Fumetsu no Anata e

Anyone who has read or seen Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice) will recognize the name, Yoshitoki Ooima. To Your Eternity is her latest work that combines her artistic talent woven into a mesmeric story. To describe To Your Eternity is not simple. It's more than just a supernatural drama. It casts an emotional journey following an unique character And without a shadow of a doubt, To Your Eternity is among one of the best series I've seen this year.

When I first read the manga before the anime adaptation, I had anticipated various degrees of emotional drama. The author has been known to amplify human ... emotions to tell and show a story. By doing so, she's able to communicate to the audience why characters are motivated by certain actions. That's no different when applied for To Your Eternity. The most prominent example applies to Fushi, a being with immortality who can transform into people and creatures. What's fascinating about Fushi is that the more transforms, he becomes more human. As we come to learn and understand about Fushi's character, we can draw upon how he changes. From interactions to his own personal motivations, Fushi is perhaps one of the most complex characters in the series.

And that is to say, To Your Eternity is somewhat of a niche show. It's atypical even for a supernatural drama. Following Fushi's journey shows how alienated and ignorant he is about humanity. From the beginning, his attributes mirrors those of an animal. He is curious about the world around him but fails to understand certain elements. As he witness more realistic events in life (namely death), Fushi begins to understand the concept of humanity. And because he is immortal, death is not something he fears or even truly understands. Fushi initially reminds me of Doomsday, a character from the popular Superman comic books where what kills him makes him stronger. In this series, he adapts with death and revives even more after being killed over and over. But unlike Doomsday, Fushi becomes more compassionate and understanding about himself around others. And as every episode ventures on, we get to see his character evolution by embracing the essence of humanity.

Throughout the show, Fushi meets and develops meanginful relationships among with his companions. The most prominent among these includes Gugu, Pioran, Tonari, and March. They act as surrogate family that shapes his character the more he interacts with them. In fact, he even received his name from March and without her, Fushi would be nameless. Being one of the kindest characters in the show, she accepts Fushi for who he is without judgment or prejudice. And thanks to her influence, we can say that Fushi matures into a more human character. Similarly, he develops a brotherly bond with Gugu and a sisterly relationship with Tonari. Both of these characters makes profound effects in his life as he grows to care and protect them. And because of his immortality, Fushi shows fearlessness when defending his companions. Perhaps the most guidance Fushi receives is from Pioarn, as she becomes his personal mentor. With her guidance, Fushi begins to learn the human language and how every action has a consequence, something he had been igornant of since his very existence.

Unfortunately for Fushi, not everyone he meets is an ally or friend. These include the dangerous Nokkers (supernatural creatures in their world) he encounters or the obsessive Hayase. The latter evolves into a more twisted character, a polar opposite of Fushi's evolution. Indeed, Hayase represents the dark side of humanity. The way she fascinates about immortality and developing a twisted love for Fushi is what seperates her from any human character in the show. In later episodes, you can just see how far her obessesion carries with her beliefs. That being said, I think To Your Eternity is able to strike its character cast with such fascinating and colorful personalities. Every relevant characters brings an important part to Fushi's development, whether it's to shape him into more human or make him into a understanding character to us.

Regardless how much you understand this show, it shouldn't take long for your eyes to see the unique aspect of the anime's animation quality. Brain's Base has been know for some of their noticable work including My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU and Durarara!! In this show, they take on the approach to illustrate a fictional setting filled with emotional drama. The background scenes and chereography for its world fiction connects with its story tone. However, it is the emotional expressions of the cast that brings out the anime's drama at its finest. This is achieved through animating the behaviors and emotions for the characters. In particular, Fushi is the show's greatest achievement at showing human-like feelings. And lastly, the anime is known for some of its more mature content namely the violence and occasional sexual tone. This shouldn't distract the audience from the anime's overall presentation but it's still noticable in some episodes.

To Your Eternity's stellar soundtrack also cannot be ignored if we look at how it synchronizes with its overall supernatural drama. From emotional melancholy to cherry orchestra, it's impressive how the soundtrack can further enhance the anime viewing experience. Fushi's voice also evolves from its toddler-like stuttering to a more mature human voice tone throughout the show. We can't ever forget how much of a character Fushi changes and it reminds us how important that change is.

This is an anime of the year candidate and I'm not joking. Even if you came into the series as a fresh viewer, it's going to be an unique experience for a supernatural drama. Let it be known that To Your Eternity sells its story exactly how it wants to with its creative character cast, unique storytelling, and ultimately, a show that touches upon the deepest elements of humanity.

So this is going to be a controversial review given the countless number of reviews giving the series a rating of 10.

Something didn't click for me. What's not clicking, you ask? Good question. I wish I knew.

Maybe it's the way that stories are disjointed. Maybe it's the way the story expects us to care about characters that we only knew for 2 episodes. Maybe it's the way that the world is hardly explained. Maybe it's the fact that Fushi is painfully slow for the creation of a 'god'(?). Maybe it's the fact that every time the narrator speaks, all I can imagine is ... the beautiful face of Nanami Kento.

Also, what's with everyone's half-assed reaction to meeting an immortal shapeshifter?

I really wish I liked the season more because the premise is intriguing. Maybe I will as the season goes on so this review may change - keep your eyes out.

But you know what? I'm excited for the journey and I hope I change my mind, believe you me.

1st Edit - I'd hoped to have changed my review sooner but nothing changed between how I felt about the anime until now, at episode 11. This was one of the most engaging episodes of anime I've ever seen and I hope that continues.

To Your Eternity is beautiful. Not because it is a masterpiece, but because it is a journey. A journey about an empty shell. A journey that delves into the brutal yet alluring qualities of human life. A journey filled with both joy and pain. The show starts off with one of the most beautifully condensed episodes, giving a taste of what it has to offer. It's emotional soundtrack compliments the intention of every scene, leaving a memorable impact for viewers. Brain's Base does an exceptional job in creating animations that fit the melancholic yet captivating setting. The subtle themes brought into the show only compliment ... the uniqueness of the story; What is the meaning of life and death? What makes humans, humans? To Your Eternity is not something you simply watch, but feel. If you're looking to go on an adventure, look no further.

[Spoiler warning for 6 episodes]
To start off, I just want to say I am glad I started watching To Your Eternity. Its beautiful.

Story (10/10) -
The premise of this new series is one of the most creatively unique I have seen. Your average anime might have a completely realistic setting, or a completely surreal one, with a magic system and its whole world shaped by it. To Your eternity places an orb, a character of such a surreal world, in the real world. This premise is so creative, unique and inspiring, as it as so much potential, with its world, its inhabitants and the themes which ... can be explored through the characters, and learning about emotions. I love this premise, and I really hope they pay it off well, as they have so far.
The first episode. What can I say about it. When I think of a perfect episode and pilot, this is what I mean. Not many things make me as emotional as this did. The amazing writing within this helped me connect so well so fast, it was truly amazing. Though it was quite predictable, it doesnt matter. Its the beauty in how one episode can make me connect so well with its story that resonates with me.
After this first episode, the story we follow is interesting as well. However, since the arc has not finished airing as yet, I dont know how it will turn out. My expectations are high though, yet I'm sure the show ill exceed them.

Art/Animation (9/10) -
The episodes look amazing. I love the white aesthetic of the first episode, and the colours look even better in the next few. Nothing feels forced, incomplete, or even just competent. Even in the animation, everything feels purposeful, intentional, and looks beautiful. Even subtle movements and reactions are captured well. I love the overall look.

Sound (8/10) -
It amazing that the lowest score in a criteria I'm giving is an 8. The score and the opening song are engaging and add to the ongoing action and episode overall. Though there is nothing groundbreaking, the sound mixing does a great job of making me feel part of the world, and I like the overall sound.

