Mizuiro Jidai is such a pure and heartwarming coming of age anime. The story focuses on our protagonist Kawai Yuuko who is a friendly yet sometimes clumsy girl figuring out who she is as she lives out her last year of middle school. Throughout the series, we see how she forms relationships with her best friends and childhood friend who soon becomes her love interest. The art is very 90's and the soundtrack is soft and soothing, fitting for the series.
The show tackles topics that I believe stay relevant even after the 'Aqua Age' of adolescence. There's an episode where Yuuko gets stuck in the middle of a fight between two of her friends Takako and Miyuki, and the audience watches Yuuko struggle to please both of them. In another episode, Yuuko gets her period and you see her friends being supportive and helpful. Plus, her childhood friend Hiroshi even chimes in with uplifting words at the end of the episode. One of my favorite episodes was actually one where everyone in the friend group started fighting with each other. It felt so real and reminded me of the times I too felt frustrated with my friends
This is a great anime to watch if you want something simple and nostalgic. Watching Mizuiro Jidai made me miss the days of being just a student surrounded by friends daily, slowly taking steps towards adulthood. I actually started watching this series back in middle school but the subs at the time stopped somewhere around ep ~20 which devastated me. I forgot about the anime but later discovered all the episodes on YouTube 10 years later (even though now I am proficient enough to not need subs anymore haha)! Life works in mysterious ways~
I hope my review helps. I really enjoyed this series and I hope others will feel the same way too.
