There are two wishes that humans always want: whether to be RICH or ERASE something regret. Firstly, why they choose “rich” because they want a lot of money, so they can buy anything in this world. Secondly, is “erase” any regrets they did. It’s really impossible to erase anything regrets, about what they did. Now let’s focus on the topic “erase”. We realized that any kind of erasing something regrets, for sure, they want to create something Paradox, of course, they will build a time machine or use some magical power, in order to fix anything in the past. All these things always appear in Anime, Western cartoons and Hollywood films. For example, Men In Black 3, Primer film, X-MEN: Day Of Future Past, The Adventure of Jimmy Neutron, Phineas & Ferb, Edge Of Tomorrow, The Fairly Odd Parents, Family Guy, Steins Gate ETC. In nutshell, every people in this world totally can’t predict their own future and we never know what the future will bring to us, is it good things will happen to us or bad things will happen to us and that’s why “DESTINY” is really a mystery and also people often said that “Yesterday is History, Today is Present and Tomorrow is Mystery”.
“The Days You Were There and My Future” & “The Future Is In Your Hand” that’s what Takano Ichigo Sensei wrote about the literally of ORANGE. Those words are the introduction to the ORANGE manga, I read before. Personally, it would suitable if Takano Ichigo Sensei wrote this phrase “What We Chased After Wasn’t The Future, But The Past So Full Of Remorse & Always Remember, Make it Right Decision Before You Do Something”
Besides, ORANGE is an anime adaptation of the popular manga written by Takano Ichigo. Personally, common stereotypes with the category “Shoujo theme”, for example, include ‘Love’, ‘Tsundere’, ‘Cliché’, ‘Comedy’, ‘Encounter Each Other’ and ‘Misunderstanding Always Happens’. However, Orange is a very different Shoujo story because Takano Ichigo includes an element of Sci-fi (Time-Travel) in the Shoujo manga (WHAT!!! AGAIN!!!) Truthfully, I was fascinated by the realistic location event, decent characters, breathtaking events and beautiful concept of friendship in the ORANGE series. Besides, ORANGE is always brought memorably to me with ANIME I watched previously, such as Ano Hana = One of their friends died; Ao Haru Ride = a similar concept of drama; Mirai Nikki = several of the characters gains the ability to read the future through his personal diary; RAINBOW ~Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin~ = a strong spirit of friendship; Steins Gate = Parallel world.
The thing that most surprised me about this series is how closely it tries to follow each of the chapter Manga and the concept of friendship in the series is really beautiful. The most thing I respect about the series is, they know that bad things will occur to Kakeru. As companions, they always support Kakeru and do not betray each other. That's the value of true friendship shown in ORANGE. (Let’s Burst Our Tears because TEARJECKER IS BACK)
ORANGE: please don’t misunderstand the title. This is just a metaphor. Basically, we can find the Orange meaning in the third episode: “The Orange juice tasted sweet, sour and full of sorrow”, said Takamiya Naho. So the title of “ORANGE” won't tell us about Sad, Pain, Happy, or Confusion all these things are always humans through in daily life. (OK I got it)
I'll start off my review about the situation of the ORANGE series.
Now just imagine, if you have a letter from someone else and then you read a letter about what will happen to you in the future. At the same time, your name is down on the letter which means the only person who writes the letter, it’s you from the future. Fundamentally, the Orange series told us about Takamiya Naho gaining the ability to read the future through her personal letter. Mainly point of this story is Takamiya Naho from the (future), who gives a letter to Naho (present). She’d want to tell her about trying to save someone from the accident and the name of the person, she will save is Kakeru. Can we call it “Opportunity” or “Big Responsibility”? Absolutely, this is a big responsibility because this is about human life. Everyone must think that it's up to Naho (present) to fix everything (Oh no, that’s an Awful Dilemma). In the beginning, the plot is mainly focused on Naho's thoughts and actions. It absolutely shows strong bias and is really difficult for someone who gains this ability can make the right decision. In fact, Naho is not DEUS EX MACHINA.
