Clione no Akari

This is one of the shows i’ve barely heard anything about during the season it aired, nobody I knew was talking about it, nor was anyone caring about doing so anyway, which alone says a lot about it’s obscurity. I personally was instantly drawn into the show simply from the synopsis, and as someone who had gone through a bit of bullying in primary school, these types of shows instantly catch my attention, and it takes my interest most of the time.

Bullying has always been an issue with schools, and it isn’t a matter of childish spats either. It can decrease reputation, which in ... turn gives people bad names and more peer pressure. This can essentially turn your life sour and effect you in the long run, and not just for the bullied, but or the bullies themselves too. Bullying someone can end up in potentially massive regret if something goes south to the person you bullied. Another fantastic example of this is shown in A Silent Voice, which tackles similar themes of bullying.

Now that I think of it, probably my love for the film is what enamoured me in the concept, and possibly what helped draw me into this show in the first place.

Story: 6

The story is centered around a girl named Minori, a girl who was orphaned at a young age and also stricken with illness. Due to her weak fortitude and health, she was an easy target for teasing and blame. Eventually, her whole class got onto the habit of bullying her, blaming her for things she hadn’t done, and made her life miserable. Despite this Minori has always been silent, not often trying to defend herself, which in turn just made her a larger target.

Although in that same class, two children, Takashi and Kyoko, had always felt guilty about Minori. They never bullied her directly, and wanted to stop the bullying, but they never had the courage to go against their own friends, let alone the rest of the class. Due to this, they always stood by and watched as Minori got constantly oppressed by the people around her. Eventually the two ran into Minori in the streets, and seizing the opportunity, they befriended her. They eventually give Minori their phone numbers even though Minori didn’t have one, in hopes they could send emails and text for when she did get one herself.

The plot otherwise is very expected, Takashi and Kyoko do their best to deepen their friendship with Minori by going to multiple places and enjoying their time together. However, this show only has a less than 10 minute episode runtime, so not a lot of progression of the plot or development can take place. But with the time it has, it relays the basic concepts and story messages fine. However due to this, it also has a few plotholes and some story aspects have to be left up to interpretation and imagination. I’m personally a fan of this, as it adds a layer of fantasy to the story, however some might not be used to this.

Art: 8

The art of this show is a part of the show that I really like, it’s simple in areas, but at the same time, it looks really nice. The style of the art is very round and soft, but the art can also be quite pretty looking for certain scenes. Specifically in the opening, the use of lighting and animation is something I absolutely praise the art for. The scenes like the traffic light scene and the scene where Kyoko is sitting with her book are full of really good lighting and minute details.

Overall the art really shines in areas of the show, and clearly the budget was focusing on those scenes more. While the art does shine quite a lot in these areas, there are also other bits where the art kinda looks off, especially with the facial expressions. Animation is also minimal and basic, lots of quick reused animations and weird movements. Overall while the show does look good, it also shows that it’s been cut short in some areas.

Sound: 7

This is a little on the side that’s going to be a bit interesting to judge. On one hand, I think the theme song and the tracks that do exist sound really nice, the ED compliments the moments that the episodes ends on very well, as it’s slow yet peaceful tone allows you to truly feel the moment and emotion in these scenes. The OP is also very upbeat and cheerful, yet it also sounds smooth and nice to listen to, the vocals fit the song and the overall setting of the show.

However there isn’t a lot of tracks or even sound otherwise, folley is simple yet it seems that sound effects were not really considered very much, nor are there a lot of songs to set the atmosphere other than a few piano tracks to set the mood for certain scenes. The voice action is very mediocre, the characters all sound very soft and lacking of any intense emotions, but this does fit well when these characters have an internal monologue, however when trying to display another emotion like sadness, I don’t feel like the voice actors are quite there yet.

