Back to AlyfoxLP's Profile AlyfoxLP's Profile

I'll try not to be too wordy here. In an absolute nutshell, I love this anime. Sure it's story is kinda cheesy, reminding me of some of the 1980s western cartoons such as GI Joe, Thundercats or Defenders of the Earth. Colorful, packed with action, an overarching plot against a Big Bad enemy. Interesting characters with obviously different personalities and abilities. Great opening theme song and pretty decent soundtrack (well, maybe not Defends of the Earth on that last point). Indeed, its better animated than the three I mentioned, and better voice-acted.

I won't lie and tell you that it has the best story, or that ... the characters aren't the most interesting in anime, cause they're not. The story itself, because of its reminiscence of 80s western cartoons, is relatively simple and straight forward; it doesn't NEED to be complicated though. Its not a drama, its an action-thriller.

There are certainly parts of the show where I get a little frustrated by odd time-skips, or explanations of things rather than not showing them (NOT referring to episode 11), but when I take the show on the whole I love it. I don't expect everyone to agree - its average rating as I write this is 7.0 where as I gave it a little smidge over 8 and I know plenty of people who write it off.

Now, the next part I'm going to touch on is something I am *extremely* passionate about. And that is that this anime SHOULD BE TAGGED AS YURI. There is zero doubt in my mind that every single member of Tsukikage is at minimum bisexual. There are three obvious pairings who show romantic and very subtle sexual interest in each other. Indeed, the pairings of Mei and Fuu, and of Hatsume and Goe, are pretty damned overt. I will not accept people saying that 'theyre just close friends'. Bullshit. I am lesbian myself. I know lesbian romance/desire when I see it.

Furthermore, and maybe this is out of the scope of the review, but if one were to take the time to read the manga spin-off it becomes even more overt. I won't spoil it, as it should be read, but its super clear that the two above pairings plus of course Yuki and Momo are just that. Couples. That Release the Spyce isn't tagged as Yuri frustrates me, because all the streaming sites (ok well, HiDive is the only one that carries it, so.. HIDIVE LISTEN UP I EMAILED YOUR SUPPORT STAFF MONTHS AGO ABOUT THIS) do not tag it as (in the case of HIDIVE) LGBTQ. Growl!

Now, from the perspective of it being a Yuri anime? I think that it rates pretty high up among the best of them, able to compete with some of the classics. Is it as good as Bloom into You? Well no, nothing is at this point in time. But is it as good as Sakura Trick? Absolutely. I might even say its as good as Strawberry Panic in its own way. Better than Citrus. FAR FAR better than NTR and Kuttsukiboshi.

If you like 80s-inspired action thrillers, funky-ass music (and a GREAT OP), and solid Yuri, then you must give Release the Spyce a watch.

So, I wrote a fairly lengthy review for this story under the manga entry; there I focused primarily on story and what makes it so good, and reasons to consume it. I figure for the anime, I'll focus more on the animation and sound rather than the story - I encourage you to go the manga entry and check out my review there for the rest. Its more or less spoiler free, as best I could!

TROYCA, which I believe is a fairly newish studio (founded in 2013) did an absolutely incredible job in adapting the manga to anime - they heavily consulted with Nakatani Nio, ... the author of the series, and between the two i feel this might be among the best manga adaptations ever.

Too often when adapting to an anime (or film, or TV show) a studio will end up cutting out or condensing stuff to fit into a specific time-slot, and that can result in disjointed stories where things may end up having to be changed to fit an altered narrative. With this collaboration, barely happen at all - yes, it did happen in a few places, but having compared the manga to the anime more than half a dozen times, those changes had negligible effects on the story.

Each scene in the manga is carefully, almost meticulously followed and animated beautiful. Colours, shapes, movements are not just preserved but expanded on - in an effort to avoid spoilers I don't feel right about giving specific examples, though if you want you're welcome to send me a message and I can talk about it privately. Certain extremely important scenes were handled with great care, and TROYCA's choices in pacing, scene structure and dynamics, as well as sound and lighting bring Nakatani-san's story to life BRILLIANTLY.

(Minor note: The colour palette is fairly soft with a lot of warm colors, which can clash with what is the typical palette used in anime - not everyone will appreciate it. However, it does really help towards bringing the anime to life)

Yes, there are a few places where corners were cut in animation, mainly in very short scenes involving tertiary characters. The core components of the story are not just kept intact, but broadened and amplified. Careful work was done to bring to life body language to convey the incredible emotion of this beautiful story of romance, growth, self-discovery and salvation.

Further, the OST is wonderful - the various tracks all feel like they absolutely belong exactly where they are placed, matching dialogue tone, body language and overall scene structure to maximize the effects of the story. There are some already excellently animated scenes in the story (avoiding spoilers) that are elevated to a new level with the supporting music.

