Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara

Alright P.A. Works, what've you got up your sleeve this time?  Let's see...can't see colors; she's colorblind, that's kinda interesting.  Magic, sent back in time...ok, a time traveling series.  Could pose some problems, but I'm sure it won't bite them in the ass.  Hopefully.  Shinohara Toshiya as the series director.  Why does that name sound familiar?  Director of...NagiAsu?  Oh goddamnit.

Story:

In a version of Japan where magic is prominent, Tsukishiro Hitomi watches from afar at fireworks that she used to watch with her mother, only to see black and white.  All color is lost in her vision, and the world she lives in exists in an ... ashen gray.  Her grandmother, Kohaku, comes up to her and really without word or warning, sends her granddaughter back in time to the time when she was a student sixty years in the past.  It's here where Hitomi is forced upon an older world in hopes to help her and with the help of her grandmother's younger self, restore color to her granddaughter's world.

The mantra of P.A. Works and the company's main selling point are the original works they manage to pump out each year, hardly doing any actual adaptations of light novels or manga in favor of original stories.  Irozuku appears as the latest in the company's lineup with some very mixed results.  

The story focuses on Hitomi and her journey to break out of her shell, capitalizing on the themes on how important people are in our lives and that as long as you have someone close to you, you're never alone.  A simple plot with enough punch and potential to grant the viewer an emotional and powerful journey when done well.  But this is kind of the fault line where Irozuku borders on 'has potential' and 'wasted potential'.  The setup with a group of friends of mixed genders almost always has some kind of romantic subplot going in the background, which given the director's history of NagiAsu was assuredly guaranteed. 

While Hitomi is certainly at the forefront of the majority of the story, what ends up being a lacking component is how the rest of the characters around her are formulated as characters.  The story lumps up every one or two of her friends together for a character arc, showcasing their respective ups and downs in their personalities to Hitomi so that ultimately everyone grows as people.  Issue here is how uneventful everything feels.  The show never seems to reach a true emotional high point that makes it possible for me to give a damn, instead choosing to have several smaller bumps that little amount to a few shed tears instead of true emotional breakdown, a shame considering the validity of one given some of the cast's problems.  This problem ends up bleeding into Hitomi as well since while yes she does have significant change, it feels subtle enough to almost not matter, had it not been for the ending giving us a proper epilogue to the entire story.

Romantic subplots also plague this story (and many other of P.A.'s works), resulting in an expected, yet also very lukewarm result.  I don't understand why they thought that having a romance in a story where a girl is sent back 60 years in the past only to assuredly go back by the end was a good idea to begin with.  Honestly, the show could've just not made it so that there was any romance between the characters and it would almost assuredly have the same impact.  I actually feel like the show was constricting itself with it because it's like "Oh, we HAVE to have this tragic romance where they can't be together for tension" instead of just having the entire group just be really good friends.  The fact that it doesn't really go anywhere either does make it a harmless add-in, but also raises the question of what the point of having romance was to begin with.

Story-wise, the show's only true, major upside lies in its ending where everything is wrapped in a neat bow, glorifying the journey as an emotional rollercoaster of emotions.  The embellishment is kind of unreal for a good majority of the meandering that happens in the plot, but it serves to give the story a satisfying conclusion that it otherwise wouldn't have given the fact that it puts Hitomi's entire character arc into perspective.  It's probably the only aspect of the story that I like, which if nothing else, gives me hope that 'Hey, at least P.A. can do endings now'.  

Characters:

Hitomi herself is a depressing character, moping around for a majority of the plot due to her shy and walled-off nature where she's afraid to inconvenience people, hates her existence as a mage, and bears the burden of the conflict that she had with her mother.  Despite a potential breeding ground for growth, ultimately I don't really like Hitomi as a character.  It never feels like she's truly at the forefront of the story despite all of the other characters making her so.  She definitely has her moments in the spotlight where she does take initiative and acts on her own accord to not only better herself and hone in her qualities as a mage, but the majority of her character just doesn't feel like she does anything meaningful due to her innately shy and soft-spoken nature.  

Kohaku is the only other character that I feel has any real moments in the spotlight.  As Hitomi's grandmother de-aged sixty years, Kohaku serves as the spunky and outspoken character who loves magic, the complete opposite to her granddaughter.  While Kohaku doesn't really get a character arc herself, a lot of what she does serves to make the plot happen, showing us the amount of work she puts in to better herself as a mage and takes responsibility of what her older self has done.  

The rest of the cast suffers from honestly, not being all that memorable.  Chigusa, Sho, Kurumi, and Asagi all have their moments in the spotlight, but never to the point where their existence is validated enough beyond a part of the whole that is the 'group'.  Their respective claims to fame exist for maybe an episode or two at the most, which I feel is a shame considering the potential for this show.  The only standout character of 'The Group' is Aoi Yuito, an aspiring artist who while has a character arc in line with Hitomi, also suffers the same problems as her being that his innate character traits restrict the potential that he has.  Romantic subplot also makes his growth feel a lot less genuine than it could've been.  

Art:

If there's at least one thing that I love from P.A. Works, it's just how much they love their artwork.  At least for a majority of their projects.  Characters are drawn in the signature P.A. style with a bit more care put into them compared to Kuromukuro or Shirobako of projects past, and the background and panning shots rival that of KyoAni's quality.  Bright colors, a beautiful shimmer over everything, and impressive effects and utilization of CGI make for a visually stunning show that makes everything look that much nicer, especially with the fact that show has magic.

