Amanchu!

Originally from a big city, Futaba Ooki spends most days cataloguing her life through pictures on her phone. Upon moving to a seaside town, she gazes out over the vast expanse of sea and quickly becomes captivated by its endless possibilities. Unbeknownst to Futaba, her quiet contemplation catches the attention of local diving enthusiast Hikari Kohinata. Finding herself in the same class as Futaba the next day, Hikari is drawn to her quiet and shy demeanor and affectionately nicknames her Teko, sparking a tender friendship.

Struggling to adapt to the change of pace in her life, Futaba finds herself strung along by Hikari's vast energy and passion for diving. Together, they join the school diving club, led by their homeroom teacher Mato Katori. With Hikari by her side, Futaba works to earn her diving certification while experiencing new friendships and possibilities.

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Adaptation:	Amanchu!
Sequel:	Amanchu!: Yakusoku no Natsu to Atarashii Omoide no Koto, Amanchu! Advance
Side story:	Amanchu!: Upyopyo Dive Tsukkome! Umi no Sekai!

Hazuki, Erino
Japanese

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Kaneko, Hirotaka

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Itou, Shousei

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Fujishiro, Atsushi

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Yamazaki, Asuka

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Opening Theme

"Million Clouds" by Maaya Sakamoto

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Ending Theme

"Futari Shoujo (ふたり少女)" by Tekopikari (Ai Kayano & Eri Suzuki)

Reviews

Sep 23, 2016

Stark700

Recommended

This series. This healing series is one that is perfect for the Summer. Taking place near an aquatic setting with fun, waters, and diving. Amanchu! is a show that I can safely recommend to just about anyone.

Adapted by the manga of the same name, you may find some similarities between this and Aria with its atmospheric setting. Also, it’s co-directed by Junichi Sato and his talent is easily recognizable in this series. Transforming a slice of life story into anime form isn’t always easy but he gets the job done with this anime. And I have to say, that is an achievement not to be ... underestimated.

The series has a relatively small cast but is very colorful in establishing their personalities. Hikari Kohinata (nicknamed Pikari) is the most cheerful girl you’ll probably meet in recent years as she spends her days being happy and diving. On the other hand, her classmate Futaba Ooki (nicknamed Teko) is a bit more on the timid side. Unlike Pikari, she lacks self-confidence and doesn’t have many friends. However, she is a sincere girl with a gentle personality. And through her growing relationship with Pikari, Teko begins to show more confidence as a person while also making valuable memories.

In general, the show is pretty much a golden slice of life. What I mean by that is how the show is able to focus each episode like an episodic adventure of its own. It’s a series that doesn’t rely on complex storytelling but rather with its themes and characters. A major theme in the show is also friendship with Pikari and Teko’s relationship being the most prominent. The two are almost always seen together and they later join the school’s diving club. This opens up new possibilities for Teko as she learns about the mechanics of diving, as she didn’t even know how to swim prior to joining. Their teacher Mato Katori may be a strict person but she is also caring and really wants the club’s members to succeed. Furthermore, Teko meets new friends such as the Ninomiya siblings. In essence, Teko experiences new possibilities in her life that really makes a change in her character.

If you want to experience some laughs and fun, this is definitely a show for you. Its comedy is well timed by the character expressions, dialogues, and reactions. I can also safely say that Amanchu! never relies on cheesy lines that may throw the viewer off. It comes out rather naturally with how the characters express their thoughts. Even though Teko can be quite timid, her dialogues in the series also feels fitting for her character. Of course, there’s Pikari who is hyperactive so expect tons of eccentricity out of her. The Ninomiya siblings fits somewhere in between as Ai resembles more like Pikari while her brother resembles more of Teko. These four makes the core of the diving club and their adventures is the reason why this series can be so exciting.

