Konnichiwa Hivers, it's me, your ridgette again! For today, I'm going to share a review of the story of a girl who once feared new things. Due to her timid attitude, she was often left out, but luckily, in junior high school, she found friends, or rather, they found her. But it seems that fate has a different plan for her because she found herself alone again after they moved out of the city. With her friends out of her reach, can she forge another one? Or will she let the loneliness and despair consume her again?
About the Anime
Amanchu! is a shounen anime that premiered in the summer of 2016. It aired from July 8, 2016 to September 23, 2016. It was animated by J.C. Staff, and its genre is slice-of-life. The main themes of this anime were focused on iyashikei (healing) and school. It has 12 episodes, and it's an adaptation of a manga (already completed) written and illustrated by Kozue Amano.
Familiarizing herself with the new place they have moved into, Ooki Futaba finds herself lost among the new things she sees. For a while, she decided to take refuge near the ocean. Still waiting for a single text from her friends, she finds herself growing anxious because everything that she's encountering is entirely new to her. She pondered for a while, and while pondering, an old woman approached her. They had a brief talk, and after that, she decided to go home. Little did she know those words from the old woman would usher her into discovering a new world completely different from what she used to live in.
'An unfamiliar land, an unfamiliar school, and an unfamiliar crowd...My new life begins here.'
–Teko, 1
Arriving at her new school, she immediately noticed how different it was. Everything seemed alien to her, but what's interesting is that she met an overly energetic girl who seemed always too excited. Not used to this kind of attitude, Futaba didn't know how to interact with her. Later on, all of the new students were called for the announcement of their sections, and coincidentally, they're in the same section as that energetic girl, and also, her seat is next to her! Since it's their first day, it is really natural for them to introduce themselves to each other. Futaba finds herself worried again because she knows she can't express herself well in front of other people.
Struggling to find a way to introduce herself, she was left with no choice but to just utter her name weakly, which she regretted instantly. But the negative emotions that she's feeling were soon replaced with a sense of amazement as she heard the energetic girl introduce herself. Upon pondering her lousy self-introduction, Futaba somehow assumed that maybe, like her junior high school year, she couldn't fit again easily, but her pondering got disrupted when Hikari asked her nickname. Futaba immediately answered that she didn't have one, and that somehow got Hikari thinking.
Looking closely at her, Hikari noticed her thin eyebrow, which she quoted as one-tenth as thick as the average. Then, with that, she was able to come up with a cute nickname, and it was Teko. Later on, the self-introductions ended, and after that, their quirky teacher left them an insightful message, which somehow made Teko reflect. In junior high, she was always dependent on her friends, and whatever they did together seemed fun for her. But will she, in her high school years, be able to come across things that she'd find fun?
"Fun is infinite"...To be honest, I don't really understand what she was talking about, and I'm more worried about my life here than anything...But if I can adapt to life in this town full of firsts, will I...feel the same way someday?
-Teko, 1
Now that she has a new friend by her side, she'll definitely discover a lot of things that she hadn't imagined she'd like. Together, they will dive into the depths of the blue world, where their youthfulness aglows!
Honestly, I was quite dissatisfied with how the story turned out. I know it's the usual slice-of-life plot, but I guess I'm looking for something more unique. Also, I somehow expected that it would feature a lot of scuba diving or open-water diving, but I guess it really stayed true to its genre. It did kinda feature a crash course about it, which somehow caught my interest. I'm not really into underwater experiences because the last time I experienced an underwater encounter, it was almost like a trip to the afterlife. I almost drowned that day, but seeing them swimming freely made me somehow ponder how I would feel if I could swim.
This is probably my first time watching an anime without a mystery. The plot was quite linear, and it was somehow episodic in a way that those episodes just featured random moments of the character it focused on. I'm not really used to watching anime devoid of combat scenes, so halfway through it, I kinda lost interest in it. It was really a good anime if you wanted to ponder things in life. As for the characters, they're the usual slice-of-life anime troupe: an overly peppy one, a super timid one, extremely opposite siblings, and last but definitely not least, a relatable, cool teacher. Although they are the usual characters in slice-of-life anime, I really like how they somehow have other sides to them, ones that you'll not really expect them to have.
The usual comedic gags were there, but what makes this anime unique is that it has a lot of onomatopoeia. Those somehow enhanced the humor of the story, and I really find myself giggling when I hear the characters say those. It's visuals were impressive, and somehow I find its art style cute and beautiful. Although I find its art style for humans decent, I somehow find it weird for animals. At first, I didn't recognize the cat because the art style it has didn't look like one for me.
I really find it quite weird because it kinda looks like a butt (ahahahaha), but nevertheless it was cute. Anyway, let's move on to the movements, which were pretty decent. The background music also did a good job of enhancing the emotions that certain scenes wanted to emanate. Overall, my personal rating for this anime is 7/10. I'm really looking for an interesting turning point in the plot, but I didn't get to see it until it's near the end. Although the ending was satisfying, it kinda looked rushed for me. Nevertheless, I'm glad that I finished this anime because I really learned something from it. So if you're looking for an anime that's both lighthearted and amusing, then Amanchu! is definitely a must-watch!
Before I end this review, I gladly share with you its trailer, so—
That's all for now, Hivers. I hope you enjoy reading my anime review. See you on my next blog!
Arigatou and tanoshinde ne minna-san~
The pictures that didn't have a source were from the screenshots of the anime's episode, while the last picture was edited in Canva.