(There will be some SPOILERS in my review)
[Story]: (8/10)
Orange was one of my most hyped anime of Summer 2016. I'm a real sucker for Romance and I'll pretty much watch any anime that has a tag Romance in it (Except harem shows that also has a tag Romance) even though I'm starting to get burnt out of the genre (That doesn't mean I'm starting to hate the genre) but the Romance nor the Drama wasn't the only reasons why I was hyped for this anime. It was the "Sci-Fi" element. The future self of the main character sending a letter to herself in the past, which was the present in the show's main timeline. I thought it was an interesting take on the Romance genre and I wanted to see how it plays it out. I have to say that, for the most part, I was not disappointed.
The story of the series is about Naho receiving a letter to herself claiming that the writer is herself but 10 years in the future. Future Naho claims that she must watch over Kakeru, as he's no longer with them, and fix all the mistakes that her future self did and to erase any regrets that her future self has.
The romance aspect of Orange wasn't really anything ground breaking. It's also not that complicated. It's a simple love story between Naho and Kakeru but with a few hiccups here and there. Though, I have to say, that Naho and Kakeru barely did any work for them to get together. It was mostly the side characters helping them get together. The Sci-Fi element on the other hand was decent. It wasn't bad but it wasn't impressive either. The reason why I don't really give that much shit about Orange's "Sci-Fi" aspect is because it's fairly obvious that the Sci-Fi aspect wasn't really the show's main focus but rather, it focuses more on the romance/drama side of the show and the characters, especially Naho's struggle to live her high school life while getting a bunch of letters from her future self and making sure that Kakeru is doing a-okay.
The dramatic aspect of the show was done exceptionally well and I think that's an understatement because I can't find a better word to explain how the staff did a great job with Orange's drama. In my opinion, it's right up there with Your Lie in April. Anyways...At first, I was expecting the show to make me cry (Based on the source's material high score) but I WASN'T expecting to get this emotional after watching just a couple of episodes. Seriously, after watching 2 episodes of Orange, I was already teared up twice. I honestly can't count how many times I got emotional before the final episode. One of the major themes of the show that got me really emotional was Depression and Regrets.
As someone who actually noticed (up close and personal) one of my family members (My Aunt, to be more specific) suffering through depression, I have to say that Orange's portrayal of Kakeru's depression was absolutely spot on. When my aunt was suffering through depression, I'd always question her behaviour (She was getting mad at me randomly) and since I was just 12 at that time, I didn't know what she was going through. Most of the time, I was being insensitive and looking back at the events, it's fairly obvious that she was putting a fake smile when she's playing with me. Seeing Kakeru suffering through depression reminded me of those days and I was able to connect with this show, emotionally. When people say that "Kakeru is just a pussy who's always on the verge of suicide", I just view them as a bunch of ignorant dumbfucks who hasn't experienced depression personally or someone in their family members hasn't experienced it and they just don't understand how it feels. Since this is a review and not my personal life story, I won't write everything that happened to her or why she was even depressed to begin with.
As for the show's portrayal of regrets. That was also well done. That was the main reason why the letters exist. Their future selves regrets not being able to save Kakeru. You're also going to see a whole lot more regrets from Kakeru as the show goes on.
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[Art/Animation]: (8/10)
"Episode 1-8's Animation Quality: 9/10"
"Episode 9-13's Animation Quality: 6.5 - 8/10"
That's how I'll sum up my thoughts on the show's Animation Quality. Now the long version. The first 8 episode's of Orange has one of the best Visuals/Art/Animation Quality I have ever seen. It reminded me of Your Lie in April. The character designs felt a bit weird at first, especially with how their faces look like compared to your average anime character designs, but I got used to it. As for the Animation Quality in Ep. 9 and so on, the quality dipped for whatever reason. Time Constraint? Budget Issues? I really have no idea but it looked bad. The art looked somewhat worse and the character designs looked derpy as fuck. The quality did improve on the 12th and 13th episode but it wasn't the same as it did in the first 8 episodes.
