Orange

I understand that a lot of you get annoyed by the fact that the MC is just like any other ones in most shoujo animes/mangas that are dense and annoying most of the time, but I think you're not getting the point of the story. It's not about Naho and Kakeru; it's about helping a friend with depression. And we all know how severe depression can be. Yes, Naho sometimes acts dense, insensitive, and stupid, but remember, she's just a highschool student, and you can't expect a highschooler to be the most rational person all the time. I think it's great that this anime shows ... us how one mistake and how our words can affect a person's whole life. Character development may not be outstanding, but then again, they're young people desperately saving a precious friend. It's good to see friends working together and not giving up to make someone happy. Don't you all feel touched after all that they did for Kakeru?

Everyone has the desire to turn back time to do things that they should have done instead. The future self filled with regret vs. the present self filled with ignorance. What happens when the two collide? Enter the story of Orange, presented as a romance drama with a time-travel twist yet it finds a good balance between them.

The story starts out with Naho receiving a letter from herself 10 years in the future. It details about the incoming arrival of Kakeru in her life and how she must save him because he’ll die in the future. What I like about this predicament is that Naho ... doesn’t always follow what the letter asks her to do all the time. It might be from suspension of disbelief or just awkwardness but it shows that she isn’t just a plot device following orders. She shows doubt despite the fact that what is stated in the letter comes into reality which is a nice way of showing an internal struggle. There is the problem of the ever changing future and it’s good that she doesn’t entirely depend on the letters for her to save Kakeru. Overall there is a constant struggle between the present self who wants to do it on her own terms and the future self who wants to do it strictly in a sequence of events ensuring that there will be a change of outcome. Other characters in the story include Suwa, Hagita, Takako, and Azu. While some of them could really use some character development and more significance story-wise, they have stand out personalities that adds life to the show. They even somewhat contribute to the story later on as the story also deals with friendship and their unified feelings toward Kakeru.

Now, Kakeru seems to be too reserved for a character to have a story revolve around him. He acts like everything’s okay but he hides a lot of suppressed thoughts. I do like the idea since it’s a good way for the characters to unveil him but every time someone like Naho attempts it, he just pushes the person back. He eventually opens up later on but the process can be frustrating. He’s like a walking fragile plot device that one mistake done on him can ultimately lead to his inevitable death. Monologues are dedicated to him but they always seem to be not too revealing despite being full of resentment. With every revelation, it’s like there is more to it and the bigger picture is really sought after. I know the story doesn’t want to give it all away immediately but it’s like a dripping faucet gradually being opened.

And we get to the time-travel aspect of the show. I know that some are turned off with the explanation how they managed to send letters to the past but I personally don’t give it too much attention. Sure it can make or break shows that explore time-manipulation but for a show that deals with second chances while still being conscious of the consequence of changing the future, I can look over it.

Overall, Orange is a show recommended to viewers who can deeply connect with its theme of regret. The romance and drama revolving around it can be inconsistent at times due to its sporadic change of events but it all leads to a fulfilling conclusion. Hidden amidst a world of bright colors are bleak thoughts that await catharsis, it’s a story about love and friendship.

Apparently, writing a shoujo story is difficult. Why? Because 90% of them is basically the same story. Sure, there are some shows out there, like 'Nana' or 'Ouran High School Host Club', that are one of a kind. But for some reason, there aren't many of them and unfortunately, 'Orange' does not belong to this category of original stories.

'Orange' attempts to be original by adding a 'time travel element'. Our main character, Naho gets a letter from her future self. The letter instructs Naho to keep an eye on a new transfer student in order to 'save him and erase her regrets'.
This could've ... been interesting and give 'Orange' originality. However, this 'time travel element' was so small, that it was too weak to save the show from being generic.
It's not that they let the audience forget that there is a letter from the future. Oh no, we are reminded of it quite often. It's just that Naho takes the letter for granted; she never even tries to figure out how her future self managed to sent a letter to the past. If I got such a letter I would want to know that in the first place! (at least after it proved to be the real thing) I was certain that the show wouldn't even bother to reveal this to us. I was wrong though: we've got an explanation, but only in episode 12 and it was 'explained' like in 2 minutes (far from Steins;Gate level here).

A thing that doesn't add to originality at all is the high school setting. Seriously, why does it always has to be high school? 'Nana' and 'Paradise Kiss' proved that a good shoujo story doesn't have to take place in high school. If Orange would've had a different setting, it might've been more interesting and a bit more unique.

There are some shoujo shows out there that aren't too original, but still enjoyable to watch. 'My little Monster' for example; the story and the cast aren't too unique, but the comedy really adds to it. So even though you won't get a feeling that you've seen something completely new from such a show, you'll most likely be entertained by it and won't feel like you've waisted your time on it.
Unfortunately, 'Orange' is different. 'Orange' is a serious drama series. But in order to be a good serious drama, an anime has to be able to trigger the viewer's feels. It has to leave the viewer emotionally touched. And this is where 'Orange' fails miserably. The only thing Orange has left me is annoyance towards the characters.

Aaaah, the characters….

Let's start with Naho, our main character, probably the most annoying one in the show. Naho is a sweet, shy girl. But when I say shy, I mean EXTREMELY SHY. She's convinced that she is a bother to EVERYONE by just breathing. She's even afraid to say 'good morning' to Kakeru (the transfer student) and that after they've already become friends. She is kinda determined that to change the future and erase her regrets, however her shyness kicks even here. Naho really does want to save Kakeru, but because she's too shy to do the things that might save him (like talk to him and make him feel comfortable at the new school) she gets angry at her future self for giving her such a task. This is kinda frustrating and it makes Naho whiney. Not to the outside world, oh no. She'll rather die than complain about anything to her friends. She's whiney in her head and we, the audience have to put up with that.
Girl, man up a bit!!!!

Then we have Kakeru, the new transfer student and Naho's romantic interest. The show maintains the believe that he has a certain darkness in him. However, we never actually get to see it. Well…we do at some point get to see him gloomy. But it was portrayed rather weak.

Another character that we get to see quite often is Suwa. He is in love with Naho, but because he too wants to help Kakeru he pushes his feelings for her away. He's convinced that if Naho and Kakeru don't end up together they will not manage to save Kakeru. That self - sacrifice is annoying. I don't get what made Suwa think that was the only way to save Kakeru. Why does he has to give up his own happiness? The idea that due his self-sacrificing way of saving Kakeru, Suwa will be the one who'll need saving in the next letter from the future apparently never crossed his mind. Pretty sure that if Suwa's hurting Naho will be sad and will try to help him too

There's not that much to say about the rest of the cast, except that they are average. There are 3 more characters labelled as 'main character', but honestly, after 13 episodes I still had no idea who they were. They don't get any backstory or character development AT ALL. There is Azusa and there is Takako. Both are smiling for 96% of the time, which gave me the feeling that the creators of the show were too lazy to give them any other facial expressions. Same goes for Hagita. The only difference is that he never bothers to smile and tries to be mr Cool, which might've worked out in another show.

