Adachi to Shimamura

Somewhere in the school at noon, one might hear the sound of two girls playing table tennis together as they wait for time to pass by.

As if by fate, two students—Sakura Adachi and Hougetsu Shimamura—stumble upon each other on the second floor of the school gymnasium. As they gradually foster a budding friendship, their feelings for one another only become more ambiguous. Growing closer by the day, the two must learn to navigate their contrasting personalities as well as determine the depth of their affection for each other.

The nature of this relationship gradually shifts when one of them starts to develop feelings beyond the boundaries of a platonic relationship. Even so, Adachi and Shimamura must realize if forming a bond stronger than friendship will bring them closer or tear them apart.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Adachi, Sakura Main

Kitou, Akari Japanese

Shimamura, Hougetsu Main

Itou, Miku Japanese

Chikama, Yashiro Supporting

Saeki, Iori Japanese

Nagafuji, Taeko Supporting

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Hino, Akira Supporting

Numakura, Manami Japanese

Adachi, Atsuka Supporting

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Tarumi Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Pancho Supporting

Hieda, Nene Japanese

Hanasaki Supporting

Kajiwara, Gakuto Japanese

Shimada Supporting

Minami, Wakana Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Tanaka, Junichirou Producer

Anami, Hiroshi Producer

Reviews

Feb 21, 2025

griddyweeb

Recommended

Unfortunately it lacks a sort of conclusion, even if we acknowledge that it's a half adaptation. It's a good story with barely any "payoff".

It's an interesting yet sweet story about how 2 girls pursue a connection despite having really messed up social habits and values. On one hand Shimamura fails to value people who make an effort befriending her, she just goes with the flow and acts like she makes an effort, she's very self aware about it too and basically accepts how she is. Adachi on the other hand is a very stand-offish personality with no friends, yet with Shimamura she tends to be ... jealous and selfish even, all while being insecure with ton of self doubt. Well the last part is true about Shimamura as well, but they have very different ways dealing with their insecurities. But towards each other they behave differently, well at least they gradually manage to overcome their bad habits and heal.

It's very enjoyable journey how their awkward relationship develops into something meaningful. They're both very socially unusual, outcasts even. At first it literally felt like they're progressing backwards, but honestly it's the opposite, but I don't really wanna spoil the journey, but it really is much better in retrospect. It'd be a real shame to drop this show because of their relationship starts off with taking a trajectory that actually gets more and more awkward at first.

Honestly it's such a shame this doesn't have a 2nd season, there's sooo much to unfold, not just their relationship, which again, is pretty lackluster in terms of conclusion.

The GL/romance part of the show is pretty shallow, it is genuine but there's just not much going on (yet). It's hard to hold it against this anime since it's not a proper adaptation, in it's current length it's really not that romantic and their relationship is more platonic for now. Still an enjoyable watch, just don't get your hopes up in terms of their progression.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 19, 2024

Gwynbleidd_Alan

Mixed Feelings

"Adachi to Shimamura" has such a cute premise which is incredibly wholesome. Two students, Sakura Adachi and Hougetsu Shimamura, cross paths on the second floor of the school gymnasium while skipping classes. Their friendship gradually deepens as they grow closer to each other throughout the story. This had the potential to be something truly special, but the potential feels a bit wasted.

There's two major issues which feel out of place and have no reason to be part of the plot. First, the story includes an alien who randomly appears dressed in a space suit, and the characters react to this bizarre occurrence as ... if it were completely normal. As much as I wish I was making that up, the alien then takes the form of a blue haired child. Her only purpose towards the early parts of the season is to be annoying and intrude into the alone time of the two main girls, preventing them to truly develop their relationship. As the show progresses, her existence is neither explained nor does it serve a greater purpose like helping a character figure something out about themselves or moving the plot along. Luckily, she gets shifted into the background in the later stages of the season. Without a clear reason for her existence or any explanation, her character feels unnecessary, and completely out of place. I can't understand how the other characters react to a girl who has glowing blue hair, emits light particles, and claims to be a centuries-old alien as if she's the most normal thing ever. The other thing which just felt completely out of place is that the first time a male character gets introduced and gets screen time, he's a pedophile peeping on little children at a swimming pool..... This scene serves ZERO purpose and just sort of exists, which makes it even more of a headscratcher.

The relationship feels one-sided for most of the season. One character appears almost obsessed with the other, even going so far as to ignore her for days just because she talked to another girl for a few seconds. This creates an unhealthy dynamic where one character is deeply in love while the other seems to go along with it just to avoid loneliness. Adding to this, the character in love makes her feelings quite obvious, while the other is either completely oblivious or pretends to be, resulting in content which can tend to feel awkward . Despite the significant growth in the emotional bond between the characters throughout the season, it concludes on an unfulfilling note, leaving more questions than answers.

