Glasslip

What if you hold the power to hear the voices or see fragments of images from the future? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Glasslip follows the life of Touko Fukami, an aspiring glass artist born from a glass artisan family. She enjoys her worry-free life in Fukui, save for the fragments of images that she sees on occasion.

On her 18th summer, she meets the transfer student Kakeru Okikura at her school, and then again at her favorite café called Kazemichi together with all four of her friends. The voices from the future lead Kakeru to Touko, and his arrival disrupts her mediocre existence. All six of the friends must face their most unforgettable summer full of hope, affection, and heartache.

Fukami, Touko Main

Fukagawa, Seria Japanese

Okikura, Kakeru Main

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Nagamiya, Sachi Main

Taneda, Risa Japanese

Takayama, Yanagi Main

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Imi, Yukinari Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Shirosaki, Hiro Main

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Okikura, Miwako Supporting

Tanaka, Atsuko Japanese

Fukami, Hina Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Nagamiya, Suzune Supporting

Itou, Miki Japanese

Shirosaki, Momo Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Horikawa, Kenji Producer

Nagatani, Takayuki Producer

Yoshie, Terushige Producer

Tsuji, Mitsuhito Producer

Reviews

Dec 13, 2014

Jarrbearr

Recommended

"The next Nagi no Asukara" quickly turned into the disappointment of the summer for most, but actually entertained me. Are you raising your brow yet wondering, "why give an anime a 7 that's heavily hated on?"

With Nagi no Asukara ending a few months before Glasslip was released, we had high expectations for it thinking it would live up to the hype that Nagi produced. By no means am I saying this anime is perfect, it isn't, it has a bunch of flaws, but still doesn't deserve that amount of hate it's getting in my opinion.

It opens with the group of friends having fun at ... a summer festival and showing each of their names, along with a unique event that the main character experiences. From there you're introduced to a new transfer student and he causes a stir within the group of friends and it begins to kick off from there. One flaw that this anime opens up with, is no character introduction. No one is properly introduced and you're literally just thrown into the story.

The story was driven by the concept of Touko, the main character, being able to see visions or hear voices that may hint to the future. The "fragments of the future" are the main thing that drives the story, but it doesn't exactly get told what it is or why it's even there. With the obvious love cycle that this group has, feelings get told and nothing happens, the group just spreads apart and it stays that way for most of the anime.

One big flaw in the entire anime is that nothing does happen, it's sad to say, but things just go in a big circle and end in a big unclear ending that answers absolutely nothing. The entire situation that all the characters went through with their heart breaks and confessions, just goes nowhere.

With the anime having a bad story, you have mediocre characters to really back up it up. I won't say these are the worst characters that i've seen, cause i've seen worse, but some things they do are really questionable and just tend to make the overall anime confusing, but did entertain me. Due to the show being a slice of life, it's heavily character driven, and the cast isn't exactly the best for what the show was trying to do. Mainly the anime focuses on Touko and "David". Those are the two with the ability to see "fragments of the future" and share the ability. They drive the story with the curiosity to figure out why they have it and what it does, which never does get answered.

Touko is a typical teenage girl and probably the most prominent of her group of friends. She's very curious and tends to be oblivious to the situation tending to make things worse. She had potential to be a great character, but didn't shine as much as she could have and really just made the anime repeat a bunch of things that already happened.

Next you have Kakeru, or David, the transfer student who just shows up. Like literally just shows up and is thrown into the story. With his appearance, he throws the group into conflict and even admits that hes messing with them to some extent on purpose. He's a lot like Tsumugu from Nagi, but less emotion. He does have his moments of why he does things, but it feels like he was just placed there cause they needed another character to fill the spot.

The rest of the group is diversely made up and is one of the things that I enjoyed. Though they all literally just made more conflict and served no purpose in the story whatsoever, they made a lot of entertaining moments and gave the anime more life than what was given. You have characters who aren't even involved in the drama and have their own love story, and characters that mess up the drama further, by doing actions that are just questionable, but adds for a whole lot of interesting interactions and situations to keep the story from dying off.