There're a lot of glitter effects in this show.  Shine and typical magical flair are common due to two of the main characters being mages by trade, so what we end up getting is a lot more 'movie magic' put into many scenes in order to add a unique charm to everything.  

Sound:

Both "17 Sai" by Haruka to Miyuki and "Mimei no Kimi to Hakumei no Mahou" by Nagi Yanagi act as somber pieces that exemplify the trapped and emotional feeling of Hitomi's journey.  (Or at least its potential)  You really get the feeling of growing outwardness with the OP and the somber qualities of Hitomi's lonely personality through these songs.  Aesthetics have always felt like P.A.'s strong point, and I'm glad that these tracks came out as good as they did.  

Personal Enjoyment:

I love P.A. Works as a company.  I really do.  But loving them is a real exercise in frustration because of how much hope I put into their works only for that hope to be slandered by the end result of their newest project.  It's gotten to a point that I kind of dread whatever comes next and coined the term 'Doing a P.A. Works' for myself whenever a show with potential ends up floundering at the end cause the execution is just poor.  Shinohara Toshiya was also a massive red flag for me considering NagiAsu is one of the biggest examples for how P.A. Works manages to falter its writing and potential towards the tail end of a series, especially due to love triangles and tension within the group because of that.

But Irozuku doesn't manage the same as its predecessors, instead having a new trend of: A story with good potential, floundered middle, and a good end.  I don't like this pattern, but it's a new one for the company nonetheless.  It feels to me almost like P.A. played it safe this time, choosing to go for what they normally do but tone it back so much that any high impact moments feel like a light tap instead of a punch to the gut that it probably should've been so that they don't screw up so badly by doing something like 'Pull a Charlotte'.  The end of that created a lukewarm series that feels like it accomplished sort of what it wanted to do, but did it in a way that made whatever was being show only have a subtle enough impact to insinuate that SOMETHING happened, but maybe not.  

Really I stand at a bit of an impasse with P.A. this time cause it's not like they ruined what they made.  Quite the opposite really considering I was extremely afraid of the inherent problem of a time traveler who has to go back going back in time and falling in love with someone from the past.  It ended exactly how I wanted (and expected) it to despite the romantic subplot, and for that I breathe a sigh of relief.  Still, even with the ending being as good if not a little better than what I expected it to be, I still don't find Irozuku to be little more than something that deserved a better execution than what it got.

As such, I can't really recommend this show cause I can't give a proper assessment on account of the fact that it doesn't sit right with me.  It's not great, it's not terrible, it's not average cause it has too many problems in its middle portion to just be a 'meh' product, but it's not so bad that it doesn't have its good points.  So honestly, make your own judgment on whether or not this is worth a watch.  As for me, I hope that we don't get another Shinohara Toshiya for a long while.  Irozuku is a lot less heavy-handed and stressful than NagiAsu is to watch, but assessing his works and by extension anything P.A. Works does takes up a lot of time.  I blame on the fact that I care about the company too much.

If you were to go back in time what would you do?
Would you use your powers to end up as a millionaire? Would you tell everyone that you came from the future and make predictions to become a deity? Would you do something actually INTERESTING?!
Well in this case, the MC is sent to the past to find her grandma (from the past, which makes her around the same age as the MC) in order to find a way to make the MC happier and see colors again (since she is colorblind).
You would think that in 60 years from now there would be a way to ... cure colorblindeness, I mean we already have glasses that allow colorblind people to see, but it doesnt seem like the anime is taking this into account.
Other than the awful story and plotholes, I also strongly dislike the characters (especially the main one). I dont know what it is but they are all just so damn stupid and cringy...
On the other hand, the Art style and the Sound is truly magnifiscent, but with the bad Story and Characters it feels like it has just gone to waste.
In the end, giving it a solid 5/10. <3

A Christian's Anime Review
Irodoku: The World In Colors

Discernment Topics

Violence: \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
None

Language:\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
None... that I noticed.
...
Spiritual Content:\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Magic is a central theme in the show. Spells, incantations, and magical items are commonplace.
One character says a brief prayer. They say, "...god of magic..."

Fanservice/Sexual Content/Nudity:\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
No fanservice. Perhaps the skirts could have been longer.

Misc. Suggestive Content:\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Some rumors fly around briefly after a girl has to sneak out of a boy's window resulting in some misunderstandings. The mother of the said boy is actually happy at the idea of her son having a girlfriend in his room. Wow mom... really?

Detached Assessment

Story:\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
6/10
The story was somewhat slow in developement and spent alot of time doing nothing much. It's points, when they did happen, failed to hold my attention.
That said, some people may relate more to the protagonist than I did. It does a decent job of telling her story.
The ending wasn't the most conclusive for all of the characters.

Characters:\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
7/10
Main character was actually pretty uninteresting. I didn't understand her whole worldview. It wasn't explained very much, it just made her a boring person.
Side characters, especially Hitomi's (young) grandma, were really fun to watch. They kept me interested in the show.

Art:\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
10/10
The best part of this show. P.A. Works certainly outdid themselves with what we'd expect from a seasonal anime.
The backgrounds and animation are all spectacular throughout the whole thing. Photography is a central theme in the show, so many frame worthy shots are featured.

Sound:\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
6/10
OP was good. Not great, but good.
ED was there... yep.
Sound design was pretty good. The OST was notably pleasant and fitting throughout the show.

Enjoyment:\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
6/10
The story didn't have enough momentum or really anything very interesting happening.
For a world brimming with commonplace magic, it was pretty boring and didn't maintain the sense of wonder that occasionally shone through.