This anime has its high points and several qualities that make for a pleasant viewing experience. The drawing style is pretty and the music is well chosen alongside a good voice cast. The romantic moments feel organic and genuine, and the interesting premise allows it to stand out in a genre with limited options. However, it does have glaring issues that range from minor disturbances to elements that become, quite frankly, extremely annoying. Ultimately, while the anime has moments that redeem it, making for an overall positive viewing experience, these flaws add an unfulfilling element that somewhat taints the experience.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 1, 2025

Marleonka

Not Recommended

I wanted to like it but I just couldn't. I love slow romance and slice of life, so that's definetly not a problem for me. I feel like the series falls into a lot of tropes and doesn't do anything intersting with them. The way a few elements at the beginning make you go “okay, these characters have room to grow, so lets see how it evovles”, but when they don't do so is a bit frustrating. I feel that ultimately the main characters have a bit of an anti-dynamic, as they are sometimes horrible to each other in very subtle ways. One seems ... to be very openly into the other, who whether or purpose or not acts entirely oblivious. Shimamura I still don't quite understand what her character is, and the series doesn't want to explore that in any meaningful way. She sure thinks about stuff a lot, but that never really takes shape in her actions. I know her actions are supposed to be artificial, but there's no real distincton between how she acts towards Adachi. It ultimately feels like she doesn't actually care about her. The characters often say one thing (or rather think) and do a different thing. Ultimately nothing happens between them, so I have the feeling that it was going nowhere.

Especially since a lot of times the structure of the episodes is repeated and each time the effect is the same, that despite the fact that the characters talk about how much they mean to each other, there is a certain feeling that the status quo resets every night and ultimately this “change” of theirs is purely arbitrary, because nothing actively changes between episode 1 and 12, because they continue their relationship looks largely the same, and they continue to be unsure if they even like each other and distant which after the whole series is a bit of a slap in the face to the viewer. Especially since the insight into their personalities is so limited that it feels totally illogical at times how they behave relative to what we are shown they are thinking. I do enjoy the ideas the show wants to convey, because two girls coming out of their shells is lovely, but the way this show handles it doesnt really make it satisfying, because they ultimately dont want to open up to each other and talk about things.

Their flaws as humans are never addressed with each other. Adachi is morbidly jealous of everything, while Shimamura simply isolates herself emotionally from everyone and sends Adachi mixed signals the entire time. And well, of course they refuse to communicate. While at first its cute because Adachi's a bit awkward, as the series goes on, it really makes you dislike the two leads. Adachi being so horribly jealous she gives Shimamura the silent treatment for days because she talks to any other girl is definetly not a healthy way to approach their relationship, so I wish she at least acknowledged that she's doing something wrong rather than going "I guess Shimamura doesnt really care about me, because she talked to someone else for a few seconds." And the worst part is that she is somehow right! When we get to see Shimamura's POV, she often talks about how distant she is to everything and everyone and that maybe her relationship with Adachi is not gonna last. She has no desire ever fighting for Adachi and despite them being best friends, she doesnt treat her any different from people she seemigly doesnt care about. With how much she talks about being distant and not creating actual connections, it feels like wasted potential for her to never bring it up with Adachi or not to explore how she actually feels under that mask of being cheery. The series never wants to address who Shimamura is, who she wants to be and especially what she wants of Adachi. If they are supposed to be different than all the other artificial friendships Shimamura had in the past, doesnt seem to put the effort towards it, often making Adachi feel bad on purpose (like with questioning her on why she enjoys physical intimacy with her, despite knowing it makes her doubt herself)

The ending itself is also extremely unsatisfying. I feel like the series sets up like 5 mini-plots and none of them get resovled in any meanngful way. Adachi never kisses Shimamura as she wanted. Adachi never learns of Tarumi. Nagafuji and Hiro just stop appearing at a certain point (only to get a small cameo in the final ep). Somehow Nagafuji and Hiro had better chemistry than the two leads, but they just got tossed in the bin. Yashiro doesn't ultimately achieve anything (I dont want her origins explained, but just do something with her). The series just ends and it ultimately feels entirely pointless, as their relationship didnt grow in any significant way, so what was the story they were telling?

The technical side of things deserves praise. The music, voicework as well as the animation are lovely and make the experience a lot more bearable. The concepts of two very different people coming out of their shells through their mutual connection and ultimately love is a lovely subject, but this series doesn't do it any justice. The leads are infuriating at times and while their cute moments are definetly cute, them being terrible for each other makes it sour and prevents me from enjoying the series. If you seek a very similar story done right, I highly recommend the movie Doukyusei. It's pretty much the exact same in terms of premise, but universally better in every single aspect of the storytelling.

(Also. who decided to put a scene of a pedophile staring at kids at a pool? What purpose did it serve? That's the only male character in the show btw. So unnesecary and bizarre, please don't do it again.)

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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