Thanks to Takano Ichigo Sensei because she has a good idea to make some good development of the story. Hey!!!! Do you guys always hear the phrase “Two Is Better Than One”: For sure, this metaphorical phrase everyone knows about it. Humans are not perfect creatures because no matter who we are; President, Aristocratic Family, Billionaire or Genius Person. We still need help from someone else to achieve great success. Now, I altered this phrase “Five Is Better Than One”. Consequently, the plotline shows a great climax, especially when Naho cooperate with their friend to save Kakeru from disaster. So yeah, Naho and also her friends are like POWER RANGERS and Kakeru is just an ordinary human being who’s in trouble, so Naho & her friends received a mission to save Kakeru from any disaster. That’s some ridiculous imagination I made. At least it doesn’t show that Naho is like a BADASS character who only can save Kakeru and the best thing is all their friends actually got the “Future Letter”. So the conclusion is for the beginning of the series, every character in the ORANGE series, they have thought up some scheme for making Kakeru become their friend and they also know Kakeru will transfer to their school. All the things that happen in the first episode are not a coincidence but this is the master plan done by Naho and their friends. One more thing is Takano Ichigo Sensei decided not let 100% responsibility to Naho to fix everything in the story. If Naho carries all these things, it absolutely will become chaos. Thankfully, the ORANGE series is not a rush story. The medium of the story is quite decent and the characters always calm down to figure out something.
However, the concept of the parallel world always appears in the Time Travel story and I think isn’t something new. Popularized by the overwhelming Steins Gate, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Doraemon & Primer film…… I think is nothing to me to surprise about the medium ORANGE series but what’s making this series called Sci-fi (Time Travel) most people always think where’s the letter coming from??? And what’s the type of machine they used??? Is it like a Machine in Steins Gate or Supernatural like an ERASED? That’s questionable of the story. The answer is they use a black hole to send the letter into the past few years ago BUT HOW COULD it BE???? forget about it. Nevertheless, one of the problems within the narrative is the script is the weak point of the series. Basically, every single script in the series is too much of a spoiler to reveal. To put it simply, the dialogue has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.
Free spoiler for the next paragraph, yay!!
Before I continue to write about their characters, let me help you to get the picture for each characterization act by the cast :
Takamiya Naho – Kind, Decent, Innocent & Naïve
Kakeru – Mystery guy, Pessimistic person & Madness
Suwa Hiroto – Cool guy & Passion
Hagita – Weird, Funny & Cold guy
Azusa – Always cheer for people
Takako – Blunt manner
It seems that the Orange series include a Love triangle. First, Kakeru falls in love with Naho. Another person who falls in love with Naho is Suwa Hiroto. Suwa really loves Naho and he always cares about Naho and always tries to comfort her if anything matters she couldn’t endure it. He’s really kind person and Suwa is not a selfish guy. In fact, Suwa, Hagita, Azusa and Takako always support the relationship between Kakeru and Naho. That’s the good thing he did to their friend. But in another parallel world for the future, Naho and Suwa are married and also not forget they got a baby, such a lovely couple.
The narrative part of the romance backfired several times. Let’s refresh all the elements of the relationship between Kakeru & Naho. Basically, ORANGE want to show us the romantic scene of Kakeru and Naho, but Takano Ichigo created Kakeru in such a manner as to reflect his struggle against depression. Unfortunately, the romantic scene failed in this series because of Kakeru.
Personally, the main issue with the show isn't the story. However, it's the characters, especially Kakeru. Besides, Kakeru is a typical despairing protagonist in the story. In fact, he isn't courageous to change his mindset, or calm, especially when he’s got such a miserable fortune. Truthfully, Kakeru considers himself to be worthless. Unfortunately, Kakeru is the only character who doesn’t have good development. He’s a fragile person and inconsolable. Kakeru always wants Naho to pity him and while this is not necessarily a bad thing. “Arrogant” is another key factor in the relationship between Kakeru & Naho becoming messed up. Sometimes I can’t predict what actually Kakeru want it. In fact, sometimes Naho did some mistake and try to apologize to him. However, Kakeru just acts so cold or ignores her. Seriously, I pitied Naho and I wanted to hit Kakeru afterwards. That’s why I said their relationship backfired. It would be good enough if this story present us with the romantic couple between Suwa and Naho. In addition to that, sometimes Kakeru just gives up and lets Suwa take care of Naho. Besides, Kakeru just pretending he’s a tough guy. In fact, he’s not thinking outside the box, if he lets Suwa take care of Naho, is like a chance for Suwa to make Naho a girlfriend. You can see that Kakeru is really indecisive & pessimistic & ignorant.