Conclusion
Perhaps someone would like to see a world with magic were the primary uses thereof isn't violent. That's this show. Somewhat shojo-esque storytelling and a decent amount of interesting things to keep one engaged should slower-paced, nonviolent, school life shows be their thing.

First off, production.

Art 9/10
Distinct character design, beautiful color palettes, smooth animation, and magical aspects and sequences that live up to the feeling of wonder they're supposed to provoke in the viewer and characters in the world itself. Only docking a point because while the sequences that require more animation are wonderfully executed, there is otherwise not that much animation in the first place.

Sound 8/10
Adequate (in a good way). Not distracting in any manner, but not remarkable enough to be memorable and thus warrant a great or outstanding score. OST is good but again, unremarkable outside of the OP/ED.

Story 6/10
The premise itself sounds promising and ... like a concept that could develop in a heartfelt manner. Plot is little to none, which is not inherently a good or a bad thing as long as the rest of the work can carry it. One of the best ways to execute a story with little plot is by turning it into either a comedy or a character study, but...

Character 3/10
This is not a comedy, so that is out. Six episodes in, the background characters have more distinctive traits than the the characters at the forefront, but they barely have any conflict that would let them grow. What little conflict they do have - mostly having to do with their relationships with one another - is mostly not deep enough, to the extent that solving it offscreen would be plausible (except for Asagi, but even the second half of her conflict, Sho, hardly has a role to play in what she needs to do).
We know that not seeing colors is a problem for the Hitomi; however, the consequences of it are told instead of shown, so the problem doesn't feel tangible enough to get a viewer invested in its resolution. The same problem is present for all the characters - they've had too little development and conflict to keep engagement.

All in all, the conflict doesn't feel deep enough to carry itself, the characters aren't engaging enough to carry the story as a character study, and there are neither enough emotional beats, enough drama, or enough comedy to be entertaining enough to keep up with.

The theme of transience is often expressed in Japanese culture as "mono no aware." For the uninitiated, mono no aware is roughly translated as "the pathos of things," a Zen mood essential to several Japanese traditions, such as hanami (cherry blossom viewing). Both Ozu and Shinkai heavily transmit the concept, but one of my favourite examples of mono no aware in cinema is in Edward Yang's Yi Yi. There's a part in which NJ, the father of the Jian family on whom the film focuses, spends a whole 24 hours exploring Tokyo with his ex-lover during a business trip. They walk through a shrine, by ... the beach, on the streets, all the while catching each other up on their lives since they had last been together and, eventually, talking over their past romance, its dissolution, and the resulting emotional trauma. It's a brilliant illustration of mono no aware, as even though the two reflect on the past, they are portrayed in this time as their selves, in the current, in their respective lives, having grown apart. Irozuku attempts to arouse this same wistful projection of the past onto the moment of the now in a very strange, roundabout manner.

The premise of Irozuku is convoluted in the sense that it combines two frameworks, time traveling and school life, as a means to a telos not commonly seen in either. The two employ elements already at odds with each other. Time travel imbues a story with dramatic irony and direction by establishing an ending inherent in the beginning: the audience knows the time traveler must inevitably return to their timeline. School anime tend to be slice of life comedies, which is a genre known for being relaxed and intentionally aimless. Perhaps, when watching Irozuku, you might wonder: "Where is this going?" For most of its run, the show does indeed feel directionless, to the point where the thematic components seem haphazardly stitched together, but by the final episode, it's made apparent that the colour motif, the magical time travel setup, and the aimless pacing all serve a purpose.

Colours, or the concept of, are undoubtedly the selling point of the show as they are the root of Hitomi's internal conflict. With such seemingly obvious symbolism, the gut reaction is immediately to decode it. However, Irozuku is a little shrewd, and the most obvious readings (depression, emotions, love, etc.) are red herrings on closer inspection. Colours don't really "represent" anything in particular; they serve as a visual cue to the audience that Hitomi is unable to experience. Full stop. Her complete achromatopsia severs her from experiencing the phenomenon of the moment. She's so wrapped up in her own preconceptions of her relationships with others that she is unable to see colour (and by extension, she is also unable to produce magic, which is viewed in this universe as a means to help, and thereby connect with, other people). It's a dramatic manifestation of her psyche, but intelligible nonetheless. Theoretically, this show wouldn't have worked as a book, since the visual euphemism is so crucial. During scenes in which we see through Hitomi's eyes, the contrast of the vibrant palette against the monochromatic world enhances the exuberance of the moment by sucking the audience into the graphic instant.

The knowledge that Hitomi must return to the future by the end is kind of a wink to the audience about the ephemerality of youth. We know that Hitomi's time with the Magic Photography Arts Club is limited, which makes the experience much more somber. Yet she ultimately finds meaning in her time with the club, and the fruits of her time traveling emerge in the final episode in which she and her elderly grandmother Kohaku "reminisce" about their shared school days. This uncanny, almost bizarre scene conflates Hitomi's past and present self quite literally; the 60-year-old photos of Hitomi with the Magic Photography Arts Club are skimmed by present day Hitomi, who has only aged a couple of weeks since then. The juxtaposition of Kohaku's genuine nostalgia against Hitomi's newfound awareness for her own "present" evokes plaintive rumination in a manner suggestive of the mono no aware of the aforementioned scene from Yi Yi.

