Island

On a remote island far from the mainland named Urashima, a man washes ashore, with no recollection of his name or homeland. What he does recall, however, is that he is a time traveler with a mission: to save a certain girl from harm. As nightfall arrives, he meets Rinne Ohara, a girl who sings a tune that reminds him of a specific name—Setsuna—and decides to use it as his own.

Knowing another "Setsuna" herself, Rinne takes him to her household as a servant, hoping that he is the same one she remembers. On the other hand, Setsuna continues to learn more about Urashima, desiring to identify his lost past. He comes to know about the island's folklore, its three great families, and the endemic disease that prevents anyone afflicted from stepping out into the daylight.

As the mysteries of his missing memories and Urashima itself unfold, Setsuna must remember his purpose and fulfill his mission as soon as possible. But, as he witnesses the myriad of troubles plaguing the island, Setsuna begins to question—is his temporal displacement merely an effort to change a single girl's fate?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ohara, Rinne Main

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Kurutsu, Karen Main

Asumi, Kana Japanese

Garandou, Sara Main

Yamamura, Hibiku Japanese

Sanzenkai, Setsuna Main

Suzuki, Tatsuhisa Japanese

Ohara, Kuon Supporting

Satou, Rina Japanese

Tandori, Mei Supporting

Nakajima, Yui Japanese

Hatoma, An Supporting

Takayanagi, Tomoyo Japanese

Sunada, Emiri Supporting

Tanaka, Takako Japanese

Kurutsu, Subaru Supporting

Kawanishi, Kengo Japanese

Kurutsu, Natsumi Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Kurosu, Nobuhiko Producer

Shimosato, Satoru Producer

Uesaka, Youichirou Producer

Takigasaki, Makoto Producer, Planning

Reviews

Jan 10, 2022

Tanauwu

Recommended

I'll spare you the long essay.

It's not amazing, but it's not horrible either. The story had a lot of potentials. I gave it 7/10 and here are the two main reasons why:

1) too rushed. The ending, oh it could've been so good, so prolonged, and chewed up well, but unfortunately, it was way too rushed IMO. I personally think this show should've been 18-24 episodes long. If it was, I surely wouldn't mind watching because the idea is good! But it felt like a last-minute project, where you start off slow and hardly focus, and then by the end you're really into it but have ... 50 minutes to finish and present the whole things. So yeah, too rushed imo.

2) The fucking lolis lol. It's just me, but I personally couldn't stand to see a 4 inch tall kid doing THAT thing with the main character. Threw me off a bit. I think they could've worked more on characters. It wasn't bad. But again, if this was 24 episodes they probably would have more time to plan the feelings and connections between the characters better and to showcase that.

So yeah, too rushed, and some questionable character choices. But not as bas as some other stuff I've seen lol

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 2, 2022

kekekeKaj

Mixed Feelings

Island is curious specimen of anime. It's one of those shows where the overall score does little to inform you of what the show is like. Despite the middle-of-the-road score I'm dishing out, very little of Island is middle-of-the-road: most of the time it's either bad or good.

Island is about a guy who wakes up naked on the beach of Urushima Island with vague memories of being a time traveller who's supposed to save and kill some people. For generation after generation, the same three powerful families shared control over the island, and our amnesiac soon gets himself tangled up with the current heirs of ... those families as he tries to figure out his mission.

Rather trying to make a good first impression, Island audaciously starts off by throwing its bad foot forward. Within the first five minutes or so, the show treats us with a scene of a school girl tripping and falling face first into the naked protagonist's groin. Then it follows up on this hallmark of quality by serving up course after course of bad tropes. Within about 15 minutes, our adult male protagonist cosies up to three school-aged girls who look and act half their age; he nearly makes out with one, comments on the breast size of another, and moves into the mansion of the third.

By this point, I strongly suspected that Island is an adaptation of a visual novel (which I later confirmed,) where the source material allows the player to romance the three girls.

As the episode continues though, Island manages to show it's more than just a pedo-harem bait. The second half started dropping tantalising hints of a dark mystery and a strong emotional core at the centre of the story. A chilling note was found, a mysterious disease revealed, and there was also this music-related scene that radiated such emotional intensity that not even the squeakily saccharine singing could quite smother its effect. Despite the bad early impression, I found myself intrigued.

