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Two years. This was the specified amount of time Fuuka and Kaoru were stated to be staying in Hawaii for involvement with the Aquatope Project. |
| It turned out to be a really nice journey than what I had expected. All the characters ended up being likeable. I'm gonna miss them. I'm just a cat and a dog person and never really cared much about fishes, so this anime made me like marine animals and made me want to work at an aquarium. Kukuru growing out her hair and Fuuka with a shorter hair, both of them are looking beautiful. Kai's reaction about the age gap animal couple is so me when I was a kid XD Everything was properly presented especially the character development. It didn't feel like anything was lacking and it ended in a smooth way with no open ending. It's been a while I watched something this simple and relaxing where all the characters were happy in the end. I remember saying that I was skeptical if I was going to survive a 24 episodes long slice of life anime but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. Overall 8/10 |
| I'm impressed that even after the girls positioned themselves quite bluntly as sisters and the show ignored any opportunities for romance, people keep complaining about the absence of Kukuru x Fuuka at the end and trying to rationalize it with classic wishful thinking like talking about queer coding, "obvious hints" or yuri bait. I understand why the premise called in so many yuri shippers, but it seems like people didn't care at all about the real relationship of the two girls, constantly trying to fill it with only what they wanted. |
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| I'm glad that this is an opening end, even with the previous yuri hint, which I don't prefer. They've achieved something greater than their dream, and friendship is indeed beautiful. |
SgtBateManDec 26, 2021 11:34 AM
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Helpppppp!  |
SgtBaitMan said: I'm glad that this is an opening end, even with the previous yuri hint, which I don't prefer. For an open end, it had to at least have an active romantic teasing. In this case, the show didn't even try to suggest it. |
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RobertBobert said: SgtBaitMan said: I'm glad that this is an opening end, even with the previous yuri hint, which I don't prefer. For an open end, it had to at least have an active romantic teasing. In this case, the show didn't even try to suggest it. Well, I meant that their future was still stretching on ahead, and even though with the yuri hint, I believe it was just my temporary observation, and the truth is more on the side of friendship. |
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Helpppppp! |
SgtBaitMan said: RobertBobert said: For an open end, it had to at least have an active romantic teasing. In this case, the show didn't even try to suggest it. Well, I meant that their future was still stretching on ahead, and even though with the yuri hint, I believe it was just my temporary observation, and the truth is more on the side of friendship. I don't quite understand what you mean by "yuri hint". The show was still out of romance or teasing. |
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RobertBobert said: I don't quite understand what you mean by "yuri hint". The show was still out of romance or teasing. Well, they were insignificant, so it's alright if you didn't see them, but I agree with you that romance wasn't the main topic of this anime. You can settle with that I just overthought. |
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Helpppppp! |
SgtBaitMan said: RobertBobert said: I don't quite understand what you mean by "yuri hint". The show was still out of romance or teasing. Well, they were insignificant, so it's alright if you didn't see them, but I agree with you that romance wasn't the main topic of this anime. You can settle with that I just overthought. Well, no one forbids you to read it as something romantic, just personally I don't understand when people try to see same-sex innuendos in any melodramatic power of friendship. As if to be with someone close platonically means to be completely emotionless. |
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RobertBobert said: Well, no one forbids you to read it as something romantic, just personally I don't understand when people try to see same-sex innuendos in any melodramatic power of friendship. As if to be with someone close platonically means to be completely emotionless. Well, you can settle with me having overthought, which indeed I did. Hope I haven't done any harm. |
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Helpppppp! |
| First half masterpiece but second half disappointing 1st half 10/10 (good job like sakura quest) 2nd half 3.5/10 (slave work labor) Overall score: 7/10 |
DamanksDec 30, 2021 4:07 PM
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| Really love this anime, one my favorite for the past months <3 Everything is so beautiful, so cozy, made me feel a lot of emotions, and of course making me wanna go to an aquarium IRL and apreciate it more than before ! And this finale is perfect, he'll have a special place in my fav animes. |
