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Stories about people chasing their dreams will always be popular because of how addictive and inspiring they are. Anime doesn't stand aside, presenting us a large variety of works telling about how important it is to have a dream of your life, how it gives you energy, how it makes you whole. From multiple sports animes to Bakuman to Uchuu Kyoudai, hell, to even Berserk at some point, there are literally tons of them, in any genre, you name it.

And then there's Barakamon doing basically the same thing but with one subtle nuance which make it really stand out for me.

So, what's the story ... about? Seishuu Handa, our protagonist, is a calligrapher. Yes, it's a person who draws (writes?) hieroglyphs for a living, which sounds kinda odd for a westerner like me, but okay. One day, he participated in an exhibition (yes, they have those), where an elderly critic (and those too) saw his work and... didn't really like it, to say the least. Handa, having heard all that, lost his temper and punched the critic in the face. The problem is, in the artworld, you don't' punch critics in the faces, you just don't. Even if you really want to. Especially the elderly ones. But what's done is done, so Handa's professional future suddenly started looking very grim. His father, trying to somehow sort the situation out, decided to send Handa to a small distant island with a lonesome little village on it, so that he would lay low for a while and hope the dust eventually settles down. Handa isn't ecstatic about this, but realizes he can use it to his advantage, so he goes to the island with a single intent: be alone and work, work, work. But as it often happens, things go wrong pretty quickly. Or do they?..

So yeah, it's that old story about how he meets a bunch of nice people, how he tries to avoid them but they eventually grow on him, how he becomes a part of this small village's community, blah-blah-blah, all that old stuff. I think, it's not correct to say that the story is not Barakamon's strong point, but rather that the story is not something it bets on. It doesn't have a complex story not because it cannot, but because it doesn't really need it to convey what it wants to convey.

From a technical standpoint Barakamon surprisingly looks better... well, it may be a weird thing to say, but it looks better than it has to. I mean, come on, it's a simple little story, it's usually not expected to look more than just "okay". Nevertheless, it does: the artworks and the sound is actually really-really decent, and the opening holds a spot in my top-10 favourites. Not something breathtaking, but it's nice to see this much effort and soul put into a seemingly small work. And that diligence shows in everything, creating a very special atmosphere of tranquility and warmth.

Again, there are a lot of animes, and who knows how many other media, telling us how important it is to go after your dreams. Barakamon, on the other hand, adds a remark not said aloud by many: don't forget to live on the way. Try and find joy in simple things as well. Don't just mindlessly pursue your goal like a robot, instead make a stop once in a while to look around, raise your head and see the sky and stars above. Yes, the dream of your life is surely important, but your life has so much more to it. And that, I'd say, is a thought that deserves to be spoken far more often.