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This review will contain some spoilers so if you haven't watched the anime or read the novel and don't want to be spoiled then ignore this.






I really wanted to love this anime. I love watching volleyball (irl and in shows) and love the sports anime genre in general. But this was just not it for me. I understand that this isn't really a full on sports anime per se, more on the drama end (completely fine with, I'm really not too picky with genres. Some I like more than others, but at the end of the day the genre doesn't ... really matter to me.).

In all honesty, there were some episodes that I really liked, others I hated, but as a whole the series was a 6 at best for me personally, but I'm really leaning towards more of a 4 here.

A lot of the time the dialogue just seemed dry and there was so much conflict being tossed around. One moment there's some big fight here but oh it's resolved within the episode. More conflict, yeah we were actually faking that the whole time so glasses would join the team or something. To me it was the equivalent of "and it was all just a dream" kinda thing. Could this kinda thing be executed well? Of course, but it just didn't here.

Then there's the issue with Hajima's backstory. Initially I thought it was going to be a big issue that he could really learn from and better himself. I was rooting for some character development regarding this incident, but then it turns out that the whole situation with Hajima pushing his friend to the end was all fake and that his friend just wanted an excuse to quit volleyball? This could have really been handled better. It was just so off-putting that the thing that seemed to be the main conflict that the show was centered around for the like, first half of the series was just a bunch of rumors.

I will admit that I did enjoy the last couple episodes since they did stray away from throwing in unseasoned and just, bad conflict. It showed the real desperation of players on each team doing everything in their power to win. The last couple of episodes seemed more realistic to me than most of the conflict between characters earlier on.

I also really do love the art style, especially the eyes. It seems so average for anime, but it was also something that just looked different to the average anime style. It's hard to explain, but really just know that I liked the art (animation was great too).


Overall it was a drag for me to continue this anime after all the weird conflict. It was boring at times and I put off watching the last half for so long because of it. With that being said please know that these are my personal opinions and I get why some people loved it and others hated it.

I personally really disliked this anime, which is a shame because I had such high hopes for it. I love stories about time travel, especially when paradoxes form because of it. But this anime just wasn't quite there for me.

My main reason for disliking the anime are the characters.

To start off we have the main male lead Norimichi. Norimichi seems like a good character at first and his design is great, however throughout the movie he isn't the most responsible or the greatest friend. Both Norimichi and his best friend, Yusuke, have a crush on the same girl, Nazuna. ... Nothing wrong with this, it's not an uncommon occurrence for friends to like the same person. The problem was that Norimichi didn't talk to Yusuke about this, despite knowing about his feelings. I would be fine with Norimichi and Nazuna getting together so long as there was communication between Norimichi and Yusuke. Instead Yusuke is avoided the entire time. Norimichi also isn't that responsible, seeing as he ran away to Tokyo with Nazuna. I get that he likes her, and we don't know everything about Nazuna's home life. I also get that everyone in this story is like 12, or something, and that they probably won't make the best decisions.

Next is Nazuna. Nazuna isn't that responsible either and tries to run away from her mom and future step-dad. Okay running away/ wanting to run away isn't a new concept. But Nazuna literally hops on a train, bringing another 12 year old, whom she would elope with, with her to go to Tokyo. Now I don't know if she was abused, or neglected, or whatever that would explain this, but I found it really annoying that she did this. To me, she seemed whining, irresponsible, and definitely not capable of living on her own at 12 years old.

Final character I will discuss is Yusuke. There's less to say about him since he was only a supporting character, but it was a dumb thing for him to bail on his date with Nazuna in the original time line. I don't blame him for being nervous, or shy about admitting his feelings to Nazuna, but bailing on a date, and letting Nazuna wait for him for who knows how long.

Again, this goes for all characters, they're young and will make mistakes, but still, they were bad decisions. I also believe that the characters aren't developed that well. I didn't feel any connections or any intense feelings other than "You are stupid for doing this." They were flat and there wasn't much about them.

It's a real shame that this anime fell flat of my expectations (Not to long before watching Fireworks I watched A Silent Voice and absolutely adored, so this could have brought my expectations up a bit). There's potential in the anime if they ever remake it, and the idea of the story is actually pretty good. Time travel and changing the past is an interesting concept, but the writing fell short, mainly with characterization.

While I was watching the anime, I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did. While the writing ruined the movie for me, the art was absolutely beautiful, and the idea of the story was there.



2/11/2021

So I was reminded of this movie and wanted to look back at my review to see exactly what I said about it previously. And honestly, same opinion. I'm just going to add more of the thoughts I had when watching this movie that I still have now.

The anime had so much potential, but it seemingly missed the mark by a landslide. The characters were unlikable and all seemed pretty bratty, and no one had any decently written character development. And, honestly probably the most important indicator in whether or nor a movie is good, is that it was boring. I remember sitting in my living room, watching Netflix and stumbling upon the movie. Hopes were high. And then I watch it. I can't help but to keep checking how much time is left in the movie, and groan when I realize I still have another hour, or another 30 minutes left. I'd like to be clear with something: I love slice of life, drama, scifi, and a whole bunch of other different genres. I want to be clear on a second thing: I understand the ending. I think a lot of the reviews I have seen (both here and other sites) dismiss people's dislike for the movie as not understanding it. Honestly for me, the ending didn't boggle my mind, it wasn't something so deep that was hard to decipher, it was just executed poorly. I honestly wouldn't recommend this to anyone, there are so many other anime movies that are far better in my opinion.