Review of A Lull in the Sea

An interesting series with an unusual twist -- people living like fish underwater -- but fails to deliver quality in so many ways. Really, I wanted to love this series. The characters are really interesting and well developed in the story line, and we come to know a lot about many of them. But that's one of the few positive comments I have for this story. So what didn't work? 1. Basic science. You cannot cook with flame under water. You cannot see tears on people's faces underwater. You cannot see clouds clearly underwater. The whole idea of livingunderwater being exactly the same as living on the surface, except that you have fish in the sky instead of birds -- is a real stretch to accept, but okay, lets accept it and move on...

2. The whole interaction with The Scale of the Sea God. It never really made any sense. How can we accept that everyone's fates are ruled over by a moody vengeful sea god who communicates through an arrogant, haughty, lazy shrine spirit?

3. Too many love triangles. This show was love triangle OVERLOAD. Every single one of the main characters was dealing with an object of affection that was either actually or perceived to be in love with another person. It was just too much to swallow, and frankly turned an otherwise really good drama into a tragic parody of one.

4. The main character Hikari is too loud and too angry most of the time. Its very hard to really like him as a person when he's always fighting with everyone. It is only late in the series does he become nice enough to actually like.

5. None of the main circle of friends honestly shares their feelings, which creates even more problems for everyone. Ok, this is a personal pet peeve about Japanese anime of the romance/drama genre. People are too afraid to be honest, and the story goes from tortured bad to tortured worse. Incredibly frustrating for the viewer. Kind of like watching the girl in a haunted house decide that its a good idea to go down into the root cellar. Come ON! Give us a break. Please!!

Here's my bottom line. If you like high-school romance stories, you will probably enjoy this series, at least a little. It does have some interesting and unique moments, especially involving time travel into the future by some of the group. Just be prepared for lots of loose ends and tortured turn-downs during confessions of feelings.