The visual presentation was interesting and kept me paying close attention to what was happening, which is a good thing considering that we basically had four concurrent stories taking place. To keep each group separate yet tie them together so smoothly was impressive, frankly. In many series there's little to be said about each episode, but there definitely wasn't any time wasted in this episode; every scene seemed relevant, if not altogether important.
The grouping I'll address first is Hirono Hiro and Miyamura Miyako. Hiro was the artist at the start of the episode who was (slowly) going to his sister's party until his bike got stolen by Miyako. He was apparently going to the church so he could picture it in his mind better for his drawings. (By the way, it looks like the OP consists of Hiro's drawings.) We don't have a lot to go on concerning his personality other than him being a bit snarky with his sister, but his encounter with Miyako was certainly interesting. I think it was heavily implied that Miyako is colorblind; every time it showed Hiro or the scenery through her eyes, the art was in grayscale. Her aloofness grew to seem more coy than anything over the course of their interactions. Why is she acting that way around a stranger? Unless she's just a romantic (not talking about love) triggered by the snow, which I can somewhat relate to, her actions definitely need some background to understand.
Next is Asou Renji and Shindou Chihiro. Asou is the dreamer who's grown up and is starting to feel the pressures of society to peg him into a specific role. The pressure to pursue a career don't seem to fit his freer spirit, making him unsure of what to do. More than anything, his desire to be important in general, and needed by someone in specific seems to be what drives him; he just doesn't know how to go about it. In this sense, his meeting with Chihiro couldn't have been any more perfect. (Chihiro's character design is lovely, by the way.) Note the colorful but sketchy artstyle changes that take place briefly after their introduction to each other, almost as if to draw attention to the fact that the image was drawn or recorded in some manner. I think this ties into Chihiro's uncertainty of Asou's identity the next day. That is, for some reason she was unable to remember their meeting on her own, and she had to write what happened in that notebook to remember. If she loses her memories regularly, what would have otherwise been an exaggerated, even melodramatic reaction (running up and hugging Asou - note again the sketchy style change) becomes endearing and understandable: Becoming friends with someone would be very difficult for her, making Asou's entrance into her life something of a God-send. However, she's self-conscious about getting to know him thanks to her memories, even to the point of feeling somewhat guilty about continuing to interact with him knowing that such a friendship would be hard to maintain. That's why she was so quick to try to cut off further interaction at first, and that's why she was so startled when she realized that Asou actually meant that he intended to see her again by saying "see you", rather than using it as a mere farewell remark (this is why she apologizes afterwards, which Asou misinterprets). You see, Chihiro is trying to shield herself from what she believes will inevitably become either a rejection of her or a burden to Asou. However, that's also what makes them such a potentially perfect pairing. Asou is a man who wants to be a knight in shining armor, while Chihiro just wants someone who's willing to put in the effort to be around her on a regular basis.
Tying these two groups together are the two people in the church. They both say they are waiting for someone (presumably one another), and they each have the acquaintance of one of the above protagonists. My initial impression is that they both seem wiser than the other groups, though that just makes their actions all the more curious. While the woman merely exchanged pleasantries with Hiro, the man advised Asou to become a writer. Also, this might be a strange observation, but the woman's presence almost seemed ethereal (note some shots where she's surrounded by a rainbow-like outline, as well as the odd color of the candle flames in some shots). In any case, I'm looking forward to finding out more about these two.
The last grouping is Kyousuke, the guy recording near the beginning of the episode, along with his girlfriend. We don't know much about him other than that he was trying to catch Kei, Hiro's sister, on camera. And, speaking of whom, Kei is the one person who ties all three groups together. In addition to being Hiro's sister and getting noticed by Kyousuke, she apparently is friends or at least acquaintances with Chihiro (seeing that they text one another). How that will develop in the future, I can only wonder.
Also worthy of note are the title cards separating different sections of the episode concerning Asou and Chihiro. The first has a cause and effort relationship, while the second has an antagonistic relationship. The former larger word is the source or the prevailing factor, while the latter smaller word is the consequence or the desired factor. Thus, we have Sky::Feeling (cause/effect) and Tomorrow::Wish (antagonistic, similar to reality vs. dreams).
There is potentially even more that I can't understand on a first watch as well, although some of it may just be stylistic choices. For example, in many scenes the positive space (the surroundings) are blacked out while the negative space (the object blocking the surroundings, a character in every case) is colored with some other feature like that of the sky or snow. I picked up on some potential symbols when Asou first saw Chihiro (a wing and feathers) and when Kyousuke first saw Kei (a basketball) too. Whether anything can be interpreted from these elements remains to be seen.
Furthermore, I enjoyed the contrast between the three non-church men. They're all potential artists, yet they all have rather different personalities. Hiro draws; Asou reads and writes, and Kyousuke films. Hiro is confident and snarky; Asou is dreamy and kind; and Kyousuke is apathetic (in his relationship) yet pensive (in general). Their relationships are likewise contrast-worthy. Hiro and Miyako's interactions are upbeat and full of energy; Asou and Chihiro's are shy yet hopeful; and Kyousuke and girlfriend's are familiar (with one another) yet one-sided.
To top everything off, there were references too. I don't know the context for the "nice boat" one, but I did catch the touhou reference.
I think the primary idea present here is "romance", and I don't just mean the love sort of romance either. From the snow falling on Christmas, to Asou's view of the world, to the seemingly fated meeting at the railway, to the continual waiting of the two at the church, everything that happened so far in the story is like a literal embodiment of romantic idealism. To call these occurrences "wish-fulfillment" (which is a bad habit I nearly fell into) would be completely missing the point in this case, I think. I don't believe this story is meant to paint a picture of a world without hardship or pain. Rather, I believe it is meant to paint a picture of a world where good things can happen even if hardship is present, and it is this perspective that I will be taking moving forward unless the narrative does something to sufficiently contradict said viewpoint.
Let it suffice to say that I love when shows take their viewers seriously. This episode was truly a directing masterpiece. I can only begin to hope that the story will live up to such an incredible introduction. This is easily one of the greatest starts (if not the greatest start) I've ever seen in an anime.
Wow. Just wow. That was absolutely marvelous. |