The endgame of catharsis you expect from a show like this isn't really the point, rather the point is that the individual moments matter even though you know there will eventually be an end to them, as youth is in fact fleeting. That's why the banal, slice of life events that actually happen in the show seem like they weren't "going anywhere": they weren't. The romances, the hangouts, the club affairs, none of it really matters in regard to building up to a narrative climax. What matters is that they actually happened so Hitomi had something to look back at sentimentally and feel like she truly enjoyed experiencing.

Unfortunately, the stories comprising Hitomi's experiences in the past aren't very engaging, or at the very least, I'm unable to recall most of them. There were a couple of memorable moments, like the scene in which the club runs across a bridge in an attempt for a photo op with a night cruise, or even some of the mundane shots of some of the characters walking and talking against the streetlit night. But these glimpses into transient youth were few and far between. Most of the vignettes were too goal-oriented and relied too much on tired school cliches, which is a poor decision when the bulk of the narrative relies on such moments. Maybe Irozuku's aimlessness would have felt more justified had it more moments of genuine humanity.

So this anime is better then my evaluation of it will make it seem, theres a point at which i just couldn't deal with the dissonance between what the anime expected me to feel vs how i actually felt that exacerbated my discontent with the writing

Plot 3/10
None of the conflict/character driven plot is atrocious but the spacing that conflicts are given is really strange. Not much of the conflict feels organic, especially towards the end. that said there are interesting themes at work and the pacing issues might be a fault of adaptional... wait this is anime original? whoever wrote this script really needed to ... put a little more time and thought into it.
school-life drama always runs a risk of breaking immersion really easily, and the rather sporadic nature of the driving forces in plot didn't help

art 9/10
good sci-fi fantasy themes with a high budget make for a great spectacle. several scene make me wish i could visit set pieces in VR, and the art generally ties in well to the rest of the work well enough

character 6/10
not very creative designs, pretty shallow characters. nothing all that bad but nothing that resonated with me otherwise

enjoyment 2/10
towards the beginning the spectacle was enough but i had to ram through the last couple episodes. it was actually painful that they continued to try to cash in on the same story beat multiple times, which could have worked if like the presentation was better. No risks were taken and none of the emotional moments felt really earned, i wish i could say i at least enjoyed the spectacle but the emotional dissonance was near painful, and not the good kinda conflicting pain from well done drama, more "i want to know how this ends because its making me uncomfortable".

overall 5/10
its not like outright bad beyond writing and solid visuals make it more watchable then most anime this season
i dunno, maybe i'll be able to rewatch it in the future and not have to rush through the last few eps and have a better opinion

So much wasted potential...

You can tell that Irozoku was trying for the feels, similar to series like Anohana or Angel Beats, however, it couldn't quite reach that point. Not to say that it was bad. It just didn't draw the viewer in enough to make me invested in any of the characters. Therefore, I didn't feel anything during the climax of the story. Perhaps I'm just heartless, but that's truly what I experienced when watching this show.

*Non-Spoiler Review*

The series was going for a beautiful lifetime experience that develops the characters in a positive way, with a touching and emotional climax. While it isn't anything new, ... I still appreciated the fact that a series of this format was made. Yet, sadly, this series wasn't able to fully deliver on that experience. Perhaps it lacked time, but personally, I think that the later episodes just turned out to be too mellow. With an interesting premise such as this, I think they could have done a lot more with the story to make it engaging.

The art is very good, and is probably the best thing about this anime. You can clearly tell that the animators put in a lot of work to make this look good, and it does.

To me, the characters lacked any real depth to them, which is probably why I couldn't invest myself in them. They're all just generally far too nice to be human, and that ends up being detrimental to the purpose of the story.

Sad to say that this anime couldn't deliver on what I expected from reading the synopsis. If you haven't seen any shows of this nature, then maybe this anime is a good start. However, if you've seen any of the anime I mentioned previously, or any other anime that I haven't mentioned which have a similar premise, then I would recommend watching something else. It's a nice anime to look at, but not one to enjoy.

Thank you for reading this review!

To be honest I only watched 4 episodes, but I have some issues with the show. The main theme of the show of colour is very interesting and implemented nicely. That's a big plus. What I think is a problem, at least for me is the pacing. With a protagonist that is so uninteresting and uncharismatic it is hard to remain focused. The episodes drag and drag and drag on . I can't stand it. I think the show is lacking compelling story beats. There are some , for example the end of the first episode. But at times , a whole episode has not ... a single memorable scene. There is no conflict, there is no emotions all that characters are nice, there is no crisis
. Don't get me wrong, not every show can be a high stakes shounen fantasy show. In fact i don't like shounen that much. I know the show is about the personal growth of miss protagonist. The realisation that the world is fun and colorful and she should appreciate life more and she comes to terms with her flaws and that cheesy stuff and that's fine, but it is boring, 90% of the running time nothing is happening.
I think the biggest give away , that this show isn't that great, is the fact that there are now memes about it.
Please if you read this and completely disagree with me, tell me if something interesting happens and in which episode said moment happened....

“If you weren’t able to see colours, then maybe you would come to appreciate what’s more important standing in front of you”

That’s one of the messages I got from watching Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara.
This is a show about discovering oneself, overcoming your fears and embracing every part of you. As I’ve watched other romance anime that have touched on similar themes and I think have executed them better (for example Your lie in April or Your name), I have to say this anime does not hold up in comparison. In fact, Irozuku Sekai is similar to Violet Evergarden where the story is really ... surface level and it’s carried by the pretty colours because it’s lacking substance.

