Let me get this straight, as of right now, I enjoy the manga. The latest chapters started spicing things up. However, since the anime adapted such a crappy arc in the first place, there comes no surprise to when I say that I hated the second half of the anime.
Citrus is a Yuri manga that decided to show up after a long time since its announcement. It’s one of those series where you say “fuck it, there’s yuri.”
When I first made my review, I gave it an 8, simply for the fact that I’m biased towards yuri and am basically obligated to watch it for such a reason. But knowing the fact that it goes downhill once the second half begins, just enjoying it for the “yuri” doesn’t become something I say often.
The first half is what you call exceptional, a girl goes to an all-girls school where her mom remarries and her step sister turns out to be someone of important. Thus the encounter captivates her and gives her the green-light to pursue such a love. But can such a love succeed when all Mei can do is use her hands for anything but love. I understand her situation, I get that her only way of communication can be through sexual acts, but when this continues for a long time with little to no change throughout the series, it makes it harder to take her seriously each time.
I appreciate the mature-ish tone that the anime decided to take, but each time they try to make it “impactful,” the actual effect decreases each time they attempt this. I also disliked the fact that they try to drag out the story but putting *ahem* “antagonists.” The first time Matsuri showed up, I was pissed, but thankfully later on she redeemed herself a little bit and became more tolerable. Now when Nana and Sara showed up, oh boy I was attempted to drop the manga there and then. Even though Sara and Nana didn’t stay within the main focus for too long, I just disliked the fact that they’re practically insert characters to prolong the conflict as long as possible.
But of course, not everything about Citrus is bad. The art for the anime looks just about the same as Uta’s drawings, which I do appreciate. The voice acting was superb, each seiyuu fulfilled the role perfectly and captured the feelings no matter the circumstance or situation. The music and opening song were fantastic since I appreciate the stuff nano.RIPE makes. The animation was fine but the CGI near the start of the series was really off-putting. Thankfully, this occurs less as it goes on. Those were really my two cents of the series. I didn’t hate everything about it, but boy did it get annoying to watch later on.
Citrus as an adaptation did well. It followed the panels and it showed almost every detail. Unfortunately they extended scenes that were not needed. Even if it didn’t drive off from the original source, there are things that must not be added. It was quite a shame that it ended off at one of the worst arcs possible, however if you do have the time to read past where the anime ended, then I suggest you would. The manga does get somewhat better, but don’t expect it to be amazing. I am enjoying it thus far now. I do have one pet peeve however, I hated, and I mean hated the way they adapted chapter 8’s kiss scene (out of love). That kiss was one of the best in the manga, and it looked awkward and weird on the anime. That’s just me being picky though.
Citrus succeeded in terms of adaptation, but failed in all other aspects. Although it falls flat, I must say that Saburo Uta did one thing right…
Making Harumin one of the hottest characters in existence.
