Review of A Lull in the Sea

Change is something that exists as a part of everyday life. One day is different from the next, and people all over the world must adapt to the different circumstances or problems that are placed in front of them, such as having to deal with a suddenly harsh winter, food shortages, and the loss of a family member. As one of the few shows from the Fall 2013 season that had a large episode length, Nagi No Asukara, or a Lull in the Sea, explains the topic of change extremely well, as contrary to its name, a lull it is not. Writer'snote: There will be a lot of water metaphors, puns, and stuff like that in this review.

Story (8.32/10): The story of Nagi No Asukara has a rather simple idea that its masterful plot stems from. The story follows the lives of 4 kids who are Sea People named Hikari, Manaka, Chisaki, and Kaname. Due to their school being shut down and having nowhere to get their "edumacation" from, the 4 must go up to the surface and start going to school there, all the while, meeting someone named Tsumugu who becomes part of their group.

Before I get any further, I feel as though I should explain what a Sea Person is. A sea person in this anime's rendition, is someone who lives in the sea as any normal person on land. The only difference between a sea and a land person, is the fact that the a sea person has something called Ena existing as a thin, transparent, covering over their skin, which allows them to breathe water. (They can also breathe air too.)

When you look at an idea like this, the first thought that can come to one's mind is slice of life, seeing as how the story is about the lives of 5 kids, 4 of which have a very close relationship. This however, is not the case. The expansive 26 episode length of this series is broken down into 2 halves, entailing what I dub a "prologue", and the "real story". (I will cover each one of these separately)

The first half of the story, or "prologue" is what the synopsis implies. The first 13 or so episodes of the series introduces the audience to the characters and a base idea of the story. The way it was designed is very reminiscent of childhood, seeing as how the characters are very innocent and unknowing of what is to come their way.

What I like about the first half of the series, is the fact that it gives the characters room to grow. In pretty much every episode of the first half, the some of the characters are given more of a three dimensional feel and are more aware of the different and more major things that happen around them. It gives the characters a simple taste, a flavoring of what is to come, as they all have to deal with situations and circumstances, that they are not aware of.

On the other hand, the first half does have its problems. First off, some of the characters don't get much of a three dimensional feel. Some of them do, seeing as how they react to the situation, and are affected by what is happening, and other sort of just stand to the sidelines and watch everything happen.

The second half of the series was quite a big surprise to me. I had my jaw drop when it happened because I was so into the story, and I was literally speechless. The second half of the story takes place five years after the first half finishes, and truth be told, I was a bit skeptical. In my time watching anime, the timeskips that I saw in certain anime, did not help at all because of the copious amount of missing information that we, the audience never get to see. Nagi No Asukara pulled a marlin out of the water with this one, seeing as how this timeskip was handled EXTREMELY well, making the series benefit so much more from it.

I explained how the first half of the series had some tensions that I found to be quite interesting in an anime about middle school children. (Yes, middle school.) If the first half was a wave, the second half is a torrent, a hurricane, a tsunami of emotion. This is the part where I found the series to be even better than it was before.

With no change in cast and a completely different rendition of the setting to put them in, this second half was the pearl of the series. Some of the supporting characters turned into main characters, the majority of the supporting cast disappeared, and the focus of the series narrowed itself down onto focusing onto a total of 7 or so people with little to no distraction or side plot from any members of the supporting cast. This part of the series focused solely on the interactions between the cast with this timeskip in place, which provided some excellent character development and a very, very good plot line. It's to the point that I even questioned myself while smiling, "Am I still watching the same anime?" Because it was such a shocking twist to the series that I had once knew. In a way the second half is like how Anohana plays itself out, but without anyone dying or having have died beforehand.

The end of the series I think was a very fitting end. Everything came together nicely, the series itself came to a wonderful close, and it made the story end on a very good note without any hope for an abrupt end, as everything calmed down into a nice, still pool.

Throughout the series, there is actually a story of lore from the Sea people that at first, I disregarded as a simple explanation for certain elements of this anime. As the series goes on, this story of lore becomes a more prominent plot point, that ends up affecting the characters, and adds in more and more development. The lore was a nice addition to the story, as it mixed in well with the flow of the story, making up the final episode of the story and making it so much better.

Another thing to note is the fact that in pretty much EVERY episode, there will more than likely be a cliffhanger. As someone who viewed the series on a weekly basis, the cliffhangers I found were very surprising as they were quite unexpected, and to be honest, made me want to watch the next episode even more.