The above written is quite negative. So I'm going to mention something I DID like about this show: it looked kinda good. That's it, the only good thing worth mentioning about 'Orange' (I honestly can't think of anything else)

Orange is a sweet, naive, generic, high - school shoujo drama series about friendship. If you like that sort of thing, then go watch it. But I honestly don't think it's worth your time. There are much better shoujo shows out there, which are more original than this one.

After watching 4 Shoujo series in a row, I feel this type of anime is doomed. Always the same, half made plots, weak women, now I have to add on this one weak men too. Time travel shouldn’t been used unless you really going to do something great. Really...

Let’s start with the obvious, the anime revolves around kakeru, about saving Kakeru and we barely know a thing about him right until the end. The only thing that made this watchable was the relationship the 5 friends have and the way they interact with each other and yet again, we know absolutely nothing about any of ... them.

Half the show is about Naho been shy and Naho fighting with herself and NAho reading the same thing on the letter, I’m truly bored of this kind of Characters completely done with them, the only Character like this I was able to stand was Sawako on Kimi ni todoke, she was funny, her reactions were amazing, anyways…the rest is just more of the same.

And to make it worst, the theory to make the letter time travel! Never have seen such a lame way to explain it, never! The ending was even emptier than the time travel theory if you can top that.

Orange is a character-driven anime with weak characters. Yes, exactly.

Story 5/10
I have no issues with a far-fetched plot like that of Orange. The problem is when the creators try to rationally explain it. A melodramatic show like this already relies on emotion over logic, so why try to upset that balance? An even bigger issue would be the disappointing cast. As a character-driven anime, it is expected to have intriguing characters who can carry the show and enhance the plot. However, this was not the case for Orange, as the characters were terrible (They will be appropriately ripped apart in the "Character" section).

Art 6/10
I ... actually fairly enjoyed the early 2000s art style, which was interesting to see in 2016. Some of the still shots were very artistic, and the animation wasn't terrible, although static at times. Howbeit, the art quality steadily drops throughout the course of the series.

Sound 7/10
The one piece that stood out for me was the ED, which was pleasant.

Character 1/10
The characters could either have been the anime's saving grace or their Achilles' heel. The latter was certainly the case.

Naho:
While watching her go about her everyday life, the question of whether it is humanly possible to have a negative IQ score has crossed my mind a few times. She seems to have only 2 purposes in life- to screw things up and to attend to Kakeru's every whim and fancy.

Kakeru:
There was an attempt to explain Kakeru's selfish and self-loathing personality. However, it felt extremely contrived. This led to me not being able to view Kakeru as anything other than a total jerk.

Suwa:
The ultimate nice guy, Suwa is the MVP of this anime. We see him pull a Hachiman many times, always ending up with him holding the short end of the stick. He is the most developed character in Orange, but much more could be done.

Takako, Hagita and Azusa:
You could call them Extras 1, 2 and 3, because I honestly wouldn't have noticed. They only serve to fill the spots and to even out the guy/girl ratio.

Enjoyment: 2/10
I understand that I probably would have enjoyed Orange more if I was the target demographic. However, the mix of melodrama and crappy cast still feels like a tough pill to swallow.

Overall 3/10
All in all, Orange was very disappointing.

"It felt as if watching Usain Bolt running a marathon"
The anime which had the potential to be a masterpiece of a shoujo anime in a short run, but instead tried to become too dragged out and everything just fell apart. Much like how Usain Bolt would start to slow down and stumble during such a long run.

|contains minor spoilers which are indicated beforehand|

|Story|
Orange could have been such a great story. It uses great story-telling mechanics to build up the story and give the characters the opportunity to evolve and grow. But instead of building off of the foundation it set for itself, it just walks ... away from it.

Right from the beginning, we see how cleverly the creators of Orange slowly unveil the mysteries regarding the "future" and the letter. Initially, they have a great pace, and everything looks perfect for a good anime. We have a great mystery, with decent starting characters and a clear end-goal.

Unfortunately, after the initial setup, the anime just slows down ridiculously and tries to drag out everything and this just totally wrecks almost every aspect of this anime as they try to waste time. Let's look at those in a little bit more in detail.

The romance line just gets shattered, as they try to find at first irrational reasons and later on just straight up illogical reasons to drag out the way to the romance of Kakeru and Naho. The whole plot/story would only need one event to really happen to finally progress/finish, but they just keep on delaying it. In order to do so, they use multiple cliches, unneeded drama and conflicts which just become too plain and cringe after awhile. (SPOILER: Naho being unable to do literally anything on multiple occasions and being just so incredibly slow to help the plot develop)

To say something really positive, the anime uses very clever techniques to create opportunists. For example, the use of letter is brilliant. The way they use it really gives a chance to evolve the characters.(SPOILER: in the beginning it gives specific orders, after awhile it only says the goal and leaves the execution to Naho). It has great plot twists and has multiple huge reveals that can be shocking to the viewer as well as giving a chance to the side characters to shine (SPOILER: for example the reveal of multiple letters, and the very end twist). Not to mention a great use of time perspective shifting which really could have helped the anime in terms of expanding the depth of characters (which Orange didn't really utilize in the end...)

If only the story could have been condensed more, avoiding the unnecessary time wasting, then the story could have been intriguing, with a great story telling and amazing twists.
Story - 5

|Characters|
Most characters are quite one layered and basic stereotypes at the beginning, but that's absolutely fine for starters. The problem is, that most of them never really evolve into something more deep. The only good character was Suwa. Throughout his relationship with Naho, he really becomes someone else than what he started with, sharing great thoughts throughout the anime.

