If you haven’t watched the show yet and want a summary, ‘Orange’ is a 13 episodes long show that revolves around a group of school friends made out of 3 girls, 2 guys and a boy named Kakeru who has just trasfered into their school. All pretty clichèd, so far. The novelty in this scenario is the fact that one of the girls (Naho, the protagonist) receives letters from her 10-years-in-the-future self. Future Naho reveals she has a lot of regrets she wished she could go back in time to erase. One of them, is not being able to save Kakeru.
From here the plot unwinds through Naho’s struggles with following the detailed indications contained in the letters and attempts to fulfill them successfully.
The rhythm of the narration is really slow, probably slower than what might be necessary, sprinkled with flashbacks and reminders/explaination concerning the plot. The slow flow is not totally unpleasant, it gives a nice feeling of the rich, slow flow that good slice of life works give, but at times it can be fairly boring. But it’s a fair price to pay for the absence of filler episodes.
A great part of the animation rings around the emotivity and the emotional sphere of the characters, although, as much as their feelins are clearly depicted, no time is dedicated to the actual analisis of these feelings, resulting in a very diluited character development. The protagonists often have the time to face their emotions, but never seem to properly learn how to.
Despite these little flaws, I really liked the way flash forwards and flash backs were sprinkled through the plot, offering the chance for the audience to stop and reflect more on the implications of what’s going on in the main time line. I also appreciated how the characters themselves had questions on whether or not changing the past or travelling through time is possible or not, I wasn’t expecting actual scientific theories to be brought up, albeit the fairly unrealistic discussions the characters have about them.
The best aspect of ‘Orange’ is undoubtedly the way it dealt with heavy topics, such as death, suicide and depression. There’s a deep, reverential -almost elegant- delicacy with which these themes are brought into an almost overly sunny, light-hearted school life, without creating a disturbing contrast nor taking serious matters too lightly. There’s a somewhat poetic realism in the way the suffering of one’s soul is described.
Mark: 8/10
Characters
The design of the characters is rather plain, but not at all distasteful. For once I’ve appreciated the absence of crazy-coloured hair protagonists, overly prosperous female characters and/or other overly clichèd features that occur way too often in anime. ‘Orange’ has more realistic characters, more easilly comparable to actual highschool students.
Personality wise, they all have fairly distinct ones from one another, all oriented towards a more realistic characterization, although at times more stereotypical features shine through. The only not stereotypical yet irrealistic aspect I detected in them, is how good and selfless they all are. I was happy not to see the usual moody teen-age highschool characters of the usual school dramas for once, but I started getting the feeling that it’s more than just a bit unrealistic not to expect at least some emotional breakdowns from them, as it is natural to happen in that stage of life. Save the really dramatic moments, the general atmosphere of ‘Orange’ is good vibes and light-hearted school life.
While they are all individually fairly well written, their group dynamic doesn’t quite escape the clichèd anime group dynamic, which is not as great as a defect as much as the unbalaced weight given to every single character in the plot. The main characters are undoubtedly Naho, Kakeru and Suwa, while Takako, Azusa and Saku are clearly put more in the background. With many characters it is understandably difficult to let everyone have the same importance or relevance to the plot as the others, yet in this case the discrepancy between each character’s presence in the narrative is large. While Naho and Kakeru stand out clearly in their role of protagonists -and, a little later on, Suwa in his role of primary character-, Takako, Azusa and Saku are almost useless to the development of the plot, not quite playing the part of helpers or obstacles. As the shows goes on, their role acquires relevance but their presence continues to be marginal. Furthermore, the two girls -Takako and Azusa- don’t even seem to have an indipendent presence of their own, as they always appear on screen together and never on their own -except one exception in which Azusa shares her screentime with Suzu-. The latter shares his screen time with several other characters but he is definitely the one who appears less on screen. Their overall irrelevance left me wondering whether or not these three characters were really necessary or not.
The worst flaw I’ve detected is Naho’s plain, barely exsistent -if not at all- personality. She has to be the most unappealing protagonist I have ever seen in a long while. As the story goes on, it is possible to notice a slight hint of character development, which is very armonious and very welcome, but still not enough to completely redeem the girl from her sheer, annoying tastelessness. Seeing her just standing around, wide eyed and incapable to fend for herself nor take initiative is just really distressing to watch.
Mark: 6/10
Animation
The animation is smooth and natural, with no space for comic reliefs chibi moments nor any alteration to the art style used as a narrative device. Nothing weird, but nothing exceptional either. The shading is almost always present although quite simple. The colours are very natural and very well used to transmit the idea of atmospherical conditions -from a sunny spring day, to a gloomy autumn morning to a late evening moment indoors. The animation quality is lower at times but nothing too visually disturbing.
Mark: 7
Overall mark: 7/10
Despite its little imperfections, I enjoyed the vibes of Orange. It’s a good watch when in need for something chill but still touching emotionally involving. For me, watching it was a good cocktail of frustration and tenderness, and the ending surprises withouth dissapointing.
If you’re willing to watch a show that takes it slow and brings you in a tranquil, plausible high school envirorment, if you’re ready to get sad, happy, slightly annoyed and worried, if you’re willing to let 6 incredibly good-hearted characters make you feel like getting better it’s possible, then definitely give this show a shot. You’ll find out that Orange is a fitting title for this bittersweet anime.
