Jan 26, 2014
Ok, first, a straight, young guy talking here. I've watched this anime in about two days, about 6 episodes per day. That's how captivating this anime was for me. It's probably the highest number of episodes of an anime I've ever watched in such a short time, but anyways, let's get to the actual review:
I am aware of all the hating coming from one side of the anime community, I mean, I hate fanservice myself. But firstly: I usually am capable of ignoring it if the story/action/characters of the anime are good; and secondly: interestingly enough I didn't have much of a problem with the
...
fanservice in this show, i.e. girl- or gay-oriented fanservice. Being able to simply laugh at the gayish scenes made this anime kind of more enjoyable to me. In fact, that's probably the best proof that I'm heterosexual (not that there is any problem with being gay or of any other sexual orientation, never).
Regarding the story, until about the first 4 or 5 episodes I thought it was ok, simple, but still good, amusing and catching, while including a lot of clichés or tropes, but that's ok. The cool thing is that it is still done very professionally and high quality-like. Using a cliché isn't bad in itself, but there are ways of doing it well and ways of doing it wrong, this show does it splendidly, IMO. The scenes are kind of predictable and unpredictable at the same time: you guess what is going to happen, still you are amazed at how good it is performed. But entering the second half of the series... it still goes perfectly in the line of what has happened before, it just gets way more gripping and intense. [SPOILER ALERT] Seeing the protagonists entering in professional competitions and understanding the feelings of the characters (which, again, is done so well) really awakens that sports-spirit inside you. [SPOILER ALERT END] The relationships among the characters also brings back that old topic of "valuing true friendship" (again, another cliché), which, IMO, is one of the most important matters in general, be it in an anime, movie, reallife-story... But let's get to the character development.
Without including the time of when the characters are kids or small teenies, the actual story lasts for MoL 2-3 seasons/ half a year. If you distribute this among 12 episodes, it's pretty obvious that you can't afford too much character development. Still, I really enjoyed the personalities of each of the main characters (including the girls and EXCLUDING Nitori), as they were all quite different, yet complementing each other. [SPOILER ALERT] It's no secret that I specially liked the development between Haru and Rin, and also the backstory of Rin's father (the tragedy during the tsunami). [SPOILER ALERT END] Repeating this for the one thousandth time, they were no unique or revolutionizing types of character, but they were very enjoyable (and that's the most important thing to me).
In terms of Art and Sound I can only say that both are outstanding. The animations are at the peak of what the anime industry could deliver during the time of the release and specially "the diving in the water" and, of course, the bodies of the characters are just beautiful (I am aware that this might sound gayish, but damn do I wish to have their bodies xD). Both the opening and the ending fit the anime very well and during the 12 episodes I almost always listened to them (if I didn't it was for the simple reason that I couldn't wait to see what would happen next). The OST is probably the only reason why the "sound" section didn't make it to a "10". It's in no way bad, but it just didn't have any special track for me to remember. Be it an epic, a sad or a serious song, they all are good, but no track in the OST actually made me want to search it up on YT.
In conclusion: To me, there were only a few minor things that annoyed me at some points, though nothing which the rest of the show couldn't make me forget. For the rest, I can confidently say that I'm happy I got to watch this anime as it made me laugh a lot while still following an interesting, emotional and exciting storyline, and coming to remember the vital importance of things like sports and friendship.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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