On the other hand, main characters like Naho, were just handled terribly. This mostly comes down to the issue that the creators wanted to waste time. This totally wrecked Naho's character. To begin with, she was already one of the densest of the densest, not to mention that it would be an understatement that she is shy. The Plot techniques used set her up to really get a character development (SPOLER in the beginning she relies on the letter, but later on she tries to become herself and pave her own path instead of being a "puppet"), but because that would solve the main plot problem, they just find excuses and leave her (SPOLER: she then fails and goes back to the letter and remains a "puppet"). Not to mention that she literally cannot do anything on her own and always relied on her friends and that didn't change at all, not even once. The last straw was when she actually became worse than the initial character (SPOILER: When she tells Kakeru to stay with her and abandon his granny, which was literally her telling him that she doesn't care about his feelings. Way worse than what she said in the other world).
Character Score - 6

|Art|
The art style is quite different than most other animes. It's a lot more clearer and the lineart is more visible and sharp. It all comes down to preferences, but it was actually quite refreshing to see this type of art. The animation overall for fairly smooth and consistent.
Art Score - 8

|Sound|
The voice acting was very good. It felt realistic, and i could feel the characters behind them. Each individual had their own speaking style which was a nice touch.
Sound Score - 7

|Overall Package|
All in all, this anime really could have been great if it didn't sacrifice characters, cliches and good moments only to get to that 13 episode number. Although in it's current form it's not easy to recommend it, but if we discard those useless parts earlier described, then we get one of the best shoujo anime. If you like some good and tense drama that really gets you on the edge of your seat, then this is for you.
Overall Score - 6 (but could very easily be 9 if you put up with the frustrating parts)

|Subjective review (rant)| (SPOILERS)
I was so frustrated with how they handled the romance, dramas and the main couple. Because i saw so many textbook usages of conflicts (in the beginning) and symbols (the letters or the hairpin). You will be able to read up in more details about the story-telling techniques in Orange.
Subjective Score - Want to give it a 9 but have to settle with a 5

"It had so much potential."
That's how I would summarize Orange in a single sentence.

Story - 4/10
----------------
First of all, let's talk about the core plot device of this anime ~ Time Travel. Here's the thing about time travel,
1) You explain completely how it happens (or)
2) You don't explain it at all because the focus of your anime is something else. So you leave the viewers to come up with some sort of romantic connotation for it.

Orange did neither. It just half-assed the whole thing.
...
[Spoilers below]

The second thing that bugged me about this story was the entire motivation behind the intense desire to save Kakeru. Let's get the facts straight. In the original timeline, Kakeru was always depressed, wasn't part of any club, didn't have most of the sweet moments with the group, and so on. How did he become such an important person to them that they regretted it so much 10 years into the future that Suwa and Naho were willing to sacrifice their own lives together to save him?

But the most important thing that absolutely made no sense to me were the actions future Naho took. So basically she was open to sacrifice her life with Suwa and was ready to forsake their FUCKING KID to save this one dude whom she had a crush on for half a year of high school. Just try to wrap your head around that for a minute. Just made me personally feel bad for Suwa who is one the nicest characters written in anime. Of course, she could've structured her letter better to make sure that they all save Kakeru while still not sacrificing the relationship with Suwa. But yeah, no, that didn't happen.

Playing the devil's advocate to myself here, maybe Naho and Suwa wouldn't have gotten together in the first place if it weren't for the death of Kakeru. So maybe she is not as senseless as I think she is. But still, just a pet peeve.

Character - 5/10
--------------------
Suwa, the bro-est of all bros. He made the anime worth the watch along with Hagita, Asuza and that one tall girl. And this anime would've been a 10/10 if Hagita and Asuza were the two main MCs.

Air-heads and bird-brained girls are a common anime troupe. Normally you'd expect these kind of characters to provide some comical relief along with another character in a relevant anime. But Naho here is so annoyingly dumb it was infuriating to watch. Made me want to drop the anime around the middle. Can't really comment on the character of Kakeru because yeah, can't really relate or make an insensitive comment about a guy with suicidal tendencies. But then again, if I'm ever so inclined, I can definitely empathize with him, but he could've directed those frustrations a little better.

But again, Suwa, what a freaking strong and open-hearted character.

Sound - 8/10
-----------------
Pretty good. Both the OP and ED fit in so well.

Animation - 8/10
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Kinda went to shit in the middle but other than that, the style fit the theme of the show really well.


In the end, Orange had the potential to be a true 10/10 anime that could've been hailed as a classic. But it got so many things wrong. However, it also got a couple of things right, mostly the friendship between the group. Maybe if they had removed the romance from the show and made it completely about friendship... it could've been something.

Orange. Watch it for Suwa and the rest.

...and why is it called Orange again?

TL;DR This anime is as stagnant and uninformed to the human condition as a teenager’s fan fiction. The visuals look good on the cover, but the animation ends up being noticeably subpar during the show's runtime. Overall, this is an unremarkable anime you should skip.

———

There are people far more weird than me out there, but I would wager that if I’m an American youth watching Japanese cartoons, I’m at least slightly removed from the general population. Up through high school I always had friends that were pleasingly weird enough for my tastes, but when I went random for my college room assignments, I was always ... buddied up with people that were just blatantly… Normal. Boring. They were content with liking what everyone else liked, etc.

The characters in this anime remind me a LOT of these people. They’re supposedly joking around and laughing when they haven’t said anything funny enough to warrant a chuckle from me. They’re *enjoying* their social life as high schoolers, which only people who peak in high school are capable of doing. I can’t relate to these characters at all, and I don’t know if any other otaku-types watching this will either. These characters are normal and therefore boring.

…Well, this is true for most of the cast, at least. Four out of six of these clowns are side characters that have about three scenes each, but at least they have ideas and personalities (however predictable) of their own. You've got the genki gal, nerdy guy, etc. Number five on our list of offenders, however, is none other than Uchiha Sasuke himself (Kakeru).

Sasuke's just as guilty as the other inhabitants of the clown car, except his defining "character trope" is that he's depressed. That's all. He's deeply upset about an admittedly traumatizing event, but the story basically centers around how his life needs to be improved, or else he'll harm himself from his sadness. I understand that depression can really rule over a person that's affected by it, but in my (admittedly uninformed) opinion, it just seems disrespectful to people with depression to make a character that is "depressed" and nothing more; there should be a person in there.

I would soon learn, though, that it was silly of me to expect the author of this to write people correctly. Let me introduce you to Naho, a dead fish of a human being. (Look at her glossed-over eyes, filled with blank confusion. https://imgur.com/a/M9L5DHx)

I agree with other comments that “Naho is an idiot,” but I think it’s slightly more complicated than that. Naho mentions early on that she "never wants to be a bother to anyone," and to that end she completely shuts off in front of others instead of supplying her ideas, leading to her “idiot” moments with Kakeru. She is so deprived of either desires of her own, or so driven by the opinions of others, that she never thinks for herself to any capacity. I joke about Naho's eyes looking vacant like a dead fish, but they reflect her problem very well. Naho is a poorly-written character, let alone main character, with no driving cause of her own besides the obligatory love story track she's set on: it makes for a confusing, disappointing, and markedly awkward plot.

The author's unfamiliarity with the human mind makes itself the most apparent in the adult versions of the main cast, an inorganic plot device. The gang meet up *ten years* after the high school timeline in order to perpetuate the fourth-wall part of the plot. But when they interact, it's as if nothing about them has changed. They still focus on something that was collectively troubling them in HIGH SCHOOL. I've been in college for two years and I can barely remember what I was worried about in high school! Their lack of convincing character growth annoys me to no end, because I know for a fact that real adults don't act like this. People grow so much in ten years.