Character (10/10) -
The Orb/Wolf - This character has the most interesting premise. As an emotionless inanimate object turned animal turned human, it is amazing to see its reactions to human emotions, and I'm sure itll be touching to see it understand and learn to feel the same.
The unnamed boy with white hair - What can I even say about him. His character was what I got attached to at the start. The endless optimism in a dreadful and tragic situation is a character trait I love, and because of it, I really enjoyed his character. I was actively dreading his death from the first few scenes we spend with him. I also loved how he appreciated his pet wolf, especially as it was the only thing who gave him company. I was invested in this relationship as well. His motivation came from many things including the search of paradise, his tribes unwillingness to let him come, and later on, his tribes remains. These factors and its effects on him were beautiful, and strikingly real and heartfelt. I was so invested in him, knowing he would most likely die, in such a short period of time. This just shows the masterful writing behind his character, and the show. I cannot wait for more of this.
March (and also her 'sister') - I am already invested in her character. She is young and immature, but genuine and fun. I love her empathy towards the orb/wolf in their interactions, as well as her impatience to grow up. I think they established her character very well, and she has the potential to have an amazing character growth arc. Her elder sister is engaging too, and I like her, despite her not being as well established.

Enjoyment (10/10) -
I consider the pilot episode to be a masterpiece. I expect this show will turn out to be a masterpiece. I think its obvious that my enjoyment is 10/10. I have enjoyed every second of this show, have felt what it wanted me to feel, and look forward to it with great expectations.

Overall (10/10) -
I think it might be a bit unfair to give it an overall 10 instead of a 9, as the show is not even complete yet. However, I know an amazing show when I see one. This has the potential to be one. Not only is it enjoyable, but it seems as if every person working on it is giving it their all, from writers to animators, to produce this, I'm sure to be, masterpiece. I cannot recommend it enough.

I hope you found this review helpful.

To Your Eternity is a story about life. The struggles, the memories, the people we meet.

As a whole, To Your Eternity initially does a solid job at presenting such events and ideas, from what I have seen of it in the past, it plays well with this whole journey concept it has going for itself. It doesn't feel half-hearted, the characters are believable, and for the most part, it was something to look forward to as you sway your way into the oncoming episodes. This, however, is true until it isn't. The latter half of the story sure goes on the same initial path as ... the first, however, with a substantial objective of the former half somewhat achieved (basically intelligence acquired), the story had to drive itself around a new fundamental for storytelling, which it did, but the result was lazy writing. It was evident that the writers didn't even try to fish out new ideas and instead resorted to "generic" ideas, generic isn't bad, but I'd say a poor shift is. The characters themselves felt like they were for the wrong demographic too, with random shounen-esque ideas coming for the sake of "there was nothing else to do", when in fact, the initial dark side would come and go when it was conveniently called for. It's a sad downfall, but it isn't one of a catastrophe, just one that didn't hold up to what some could consider an "initial lie".

The audiovisuals are relativity consistent, you know, they looked nice and sounded good, as they should, the general. That is until the latter half where if you are astute, you'd notice the drop in animation quality, it shouldn't hinder overall experience, in fact, it will only hinder if you care about it too much, however that is not to say it passes as a fault in my eyes. Maybe there were some background issues going on around this one, I don't have the information on me to come to such a conclusion, but considering the work ethics of studios, I think an educated guess shouldn't misinform people too much, though it's not like that's directly related to the final product anyway.

Overall, it's a fun and interesting experience, that had its faults, sure, so much so that I could not possibly call this a masterpiece or those other fancy words I am too dumb to understand. The anime got me thinking about the themes it had for itself, mostly relative in its anime universe, not superimposed onto a reality. But it does get you some thought as to, what you would do if you were in the same position. Is immortality a blessing or a curse for humans? Well, that's for another time.

Spoilers ahead!

So I have to say that this is a pretty unique anime in terms of the fact that it's so popular right now and rated high, because the beginning was quite strong. And I think that has to do with the innate nature of humans to want to evolve by seeking stimul. So the opening episode was great, it set up quite the adventure! And from there it was a slow spiral towards boredom.

The problem is that the main character, Fushi, lacks almost any motivation. I just finished watching episode 13 where the new prison arc begins and he(it?) still feels like a very ... bland character. I guess you can attribute that to the fact that he doesn't know what his purpose in life is, which is fine, but he is so unethusiastic about almost anything or doesn't know what to do at all, that by episode 13 it's just starting to get stale and repetitive.

The side characters also feel a bit shallow and there's just this forever lingering feeling of "who's going to die next?" because we know it will happen. It is constantly reinforced, for example with the middle break where the wall shows the souls that Fushi consumed (or whatever happens). So it's just not worth getting interested in any character, because they will die and who cares, it's all for the purpose of making Fushi something that we have no idea what is suppose to be.

Which brings us to the Nokkers which are also just...boring? They also don't seem to have a motive by this point except for destroying Fushi. So if he weren't there, would they appear? Maybe there's more to it, but the show feels so stale.

It's interesting that for 12 episodes I didn't know if this show was good or not. And I feel like that's what a lot of people have. But in a way, if you can't tell a show will be good from the first few episodes, I think it's safe to say that it probably won't be for the rest of it. I know some shows have a nice turn after some time, but the amount of care I have left for this world is minimal. That is to say, I don't even know what this world is. We travel it with minimal information. And it's not really too exciting when you get to a new place.

I am a bit sorry I am writing such a negative review, but it's honestly for my sanity the ones that are also wonderting if this show is a "masterpiece" or just a show that had some kind of a good idea, but just failed to execute it better. But hey, there's potential to be found in it for something else, if it gripped so many people from the start.

To Your Eternity is not a great anime, nor is it necessarily a bad one. It’s stuck at an awkward in between, with interesting themes and a refreshing story being weighed down by clumsy and often boring writing. The blend of adventure and drama sets it apart from other anime like it, and as disappointing as some moments in the series can be you can understand why many people will find them emotional.

There are three main arcs throughout the 20 episodes, four if you count the first episode. Each one offers a new cast with new experiences for our immortal main character, Fushi. On their ... own the arcs aren’t bad, however after watching them back-to-back you will simply stop caring. The fact that the cast is always changing means you won’t be with any long enough to care about what happens, and the ones you do find yourself caring about are quickly forgotten as a new cast and setting is shoved in your face. Any sense of emotion or excitement offered by the first episode loses its touch almost instantly. You already know that something bad is going to happen everywhere Fushi goes, and it becomes a matter of when the bad thing happens rather than what will happen. Now this predictability on its own isn’t a bad thing. If it is backed up by interesting and planned out characters, it won’t matter how unoriginal the actual scenarios are. The thing is though, every single character throughout the show is flat, bland, and honestly just plain boring to watch. It’s like the writer imagined one specific sad scenario in their head and ran away with it, forgetting the very basics of what makes a story interesting and engaging. It takes multiple episodes to get to an overall underwhelming outcome, and this repeats itself for three whole arcs. I’ll repeat myself here, at some point in the series you will simply stop caring.

One thing I can give it credit for is how the growth of Fushi is shown. It honestly feels like with each new episode and event Fushi grows in some way, and these additions to his character will impact how he acts and speaks onwards. It never feels like he hits a wall with character development, and it is much more interesting watching Fushi grow than a typical melodrama character. There is obvious planning and care behind his character, and you can see it greatly pay off in the long run.

Now onto what I would consider the worst part of the whole series, the “antagonist,” though I would probably describe as more of a mindless opposing force. It is introduced as a mysterious entity that interrupts Fushi’s adventures and forces him to grow stronger. Great right? Now there is something to move the plot along provide areas for character growth. Except that that’s all there is to it. Every time this mysterious opposing force appeared I wanted to groan. There is obviously something more to it, this is made obvious early into the series. Don’t expect find out what though, the show is too busy dabbling with other ideas to expand on it at all during the 20 episodes. Thankfully, there is a human antagonist with a bit more personality and depth. They’re still messily written but for what it’s worth the episodes that they appeared in were some of the most engaging for me. If it wasn’t for their awkward placement in and out of certain arcs, they probably would’ve been the highlight of the series.

