Xiao Lu He Xiao Lan

Episodes are short, about 5 minutes plus OP and ED, except for every 6th or so episode (which I believe aired on Saturdays), which is a much longer episode (~25 min) with more involved plotlines.

Instead of a single cohesive story and world, Xiao Lu he Xiao Lan is a collection of many different stories taking place in many different settings. From one episode to the next, it will jump from one story to another. Many of these stories only last a single episode or less, focusing on perhaps a single gag, or a touching moment. But other stories last multiple episodes, but are spread apart ... in episode order. The thing that unifies the stories is that they all involve some close relationship between the two main characters, Xiao Lu and Xiao Lan.

The short episodes are mostly very lighthearted and comedic, but the long episodes can often bring the waterworks.

An overarching theme is how new technology affects our lives and specifically our relationships, though sometimes there's some supernatural phenomenon that affects relationships. It gets surprisingly philosophical, but the philosophy never gets in the way of the story telling.

Also, it's very gay. Not every story puts them in love with each other, but quite a few do. And since there are many different worlds, you get to see them confess their love over and over. So if you don't like that, this is not for you. But it's super cute, and definitely a big draw for this show. There's no ecchi, it's all very innocent.

It's hard to explain how cohesive this feels, when the structure is so disjoint. You'd think with so many short skits, some of them would fall flat, but actually I can't think of any that did.

This is my first review. I wrote this in Feb 2020 and never got around to sharing it.

Beryl and Sapphire (Xiao Lu He Xiao Lan) 小绿和小蓝 is a comedy-gag donghua (Chinese anime) based off of a web-comic written by Ocarina. In this web-comic, the main characters Beryl and Sapphire, to my knowledge, are genderless stick-figures. It's a very character-oriented series that has accumulated widespread love in China. I'm very happy I managed to stumble upon this series now, because the impact this show has left on me is greater than I originally thought it would.

The animation in this series is, at first, really simplistic. And ... that works in its benefit. Adapting from a source material that is quite literally just stick figures, the animation team really brought their A-game in bringing Beryl and Sapphire to life. The art direction is simplistic when it needs to be during the light-hearted comedic moments, and the animation is seemless (and, sometimes, breathtaking) during the emotional or action-packed moments. The background characters retain the simple stick-figure shape as seen in the webcomic, because, the show isn't about the background characters. The show (with exemptions to quite literally only, maybe 2-3 characters) only revolves Beryl and Sapphire. The art is cute as well. If you have seen any other donghua, then you know that some of them struggle with art/animation greatly (though this has now changed, seeing as how booming the animation industry has become in China within the past 2 years), but none of this is shown in B&S, as its' shorter episode run-time (5 minutes to 30 minutes) is easier to manage.

Now to move onto something much more important. If you're reading this review, there is a chance you've seen the tag "Shounen Ai" on B&S's MyAnimeList page. I noticed that too, which to be honest, got me to check out the show. However, while this is applicable greatly to the show, I feel the need to explain. Ocarina (as stated in her interview for Western fans) has confirmed that Beryl and Sapphire are soulmates. Each episode revolves around them in a different universe (they are technically "actors" playing all of these parts, but I find it much easier to dictate them as separate universes entirely) and each universe is centered on their relationship.

Do they hate each other? Do they love each other? Are they strangers? Classmates? Coworkers? Businessmen? Demon King and Knight? Robots? Secret Agents? Are they both male? Is one of them female? Will one of them confess to the other? Will one of them die?

I am unironically stating that this stupid comedy-gag anime is incredibly philosophical. There are direct references to literature such as Flowers for Algernon and 120 Days of Sodom. It subtextually questions its audience about how technology has (and will) irrefutably change our lives forever, or about how we misconceptualize the perspectives of villains, or how greed can corrupt our perspectives of the people we care about, or how easy it is to let go of the importance of our pasts in favor of what could be a temporary future.

I experienced such a wide array of emotions with this show. This is supposed to be a gag anime, yet I found myself tearing up countless times. It knows when to be stupid and when to be serious. When that slow music sets in during some of the most emotionally climactic scenes in the series, and the credits begin to roll as the lyrics blared from my speakers, you just feel the need to curl up and hug yourself.

This probably isn't the show for you if you want some grand, over-arching narrative with intuitive world-building and a grounded setting. This is a character-centric show, and it won't be for everyone. It also probably won't be for you if you can't handle listening to Chinese or if seeing two boys kissing isn't your thing. I just needed an outlet to express my love for this show. Thank you for reading this review.

Beryl and Sapphire is a collection of self-contained stories revolving around Beryl and Sapphire and their relationship throughout different scenarios. To be honest, I'm not a fan of episodic storytelling. Fortunately, Beryl and Sapphire is not just a collection of independent one-shot episodes; some storylines get revisited in later episodes giving the series the opportunity to flesh out the world and characters. Which is great because some of the stories gain a real depth with more exposition. While most episodes are just short 5mins mindless entertainment, some episodes (especially the 30 mins long weekend specials) can be truly unique and thought-provoking. I especially found the ... themes of episode 30 really intriguing.

Regarding the titular Beryl and Sapphire, their dynamic can be either hilarious or heartwarming (or heartbreaking) depending on the episode. Overall, it was a very cute watch. Would recommend.