The downs and ups of the first episode turns out to be a blueprint for most of the rest of the episodes. All these episodes start off badly with some terrible character interactions. Innuendos and brief risque scenes abound, Island likes to show glimpses of pedo fantasies before quickly pulling back with a playful wink. I get the sense that this anime is trying to have its cake and eat it; it panders to those who would enjoy the ickniess while holding back just enough to make a buffet of plausible deniability salad: yes, these girls may look/act/sound young, but they're actually nearly adults; yes these dialogues often contain sexual content, but they're just for the lolz, nothing serious; yes, it may look as if the girl is throwing herself at the guy, but she has an ulterior motive - there's no real substance to it!

And then just as I get a headache from the amount of facepalming moments, the second halves of these episodes would almost inevitably manage to salvage the wreckage into something almost respectable. The series has a knack of turning the atmosphere on a dime, flipping it from cute-girls-doing-cute-things mode into something darker. The character development isn't bad either. While it follows the typical formula of main guy going around fixing the problems of his moe blob harem, these problems are actually convincing enough to lend a certain depth to the moeblobs. There's one girl who's whole self worth and identity is tied up to being the saviour of the island; another girl feels understandably suffocated by life on the island and wants to get out and visit her estranged mother.

In fact, the focus on slice-of-life-esq character development almost puts the mystery elements in the back seat for large portions of the first story arc. At one point I even began wondering whether there really is a mystery worthy of note or whether it's all just smoke and mirrors hiding a platform for the character development. Turns out there is indeed a mystery, and from about the half way point the series finally turns its main attention upon it, leading to the "Never Island" arc.

While episode after episode of the first arc blend moe-pedo-harem trash with intrigue and decent character development into a soup of mediocrity, "Never Island" mixes ham-fisted narratives and interesting plot points - and some moe pedo harem trash thrown in for good measure - into much the same overall result. The story telling seems rather hurried, as though the creators suddenly realised they leisurely spent rather too many episodes meandering through the first arc and now didn't have enough for the second. As a result, most of "Never Island" feels lacklustre; the narrative pumps out (at times ridiculous) plot developments and tragedies as plain beats of "this happened, that happened" with very little emotional impact. In spite of this, the central thread that runs through the series never lost that interesting quality that kept me on the hook wondering what the heck is going on underneath it all.

The concluding arc of Island is only two episode long, but I have to say they were very good, perhaps even great. In fact they are the only episodes in the entire series that I would score positively. The story wrapped up with a jaw dropping bang and left me trying to work out the intricacies long after I finished watching. Only afterwards did I realise that Island had been misdirecting my attention like a magician while leaving some of the clues on the table right in front of me.

I had a little trouble giving Island a rating. The show can't consistently hold together a good narrative, but manages to pull off some powerful moments; the characters have crappy foundations, but shows bright glimpses of humanity to win my sympathies; the central romance has a completely unconvincing build up, but undergoes such epic trials that by the end had attained an almost mythical aura. The last arc very nearly pulled Island into positive territory, but ultimately didn't because of a very distasteful contrivance that was used to make the plot work. For all the pretences that Island had put up for most of its run, it ends up showing its true colours. Still, it's also kinda fitting that the show on balance left me with an almost perfectly poised middle of the road impression. So don't be fooled by the score: with all its downs and ups, Island is a lot of things, but boring it is not.

Personal rating: 0.0 (perfectly mixed)

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 23, 2023

crustaces

Not Recommended

This anime adaptation, while trying to mirror its original game, falls significantly short in capturing the game's unique essence. The story, which in the game is rich and immersive, feels rushed and predictable in the anime, lacking the depth and intricacy that fans of the genre would appreciate.

Artistically, the anime's style doesn't quite complement the story. It misses the nuanced visuals that the game presented, making it less engaging. The characters, a vital component of the original game, are not well-rounded in the anime. They lack the complexity, showing neither significant flaws nor strengths, and their reactions to situations feel unrealistic and oversimplified.

For fans of ... the game, this adaptation might be a disappointment due to its lack of fidelity to the source material. However, newcomers to the franchise who have no background in the game might find it somewhat enjoyable, albeit a generic experience. Overall, it's a missed opportunity to showcase the game's rich narrative and character development, making the game itself a better choice for those seeking a more authentic and fulfilling experience.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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