ABOUT THE OCEAN/ART:
8/10
But that's the thing... this isn't really about the ocean. It's about some other similar environment.
This anime break too many rules in order for me to believe that they are actually underwater.
I'd love to believe it but the immersion was broken from such things as:
Crying underwater, Fire underwater, Talking underwater, Hair not being "floaty", Drinking fluids underwater, etc.
I know some of these are needed for the plot and whatnot but it really takes away from what it's trying to portray. They did do a few things right but all of these weigh against it.
Now it did look really nice, it was gorgeous to look at. But if you look at one scene without any context you couldn't tell if they were underwater or not. And that is a serious flaw.
They made above and below water so similar that it didn't even seem like there was a difference.
Sure, there were some interesting plot development due to it and some world building (I enjoy the Ena [how they breathe underwater] idea and all that is required to sustain being above the surface) but you could pretty much change the ocean to the air and still have the same anime.
There wasn't really anything to solidify that it was the ocean. It was almost like a different village in the country instead of a different village in a whole new environment.
Now I am being a bit harsh, it was still underwater and the plot had a lot to do with that fact but the way it looked was too similar to the above ground.
Was well animated though and beautiful to look at. I find myself questioning if I should rank higher than 8 but I feel like the portrayal of the ocean does add some negatives.
CHARACTERS:
7/10
While I did like some of them and the interactions were really nice, I found it a little unbelievable that everyone liked one of the characters when he seemed like a tool. He later proved himself to be more but they didn't do a good job of introducing him as someone who is likable.
The interactions though are pretty great. Although some of the reactions are very silly but that comes with the genre.
SOUND:
8/10
I only remember one song from the show clearly and it was pretty good. Nothing spectacular but there was a nice variety of instruments like piano, strings and whatnot. Pretty enjoyable.
STORY:
6/10
This is not my favorite genre. I don't generally like this genre and as a result the story gets a low mark. It probably isn't a bad story comparatively to others of the same genre but it wasn't for me.
A lot of Love > Everything logic that ruins it for me. And there was the addition of magic and gods and that all had a big part of the story too and I feel like it just muddied things up.
I guess it made it more dramatic and gave a serious issue but I never found myself too enthralled.
ENJOYMENT:
6/10
Probably wouldn't watch again and the rewatch value isn't that great.
What really killed it I think was all the little things that just made everything seem fake.
Had they been more convincing that they were in fact underwater I might have enjoyed it but all the time watching that was bothering me.
TL;DR, Not my genre but I love the ocean. This is not an accurate and realistic portrayal of the ocean.
6/10
