Review of A Lull in the Sea

I gotta be honest - I read the synopsis, watched a few trailers and had zero interest in this one. Then I started watching it because I was running out of shows to watch and it turns out... it ain't bad! Story: A Lull in the Sea centres around a world in which land dwellers and sea dwellers have been in conflict for some time. I'm not talking physical conflict, but a disagreement with how they go about their ways. While they go about life in a very similar fashion, the differences almost feels like a racial thing. This is such ablunt way of describing the setting, but it's honestly treated that way. Sea dwellers are protected by a differing skin type called "Ena" that allows them to breathe underwater. Aside this, they primarily live the same way as regular humans. When the school in the sea dweller's town, Shioshishio, closes due to a lack of children, the remaining four - Hikari, Manaka, Chisaki and Kaname - need to further their education on land. Our four characters eventually meet another student, Tsumugu, who is interested in the stories of Shioshishio and he basically joins up with these four kids as the main cast. We learn fairly early on that there's a traditional ritual, known as the Ofunehiki Ritual, that takes place every few years to please the Sea God and this is essentially the basis of the story, past the first few episodes.

Something you have to kind of accept is that the laws of "water" don't really apply underwater here. Those from Shioshishio can read the newspaper, use marker, eat rice, drink juice, etc etc, just like those on the land. Don't let this bug you because it doesn't really interfere with anything story related. You just need to accept it - kind of like Spongebob Squarepants!

A Lull in the Sea is basically split into two arcs. The first one focuses a lot more on our five characters as they go about every day school life, form bonds with others and learn about the Ofunehiki. This will seem like a lot of extra fluff for the story, and even though it's not directly tied to the main story, it allows you to learn about, not just our main cast, but a lot of the side characters that get to be more involved when the second arc rolls around. A lot of what happens during the transition between arcs affects all our characters greatly and I mostly like the ideas they had for each one of them. The second arc takes on a lot more of a somber tone and while more did happen here, I found I didn't love the angle as much as the lighthearted moments of the first. The main storyline itself wasn't as interesting as I initially thought. There are definitely some high points during the second arc those should still be praised.

This anime as a whole does a very good job from a story perspective. What starts out as a school anime, evolves into a story where we are very slowly taught about the Ofunehiki. The romance aspect of the anime does take a bit of a backseat at a time when I didn't love their decisions on that front. Just when the anime was starting to find its footing on the romance side of things, they halted portions of it. (8/10)

Characters: It's a little difficult to evaluate the characters, just because there were so many of them!

Hikari, Manaka, Chisaki, Kaname are the four children that make up a pretty solid main cast, even though they all do follow pretty typical anime tropes. Hikari is your typical blockhead who lets his ego get in the way of how others feel about him. I would have liked to see a little more personal growth from him in the second half. Manaka is your cute and playful one and is likely the best of the four. She has very strong feelings about our group's togetherness. One problem is that her presence is completely missing for a large portion in the second arc, and it does hurt the story quite a bit. Sure, she's a bit ditsy, but that kind of adds to the charm. Chisaki mirrors Manaka a little in that she tries to put on a brave front, but has feelings that she strongly stands by - she's just better at displaying them. You can tell they tried to develop and set her aside from Manaka in the second arc, but I don't think they accomplished that as well as they could have. Kaname is your anime nice-guy and... really, it doesn't change much from there. He's probably the weakest of the four, though gets a few more story nods near the end.

Tsumugu is the final main cast member and I just hated his character. I don't hate it when anime put in emotionless characters as long as they develop. But apart from his breakthrough in the last few episodes, he simply didn't add much to the story and he ends being an emotionless husk anyway. Which is a shame because they show a lot to his character that could have been very interesting. In contrast to Tsumugu, Miuna was likely my second favourite character because of how passionate she is about what's going on around her. Her role really shines in the second arc, as she gets the most character development in the entire series. And they really pull it off. Her role in the first arc was pretty minor, but the few things that do pick up, are important. A lot of her story does draw around themes you can find for a person in real life and she's just such a likable character. Bravo.

A lot of the other characters play very important roles in different ways and, for the most part, they're pretty strong! Sayu, one of Miuna's friends, and Akari, Hikari's sister get more screen time as the series carry on as well. The "sea king's scale" character almost felt like a narrator at times, so even though his role is really just to be an advisor, I thought it meshed well in here. Our main cast has a few flaws that I didn't love, but the characters around them were very strong. (8/10)

Art: If you told me this anime was eight years old, I wouldn't have believed you. This anime looks amazing. When you're involving views of the underwater, you immediately have to this about how it'll be animated and PA Works really pulled this one off. Everything has a polish to it. My one minor gripe involves some scenes that look somewhat pre-rendered in the second arc, but aside that, this looked amazing. (10/10)

Sound: The OST was exceptional here. Every tense moment matched what we heard and the OPs and EDs weren't half bad. The voice cast were mostly good. When you're doing a story centred around kids, you do have to make sure your VOs can reliably voice them, or it comes off as annoying. Max Mittelman (Hikari) and Bryce Papenbrook (Kaname) were very strong here, managing to pull off voices that we've all heard before. Michelle Ruff (Manaka) has been a staple for more serious female cast members in the past and this was my first experience hearing her when she's using her kid voice. It "mostly" works. There are times when you don't love it in the more emotional bits, but someone as experienced as this gets the benefit of the doubt from me. Brianna Knickerbocker (Chisaki) was also okay, but, like Ruff, had moments you didn't love. Chris Hackney (Tsumugu) has a voice that feels much too mature for his character's age that it didn't really work for me.

The star of this show? Xanthe Huynh as Miuna. Huynh has quickly impressed me after her performance in both this and Anohana, both as young female characters. When she needs to let out an emotional piece? She nails it. The rest of the voice cast are solid with names like Richard Epcar (Kaname's dad) and Chris Niosi (The sea king's scale) rounding out our lively crew. The VO cast as a whole was very good and, even though we're trying to find good VOs for kids in North America still, it's clear here that we have some winners. (9/10)

Overall Enjoyment: A Lull in the Sea really impressed me when I wasn't expecting a whole lot from it. It might not be for everyone because it changes its tone and overall feel in the back half, but to me, it was worth sticking around for. I had zero expectations going in and I couldn't stop watching it after I realized I got about eight episodes in. Some of the story bits around the Ofunehiki are slightly messier than I'd like, but this is most certainly worth the watch. (8/10)