Review of Sing "Yesterday" for Me

Based on other people's negative reviews, I felt compelled to write about this. (no spoilers) A lot of people disliked this anime because of the character's behaviours, getting frustrated because "everything could be solved if such and such did this or that". Perhaps as anime watchers we get used to headstrong, consistent main characters who have only one goal and strive to achieve it. But in reality, everyone deals with conflicting emotions, thoughts of "what if" accompanied with a looming sense of regret, and and struggling to what they think and what they actually feel at the time. That's what I love about this anime. It'sso rare to see our main characters (Rikuo and Shinako) fleshed out so deeply, struggling to make sense of their situation. Choosing to throw away this logical idea of stability in order to chase something that makes them passionate and alive, is such a raw display of emotion that is so rare to see, even in slice of life. I doubt we will ever see this sort of internal conflict expressed so elegantly.

The art in this anime though: wow. Expectations aren't really that high for slice of life anime, but I was shocked to see the effort put into the animation here and how realistically the characters move. It just brought everything to life for me and drove it home for me.

In the end, I fell in love with the characters, and I felt relieved that everyone was able to find peace with their relationships with each other. If you're looking and expecting a tear-jerker, this isn't going to be it. In the end it expresses emotions as subtly as we feel them in real life. Still, brilliant writing and brilliant execution. Definitely worth a watch.