I tend not to worry about art or sound too much, but I think Brains Base did a solid job with both and I have no major issues. That said, there are no real times where either of these will stand out and leave a lasting impression. The visuals and audio are just consistently good throughout all 20 episodes.

Overall, I think To Your Eternity does a good job at experimenting with and expressing its themes and ideas, especially surrounding mortality and what it means to be human. If it wasn’t for the repetitive and disconnected plot as well as the poor character writing this series could have easily been around an 8/10. I would recommend at least giving the anime a try, though be prepared for the plot to become predictable and repetitive straight from the very first episode.

It is fundamental to express emotions in order to make a work of fiction great – that’s something the anime industry knows very well. Sad and depressing emotions are frequently seen in anime works, but the real key to success is to combine them with pleasant and hopeful emotions. Thrill, suspense, compassion, excitement and enjoyment; all of them are important to form a good show. Fumetsu no Anata e has its unique style, which most people like – considering its global appeal and popularity - and others do not. But this style is what really prevents it from standing close to “top tier” anime, and ... that is a fact.

Fumetsu no Anata e started off with an amazing opening episode; full of emotions, beautiful character interactions and plot twists. It felt romantic and succeeded in piquing the watchers’ interest. This episode was the prologue arc, and then a chain of longer character arcs followed. What went so wrong that made this anime’s content controversial? That’s definitely the repetitive use of the pattern Ooida Yoshitoki used in every character arc. And after giving it some thought, I reached the conclusion that this pattern I’m talking about might work in a novel, but not in a TV show. So it is not necessarily the writer’s fault.

The pattern promoted mostly depressing emotions and failed to emit the ones I mentioned before. As the series moved on, everyone was able to make a successful guess on how the story would proceed, which led to the loss of enthusiasm, thrill and enjoyment. The protagonist’s character development made sense, but in the end, that was all that happened in these twenty episodes. What only mattered was how strong (mentally and physically) Fushi would become, after a row of unpleasant and heartbreaking events.

Nevertheless, a character alone cannot make a top tier work of fiction. When it comes to the world build up, what is understood is that it concerns Fushi and only himself. People live in an underdeveloped society, but the mystery revolves around the supernatural element of the series; which is something he has to solve alone. The main villains’ character and motives (Nokkers) are not exactly shown yet, but it seems they are simple and exist to end our protagonist’s journey. As for Kansatsusha, it is not yet known if there are other creatures like him or why he behaves the way he does.

The soundtrack of this anime is mostly atmospheric (“Emotional Suite”, “Pink Blood”, “Mediator”). It is not something special, but it fits well the atmosphere. The animation looks nice and fits the atmosphere as well. The prevailing colours are purple, brown and green. The voice acting is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Tsuda Kenjirou’s narrating is great.

To conclude, Fumetsu no Anata e is a fantasy/supernatural anime whose main purpose seems to be to indicate how people can become stronger by facing hardships and moving on with their lives. To convey this message, it uses many short arcs which include a lot of tragic events and sad human emotions. It also shows human behaviour under difficult circumstances, people’s hope, people’s narrow-mindedness and other characteristics you may find out by watching.

My personal advice is to not expect much even if you love the first episodes. Because I loved them as well, but my final score was 3/10.
Thank you for reading!

Note: Spoilers in the marked section. There will be no spoilers where there is no warning.

Laughter, sadness, pain, anger, fear, and hatred. These are all the emotions that a typical human being should know to make someone truly humane. At first, a human is born in the form of a baby, crying is the first form of emotion they experience. Then later they experience all sorts of different emotions. To your eternity is exactly that except, the protagonist we'll be following is actually an orb. That's right, it's an "it'. That is, it doesn't experience any form of emotion but it does stimulates ... them to experience all sorts of different things an emotions.

To your eternity is a beautiful experience. One that you haven't experienced this type of enjoyment from any other anime. It starts off with the maker sending an orb to the Earth to preserve resources.

The orb first takes the form of non living things. Then a wolf passes by who is at death's door and "it" takes the form of the wolf. Yes, that's the first living being he has taken the form of. Babies in real life, first experience the emotion of "crying" but that's not the case for the orb. The first emotion he experienced was "pain" which he later overcomes it.

[Spoilers]
People refer to the first episode as the "Nameless boy" arc but it isn't because he doesn't have a name, it's just that there was no one out there to call out his name.The nameless boy's optimistic whom we first meet is so unreal that it's sad. He knows that his family is dead that is why he has drawn all the images of his family's faces on his wall or there would be no reason to. He knew he and his best friend Joan(the wolf) would die too that's why he also drew both of their faces. The boy basically went to an early suicide the moment he set foot to go to the so called "Paradise" but the thing is, outside of his Island, there is no such thing as "Paradise" which you'll see later why. He wants to meet new places and nice people but the boy is just being delusional because what's out there is just a cruel world. The part where he said "Remember me" gave me literal goosebumps and that was a powerful scene. The nameless boy then dies and the wolf then takes the form of the boy.

People will say it isn't right to take the form of the dead but I say that if he takes the form of the boy, he'll carry on the wish the boy had and that is, to meet new places and learn different things. Some may also say that the nameless boy deserved to know that Joan died but I say it is a small mercy bestowed upon him when all the suffering he has been through.

[No spoilers]
It then meets March who just wants to be a grown up. This is kind of like a first world wish at first glance compared to the nameless boy but then again, she is just a child who is innocent

I love the realism that is showed in this series. It shows that the author isn't afraid to show dark themes it has. This series gives you a gist of realism that the society was back in the past which I'm amazed because this is the think that today's battle shounen seem to lack of.

Gugu's arc is literally beautiful. His brother is a scumbag who leaves him in a middle of a crisis. He meets a girl whom he is in love with. Both wishes what each other wants. So you can say both of their wishes are connected in a certain way which makes this arc even more beautiful. You may find Reen super annoying but you'll most likely grow on her by the end.

The Soundtrack in this Anime is phenomenal. I get goosebumps everytime I listen to it. It feels like, the music is describing Fushi's entire journey. Literally the most unique soundtracks I've heard.

However, every show has it's faults and To your eternity is not an exception in this one.

The problem by which the show suffers from is the places where Fushi visits isn't connected by anyway. In other words, the arcs are disjointed, thereby not leading to an overarching grand finale. Even Assassination Classroom didn't had any overarching arc like To your eternity but at least it led to an overall grand finale but To your eternity is making it seem like, the story isn't going anywhere. Sometimes, an arc is episodic, sometimes an arc is like 4 episodes, sometimes an arc is about 12 episodes long. It doesn't know what it's trying to be.

Another problem where it suffers from is that, it's repetitive.

The only way Fushi develops is if someone dies and he uses those characters as a tool for him to survive. This is a huge pet peeve of mine if the author uses character death's as the only way for character development. In my opinion, that's called poor writing. Sometimes, I feel like the author is playing with our feelings it's like she doesn't care about our feelings at all.

The deaths in Jananda Island also felt meaningless and forced. There was literally no need for the characters to die as they contributed nothing to the plot. Maybe it will make Tonari independent but the end of that arc literally showed that the villagers will continue to support her so she's not all alone.

Even with it's faults, that does not make me to not like To your eternity. In fact, it was one of the most memorable and quite unique Anime I've ever watched. Fushi learns what it means to be a grown up when met March, he learned what it's like to have a family when he met Gugu and he learned what it's like to have friends when he met Tonari. He'll surely learn all kinds of emotions as the story progresses, but he'll never learn "something" which will make him truly human and that "something" is called Death

“Waste of time” is not a critique I like to give to a piece of fiction, but “To Your Eternity” really pushes it. My view is generally that if you try, you can usually find some redeeming quality to something you otherwise dislike. An optimistic media enjoyer should be able to find something of value to walk away with; be it an exciting plot point, a character you liked, an interesting/well executed setting or premise, good music, or beautiful art/animation. Though there is a second season announced, as a stand-alone product, To Your Eternity S1 unfortunately delivers a general lack of redeeming qualities while also ... feinting a build-up towards something grand and exciting then instead leading to a spectacular letdown. It is possible the eventual second season turns everything on its head, but given the steady decline in quality that constituted the first season I will not be making that bet any time soon.