| still a solid anime P.A work kept the quality up the whole way through still dont get that little dude with the red hair |
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gophercg said: Kukuru's White dome wedding setup so beautiful, and cape penguin ring bearer lol. expected timeskip Kukuru's new hair looks nice & mature. Something happening with Karin & Kuuya id like to kno more... Omg Shiratama x Choko the ship we never expected, congrats lol. Tho Kai been unfortunately ignored last half season, the main friend-ship Kukuru & Fuuka concludes the show surrounded by flowers & Kijimunaa. I like how each has their own career progressions, like chef Udon & Akari. PA Works did even better with their work sols. A combo of depression, work conflicts, marine education, beautiful underwater art & comfy character relations. It looks like in 2021, writers still believe that romance will distract and ruin any show about friendship, even if the accents are set well enough to prevent it from happening. |
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| that whole scene with kai and penguin relationships was based. what a great journey tho. It ended really well. Quite open but had a nice theme of finding what you want to do in life, I think that resonated with me a lot. Things aren't always going to end up how you think it would be. You will have doubts about the path that you chose, and that's okay. At the end of the day it is up to you to make your decision the right one. Show was really comfy at times and knows how to hit the right spots. I would've loved to more of gramps and the stuff he did to gain the title of legendary aquarium keeper. the yuribait was strong in this one but it doesn't bother me in the end that much. I like how fuuka and kukuru's relationship is the way it is right now. 8/10 |
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dompsterfire said: the yuribait was strong in this one but it doesn't bother me in the end that much. I like how fuuka and kukuru's relationship is the way it is right now. 8/10 Do you awere that when the authors show how strong ang good the friendship of the characters is, it does not yet mean that they want you to ship them? |
RobertBobertJan 11, 2022 12:24 AM
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RobertBobert said: i mean yeah the ship thing is just me and some headcanons. Like I said it doesn't really bother me that it didn't end how I thought it would.dompsterfire said: the yuribait was strong in this one but it doesn't bother me in the end that much. I like how fuuka and kukuru's relationship is the way it is right now. 8/10 Do you awere that when the authors show how strong ang good the friendship of the characters is, it does not yet mean that they want you to ship them? |
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dompsterfire said: RobertBobert said: i mean yeah the ship thing is just me and some headcanons. Like I said it doesn't really bother me that it didn't end how I thought it would.Do you awere that when the authors show how strong ang good the friendship of the characters is, it does not yet mean that they want you to ship them? Well, I don't see a problem if you ship them, but that doesn't make the show yuri bait yet. |
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RobertBobert said: I'd say there were some moments that hinted there was more than just platonic feelings between the two hence why I ship them but on that also partly comes from headcanon.dompsterfire said: i mean yeah the ship thing is just me and some headcanons. Like I said it doesn't really bother me that it didn't end how I thought it would. Well, I don't see a problem if you ship them, but that doesn't make the show yuri bait yet. I'm not really down for an argument as to whether this classifies as yuribait or not so I'll just give you this one. |
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dompsterfire said: RobertBobert said: I'd say there were some moments that hinted there was more than just platonic feelings between the two hence why I ship them but on that also partly comes from headcanon.Well, I don't see a problem if you ship them, but that doesn't make the show yuri bait yet. I'm not really down for an argument as to whether this classifies as yuribait or not so I'll just give you this one. Interpretations of the moments are also doesn't something bad. It's just that all this does not mean any intentional ship baiting on the part of the authors. |
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| I’ll miss them!! I really liked the characters & it was so beautiful to watch, and the music from the OPs, EDs to the OST, maaaan it makes me want to visit Okinawa. The cute kijimuna always made me smile♡ |
 ꕤ but i’ll probably remember over and over again you were there and everyone else was there — the day we all searched for just one thing ꕤ |