Art is possibly one of the best things this anime has to offer. The art comes from the famous P.A Works who has previously worked on Tari Tari, Hanasaku Iroha, and Nagi no Asukara. The scenery from the hikes, to the fragments and visions that Touko sees are all beautiful and give the anime a lot more entertainment to it. One thing i'd like to point out was the detail given to the entire environment that they were in. You can definitely feel the sea side thanks to the detail in moss on the walls, to the waves moving and animals surrounding it. With all the praise i'm giving the art, it's not perfect. A lot of scenes aren't fluid due to the characters. They're all drawn beautifully, but all lack facial expressions. They tend to have only one straight face through out the entire scene except for the occasional angry face, or confused face.

Classical music has always been one of the things I love listening to and this anime has a lot of it. The soundtrack for this anime is possibly one of its biggest strengths and things that keep it going. From the sound effects of the fragments to just the beach or animal sounds, the anime did a splendid job making you feel like you were there and brought life to anime. The voice acting was nothing too great, but actually wasn't bad at all. If the characters showed the emotions that the voice actors were giving off, it would have been much better.

Overall I think this anime is being judged much harsher than it deserves to be. It does have many flaws, but a lot of points to cover it up. This series is definitely a hit or a miss for many people, but also has bad timing of its production. With the previous anime of P.A works just ending and getting a lot of praise, you're given a lot of expectation for their next work to be of the same caliber. Then with the strong line up that this Summer season has had, from Barakamon to SAO 2, you have something that lacks from the pack and is being pointed out on all of it's flaws. I think anyone can like this or have an unbiased opinion going into this, if they don't compare it to something else, cause this is it's own anime. It's not suppose to be a copy of something else.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 7, 2014

smolbeanaria

Mixed Feelings

"Glasslip," a Slice-of-Life with the potential for greatness, crashed and burned.


I'll admit I was looking forward to "Glasslip" this season. The art seemed clean and fresh, and an anime with a nice concept. Not only was I cruelly deceived by the anime's initial summary, but was completely caught off guard once some supernatural elements were added into the storyline.

Let's talk a little voice actors, shall we? Touko got to be voiced by the lovely Seria Fukagawa (Aloalo [Happiness Charge Precure!]). She has actually only had two roles so far in the anime industry. It is a pity this had to be one of her jobs--nevertheless, ... she did a marvelous job! Her voice captured Touko's innocence and rather rude bluntness perfectly. Although a bit annoying at times, Fukagawa has a sharp feminine voice that's sure to land her more jobs. Moving onto Kakeru, he is voiced by Ryota Ohsaka (Marco [Attack on Titan). No longer is he a blue haired idol, a wimpy teenager in charge of a deadly mecha, or a dead man (too soon?). Meet Ohsaka, reborn as emotionally fragile, perhaps emotionless, but probably depressed Kakeru! Ohsaka uses his breathy voice to play out all the emotions very well. His voice perfectly fits the role, and I feel he did a great job.

While "Glasslip" had the potential to become something great, it stopped in the middle of character development and decided to say 'Hey, let's add that people can see the future!' Which turns out to not even be the future at all. Confusing? I know. Most anime fans watching this show were desperately in need of manly explanations, and were probably thinking 'P.A. Works, what the hell are you thinking?!' The relationships between characters especially seemed forced. Touko went from being slightly interested in Kakeru, to liking him, to hating him, back to liking him, and then...it's just left hanging. Other relationships form in the series, some expected, others not, but character development was definitely not one of the leading factors to the show. Suffice to say, I was not happy with this anime. But not only was the story confusing, but it seemed like the animation quality degraded around the third episode. It regained its grace in the lat couple of episodes, but for a moment there I was seriously wondering why the characters' eyes were so lopsided and their bodies so undefined. The backgrounds were very detailed though. Along with the fantastical, magical, supernatural things that never gets explained. It all leads me back to my very first complaint; What are these fragments of the future?!

And so, if you like confusing animes who use up all their budget on backgrounds and magical swirls in people's eyes, then you will enjoy this anime very much! However, I'm not sure a lot of people want to be left hanging with their questions never answered. But if that's your cup of tea, then have at it.

-

Story - 3
The story is poorly executed, diverting from a potentially good storyline to just a god-awful combination of random thoughts. If the aim was to show the chaos going through a child's head before they become an adult, then that was inadequately done.

