Well, let’s just say for me that watching H2O: Footprints in the Sand wasn’t equivalent to the supposed taste of happiness that H2O describes candy as having, rather it was like the equivalent of sucking on a lemon in hopes of trying to get some sweetness out of it.
Footprints in the Sand introduces us to a blind protagonist, Takuma Hirose, who got enrolled into a new high school in a rural area after certain circumstances. Being blind, Hirose asks what he assumes to be a fellow high school student for directions, who coldly responds so. Once there, Hirose finds himself to be the talk of all the girls in his class, specifically from one who introduces herself as Kagura Hinata, and while ignoring them Takuma notices that student that guided him to school, Kohinata Hayami. But something seems off… Kohinata is highly reclusive and is looked down upon by many of the students in her class, even the teacher at times. Hirose, being a curious person, decides to confront Kohinata several times, only to then be abruptly stopped by some of the students in her class. As Hirose slowly gets more used to his new life in the rural lands, he starts learning more about Kohinata and those surrounding her, starting the beginning of H2O.
Being based on an eroge, H2O is presented as a drama romance with harem elements in a straightforward way. Boy enters high school, every girl in the high school circles him, boy “accidentally” gets in a perverted situation with a girl, boy becomes interested in one girl, drama ensues. H2O is fairly promising in this aspect, as the main girl in question actually seems to be an interesting character, a cold person who distances themselves from others to not get hurt, and the MC himself seems to have something that happened in the past that built some of the ideologies he seemingly has. Likewise, the village in the story and its villagers are rather mysterious as the history of these things is the foundation for the events in the story. All of these things are the set up of what could be a good romance, however, H2O sadly did not use any of the potential it had in a good way.
H2O heavily relies on the use of flashbacks and memories to tell it’s backstories, which is fine and all on its own. What’s not fine is just outright stating what happened without really ever going into exact detail of what happened. Sure, we know that this and that happened, but what caused this and that to even occur? The use of memories, in this case, feels like just a way to just force in the backstories of certain characters, which ends in the said characters lacking any proper depth. An example being Hirose; he has certain motives from his past that don’t fit in with his character in the present, sometimes even straying away from them. Many times will H2O do this to its side characters for a quick jab at the viewer’s heart and to put the main characters in the situations they are in. Some side characters don’t even become relevant anymore, heck one doesn’t even appear after her debut episode. And it doesn’t help that nearly all the backstories are almost exactly the same thing. The only character who’s coherent in this aspect is Kagura Hinata and Kohinata Hayami, but even the latter strays into a hollow shell of their former self to join her fellow cast of cardboard cutouts.
On the development of characters, H2O being a drama uses a ton of drama to create scenes. Portrayed in an unconventional manner, H2O’s drama is commonly done out of the whim of certain characters and by outside forces. Characters will be acting calm one second only to later scream at each other's faces and punching each other the next. Characters will be walking down the road together holding hands only to be stopped by an antagonistic force out of force. The former make the character’s dilemmas feel incredibly cringy, unrealistic, and just as a means for shock value. and the later lacks any of the proper characterization to even make a dramatic scene meaningful. What’s worse though is that characters will develop from the aftermath of the drama only to later cause more drama from the same exact reasons, making the development feel nonexistent, especially in the case of Kohinata near the end of the series. Coupled with an antagonist who is “evil” just because, the drama in H2O feels forced and meaningless.
Speaking of meaningless things, H2O here tries telling us many themes and moral. However, such themes and morals are carelessly juggled around, making H2O a whole mess in that department. H2O tries telling us a story about atonement, acceptance, bullying, legacy, pressure from family, being one’s true self, regrets, so many things and they’re all incoherent. Never once does H2O properly develop its themes with its story, it just throws them around out loud without every really taking much effect. And to make matters worse, H2O tries throwing in inexplicable supernatural phenomenon to make its story having some kind of deep meaning similar to stories past, but utterly fails, coming off as something out of place, especially in the case of the waste that is episode 8. Despite this, H2O doesn’t stop and ends itself by still having some supernatural phenomenon that, I assume is supposed to give me emotional feelings, but just ends up giving me an irritated feeling at the sight of a deus ex machina thing occurring. It just… ruins any sense of realism I’m supposed to feel from its themes…
Overall, H2O: Footprints in the Sand is just another eroge anime adaption that doesn’t end up being anything special in the end. Side characters are underdeveloped, and main characters turn into atrocities after senseless drama. Any theme H2O tries conveying is ruined by its means of storytelling, and it’s ending comes off as sadly unsatisfying and abrupt. H2O is not worth the watch if you’re looking for a good romance or drama, but if you’re looking for a laughable drama or a way to waste time, H2O is a decent choice. That, and it has a pretty damn good trap...