Plot (4/10):
A quiet, lonely girl named Hitomi is a descendant from a family of mages. Hitomi’s colour blind for unknown reasons. She is transported to the past by her grandmother Kohaku in order to rediscovery herself. This is where she becomes friends with a younger Kohaku and her classmates (because the girl is incapable of doing so in her own timeline). Her she meets a boy who’s able to bring colour to her dull and grey life.

The premise is your typical, cliche romance series. Literally, after watching the first episode you’d be able to decipher where the story is going because it’s so generic and predictable.

The plot is thin. There weren’t any interesting sub-plots or twists that made the story more engaging. It felt like the writer knew what he wanted to do in the first and last episodes, and the middle was just padding which amounted to filler to ‘creating memories’ for Hitomi.

The pacing was slow at the beginning and a whole lot of nothing was happening.

Characters (5/10):
Hitomi is a bland, quiet girl with virtually no personality. You could replace her with a mannequin in the beginning and there wouldn’t be any difference.
She’s a generic dandere. The way Hitomi is written at times is as if she’s had the worst life ever, like she’s a victim who’s been abused her entire life. I may be exaggerating, but it annoyed me how much her friends had to baby and walk on egg shells around her at the beginning.

However, Hitomi does grow throughout the show. The journey to the past helped Hitomi rediscovery herself. Hitomi got over her depression and became more self confident. She regained her love for magic once again. Hitomi discovered a world full of colours, which long plagued her grey existence. Hitomi found a purpose and overcame the problems she would normally run away from (finding friends, love, reconciling with her mother).

Kohaku is a fun, outgoing, confident girl- basically the exact opposite to Hitomi and a far more interesting character in my opinion.

Aoi is the lonely art boy who falls in love with Hitomi. The underlying reason is because they brought colour into their lonely, dull lives.

The rest of the main cast are so basic and undeveloped that I don’t feel like talking about them individually. I felt like I didn’t know anything about them except for a few character traits. You’ll end up forgetting them once the season’s over anyway.

Animation & Sound (7/10):
One of the shows highlights is the animation was stunning. The backgrounds & scenery were detailed. The bright colour scheme made the world feel vibrant and full of life.

The music was beautifully composed. I especially like the opening song. That being said, pretty colours isn’t enough to make up for the lack of substance.

Overall (5/10):
The series isn’t as good as everyone makes it out to be. The story and characters aren’t complex, it has cliche troupes you see in romance anime e.g. love triangles. Magic is never defined well in this world. Hitomi and Kohaku are mages capable of using magic because plot. The fact that Hitomi may be causing a time paradox the more she messes with characters/events is a issue rarely if ever mentioned.

Spoilers:






The ending was underwhelming.

Did Club President x Asagi a ship in the future? Did Glasses girl go to college? What ever happened to Aoi? Did he move on and find someone else?

This was a poor conclusion to our club members. I would’ve have preferred learning more about them from pictures in the time capsule or meeting the older versions.

Aoi was a bland love interest. Him and Hitomi’s relationship lacked chemistry. When they said they loved each other it came across forced and felt like they were jumping a few steps because they didn’t progress much as friends. Hell, they never even kissed. The other relationships were underdeveloped too. For example, the Club President x Hitomi, club president x Asagi also didn’t feel anything more than friends.

There’s a lot of bad writing in this show. It’s a overhyped, mediocre romance anime.

I've come to a point where I have little to no patience for sitting through mediocre anime anymore, why? Simply because there is a vast ocean of other series that I could be watching that are actually good. I don't have to waste my time trudging in the filth that is produced season to season by the anime industry.

The question I ask myself today is, how in the hell did this anime manage to hook me in for nine episodes with my current mindset!? Maybe it was the pretty colors, maybe it was my blind faith in P.A. Works, maybe it was my want to ... fill a vacancy for the anime I was watching at the time, I have no clue. What I do know is that Irozuku is not good, it doesn't warrant your time nor patience, and you can find plenty of anime better than it without much effort.

Now, I want to say that Irozuku isn't horrible. If it caters to your likes then there may be a chance that you actually enjoy this series. But then I would have to ask, what exactly are your likes? Is it a mundane cast of characters? Spearheaded by the MC, Hitomi Tsukishiro, who is a walking Shrinking Violet trope? What about the uninspired character designs that would make stick figures look like masterpieces in comparison? Oh, I know!!! It's those mesmerizing rainbow colors that put you in a trance. Well..... wake up and smell the coffee!!! You have been bamboozled, swindled, fooled by the "feels" and by the potential of this series that seems more nonexistent the more episodes you watch.

So, I read the synopsis and seeing that magic was normal in the world of Irozuku, I was intrigued and eager to see what that would lead to. Long story short, it led to nothing, at least up till episode nine. Magic in this world is nothing more than a gimmick. While magic is kinda necessary given the fact that Hitomi is sent 60 years in the past, the concept of magic could have been written out of the story with not much changing. I'm not mad that magic is in the series, I'm just disappointed that it didn't enhance anything when it had the promise to.

Getting into the main plot of Irozuku, we are supposed to be following Hitomi and her growth as a individual. Hitomi is crippling shy, so the mission is to break Hitomi out of her shell so she can get out there and make friends. Being an introvert myself (albeit not to the same degree), I kinda relate to Hitomi. As a character, Hitomi starting where she was makes sense because it leaves room to grow, but mannnn is she boring. Sure, you can argue that Hitomi is a realistic character but that doesn't make her journey any less dull. Pair that with the show's sluggish pace and it makes Hitomi's uneventful adventure (Jojo reference) more apparent. It also doesn't help that the supporting characters can't disguise Hitomi's blandness since, they themselves are pretty bland as well, excluding Kohaku. Going back to Hitomi, I feel like the growth for her character is there, but it's happening too gradually. Yes, it is better to ease into development than to rush it, but considering that this series is only 13 episodes, and the fact that it's suffering because of this almost hesitant maturation, I say hit the gas and let's get rolling. There is also needless drama in this show but because I risk spoiling part of the series by expanding on this, I will refrain from talking about specifics. Let's just say that the romance triangles, squares, and pentagons, are played out.