In the meantime, the anime adaptation handles the show faithfully despite rearranging some chapters. I think the main point is that they are trying to construct the series to capture the important elements. The mechanics of diving, the relationship between Teko and Pikari, and making valuable memories are just a few to name. Background storytelling is kept at minimal although there is one episode that really gives the viewers an insight on Teko’s character. There’s also some subtle yuri vibes as the show likes to play around with Teko and Pikari's relationship. In retrospect, Amanchu! relies a lot more on its slice of life aspects that expresses excitement and fun.

Anyone familiar with Kozue Amano’s Aria will easily find that the character designs from this series are also similar. Indeed, character designs looks very fresh that accurately adapts them into the story. Hilarious and super deformed character expressions seems to pop up often that are infectiously amusing; especially Pikari. In the meantime, the backgrounds feels natural and rich that depicts the ocean and other aquatic features with realism. There’s very minimal fan service as the show doesn’t rely on skin to deliver what’s intended. To easily sum it up, Amanchu’s visual quality can be easily described as visual porn.

Character voice mannerism and soundtrack also deserves praise in the show. In particular, Pikari is like an energetic light bulb that never stops shining. Their teacher is also able to carry out her role with a mature voice that is very easy to understand and listen to. Soundtrack is quite atmospheric and smooth with a light touch for its OST. The OP and ED theme songs possesses a light voice tone that is exactly fitting for this series.

Honestly, this is one of those shows that can almost make anyone feel relaxed after a stressful day. I mean, even if you plan to watch it on a random occasion, it will still induce you with its feels and heals. Amanchu’s story may not always be so appealing or complex. However, each episode has a life of its own that is valuable. The characters are represented quite well that comes together to share their love of diving, school life, and the joys of living. It’s just like the tagline, “fun for all, all for fun”. And you’ll get a lot of that.

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Sep 23, 2016

LeaderTGW

Recommended

200+ reaction faces by Episode 2 and over 3500+ Reaction faces towards the final episode. (This includes groups, background characters & teachers.) I excluded previews for the next episodes along with flashbacks. 38 seconds is the longest time a character spent holding a reaction face. The title of most reaction faces and time spent making time is... Hikari, or “Pikari.” With all that nerdy stuff out the way, let’s get to my review.

Story 6/10

Perhaps one of the most underrated shows this season, Amanchu is a chill slice of life anime. The story focuses mainly on character Hikari and Futaba’s high school life, and their love ... of diving. Hikari the lovely, energetic, frog faced angel has a love, hobby rather of diving. At some point in the beginning of the story Hikari and Teko are introduced. Hikari then initiates a conversation with Futaba at school. It’s their first “real” interaction until Hikari encourages Teko to join the diving club… and well you know the rest.

Narratives, transitions, character introductions, were fine. The settings where certain events took place were great however, when it came to backstories and proper explanations the story falls flat. It took 9 episodes to finally get some information about Futabas’ past. Futaba being the main character, or the character that the story focuses on the most, you would expect the writer to go into more details about her. This simply was not the case for a long duration of the story. The lack of any proper backstories made me feel like important information was missing or that perhaps the writer had been planning to wait until the last moment to drop an important & dramatic scene. It’s like there was always a sense of some sort of build up that never seemed to be released.

The pacing of the story is slow. This is a good thing because it lets viewers absorb little details, and really take in the beauty of the settings that the characters are in. Not only that, because Amanchu has an awful lot of dialogue, this keeps things fresh, and allows viewers to understand the characters current situation better. If I had to say what my biggest concerns with the story were, the lack of any major developments in the plot and the story. The plot… it’s iffy. Sometimes there is a plot for an episode for example the writer was like “The plot for this episode… well I think I’ll have an entire episode focus on Teko and why she can’t delete pictures on her phone.”

