With a stunning first episode that easily seized my interest, Fumetsu no Anata e was one of my early favorites of the year. Sadly, that sentiment did not last as the episodes kept being released. An anime that for me started as high as an 8/10 slowly but surely dropped all the way down to a 5/10. What happened? Well, that's what this review is for!
Spoilers ahead. If you don't want to read the full review there's a tldr at the bottom with no spoilers.
A story that centers around Fushi's growth from an "it" to a human-adjacent being would undoubtedly be filled
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with many different stories of humanity that would become the foundation for Fushi's character, right? Well that's what it seemed at first, with both the first episode and the subsequent arc dealing with the concept of death. Unfortunately, it never really evolved into something more. Every arc adapted had a constant sense of death, to the point where it was laughably predictable how all of the arcs would end from episode 1. Fumetsu never tries to branch out from the cycle of death and instead chooses to depict the same progression 4 times, a poorly executed formulaic plot that stubbornly refused to change up its approach.
March, the first arc's focus, is your typical little girl who loves playing house. Her relationship with Fushi's is simple but effective, and Parona's character was also a good complement; however, once I reached the end of the first big arc I began to develop a sense of cynicism. Frankly, after Gugu (the show's best character), I didn't care about any of the new characters because the anime had led me to the expectation that the characters would be temporary, and their involvement in Fushi's journey would end just like every other character's save two. Nearly every character in this anime had a sad backstory, a terrible life, or a tragic ending. There is more to the human experience than pain and suffering, but fumetsu doesn't seem to know that, instead opting to keep the audience focused on a seemingly constant stream of melancholy and despair that eventually turns into cheap emotional content. The Gugu arc was its peak, but its resolution left a bad taste in my mouth and left me wondering if this was really the only way this arc could have ended.
By far the worst element of fumetsu's story is the nokkers. Seemingly created to spice up the fantasy aspect of the story, nokkers show up at the most plot convenient points to cause death (starting to get the picture?) and go completely unexplained. There is no how or why for nokkers, and fumetsu doesn't bother trying to explain them either. Instead, the audience is left in the dark for the entire duration of the anime with no hint of development anywhere. There's also a lot of other details that, while aren't major problems on their own, bothered me whenever they happened. Why did seemingly everyone just accept Fushi was an immortal shape-shifter and not freak out in the slightest? Fushi is capable of creating food laced with morning glory, so why isn't he immune to it later? Why does Fushi only inherit the lives of certain characters but not others?
The tiring plot wasn't helped much by its animation. Most action scenes where the wolf or the bear were involved looked rough and downright ugly at times. The action scenes where only humans were involved were generally passable, but the closer to episode 20 the anime got to, the less frequent dynamic action scenes became. Non-action scenes got progressively more static until they dominated the runtime in the ending episodes. What had originally been a plus for this anime gradually turned into a negative, an all too common theme for fumetsu.
TLDR:
Fumetsu started strong, and I continued to enjoy the series until just after the halfway point at the end of Gugu's arc. To put it bluntly, it lost its shine. The formulaic plot wore me down until my thoughts only became "this is almost done, I can move on soon." Formulaic plots aren't necessarily bad, but in order for a story to be formulaic and successful, it has to be able to adapt and make changes to keep the experience fresh and engaging. To me, fumetsu failed to do that and lost my interest the more times it plugged in the same formula. While I don't regret putting time into this anime, it certainly didn't make me feel like it was worth watching by the end. This show is worth at least trying out, but temper your expectations. If you love feeling sad you're going to have a good time with this show, but if the first episode does not interest you, you will not like it.
Aug 30, 2021
Fumetsu no Anata e
(Anime)
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With a stunning first episode that easily seized my interest, Fumetsu no Anata e was one of my early favorites of the year. Sadly, that sentiment did not last as the episodes kept being released. An anime that for me started as high as an 8/10 slowly but surely dropped all the way down to a 5/10. What happened? Well, that's what this review is for!
Spoilers ahead. If you don't want to read the full review there's a tldr at the bottom with no spoilers. A story that centers around Fushi's growth from an "it" to a human-adjacent being would undoubtedly be filled ... 
Jul 22, 2021
Another day another netflix original flop, except this time it's in movie form! Cider no You ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru is the classic boy meets girl story, except both of them are socially awkward and a little stupid.
Like a lot of romance movies these days, the story is light on substance and reliant on style. If you were to break this movie down into its basic components it would be fateful encounter, slice of life montage, minor conflict, and happily ever after. You totally didn't see that coming. Just like you totally wouldn't see every single twist coming from a mile away, exactly like ... |