Characters: 7

I have to admit, the characters feel a bit on the basic side, which is to be expected for a whole show that is less than an hour and a half in total. They are made to play through the general story and their roles as well as add a few character quirks in the mix, and that’s really it. Lets start with the. girl this story is centered around, Minori. Minori is very quiet, she’s a child at heart and acts very innocently. You don’t really see a lot of her anguish when she gets bullied because we aren’t often shown her get bullied in the first place, but she is a character that gives off the impression that she isn’t deserving of the harassment she gets, and is a girl that could use some protecting.

Takashi and Kyoko have similar personality aspects yet they are also distinguishable from one another. Takashi is the most mature out of the main trio, making the most responsible decisions and acting as the guardian of the three. He is also very knowledgable in marine animals, a respectable trait from a fan of the same creatures. Kyoko is more straightforward and speaks her mind very often, sometimes causing a few small quarrels with Takashi. However both characters have similar goals and thought processes, and they both care or Minori as a close friend. Despite all this however, it all feels very empty, and maybe a little bit forced. The side characters don’t bring a lot to the table either, for obvious reasons, they are depicted as entitled pricks who pick on Minori for no good reason, however later in the show they are also shown to have a few traits to themselves and are depicted more as “typical kids”. They’re believable in that aspect yet they don’t get a lot of depth to them asides from the ending, which is where everyone in the cast asides from the main cast shows some growth, which kinda redeems them all as well.

Enjoyment: 9

Yes this show has flaws, but overall I had a very enjoyable ride with the show. I anticipated every episode more than most shows of the season. Due to it’s short nature, it wasn’t a hassle to watch, yet the plot itself feels engaging and I wanted to complete it so I could grasp at the full story. Although as i’ve said, it doesn’t explain everything and leaves a lot to interpretation, so it’s up to the viewer’s imagination to understand it completely.

I loved every episode and for how simple the show was, I found that it was a story that I liked to watch and enjoyed following. The main cast was very likeable to me despite their simple build, and they all had nice charms to get me attached to them enough to care for them. I found that the art looked really nice in areas, so I even liked looking at the show too, so i’d say I really liked this show, flaws and all.

Overall: 8

All in all, I honestly think that this show is quite underrated, and deserves more recognition than it gets. I might be a little biased, but I think this show is very nice for what it is. For a show made out of episodes under 10 minutes, I found the plot to be very entertaining and engaging, and the show itself doesn’t drag long either. Clione No Akari’s short story can be completed in no time, and due to the mystery elements, you still get a feeling that you want to at least complete the show before judging it in it’s entirety.

The art as i’ve said really shines in areas, it does cut back in certain scenes but it also can look fantastic in others. The opening itself is very cheerful and positive, and even has some foreshadowing for the events later in the show. The ED itself fits into the show’s environment and manages to blend in well, overall, i’d say this is a solid show for what it is. It’s not the most amazing thing out there, but for shorts, it’s a decent watch, and I do recommend it for those interested.

Some anime get hyped up hard, so much so that you get tired of hearing about it and seeing ads for them. Others, like this anime here, barely make so much as a blip on the internet. Some anime that get this treatment do wind up being good, and you wonder why they're so underrated. Others don't fare as well, and sometimes they're better off not being that popular. Clione no Akari is one of those titles.

The story's about as cliche as it can get. A poor little sick orphan girl is always bullied by her classmates for...her very existence, apparently. Two of her classmates, ... a girl named Kyoko and a guy named Takashi, want to stand up for her, but are scared of getting bullied themselves. One day, they run into her outside of school, and they finally decide to get to know her better, eventually being friends with her for real. One day, she winds up getting so sick she has to stay in the hospital for two months, not being able to attend school. During that time, Takashi and Kyoko get a strange text from someone, telling them about a summer festival coming up.

Yeah, the story's pretty cliche, and the anime doesn't even try to do anything to make it interesting or intriguing in any way whatsoever. It's been done before a million times, others have done better, others not so much, and Clione no Akari doesn't really make much of an attempt to try anything new with it, other than Minori's interest in sea creatures, namely clione, which barely appear much. The series is very short, only having twelve episodes, all of which are under ten minutes long, so it does have that going for it. The voice acting is relatively good as well, though I admit that at times, Takashi's voice could be kinda grating. The music, while unremarkable, is nice as well, and I did like the ending song.