Sometimes a majority of the plots for certain episodes came off as uninteresting. Understanding that the manga is roughly 50+ chapters it’s sort of understandable that the story lacks a bigger goal for the characters. I believe that maybe if the was an ultimate goal for the characters, for example, Hikari and Futaba want to become professional divers and win some sort of trophy for their schools’ team. Then I would love to stick around and see the resolution. The plot itself is so simple, that’s why I mentioned earlier that there were no major developments, and honestly it makes the show, feel almost incomplete. All of these, and I want to be nice and say “minor” but all of the problems are what ultimately led me to give the overall story a lower score.

Art 7/10

The show is very well animated, good quality and details all around. The opening animation was beautiful although I did have one problem. There is a scene where they’re all on the boat right. They jump off the boat wearing the diving gear and then the next scene they’re all in bathing suits. After that, towards the ending of the song, Hikari and Futaba are shown wearing their diving gear again. I’m sitting down thinking to myself “bruh, is this a joke?” I don’t know if this was done intentionally or if that was planned out. Either way that scene sort of ruins the moment a little. I mean I understand if they were doing it for fan-service bu- Oh! look at me, I’m rambling.

I honestly love the anime’s character designs and background settings. The character designs, the school uniforms were certainly unique. One of my personal favorite things in school anime is seeing unique uniforms. This ranges from colors, designs, etc. I like that with the girls school uniform shows the shape and figures of their bodies. It leaves a lot to the imagination so to speak. The appearances of the ladies were pretty interesting. To me, the girls look like re-mastered 90’s anime girls. The eyes and hairstyle kind of make me think this way. The backgrounds like the beach, the ocean, clouds and pools. All of the background settings were amazing. Albeit they weren’t as great as I thought they would be.

Characters 7/10

I’ll be honest, in time I would love to see a more romantic relationship between Pikari and Teko develop. However, at the moment I am fine with them simply being best friends. I mean Hikari is so energetic and Futaba has such a calm personality. I believe that opposites who attract make better partners.The two are obviously my most favorite characters in the series because they have the most welcoming personalities. It’s fun to see them interact with their classmates and teachers. It makes me feel like I’m involved in some way. A majority of the characters with the series are inherently funny, friendly and likeable. However, I don’t think they are on the same level as Pik & Tek. Character development in Amanchu isn’t the shows strongest point. Although character growth does happen and personal changes through the story do occur. It does in fact take some time for the characters to realize their changes and accept it. It’s almost like a moral of the story feeling. I personally enjoyed seeing characters absorb new knowledge and make changes to their lives. The characters were great and I have very little complaints about any of them.

Sound 7/10

The opening song was pretty good, it was catchy sweet and mellow. The ending song was nothing special, it was catchy but not as special. I think that catchy songs tend to work better with slow-paced slice of life anime.. the voice actors were pretty good. I think that the female cast did an amazing job bringing their characters to life. I would’ve liked to have heard less “Gyops” and “Upyo’s” however; I did think it was kind of cute. The background songs were light-hearted, well composed, and did an excellent job setting the mood for certain exchange of dialogue.

Enjoyment/Overall score 8/10

As I may have mentioned earlier, the show is pretty chill. It’s full of dialogue which makes for very interesting conversations between characters. The art style, maybe the atmosphere makes it even more of a relaxing title. Now what do I mean when I say relaxing? To put it simply, Amanchu is a title that if you need to take a break from watching a bunch of action and fantasy titles. You could put it on and admire the beauty & quality that it has to offer. The only downside is that it has an awful lot of dialogue so if you’re transitioning from a title with lots of action and violence then you may want to skip this title. Now, when it came to my enjoyment with the show I’d have to say that the characters are what made this show fun. Overall I enjoyed the title very much and would probably recommend it to anyone who likes to take things slow.

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Sep 23, 2016

FireEmblemIke24

Mixed Feelings

Can you make something interesting about the mundane aspects of life? This series tries to be relaxing and soothing which is typical for any anime that follows the Iyashikei format. There is no actual progression in this show making it a genuine timewaster. If you’re the type to enjoy a common prosaic structure, then this may be the show for you.