However, like any pristine lake or ocean, there will be a bit of pollution here and there. The main fall of this story however, was its pacing. Setting aside the two completely different arcs that the story is comprised of, the story overall had a varied pacing, some with very fast currents, pushing us through a load of detail and content, while others were slow moving, gently moving us with the water's movements. Because it had 26 episodes, the anime had a lot of time to create the story it wanted to, and in the end it did. However, I felt as though the content didn't fit 26 episodes, more like 20-22 episodes, as some of the episodes felt really draggy and slow, focusing on one thing for the entire episode, while others pushed us through waves and waves of detail an emotion, ultimately making the viewing experience a little uneasy, but not unwatchable.

In the end, I found the story of Nagi No Asukara to be one of the better written ones for a romance anime, as the mix of love, change, heartbreak, emotion, lore, and life all came together in a wonderful, and extremely satisfying solution.

Overview
+ Very good overarching story
+ Impressive amount of character development
+ Excellent use of time skip
+ Brilliant integration of anime lore
- Unbalanced pacing
- Some characters left underdeveloped

Characters (8.41/10): When you have a good story, it's only natural to have good characters to back it up. Nagi No Asukara accomplishes this goal, but there were still some doors left opened.

Hikari as the main character of this story is introduced to us as a very stubborn and narrow-minded kid. He only thinks of certain values in life, and anything he doesn't like, he dismisses it in a harsh and reckless manner. It's a very negative outlook on life that he has, and it's quite unsurprising to see how he acts at the beginning of the series. However, this all changes. By the end of the series, all of these traits that is mentioned before no longer exists by the end of the series. Over time, you get to see how the life around him shatters and melts away, and how he has to deal with the new changes and additions to his life while he tries to grip onto the life that he once knew and loved. He gains the biggest character development in the series, being the main focus, and overall, becomes one of my favorite characters in general due to the fact that he does a complete 360 on his outlook on life, and his goals and aspirations, while still maintaining the personality that is Hikari. He always takes things to heart, and he always looks out for the ones that he loves, and I feel like that is what makes him so good as a character.

Manaka as the main female lead of this series is introduced as a crybaby in this series. Manaka is portrayed as a very weak character, relying on her friends, mainly Hikari, or Hii-kun as she calls him, in order to get through much of anything. At the beginning of the story, Manaka can be easily hated, seeing as how she follows the "weak female lead", needing the help of other people to live and prosper. That is, until the creators pull a "haha you regret hating her don't you moment" at the center of the series. While personality-wise, Manaka isn't the best female character in this series, she does play an extremely pivotal part of the story. Mostly, in the way of Hikari's development. She drives the story in a way that I thought was near impossible, and really adds to the story in a very good way.

Chisaki as the other female member of the original main cast is rather interesting. For the most part, Chisaki rarely takes the spotlight, but when she does, she does it well. Chisaki, although quite cheerful, has the fear of losing the ones she holds dear. It doesn't matter who it is, anyone she's close to, she fears losing. While for the most part she plays a more supporting role in the main cast, Chisaki displays how her life has been affected by the changes that she never wished for, affect her, thus adding in more of the emotional tension of the series.

Kaname and Tsumugu are the final two main cast members before the timeskip, and overall, get nowhere near as much development as the other cast members. (Notice how the amount of text for each character was shrinking?) These two are more or less the short ends of the stick, with Kaname being the supportive guy friend to the cast with not much else to him, and Tsumugu being the emotionless person that he is. Tsumugu is my most disliked character in the series, due to the fact that there are many unexplained parts about him, and some of the development that he receives, feel somewhat forced and fabricated because of how ungenuine it felt coming out of him. He rarely talks out of a kuudere-esque tone, and I personally don't like how he was created due to these facts.

As for after the timeskip, the characters known as Miuna and Sayu get added to the main cast. While Sayu serves as much purpose as Kaname and Tsumugu, Miuna becomes a very prominent character later on. (I'm not going to go into much more detail to avoid spoilers.)

The supporting cast for the most part don't serve too much of a role. Other than a select few that have some plot significance, a majority of them become plot devices that explain what is going on, or just further exemplify in the latter part of the series that yes, time has passed. Nonetheless, the supporting cast does do their job very well, and I in fact did enjoy some of its members seeing as how fond I am of this cast. (except you, Tsumugu)

One thing that the cast doesn't have, is equal character development. Rather than splitting the character development into equal parts among the main cast, the greater majority of it, goes to Hikari. While yes, he is the main focus of the show, the fact that basically 75% of all of the character development that happened in this series goes to Hikari, is a bit unfair. Still though, the cast of Nagi no Asukara is exceptionally crafted, with the main characters for the most part, becoming more three dimensional and life-like. They all have interactions with one another, and there isn't any "dense" or "dim-witted" characters that are completely oblivious to one another's feelings. Also, there are a lot of shipping that can occur in this series because every main character has at least one person they like, with 1-3 people liking that character back. It's a love web essentially.

