The new Gainax TV series "Kare shi Kanojo no Jijou" (His and Her Circumstances), a high school love comedy based on the manga published by Hakusensha (and, incidentally, the first Gainax project to not have any science fiction element to it). The story chronicles the misadventures of Yukino, a student with troubles that, as one rec.arts.anime.misc post put it, "us men can't even imagine."

Written and directed by Neon Genesis evangelion's Hideaki Anno (who apparently prepared for the project by interviewing students and visiting Tokyo area high schools), the series' North American debut was at Anime Weekend Atlanta two weeks ago, which showed an off-air taping of the first episode only one week after it aired in Japan. About 120 fans were in attendance.

"It can be seen as a logical progression both in Anno's directorial style and choice of subject matter. Anno has seized on his most controversial elements of narrative from 'Eva': abstraction, simplification, admission that this is, after all, only an anime show--elements he was accused of using out of necessity or confusion--and made them his basic tools in 'KareKano,'" said Carl Horn on one Rec.arts.anime.misc post.

Potential series love interests include classmates Arima, Hiroyuki, and Hideaki (!). Yukino's bizarre looking dog Pero-Pero also makes an appearance.

The show airs Fridays in cooperation with SoftX.