Minor spoilers below

If there is a correct way to enjoy TYE it is to stop after episode 1. Though it is not the most subtle attempt at grabbing at viewer’s emotions, it is the most soul the show ever has and at least feels like it could be the start of a meaningful story. From there, if you have a decent imagination, the continuation you can think up is probably better than the actual show so my recommendation is that you stop. If you continue watching, you’ll be met with an overall lack of direction or meaning from both our protagonist as well as their adversaries--resulting in mandatory conflict with no purpose but to kill off side character after side character in cheap attempts to evoke an emotional response from the viewer.

Each of these victims is less interesting/endearing than the last but not for lack of time spent attempting to develop them. In fact, a *large* majority of the show is spent developing side characters only for them to be killed off a few episodes later and for new ones to stumble in and take their place. There are some authors who seem to have an unlimited supply of fantastic characters, each with distinct personalities, designs, and quirks that make them feel real and immediately relatable. To Your Eternity’s author is unfortunately not one of them. Even going from one arc to the next, the decline in the quality of the characters is hard to miss. In the early arcs you at least know what drives characters; what their hopes and dreams are; why one might be saddened if they were to die. By the final arc, characters known only for their use of a folding chair as a weapon are being killed off in dramatic fashion. Yet there seems to be an underlying expectation that the viewer be sad anyways despite the lack of development and despite having seen it all before multiple times. Some might find this formula to be in poor taste while others have no problem with it; however, it is this cycle on repeat from start to finish that makes TYE feel like a waste of your time after some number of these iterations despite the potential its premise initially held.

Considering other potential redeeming qualities, you won’t likely find them in the art, animation, or music. The fantasy setting manifests sparsely throughout the 20 episodes. The protagonist, Fushi, as well as his adversary, the knockers, are of course the most obvious fantastical elements but we hardly see anything else. Early on, we have a terrifying, giant bear which is revered as a god and presents itself as an obstacle. It makes for some exciting scenes and raises questions about what other interesting things the viewer will get to see as we explore this setting. Unfortunately, not much else. And, in fact, the bear later becomes comically underwhelming despite how powerful it seems like it should be. The fights between Fushi and the knockers do have a certain weight to them, but the execution is average at best in terms of direction, choreography, and especially animation.

I went into To Your Eternity with high hopes and even remained cautiously optimistic through much of the drag in the middle. Even though I didn’t find anything too impressive or cool, it seemed like there was still hope for the show as long as there was interesting build-up or an apparent plan for an eventual spectacular ending. A couple episodes into the final arc of the first season it became clear we would get no view of such a plan. No vision or spectacular ending. Just a directionless story for the sake of a story. I’d love to hear that they turn it around and the second season is fantastic, but the first season gave me no hope in that regard.

A foreword for this extensively long review: this review will have some spoilers, and I've tried my best to keep it vague as best as possible not to sway off all who read this and wanting to try the anime for yourselves. You have been warned.

"At first, it was an orb. Not just any typical orb. It could change itself by imitating the form of all that may and does exist. I decided to throw the orb upon this land to observe the various mutational forms of this immortal to see how it tries to adapt to the environment around it. There is but one ... enemy I'm worried of, and it's these shape-shifting monsters called the Nokkers who appear to grasp more intelligence than the Orb. This is my account of the journey with the Orb." - The Beholder, voiced by Kenjirou Tsuda

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. The world is everything that is the case. The world is the totality of facts, not of things.” - Ludwig Wittgenstein

What makes a human, truly human? This is always the question that always rings in our minds when we encounter a self-heart talk realization. Is it compassion, empathy, logic, our consciousness? Empiricist David Hume believes that all human ideas have roots from sense impressions. Meaning, even if we imagine a creature that does not exist, your imagination of it still consists of things you’ve sensed in the real world. This is in part of using different mental processes that are fundamentally part of being human: Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause and Effect. It's our own perception of truth, that each of us, no matter how different, exists. When humans seek truth, they come into moments of realization. Small moments of realization lead to a sense of happiness of fulfillment. Big moments of realization, on the other hand, are truly what makes us human. It is when we experience these crucial consciousness-altering experiences, that we can finally say, with certainty, what it means to be human. And this is certainly the case for "Fumetsu no Anata e" a.k.a "To Your Eternity".

To say that the adaptation of the now-renouned "Koe no Katachi" (a.k.a. "A Silent Voice") author Yoshitoki Ōima's next big thing is a masterclass of a work, is a gross understatement. There is some truth and not to that, that puts it shy of a modern great anime in the making. And watching this "pulling heartstrings" worth of some powerful gut-wrenching writing, Yoshitoki Ōima sure knows how to concoct a well-thoughtout story with great well-endowed illustrations that are brought to life in a substantial way from Baby Steps director Masahiko Murata and the production team over at Brain's Base to adapt this unusual full 25-minute (including OP, ED and next episode previews), 20-episode run covering the first 6 volumes (totaling 54 chapters) of the manga on nowhere else other than NHK Educational TV (because that's a channel catered specifically to the kids, and it serves as a learning lesson just like most programs there). You need not a big Brain, but a good foundational Base to understand this deep rabbit hole of a "feelings" show. And somehow...also inputting the Baby Steps that's similar to a newborn child birthed and graced onto Earth in an utmost sentimental way possible. See? No pun intended.

Some background info out of the way: Following the insane success of "Koe no Katachi", to which "Fumetsu no Anata e" is a complete 180 tonal shift on that, this is the story that's dedicated to the loving memory of Yoshitoki Ōima's deceased ailing and sick grandmother, taken as an influence to one of the characters in this story. You have to remember that coming off from "A Silent Voice" (which is largely a story of characters who are confronting their past), with "To Your Eternity", Yoshitoki Ōima herself penned a fantasy story, one that is devoid of its freedom while capturing the supernatural part of beings being immortal so as to give them a recourse throughout its learning journey to focus on the future, what lies ahead for the characters going forward. A little unknown fact is that Yoshitoki Ōima's first outing into the manga industry is creating the illustation art for Tow Ubukata's Mardock Scramble, and this serves as a tie-in to an exploration with the poignant themes of death. Also, did you know that Fushi (the Orb) was never meant to be male? That's because the author herself drew Fushi when she was young, the design had stuck ever since before everything began, and when it came time to deciding on Fushi's character, Yoshitoki leans on her preference for having neutral protagonists and natural female characters, coupling the suggestion of a male protagonist for a different appeal into the mix.

As for the overall setting, it's literally just that: the protagonist Fushi, or the Orb that "knows nothing", being sent onto the Earth to figure out what to do in such a blank state of mind. One thing that Fumetsu doesn't shake away is the themes of death and immortality that's portrayed in the manga. And towards the anime adaptation, it has done the perfect translation onto the small screen, bringing with it the abject emotions like when you're reading the manga for the very first time. The snowy landscape that's seen in the very beginning is why Yoshitoki Ōima has chosen to reinforce the blank state themes to create a white universe, a permanment reminder that "everything is as white as snow, but not as clear cut when outside of its comfort zone". And that comes in part of Yoshitoki Ōima herself, having to watch similar documentaries like it to capture the notion of a single being, that's practically being left out in the world to survive with limited resources and skills under very difficult and intense circumstances. And we see that reflected in the anime, where the immortal Fushi strives to take on different forms, slowly learning about the beings it transforms into and their abilities in supposed forms to learn to adapt to whatever the situation calls for. In both high and low, good and bad moments, not forgetting about its own humanity that's bred overtime, learnt from the direct guidance from The Beholder confrontation with mysterious shape-shifting beings called the Nokkers which increase its intelligence levels with every preceding battle with the immortal.

