Jul 11, 2015
For what it is, Orefuro is pretty good. It's short, sweet, and to the point. Quite fitting that an anime of a 4 panel comic has 4 minute episodes.
Story: 5
Basically nonexistant. Each episode contains its own small plot. Due to the rather unnatural circumstances of a merman living in the bathtub, though, the episodes generally don't fall into boring, overused slice of life story tropes. However, the premise is almost overly simplistic, and rarely are the practicalities of the situation brought into question.
Art: 8
This is definitely a part that benefited from short episodes. The art is smooth and vibrant, often seamlessly flipping between its
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normal style, a more "bishoujo" sparkly style, and a simple chibi style. The way characters are shown adds a lot to the feel of a scene. There isn't much variation in backgrounds, as the majority of the show takes place in the bathroom. I really couldn't think of a way to score the art higher--it's not particularly outstanding, because it didn't try to be. It did what it needed to do, very effectively.
Sound: 7
While there were no particularly memorable themes, music was another large factor to the mood of the show. Of course, due to the length of the episodes, any kind of recurring musical themes would more likely become tiring rather than adding anything. All the songs were appropriately placed. ...except for the somewhat strange opening theme, which is a lot more intense than the show itself. Voice acting was also great. Every character was distinct in their tone and manner of speaking, with their voices fitting their characters quite well. Sound is similar to art in the fact that it does exactly what it needs to do.
Character: 8
Due to the brevity of the series and relatively simplistic situations, character depth isn't explored much except for one episode. Despite that, the characters are all very distinct and enjoyable. It was cute to see how each character had adopted some of the characteristics of the animal they were based off of. My one critique would have to be the protagonist's sister. Her attachment to her brother seemed a bit beyond sibling love. Nothing is explicitly stated though, so it may just be my cynicism reading into it too much.
Enjoyment: 9
Normally, I'm not a fan of slice of life animes. Orefuro is different in that it kept things fresh with its short episodes and simple yet cute stories. It's light, easy to watch, and a very good feel-good anime. I was skeptical at first, but after watching it, I was pleasantly surprised. My major issue is that there isn't more of it! It works quite well with shorter episodes, but I almost wonder if it would handle a 10 minute episode length. It would keep the brisk pace of shorter episodes, while also allowing for a little more depth of story. Either way, 13 episodes just didn't feel like enough.
The short episode lengths definitely make this an anime worth trying. Just ten minutes of your time means two whole episodes!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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