Umibe no Étranger

I had put off watching this for SUCH a long time because this did not get a good reception at all upon release and I feel so STUPID for letting myself be swayed by that public opinion.

It's actually an amazing BL work, and deserves all the flowers. People that complain about it being too rushed haven't had to sit through 12 episode of nothing just to get a mid confession. It's amazing that in such a short runtime they were able to explore so many things and it doesn't feel rushed at all. Some anime fans just need over-exposition and this movie is not that ... at all, and it doesn't NEED to be.

It's probably one of the few animes that actually dive deep into the realistic issues with same-sex relationships, down to the cuteness and normalcy of the sex, whereas a lot of BLs take a more patriarchal approach and immerse the characters in unnecessary gender roles. Most BLs go through the cheap route of having the more effeminate man be the woman's POV for self-inserting fantasies, but this one is not it at all. It probably breaks every single BL trope and maybe that's why it didn't fare well, since the main audience for this is mostly loser fujioshis, which are no better than incel fanboys. But I hope its gay audience can appreciate a lot of the things that it did to depict a more realistic romance, along with all of its struggles.

I can see why it still didn't vibe with SOME people, but for me personally, it's a straight up 10/10. It's a clean, gorgeously animated piece of work that manages to deliver great storytelling in its tight runtime. It's very to the point, cute, and the conflicts get satisfactorily resolved rather quickly. I prefer that than a long drawn out anime where a simple misunderstanding takes 4-5 episodes to resolve, or 12 episodes for one of them to return their feelings. I feel like I got the full scope of the story, and even though I'll probably dive into the source material, it's a perfectly fine standalone adaptation. I'm still puzzled as to why people were confused by it but I guess not everyone can fill in the gaps and need a lot more of exposition to fluff the story out. It definitely accomplishes more in its 60 minute runtime than a LOT of BLs do over a full length season. Really wished people were more lax with it because I can guarantee you they do not look at other animes under such a magnifying glass.

The Stranger by the Shore is a movie exploring boy love and its accompanying challenges. Specifically, the stigma of an LGBTQ relationship. There's nothing to hate about it, but it's just... okay. Boring, you could say. The entire movie lasts 58 minutes, which means the relationship's progression is hardly explored. It was just BAM, now they're a couple. But why should I be interested in this relationship? This story? Should I cheer them on just because it's a gay relationship?

The plot is simple and I didn't feel anything for the characters. This is a movie where you can multitask with your phone. Overall, 6/10.

I don't know the source material, but I do know it's short. No matter its quality, this seems like a poor adaptation. I'm not exactly sure how Umibe no Étranger came into being in the first place, but whoever steered the wheel on its production course either had a limited budget, or conceived this as a series of shorts initially, because the story feels chopped into rather disjointed parts that have clumsily been put together. The plot itself is nothing to write home about, so when you further ruin a pretty simple, straightforward love story by ruining its pace, omitting its conclusion, and rushing through ... its time skip, everything else, no matter how beautiful the movie looks, ends up suffering because of it. The most satisfying part of this movie is without a doubt how it looks and how its animated, but when I turn out to be more interested in seeing more shots of cats cuddling than I am in seeing the romantic plot pan out, you know you're doing something wrong.

To add an absolute insult to injury, considering this anime deals with openly gay people, the conversation close to the end between our main characters shoves in some dialogue that feels truly insulting to anyone gay: the exchange implies that being gay is not alright because "gay sex is disgusting" (which is presented as a hurdle that true love conquers over, I guess??), and that it's ok to love a man as long as it's emotional only, while you are in fact attracted to women. Take from that what you will, but it left ME feeling disgusted, and not because "gay sex bad".

All in all, an unforgettable experience for all the wrong reasons. At least it's pretty and has a lot of cute cuddly cats, which is why you should watch it precisely once, if at all.