As I said before this series is not horrible, I save that label for shows that are practically torture to watch which Irozuku isn't. This series had it's good moments, maybe even a good episode. I joked about it, but this series is  visually appealing (character designs are a different story). The contrast of the monochrome seen through Hitomi and the myriad of the colors that this series throws at you make for a good combination aesthetically. This series lives up to the name "The World in Colors." I also found some of the club member's interactions pretty funny when they went on trips, it's a shame that we didn't have more of that. The last thought I want to add is that I enjoyed Kohaku. I thought it was cool that Hitomi's future grandmother was the catalyst for Hitomi's growth and that she would give advice from the perspective of a 17 year old, while still being wise and helpful.

To close this review out, I want to say, make your own decision on whether or not you watch this show. Make your own decision on whether or not you like this show, just be prepared for a slow burn, that may not have a grand reward at the end. Not every rainbow has a pot of gold at the end. (I'm sorry but I couldn't resist not making a rainbow joke, I'll leave now).

Not the best anime out there and in all honesty it's more of a girls drawn out slow romance which doesn't really have any romance until more than halfway through the anime making it more about memories made with the mc's grandmother from 60 years in the past. The love polygon theme there was very little of and wouldn't even consider it being in the anime or being even a small part of it.
So if anything this anime didn't manage to keep me occupied due to the very slow pacing and how the majority of it was slice of boring everyday life for the ... mc being part of the photography club until life made her return to the future with the romance being very lackluster and pointless.

There were two anime this season that really were tackling the concept of depression. One hit it out of the park, and this one, did okay. Visually, this is a feast for the eyes. Even when you switch into the protagonist's black and white point of view, every frame is gorgeous. But the story itself is a mixed bag.

My issues with the story are many fold. First, and foremost, the romance in this show just doesn't feel all that real. The leads don't really have bonding moments that feel organic. Second, for most of the show the conflicts are really just ... standard high school drama. The fantastical elements mostly fall into the background until late in the season. To the show's credit, the characters deal with these situations in realistic and mature fashion, but high school drama is not all that enthralling.

Now an area of conflict that could have used more is the psychological issues of the two leads, and how they help each other cope with them. Hitomi's colorblindness is a manifestation of depression and shame for being a mage. That is a really interesting concept, but many episodes push this into the background when they could have easily had this narrative push the show through the entire season. The male lead's (his name slipped my mind, he was that memorable) hang ups about his art also could have been an interesting thread to explore, but it kind of just resolves itself for the silliest of reasons.

Still, there are moments in this anime that are breathtakingly gorgeous. Pretty enough to keep me watching an anime I would have otherwise dropped. If you're just looking for a feast for your eyes, go for it. If you're looking for a great story, it's just not here.

P.A. Works continually produces exciting and good content. I loved Shirobako, Sakura Quest, Angel Beats!, Charlotte, among many others. So my excitement was no less after watching the trailer for Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara.

To be fair, the premise is good. It's a captivating and intriguing idea, using time travel to benefit and improve one's self, and I thought that the personal battles of Hitomi were original and enticing enough to get me to watch.

However, that's where the line is drawn in terms of where the anime succeeded. Unfortunately, I think that the execution was quite poor.

The characters fall short in depth and personality. It's ... quite hard to grasp the intentions and motivations for any of them. Each character's personality, especially Hitomi, seems quite flat. The most exciting character to me, Kohaku, is still a typical vibrant and motivated character that you see in most anime.

The supporting cast of characters that make up the Magic Arts Photography Club (one of the focal points in the series) get left in the dust in terms of fruitful character development. The series tries to tell you that they each improve along with Hitomi in their own personal development, but it's hard to see. I commonly mistake one of the male characters for the others since they're so bland.

The art is fine. It's a bit different from most P.A. Works animation styles. I'm not a huge fan of the character designs--I think the facial proportions are a bit weird--but the environment is pretty well-designed and the colors are brought out beautifully.

I think that the series tries to make up for the lack of character depth with emotional storytelling, but it's not enough. In the moments where the characters embrace something about themselves or share an emotional moment of triumph and understanding, I'm left wondering why these characters are so emotional after being so reserved in the other scenes.

The intertwining of magic with a slice of life premise was confusing at times. Unlike well-executed magic slice of life series like Flying Witch, the use of magic in this series tends to be more of a distraction rather than naturally blending in with the story. I didn't expect the series to explain to us the fundamentals and origins of magic in that world, but I also think that it could have benefited from a more structured magic system. For example, Kohaku believes that Hitomi has some sort of "unconscious" magic that she is consistently using, but it's not very clear what the nature of that is.

Overall, this series was a disappointment for me. I'm hoping that it gets adopted into another medium, like a light novel or manga, so that the story can be more flushed out.

What can I say? I certainly had higher hopes for this anime, and while there is certainly a lot I liked which made it enough to separate it from Slice of Life predecessors, there was also a lot it could have done better.

What I liked -

The Art, need I say more about this? Very few anime are able to capture it's art direction so close to it's story. It's not just gorgeous, it also ties directly with the anime's core themes, and every minute of it is undeniably beautiful.