| Nice wrap-up, I quite like the somewhat realistic, original story on working in an aquarium with the subtle mystic side popping up involving the kid spirit and the beautiful dream sequence. |
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| I expected better. I liked the first half better than the second. Still good overall. 7/10 |
 .Go watch Gintama boyo/grill My discord server for gaming and anime/manga: https://discord.com/invite/4mqXfNEJ9A |
| This was such an amazing anime! So full of heart and the coming-of-age aspects were beautiful and relatable. It was so lovely to see an anime about a deep platonic love too ♥️ I feel so proud of the characters having come so far and found a place for themselves where they’re all happy and fulfilled. We need more anime like this in the world 🥰 |
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| Great ending, yup it is heartwarming to see the two of them together again. I'm also glad there's not a hint of yuri in this series, only pure women chasing their dreams. There's also some guys but we didn't get much from them in terms of man & woman relationship... Like Kukuru x Kai and Karin x Kuuya... This is such an inspiring series even if the animation were up & down. The OP1&OP2 were great to listen to before watching the story each episode. The ED of course were slow and steady... 8/10... |
| It's not that I dislike this genre but... to add unnecessary fan services to/in/for heroines and ultimately destroys her character and personality; their purity tarnished because of it, is the only thing I hope to not happen to them. For that sole purity is my fan service. |
| A fitting finale for a dull show with poor character writing with probably Chiyu being the big exception, the second part had potential to improve the weak first part but it just went the same way by dragging itself to a point it never got any emotional pay off. I did enjoy whining about it, though. |
| I'm not sure where people saw yuri in this. Maybe it's because I haven't been watching anime all that much these days, so I'm not in that shipping mindset anymore, but right from the beginning they literally treated each other like sisters, and not in an "incest is wincest" kind of way either. Kukuru always wanted an onee-chan, so she treated Fuuka as one, and Fuuka being naturally calm, caring and sacrificial, humored her and fell into that role. But by the end they started to realize that they were becoming too codependent and using each other as a crutch, so they decided to grow up and become proper friends. Overall, this was probably the blandest one out of all PA Works' "Cute Girls Doing Work Things" anime. This ain't no Hanasaku Iroha (still their best show) or even Sakura Quest. None of the characters stood out all that much. They were all too hollow, and poorly recycled from their previous shows. The music was quite good though, especially the one with the Shamisen(?). 6/10. |
Vhailor said: I'm not sure where people saw yuri in this. Maybe it's because I haven't been watching anime all that much these days, so I'm not in that shipping mindset anymore, but right from the beginning they literally treated each other like sisters, and not in an "incest is wincest" kind of way either. Kukuru always wanted an onee-chan, so she treated Fuuka as one, and Fuuka being naturally calm, caring and sacrificial, humored her and fell into that role. But by the end they started to realize that they were becoming too codependent and using each other as a crutch, so they decided to grow up and become proper friends. Overall, this was probably the blandest one out of all PA Works' "Cute Girls Doing Work Things" anime. This ain't no Hanasaku Iroha (still their best show) or even Sakura Quest. None of the characters stood out all that much. They were all too hollow, and poorly recycled from their previous shows. The music was quite good though, especially the one with the Shamisen(?). 6/10. The theme of surrogate siblings and excessive codependency is actually a very popular motif in Japanese culture, but modern Western audiences are more obsessed with the idea that if female characters are close, then yuri baiting them. |
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RobertBobert said: Vhailor said: I'm not sure where people saw yuri in this. Maybe it's because I haven't been watching anime all that much these days, so I'm not in that shipping mindset anymore, but right from the beginning they literally treated each other like sisters, and not in an "incest is wincest" kind of way either. Kukuru always wanted an onee-chan, so she treated Fuuka as one, and Fuuka being naturally calm, caring and sacrificial, humored her and fell into that role. But by the end they started to realize that they were becoming too codependent and using each other as a crutch, so they decided to grow up and become proper friends. Overall, this was probably the blandest one out of all PA Works' "Cute Girls Doing Work Things" anime. This ain't no Hanasaku Iroha (still their best show) or even Sakura Quest. None of the characters stood out all that much. They were all too hollow, and poorly recycled from their previous shows. The music was quite good though, especially the one with the Shamisen(?). 6/10. The theme of surrogate siblings and excessive codependency is actually a very popular motif in Japanese culture, but modern Western audiences are more obsessed with the idea that if female characters are close, then yuri baiting them. Yeah, I could at least understand if it was something like Hibike Euphonium, but here it was made explicitly clear how they saw each other. There was no romantic feelings between them. Just friendship between two regular girls. |