Additionally, a review of Bloom Into You would not be complete without touching on the actual *songs* contained within. There are 4:
1> "Kimi ni Furete" (performed by Azuna Riko; the ED for episode 1, and OP for episodes 2-12)
2> "Hectopascal" (my all-time favorite anime song, a beautiful duet from Yuu and Touko - the ED for episodes 2-12)

as well as two 'insert' songs -
1>"Rise" (performed by, I believe, Azuna Riko again, found in episode 9)
and
2> "Suki, Igai no Kotoba de?" (another duet by Yuu and Touku, towards the end of episode 13).

All four are spectacular songs. "Suki, Igai no Kotoba de?" is quite probably guaranteed to move one to tears (though, Hectopascal also does this for me, personally). These two duets are definitely the strongest two songs, but the two sung by Azuna Riko are also solid.

So, yeah. An incredible adaptation of an incredible manga. I would go on, but that would start taking us into spoiler territory, and I am unwilling to do that. As I said in my manga review, if you like stories of romance, self-discovery then you owe yourself this series. If you like *yuri* anime? Then you are doing yourself an utter disservice if you DONT watch it. Easily the best yuri anime to-date, beating out classics like Strawberry Panic and Revolutionary Girl Utena, as well as more modern ones like Citrus, Asagao to Kase-San and Sakura Trick. (Note: None of those 5 are bad. Just pale in comparison to Bloom).

Watch it, and you will end up loving it. And, if you like, feel free to nudge me on reddit (same name) if you want to talk intricate details. I will never get tired of doing so.

So, I'll be up-front in saying that I have not read a lot of manga, barely a handful of series, and I watched the anime adaptation of YagaKimi before picking up the manga to finish off the story. I'll also be up-front in saying that it is my #1 all-time favorite anime, so its possible I may be a little biased.

An absolutely fantastic yuri story, easily the best one that I am familiar with. The story sort of jumps right into the water with an early confession, but due to Koito Yuu's personality, sexuality and lack of experience she doesn't really know how she feels. ... Or rather... she doesn't *think* she knows what she feels, consciously. Sub-consciously...? Expecting fireworks, she is disappointed when she feels (or believes she feels) nothing at all, and is left uncertain; she *likes* her senpai that is clear, not just to the reader but to her. But.. does she like her enough?

Nakatani Nio did a superb job with dialogue, pacing and scene set up with YagaKimi, showing a very, very realistic portrayal of teenage first love - uncertainties, fears, anxieties. The characters (mainly Koito Yuu and, later on, Nanami Touko) spend a lot of time on introspection, trying to figure out their emotions and desires while at the same time, wrestling with an over-arcing shadow that seems to hang over the Yuu and Touku and to a lesser extend Saeki Sayaka.

Overall, I think it does a pretty good portray of some labels (heh, we all hate but love labels, right?) within the LGBTQ+ community, though I won't spoil the exact details here - a number of different types of sexuality show up, outside of the usual 'hetero, gay/lesbian' which is pretty great.

This story.. if I wasn't concerned with spoilers I could talk for hours. Moments of joy, sorrow, fear and uncertainty. Jealousy, anger and even depression. But, through it all a slow-building exploration of what it means to not just 'fall in love' but also to CHOOSE to love, and that last part I think is what makes this story extra special. Far too often, in fiction and in life, people will let love slip by them while they wait for that legendary feeling of fireworks, of the instant blossoming of both love and desire, rather than seeing a subtle, quiet love right in front of them and reaching out to grab it.

8 volumes, 45 chapters and honestly, its just not enough. Two anthologies, and still not enough of these wonderful people - maybe we'll get lucky and Nakatani-san will someday decide to revisit Yuu and Touko and the rest.

Once you've read the 45 main-story chapters, I *highly* recommend checking out the anime adaptation - it covers chapters 1 through to 24 in *incredible* detail. Not only were there no scenes from the manga left out, but the scenes present were expanded on and so beautifully constructed, with what feels like a perfect score. TROYCA outdid themselves.

Nakatani Nio outdid herself. I havn't read her other works, but I intend to; that being said, Yagate Kimi ni Naru has set an incredibly high bar.

If you like romance, if you like explorations of not just emotion but also the psychology of being a teen then you really need to read this manga. If you like the yuri genre, then you are absolutely doing yourself a grave disservice if you do not read this. The Citrus manga was great. Kase-san series is fantastic. Bloom, while shorter, tops both of them.
~Alyfox

PS: There are three spin-off light novels, "Regarding Saeki Sayaka", that are also incredible and must-reads for fans of this series. The two anthologies are wonderful, but I've read that they are only somewhat canon, and so you *could* skip them if you really wanted... but, why would you?