Amanchu! Advance

You know something is not right when there is glaring plotholes in a slice of life anime, but still, even if its different from the first season and the ending (and to be fair the whole season) feels very rushed, it was a wholesome and very relaxing ride, there was even more potential in the series (I only watched the anime, so Im not talking about the manga). All in all, it was a great, but messy season of a great anime. I enjoyed it really much, even with its failures and shortcomings. If you want a relaxing anime with a sprinkle of philosphy about ... life and a some info about diving, this is for you.




Also we see the younger self of grandma in this season, and I have to say, she do be thicc tho boiiiiiii.

Amane Kozue's fame for the Aria series has given her a spot in anime and manga culture, a series that is heralded as one of the pinnacle series' for the slice and life genre.  In doing so, the bar for any of her later projects has been set pretty high, with its sister series, Amanchu! fitting a similar bill to what its predecessor was about and was known for in a way that's not as great as it could've been.

Story:

Returning back to the town in Amanchu!, our story continues with Teko and Pikari as the two finish part of their first year of high school ... and move into making summer their first summer memories together, hoping and praying that they would be as mystical and memorable as they hope for it to be.

I mentioned Amanchu's older sister, Aria, because this season of Amanchu! feels very much like that series.  Specifically, it feels very much like 'Aria the Natural'.  This time, the story takes a different turn from the story about a girl in a new town to focus more on actual magic and mystical properties of the world in the setting, something that greatly separated 'Aria the Natural' from the rest of its series.  As such, the show takes time to focus less on its characters and more on a new part of the series that feels unnecessary and out of place since the establishment of an arc like this creates a detachment from the rest of the series that didn't REALLY feel like Amanchu.  Kozue-sensei's usual sprinkling of mystical aspects to idealize the lives of her characters and make them more exciting is nothing new, but neither is her tendency to go kind of overboard and flop because of it, and that's really why the story of Amanchu! goes south in this case.

Aside from that though, the show has a weird tendency to go into 'Pikari Worship' mode, where various characters put her up on a pedestal, something that gets boring considering there are several episodes which are devoted entirely to this plot point.  Because of this, Amanchu! Advance never feels like it gets up to the level of quality that was displayed in the first season, as the show strings along multiple types of storytelling that don't really work when put together.  Like the show is barely even about scuba diving anymore.

That being said, the show still does have its exemplary moments, displaying the positive themes of how wonderful and magical life can be, as well as the more important message of accepting ones own faults and fighting through adversity for the light at the end of the tunnel.  At the end of the day, Amanchu is still an Amane Kozue work, and while the storytelling this time around is subpar and strange at best, its shining moments really stand out and personally give me a smile on my face considering the worth and usefulness of the messages it conveys.

Overview:
+  Good themes
-   Storytelling gets a bit...off sometimes
-   Dives into actual magic instead of feeling mystical

Characters:

As far as the main characters go, there's not really much change.  Both Pikari and Teko don't feel very different from the previous season, with any changes really only contributing to Teko, though that's debatable since she already got a major character arc in the first season.  Despite that, their relationship still remains very cute and one of the more positive aspects of the show in that regard.

On the flipside, a majority of the supporting cast in the first season gets a lot of the season's focus.  Both Ninomiya twins (mostly Ai) and Kato-sensei get their spot in the limelight, though the actually quality of said attention is debatable.  Regardless, the show does take the time to expand on the characters we already know, which is still a plus considering prior, we didn't really get to know them or any prior backstory like we got with the show's main duo.

As far as new additions go, characters like Kodama and Kokoro can vary in quality with each appearance.  Sometimes they have their shining moments, and other times they're just sort of there and sometimes act like a hinderance to what's happening on the screen.  This, coupled with the fact that the show only uses them as supplementary characters ultimately doesn't give them the benefit of the doubt and makes them worse off than they could've been.  The new additions are nice, but they really could've been portrayed better.  Especially Kokoro, since it's only at the very end that I feel they become a tolerable character.