The characters in Fumetsu are actually based off of real-life personalities. Fushi itself (because his origin is "the Orb" first and foremost) is based on one word: Survival. Therefore, to integrate the Orb into the story, Yoshitoki Ōima had to think of practical reasons that would subject it to difficult circumstances, and the decision was made to have 3 elements affect the immortal: climate, disease and Man's natural carnivorous animal enemy, the polar bear. These 3 elements serve as the obstacles to the human will, and Yoshitoki Ōima's reasoning is to further elaborate that people living in the wild have to live with and show the process of overcoming these inevitable challenges. Also, notice that I did mention that Fumetsu's story is dedicated to the author's deceased grandmother, she is the inspiration for the basis of Grandma Pioran's character, and having to juggle with inevitable death is a guilt trip all by itself. Every volume of the manga features a story where that person makes a significant change in Fushi's life, and in the anime we get 6 of them in this pairing: The nameless boy and his dog Johan; March and Parona of Ninnanah; the Takunaha arc of Gugu and Rean; Hayase of Yanome; and the Jananda arc of Tonari. A fun fact that in the complete manga package, Yoshitoki Ōima's story would see Fushi meet approximately 13 people to intersperse his life with them, so much so that this story had a different working title as "Ash Swords of 13 People". Kinda begs the thought that this title would sound too hard to be pronounced or related, so I'm kinda glad the title was changed for speakeasy reasons. Out of all the characters that the author herself liked to draw, March is the favourite due to her short stature, and that she likes drawing children simulated in confined places (you can see that aesthetic in the anime a lot). The feels are real.

Brain's Base's production translation onto the small screen is somewhat of an odd ball by itself. Being close to a 2-cour (23/24 episode) run, you certainly can't expect that the production will hold up with its glistening factors of consistency. To shed more of what Fumetsu tries to illustrate with its many overlaying and underlying themes of juxtaposition between regular human beings' communion and death incarnate that's true to Yoshitoki Ōima's writing style, that's supported with her lushly drawn panels in the manga, it's a no-brainer that it's certainly asking a lot for to keep production at a steady and consistent pace to reflect the manga as well as it should. And despite the low-quality visuals that go hand-in-hand with shows that have a 2-cour run, I'd say that Fumetsu still arguably looks better than most recent 2-cour shows I've seen (barring the obvious Shounen ones obviously), and it's just as preposessing and fanciable going hand-in-hand alongside the incredible story of feels. Not the best of Brain's Base shows I've seen in recent times (in regards to 2020's Kyokou Suiri a.k.a In/Spectre), but it's serviceable enough.

The music in Fumetsu...really is in a whole other ball park. Let's kick off with the OP and ED, because I feel that this NEEDS to be mentioned. You should know who Hikaru Utada is: even I'll admit that while the recent Evangelion movie (3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time) didn't exactly set the world on fire to bring Hideaki Anno's legendary franchise to a resounding close, her ED "One Last Kiss" is where it's at that did just that. And adding to her music composition of a catalogue is yet another song, titled "Pink Blood" for the OP. While the song is still largely pretty good (though IMO "One Last Kiss" is still the better song and the ultimatum gold standard), I have to preface that if you're just starting out to watch Fumetsu, DO NOT WATCH the OP as it is 100% COMPLETE spoiler overload for anime-onlies about the show's entirety, and being a manga reader, I can attest to the fact. On the ED side, you may not know who Masashi Hamauzu is, but other than the instrumental ED "Mediator" being yet another amaze-balls, his talent being that of being hired in Square Enix by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu to work on some games (e.g. FF7, FF13 and SaGa Frontier 2 to name a few) and then succeeding him as lead composer when Nobuo Uematsu left in 2004, this guy has some rich music composition of an astounding career that's not just limited to Final Fantasy OSTs.

Both sound and music directors Takeshi Takadera and Ryou Kawasaki have ostensibly different track records on the shows they've done credited to their name, but there is one thing that you most certainly CANNOT mistake their talents for: quality. The former having worked on shows like Cross Game and Yowamushi Pedal, and the latter being the prominent figure on Shoukoku no Altair and the more recent Fate/Grand Order: Babylonia, and you can feel the union between directors who know their craft well and delivered full-time on the show itself. The OST in Fumetsu just takes your breath away being a beautiful, mesmerizing, yet solid work all throughout as you watch the show, and not once did any insert track feel misplaced, but added to the overt expressions of the anime to its full degree. Seriously though, focusing on Ryou Kawasaki, this man doesn't get enough credit for his outstanding work in Fumetsu, and the anime's music department is a rock-solid stellar masterpiece of work.

Love it or hate it, "Fumetsu no Anata e" a.k.a "To Your Eternity", to the Average Joe, depending on who you ask, can be an easy 2021 masterpiece AOTY or an egregiously overrated and over-hyped series. And I acknowledge both sides of the coin to the fact that as good as the anime adaptation can be, the manga is still leaps beyond the anime in terms of the same heart-wrenching feelings and emotions that just has no words being that great of a standalone source material. Nonetheless, Fumetsu is a series that I won't beckon you to "go watch immediately because it's just that good" for a recommendation, but you only need two things to be prepared (or not) to binge this all the way through: a steel-cold heart and a stacked tissue box, because this show will break your heart in tears for as many times as it could nilly-willy. And contrasting to "Koe no Katachi" a.k.a "A Silent Voice", Fumetsu will not remain silent with a voice of help, but it'll call you with the voices of methodical humanity that'll leave you wanting for more. What a wild rollercoaster of a ride that this show has become, and I would not have wanted it in any other way possible.

i keep asking myself every episode, what is the point of this? Why are these characters suffering? What is the show trying to convey?
the animation and soundtrack are adequate, but still i cant find anything in to enjoy.
I do hope it gets better as the series goes on ,but with 8 episodes remaining, I'm a little worried about how the pacing will turn out.
and the characters are extremely annoying. it can be watched if you have too much free time, other than that it's a waste of time.


so, if i could say one thing about this anime is i cant watch this shit!!!

Rating: 6/7

I know the series is not over yet, but the way it is going now I will have to give it somewhere between a 6 or a 7.

I had high expectations with the first 3-4 episodes of the anime and was excited with the initial premise, but as with many other anime these days , it has kind of fallen flat as the series has progressed.

The mystery of the main character to start off with was very intriguing but the more that becomes revealed, the less and less interested I become.

The main villain of the story so far is still shrouded in mystery ... but there is not much that drives me to care about it. The main character really has no desire or drive for anything and it makes becoming attached to "it" very difficult. Aside from that, the small amount of time spent with the side characters that are introduced and their lack of overall development really makes it hard to care for them or their absence from the story in anyway.

As for the art and animation, it too has really taken a dive over time. I'm not sure whether it was a budget issue or not, but there has been a definite quality drop from the first few episodes to the current episode and while it is not horrible in any way, it just makes it that less exciting to watch.

I do hope it gets better as the series goes on ,but with 8 episodes remaining, I'm a little worried about how the pacing will turn out.

All in all, I think this is a decent anime to save for a rainy day when you have run out of great ones to watch, but not anything truly special.

With a stunning first episode that easily seized my interest, Fumetsu no Anata e was one of my early favorites of the year. Sadly, that sentiment did not last as the episodes kept being released. An anime that for me started as high as an 8/10 slowly but surely dropped all the way down to a 5/10. What happened? Well, that's what this review is for!

Spoilers ahead. If you don't want to read the full review there's a tldr at the bottom with no spoilers.

