Books TV Shows for Lolitas: Cat Street

I'm likely not the first to mention this show to many of you. I've seen it referenced a couple times on egl the past few months. But I thought I should give it a review anyways.

The thing about this show is that, actually, it sounds a bit clique and silly. A child actress gets stage fright once and basically turns into a hermit until she has friends forced upon her to save her with their friendship. And honestly, it took me a bit to get past the initial 'omg, it was one thing please get over yourself' reaction and just watch the show. And it actually turned out to be a really amazing one.

Keito is a really depressed girl. The show takes it's time with her development, which means it takes a bit for the audience to learn the real reasons behind her withdrawal from society. Though this requires a bit of a push to get past, it helps to symbolize how the character is opening up. The friends she begins opening up to are as diverse and interesting as anyone could wish for. And they each come with their own problems and pain that gets worked through during later episodes. From the boy with the stutter who wants to dance to the lolita who is was hurt from the teasing she endured at a previous school to the cool guy that doesn't like answering personal questions to the odd principal that opened up the school that brings the kids together.

But characters and plot aside, I honestly fell in love with the feel of the show. It's a rather accurate representation of the group I fell into during high school. Not that I had friends just like these, because I don't really see any matching personalities, but a tight group of friends that were each just a tiny bit odd and had a vast collection of different interest but fit together like pieces of some puzzle that didn't seem like it would even make sense. And the show made this connection without the glitz and glamor that American shows add to any high school theme. Despite one girl being a super star.  Cat Street also deals with the issue of bullying, and not in an after school special way. There is no magic grown up that steps in to stop it. These kids learn to deal and to take it into their own hands. And when that fails they learn to fall back on each other - sometimes a little awkwardly because a lot of things are awkward at that age. It's not a show about how friendship just makes everything better, but about how friends can inspire you to make yourself better and help you along the way when you need it.

Also, she's got some adorable dresses.

I really enjoyed Cat Street and highly recommend it to anyone that grew up on the care bear definition of friends and enjoys an occasional drama show.