They're allowed to reminisce as much as they want, but they should definitely have a lot more dimension to their characters after a decade away from high school. Maybe having the reflection-party one or two years ahead instead of ten may have fixed this problem (while achieving the same, honestly cringey result).

That's enough of me grilling the characters: One last gripe I have is with the visuals. This is one of those anime where you’re tricked into thinking the art is good because there are nice filters and photorealistic backgrounds all over the place, but one honest look and you’ll see how sloppy the drawings and animations can be at times. The shiny, almost “plastic” look that is easy to accomplish with computer-animated things these days also demonstrates the cheapness of this medium; it happens to many shows, but that doesn’t make this show any better.

Overall, don't bother. This is an anime that imitates what romance shows look like without having any of its substance.

Orange
"If you endure too much, it'll be your loss." - Naruse Kakeru
Everyone have something they really regret. And if only you could turn back time, you would just to change that one mistake.
This series have that "words-that-cut-deep feels.

Story
10/10
The moment i read the synopsis, I knew that I'm gonna love it. The story is fast-paced and so thrilling and yet it heart warming.

Art
... 9/10
The art is great, character's animation is good. Background is good too.

Sound
9/10
The OST is great and fitting as well but sometimes it's exaggerated.

Character
Kakeru Naruse - He is one of the MC. Well, what can i say... He is such a selfish... I don't even wanna say. He only thinks about himself like he is the most pitiful person in the world. He doesn't consider other people feelings. All of them are putting so much effort and he just doesn't see it! Selfish! Even after everything, he still wants to commit suicide. Even after what everyone did and how much effort they exert just for him. Selfish! I should stop now, before i typed something really bad.

Suwa Hiroto - He is listed as one of the best MC in anime history. He sacrificed a lot through the whole series. Even though his future (who he always wanted) might change, he still risks that chance just to erase Naho's regret. He's so understanding and so heart warming. He is always there for Naho and Kakeru. I appreciate all he'd done only for Naho and Kakeru's sake. I ship NahoxSuwa so much!

Takamiya Naho - I personally don't like her to be with Kakeru.She conquers even her deepest fears just for Kakeru's sake. She's the kind of character who does everything and doesn't want anything in return. She's so understanding in Kakeru's tantrums. She value everyone's time and she doesn't wanna bother her friends so much. In this series, i put my hands up for Naho's determination.

Enjoyment
10/10
Well, what more can I say. I really enjoyed watching it.

Overall
10/10
It's one epic ride. Every scene is like a slice of life. I learned a lot and i love how the story goes and the pace is just right. I'd love to see the aftermath, but sadly i think the producer doesn't even think of producing one.
Love it so much!

Quite like orange juice, I couldn't make it through this show without gin. The basic premise of Orange is that a 26 year woman named Naho Takamiya sends a letter to herself ten years in the past, in order to prevent the several mistakes she made including some that she believes caused the suicide of her love interest name Kakeru. It's pretty predictable from this premise alone that the show had the potential to turn out to be simple wish fulfillment garbage, and unfortunately that seems to be the case. That isn't that say I didn't go into it with an open mind that is, ... as I knew nothing of the show going in to it, so don't give me any of that crap.

The real problem with Orange is that it expects you to care about it's characters, but never really makes any effort to make them likeable or well developed. All of them can essentially be broken down to their single defining characteristics, there is even one amusingly unaware scene towards the end of episode three, in which one of the characters starts describing all the others essentially using these singular traits. Naho is kind and helpful, though a much simpler summary of her character can be put into one word 'doormat'. Kakeru is your typical love interest, dark and brooding, his total lack of personality makes it impossible to see what Naho sees in him beyond his appearance, and the same can be said of his attraction to Naho. All the other characters have almost no bearing on the plot making them completely forgettable and not even worth noting. Times in which one would think the show would try and develop its character is instead spent upon lazy montages or creating repetitive drama merely for the sake of it. Because of this the show fails to engage its audience in its plot as it is almost entirely character driven. Why should one care that Kakeru commits suicide or has mommy issues, if the show tells us almost nothing about him as a character, he also goes from unlikable to downright hateable as the show goes own, which I wont go into for the sake of spoilers, though I'll standby that he acts irredeemably selfish.

Another glaring issue is the casts and especially Naho's utter and constant stupidity which is the cause of the vast majority of the drama throughout the show, making it unbearably frustrating to sit through. Naho rarely tries to solve her issues in the most straight forward and logical manner, it feels as if she isn't making her choices based on her past experiences or her personality, but more that she is acting in such a way because the show needs the plot to move from point A to point B. Despite the characters actions causing an unnecessary amount of melodrama, for the most part it usually resolved within a few episodes, as if the show is dancing around what little plot it actually has, so it ends up feeling like a complete waste of time.

Other than that the show is unimpressive in both its animation and audio quality which also gradually decline in quality as the show progresses, so it really has nothing going for it. There are also many smaller issues such as Naho never reading ahead in the letter and the shows baffling attempt to explain away the time travel, I'd go on, how ether I don't have the time nor the patience to go through them all. Overall the show is at its best boring, and at worst teeth grindingly frustrating, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody.

{SPOILER FREE REVIEW}

Bit of background before I begin, not entirely related to the anime. Feel free to skip this paragraph and head to the review. I was looking forward to this anime for a while because of this recent shojo addiction. I was going to New York City in June and I watched about an hour and twenty minutes of the live action movie on the flight. It was actually very good and I recommend that you watch that movie instead of the anime. Not that this anime is bad.

So. Orange. What we have here is what seems to be a shojo with a time ... travelling twist. What it actually is, is a very generic shojo with a time travelling twist that seems to disguise the usual shojo story. When I say "generic" shojo I'm talking about almost every single shojo trope being checked off.

* Pretty lead who can't do wrong, check.
* Athletic love interest, check.
* Cute friends, check.
* Mean girl enemy, check.
* Catches the eye of the hottest guy in school, check.

The list goes on. The strange thing about this is that it isn't really a bad anime, especially if you like shojo.

STORY - 5

I give this story a 5 because I think it tries. It tries to go beyond (plus ultra!) the usual shojo story. Our lead, Naho, receives a letter from a version of herself in the future that states her deepest regret; being unable to save the life of a friend. It contains instructions on how to prevent this from happening. During the course of the show, she tries to save him and falls in love with him. I mean it's shojo so of course love is going to play a part. A huge issue I have with this is that it never, in thirteen episodes, shows any indication that Kakeru (the friend who has died in the future) is special. It portrays him as a pretty normal and average person who is depressed. I didn't dislike him, but there was no real reason that Naho would like him either. He has nothing to offer and her interactions with him seem forced and awkward. I enjoyed that they took time out to discuss parallel worlds, and that does excuse time travel issues. It is an easy and foolish mistake to leave this out so props on Telecom for keeping this in because time travel shows fall apart without the time travel being understood by the audience. There are a few other issues I had with the plot, hence the rating, but they would be spoiler territory so not for this review.