I liked the relationship between the grandmother and the protagonist, while at first it was ... all sudden and just disconnected, it became clear that the story was as much about connecting with her family as it was finding friends and learning to love life. Out of all the characters, Kohaku had surprisingly the most development, and because of her I really liked the ending.

The themes are strong and relevant. Incorporating depression and emotions with visuals was as smart as it was bittersweet. This was done better in A Silent Voice, but it was interesting here never the less.

What it could have done better -

As good as the art is, I really wish that they played on this aspect more. Outside of seeing the contrast with the protagonist's monochromatic view and everyone else's, it really doesn't do much else even though it's core to the story.

While Kohaku was interesting, there really isn't much to define our protagonist, and even less so for it's secondary characters even though they are supposed to be the people who help Hitomi love life again. They were more bland than Violet Evergarden combined, no backstory, no personality outside the cliché, and they turned out exactly how you think they would. Also, the love triangles are so melodramatically boring.

The themes are strong and relevant, but rarely explored. The theme here is the story, but throughout the 13 episodes there is very little happening, even the protagonist has no idea whats going on or what she is supposed to do up until the end. It's themes are simply drowned by the excessive amount of irrelevant filler that make up this anime and it's a dire shame since it really had potential.

Okay so this is the first time I make a review ever. And english isn't my first language so bear with me. But I wanted to express my disappointment with this anime somehow. And yeah I haven't finished it, in fact it's still ongoing, but I just can't bring myself to finish it.

The main reason I started watching this anime is because I read that it was directed by Nagi no Asukara's director. I absolutely loved that anime, it was very enjoyable and full of emotions. So I thought this anime would be just as good. The result? Not at all.

It starts with a potentially ... interesting plot (no spoilers) so it kinda makes you curious about how it is going to end. But the thing is, after 9 episodes I watched, nothing related to the plot has happened. I'm surprised it is not considered a slice of life anime, because I asure you IT IS. Now I normally like slice of life IF they are somewhat enjoyable. This one just isn't, it's very veeeery boring. This is where my huge disappointment comes.

Now it has some good things like the animation, aesthetic and music. But of course that is just not enough to make a good anime. I feel like the creators thought this anime would be super popular just by being pretty or something.

I'm going to set my rankings. Story: 3/10. Extremely poor given the potential it originally had.
Art: 8/10. Quite beautiful and colorful.
Sound 9/10. I looove the music, it's magical. Not to mention Nagi Yanagi sings the ending so that's a plus.
Characters: 3/10. Do they even have personalities? No they don't. Only the Kohaku has one. Literally. Also the romances aren't well done at all. The main couple have 0 chemistry and are overall super boring to see...
Enjoyment: 4/10. No words needed, it's just not enjoyable.
Overall: 5/10. I honestly think it does not deserve any better, regardless of the end of the anime.

This series is somewhat needs to add more spice to be honest. I mean literally. 13 Episodes is just too insufficient too make the story whole. Main MC is just too, depressed and the male mc is just too 'insensitive' making it bad combination, in today's season. (well still depending on other consumers ofc). Side characters are fine, no need to be troubled about.

This anime is somewhat deserving but still needs a hell a good of polishing its MC's, like char development. The flow of story is somewhat very slow but I think you can get a hang of it.

It's a good anime for ... those people who has a thing for this kind of anime. I do not find it THAT bad though. IMO removing the 'romance' will make the story good, and giving it a good chara development on the paring mc couple, but I personally think it's gonna be quite hard since 13 episodes won't just make it decent.

So
Story 4/10 (NEEDS MORE SPICE)
Art 8/10 (HELLA GOOD ART)
Characters 4/10 (NEEDS GROWTH)

Ended up giving a 6 for this show, could've been a 7 with some major changes to the plot. Then again I don't really like pure romance/drama series so I could be somewhat biased against this but I really don't feel like this deserves a 7.

This is a time- travelling series about a girl who has lost her ability to see colors for reasons I cannot mention without spoilers. Her grandmother sends her back in time in hopes that she could experience a more fun youth, instead of moping around being super pessimistic(this is her the entire series). You'd think that time- travel sounds like ... a super risky gamble where a billion things could go wrong but none of the characters seem worried so neither was I.

+ Great visual values. The characters look kind of generic but the buildings and landscapes look simply gorgeous. I personally liked it a lot.
+ Great music. I really liked both the OP and ED and listened to them on my own a couple of times. There is also some awesome BGM during some of the animation "wow"- moments. Overall adds a good bit of spice.
+ Some great movie like "magical moments" I had to go back and rewatch.

+/- Voice actors seem like good picks though the female voices' high pitch tends to tire my ears out as usual. MC's voice is very bland.

- The plot... there isn't really a lot of it? I can't really talk about it without risking to spoil the little there is but, no, this "story" is just about nostalgia and memories, nothing really happens here.
- The characters are, like I said, the fairly generic, ultra-positive Japanese High School students. 13 episodes being short enough as it is, it's hard to get emotionally attached to these talking dolls.
- The magic element seems like it was just slapped on the top of this show, don't expect any Harry Potter- level of depth from this magical world. People don't seem to use magic for really anything else but some light entertainment.

Slight spoiler review

Irozuku is kind of slice of life-drama, with some romance? With an expected ending if you watch anime regularly, and few touching moments.
The main line is the personal growth but....the idea is good, the thing about Hitomi and her monochromatic vision mixed with time travel is original but the way they made it is unsatisfying and the reasons are...CHARACTERS AND PLOT.