Overview
+ Great main leads
+ Well done supporting cast
+ 3-D characters
- Unbalanced character importance
- Lack of character development for the majority of the cast

Art and Sound (10/10 and 9.88/10): No, your eyes are not tricking you, those are the real numbers.

P.A. Works, you are a godsend. The art in this anime is outstandingly gorgeous. If you don't believe me, watch the first opening. You know the phrase, "you can tell if a game/show is good based on how they animate water?" This anime answers back a huge yes. The fact that P.A. works could make droplets of water look good is an amazing feat in and of itself.

Aside from the amazing water, the series has incredibly detailed backgrounds for both underwater and on land. Because the series has two towns as its setting, one on land and one in water, the animators created two completely sceneries and looks for both of them, each which have their own beauty and charm about it.

On the note of character designs, we have a rather simple look to them. The characters themselves aren't overly complicated, and they all have this light blue tint around them that adds in to the water imagery sort of deal. Their eyes though, that's a different story. All of the characters are quite distinguishable if you forget where they come from, since people from the sea have blue eyes, and all of them have these oceans, these ponds for eyes that sparkle and shine. The amount of detail that they have for their eyes is amazing. The actual flow of the animation was very flowing and nice as well, with no sign of any choppy parts. Nagi no Asukara by far has one of the best aesthetics that I've seen in an anime for a while, and it was so refreshing to see such beautiful artwork to compliment an already well thought out story.

The music is also an extremely high point in this series. Like a lot of series' that have a somewhat long time span, Nagi no Asukara has 2 OST's and 2 ED's. All of which, are fabulously composed and written.

Let's start with the OST #1. This song is the main theme for Nagi no Asukara and is it's most noticeable track. The song has a very watery and bright feel to it, sort of reflecting off of the childhood innocence and joy in which the half of the story in which it is played. I like this track a lot due to how happy and calming it can sound, as if it could wash all of my troubles away. The ED #1 is its contrast, having a more reminiscing and yearning tone to it, as if someone was crying out in anguish over remembering things in life that they regret. Overall, the first half of the main tracks was set of very rememberable pieces that I still remember to this day.

The OST #2 and ED #2 do the same job as its first half counterparts. The OST #2 has a very sad but somewhat hopeful tone to it as reflective to the tone of the half of the series from where it is aired. While personally, I'm not as big of a fan of it as I am with the first opening, the second opening is still a very good track to listen to, and is still beautifully composed. The ED #2 on the other hand is the contrast to its partner OST, having a very hopeful and bright feel to it. The fact that this anime has such clashing sets of music, is brilliant. It sort of reflects the tone of the story and the way the characters are dealing with the situation, and turning them into the OST and ED respectably.

All in all, the music of this series is beautifully composed and I personally would listen to it again and again like any other anime OST's and ED's I listen to.

The voice acting gets special mention in this. Aside from the main characters that don't have any emotion in their voice pattern, the voice actors do a really good job at conveying the proper emotion and feel to the situation that goes on in the anime. None of the voices felt off, and overall, I felt like the voice casting was pretty top notch.

Overview
+ OUTSTANDINGLY beautiful artwork and character designs
+ Dat water
+ Memorable soundtracks
+ Majority of voice acting very good
- There are none for this category

Personal Enjoyment (9.87/10): Rather than watching the hyped anime of the fall 2013 season, Kill La Kill, I settled down my time to watch this show instead, because it had to do with romance, it had to do with the ocean, and it had to do with beautiful artwork. Three of my favorite things. As I got into the series however, I was very intrigued by how this seemingly innocent story was playing out. Sure, it felt a bit side story at the beginning with the main focus being on a character that wasn't a part of the main cast, but I didn't care.

What I liked though throughout the whole series was how they made the character relationships a main focus. They constantly asked one another who they liked, what was going on, and made the experience very real feeling in this environment. Above all, they had some really good cliffhangers that kept me hooked on the show. With addition to the great storytelling, I found myself yelling at my screen to not go to a certain person as I had grown attached to these characters and felt somewhat furious when my ships sort of failed to come true. (Yes, I am that kind of person.)

All in all, I found this series to be a whale of a time, an enjoyable wavecoaster of 27 weeks, itching for the next episode to come out as I finished the most recent one. Personally, I feel like this show was pushed to the side, (as kill la kill was taking over anime essentially), and I think that on the subject of romance animes, this is one of the best ones that anyone can watch. If you are a fan of good drama, romance, artwork, and characters, this is definitely an anime for you.

Overall Score: (8.89/10)

Writer's note: Sorry this was such a long review. I've just been itching to write this review, and I have a lot to talk about. Heh heh...