Overview:
+ Different character foci
-  New additions feel underwhelming at times
-  Character development/exploration this time feels weird

Art:

I feel like J.C. Staff never puts in the effort to make Amanchu as nice as it could look.  Like the first season, Advance has a very muted color scheme and a quality about it that makes it look much older than it really is.  Indeed Kozue-sensei's artstyle is reflective in the artstyle, down to the way she draws long dresses (as evident by the similarity of the school outfit to the Undine outfit in Aria) and her weird way of drawing cats, but I just feel like the quality could've been so much better than it is.  Hell, Aria got a visual update in Avverine, so why can't that series's younger sister get the same treatment?

That aside, the continued gag of 'secondary comedic' faces continues as more amusing expressions continue to infect with Kodama's now probably being my favorite out of the entire Amanchu cast.  At least that's consistent, and definitely my favorite aspect of Kozue-sensei's art.

Overview:
+ More second faces!
-  Art quality still feels underwhelming

Sound:

Minori Suzuki's "Crosswalk" and Maaya Sakamoto's "Hello, Hello" both come off as very light and gentle songs, with the ED coming off as more energetic with a bit more of an upbeat tempo to offest the more smooth and wave-like feeling that comes with its OP counterpart.

But really, I feel like the star of the show in terms of sound comes from the show's BGM, as from the first note, it sets in the slice of life and more lax nature that encapsulates the show as a whole.  This is one of those cases where the show would otherwise feel incomplete without it, and I greatly appreciate having just a simple melody accompany what's going on in the screen to give the show that extra quality to it.

Overview:
+ Decent OP/ED
+ BGM really sets in the show's tone

Personal Enjoyment:

As much as I am a fan of Amane Kozue's works, the one problem I find with it is how difficult her series' are to marathon.  Due to their lax nature and how objectively, very few things happen in each episode, I find myself drifting off and paying less and less attention unless there's a resurgence that occurs which, when it does happen, does bring me back to what's going on on the screen.

I compared Advance to "Aria the Natural" because their emphasis on the more magical parts of the world brought the series down due to how out of place they feel.  That, in addition to how droning some episodes can feel catalyzed and drove in the fact that this season really wasn't all that great.  It has its high points, but comparatively, Teko's journey towards boosting her self-esteem was a much more worthwhile and satisfying journey that watching an entire arc about Peter Pan.  I still like Amanchu as a series and feel that it doesn't get the attention it deserves, but at least in this case, there were enough flaws about it for me to validate a less than optimal score than what I would like to give the series.

That being said, any fans of Amane Kozue should still consider Amanchu.  Sure it isn't as great as Aria, but there're things that it does better than Aria (as well as enough references for you to go crazy over), which give it more than enough reason for consideration.  Advance I feel is still the lesser of the two seasons, but it's still decent enough to warrant a watch.  Just be prepared to see a hump during the middle section of the show.  That was definitely a tough one to get over.

Note: This covers the whole animated franchise up until 2023.

Unlike with Amaama to Inazuma I was fully prepared to tear Amanchu to pieces but I decided that wasn’t fair so I rewatched what I watched back in 2017 about it, and continued with the sequel. And I’m glad I did that because the show wasn’t at all like I thought I remembered it to be. Learned a good lesson to rewatch the show you are going to talk about in order to talk about it correctly, for a second time.

Anyways my first impressions about Amanchu! back to six years ago was that it was a ... plotless, super slow, melodramatic, tryhard moe show with no explorations of its themes and elements, constant changes between a sad and a tryhard happy mood, with one of my most hated protagonists of all time that was constantly crying, along with one of my most hated co-protagonists of all time. With an ova sequel that was a completely melodramatic throwaway episode about a high school girl accepting that her friend now has more friends. What do I think about it now?