ART - 7

I have to confess bias; I love anime art. The bright colours, the funky hair, the details that are put into still frames (and it's anime so there are tons). Nothing special about this art. Nothing bad about it either. The colour of the high school blazers was a forest green and that was the colour of one of my rival schools when I was in high school, eh. Take this part of the rating with a grain of salt due to my love for anime art.

SOUND - 8

I loved the opening and ending tracks. I don't think I skipped either more than once or twice when I was binge watching eight or nine episodes in a row. During the show itself, the sound isn't memorable.

CHARACTERS - 4

This is where the show failed dismally. None of the characters are memorable besides Suwa. Let me list the others, bear in mind that these characters have absolutely no character development.

* Naho - Mary Sue protagonist who is cute and awkward
* Kakeru - Depressed teenage boy
* Hagita - Nerdy friend
* Azusa - She's the cute friend, parents run a bakery
* Takako - Tomboy. That's literally her entire character.

Not really a bad group, but not interesting either. They exist to basically push Naho and Kakeru together. But it's ultimately Suwa who does everything until literally the last scene in the last episode. He's the soccer star with a heart of gold. He cares about everyone and it's obvious that he's into Naho, but when he sees she likes someone else he steps aside to support her happiness. He's kind and compassionate and invites a lonely new kid to hang out with them. It blows my mind that Naho didn't like Suwa before this, although it's hinted that she does due to the scenes set in the future world. But that just makes it stranger that she somehow became enamoured with Kakeru even though there was a latent attraction to Suwa. Nine times out of ten, Suwa is the hero in a shojo love story. This was one of the nine times, he was the hero. Just not the love interest. But this is a story about dealing with mistakes from your past, not about romance.

ENJOYMENT - 8

This had some very sad moments, and if you've ever been depressed it's going to hit you hard in the tear ducts. I like that sort of thing, and this section of the reviews are always the most subjective. "Enjoyment". Sometimes anime that is very boring to some will be very appealing to others. This is not a clone of anything the way God Eater was with Shingeki no Kyojin, definitely not. But with the success of Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, I knew we'd get some time travelling anime in the next few seasons and this is one of them.

OVERALL - 7

It was 8 but I changed it to 7. I recommend this because I enjoyed it, but I recommend the live action movie first.

I honestly loved this anime. I loved it in the way that I dreaded watching it every week because I knew I would sob my eyes out (and I did). 'Orange', (a manga adaptation), is about a group of high school friends that lose one of their own to suicide. Desperate to erase their regrets, they hope to change the past and save their friend's life. Naho, the protagonist, receives a letter from the future that gives these friends hope for a better tomorrow. This is a shoujo anime and a slow and sweet love story.

The story progression was slow, but these characters had ... to follow a timeline and couldn't afford to rush through it. I liked how they took their time actually, Naho and crew were dealing with an emotionally fragile teenage boy and were desperate to save his life, so why would they rock the boat by trying to beat the clock?

I'm reading through people's frustration about Naho's character and it strikes me funny. She's a high schooler who just got a letter from the future BEGGING her to save a classmate's life. Naho is very meek and has trouble expressing her feelings and all of a sudden she's meant to fall in love with Kakeru because a letter tells her to. I can't even IMAGINE the pressure she was under. I think she handled it as well as a young girl who's that timid could possibly handle it! Suwa was my favorite character though, his projected future with Naho was wonderful and he was such a terrific friend to both Naho AND Kakeru (his romantic rival). To bow out of a romantic conquest (especially when you know what a nice future you have waiting for you) to save a friend's life is admirable.

I loved every character and I loved how they treated the subject matter with gravity and didn't glaze over suicide and allowed Kakeru to truly suffer through it to find he had an incredibly support system.

My only criticism was the quality of the animation VASTLY decreased episode by episode. Yes, sometimes their eyes were very wonky, but fortunately the story was strong enough to carry me through it. The music/sound was really great though!

I recommend watching this if you enjoy shoujo, are patient, and are prepared to cry. BECAUSE YOU WILL! <3

I rarely ever write reviews for anime I've completed...in fact, this is the first review I'm writing since becoming active on MAL about 2 years ago. I also almost never watch shoujo or anime that fall into the romance genre in general. I'm not a fan of romance stories period. So to be honest, I can't speak about the romance part of the story since I don't have a large amount of "experience" watching the genre. Orange is definitely not going to be understood or enjoyed by everyone, but for those who have experienced depression and self-hate, part of the story-line will definitely hit home ... hard. The biggest reason I wanted to write a review because as expected, some of the top reviews are giving this show terrible ratings which obviously is just someone's opinion, but I want to give a different point of view for those interested in watching.

The show does a lot of thing well in relation to illustrating the pain of going through depression and also the difficulties in having a friend going through depression. I really liked how there was almost always a positive message and symbolism through the story to almost teach the viewer about what depression is like how to help someone who is going through it. The story very accurately depicts how unpredictable depression can be....one moment can go so well, but that doesn't mean you're suddenly free of your inner demons that are causing you so much pain and suffering.

Death is also a huge theme in this story which almost seems counterintuitive to a shoujo, romance, feel-good anime. The story explores how someone deals with death in their life and how someone deals with possible impending death (aka suicidal thoughts).

There are so many feel good moments and an equal amount of heart-wrenching moments that this show really took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions. I have never cried so much while watching an anime. Literally, after a certain point, I cried or at least teared almost every episode.

Speaking on the romance aspect of the show, it wasn't strong at all; it absolutely focused on friendship more than anything, so if you're expecting a decent romance story, I won't say you should look for that in this anime.

As for the art, I enjoyed it. It's pretty simplistic in my opinion, nothing amazing. Opening song is decent. Characters are lovable and admirable, and the storyline is definitely engaging. I wouldn't recommend to everyone, but if after reading my review you're still interested, then definitely watch !

