When you sit down to watch H2O: Footprints in the Sand, you might have a few ideas on what it is about. Whether you were offhandedly recommended it by a friend, or read a synopsis of the story online and thought it was interesting, this show will confuse you and humorously throw you through a spin cycle that will have you doubting reality from fiction. In that regard, H2O is extremely psychological, but instead of doing it in a horrifying way akin to the thriller genre, it blatantly shoves unrealistic events in your face, and doesn't bother to tell you until later. It truly exploits a backwards style of narrative, by throwing you straight into plot changes, and then explaining them later in short flashbacks. It truly had me thinking, "wait, when did this happen, did I miss something?", but being the patient viewer I am, it eventually turned itself around.
Aside from the narrative style, the story itself is actually quite good. You may have to get past some of the more generic scenes and character representations, but if you give H20 a chance, it will definitely find a way to charm you. The beginning of the story is filled with mystery, given that our lead protagonist, Takuma Hirose, is a transfer student who at the start of the series is blind (and therefore knows nothings of whats around him). What's more, he is visited with a young girl named Otoha, a spirit who proclaims that he is some sort of chosen one. What he is chosen to do is not quite explained, but it leaves you wondering just what will happen the episodes to follow. Then about halfway through, the story slips out of its mysterious garments, and prepares itself for the inevitable romance that is bound to blossom, and I can't say it disappoints.
But the story isn't why I would suggest anyone watch H2O. Since I feel that enjoying it requires some amount of patience, and if you stick with it, it does reward you with some very touching scenes. Still, you get the same feeling you do while watching most school anime, and there are probably some cliches that cling awkwardly to the plot as well. The fact that there's really only one true male character among the students (I say that given that the other male in the group is sort of...strange), literally turns H2O into a pseudo harem. There's a princess Tsundere type girl who indeed has her hair tied up in twin tails, and there's a dark haired girl and blonde hair girl, and their personalities could be plucked from a grab bag of generic characters.
This is where I must raise a valid point, however. If you look beyond the characters as they appear, and begin to analyze the events that drive their personalities, you'll discover what I believe is the most redeeming quality of this anime. I wouldn't necessarily call it character development, since they don't exactly change throughout the story, but rather, their lives are unveiled to the viewers bit by bit, and that helps explain their individual situations. Going by comments I have seen throughout viewing this, most people tend to hate Hinata in the beginning, but after time they ultimately forgive her. I have to applaud any show that manages to redeem its characters from episode to episode, by transforming animosity into sympathy.
I found joy in watching the subtle actions of the characters.I feel that if you pay close enough attention to what they say, and how they act as time moves on, the protagonists are quite likable. Sadly, the same cannot be sad for the support characters, who slowly fade into the distance, and really never served much of a purpose expect to be "the other students in the class". The antagonist of the story, however, definitely fulfills his role, and is perhaps the only reason the series has 12 episodes, instead of 9. My analysis of the characters may be a bit skewed, however. (Since I want to offer a fair review, you may find the characters a bit more generic than I did, simply because it is my nature to be insightful towards character personalities.)
Overall, I gave this series a 7/10, which is true to the words of the grade. It's good. There isn't exactly a clear way for this to get better, however. The school life cliches done in other series drag on this in my opinion; the panty shots, bath scenes, beach episode, go to town episode, and so forth doesn't really fit with the psychological drama the show really wants to convey. I may be presumptuous in assuming what the show intends to offer, but I felt a bit put off by this mixture of traditional and modern motifs clashing together. Yet it has just enough sense to keep its pristine and beautiful scenes separated from the lost humor and nonsensical dream-like sequences that appear every once and a while, and the leading roles are fantastic.
If you decide to try out H20: Footprints in the Sand, I suggest you bring some extra patience with you. Sometimes an episode won't make sense until the end. I also suggest you watch the last episode until after the credit rolls, it will probably change your thoughts on the ending somewhat.