ORANGE it’s not merely an adventure of loving someone, it presents us with the reality of post-traumatic stress disorder, especially Kakeru.
Let’s vote for the famous protagonist who has the great grief-stricken :
1. Mabuchi Kou (Ao Haru Ride)
2. Izumi Shinichi (Parasyte)
3. Lelouch (Code Geass)
4. Eren Jeager (AOT)
5. Edward Elric (FMA)
6. Arima Kousei (You Lie In April)
7. Shinji Ikari (NGE)
All these characters are really famous and absolutely their attitude change immediately, from Zero to Hero. How could this happen?? This is because they lose a beloved person, especially their mother. Mabouchi Kou is the one who has the same experience as Kakeru.
Some parents are so worried that they remain in unhappy marriages, believing it will protect their offspring from the trauma of divorce. Next to avoid any horrible things. When Kakeru was young, his mother divorced his father, in order to protect Kakeru from being abused by his father. There’s love from his mother for Kakeru. Whatever mistake we had done, it doesn’t good to drag that thing into our life. What actually we can do is, we must provide a new improvement, in order to heal our remorse. It’s really sad when we know that someone we love, especially our beloved mother committed suicide on the day of the opening ceremony. That’s what happens to Kakeru. I know he feels regret after he ignored his mother's last request. In Kakeru's case, he totally can’t deal with the death of his mother. Grief-stricken and confusion always become nightmares for him. One thing I couldn’t understand about him is why he’s very passionate to commit suicide. The answer is he wants to apologize to his mother in HEAVEN. He couldn’t control his emotion and he become mad and rage. Kakeru wanted to kill himself because he thought he was worthless and he always said “I want to commit suicide” in every single episode. In truth, the same boat to Kakeru would probably be Mabuchi Kou. Inevitable conflict makes him become the worst person. At least Mabuchi Kou is not a crazy person who wants to commit suicide like Kakeru. In my opinion, in order to resolve the matter Kakeru should calm down and always pray good things to his mother and also try to comfort himself, not babbling. Unfortunately, the exact details of Kakeru's death and his mother’s death were never explained, but it was needed. Which is to comprehend the whole story.
So far, Naho is the most characters that have good development. In the beginning, we realized that Naho is just a girl who has a naïve personality and is decent in the series. However, she can alter all her behaviour because Suwa always supports her and the “Future Letter”. Thankfully, in terms of her efforts is something I should be proud of. As we can see she’s never given up on confessing that she really loves Kakeru. For the great climax, Naho managed to persuade Kakure and they become a couple again. In fact, all of them have a great passion to save Kakeru and they did it. Finally, Kakeru become a normal person and he cancels all his passion to commit suicide because he won't have a good time with his friends.########MADNESS GUY
Now it’s time for Art & Sound
The animation for Orange is absolutely stunning, especially their eyes. Crucially, in terms of their “eyes” is really shaft and is absolutely fascinating when you look at them. The OST for the series is pretty decent, one of the best I've heard is the OP song. TMS Entertainment carries out the soundtrack very meticulously for each scene in the series and the harmonious musical instrument they put is quite comfortable. If you listen carefully. You could hear the soundtrack is really harmonious.
Finally,
The element of enjoyment is difficult for me to describe it. Nevertheless, at least I know where the best part of romance in the series. However, the element of romance is quite a melodrama and I think the concept of melodrama is good, it’s kinda similar to Ano Hana and Ao Haru Ride, so Orange is something a mix of stories. If you think Orange is trying to emulate Ao Haru Ride. Totally, you’re wrong. Consequently, the Orange story is an attempt to add a new element and Takano Ichigo wants to use it for attracted us (as spectators). In addition to that, Takano Ichigo might be someone who cares about the “thriller” and she’s realized that so many people seek that element. That’s why she decided to put that element in the Shoujo manga. In order to fulfil people's desires. Truthfully, I hate to admit it but my tears were running down my cheeks because of Kakeru. I always remember what Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory series) said “One Cries Because One Is Sad. For Example, I Cry Because Others Are Stupid And That Makes Me Sad”…….That’s what I feel when I watched the series and it really broke my heart. Precisely, ORANGE resembles Ao Haru Ride and maybe Takano Ichigo & Io Sakisaka are best friends. (I know there are numerous people who disagree with this point of view)
Thankfully, 'ORANGE' Receives Anime Sequel Film on 18 November 2016