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[Sound]: (7/10)
The show's soundtrack were ok. None of them were bad but none of them were great either. They were completely average, at best. Now the OP and ED theme song(s)
The OP theme song is "Hikari no Hahen" by Yu Takahashi and the ED theme song is "Mirai" by Kobukuro. Whoever's the fan of these songs, I'm sorry to say this but I completely hated both the OP and ED theme songs. I did not like the singers and their voices. I have nothing more to say.
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[Characters]: (8.5/10)
The main character, Naho Takamiya, is the reason why I held off my rating to 8. Well, that and the bullsh*t reason they gave us as to how the letters were getting sent back to the past. It honestly felt like a kid came up with the idea. At least they explained how the time mechanics here work, something that a lot of anime these days tend to ignore for whatever reason. Anyways, back to the MC. At the earlier parts of the show, Naho was an acceptable character. She wasn't too great but she wasn't a bad character either. She's the kind of person that you'd want to cheer for just to save Kakeru.
That's how I felt for the first 8 episodes. After episode 9 and so on, my opinions on Naho was gradually changing each and every episode. I couldn't believe how dense this character was. On episode 8, I thought she already confessed her feelings to Kakeru but on episode 9 and the future episodes, she was still acting like some pure, innocent and shy girl who just recently met him. She can't even hold his hands without acting like some idiot. Appearantly, in the manga, there was a monologue from Naho explaining why she was acting that way but they didn't adapt her crucial monologue from the manga which would have explained why she was acting like that and instead, she came off as some dense character. She's in high school, for god's sakes. There's no way she's THAT dense. I read the manga after watching the anime and I have a different opinion of her compared to the anime version but I'm not going to write it in this review.
Next up is Kakeru Naruse. Two realistic characters in one season? (You can guess who's the other realistic character that I'm talking about). Geez, am I still watching anime? Anyways, Kakeru is one of the most character character I have ever seen, in terms of the way he acted. Kakeru suffers from depression and he likes to deal with his problems alone rather than telling his friends because if he gets his friends involved (like he did in the past), he believes that they're going to think he's lying or they're just going to blow him off. That's completely understandable because only a few people would get involved with someone's personal problems like Kakeru. His portrayal of depression is spot on and the moment that led to his suicide was absolutely believable. I would've probably done the same thing because I wouldn't be able to bear with that much regret.
Now the side characters of the series, Chino Takako, Hagita Saku, Azusa Murasaka and Hiroto Suwa. Here's my opinion about them. They are one of -- if not -- the best group of friends I have ever seen in my entire life. I've had a different variety of friends from Elementary to High School and they don't even come close to these great side characters. Not even my best friends. If I were in Kakeru's shoes, I highly DOUBT my friends would go through this much trouble just to help me get better. They're going to believe that my parents are going to be there for me or I'm going to be able to solve it on my own. Even though they're just side characters and got little to no character development, they're still an enjoyable cast. They made such an impact to the story that it makes it hard for me to believe that they're just side characters. Suwa is best guy for me because of all the things that he did in the show that thoroughly impressed me and Hagita and Azusa are one of my favourite characters because they are hilarious.
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[Enjoyment]: (8.5/10)
I really enjoyed Orange despite a few bumps on the latter parts of the series. It was like an emotional rollercoaster ride for me. It made me laugh, it made me cry and I even connected with this series, on an emotional and personal level.
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[VERDICT]
"Orange" was one of my most hyped anime in Summer of 2016 because it's a romance show and the "Sci-Fi" aspect piqued my interested. While the show wasn't as great as I wanted it to be, due to the latters parts of the series hitting a few bumps and was quite shaky, it still turned out to be a really good romance show. The realistic portrayal of Kakeru's Depression and his regrets and the side characters was, honestly, the saving grace of the show. Naho almost killed the show for me but she redeemed herself at the end. Mostly...
[OVERALL]: (8.3/10)
Pros:
+Realistic Depiction of Kakeru's Depression and his regrets
+Still a good romance show despite a few bumps in the latter parts of the series
+Great Art/Animation Quality in the first 8 episodes
+Great casts of characters, especially the side characters
Cons:
-Naho can be irritating to watch after episode 8
-Dip in Art/Animation Quality after episode 8
-Unlikable OP and ED theme song
