Nagi no Asukara

z |(x,y)
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Love is complicate.

At first glance, the story might resemble the classic “Little Mermaid”, and the creator no doubt uses that classic plot as a starting point.  But as you watch the plot progresses, Nagi no Asukara has created its own folk-tale.  And the romance where it was once a simple 4 ways turned into a spider web that tangles every character.  It’s unpredictable yet reasonable, the romance constantly evolving and moving, and most importantly it keeps people guessing match-ups of these young couples.

Too sexy

P.A. Work creates this original anime as love story for seinen audience.  The character design are heavily focus on girls.  They are cute, sexy, and MOEee. The initial girl’s uniform is showy and inviting. I find it to be very sexy-moe, much more moe than some ecchi show.  Also the show hits fan-service bullseye with wet uniforms using the excuse of the fact that sea-people need to absorb water frequently.  You will see them playing the water, splashing each other, very clever my friends.

Romance is what you came for and romance will be the main reason you keep tuning in the next ep.  From the start, the show already has youth love polygon that has drama.  Unrequited love is the theme of the story, but makes no mistake, the show has plenty of mutual loves, it just love to keep audience guessing.  It also did a good job of giving out hints and clues for us to figure out who’s in love with who. Everything(kinda) makes sense at the end.  And there is no dragging out or misunderstanding, in every ep,  you will see romance progresses . There’s also a lot of crying and emotional meltdowns which intensify the romance/drama.  Every VA did a very good job on crying scenes.

These scenes are all in one ep.
Check out dramatic lines.

But I think they do too many crying scenes, one can only take many temperamental events before it becomes stale.  And I wouldn’t say it’s a great love story either, but it was addictive.  And by the end of the story, you will feel like rooting for character because you’re so connected to them and wanting them to be happy.

Characters are well develop.  This is anime where every single character loves another character.  You can clearly see their thought progress reasoning why they love this person and why they can’t give up on their love.  Overall romance feeling is heart-warming and loving friendship.  There’s no nasty stuff.  As for the personality wise, they are not unique nor stereo type.  I think we all glad when they decide NOT to make Manaka the usual retard airhead you often found in keys studio.  Although her char fails to uphold her statue as main heroine, at least she didn’t fall into a cheap imitation category.

Miuna is so cute

When Manaka fades out and Miuna becomes her replacement, it feels like the usual “new girl added for the sequel”.  However, Miuna quickly raise to be the best girl on the show and probably the girl you were rooting for a happy ending.  She’s ideal no-nonsense girlfriend.  And to see a child char grow to be a main attractive girl is a rare treat in anime.

As for the guys, I thought they wrote a couple of cheesy pick-up lines that work well.  Hikari establish himself as a hero of the show.  While Tsumugu playing a normal cool guy.  Overall, I thought they did a good job considering male char in a seinen show can be hit-or-miss at times.

The show also does a full circle of cast with families and friends.  I really love when a show showed the parents of main characters.  It feels more real and heart-warming to see them with their family.  And I give them bonus point for doing a family’s love arc.  It’s nice to see something other than another normal boy-girl love.

New mama is hot

While romance is the main focus, the Little Mermaid plot-device is the perfect story to compliment the unrequited romance.  The story starts out by showing a beautiful and interesting underwater world filled with fishes, sea slug, octopus, and of course human that can breath under water.  The concept is easy to understand.

The sea god nicely explains how it works and how it came to be.  It got the whole folklore story about a lonely god who love a human girl.  But what make it more meaningful is that the plot is essentially about family and unrequited romance.  This story fits perfect with the current love polygon.  So when the end plot play out, both character’s love polygon and the mystery surrounding the plot came untangle at the same time creating a nice fitting ending.

But I must admit there’s certain key scenes where I was misunderstood. Like when Manaka’s stone pendent was floating down in Lady’s grave.  Maybe it was my fault to jump into conclusion or maybe it’s their fault for trying to sell the plot-twist and I was a sucker to fall into their trap.

Nonetheless I’m very much entertain on every plot-twist especially the mid-series plot where the boats crash. I was glued to the screen wondering who’ll be the sacrifice.  It was worth two eps wait.

I don’t know why anybody want to leave this beautiful place.

Animation quality is great.  I love all the under water vista.
OST is decent for me.  It would’ve been more sad if they had a better insert songs.  But I guess they were aiming for heart-warming rather than sad.

As ecchi, romance, romcom, WAFF, and drama lover, this anime is right on my alley.  It was easy to love and praise the show.  However it lacks the oommp and ahhh that make this a masterpiece.  Maybe because the story end before it goes epic, or the main group of char is not that great.  Whatever case it may be, the anime is not one of my favorites, but certainly will the one I remember.