| Don't let this fluffy and super positive ending distract you from the fact that this show practically encourages the idea of corporate slavery and that if it's with a good incentive, it's okay for you to get flooded with tons of work till you mentally collapse. Overall, another P.A. Works' original that ends up being more visuals and animation than actual quality writing. First cour was mediocre with maybe too much unnecessary melodrama but second cour was plain bad given how they handled the whole Tingaara arc. Fuuka was demoted to a secondary character when she was supposed to be a co-protagonist, Kai's sub-plot regarding his romantic feelings for Kukuru was thrown to the trash bin, Kuuya's supposed trauma with women never passed the "unfunny gag" stage, the NONSENSE of having Chiyu getting mad at some carefree teenagers because of a situation she put herself into, the disappointing resolution of the plot-line regarding Kukuru's dead sister during Cour 1 and my god, to this day, I still fail to understand the point of having Higa (glasses dude) becoming part of the cast. We never knew anything about him except for the fact that he's a fish-con and that he was done dirty during the Hawaii project because "plot". So again, why including him at all? 4/10 - Also having Rikako Aida playing an Idol role but never hearing her sing once. Now that's underwhelming. |
SouthRzVa said: Don't let this fluffy and super positive ending distract you from the fact that this show practically encourages the idea of corporate slavery and that if it's with a good incentive, it's okay for you to get flooded with tons of work till you mentally collapse. Overall, another P.A. Works' original that ends up being more visuals and animation than actual quality writing. First cour was mediocre with maybe too much unnecessary melodrama but second cour was plain bad given how they handled the whole Tingaara arc. Fuuka was demoted to a secondary character when she was supposed to be a co-protagonist, Kai's sub-plot regarding his romantic feelings for Kukuru was thrown to the trash bin, Kuuya's supposed trauma with women never passed the "unfunny gag" stage, the NONSENSE of having Chiyu getting mad at some carefree teenagers because of a situation she put herself into, the disappointing resolution of the plot-line regarding Kukuru's dead sister during Cour 1 and my god, to this day, I still fail to understand the point of having Higa (glasses dude) becoming part of the cast. We never knew anything about him except for the fact that he's a fish-con and that he was done dirty during the Hawaii project because "plot". So again, why including him at all? 4/10 - Also having Rikako Aida playing an Idol role but never hearing her sing once. Now that's underwhelming. Considering how much was planned, but as you yourself admitted, did not end with anything, I think that they simply did not have enough time or budget. Even though it was two cour anime, did they really create a lot more subplots than they could reveal within a show of this length (again, as you yourself have already noticed, Kai's plot was clearly cut short, not left open, and as I said, hints of chemistry between Kuuya and his classmate also went nowhere) ? I doubt it could get a second season. |
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| I enjoyed watching this anime, but i can't help but feel that something was lost since it went from gama gama to tingara. |
| Such a great anime, I didn't expect to learn so much about real life and sea animals. There were so many beautiful moments, the animation was great, they took all these characters onto a long journey full of growth, definitely going to miss this slice of life. |
| I really love these P.A. Works workplace originals... After Hanasaku Iroha, Sakura Quest and Shirobako this makes the 4th one I think. And finally one where the main characters stay together in the end and don't go their own way, like in the other ones. Aquatope took a bit of an unexpected turn halfway through. I really thought the show would keep revolving around Gama Gama, but after giving it a bit of thought, it was for the better. It really emphasized the growth of the characters and gave them all new and better opportunities. I really hope P.A. Works keep on making these originals. I will watch every single one. 9/10  |
Reply to Prupel
I really love these P.A. Works workplace originals... After Hanasaku Iroha, Sakura Quest and Shirobako this makes the 4th one I think. And finally one where the main characters stay together in the end and don't go their own way, like in the other ones.
