Review of A Lull in the Sea
Short and sweet review. Do you know what to expect from romance anime and are tired of people pointing out the "genre stereotypes" and then judging the anime only around that? Just want to know the important stuff and if you should watch it? I've got you covered. I can already feel the wrath of everyone who adores this show coming down on me for this review, but I am not going to pull punches just because everyone else is up this anime's butt. Nagi no Asukara is a romance anime by name, but in reality it is barely a romance because barely any happens. Instead, itis a GREAT story-driven anime about a fictional world where humans originally came from the ocean, and at some point half of them split off to live on land (giving up their ability to breath and live underwater). The story is more about prejudice, racism/cultural differences, adults vs. kids way of thinking, religion and modernism clashing, and a whole host of other things that have almost nothing to do with romance in the traditional anime sense.
The art in this show is amazing. I was blown away with how great the visuals were. Not really for any specific thing, just the overall finished work was beautiful. The underwater stuff and the scenes looking out over the ocean, etc, were all breathtaking and I wish that all anime's could share the obviously high production values that this one did (especially in the art department).
The story, minus most of the romance stuff, is also a home run for me. So many topics are covered, and they do an admirable job of fleshing out all the characters that move these plot points along throughout the 26 episode season. Everything about this anime is amazing...
...until you focus on the romance. The romance in this show borders on INFURIATING. Like, I literally had to pause the show a few times, because I had to say out loud "THIS MOTHER F^$%#ING SHOW!!!". Every freaking character likes a different character. Especially for the first half of the show, it borders on unwatchable. It goes a little something like:
Character A likes B
Character B likes C
Character C likes D
and Character D likes A.
That's only SLIGHTLY exaggerated for effect. EVER so slightly. And even after A TINY BIT of progress is made... AMNESIA!!!!!!! Yes, a bout of CRIPPLING AMNESIA makes almost 100% of all romantic progress reset MORE THAN HALFWAY THROUGH THE SHOW.
And then, just when you think things are about to resolve and get interesting, the show ends. The last scene of the show (nothing is going to be spoiled by me telling you this) is literally the two (arguably) main characters deciding that NOTHING EVEN NEEDS TO BE SAID to CONFIRM THEIR FEELINGS. You LOSE. You get NOTHING. GOOD DAY SIR!
This is by far my longest review just because of how much of a disappointment this anime was in the romance department. The non-romance part of this show is 10/10. Heck, even the non-main character storyline of this show is 9/10. But the love-pentagon that is going on in this show that barely gets resolved, and only in the most annoying and roundabout way, kills it for me. The romance between the main character's older sister and a VERY side-character is 100x better than the main romances.
Watch this show for literally EVERYTHING OTHER than the romance.
HIGHLIGHTS: The Art (10+) and non-romance storyline and plot points are a 10/10 anime. I love everything about this anime...
DISAPPOINTMENTS: ...except the romance. The romance in this show by the main characters is terrible, unfulfilling, annoying, and stupid. And if your reasoning for WHY it is stupid and bad is "because it's middle-school kids", then you obviously haven't watched Tsuki ga Kirei (easily one of the best romance anime I've ever watched, and it is a middle-school setting).