"The next Nagi no Asukara?” I can’t tell you how many times I heard this anime advertised as the next smash-hit romantic drama series by PA Works following the monumental success of their previous entry into the genre. As a result, there was a LOT of hype behind this anime among fans of rom-drams. While I can’t exactly call myself a fan of the genre, I couldn’t resist giving the show a try considering that NnA was the best rom-dram I had ever seen. What I got not only didn’t meet these (unreasonable) expectations, but it left me in awe of just how much of a disaster the writers managed to make out of what is one of the most basic concepts in writing: love polygons. Whether it’s the horrible execution of the supernatural elements that the show tries to sprinkle in or the fact that they completely fail to properly introduce us to the characters, Glasslip is just an absolute and undisputed failure.
Synopsis: 6 teenagers are in love, but none of them are in love with each other! Shocking, I know! (The rest of this synopsis is complete guess:) One of them, Touko Fukami, works as a glass artisan and that somehow enables her and a strange boy named Kakeru Okikura to see into the future, I guess?
Now it’s at this point you may be asking yourself: “What the hell do love polygons, glass artistry, and the ability to see into the future have to do with each other?” Well friends, you are not alone in that regard. Nobody has any clue what they have to do with each other because the show doesn't take the time to bloody explain ANYTHING, particularly this whole foresight garbage. Let me make something absolutely clear: writing a romantic drama is not hard. It’s as formulaic as it gets; if you’ve seen one, you can guess the direction and outcome of 90% of the others. Therefore, in order to stand out from the crowd, rom-drams need to add a little something extra in order to be considered noteworthy. NnA had its engrossing and imaginative setting, while Glasslip went for supernatural-future-sight. The only problem is that apparently didn't have the slightest idea of how to incorporate this into the "story" (did this show even have a story?). This is because they completely failed to make this mystery the slightest bit interesting or endearing to the audience. They don't explain a single, and I literally mean one SINGLE element or detail of ANYTHING in the entire show! Particularly not this whole “future sight”. We don’t know how it’s done, we don’t know how many people can do it or why, we don’t know who has the ability to do it, we don’t know what is being seen, we don’t know how far into the future they are looking, we don't know the relevance to the plot, we don’t know a goddamn thing, and that is inexcusable. This is one of the stupidest fucking shows I've ever seen. Slowly unraveling a mystery is one thing, but they just butchered the execution by completely confusing their audience and refusing to clarify even the most basic details. The worst part is that the basic love-polygon drama of the show is also terribly executed, contrived and confusing. I don't know who wrote the script for Glasslip, but that person should never work in the industry again. Either I'm watching a bad translation, or this anime has the worst script since Fate/Stay Night's "People die when they are killed". When such a simple concept is so unbelievably hard to follow, you know that you are doing something terribly wrong. To wrap it up: It's hard to imagine a possible way that the plot could be any worse than it ended up. Glasslip's "plot" is as bad as it gets; it's a complete joke.
While the plot may have been botched, the characters are where this anime truly and utterly fails. This anime made the unwise and downright stupid decision to jump right into the drama without taking the time to introduce us to the characters. The result? Nobody cares about anything that is happening. Guy #1 loves Girl #1, but nobody cares. Girl # 2 loves Guy #1, but nobody cares. Guy #3 loves Girl # 3, but nobody cares. Girl # 1 loves chickens (?), but NOBODY. FUCKING. CARES. The main character, Touko, is literally the only character that isn’t one-dimensional, but she is CERTAINLY no saving grace (she might have some sort of mental disability). This show betrays the very basics of story-telling 101: “If the audience doesn’t know who the characters are, they don’t care what happens to them”. For a rom-dram, this is arguably the worst mistake that can possibly be made because these kinds of shows are VERY character driven. In Glasslip, the audience could care less if, say, Guy #3 died in a fire next episode, so how are we supposed to care about if he gets a girlfriend or not? Additionally, the character chemistry is awful. We are supposed to get the idea that the main characters are all close friends, and yet they are only shown together in about 3 episodes. Really, it is just truly baffling how awful the execution of this show is.
In conclusion, Glasslip is a complete disaster. Sure, it has a beautiful OST and pretty visuals, but those are not even close to enough to save this catastrophe from the bowels of shitty rom-drams. Glasslip doesn't know how to use a fucking plot device, it doesn't know how to introduce characters, and it doesn't even know how to write a basic love polygon. Needless to say, I don’t recommend this show to anyone. It's garbage. My god it's garbage.
