what the Japanese were given when the series was announced. Next up is the "Promo Clip", which is a five minute long music video for the series that uses animation from the show as well as the full length opening theme, "Shooting Star". Following the promotional clip are two commercials that aired on Japanese television. Both are narrated by Kikuko Inoue, and are the typical fare for commercials. As another fun bonus, Bandai has chosen to include the preview for Episode 1, which basically is a teaser for the first episode. The final "extra" on this disc outside of the standard trailers is a hefty design gallery, which has a total of 26 pages that put Mizuho and Kei in the spotlight. In the end, Bandai has pulled through and given viewers another fun set of extras for fans to look through.

Overall, Please Teacher has potential to be another excellent addition to any fan's collection. The wonderful writing and and excellent characters alone have enough charm to warrant a purchase. Hopefully the series keeps the steam it's built with the next volume.

Distributor: Bandai Entertainment
Creator: Please!
Released: 2001

Video Quality: A
Audio Quality: B
Presentation: A
Content: B+
Overall: A-