There are three main arcs throughout the 20 episodes, four if you count the first episode. Each one offers a new cast with new experiences for our immortal main character, Fushi. On their own the arcs aren’t bad, however after watching them back-to-back you will simply stop caring. The fact that the cast is always changing means you won’t be with any long enough to care about what happens, and the ones you do find yourself caring about are quickly forgotten as a new cast and setting is shoved in your face. Any sense of emotion or excitement offered by the first episode loses its touch almost instantly. You already know that something bad is going to happen everywhere Fushi goes, and it becomes a matter of when the bad thing happens rather than what will happen. Now this predictability on its own isn’t a bad thing. If it is backed up by interesting and planned out characters, it won’t matter how unoriginal the actual scenarios are. The thing is though, every single character throughout the show is flat, bland, and honestly just plain boring to watch. It’s like the writer imagined one specific sad scenario in their head and ran away with it, forgetting the very basics of what makes a story interesting and engaging. It takes multiple episodes to get to an overall underwhelming outcome, and this repeats itself for three whole arcs. I’ll repeat myself here, at some point in the series you will simply stop caring.
One thing I can give it credit for is how the growth of Fushi is shown. It honestly feels like with each new episode and event Fushi grows in some way, and these additions to his character will impact how he acts and speaks onwards. It never feels like he hits a wall with character development, and it is much more interesting watching Fushi grow than a typical melodrama character. There is obvious planning and care behind his character, and you can see it greatly pay off in the long run.
Now onto what I would consider the worst part of the whole series, the “antagonist,” though I would probably describe as more of a mindless opposing force. It is introduced as a mysterious entity that interrupts Fushi’s adventures and forces him to grow stronger. Great right? Now there is something to move the plot along provide areas for character growth. Except that that’s all there is to it. Every time this mysterious opposing force appeared I wanted to groan. There is obviously something more to it, this is made obvious early into the series. Don’t expect find out what though, the show is too busy dabbling with other ideas to expand on it at all during the 20 episodes. Thankfully, there is a human antagonist with a bit more personality and depth. They’re still messily written but for what it’s worth the episodes that they appeared in were some of the most engaging for me. If it wasn’t for their awkward placement in and out of certain arcs, they probably would’ve been the highlight of the series.
I tend not to worry about art or sound too much, but I think Brains Base did a solid job with both and I have no major issues. That said, there are no real times where either of these will stand out and leave a lasting impression. The visuals and audio are just consistently good throughout all 20 episodes.
Overall, I think To Your Eternity does a good job at experimenting with and expressing its themes and ideas, especially surrounding mortality and what it means to be human. If it wasn’t for the repetitive and disconnected plot as well as the poor character writing this series could have easily been around an 8/10. I would recommend at least giving the anime a try, though be prepared for the plot to become predictable and repetitive straight from the very first episode.