First of all, Amanchu! is as plotless and slow as any moe slice of life out there really, in fact, it has more plot and progression than most I’ve seen, in the second episode it already introduces the scuba diving which is the main element in the show, and from there it progressively explains more about it, and it also introduces new secondary characters and a teacher that are part of the club. The main idea behind all this is to show how the protagonist, Futaba, grows from a crybaby with first world problems to…well, not that, as she learns to dive and not be dependent of her new friend and co-protagonist Hikari for everything, or at least that’s the intention.

The show is certainly not tryhard moe but it is however tryhard funny, which to me usually misses the mark in any show or movie or whatever that tries that. Amanchu! desperately makes its characters overreact to every little thing changing its arstyle to a chibi one as well as changing the faces of everyone in order to make you laugh. Some will find it funny, some don’t, I belong in the second group. And it’s not a problem really, because unlike what I thought in 2017, Amanchu! is a completely lighthearted and relaxing show (or at least that’s what it amounts to) that shouldn’t be taken all too seriously, it’s not that it presents stakes and serious themes and then ruins it with constant comedy as plenty of anime and the MCU do.

Sure, Futaba sighs a lot but she’s not sad or crying as I thought she did, in fact she only cries twice in the whole show, one even happens in a flashback. The reason why she feels so down at first is because she moved from another place and is overwhelmed by the completely different new town and people, and misses her old home and friends. Something which I thought was stupid back then, but can now understand and empathize (although not relate) with now, especially considering she’s just a teenager, speaking with teenagers from different countries during these six years helped me a lot with that.

Also the teacher who I remembered being super childish, in fact is not, as she has some moments where she acts like an adult and gives advices to the teen characters of the show. Sure she is happy and having fun a lot of the times, but since when is that a problem? Being an adult doesn’t mean you have to be serious all the time, although this may vary depending of the place, country, culture and people around I guess.

There are however issues within the show. Futaba seems to have a bit of a social anxiety going on with her, yet because of the lighthearted nature and tone of the show, it comes off more as her being extremely shy instead. Also, although there is some exploration in the show, it is true that the series reaches a point where it has nothing else to show and thus, instead of showing the protagonist learning to swim and improving herself, it proceeds to have five episodes about typical slice of nothingness happening that lots of slice of life anime have. Is during these episodes when the pacing and themes go to die and the characters fool around doing anything but talking about diving or swimming, including the teacher. And it doesn’t even lead to a satisfying conclusion in the last episode, since despite all the things Futaba learns in the season, she still needs the help of everyone around her, especially Hikari.
I mean I guess she couldn’t do it perfectly at first try, but what was the point of the whole show then?

As for characters, I still include Hikari within my most hated characters of all time, nothing very wrong with her in the way she is written I guess, she is the typical happy and very energetic character in a slice of life show. It’s just that she’s the reason why I had an issue with the show in the first place, she fools around all the time doing silly faces and trying hard to seem funny, that I found her irritating and wanted to kick her head open instead. I remember back when the show came out and people were debating if she is autistic and a proper representation of people from the spectrum, it was that bad. She is not, by the way.

Then there was the big sister, whatever her name is, I didn’t remember her much, but during my rewatch I couldn’t stop thinking how much of a bitch this girl is towards her brother for no reason, she just likes to beat him all the time I guess. Hey people, when a woman is violent towards a man, is not abusive, is funny, didn’t you know? Off to my most hated characters she goes, taking what was Futaba place there before.

Oh, and visuals and sound are fine I guess. The former are basic but serviceable, people had a problem with the school uniforms back then, I couldn’t care less about them, the only thing that stands out visually are the backgrounds, very pretty and based on actual places in Japan. As for the latter, the sound effects and voice acting do their job just fine and the music is relaxing like the shows intends to, with the opening and ending being very cute.

The ova that comes after is indeed about Futaba’s friends visiting her, and one of them is jealous of Hikari, but there’s no problem in it, it is not presented in a melodramatic way, is all lighthearted and she gets over it by the end of it in just twenty four minutes or so. There’s nothing wrong with it so this is actually the best of the three animated installments, it’s just that it feels like it should have been the last episode of the season instead of being released on its own, milking the Japanese I guess.

