This is revision of an old post of mine. I think the amine deserves a lot more love than it has gotten.
“Rec” is short for record. As in a recording studio. And the “Rec” button on a tape deck.
Is it possible for an anime to be more endearing than “Rec”?
I’m not sure. It is a fun bit of josei. There are nine episodes of 12 minutes, plus a special. Each episode is named after an Audrey Hepburn movie, including Sabrina, Roman Holiday, My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, etc. (Hepburn is adored by the female lead and often quoted.)
Begin digression!
The late Audrey Hepburn is one of my very favorite actresses. The American Film Institute rates her as the 3rd greatest actress of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Her famous slender figure was not due to diet or surgery. As a child she was trapped in Amsterdam during World War II. Amsterdam was subjected to extreme sanctions during the war due to the refusal of Dutch railroad personnel to run trains of any kind for the Germans. This resulted in a great famine in the city referred to as The Hunger Winter (Hongerwinter) of 1944-45. Tens of thousands died.
In her autobiography she recounts stealing and eating the tulip bulbs from the gardens of German officers to survive The starvation damaged her young metabolism and she was never able to gain weight since.
But back to the anime! (Only slightly spoilish.)
Rec is a sweet love story of a young woman & wanna-be voice actor (Aka Onda) on the
down and out who moves in with an almost as down and out advertising writer (Fumihiko Matsumaru). Matsamaru is far from perfect and not above a little agressiveness.
It is based on a manga by the same name. They meet at a theater when the guy has been stood up on a date. He is about to throw his tickets away when she sees him and asks him not to waste them. The movie happens to be Roman Holiday.
Her apartment has been destroyed and she has nowhere to stay. He offers to let her stay at his place. They have sex one time and then she pulls back and the two live together, sharing the apartment but not the bed.
Her career blossoms while his stays dormant and this causes problems. Couldn’t help feeling for the guy and couldn’t help falling in love with her character. Not deep philosophy or great art but it just made me feel good. I don’t think anything else much matters.
The voice actress for Aka, Kanako Sakai, also sings the OP theme “Cheer!”
Watch for a reference in ep. 6 about a little known Audrey Hepburn movie called “The Children’s Hour“. It is a dark and tragic movie, the darkest one AH ever made.
July 30, 2021 at 13:21
Awesome picture
July 18, 2021 at 13:42
Interesting digression, Fred. But since you are in the mood to do some revisions, may I suggest just one more? In your digression you discuss both Hepburns, Audrey and Katharine. I share your admiration for both, though I was once madly in love with Kate. However, since I always assumed a possible familial link between the two but never heard anyone refer to it, your assertion that they were niece and aunt spurred me to look it up.
Darn it all, it turns out there is no relation whatsoever. Audrey was born in Brussels, Belgium, as Audrey Kathleen Ruston, later changed to Hepburn-Ruston, by her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, who added it to his own surname, mistakenly believing he was related to James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.
More bubbles burst . . .
July 18, 2021 at 21:01
Ah the bitterness!
July 18, 2021 at 22:45
Also, in my meager research I discovered that when Audrey was about to be cast in Roman Holiday, her first film, the studio folks urged her to change her name to avoid any confusion with the already quite famous Katharine. She refused, telling them she’d drop the film before dropping her name. The studio suits blinked.
July 19, 2021 at 13:18
Good thing, too.
IMHO, they made a mistake when they made her lip synch in “My Fair Lady.” She was perfectly capable of doing the music justice.
July 19, 2021 at 18:56
Quite correct, sir. She did record her songs, but the studio decided her voice didn’t have enough “heft.” She was actually quite capable — and it SOUNDED like her, not Marni Nixon, who didn’t really sound like anyone she dubbed for. Here is a clip, if you can see it.
https://youtu.be/NDzKq8CG_po
July 20, 2021 at 18:31
And I prefer Angela Lansbury over the commercial version of Beauty and the Beast.
July 30, 2021 at 19:27
Fixed!
June 28, 2019 at 15:01
Really loved this little title and agree that it needs much more attention than it originally received. I’m glad someone else remembers it other than myself.
February 23, 2019 at 11:56
I love this. The perfect article about anime.