Art - 7
The art started out as wonderful, but in the middle of the series it seemed like all the budget was spent on the backgrounds. Bodies were weirdly shaped, eyes were oddly positioned, and it was just a few degrees short from a mess. However, the animation quality got back up in the last few episodes.

Music - 7
The music was good. The opening was pleasant, and followed the Slice-of-Life theme. The ending was also cute, reflecting Touko's innocence. However, the music wasn't amazing.

Character - 5
There was little development, and that's what is always necessary for a good score. There were some romance themes going on, but the main characters' romance seemed a bit forced. It went from interest, to love, to hate, back to a more hesitant love, and then it was just left hanging.

Enjoyment - 5
For being an anime I had really looked forward to, it disappointed me, and watching the episodes became a chore.

Overall - 5.4
As previously stated, and I will state again, this anime had lots of potential to be a really sweet Slice-of-Life with a bit of romance mixed in. Instead, Supernatural elements are thrown in, and I'm not even sure if it's meant to be taken literally, or if it's all just a metaphor for a teenager struggling to grow up. This anime was a definite hit and miss for me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 25, 2014

BanjoTheBear

Not Recommended

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread)

Teenage romance is a hot topic in the anime world. Some shows are able to capture this phenomenon quite well (White Album 2, Clannad, etc.) while others miss the mark. But even those shows that don't hit that bulls-eye at least land somewhere on the board. Glasslip is a show that not only misses the board but also hits some stranger passing by, causing a huge debacle that mirrors the contents of this anime. This is quite arguably one of the worst ones I have ever seen.

STORY

Glasslip begins in much the same way that Nagi no Asukara does. ... New transfer student David becomes friends with Touko. Touko then proceeds to introduce him to her main group of friends consisting of Yuki, Sacchi, Hiro, and Yanagi. Afterwards, the story begins.

And by begins, I mean begins and doesn't move from that position. It's best to compare this to Nisekoi. Nisekoi is infamous for its absolutely abysmal plot progression. But the difference here is that in Nisekoi, that is the whole point of the show. Glasslip tries to have things move forward, tries to instill drama or emotion. Yet when it does, nothing ever comes of it. It is not a stretch to say that literally nothing happens over the course of the entire season. Every episode is a chore and doesn't have anything interesting attached to it aside from what the show calls "future fragments."

What are "future fragments?" To be quite honest, I can't explain that to you. The show sets them up to be these premonitions that a couple of the characters have, but the problem is two-fold. One, it is never properly explained. As an audience member, I obtained some information about what could cause them but they never really made any sense as to why they occur or what purpose they serve. Two, they aren't even "future fragments." As is learned later, the name it was given isn't even appropriate. Meaning for the majority of the show, I am left to believe that this "power" is somehow special or at the minimum has some focus to it. In reality, it doesn't.

On top of all this, Glasslip also contains some of the worst dialogue I have ever seen from a show. A lot of what the characters say is either nonsensical or just plain weird. When watching them, it is rather awkward because everything they say just doesn't feel like they should be saying it to one another. This is kind of hard to describe. It's as if the characters were holding conversations with themselves even though they were talking to someone right in front of them.

ANIMATION

By this point, it's important to know that the studio behind Glasslip is none other than P.A. Works. Recently, they have gained fame for their crisp animation and art style and interesting plots. Not only is the latter gone this time, but I argue so is the former.

I give Glasslip one thing, that is that the art itself is gorgeous. The lighting is nice, the environments are pretty, and the character designs are modern.

However, there is little to zero actual animation present. Credit to /u/tundranocaps (a reddit user) for pointing this out. When you actually sit down and watch the show, it becomes apparent that what goes on is just talking. This causes the characters to be rather stiff. They don't have to be, but the show chooses to usually only move their mouths during the majority of the scenes. So while the coffee shop might be very detailed, the characters' movements are definitely not.

Beyond this, Glasslip employs this rather strange technique I call "still frames." They started occurring more frequently as the show went on, but basically the entire frame/scene would freeze in an artistic fashion. Sometimes this would occur randomly when looking at a tree. But the worst offenders were when it would happen while the characters were interacting with one another. I don't know what compelled the studio to use this "trick," but I found it to be rather lame and most of the time unnecessary.

As a final note, and something a bit more personal, but I hate their mouths as well. Each mouth has a slight slant to it that makes each of the characters look as if they have some sort of facial defect. Not sure why they chose this, but just another thing to add to the hate pile.