Then came the second season which remained more or less the same in terms of visuals and sound. The opening and ending are not as good as the first ones but they are still fine, as is the soundtrack in general. There is however some CGI in this season and it does not look good, as usual.

This season is nowhere near as beloved as the first one and it is because of the plot. On the positive side, it has the undisputed highest points of the franchise, with Futaba finally developing as she was supposed to do during the previous season, while also introducing the very likeable family of Hikari. The problems with this season are everything else, as follows:

-There was a bit of fanservice, very little actually, but definitely unwelcomed on a previously very clean and pure show.
-If the previous season gave reasons to ship the characters thanks to some dialogues, this one leans harder on the yuri vibes by making Futaba jealous of a newly introduced character that likes Hikari, only to do nothing with that and not change the relationship between the characters in any way, it was all bait.
-Speaking of which, said new character is thought of as a girl when he appears, but turns out to be a boy. Unlike Hikari’s family, he adds nothing, he makes the show worse by making everything more childish, and his whole personality isn’t likeable either.
-Something like four episodes are wasted on dreams. There was dead time on the first season as well but at least the characters were actually in the actual setting. This third of the show felt like complete filler and nobody could defend it. There was an in-story reason for these episodes but that only led to a bigger problem that deserves its own paragraph which is:

-The Peter Pan arc. Ladies and gentlemen, Amanchu presents what’s most likely THE SECOND WORST, MOST STUPID LOVE TRIANGLE OF ALL TIME, after that thing in the Twilight movies. Nowhere near as messed up for sure but it still comes off as a bit creepy and purely nonsensical and unfitting within a setting and show like this, and to think this was the reason why the dreams were in the show all along, to asspull a solution during this arc. Also, two versions of the same character that defy all time and space logic coexist in the same place, somehow. Also, the big sister character turns into a completely out of character childish, girly, easy to fool and manipulate version of herself. Also, it ruined the teacher by giving her a terrible backdrop, also, what kind of a love triangle has a student involved? Unless the show is a hentai, and if the author is not a creep, it is obvious that the two adults will end up together. Only thing they don’t, because the series does nothing with them just like with the other romance bait and yuri bait episodes, and it even gives amnesia to every character except the three involved, precisely because IT WAS ALL A DREAM.

Some tried to defend the show by saying that these episodes were about showing the magic that can be found in everyday life, a message that the series tries to convey, and that every other Kozue Amano work has some fantasy-ish elements (and water settings) in them. Those are terrible justifications because Amanchu! is not those other works, it is its own thing with its own setting and rules, this is not another planet in the future like in Aria, it is contemporary Japan. And also, if the show tries to tell that even everyday moments in everyday life can be magical, throwing out of nowhere magical elements go against that message, precisely because those are not everyday elements, even more so when they end up having no impact whatsoever on the plot and characters by the end of the arc.

Thus, Amanchu! ends up lasting for at least double the amount of time it needs to, if the show was just episodes one to six and twelve of the first season, the ova, and episodes three, five, ten and twelve of the second season, Futaba would fail at a midpoint in a whole show instead at the end of a first season, regain confidence in the ova (now episode 8 in this scenario), and achieve her goal and grow by the twelfth episode of a single cour anime. But unless a fan makes an edit that turns it into a watchable slice of life with a satisfying conclusion or something, here you are with a show that ends up being worse and more disappointing than the average nothing happens moe, because it makes you think that it will be about something, only to pad the runtime with unrelated random goofing around and out of place elements that go against the themes and messages, and be about nothing like most other moe shows by the end. So, the best thing to do with Amanchu! is to read the Aqua and Aria manga instead, which are more creative, make a better use of its water based setting, does not have out of place elements, and has six much better explored characters than Futaba here.