There is no development of any character except Hitomi and the main guy and is very poor, I mean she changes but I can't believe it, just a few moments during a couple of weeks maybe a month I can't remember; ... and a romance (poorly develop romance based on the art of the guy)and I have to believe that it is enough to change the personality of a person after 16 years.
And the second problem but the most important of the show; the rest of the cast give zero to you, a few minutes of each one. The shy girls remain as the shy girl, without confronting her feelings. The megane girl only has 5 minutes during the show. The president is null only introduce in order to try some kind of love triangle.
Kohaku is the only one that has some strength on her personality and the only one i really care about between the secondary cast.
Chigusa is only used to make some jokes and a couple of deep sentences.
And the main guy who is the only who at the end has changed but as it happens with Hitomi you have to accept because the romance that i have to say it again is a very poorly developed romance.

The Plot
The idea is quite interesting, but I have the feeling that the show doesn't exploit all the ideas, they drop the slice of life moments, the drama, the HItomi problem and the romance but neither of them has true power except for the last 3 episodes where the romance and the drama I have to admit that have a very touching moments (moments not the entire episode), but few moments at the last 3 episodes for a 13 episodes show its pretty vague. The ending of the show is the expected, logical and giving the conclusion they want during all the show.

In conclusion, is a nice show with a nice premise but remains all the series with the same problem not enough development of any of her ideas or characters.

tl;dr: A film with a few interesting aspects and great art in some respects but overall really weak writing.

Iroduku is an anime that has a very busy beginning. It’s starts out in the future so it has a bit of sci-fi going on. However, the protagonist Hitomi and her grandma are mages who can use magic, which her grandma suddenly uses to send Hitomi 60 years into the past. Hitomi suddenly appears in the middle of someone’s room and has to sneak out, leading to a strange misunderstanding in the process. And to top it all off, Hitomi is fully colorblind, meaning she sees in ... monochrome, as a result of some sort of emotional trauma. I really liked how it just threw so much at you all at once and thus I found the start of the anime to have quite a lot of promise.

However, as it progresses it shifts away from the extraordinary into something a lot more grounded. And unfortunately I can’t say I really enjoyed that much. It’s pretty much just an incredibly generic teen drama. It has all the standard tropes: a shy and gloomy protagonist slowly opening up and becoming more cheerful, a love polygon that causes conflict between two friends, a dense male character who is the only one that doesn’t realize a girl has a crush on him, a teenager contemplating their future planning on taking the safer path but being inspired to instead pursue their dreams, etc. I don’t think being generic or full of tropes is a bad thing. And I’m fine with a story being completely generic if the execution is good. However, I don’t think this was handled all that well.

I feel the biggest problem is that it’s trying to do too much while also trying to spend enough time doing nothing at all. It has a lot going on in terms of characters. The character’s may be tropey, but in the end they all do have stories and motivations and relationships. And the writing tries to flesh out all of this for everyone. This may have been possible in thirteen episodes if it was focused enough, but this is also an anime that’s trying to build a strong sense of tone and atmosphere. It spends a lot of time just showing Hitomi and the group of friends she makes just hanging out and doing random club activities. These portions do slowly demonstrate the growth and change in characters, but subtly and often not as the focus. As a visual novel reader, I’m certainly not opposed to that either as it can be a great way to build investment in characters, but the key thing is that it takes time to do so which this anime simply doesn’t have enough of. I also felt that the writing wasn’t all that great at comedy or amusing fluff, which made these portions less enjoyable than they should have been, leading to them feeling especially wasteful.

In the end the writing manages to check all the boxes it needs to, but it doesn’t feel like it does anything well. It’s very clear what each character’s arc is, it’s foundation, and why it progressed the way it did. But at an emotional level nothing really had all that much impact. There are scenes that I can easily recognize are very well written in a vacuum, but in context the build up to them just doesn’t feel like it’s built up enough investment for them to hit as hard as they should. This is especially true for the ending. Things take a much more serious turn and magic takes a much more important role in the plot. The writing also becomes more focused on Hitomi and her character arc so it manages to do pretty well by her. However, the lead up to all this wasn’t strong enough to really support it, and thus it falls pretty flat. Ultimately, I wasn’t particularly satisfied or unsatisfied with it, it just felt kind of dull.

The art is a mixed bag. The art is fantastic when it comes to backgrounds, both the standard backgrounds and the more unique ones involving worlds inside paintings. However, the art and animation when it came to characters felt pretty weak, especially for such a character focused work. And that’s coming from someone who likes Fly’s art style. Furthermore, even when the art was great I felt that it spent far too much time focusing on just the art which contributed to the feeling of things moving too slowly and not progressing enough. The OP and ED were both pretty solid in terms of songs and visuals. The soundtrack was also pretty good and worked well with the tone and atmosphere.

If you like the typical (extremely) dense female leads that are pretty enough to catch the class's attention and have droopy eyes, a breathless voice, and also likes to run away in serious moments; this anime series is for you.

I feel like this anime had a lot of great potential because I really enjoyed the first couple of episodes. Even the first episode, with the typical scenario which leads to a misunderstanding. However, after about halfway, it felt like I was watching the same thing happen in each episode.

After this, it felt like I was just watching it for the sake of finishing ... it. To be honest, I kinda played around with the skip button just to reach the seemingly never-ending episodes. However, I have to admit that the end message was portrayed beautifully in the last episode (however, only in the last 5 minutes or so).

Overall, the story had a lot of great potential but I can see why some people would enjoy this anime if they like the tropes that are commonly seen in SOL animes.