PS : Yes, the law regarding adopted children varies from one country to another, some perceive it as incest, some don’t – just pointing out since I’ve seen both sides being claimed as some sort of absolute truth – in case of Japanese law, it isn’t considered as incest, so the product itself isn’t incest, but it is perfectly normal that for inhabitants of other countries it is perceived as such.
PPS : No, the rating has nothing to do with it being male on male or young/old, I was fully aware what I was getting into from the title to the poster to the synopsis ; my reason for trying it out was because I was positively surprised to see such an Anime with such a high rating on MAL, so I was really curious to try it out. You’re curious to know why then ? Welp, let’s keep it short, shall we ?
Art :
First of all, let’s start with the only quality of this show : its art. The art is consistent for the most part, except episodes 8 and 9 where there’s a perceptible drop, but it is never dramatic. One complaint I’d formulate, though, is the overuse of “sparkles” or “stars” to emphasis the “prettiness” of a scene, it’s so used it becomes funny after a while. Overusing anything tends to have that effect.
Soundtrack :
While it isn’t bad, there’s one soundtrack for one tone and with a constant tone shift, you end up hearing the same soundtracks several times per episodes, to the point it can sound redundant and lose all its charm, or even become tiring.
Characters :
With only 10 episodes and the show being closer to a resume of the manga rather than a proper show, most characters remain stereotyped and aren’t particularly explored. They may have more or less strong traits, but it never goes further. The same can be stated for the two protagonists. While it is obvious they are supposed to evolve over the years, the nature of the show makes it rather hard. While there’s no distinct evolution regarding Haru, Ren gets through slight changes, but it is hard to pin point a proper process with the writing constantly jumping from one thing to another and its numerous ellipses.
Story :
When the first episode of a show feels like the equivalent of an entire season, you can already foresee that the rest of the show will be a marathon in terms of pacing. And that’s not a compliment. I understand 10 episodes isn’t much and they wanted to cover as much of the manga as possible – apparently the pacing is slower and it takes time to develop its elements – but a show isn’t supposed to be a resume of another medium, it has to stand as its own.
The plot points are so quick one after the other, the ellipses so numerous, that there’s little time left for elements to sink in and the tone shifts are so severe you go from one extreme to another and the positive as the negative feel overdone. (and here I speak of the story, not a character being overdramatic, which is fundamentally different) Good writing consists of ups and downs, yes, but repeatedly being on the extreme and too close to one or another is misunderstanding that basic concept.
Lastly – yes, I did say I’d keep it short – but the last episode is problematic. Its cliffhanger is immediately shattered by the aftercredits. ….Do the people who wrote this know how a cliffhanger works ? Hahaha, there was 0 reason for the narrative closure to feature that element if it’s broken in an epilogue (it’s too consequent to call it a simple extra). ^^’
Entertainment :
I was amused at times, though, since it’s a theme that makes me uncomfortable outside pornography I was more than once off-put, especially in the forelast episode. I liked most characters, though considering the way females are portrayed more than once I question the unwanted potential reading that can be done. Well, at least I hope it’s unwanted.
On the same unwantedness…Haru’s attitude which can very easily be perceived as...abusive. No, I don’t think it was the aim of the show, I think it wanted to be fun, lighthearted and cute with “sometimes” a bit of drama, but the way he acted and made Ren believe his actions are normal, kept repeating them and pushed himself on him (metaphorically and literally) is….er, let’s just say that such a situation IRL would lead Haru in prison and that the kid or teenager would be taken in charge by a psychologist for probably a few years. Anything but a funny or positive situation. And that thought – while I knew this is a fiction not taking this consideration at all, backed up by the fact in the end of the day no one ever thinks of it as damaging for Ren – always lured in the back of my mind. Now, of course, it’s just this theme that I have issues with, it doesn’t mean others have to have it and I don’t mind all those not having it, after all there are other themes who don’t bother me at all, some form of incest, for example, when it’d bother others. To each their own, and as long as the difference between reality and fiction is kept, there’s no issue to withhold.