Ok guys I will keep this short and hope I can influence your decision of whether to watch or not watch this series.
So, Orange is a story about a really sad guy whose wife is in love with a dead person and tries to change the past to get the dead guy back while still being married and acting as if she loves him. Sad guy truly. But the writers kind of ignores the guy and shows him as somewhat of a side character. So I guess not about the sad nice guy apparently.
Anyway so the story has a time travel kind of feel to ... it as can be understood through the synopsis. The artwork is light and hence, has a sad and happy feel to it. It's easy on the eyes. The voice actors suit the character designs perfectly. It's like when you see a person and think he/she should sound like this, here, they do. Right now I am at the latest episode and the story line seems to progress pretty well. Though the story is a bit generic shoujo, the differentiating component being the time letter.
The story is about the struggles of Naho (Main Character Female) to make sense of the letter that she has received from her future self and somehow save Kakeru. I will not disclose what he has to be saved from as it might act as a spoiler. She is able to follow some of the instructions, others she is not and some barely. It is a journey to save the guy she is truly in love with.
Main thing I liked about the series is that they have managed to cover the loop holes and inconsistencies that are talked about when we talk about a series concerning time travel. I will not go into details of this so as not to give you guys spoilers. You probably might start wondering why the contents of the letter don't change as the MC girl (Naho) changes the past thus altering the future. This is explained in the series which made me like the series more.
Definitely a give it a try series. A very well thought out series I would say.
PS. The sad guy is a very likeable character. This might sound gay but I am falling in love with the character of Suwa.

-I literally just watched this anime(10min ago) and im here writing my first review just for this anime. it all started very very interesting and makes the person watch more because you cant wait to what happens next.
-there are no spoilers dont worry everything i am writing here, you will learn at the begging of the anime anyways.
-But after 7-8th episode the main character's who is emotionally wrecked; his very very weak, fragile and pathetic characteristics made me pissed and i slowly began to lose interest infact i thought he would be better of dead from the begging at least none would care.
-ofcourse i did ... not go through what he had but if i were him and i were to get all those supports behind me. i wouldnt be that pathetic its just toooo extreme, he has to be using drugs or something to be this unstable WTF??
-i mean realllllyyyyy you have whole fkng school behind you supporting and hotest girl has a crush on you and you have mutual feelings with this cutest girl ever. and you keep being this pathetic??? please die at sequel. infact im going to create my blackhole and send my letter with money in it to a random punk to keep bully him, and remind him what he did and tell him its his fault every school break.

Orange is a good shoujo it's not one of the best that comes out in years but still it's decent

Romance/slice of life anime are generally the same and orange isn't really different than other shoujo anime overall but to tell why it's considered good is basically because it actually has a plot and not just have the main heroine run after the incredibly stupid main character who also loves her but doesn't know any better and vice versa

Story : the main character receives letters from her future self warning her so that she doesn't repeat her mistakes and it tells her most of ... what happens not a bad idea actually she embarks on a journey to save on her friends based on a letter she got from her future self

Characters : some of the characters are interesting not the main hero/heroine though they're stereotypical but that's not really a bad thing i liked them actually

Sound : i didn't really like the op/ed but the voice acting was really good and even though the soundtracks aren't really memorable it suits the anime fine

Art : the art was really better than i expected when i heard the manga is becoming an anime i really felt they would screw up the animation but it turned out really well

Enjoyment : to get this straight if you enjoy romance/slice of life then this is a must
But if you don't i'm not sure you're gonna like it
I enjoyed it myself as for a recommendation i recommend it if you are either : a fan of the genre
Or : if you have nothing else to watch
Seriously watch it

A quick search on google on the word ' densest ' and this is what I find , Osmium is the densest naturally occurring element, with a density of 22.59 g/cm3. To my surprise I didn't find Naho , or something close to that , maybe the scientists don't watch to many animes because if I were them I would correct that statement and put her as the most , without a match , peerless , first place for the most densest ' material ' on this planet . From the get go she was there just for the female MC , she falls in ... love without a reason , just because he helped her once , that's stupid even for ' plot ' reasons , runs away even if she knows what will happen if she does and many more reasons not to like her , not even one to do so .
Onward , next stop Kakeru , a piece of garbage character , suicidal prick with no brain to even think past 3 words , ' mom ' , ' sorry ' and ' death ' . Ok we understand that you love your mother , that you are sorry that you were a douche with her and so on , but after you read her message why the hell do you have to go and kill yourself ? Her message was awesome , not something you would want to kill yourself for , she didn't blame you or anything , she fucking loved your stupid , worthless ass , but you decide to kill yourself and go to her side to apologize , I bet she would hug you , kiss your forehead and say ' Ahh what a good son I have , there there , mommy is here , have a cookie ' , that clearly won't happen , but because he is a moron he can't get past the 1+1 threshold , so yeah , I guess he is better of dead IMO .
The saving grace of this anime , the art , except one episode , the ending song , really beautiful and ofc Suwa , the MvP that made this show watchable , if not for him this would've been a fucking disaster ...
PS : The shadow MvP goes to Hagita for destroying the idiots bike , good job mate you deserve a girl ^_^ .

This is not for everyone.
Never have I ever hated a series in my 14 years of watching animes. I lost my mother back in 2019 and you know what was my last memory with her, a fight. That is not a memory you want to relive, and this exactly was what Orange did to me.
The characters were great, Suwa (The tall guy) has become one of my favorites though. The opening and ending was pleasant, hell I even enjoyed the first few episodes but this definitely was not for my viewing pleasure, there is always some kind of guilt which never gets away ... whatever happens.
Kindly never suggest this anime to anyone, let him/ her discover Orange by themselves.

Since autumn 2014 after the Ao Haru Ride series have already finished so many people have requested the second season, including me too. Besides, there are several ANIME fan doesn’t satisfy with the series because Production I.G can only make 12 episodes for the Ao Haru Ride series. It really makes sense and it’s no wonder the series so easily can get the highest demand from ANIME fans. However, in the year 2016, ORANGE is the one Anime, we could call “Sibling Rivalry” with Ao Haru Ride. Ladies & gentlemen, I’m Zidanenvy will deduce for the whole story of Ao Haru Ride with ORANGE or ... Ao Haru Orange. Shall we start now???

There are two wishes that humans always want: whether to be RICH or ERASE something regret. Firstly, why they choose “rich” because they want a lot of money, so they can buy anything in this world. Secondly, is “erase” any regrets they did. It’s really impossible to erase anything regrets, about what they did. Now let’s focus on the topic “erase”. We realized that any kind of erasing something regrets, for sure, they want to create something Paradox, of course, they will build a time machine or use some magical power, in order to fix anything in the past. All these things always appear in Anime, Western cartoons and Hollywood films. For example, Men In Black 3, Primer film, X-MEN: Day Of Future Past, The Adventure of Jimmy Neutron, Phineas & Ferb, Edge Of Tomorrow, The Fairly Odd Parents, Family Guy, Steins Gate ETC. In nutshell, every people in this world totally can’t predict their own future and we never know what the future will bring to us, is it good things will happen to us or bad things will happen to us and that’s why “DESTINY” is really a mystery and also people often said that “Yesterday is History, Today is Present and Tomorrow is Mystery”.

