Orange Episode 2 Discussion

Fappa said:
This episode had 17 animation directors.

ibraheem234 said:
such a heart warming show... did Nahu married Suwa in the future... it seemed that way to me

HecticLeo said:
So, Orange has passed one of the bigger hurdles that all anime have to go through, the second episode. The first episode created excitement and the second managed to carry on the exact same feeling. So many times have an anime started out great with it's debut only to fall short the next episode leaving the viewer confused and questioning what went wrong during the storyboard development phase.

For a drama it's certainly delivering at this point. What I really liked about this episode is how the show never really dragged on at any point. The drama is fed to us in bits allowing us ample opportunity to think about what's going on, to start asking questions to ourselves, without making the show boring or dull. Dialogue is the most element and the show gave us plenty of breathing moments between them to allow us to digest everything and more importantly not get sick and tired of the pacing. Yes, it can be slower at some points, but that's inevitable for dramas. Being a slower paced show does not make it dull as long as it's not tiring to watch. The little bits and pieces of the story all acme together at the perfect time. In other words, the pacing was great in this episode. I have a lot of troubles sitting through dramas sometimes because either it feels rushed and you don't get a chance to develop a connection with the characters or it gets dragged on to oblivion and I can't help but do something else on my second monitor. Good signs so far.

A surprising thought came to me as the episode ended. Again, there is a little scene of all the friends in their adulthood going to visit Kakeru's grave. As the scene went by I realized something. My initial thoughts in my episode 1 writeup was that future Naho was writing the letter to attempt to change the future. But, it came to me that what if that's not the central point of this show? The words "regret" keep popping up in the dialogue and a few questions hit me. Kakeru's death may be unavoidable, they say fate can't be changed. Now, future Naho keeps telling younger Naho that she has a lot of regrets yet the future scenes at the end of the two episodes seems to depict all the characters in a rather happy mood. Maybe I'm reading too much into this or maybe they've already grieved enough to let go of those feelings but I think the scenes at the end are actually showing the future group in the timeline where there are no, or at least, fewer regrets since younger Naho already messed up with the first warning. This completely changes the tone of the show for me. Instead of it being an anime about changing the future through your actions, it takes on a more realistic approach in living life without regrets. Being able to live life without regrets is something that I think every person should strive for. There's nothing worse than thinking "what could I have done, what should I have done, if I did this would things be different?" for the rest of your life. No matter how many times you say sorry you'll never get over that feeling of regret so it's important to cherish the special moments in your life and do whatever you can to live life to the fullest and in Orange's case, to give yourself a memory to treasure.

That is just my mind going wild and speculating a whole bunch. I have no idea what to expect still and my excitement has yet to die down. Rarely do I put so much thought into an anime, this is an unfamiliar territory for me and I can't wait wait to see how it all ends. The story of living life without regrets would be very refreshing to experience but even if the show doesn't go down that route I am positive I'll still enjoy it.

I loved the use of the mother-like figure reference for Naho. Something that was jokingly said early in the episode turned out to have a deeper meaning by the end. of it. I'll be honest, I was expecting it, it was pretty obvious. Still, the power of those words managed to leave an impact even though it was predictable and rather cliche.

Moving on, the soundtrack has yet to leave it's mark on me. Maybe it's because I'm into the more powerful orchestral pieces like in Madoka Magica Rebellion but there have been plenty of shows that have 1 or 2 tracks that leave an impression on me. So far, that's not the case. It's not a bad thing though, a good soundtrack captures the viewer whereas a mediocre one will just fly by. Nowadays there aren't really any "bad" soundtracks.

To close up, Orange has met my expectations so far with flying colors and I can't wait to continue this story.

dragonofmars said:
it's a good show. pretty much every1 is likable & the Mirai Nikki plot makes it more interesting than an average shoujo school life.

2nd best show this season for me, after 91 days.

SylverClaw said:
Naho is quite annoying. She got a letter from the future and, apparently, decided not to read it all... and even after reading about Kakeru not being there in ten years, she still didn't finishing reading?!? But I guess she was busy... not giving him a lunch like some kinda wet blanket.