Unfortunately, those are the only positives for this show that I can think of. The rest of it is, quite frankly, uninteresting and unremarkable. The animation isn't too special, and other times some of the character's faces looked really wonky and messed up, like an eye wasn't aligned properly or someone's limbs looked dislocated in a few scenes. The characters are all plain, bland, and one-dimensional, with very little depth to them. Minori, the sick girl in question, is hit especially hard with this, as she's pretty much a Mary Sue: a pure, sweet, naive, lovely little girl with no faults other than being shy and meek, who's always sick and getting bullied by other kids just because she's the perfect victim. She's portrayed as being a perfect, misunderstood little angel, and that's not good character writing. The rest of the characters fare little better, with only having one personality trait and not much else, completely lacking in substance. I did appreciate that the anime tried to redeem Yukine, one girl with dark pink hair, and make her see the error of her ways. If anything, she's actually the most interesting character in the show. But it's still not much compared to everyone else. The bullies were just as stupid and one-dimensional, hating on Minori for no reason at all, even straight up blaming her for things that it's obvious she'd never do. I've seen better, much more three-dimensional bullies elsewhere. Also, one guy claims Minori is prostituting herself. Seriously?! What in the world gave them that idea?!

I also felt that Takashi and Kyoko's reasons for being friends with Minori came off as extremely shallow and superficial. It was basically, "Oh, she's always getting bullied. We feel bad for her, so let's be friends with her so she'll feel good and so we can make ourselves feel better!" They instantly befriend her just like that. No chemistry, no build-up, no genuinely good intentions, nothing. This is a trope that I see a lot in most anime, characters being instant friends just because they're in the same class or they just happen to make eye contact, etc. I find it really stupid because as someone who's always had trouble making friends all throughout my school years, friendship isn't like that at all. You have to make connections with people, find things you have in common with them, build on them, make the effort to get to know them better, and NOT just hang around them out of pity or to make yourself look good. I always made friends by looking for people who share the same hobbies and interests as me (anime and manga), and if they do share that interest, I try to build on it from there. You don't just randomly decide you're friends with someone just because you're in the same school. That's not how real friendships work! That's my biggest beef with this anime, personally, and the main reason why I dropped this one anime called Wakaba Girl, because it pulled the same stunt, and it was so stupid and poorly executed that it made me want to barf.

Okay, that's enough of that elephant in the room. Furthermore, the anime's ending episodes were pretty poorly written, and the final twist was just mind-boggling if you even try to apply any kind of logic to it. So...yeah, while I do like this anime and did find things to like about it, unfortunately, it's a bland, mediocre, poorly made and written anime that was far too shallow and superficial for its own good. Seriously, I can write a better story than this, with the exact same premise and themes. If you're looking for a good anime, or other piece of media, that handles friendship and bullying better, give this one a miss. It's not worth it.

Dramatic tragedies are a genre that I love in anime. Shows like WorldEnd, Planetarian, and Your Lie in April tear me up. So what would it take for me to give a tragedy a low score? Is it even possible? Or is the genre immune, similar to slice-of-life? Flying Witch two years ago proved that I could hate a mundane slice-of-life show.

Lights of the Clione is very simple. It's about a perpetually sick girl who gets bullied all the time because she is constantly absent from school. Two classmates befriend her before her time is up, while everyone else is guilt-ridden. The animation looks like ... something out of the early 2000s. With plenty of introspective monologue, the friendship between the sick girl and the two classmates is heartwarming. Then tragedy strikes.

It's difficult for me to score this show so low. This show did finish its story, after all, and I don't want the score to suggest that I condone bullying in any form. But because anime is such a great medium for drama, there are countless other shows that do a dramatic tragedy better.