The starting point of this show is very banal, here we follow the journey of Ooki Futaba (aka Teko) moving to a coastal location in Japan presumably due to her parents being transferred or something. It is known that she has moved from the busy ... city life and has to immediately adapt to her new surroundings. She later meets a peppy and energetic girl in Kohinata Hikari (aka Pikari) who has a burning passion for diving. Teko is encouraged by Pikari to join the high school diving club, only to find out it’s on the brink of closing due to a lack of numbers. There we find out the other members are the Ninomiya twins, Ai and Makoto respectively. Katori is the club advisor for the club who also happens to be the teacher for both Teko and Pikari.

The early episodes were actually interesting due to the basics of diving being explained in a way manageable for newbies. Concepts such as pressure increasing along with depth is relatively easy for anyone with common physics knowledge. The appropriate use of wet-suits and dry-suits being determined by the water temperature is just another example. It looked promising until we find out that Teko can’t even swim for sh*t once she gets into the training pool in episode 5-6. This is just deplorable writing, as it doesn’t make any sense for a non-swimmer in equipment to just plunge into the water. My anticipation for her to dive turned into dread when she needed swimming courses to participate. This is the last time we will see Teko diving for a while, which makes the rest of the show an everyday slice of life focusing on minor philosophical themes such as preservation of memories.

Teko being the main character at first looked like another dull and simple-minded teenager but after moving locations it is hinted she grew more despondent, considering she had far less contact with her middle school friends. There was even a time where she mentioned she had a personal ‘void’ before starting middle school and that it was her old friends that enclosed the hole. Teko is an individual who resets mentally every time things don’t go in her direction. I guarantee you once she moves on to the next stage of her life (into higher education) she will be more dejected than usual, hence she is very flawed as it is inevitable the same process will occur periodically. This time it being with Pikari, who she has formed a very close and intimate friendship after her recent move.

Teko does have some redeemable factors though, despite being timid at times she is very keen to experience new things with the help of her peers from the diving club. She is not extremely ambitious as she does give up at times probably due to a lack of confidence resulting in her low self-esteem. Despite that she does make solid progress from a fitness standpoint, by making more regular jogs and being able to fulfil the swimming requirement assigned by Katori. This causes no problems for Pikari, who is understanding of her circumstances and is willing to patiently wait until Teko is capable of doing so. Pikari enjoys the prospect of having a diving partner to accompany her which is a testament to the promise they made earlier.

The art style for me is gorgeous, exquisite and really pleasing from an aesthetic standpoint. The female cast who make up the majority are very attractive looking and are a delight to look at, and then you have Makoto being the anomaly who gets some screen time. The character designs are intricate with them being highly detailed which suggests the animators have been quite meticulous with this project. Everything from the scenery backgrounds to the hair of the characters being colourful and dazzling just adds to my own immersion to the series. There are huge references to the Aria series with the Undine outfit being incorporated into the school uniform, as well as other things such as the chubby cats more or less looking the same. The use of puppet faces in the animation is new from the original creator Amano Kozue, which to me adds spice of variety to prevent things from becoming dull due to repeated use.

The sound is very befitting for a SOL with the calm background music gradually setting the mood for the show. It really creates an atmosphere that would suit a quiet, plain town which is the setting for Amanchu! The music is being performed by Gontiti, a veteran group that haven’t worked on a TV series to date and for me did a fantastic job with their experience. The voice actors have done a spending job performing as their respective characters and they all more or less matched what was expected of their personalities.

Pros:
Great and heavily detailed art style (damn them girls are stunning and Makoto) ✓
Nice complementary soundtrack ✓
Iyashikei theme ✓

Cons:
Somewhat average characters that need more fleshing out ✘
Pacing is lethargic (a marathon would be detrimental) ✘
Can be repetitive at times ✘

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Kohinata, Hikari

Ooki, Futaba

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