Adachi to Shimamura is...wierd. It looks like a typical yuri-bait/shoujo ai that's been really picking up in popularity since Yagate Kimi ni Naru came out but it seems to go for a more surrealist and conceptual feeling rather than a heartfelt story that Yagate wonderfully executed (in the manga. RIP to the anime watchers who had the show end midway through an arc). Adachi to Shimamura goes all in on teenage angst and the troubles of love between the two titular characters. Whilst there's a lot to like about the show there's also so many glaring flaws that need addressing but, if I'll be honest, I quite like this show.
The anime starts off like a typical shoujo-ai between two girls with seemingly complete opposite personalities. Through a shared disregard for schooling our main heroines find themselves in an odd relationship after meeting each other while ditching classes. The anime then seems to snort a few grams of cocaine and bounce off in whatever direction with no regard for anything that looks like a coherent story. So we meet this alien...why? Does she do anything? Apparently sh's here to look for her comrade? Hold on let me look at the last episode for a bit...nope nothing here. Just another one of the loose plot threads that seem to pop up with the viciousness of a whack-a-mole with no hammer to smack them back down. This includes but is not limited to: the friend from Shimamura's kindergarten years (yeah good luck trying to be a main character), Adachi's mom who appears in one episode then is never seen or even mentioned from again, the serious baiting from Hino and Nagafuji etcetera etcetera. Yeah you can always put he argument of "It's explained in the manga" sure but I'm not reading the manga. These plot threads seem to just be haphazardly thrown in without much thought. The anime itself is already snail-paced slow and scenes that don't focus on the main meat of the show further break up the pacing. Since none of these threads get any wrap-up it just feels unnecessary to have them get in the way.
What it gets in the way of is the relationship between the main characters; Adachi "why are you gae?" Sakura and Shimamura "99 problems but a bitch ain't one of them" Hougetsu. I'll be honest there really isn't much chemistry to be found here which is a bit of a problem seeing that the main point of watching a romance anime like this one is to see the chemistry between the couple. I can accept that the two would obviously hold some interest in each other seeing how they shared a common interest (being teenage edgelords) but how did Adachi start to like Shimamura? She just sort of...does from the first episode and the anime carries on like it's the most natural thing in the world. Shimamura herself doesn't really have too much of a personality (from in-universe Adachi's point of view) to latch on to. It doesn't break the show but there's some trouble if a fundamental aspect of your genre doesn't exist.
At least the relationship itself is surprisingly well-presented. There's a lot of nuance in it that I feel could really fly over people's heads seeing that the anime doesn't actually focus that much on romance whenever it concerns the two together, but rather it uses their relationship to explore aspects of their personalities. I'd say a good 80 percent of all the dialogue in the anime is the two characters monologuing their thoughts on whatever situation they've encountered that scene. Whilst a more thoughtful and grounded approach is not uncommon in similar anime (Aoi Hana and Yagate have roughly the same tone and approach) this anime takes a leaf out of Nietzsche and loves to go on long though-trains on extremely complex metaphors. I'm not an expert but is this how high-school girls think these days? I recently watched After the Rain which also goes on long philosophical tirades but that made sense in context seeing how literature played a large role in that anime. The dialogue is actually quite interesting at times and sometimes does a good job reflecting the character's thoughts but it's so distracting knowing that no one actually talks and thinks like this. Anyways, the main relationship. There's a lot of focus on building the characters and showing aspects of their personalities whenever they interact. And that I think is the strongest point of this show: the showing. From watching a seemingly superficial one-sided romantic relationship we get to see some genuine nuance from the characters and I started to appreciate the character writing that I think got overshadowed a lot by the perceived generic story. Shimamura is a pretty interesting character who appears open and composed but is really just lonely and aloof. The anime does a great job showing how she perceives the world around her as someone on the outside looking in. Because of this she sees most relationships as superficial. She forgets a childhood friend's nickname, she finds herself unable to hold a friendship with Nagafuji and Hino, and she struggles to find anything meaningful in her new friend group after going up a grade. We also see her inability to commit and hold on to things in her dialogue with kindergarten friend and, in a more nuanced way, her changing her hair dye job back to her natural hair colour. Because the anime is so slow we get to be shown a lot of aspects of her struggle with having such a cynical personality.
This is contrasted by the seemingly quiet and reserved Adachi who deep down is emotional and holds complex feelings for things which she has a bad habit of bottling up inside her. This focus on the mindset of the two characters define their interactions which, in turn, fuel their thoughts of each other. Shimamura may be observant but her fundamental inability to relate to others prevents her from reading between the lines of Adachi's actions. Adachi herself only bottles up her feelings thus making her look like a small puppy in Shimamura's eyes. Being the more imaginative one of the pair, she often has scenes of her just daydreaming about Shimamura often in sexual ways. And you know what? I'm okay with that because I can accepet this is how teenagers think and feel whenever they like somebody. Of course she's going to be extremely awkward and clingy towards her not-girlfriend. She's in bloody highschool. Highschoolers fantasize a lot. Despite a general lack of chemistry I find this aspect of their relationship to be quite endearing seeing how they both do somewhat need the other to complete each other. Shimamura needs Adachi's emotional pushes and commitment and Adachi needs Shimamura as a leading role in their relationship. A.k.a one to start the car and the other to drive or they both just stall as characters and as people. It feels natural whenever one of them ponders what the other would do in a given situation and it highlights how much each of them mean to the other. Despite being opposite in personality and mindset, they both see each other as a light that brings colour to their world. Heck even the first line of the OP basically sums it up. Overall the anime does a really good job delving into the mindsets of our two main characters and shows us exactly how they affect each other and their decisions. Unfortunately the anime sort of ends without resolving anything. Their relationship still feels like it stalled ten episodes ago despite having a bit of a rushed ending. Oh well. Second season I guess?
The animation is mostly consistent and the artwork is beautiful at times. There are some great moments of character animation but not too much to write home about. I think the character designs are pretty cute though so that's half the work done. There is a lot of times where they use letterboxing and it's kinda strange. It's mostly used as a tool to emphasize certain emotional scenes but then it's also used to signify a flashback (though not all the time) and at other times, especially halfway through the show, it's just there for no apparent reason. It comes and goes without any consistency and it makes me think just not having it might have been a better idea. Who in direction though this was a good idea? There's also times where it changes artstyles as well as putting the ". . ." scattered here and there which is weird to me and may have been a remnant from the manga which I have no doubt is probably more tonally coherent than the anime adaptation.
The music is alright. It serves its purpose. The OP and ED are sung by the voice actors and don't stand out as anything more than generic anime OPs and EDs. Akari Kitou sounds really similar to ChouChou though or am I the only one? The voice acting was a standout. I don't know how but Miki Itou (who I haven't heard much of) manages to sound just disinterested enough to fit Shimamura's own distant personality. If it was purposely done so then well done to her. The other voice actors were decent. Akari Kitou did a great job voicing Kyouko Suiri's tallkative Iwanaga Kotoko and the energetic Noa from Wataten but is also great at voicing an awkward character like Adachi. Too bad she went on to voice in *shudders* Ex-Arm as Alma. Good job on the voice acting overall.
Adachi to Shimamura is an odd anime. It's got a lot of good stuff going for it but there's a lot of glaring flaws holding it back. It's got a great framework for developing the characters as they interact but the dialogue feels out-of-place and the writing is too slow for its own good. It looks fantastic but then has wierd direction choices shoved in without much thought. I like the characters but I wish I could see how why they liked each other in the first place. Overall it's not a particularly good romance but I'd recommend it as a character piece. If you could get past the teen angst, you'll find a pretty sweet look into a growing first-love.
