I don’t know if anyone disagrees, but it seems AnH is well loved. The slice-of-life + drama combination is working great, and I have to agree that it has a special aura about it. I took time to watch the raws early last week, but never got around to reflecting upon it; glad to see Lunar with a double release though. Good Job!
I’ve boiled down the experience AnH is giving me and I feel the characters are strangely common and extremely easy to watch (except Hiro at times). The characters don’t feel out of place by any means, and they aren’t quite typical. The plot device doesn’t really give them much chance to be, but one point where I realized this was the scene as Shouko is watching Karada and Hiro walking [away to the bridge]. We see Shouko’s face, but it may have seemed that she would smile, but she didn’t, she went back to her takoyaki. That moment brought my notice of the brilliance I find in the characters. Simple, accurate, human.
As for heartfelt events, Shouko’s needs take the cake. Karada’s needs are quite simple, as she is a child and needs guidance and love, but with adult mindset which have been altered, socially, there is more need. Shouko feels she is not “in the loop”, even though she acknowledges her chances. The two occurances I found obvious were Shouko’s playing with the kids down the lane and her need to help. Of the two, Shouko wanting to help (or feeling like she isn’t helping) was very heartfelt. The table-setting scene puts her strive into perspective well. She is trying hard, and it’s so sweet! Shouko is awesome!
The interesting nature of AnH must be the rather sparse dialog and the bending of emotion so that the viewer clearly sees it, but still enjoys it. Karada and Shouko’s situation isn’t very gleeful, yet I don’t ever feel depressed watching their sadness. It is peaceful, that’s my one word description of Asatte no Houkou.
Ryan A
I feel so guilty about Anh. I’ve had episode 4 for like two weeks and I just can’t bring myself to watch it. I like the series and everything, but whenever I have free time I end up doing something else. I feel like AnH can be really good and cute, but parts just seem really boring to me. Gotta get myself on track! Maybe all those cute pics of Shouko will finally get me to watch…
I love Shouko, she’s too cute. I’m happy she’s starting to get some character development action and we can see her mindset starting to change. Karada seems to already be relatively settled into her new body and is going about her chores with a lot of positive emotion. Karada is starting to enjoy the change, I believe. Shouko on the other hand is having a rough time.
Demian, ahhhh ^^. Well, truthfully I find it sort of difficult to watch one episode at a time. There isn’t a strong addiction, but I just feel I could watch 6-12 episodes straight of AnH.
Retsgip, YES! Shouko is one of my favs of the fall batch. She doesn’t seem complex, but she’s entirely torn up inside. I really look forward to her resolution, I hope its happy.. she doesn’t seem happy
Shouko is my favourite too, but just in AnH. Although everything is great as it is now, I’m worried that the anime will stay ‘happy’ until the end, building off the last episode with more ‘good’ occurrences. I hope something bad happens, since in real life, something bad always happens.
I agree that something bad needs to occur, though the switch-up seems to be the main event. I think Karada’s resolution will come without a hitch, but Shouko and Hiro need to settle some things. I’m guessing, if Shouko and Karada return to their normal selves, then Shouko and Hiro can either make up or disband. I find it odd that Shouko appeared in the town, but it’s either destiny or planning. I still wonder if they will return to normal O_o Episodes 7+8 should give some good insight, or not.. lol