Review of Haruchika: Haruta & Chika
Haruchika tries to be too many things. That much is apparent if you've seen just the first episode alone. But what is rarely mentioned are the few things that it does do well, which I think have plenty of merit. They make the show at the very least worth watching to anyone who can find some level of enjoyment in them. This is less of a review and more highlighting some of the show's good points. The characters as a whole are underdeveloped and underwritten. Most of the side characters like Narushima or Maren get maybe an episode on them, and then fade into thebackground only to say a line or two each episode after. While the two leads, the titular Haru and Chika, are not fully fleshed out either, I still very much enjoyed their time on screen. Chika is spunky, energetic and passionate about everything. The rest of the brass band club feeds off of her vivacity. Haru, by no stretch of the imagination is he unique, but he is not generic. Uncharacteristicly as the male lead, he does not have every girl falling in love with a nice guy persona, and he's...blonde! He's also in love with his teacher, whether in a romantic way or in admiration. The simple fact that he isn't the 1784th generic anime dude I've seen is a breath of fresh air.
It is unfortunate how short this show is, as I feel that if they just had more time on them, the characters could've really been expanded on. Serizawa in the second half got some development, but along with her it would've been nice to just get more from everybody. It's Angel Beats syndrome. PA Works has done this before, introduce 20 characters and only lean on maybe 3, but even less so in this show.
As said earlier this is a show known for trying to do too much. It's a brass music show, a semi episodic mystery show, a Slice of Life school club show, too much. But within that too much is what some of these mysteries entail. There's one about a girl suffering from depression after her brother died of cancer, and how to fix her. There's one about a girl trying to find out what's wrong with her grandpa, only to find out he's suffering from PTSD from the Vietnam war that he was dragged into. There's one about an adopted guy struggling with his identity after finding that his birth parents from China want him to visit. There's one about a girl slowly going deaf and another about a girl slowly going blind. One about a dude trying to steal a little girl's Tibetan Mastiff to sell for millions of dollars. Absolutely crazy one episode plot lines that you never see in an anime. Interesting to watch, although baffling at times.
The art is above average, and while it won't touch PA Works best stuff, it's still quite good. The backgrounds look great especially in that sunset it brings in so often. They ditch the classrooms and spend most in school time in their club room, which is nice to see. The characters themselves look striking (for a high school brass band anime) with Chika and Haru contrasting, and everyone's crazy looking eyes. The soundtrack does a better than average job conveying the emotion in any given scene.
My enjoyment of this show was carried by Chika and her attitude. She's oftentimes ditzy and arguably completely useless to the current objective at any given time, but it's her enthusiasm that gets everyone else moving forward, and any kind of character like that is a joy to watch in action. I really enjoyed Haru and Chika's relationship. They were not into each other at all, just simply best friends with no romantic implications. That gave their relationship a unique feel, rare to see compared to most anime like this. The show is too short for what it tries to do, often times skipping forward in time so much that you don't even notice they just went through a whole year of school. The latter half of the final episode does everything well, and feels like it deserves more. It kind of sequel baits itself at the end, and honestly, I hope it gets one someday. Because for what it is it is nothing short of an interesting watch. If not for it being marred by issues, I think there's a gem hidden somewhere in here. But I doubt it'll ever be fully realized.