A story that centers around Fushi's growth from an "it" to a human-adjacent being would undoubtedly be filled ... with many different stories of humanity that would become the foundation for Fushi's character, right? Well that's what it seemed at first, with both the first episode and the subsequent arc dealing with the concept of death. Unfortunately, it never really evolved into something more. Every arc adapted had a constant sense of death, to the point where it was laughably predictable how all of the arcs would end from episode 1. Fumetsu never tries to branch out from the cycle of death and instead chooses to depict the same progression 4 times, a poorly executed formulaic plot that stubbornly refused to change up its approach.

March, the first arc's focus, is your typical little girl who loves playing house. Her relationship with Fushi's is simple but effective, and Parona's character was also a good complement; however, once I reached the end of the first big arc I began to develop a sense of cynicism. Frankly, after Gugu (the show's best character), I didn't care about any of the new characters because the anime had led me to the expectation that the characters would be temporary, and their involvement in Fushi's journey would end just like every other character's save two. Nearly every character in this anime had a sad backstory, a terrible life, or a tragic ending. There is more to the human experience than pain and suffering, but fumetsu doesn't seem to know that, instead opting to keep the audience focused on a seemingly constant stream of melancholy and despair that eventually turns into cheap emotional content. The Gugu arc was its peak, but its resolution left a bad taste in my mouth and left me wondering if this was really the only way this arc could have ended.

By far the worst element of fumetsu's story is the nokkers. Seemingly created to spice up the fantasy aspect of the story, nokkers show up at the most plot convenient points to cause death (starting to get the picture?) and go completely unexplained. There is no how or why for nokkers, and fumetsu doesn't bother trying to explain them either. Instead, the audience is left in the dark for the entire duration of the anime with no hint of development anywhere. There's also a lot of other details that, while aren't major problems on their own, bothered me whenever they happened. Why did seemingly everyone just accept Fushi was an immortal shape-shifter and not freak out in the slightest? Fushi is capable of creating food laced with morning glory, so why isn't he immune to it later? Why does Fushi only inherit the lives of certain characters but not others?

The tiring plot wasn't helped much by its animation. Most action scenes where the wolf or the bear were involved looked rough and downright ugly at times. The action scenes where only humans were involved were generally passable, but the closer to episode 20 the anime got to, the less frequent dynamic action scenes became. Non-action scenes got progressively more static until they dominated the runtime in the ending episodes. What had originally been a plus for this anime gradually turned into a negative, an all too common theme for fumetsu.

TLDR:

Fumetsu started strong, and I continued to enjoy the series until just after the halfway point at the end of Gugu's arc. To put it bluntly, it lost its shine. The formulaic plot wore me down until my thoughts only became "this is almost done, I can move on soon." Formulaic plots aren't necessarily bad, but in order for a story to be formulaic and successful, it has to be able to adapt and make changes to keep the experience fresh and engaging. To me, fumetsu failed to do that and lost my interest the more times it plugged in the same formula. While I don't regret putting time into this anime, it certainly didn't make me feel like it was worth watching by the end. This show is worth at least trying out, but temper your expectations. If you love feeling sad you're going to have a good time with this show, but if the first episode does not interest you, you will not like it.

SPOILER-FREE ANIME REVIEW


Yoshitoki-san's recent Manga, Fumetsu no Anata e is by far one of the "Anime of The Year" candidates for me, along with Mushoku Tensei. Though it hasn't got much popularity as the other animes this year. It provides a good supernatural story that's sure will become more interesting as the show continues.


Story:
As the title says 「不滅」, It's about an Immortal being in a form of an orb-like thing that's unknown aside that it can take the shape of something. A creature without an instinct nor personality. It landed on a stone and take its form as an actual copy. As time passes by ... it takes a form of a wolf that's been wounded after it died suffering in a harsh blizzard. The unknown being gained its instinct as an animal. To live, according to what your body needs. It was then discovered by a Boy from a nearby village and decided to take the being and been named "Joan". He followed the boy throughout his exploration of finding his co-villagers. The nameless boy got an injury from their expedition and has nothing like medicine to cure his wound. Joan's just observing him as he's currently on the edge of his life. After the boy passed away, The wolf took over its form as a Human. However, being a human doesn't mean he's already like one. The thing is still the same as it is in a form of a wolf, aside from that it can stand by its feet. As the story progress, he learns how to act like and become a human, that can talk, decide for his own, has the emotions, feelings and it's own personality.

Side Note: Pretty much after the first episode, I think the show went downhill. Maybe because others especially the anime-only watchers think it has more to offer of the tragic events seen in the first episode. It's still an amazing show with its unique story and shows the side of drama in the supernatural genre as the protagonist learns about living as a human.

Rating: 9


Art/Animation:
Brain's Base is the studio responsible for this adaptation. They're famous for other franchises like Durarara! , Baccano! and My Teen Romcom SNAFU 1st season adaptations. And I can say they did a pretty great job on this show. They made it more into the side of drama thing to capture the emotions in this show. They've improved a lot and adapted the material with good overall animation. The Colors are stunning and show a nice tone for the scenes.

Rating: 8


Sound/Voice Acting:
Audio production in this show is Awesome. The music perfectly fits in every scene it is played. Whether it's a fight/thrilling scene or the Dramatic tune of the story. The Sound Effects are also great.
Personally, I love Tsuda Kenjiro's role as the Observer or Fushi's creator. His narration of the story is so satisfying as expected from his low-tone voice. Gotta give some appreciation as well to the soundtracks here like the OP and ED

Side Note: The Opening song by Hikaru Otada "Pink Blood" is Perfect for the Anime. Although it is great, I wouldn't recommend seeing the OP clip as it shows many spoilers throughout the show. But if you don't mind seeing those and appreciate the beauty of the music, Just enjoy listening to it every time.

Rating: 9


Characters:
Aside from the Protagonist named Joan and later becomes "Fushi", The side characters from different areas are really interesting and well written. March reminds me of Dororo in the show with the same name. She's a child tribe girl with a good mother-side and always full of positivity. Parona, an acting big sister to March who always wants to protect everyone she loves and cares about. Pioran, an old lady who's a criminal when introduced and sooner after being with the short time with Fushi she thinks that living her life right now that she has a shorter time to live would give her satisfaction. Gugu, a young boy who's already been working despite being a child to provide their daily needs with his brother but ended up being his face got smashed after involvement in an accident and after surviving the fatality he's now forced to wear a helm to hide his scary-looking face. And Tonari, a resident of Jananda that helps Fushi to rescue Pioran from the ones who deceived them. All have been pretty impactful on Fushi's character development through the Story. They're all helpful and become a very important part of Fushi's life.

Rating: 9

Enjoyment:
I'm pretty much sure that I love this show. It's on my candidates for the Anime of the Year as I've said. The first episode caught me off guard and immediately went to the manga just after seeing it. It is a very great show nowadays that mostly doesn't focus on things without comedy, school life or romance in it. I'm thankful to the staff especially the Author Miss Yoshitoki for Introducing her to another work after giving us the intense psychological impact on Koe no Katachi.

Enjoyment: 10

Overall Rating: 9

PROLOGUE
When the first episode of this anime aired, it was instantly labeled as a masterpiece for making everyone cry with how sad it was. Extra hype came in by mentioning the author being the same as in A Silent Voice. It used all the classic tricks of cryporn, such as a tragic backdrop story, an unfair death, and a blank in personality protagonist that looked like a cute doggie. It did its job perfectly for that one episode, and if it ended there it would be remembered positively.

PROBLEM #1: REPETITION
Unfortunately there were more episodes and more arcs, and in every arc the exact same thing ... was happening. The protagonist met someone with a tragic backdrop story, spent some time with him, and then he died. No matter how good the execution may be, the repetition alone was making each time to be less impactful than the previous one.

