Reviews

Dec 17, 2021
Aquatope is one of those pretty but boring shows that PA Works seems to enjoy putting out. Except this time with even less likable characters to string the whole thing along.

Aquatope has two distinct halves, one focused on Kukuru struggling in vain to save Gama Gama, her grandfather's aquarium, and a second half focused on her working at a large aquarium and acclimating to the conditions there. While not too dissimilar in tone and content, both halves still felt very different from each other but not in a good way. The second half especially has some pretty lousy workplace conditions, highlighted by a terrible manager and Kukuru herself being incredibly stubborn and immature. If anything, Kukuru being very unlikable is the biggest detriment to the whole show. I'm old now, and I used to be in similar positions to Kukuru when I was younger, but for God's sake people change in harder times. Maybe if this aired 10 years ago I'd have been more receptive to it, but now from my perspective seeing Kukuru act the way she does is no different to seeing a junior employee mess up and complain all the time.

The other episodes, few as they are, that turn the focus away from Kukuru to our deuteragonist, Fuuka, are more enjoyable, though not by much. If anything, Fuuka's journey from a failed idol to working in an unfamiliar environment is given very little focus and screentime after the first few episodes. And while I do appreciate the show does resolve and keep the drama down to a minimum, with the exception being the agonizing long workplace drama, with very little actually going on in the show, it becomes very difficult to even establish a connection to the characters. No romantic development beyond some light teasing and the "FRIENDSHIP/JUST BEST FRIENDS" bullshit is mildly frustrating. And the magical realism thing teased in the very beginning and is so much tied to Gama Gama gets zero payoff in the end. It's no different if they had attached a hidden camera onto a random aquarium worker and animated it.

A Slice of Life live and dies on how interesting it can make even the most mundane activities seem, or how tightly it depicts the connections between the various characters in it. Aquatope's biggest failings is that it achieves neither, despite its impressive production values. It may make you want to take a vacation to Okinawa, but definitely not work there.

4/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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