“The Days You Were There and My Future” & “The Future Is In Your Hand” that’s what Takano Ichigo Sensei wrote about the literally of ORANGE. Those words are the introduction to the ORANGE manga, I read before. Personally, it would suitable if Takano Ichigo Sensei wrote this phrase “What We Chased After Wasn’t The Future, But The Past So Full Of Remorse & Always Remember, Make it Right Decision Before You Do Something”

Besides, ORANGE is an anime adaptation of the popular manga written by Takano Ichigo. Personally, common stereotypes with the category “Shoujo theme”, for example, include ‘Love’, ‘Tsundere’, ‘Cliché’, ‘Comedy’, ‘Encounter Each Other’ and ‘Misunderstanding Always Happens’. However, Orange is a very different Shoujo story because Takano Ichigo includes an element of Sci-fi (Time-Travel) in the Shoujo manga (WHAT!!! AGAIN!!!) Truthfully, I was fascinated by the realistic location event, decent characters, breathtaking events and beautiful concept of friendship in the ORANGE series. Besides, ORANGE is always brought memorably to me with ANIME I watched previously, such as Ano Hana = One of their friends died; Ao Haru Ride = a similar concept of drama; Mirai Nikki = several of the characters gains the ability to read the future through his personal diary; RAINBOW ~Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin~ = a strong spirit of friendship; Steins Gate = Parallel world.

The thing that most surprised me about this series is how closely it tries to follow each of the chapter Manga and the concept of friendship in the series is really beautiful. The most thing I respect about the series is, they know that bad things will occur to Kakeru. As companions, they always support Kakeru and do not betray each other. That's the value of true friendship shown in ORANGE. (Let’s Burst Our Tears because TEARJECKER IS BACK)

ORANGE: please don’t misunderstand the title. This is just a metaphor. Basically, we can find the Orange meaning in the third episode: “The Orange juice tasted sweet, sour and full of sorrow”, said Takamiya Naho. So the title of “ORANGE” won't tell us about Sad, Pain, Happy, or Confusion all these things are always humans through in daily life. (OK I got it)

I'll start off my review about the situation of the ORANGE series.

Now just imagine, if you have a letter from someone else and then you read a letter about what will happen to you in the future. At the same time, your name is down on the letter which means the only person who writes the letter, it’s you from the future. Fundamentally, the Orange series told us about Takamiya Naho gaining the ability to read the future through her personal letter. Mainly point of this story is Takamiya Naho from the (future), who gives a letter to Naho (present). She’d want to tell her about trying to save someone from the accident and the name of the person, she will save is Kakeru. Can we call it “Opportunity” or “Big Responsibility”? Absolutely, this is a big responsibility because this is about human life. Everyone must think that it's up to Naho (present) to fix everything (Oh no, that’s an Awful Dilemma). In the beginning, the plot is mainly focused on Naho's thoughts and actions. It absolutely shows strong bias and is really difficult for someone who gains this ability can make the right decision. In fact, Naho is not DEUS EX MACHINA.

Thanks to Takano Ichigo Sensei because she has a good idea to make some good development of the story. Hey!!!! Do you guys always hear the phrase “Two Is Better Than One”: For sure, this metaphorical phrase everyone knows about it. Humans are not perfect creatures because no matter who we are; President, Aristocratic Family, Billionaire or Genius Person. We still need help from someone else to achieve great success. Now, I altered this phrase “Five Is Better Than One”. Consequently, the plotline shows a great climax, especially when Naho cooperate with their friend to save Kakeru from disaster. So yeah, Naho and also her friends are like POWER RANGERS and Kakeru is just an ordinary human being who’s in trouble, so Naho & her friends received a mission to save Kakeru from any disaster. That’s some ridiculous imagination I made. At least it doesn’t show that Naho is like a BADASS character who only can save Kakeru and the best thing is all their friends actually got the “Future Letter”. So the conclusion is for the beginning of the series, every character in the ORANGE series, they have thought up some scheme for making Kakeru become their friend and they also know Kakeru will transfer to their school. All the things that happen in the first episode are not a coincidence but this is the master plan done by Naho and their friends. One more thing is Takano Ichigo Sensei decided not let 100% responsibility to Naho to fix everything in the story. If Naho carries all these things, it absolutely will become chaos. Thankfully, the ORANGE series is not a rush story. The medium of the story is quite decent and the characters always calm down to figure out something.

However, the concept of the parallel world always appears in the Time Travel story and I think isn’t something new. Popularized by the overwhelming Steins Gate, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Doraemon & Primer film…… I think is nothing to me to surprise about the medium ORANGE series but what’s making this series called Sci-fi (Time Travel) most people always think where’s the letter coming from??? And what’s the type of machine they used??? Is it like a Machine in Steins Gate or Supernatural like an ERASED? That’s questionable of the story. The answer is they use a black hole to send the letter into the past few years ago BUT HOW COULD it BE???? forget about it. Nevertheless, one of the problems within the narrative is the script is the weak point of the series. Basically, every single script in the series is too much of a spoiler to reveal. To put it simply, the dialogue has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

Free spoiler for the next paragraph, yay!!
Before I continue to write about their characters, let me help you to get the picture for each characterization act by the cast :
Takamiya Naho – Kind, Decent, Innocent & Naïve
Kakeru – Mystery guy, Pessimistic person & Madness
Suwa Hiroto – Cool guy & Passion
Hagita – Weird, Funny & Cold guy
Azusa – Always cheer for people
Takako – Blunt manner

It seems that the Orange series include a Love triangle. First, Kakeru falls in love with Naho. Another person who falls in love with Naho is Suwa Hiroto. Suwa really loves Naho and he always cares about Naho and always tries to comfort her if anything matters she couldn’t endure it. He’s really kind person and Suwa is not a selfish guy. In fact, Suwa, Hagita, Azusa and Takako always support the relationship between Kakeru and Naho. That’s the good thing he did to their friend. But in another parallel world for the future, Naho and Suwa are married and also not forget they got a baby, such a lovely couple.

The narrative part of the romance backfired several times. Let’s refresh all the elements of the relationship between Kakeru & Naho. Basically, ORANGE want to show us the romantic scene of Kakeru and Naho, but Takano Ichigo created Kakeru in such a manner as to reflect his struggle against depression. Unfortunately, the romantic scene failed in this series because of Kakeru.