PROBLEM #2: LACK OF CONTINUITY AND CLOSURE
Constantly killing the support cast had the issue of not giving catharsis to anyone, since they died without resolving their problems. They tried to make it seem like the protagonist was transforming into them for continuing what they were doing, so there wouldn’t be any actual closure. That never happened, since he was not trying to bring closure to whatever they were suffering from. He only assumed their form, moved to a different place, and assumed the form of the next person who died. Basically there was no continuation to the stories. They were just cryporn that went nowhere.

PROBLEM #3: LACK OF TIME INVESTMENT
Furthermore, latter characters didn’t even spend that much time with the protagonist before dying in order for the audience to care about them. Not even the plot cared about them after awhile which is why it was killing them in a hurry just because it has to.

PROBLEM #4: IDENTITY CRISIS
On top of that, a quest to save the world from monsters was eventually introduced which caused a major identity crisis. What began as a fantasy drama had now become a sort of shonen action adventure. Fight scenes with superpowers became more frequent, it completely changed the tone of what the show was at first and alienated most of the audience.

PROBLEM #5: MESSIAH COMPLEX
Because of that change, the protagonist turned from a powerless wanderer to a super powerful messiah. He was no longer a sad nobody in a harsh world, he was now a special chosen one destined to save it by thinking and feeling more and more like a human being. It didn’t have the same vibe as in the beginning of the show when he was just a powerless nobody.

PROBLEM #6: MESSY CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
There was also no way to like him for gradually turning from a nobody to a messiah. The transition was either too fast for happening in the span of a few days, or out of screen through lengthy time skips. He gets rewritten into a different character without ever showing you how.

PROBLEM #7: MISERYPORN
Furthermore, some of the characters the protagonist met didn’t even die by something bad that was happening in their lives. They kicked the bucket because they were interacting with the protagonist, so evil monsters and mean people wanted to make him suffer even more by killing his friends. What began as tragic coincidence eventually became deliberate miseryporn. Hey, mister protagonist, you suffer because we want you to suffer! Be miserable all the time. This is after all the only hook of the show.

PROBLEM #8: LACK OF STAKES
If the protagonist could die during all this mess, it would ruin everything he is going through, so at least there could be tension regarding his success or failure regarding the salvation of the world. But the thing was, he couldn’t lose because he was an immortal who always healed instantly no matter how many times they killed him. There was nothing to worry about; you were just waiting to see when he was going to win instead of if he wins.

PROBLEM #9: EMPTY VICTORY
Since everyone else around him was dying, there was also no sense of accomplishment regarding his inevitable victory. What kind of a victory would he achieve if nobody was left alive to enjoy it with him? Can you imagine going through all this suffering for the sake of saving the world, and eventually nobody is left alive at the end? Who thought this was a good idea? It’s just more suffering for the heck of it.

PROBLEM #10: DROP IN PRODUCTION VALUES
As if all these issues weren’t enough, the production values got worse as the show went on, and what began as a polished cryporn through the use of proper cinematics, became a typical to bad looking fantasy action adventure. And as simple as that, the initial hype for the show evaporated and now very few care for another season.

EPILOGUE
Once again it was proven why hype is bullshit and why you should only judge something after it’s finished. To You Eternity belongs to the bulk of anime that don’t use well their good ideas and end up being forgotten as soon as they are over. Which, ironically enough, this was supposed to be what the protagonist was trying to prevent by turning into his dying friends.

Pretentious. This anime is the very definition of that word. Its attempts at presenting something deep and meaningful unfortunately falls flat due to how poorly the author handled the premise, which is a pity considering how this series could’ve actually been something that’s really impactful.

In this anime, an immortal being known as It is casted down to Earth, and as an immortal being, it has the ability to take on and change forms of various living creatures. Later on, it takes on a form of an injured wolf who is eventually helped by a young, nameless boy. After spending some time with the nameless boy, ... he died and It took on its form and began to explore the world It was in, and along the way, learn about how other people lived and how those people impacted It and the vice versa. Initially the story itself had an amazing start but as the series progressed, the amazing start it originally had began to fade away, and the way the story was executed is to blame. Almost all the arcs in this series were very underwhelming. Not only that, all the events that happened in the story felt so contrived, and for a series that’s supposedly depicting how each character’s interactions with other people affect one another, none of the characters interactions with each other had a long lasting impact on the viewers whatsoever. Its attempts at giving the viewers thought provoking questions feels extremely forced, as if the creator is desperately trying to make the viewers get something of value out of each arc in the story to the point where it’s taken priority over the actual story and hence making the overall story just feel extremely lackluster. Although I appreciate the pacing of this series, there’s no balance between the actual story and the themes the creator is attempting to convey, one aspect always overpowers the other. Not only does this series tries too hard to make itself feel meaningful, it also tries too hard on the emotional appeal factor as almost every moment in here is essentially trying to tell the viewers to emphasize with the characters because they’re in some sort of difficult situation that’s supposed to get some sort of melancholic reaction from the viewers.

The characters in this series were just as dull as the story itself, including the main character. Every characters in this series were almost deliberately created as plot devices, and as a result, the characters don’t feel like actual characters but almost more like plot devices used just for advancing the story. Oftentimes, when something major happens to a certain character, the events that led up to such point is almost always all planned from the beginning in such a straightforward way that the whole emotional attachment to a character aspect of the series is lost as a result. Obviously the viewers aren’t expected to feel emotional attachment for every characters, that’s absurd, but when almost all the characters are just used in the story at a surface level point, there’s no emotions to be felt from it. Sure it’s an apathetic way of viewing the characters but if there’s no efforts put into the characterization, quite frankly there’s no need to care for them in the first place. As a matter of fact, this series’s attempt at trying to make the viewers feel emotionally connected with these one-dimensional characters is kind of emotionally manipulative.

The art is alright. Some of the character design definitely feels out of place but for the most part there isn’t really much to say about it asides from the fact that there’s some really stunning background art that blends in seamlessly with the characters. Definitely the best aspect of this series, can definitely see some of background art being used as wallpapers.

Although there’s nothing remarkable about the sound effects, the music has a nice, ethereal sound to it and it does a good job at capturing the rather dull world of Fumetsu, which is honestly such a pity. Had the writing been on par with the music, there’s no doubt that Fumetsu would’ve been something that’s genuinely impactful.

While Fumetsu had its great qualities such as the art and the music, the story and the characters ultimately falls flat and hence making this story concept feel like a waste. The story itself felt too unbalanced and the characters were all unremarkable. And although this isn’t exactly the best recommendation when it comes to slow paced animes that focuses more on characterization, which, this series didn’t do well on, for what it’s worth, it’s not the worst thing to ever exist.

DO NOT WATCH THE OPENING SONG. I REPEAT, DO NOT WATCH THE OPENING SONG. It's a great one I know but it will spoil almost everything that will happen.

Now that we have that out of the window, let's go on with the review.


----------------------------THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS----------------------------

Fumetsu no Anata e or To your eternity as you would call it in English, has been an anime that far surpassed what I was expecting. What I thought would be an anime aimed to manipulate your emotions in a way similar to Violet Evergarden for example, turned out to be a much more sinster anime.
...
The anime starts with a mysterious being called Kansatsusha as he sends an orb into some kind of a mysterious world in order to see and experience everything within it.

This is a story about a small orb, cursed with the immortality. It takes the shape of anything that can affect it emotionally and it can grow up as if it was that was creature. Whenever it experiences "death" in that shape, its regenerative abilities become stronger and it sends the body back to normal.

We start the first episode by seeing the orb take the shape of a rock which just happens to be the place where a dog falls to his death inside a Blizzards. Affected by its tragic death, it takes the form of that wounded dog. Suffering from the pain and the cold, it keeps dying and coming back again and again. Wandering through the storm not sure where to go or what to do. Until one day, it meets a young man, isolated from everything in the world, living all alone and trying to not lose to despair. He turns out to be the owner of the dog and he is happy to meet what he believes to be his dog after days of being missing.

An orb that doesn’t know how to feel or do anything and a guy talking to himself and acting as if the dog is talking back to him. This is the starting point to one of the most tragic anime I have ever seen.

