Mar 18, 2022
I came in with high expectations for this anime which might be a contributing factor for the low score, but on further reflection of Nagi no Asu Kara I kept lowering the score again and again and for several reasons. (Due note that there will be a few spoilers for the show primarily in character descriptions, since the spoilers are a key to my views on the characters.)
Story 2/10
The setting of the story being a "conflict" between the people of the sea and the land people and the changing times that they are in is nice in concept but was poorly developed and the
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conflict was only used as a plot device to create the drama in the romance. This however is not a bad idea it falls into the same category as a romeo and juliet where the conflict was a keep aspect in the drama to that romance. Where the fault lies in Asukara is that this conflict is somewhat rendered moot due to one simple fact and that is that the animosity on both sides has a very short period it ramps up a little and then quickly goes down to a simmer so the taboo becomes non existent. Now taboo love plays a small part of the plot but the main one is just all the characters love somebody else so there is no mutually love between any of the characters at least thats how it starts. All the characters are entirely hellbent on getting their love that they become dismissive of those around them and even though they don't want to hurt their dear friends they end up doing so. This concept carries on for 95% of the anime creating a constant tension build-up with no release and if you are going to build up tension for that long with no outlet for release you really need to deliver on the outcome which Asukara most definitely did not. All the outcomes were telegraphed far in advance which led to them becoming unsatisfactory.
Art and Sound 7.5/10
not much to say here these were the only saving grace for Asukara it did look and sound good and the character models were pretty nice all around.
Characters 2/10
This is where the whole anime is brought down the story heavily depends on the characters and the characters are all terrible except for a few.
Hikari Sakishima: one of the few caharacters I actually liked in the series for a few reasons. The first being that he had conviction in his actions whether they were right or wrong he knew what he wanted and perused it only giving way when he came to the realization that he was wrong, and when this did happened he owned up to it and became just as devoted to his new plans. You see him get angry when it is necessary, hold back when he should, and express sadness at times where it is expected overall a pretty well rounded and understandable character even if he can be annoying at a few times throughout.
Manaka Mukaido: This is where things change. Manaka is also annoying, but she is clueless into the feelings of everyone around her as well as indecisive about her own. She is one of 2 characters in which all the conflict arises from and she does this without even trying. Her actions in several cases don't make sense including her little love at first sight with Tsumugu. She constantly cries and runs away instead of facing the problem and is always the one playing the damsel in distress. Overall she is in the bottom 2 of the characters in this series in likeability along with Tsumugu.
Tsumugu Kihara: Picking up where we left off my other most hated character in the series. Tsumugu is the calm doesn't say much but tends to like to flirt with the 2 main girls subtly and generally he doesn't give off this feeling that he really likes them until at the end when he literally spends 5 years living with Chisaki after a plot device separates her from the other main characters. I have a problem with this device because it came out of nowhere with only an iota of semblance to bring it about. This was most definitely done to fix the problems between the main characters romance issues and ultimate felt forced (I personally did not like the pairing of Tsumugu and Chisaki for this reason). Another reason why he is quite unlikable is the same for Manaka most of the conflict between the characters is brought on because of him, and the writer really wanted us to like this character being the calm and collected guy who speaks clearly and knows whats going on in everyone heads and hearts but it doesn't come out like that, it leans more into an arrogant this is how you feel now agree with me. Overall a very unlikable character and for the complete opposite reason as Manaka except for their similarity in causing conflict.
Chisaki Hiradaira: I kinda liked Chisaki as a character since her actions were for the most part understandable and her emotions were relatable....except for one in particular. That action that had me baffled was why she without hesitation jumped in to saved Tsumugu's life and left Kaname to fall. It makes no sense their was only one small instance up to that point where she any interest in him and for the majority of her life she had been and still was in love with Hikari who she just saw jump in to save his sister and Manaka. If anything based on everything that her character was built her action would have been to jump in after Hikari and Manaka seeing as that those 2 were the ones she cared about the most in the entire series, but if that happened then there would have still been the love struggle between Hikari, Manaka and her the I guess the writer didn't know how to resolve without one of them being without someone in the end other than Kaname who get the short end of the stick everywhere he goes. So from this plot device one of my favorite characters becomes ruined. Luckily even after the time skip I still liked Chisaki as a character, but that was more due to her own character and the emotions we see from her than from the events she was placed in. Overall a decent character but one who was ruined by the story what a shame.
Kaname Isaki: Not much to say about Kaname other than his character didn't do anything that progressed the story and the only thing he did which had substance was forcing Hikari to come out with his feeling for Manaka to her face. Now he did this for a selfish reason which was to get Chisaki to give up on Hikari and be with him since he told her he loved her and it was cruel, but it was also necessary for the characters and us as viewers, because how many times do we yell at the characters to just tell their feelings only to be dragged on 20 episode for them to surface. At this point in the show we were getting tired of it and so was Kaname. So its a love hate relationship I have with Kaname, but everything else he is a part of in the anime has absolutely no substance. So overall he is a main character that feels like a side character which is not good.
Miuna Shiodome: I don't have much to say about Miuna honestly I just can't get past the whole incest feeling she has for Hikari, not my cup of tea. But she does get some character growth so I guess there is the plus side to it.
Thats it for the main cast both there is one side character that I found myself liking and that is:
Tomoru Sakishima: Yes Hikari's father is in my opinion the best character in the show and the reason why is simple. He has the most honest portrayal of love in the entire show with what we see in his actions for Akari and Hikari, and he is also the wisest of all the characters. Here is why; Tomoru knows what is happening between the surface and the sea people and instead of furthering the contempt between the 2 he decided to allow their differences to be that and keep away from each other as necessary. We can see this when he is called in for the meeting for the Ofunehicki where to show Hikari that the strife both sides have is not baseless and it runs deep into each sides hearts (as well as the stubbornness of both sides on the situation). He then after Hikari sees first hand how the people feel allows him to make his decision on if he is going to help or not. So we know he listens to his kids and their desires gives them an option of what to do and lets them make their decission (but of coarse he is also gonna put his desires out there like with Akari and her marrying a land person and living there). His tough love that he has for his family is also a trait I liked because he had to hide away his emotions to be a solid foundation for his children after their mother had died and he didn't want to see his kids be hurt or suffer with the tragedy that was supposed to come in the future. So yea he is a good father in the series, and anime does not always give us an example of a good father.
Overall 3/10
So overall the show had to opportunity to be good with a good idea of friction between 2 sides but it was executed so horribly that not even the good characteristic of some of the cast could overcome the dreadful story and romance drama that permeated the series. On top of that the entire show just feels depressing all throughout which doesn't really make it very watchable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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