Personally, the main issue with the show isn't the story. However, it's the characters, especially Kakeru. Besides, Kakeru is a typical despairing protagonist in the story. In fact, he isn't courageous to change his mindset, or calm, especially when he’s got such a miserable fortune. Truthfully, Kakeru considers himself to be worthless. Unfortunately, Kakeru is the only character who doesn’t have good development. He’s a fragile person and inconsolable. Kakeru always wants Naho to pity him and while this is not necessarily a bad thing. “Arrogant” is another key factor in the relationship between Kakeru & Naho becoming messed up. Sometimes I can’t predict what actually Kakeru want it. In fact, sometimes Naho did some mistake and try to apologize to him. However, Kakeru just acts so cold or ignores her. Seriously, I pitied Naho and I wanted to hit Kakeru afterwards. That’s why I said their relationship backfired. It would be good enough if this story present us with the romantic couple between Suwa and Naho. In addition to that, sometimes Kakeru just gives up and lets Suwa take care of Naho. Besides, Kakeru just pretending he’s a tough guy. In fact, he’s not thinking outside the box, if he lets Suwa take care of Naho, is like a chance for Suwa to make Naho a girlfriend. You can see that Kakeru is really indecisive & pessimistic & ignorant.

ORANGE it’s not merely an adventure of loving someone, it presents us with the reality of post-traumatic stress disorder, especially Kakeru.

Let’s vote for the famous protagonist who has the great grief-stricken :
1. Mabuchi Kou (Ao Haru Ride)
2. Izumi Shinichi (Parasyte)
3. Lelouch (Code Geass)
4. Eren Jeager (AOT)
5. Edward Elric (FMA)
6. Arima Kousei (You Lie In April)
7. Shinji Ikari (NGE)

All these characters are really famous and absolutely their attitude change immediately, from Zero to Hero. How could this happen?? This is because they lose a beloved person, especially their mother. Mabouchi Kou is the one who has the same experience as Kakeru.
Some parents are so worried that they remain in unhappy marriages, believing it will protect their offspring from the trauma of divorce. Next to avoid any horrible things. When Kakeru was young, his mother divorced his father, in order to protect Kakeru from being abused by his father. There’s love from his mother for Kakeru. Whatever mistake we had done, it doesn’t good to drag that thing into our life. What actually we can do is, we must provide a new improvement, in order to heal our remorse. It’s really sad when we know that someone we love, especially our beloved mother committed suicide on the day of the opening ceremony. That’s what happens to Kakeru. I know he feels regret after he ignored his mother's last request. In Kakeru's case, he totally can’t deal with the death of his mother. Grief-stricken and confusion always become nightmares for him. One thing I couldn’t understand about him is why he’s very passionate to commit suicide. The answer is he wants to apologize to his mother in HEAVEN. He couldn’t control his emotion and he become mad and rage. Kakeru wanted to kill himself because he thought he was worthless and he always said “I want to commit suicide” in every single episode. In truth, the same boat to Kakeru would probably be Mabuchi Kou. Inevitable conflict makes him become the worst person. At least Mabuchi Kou is not a crazy person who wants to commit suicide like Kakeru. In my opinion, in order to resolve the matter Kakeru should calm down and always pray good things to his mother and also try to comfort himself, not babbling. Unfortunately, the exact details of Kakeru's death and his mother’s death were never explained, but it was needed. Which is to comprehend the whole story.

So far, Naho is the most characters that have good development. In the beginning, we realized that Naho is just a girl who has a naïve personality and is decent in the series. However, she can alter all her behaviour because Suwa always supports her and the “Future Letter”. Thankfully, in terms of her efforts is something I should be proud of. As we can see she’s never given up on confessing that she really loves Kakeru. For the great climax, Naho managed to persuade Kakure and they become a couple again. In fact, all of them have a great passion to save Kakeru and they did it. Finally, Kakeru become a normal person and he cancels all his passion to commit suicide because he won't have a good time with his friends.########MADNESS GUY

Now it’s time for Art & Sound

The animation for Orange is absolutely stunning, especially their eyes. Crucially, in terms of their “eyes” is really shaft and is absolutely fascinating when you look at them. The OST for the series is pretty decent, one of the best I've heard is the OP song. TMS Entertainment carries out the soundtrack very meticulously for each scene in the series and the harmonious musical instrument they put is quite comfortable. If you listen carefully. You could hear the soundtrack is really harmonious.

Finally,

The element of enjoyment is difficult for me to describe it. Nevertheless, at least I know where the best part of romance in the series. However, the element of romance is quite a melodrama and I think the concept of melodrama is good, it’s kinda similar to Ano Hana and Ao Haru Ride, so Orange is something a mix of stories. If you think Orange is trying to emulate Ao Haru Ride. Totally, you’re wrong. Consequently, the Orange story is an attempt to add a new element and Takano Ichigo wants to use it for attracted us (as spectators). In addition to that, Takano Ichigo might be someone who cares about the “thriller” and she’s realized that so many people seek that element. That’s why she decided to put that element in the Shoujo manga. In order to fulfil people's desires. Truthfully, I hate to admit it but my tears were running down my cheeks because of Kakeru. I always remember what Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory series) said “One Cries Because One Is Sad. For Example, I Cry Because Others Are Stupid And That Makes Me Sad”…….That’s what I feel when I watched the series and it really broke my heart. Precisely, ORANGE resembles Ao Haru Ride and maybe Takano Ichigo & Io Sakisaka are best friends. (I know there are numerous people who disagree with this point of view)

Thankfully, 'ORANGE' Receives Anime Sequel Film on 18 November 2016

Orange is one of those shows with the potential to become an instant classic, but it ultimately falls short and succumbs to every shoujo cliche imaginable while basking in melodrama.

Naho, the protagonist, is exceptionally bland and probably the least interesting character in the show. She's shy, clumsy, and very sweet, but has no personality whatsoever. Throughout the 13 episodes, we never really learn about her goals, what she likes, or what she wants for herself. Instead, Naho spends literally every minute of her time trying to save a boy she loves from committing suicide. This show kind of sends a toxic message that I see ... in way too many series for young women--that it's normal to sacrifice your own well-being for the sake of someone else who needs professional help.

I stuck with the series because I loved Suwa and the other friends in the group. Orange does have some funny and genuinely heart-warming moments, but they're overshadowed by Naho and Kakeru's incredibly slow-burning relationship. It can get frustrating when there is such an emphasis on the awkward and overdramatic moments between these two when that time could've been spent developing the characters or creating more subplots. At one point, someone mentions how messing with the past could affect other people or events in the future, but the conversation stops there. It would've been interesting if the show had explored that more.

I'll try to keep this short, so, is this series worth watching? I would say sure, but you're not really missing anything if you don't see it. I put this on before bed and it was a nice, calming thing to watch, but I couldn't help but think about how great it could've been with a little more effort. Orange is just another show that could've been amazing, but it checked off its boxes and didn't strive to be a truly memorable series.