I've slowed down watching anime for the last couple of months, that thing called life eventually caught up with me and, after feeling completely burned out with the medium through binging Monogatari, Orange has been a really good pick-me-up that I started watching when it started airing and eventuall trailed off, only just finishing it more than two months after it's final episode aired.
Although I've watched it at a slower pace than any shows before, I've felt as invested in Orange as I have for some of my favourites to come before it. I was very excited when this show was announced, I absolutely adore Kana Hanazawa in everything I've heard her in so far, and the fact she was one of the leads in a less surreal drama, and because I thought the basis for the show was actually very sophisticated, albeit teetering on both slight surrealness from it's time travel element and not a whole lot of originality, I was excited nonetheless.
To say I feel disapointed would be an extreme, to say I expected this to be perfect would be too, however it definitely falls short of the easy 9/10 I expected it to achieve, even after the first episode. Unfortunately it falls shortest on the merits I was expecting it to hit it out of the park with, it's story and main characters. Yes I've given characters a 9/10, but that's because the supporting cast is absolutely brilliant in every single way. It's only the main characters, Naho and Kakeru that stop me from giving this point a perfect score. Spend a few minutes in an episode review halfway through the show and everyone will agree how Naho is so unrealistically dense, shortsighted, and... well to put it plainly she couldn't do or say more stupid shit in the space of 13 episodes if she tried. It doesn't become quite apparent until episode 3 or 4 (with 1 and 2 easily being the best episodes of the show), but she really is almost dangerous levels of dense, and unfortunately this doesn't stop until right up to the end of episode 12. I love Naho as a person, as a character, she's cute, shy and endearing, sometimes I just wanna scoop her up and hug her, sometimes even when she is being blindingly simple. It is an annoying trait, that for most has lessened their enjoyment of the show overall. While I agree it is a valid point, I can see through it because as hopeless as she may seem, Naho's intentions are only ever the best for everyone around her. She has a heart of pure gold, but the brain of a chimpanzee.
Kakeru on the otherhand is a slightly more complex type of 'weak character'. He's definitely a bit of an asshole at times, and the show doesn't explain why untill it's too late (again, episode 12). This lead to me and rather a lot of other viewers not being able to fully sympathise with Kakeru, even though we all knew that he was very depressed, and why. I wanted to sympathise with Kakeru so badly, but he just made himself out to be selfish, closed off and not open to any form of friendship or help, going so far as to slap Naho's hand away when she reaches for him. It makes it almsot impossible to feel sorry for the guy, even though I knew what he was going through, and as dense as Naho is, he was an ass for most of second half of the show. Only after ep 12 was it that I finally understood and started being able to understand why he was the way he was, by then it was pretty much too little too late. That's the thing with Orange, it started off so well, and to be honest it finished very well too, but the middle made me want to put my head through my monitor.
This isn't just down to the main pair though, the show just felt kind of slow and lifeless through much of the middle. There weren't really any ups and downs, just Mrs Dense and Mr Asshole being more dense and more of an asshole. By no means were they unentertaining though, and this is where my reasoning for giving character s a 9 comes in, the supporting cast kept this show going throughout the rocky middle. It's rare that supporting characters come across as anything than an extra story mechanic, but in Orange, they are the lifeblood of the show for the most part, breaking up the monotomy of Naho's and Kakeru's scenes. Hagita and Azu bring the comedy, and it always feels like a very natural kind of banter you'd have with YOUR friend group too, teasing, being nosy, sarcasm, the works, and actually the duo actually have a romantic flicker of their own going on, and although it's never explicitly explored, at times it felt more interesting than the main pair's love story. Suwa is the kind of friend everybody wants, a bro until the very end, at times even lambasting Kakeru for his behaviour, but always in a caring and loving way, after all he knows what is at stake too. Takako completes the friendship group, a stunning dark haired girl who is incredibly mature for her age, grounds the group in reality when things start teetering off the edge of sanity, but like Suwa, does so because she cares for her friends in a very realistic way, she is definitely the more maternal figure of the group, but never misses the opportunity to tease Hagita or Naho.
Sadly, even the excellent support cast couldn't quite save the story from it's rocky middle. The show as a whole, yes, but the story as an isolated component, no.
One thing that stood out to me in this show however, was the voice acting and and music. What an excellent performance by every VA. Conversations felt natural, like talking to your friends at lunchtime in school. The show isn't afraid of having characters talk over each other, and although it's a little hard to follow with subs, it SOUNDS very natural, and for that I applaud it. This is drama voice acting done as well as it could be done. Not forgetting the music of the show, Orange has a sublime soundtrack, wonderful string arrangements fill scenes with a magic that quite frankly elevates the already brilliant voice acting. The OP and ED are both good, but forgettable. Although they represent the show well, like the music in the episodes, they don't serve as much of a purpose. I still let them play everytime though.
Art in Orange is a funny one, because again it mirrors the whole 'great at the start and end', but again in the middle it feels lazy at points, something others noticed too. The first episode was absolutely stunning, a feast for the eyes is an understatement. Episode 2, again, a lush episode that really brings everything to life. Then after that it's almost standard shoujo candy art. Apparently the art budget for each episode did get smaller and smaller, and boy does it show. Such a shame that it couldn't at least keep up the wonderful backgrounds of the first two episodes, although there are the odd shots (especially in the future segments) that do catch the eye every now and then and capture that beauty of the earlier art.
Orange, then, is definitely worth a watch. Although I haven't explicitly said it yet, I loved Orange. It was, for the most part, a beautiful but distressing look into depression and suicide, friendship and communication, love and loss. Ignore the silly time travel mechanic and we have here a great little show that does exactly what it sets out to do, in that it shouts at you to cherish the friendships you have and grasp the opportunity to make a friend smile. Even if it does take 13 episodes to achieve it.
