Review of A Lull in the Sea
Love is like the sea... Nagi no Asukara! An anime about drama, secret love, and the sea. The setting for this anime is quite possibly the most unique I have seen in a while. It's based around a small village, which is under-water, called Shioshishio. It's said to be one of, or if not, the last sea village there is. The people who live there are very peculiar as they have developed another layer of "skin" called "ena" which allows them to not only breathe under water, but also adapt to extremely cold waters. The story is about four kids who live in Shioshishio where they usedto go to school. However, for unspecified reasons, their sea-school got shut down, resulting in the four of them migrating to the surface. From there many memories would be made as the infamous "Boat-Drift Ceremony" would take place. There's a lot that happens in this story, so much so that it's hard to explain. But lets just say that there's a lot of tears.
The art direction here is simply amazing. There were times that it almost seemed that I was looking at a painting rather than watching an anime. Absolutely breathtaking work. As for the sound, both OP's were top notch and fit really well with the vibe that the anime has.
The characters, however, always had a sense of development. But at times it fell short to the generic cycle that many anime follow. With that, the characters here have a lot going on. There's a lot of emotions here, and many cliche types, but I always had the inclination to look past that because of just how interesting the story was. There's a lot of crying, a LOT of drama, and so many different emotions present.
Overall I have to say that I'm happy with the way this anime turned out. At first it seemed like a generic slice-of-life with decent characters, but a very interesting premise. It kept my interest for most of the time, and there were some really great moments that had me on my seat. Overall if you enjoy a lot of drama, and a good slice-of-life, then I recommend you watch Nagi Asu!