What I loved about Fumetsu was that it forced me to be invested in the characters.
Much thought is put into everyone of them and they undergo a lot of hardships that shapes them up and develops their character even more. The way the story progresses in an incredible way that 1 episode is enough to leave an effect that falls so heavily on you. They leave a big impression that make you acknowledge how good they were and how much they value. An example of this was an arc about a small little girl called March.

March was a lively child that always brought happiness to and loved everyone. She always dreamed of growing up and becoming a mother but due to being placed under the mercy of another country, she was chosen as a sacrifice to a fake creature they believe exists. She fights for her life and tries to run away but comes back after knowing that her little sister might be taken in her stead. March appeared for like 3 episodes (at least for now), but the effect she left off is becomes even bigger as the story goes on.

The anime has a variety of characters and it sets a standard for how to write and develop the new ones with every new arc.

Another big part that leaves you amazed is how emotionally invested you are. You see the characters develop, thinking about their decisions, having existential crisis and sometimes just wishing for something simple like wanting to live. The characters struggle and you feel like you are struggling with them hence why it feels very rewarding when something good happens and the characters are living happily. You might think this is the end but deep down you know something new will come up. You feel like you are living inside that world with them and that’s the best compliment I can give to how great the world building, the characters and the story are.


The art and animation are great (most of the time) and combined with great voice acting, soundtracks and overall outstanding direction led to what I consider to anime of the year so far.

The only bad part is that the art/animation and direction got worse as the anime went on despite being consistently great for like 15+ episodes.

Overall, I would give it a 9/10. I can't wait for the sequel to come out.
Would recommend it to anyone.

If you’ve ever experienced the death of a loved one, you know the feeling that To Your Eternity seeks to evoke in its audience. Several times I found myself sobbing, and it gave me an outlet to release the pent-up sadness I’ve held from the deaths of people I loved.

To Your Eternity follows an immortal being named Fushi who assumes the form of dead humans and animals he encounters along his journey. He can transform into them at will. A few are a giant bear, a girl who can climb trees, and a wolf. Though he is immortal, he has fears and things to lose. ... He befriends kind people and fears losing his memories of them. There is a forest monster who can steal his forms, along with the memories. While fighting murders, warriors, and monsters, he utilizes his toolbelt of fallen friends. The high concept premise makes for enthralling action. Although the manga was published in a shounen magazine, it has a relatively slow pace, making the action feel monumental rather than inevitable. In one moment, Fushi is a wolf to lunge at his enemy, and in the next he becomes a massive bear to stomp on them. There's a set-piece with dazzling animation in every other episode; explosions, collapsing buildings, blood, and gore. Studio Brain’s Base has a collection of talented animators, artists, and editors who put their best work into this show. Whether it be time or budget constraints, the art quality becomes more simplified as the series progresses. Even at its least impressive, it stands above the studio's prior works like In/Spectre.

Any anime that succeeds at making me cry has a special place in my heart. This show made me cry… A lot. The first and the twelfth episodes hurt the most because I was emotionally invested in the people Fushi met. The story begins with him meeting a boy who has lived alone in a snowstorm for 5 years, waiting for his family to return. If that sounds sad to you, it gets a lot more depressing. Seeing their goals, aspirations, hopes, and dreams become wasted upon their death shook me. For the main cast, death is a meaningful tool used to evoke catharsis. Some may call it emotionally manipulative, but for me, it works due to the stellar execution. Though you will witness plenty of violence, the artists do not linger on blood or suffering upon an emotional death. Once the moment passes, we see whoever died glowing in the afterlife. Realization sets in that they're gone, and it hits you like a ton of bricks. What happens after that is left to our interpretation. I would go so far as to say the framing is sensitive. Accusations of misery porn have no place in these parts. Personally, I recommend against watching the anime’s opening theme because the visuals contain spoilers all the way until the last episode. If you mistakenly watch it like I did, you’ll find the deaths pretty unsurprising.

I need to praise the voice actors and script for this. Especially Fushi’s VA who went from babbling like a baby at the start to slowly learning the language with a slight stutter. That’s what he needed to sell an alien being transforming from a rock to a fully sentient human. In the first two arcs, the characters felt real. Their dialogue was natural, they reacted to the world believably, and their struggles kept me waiting to see what would happen next episode.

Nothing lasts forever, not life nor To Your Eternity's writing quality: Flat characters, intrusive narration, weak storytelling, hammy dialogue, and forced drama plague the underwhelming second half. For the remaining eight episodes, the surfaces were flat as cardboard cutouts. The show's final arc jammed in a dozen new people with any characterization, and it expects us to remember their names. Even the sensitive portrayal of death I praised became watered down. Using sad music, tears, and afterlife imagery should be used to make a tragic death more impactful, not trick us into caring about a character who had barely any dialogue and no development. That's emotionally manipulative. Despite this, the first two arcs prove that big-budget anime productions can adapt poignant anime in a market that prioritizes adapting generic isekai light novels.

Each chapter of Fushi's journey isn't tied together with an overarching plot. What we have instead is a constant threat of danger, the unpredictable monster chasing after his memories. Around halfway through, we get a vague, amorphous antagonist with unclear motives explained in a tiresome exposition dump. I always appreciated Fumetsu no Anata e for not overcomplicating its high concept premise until it did.

Throughout the whole show, there is a narrator. Around the halfway point, he becomes a visible man who interacts with Fushi. Looking like a cultist, he shows up wearing a black hood whenever Fushi needs guidance, or rather when the story feels like it's time for exposition. The story tends to overcomplicate itself through the narrator; he explains the rules of Fushi's supernatural powers and arbitrarily tells us what the true antagonist's motives are. Fushi could've confronted the antagonist, then discovered its motivations. Or, they could've left that information vague, as it had been. Being spoon-fed lore and character motives feel forced. Eternity has plenty of death and mature themes. Spoon feeding the viewers with exposition in an R-rated show is like a mother feeding a teenager baby food.

Fushi has the mind of an infant at the beginning. Seeing him learn how to be human as the months pass by is compelling. I assumed the whole story would consist of him learning to become human, but that development happens relatively quickly. For the rest of the story, we have a protagonist with a mundane personality. He goes from an intriguing mystery to a heroic traveler. His motives are clear—save whoever his person of interest is at any given time. Due to the spoilers in the opening theme, you sort of know things won't always go as planned. Shortly put: once he gained a personality, I didn't like him. How compelling is a guy whose reason for living is to save people in danger when he's at no risk of dying? Well, "no risk" isn't entirely true. The amorphous antagonist introduced early on threatens to steal Fushi's deceased friends, along with his memories of them. Fearing that Fushi would lose a character I liked kept my interest in the underwhelming final episodes.

To Your Eternity has a truly poignant message at its core; even after we die, the people we leave behind will remember us. Ironically, it is a forgettable show in the end.

Watch it until the Jananda Islanda Arc and it's a masterpiece 10/10.

Spare yourself the pain/anguish/anger/disappointment of going further as well as the following seasons. Just pretend they were never created or existed in the first place.

The format of the review forces me to write more info about the anime, so here it is.
I have watched it fully and S2. I constantly regret my decision. I'll try to erase my memories up to the Jananda Island Arc. I cannot put into words how bad the anime gets. It's like looking at a sex joke made between coworkers on a sheet of toilet paper passed ... between stalls. I still can't believe it was made by the same person/persons. It is mind-numbingly horrific. One of the biggest shocks and disappointments of my life was that such a good idea was pissed and dumped on, for no reason, at all, at least from what I can tell (tho probably someone sold their idea or themselves for money).

That is all.
I have spoken.

P.S.: After (unknowingly) watching the rest of the anime and giving myself free cancer because of that, I can't in good conscience give it 10/10. That's not to say it doesn't deserve it. It only means that I acknowledge the existence of cancer called the Jananda Island Arc and the "ending".