Tsuritama and Ano Hana
Aug. 26th, 2012 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pacificpikachuI finished Tsuritama and then Ano Hana yesterday and today, so time to write down some thoughts!
Tsuritama was definitely a fun, enjoyable series. I loved the use of color and distinct style of the backgrounds. Visually, it was such a treat. The characters were great, too! Ultimately, I liked all of them and I don't know if I can even choose a favorite. I loved the friendship formed between the four mains, and this series made me smile a lot. Tsuritama in general was just a solid, fun, enjoyable ride. I'm looking forward to hopefully watching it again with friends at some point. It would be pretty hard not to enjoy such a different, funny, sweet little show.
I might ship Yuki/Haru a little bit. >___>
Also, Tsuritama made me want to go to Enoshima, haha. I'll always be able to recognize the Enoshima dance, that's for sure!
The theme song and ending theme both made me super happy, too. I'm just generally happy that I watched this series because I think it cheered me up out of my slump somewhat.
Silliest "criticism": Tapioca didn't sound, move, or act like a real duck at all. XD I have twelve ducks, I of all people would know! I don't think realism was the intent, though, somehow. XD (Clearly, this series is all about realism, right?)
--
Ano Hana was...hmmm. I have mixed feelings about Ano Hana. On one hand, I felt like it captured some of the complex emotion surrounding the loss of a loved one. Personally, I was moved by it and able to relate to it. That said, the writing could have been much better. There are quite a few criticisms I could make about the characterization, pacing, script, and so on. I found much of it disconcerting because of the schism between me as an extremely empathetic person who gets really into whatever I'm watching, and the critical part of me that was going, "Something about this series isn't quite right."
That said, I cried hard at the last few scenes. Even while feeling critical about it somewhat. I think I needed a good cry, and I could feel for the characters even while not being 100% convinced by them. I understood the feelings behind the characters, the complexity of their grief, and having to say goodbye again. The finality of it struck home for me, and the outpouring of emotion from all of them. I don't cry in many anime series, and I intentionally seek out tear-jerkers (shh, I like them), so I'm a bit surprised that this series got me, but at the same time, I think there was something genuine and relatable to it despite the so-so writing.
I think the OP and ED make me more emotional than the majority of the series itself, though. I had a hard time seeing the characters as fully real. Menma herself was a flat character to me. I found her hard to love somehow, there was just not much to her. She and Jin-tan had no chemistry. Most of the characters were the sort that could be summed up more-or-less in one sentence, without much complexity to them. They felt like tools to drive the story and ratchet up the emotions, rather than organic people themselves.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the series, though. It had its moments, and I feel like what it was trying to capture is so difficult that the things it did capture well made it a good series despite everything. Not a fantastic series, but a good one. I found it cathartic in a way--probably because I'm lonely, and miss my friends from childhood and high school, and look fondly back on being surrounded by groups of friends like that. I also struggle with loss a lot, although in my case it's more animal friend losses than human ones (but, well, ultimately grief is just grief regardless, right?).
I don't think everyone would love this series, but I think for some people, it will strike a chord. It's too bad that it wasn't as well-executed as I would hope, but having written stories with grief as a big motif myself, I know that it's not an easy thing to convey, especially masterfully.
Hmmm, several anime series vying to be the next thing I watch. I think I'll decide what's next tomorrow, though.
Tsuritama was definitely a fun, enjoyable series. I loved the use of color and distinct style of the backgrounds. Visually, it was such a treat. The characters were great, too! Ultimately, I liked all of them and I don't know if I can even choose a favorite. I loved the friendship formed between the four mains, and this series made me smile a lot. Tsuritama in general was just a solid, fun, enjoyable ride. I'm looking forward to hopefully watching it again with friends at some point. It would be pretty hard not to enjoy such a different, funny, sweet little show.
I might ship Yuki/Haru a little bit. >___>
Also, Tsuritama made me want to go to Enoshima, haha. I'll always be able to recognize the Enoshima dance, that's for sure!
The theme song and ending theme both made me super happy, too. I'm just generally happy that I watched this series because I think it cheered me up out of my slump somewhat.
Silliest "criticism": Tapioca didn't sound, move, or act like a real duck at all. XD I have twelve ducks, I of all people would know! I don't think realism was the intent, though, somehow. XD (Clearly, this series is all about realism, right?)
--
Ano Hana was...hmmm. I have mixed feelings about Ano Hana. On one hand, I felt like it captured some of the complex emotion surrounding the loss of a loved one. Personally, I was moved by it and able to relate to it. That said, the writing could have been much better. There are quite a few criticisms I could make about the characterization, pacing, script, and so on. I found much of it disconcerting because of the schism between me as an extremely empathetic person who gets really into whatever I'm watching, and the critical part of me that was going, "Something about this series isn't quite right."
That said, I cried hard at the last few scenes. Even while feeling critical about it somewhat. I think I needed a good cry, and I could feel for the characters even while not being 100% convinced by them. I understood the feelings behind the characters, the complexity of their grief, and having to say goodbye again. The finality of it struck home for me, and the outpouring of emotion from all of them. I don't cry in many anime series, and I intentionally seek out tear-jerkers (shh, I like them), so I'm a bit surprised that this series got me, but at the same time, I think there was something genuine and relatable to it despite the so-so writing.
I think the OP and ED make me more emotional than the majority of the series itself, though. I had a hard time seeing the characters as fully real. Menma herself was a flat character to me. I found her hard to love somehow, there was just not much to her. She and Jin-tan had no chemistry. Most of the characters were the sort that could be summed up more-or-less in one sentence, without much complexity to them. They felt like tools to drive the story and ratchet up the emotions, rather than organic people themselves.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the series, though. It had its moments, and I feel like what it was trying to capture is so difficult that the things it did capture well made it a good series despite everything. Not a fantastic series, but a good one. I found it cathartic in a way--probably because I'm lonely, and miss my friends from childhood and high school, and look fondly back on being surrounded by groups of friends like that. I also struggle with loss a lot, although in my case it's more animal friend losses than human ones (but, well, ultimately grief is just grief regardless, right?).
I don't think everyone would love this series, but I think for some people, it will strike a chord. It's too bad that it wasn't as well-executed as I would hope, but having written stories with grief as a big motif myself, I know that it's not an easy thing to convey, especially masterfully.
Hmmm, several anime series vying to be the next thing I watch. I think I'll decide what's next tomorrow, though.