CHARACTERS

Glasslip's characters, like its story, are rather atrocious.

The main group of friends constitutes the main cast. Starting with Touko, her character development does not go beyond the word, "Ehhhhhh!?!" I understand that she is confused by a lot of the things that are going on, such as "future fragments" or confessions towards her. However, if the only thing notable about your growth as a character is you repeating the same, grating line multiple times an episode, you are just a really bad character.

Moving on, the worst character in the show is David (Kakeru). Seemingly Tsumugu's brother from Nagi no Asukara, David is extremely abstract and philosophical. He acts like a modern-day Plato, and for this reason, I completely hate not only his character but also this character type. I don't understand why P.A. Works enjoys it, but I cannot get behind someone who always has to spout something intellectual or only asks questions as opposed to giving answers.

Next up is Yuki, who early on actually seems to be one of the more sane ones. But in Glasslip-like fashion, he becomes a rather annoying character. After being rejected, he recedes into himself and for the rest of the show just runs. Literally the only thing you see him do is run from one point to another. Is this his way of dealing with things? Perhaps, but even if that is the case, I would much rather have that explained to me, rather than me having to make a guess as to how he is dealing with the situation. This is vital because the show doesn't have a plot, so it relies more heavily on its characters (meaning character interactions).

Sachi is an interesting girl. She is shown to have some type of illness, but like the "future fragments," it serves zero purpose within the narrative. She can actually be quite manipulative despite her appearance, but she too fails to communicate properly with the other characters. So much so that she relies on roundabout ways in order to convey her feelings. Much like Yuki, this is fine, but rather strange for a girl seemingly in her teenage years.

Yanagi is Yuki's step-sister. And that should set a flag off almost immediately. Because, true to Japanese anime stereotypes, she falls for him. I do not like this type of development whatsoever, and I will never understand why it is so prevalent in Japanese culture. This is me being somewhat ignorant, I get that, but it just does not sit right with me. Besides her feelings, she is generally the most mature among the group, but even she has her strange moments too, such as walking around her house naked because she can.

The last character to go in-depth with is Hiro, the boy who has feelings for Sachi. Among everyone in the show, he is the most level-headed/makes the most sense. His actions are believable given what happens to him, and he never does anything extremely strange. Besides pining after the girl who doesn't necessarily see him the same way he does with her, he is actually realistic. That is pretty sad, all things considered.

Much like the mouths, my final point I want to say is that the rest of the cast is pretty bad except for Touko's dad and sister Hina. They were the only ones to make me smile during the show. Whether it was from their terrible dialogue or their actual funny moments, I appreciated having them there to keep me sane.

SOUND

Arguably the strongest part of Glasslip, its music is at least okay. The OP is somewhat nice due to its relaxing melodies and nice use of the guitar. The ED is okay. It reminds me of Hanasaku Iroha with its singing, and while the show tries to be dramatic, the ED instead is rather upbeat.

The soundtrack is fine for what it is. Nothing stands out predominately but the tracks themselves are nice to listen to while watching the show.

As for voice acting, no outstanding performances are to be had.

ENJOYMENT

Many people started watching this show because it was tagged with the P.A Works label. And that's fine, because they have done a splendid job recently with all of their works. But something happened along the way with this one that just makes it hard to believe that it was made by the same studio that did NagiAsu, Hanasaku Iroha, and Angel Beats.

The show is never funny, its not dramatic as much as it tries to make itself seem, the characters are boring and unrealistic, and the story (for what is even present) makes no sense. While romance is abound in the show, I never cared for any of it. I love romance to death in anime, but the way everything was handled between the characters was so unbelievable that I didn't care if Touko ended up with David or Sachi with Hiro.

I really hope P.A. Works reflects on this project. Glasslip was an attempt at something original. They certainly obtained this goal but it is definitely not the outcome that was desired.

SUMMARY

Story: Terrible, completely nonsensical

Animation: Bad, pretty yet mired with "still frames" and zero actual animation

Characters: Terrible, characterization is non-present or extremely shallow

Sound: Fine, okay OP, ED, soundtrack, and VAs

Enjoyment: Bad, melodramatic and rather boring

Final Score: 2/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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