Aquatope took a bit of an unexpected turn halfway through. I really thought the show would keep revolving around Gama Gama, but after giving it a bit of thought, it was for the better. It really emphasized the growth of the characters and gave them all new and better opportunities.
I really hope P.A. Works keep on making these originals. I will watch every single one. 9/10
Aquatope took a bit of an unexpected turn halfway through. I really thought the show would keep revolving around Gama Gama, but after giving it a bit of thought, it was for the better. It really emphasized the growth of the characters and gave them all new and better opportunities.
I really hope P.A. Works keep on making these originals. I will watch every single one. 9/10
| @Prupel1 Wait, but did Iroha and Shirobako's characters break up with each other at the end? Or do you mean something else? |
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Reply to RobertBobert
@Prupel1 Wait, but did Iroha and Shirobako's characters break up with each other at the end? Or do you mean something else?
| @RobertBobert Firstly, thanks for reminding me of spoiler tags :) |
Reply to Prupel
| @Prupel1 Ah, I see your point. It's just that during the broadcast, this show caused medium-sized shiping debates, so the phrase "stayed together" caught my attention :D. But yep, after all, one of the main themes of the show is pursuing one dream together. |
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Reply to RobertBobert
@Prupel1 Ah, I see your point. It's just that during the broadcast, this show caused medium-sized shiping debates, so the phrase "stayed together" caught my attention :D. But yep, after all, one of the main themes of the show is pursuing one dream together.
| @RobertBobert Oh, I see. I'm a bit late to the party then and I guess I'll choose my words more carefully next time :) Although I still don't get these yuri ships... I mean it was strongly cemented early on that Kukuru and Fuuka see each other as sisters, no? But I guess it doesn't matter... before another debate breaks out :D |
Reply to Prupel
@RobertBobert Oh, I see. I'm a bit late to the party then and I guess I'll choose my words more carefully next time :) Although I still don't get these yuri ships... I mean it was strongly cemented early on that Kukuru and Fuuka see each other as sisters, no? But I guess it doesn't matter... before another debate breaks out :D
| @Prupel1 Well, at one time the perception of this show was somewhat similar to Jellyfish or Hibike due to the aquariums, yuri-loving Miko Itou and the ship bait scene at the beginning of the show. But later, as you could see, this gradually faded away. Like a straight ships despite the teasing. I wouldn't be surprised if the line about the sisters was inserted intentionally as a ship's block, so that the shipping would have time to help promote the show, but at the same time the title would not fall into the yuri bait limbo. After all, PAWORKS has always tried to sidestep such issues, although next season they will have two all-female original shows to test it out. |
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Reply to OOO_Katai_OOO
I don't want to say that 7.5 is a low rating, but it is a low rating for this anime. Aquatope is a beautiful anime, perhaps the best PA works anime ever made. It is an anime that reminded me of "Sora yori mo Tooi Basho" but without the ostentation for the emotionality, the drama is there, it is always in the background of the protagonist, it is an anime that talks about loss, the working world and the growth of oneself. Many have found the second part alienating but it is exactly what the anime wanted to communicate, life changes, people change and we can't do anything about it, we must not be scared of change but find in it the opportunity to improve ourselves. And it's not just about the protagonist, it's also an appeal for managers, to create a healthy working climate, to support and understand the problems of their employees without blaming them in their moments of fragility. It is a wonderful anime, one of the most underrated of the last decade, I did not expect it to be so beautiful.
| @OOO_Katai_OOO The best? Seriously? When the studio made shows like Anohana, Angel Beats and Skip to Loafer? |
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| Finished this anime awhile back forgot to drop a comment on it, I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this anime. I almost dropped it after 5 episodes but completely binged the rest of it when I was about to. I felt satisfied with the ending though gama gama aquarium will be missed forever. 😭 7/10 for me! |
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