I read the manga this is based off of years ago. As if by fate, my Dad recently found a copy of the third volume just lying around, which I bought to replace a copy I lost from the library, but then either I or the library found the missing copy, so I kept the new copy. Long story short, I have a convenient comparison at hand. I had a fond impression of the manga and, true to my memory, the artist is very adept, rendering the characters in a grounded but expressive seinen style and making excellent use of contrast.You can see the care put into the world and the imagery, down to the drawing of each wine bottle.

That worthy source material is unfortunately put to waste, and I can tell even without seeing the same parts of the story being adapted. You might be tricked by the competent elements of the anime that Drops of God was meant to be read, and adaptational failure was a foregone conclusion. The decent color palette can’t compare to the black and white contrast, the silent ambiance is replaced by middling orchestral and piano music tracks, and the mundane-made-adventurous plot and sentimental diversions become a bit too melodramatic when earnestly acted aloud.

Look for more seams, however, and you can see how most of these issues tie back to the cheap production. The manga’s bold ink is washed over by a generic working animation style, with dull storyboards and stiff animation that only subtract from the stark manga. Even the painted inserts and fantasy sequences, a notch above the boring IRL scenes, fail to rise above the presentation of the source material. The lack of artistic care that so contrasts the source material can especially be felt in how it stages these once atmospheric and impactful scenes so carelessly they leave zero impact. It feels like the scenes are crammed together to try to make each episode feel complete, even though I don’t think it’s cutting material… wait, the third episode includes a chapter from the third volume?! The third 400-PAGE VOLUME?! I guess never mind that part about not having a direct comparison!

I get that you can only drag out scenes of people sitting around drinking wine for so long, and I'm perfectly fine with cutting content to make a more complete adaptation, but what is this pacing? Why does it take these encounters with one-off characters that had dedicated chapters in the manga and try to cram them into a fraction of the runtime of an episode alongside the progression of the main plot? Could they not be rearranged or competently storyboarded so it feels like we're watching episodes of a TV show instead of flipping through a truncated version of the book that's been amateurly colorized?

A bit more time and money could have made this work, but it seems most of the budget was sunk into computer-generated wine pouring. Definitely check out the manga if this premise intrigues you. The live-action drama from a 2023 also looks interesting. I think I’ll put that on my watch list and pour the rest of this spoiled vintage down the drain.