Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau

One must truly understand, to a profound degree, the duality of the nature of life to fully appreciate this anime and all it has to offer this world. If this is you, as it is me, then this will likely become your favorite anime. I sincerely hope it comes back for a second season, though certainly not at the expense of the delivery of its message. Truly a masterpiece, as it stands. There is nothing more that needs to be said. Though when I hit submit it says; "Please enter a longer review" So I'll repeat; There is nothing more that needs to be said.

If you asked anyone to describe Children of the Whales, they would probably call it a tragedy. The people that enjoyed it would say it’s a heartbreaking tragedy filled with death and agony, a show packed with emotion. The people that disliked it would call it a tragedy in a more literal sense, and personally I agree with them. With boring and unexplored characters, predictable and badly paced drama, and a dollop of plot armour to top it all off, Children of the Whales manages to mess up almost every part of what could have made it an interesting watch. Our MC for the show Chakurofeels like a misplaced side character given a slight power boost. He doesn’t do much but survive the whole ordeal and worry about everything, making him completely irrelevant to the story. Our converted enemy Lykos is only around for plot progression, occasionally rising up to be important and then shrinking back into a somewhat empty cast member. The real MC Ouni is the one that holds the most importance and gets explored more than every other character, but for some reason, the show continues to brush him aside so our two less interesting mascots Chakuro and Lykos can take over. The rest of the cast are only around to create drama, make stupid decisions, and die when needed. I can’t count the amount of faceless blobs of mass that have lost their lives in a desperate attempt to suck out some fragment of despair from its audience. It tries to make us feel attached to people while making no attempt to actually allow us to get to know any of them. There are a few people that the show deems to be of some worth for whatever reason, so it keeps them alive with the wonderful power of plot armour and convenience. Instead of enemies killing them instantly like they do with every other unlucky soul, they take their time to have a little conversation to reveal some plot points, allowing our good guys to make it out alive so they can again be unimportant. Talking about dying, the drama is a collection of the most predictable situations I have ever seen. You can see almost everything coming from a mile away, and when the show does try to surprise you, the horrid pacing stops you from giving a single shit about each lacklustre episode. Add in the already mentioned plot armour and character stupidity and you are left with massacre after massacre that carry no meaning other than to be a cheap emotional scene for us to sigh over. The only parts that carry any impact are centred around Ouni dealing with his history as a mole rat and him trying to protect his friends. However, the pacing and plot armour still brought it down quite significantly. The story could have made a comeback if it had just played its cards right. To make it even worse, the story ends right when everything is building up for a major arc, just to throw the cherry on the mess that was supposed to be a cake. Now the two biggest problems I have with this anime are the plot holes and singing. The show states that the Allied Empire, the antagonists of the show, is a country filled with emotionless citizens for reasons explained in the show. Emotionless characters are a tough thing to write so many opt to go with characters that start off emotionless and slowly learn to have human feelings, with even Children of the Whales trying (and failing) this with Lykos. However, the supposedly blank slates that our good guys fight against sure seem to be pretty human to me. Showing signs of fear, desires, and ambition, it’s really frustrating having the show keep telling you that they are emotionless when they are clearly not. And the bloody singing. Why does the show think it’s alright to break out into songs during the middle of a battlefield? Are they trying to make the show seem more deep and dark with a random sad musical playing over some the serious scenes of the anime? I’m trying to find a reason to like this show but it decides to make up for its terrible drama by distracting us with a little singalong. What the legit fuck? It annoys me so much to see something so out of place in an already bad anime. Children of the Whales is a show that deserves little praise. It is a massive disappoint that it’s only redeeming point is that it looks nice. No one cares about how good a show looks if the story going alongside it is subpar. Avoid this show, move past it and find something that’s actually worth putting your time into, because this show is just a waste of time.

Watching shoujo fantasy adventures these days feels like taking a dive into a video game world. When Kujira no Kora Wa Sujou ni Utau (Children of the Whales) began airing, I had a strange instinct about the show. It felt like an anime that really wanted us to really embrace its ideas but fell short on capitalizing on all of them. Created by Abi Umeda, few people probably heard of the author’s name. Taking a close look at their resume, some of their work consists of horror genre series. Crafting a shoujo fantasy adventure sounded like a challenge. However, I will say this: the author decidedto mold a variety of themes together that felt different from some of the other shoujo fantasy series I’ve seen in the past. To be clear, I think this show is suited for an audience beyond just the female demographic. Are you the target audience? Let’s test that theory. Do you enjoy watching a show with colorful world fiction? How about a show with a large cast of characters? Or conflicts involving a utopia certainly thrown into turmoil? If any of these are on your bucket list, then definitely give it a try. That being said, the main attraction on paper is so far the setting. Mud Whale is really a unique dynamic that will draw attention. In an endless sea of sand of the Sand Era, Mud Whale is a moving vessel composed of an unique civilization. There are the “marked ones” who are individuals with psychokinetic powers but have a short life span. On the other hand, there are the “unmarked ones”, individuals who possesses no powers but have longer life spans. It’s interesting to note that these people live in isolation so they know nothing about the outside world. The plot involves a mysterious girl named Lykos as she changes the lives of everyone on Mud Whale. As a 1-cour adaptation running for 12 episodes, I was a bit worried. Before even watching, I had to be less optimistic because it meant the likely event that the show will omit content and also leave questions for the viewers. Unfortunately, that came to be the case after this series ended. It felt like an advertisement of the manga and wants the audience’s hunger for more. As a manga reader, I am thankful that the anime adapted the story consistently with what the overall tone of the setting. But for the overall story, it really felt lacking. My early impression of the show kept me wanting for more though. The first few episodes established the setting and really gives a feel of a shoujo fantasy adventure. We have the characters living their lives in harmony as part of a utopia. Despite being isolated, they behave like humans and have their own system like the council, battle platoons, and recreational services. That changes after Lykos makes her appearance with Mud Whale while bringing attention from outsiders. It transformed the show from a harmonious story into one with dramatic conflicts. This elevates into bloodshed, pain, and even death. Now as I watched more of this series, I accepted that only the main core characters will get their spotlight. The ones you see on the key visuals includes Chakuro, Lykos, Ouni, Suou, Ginshu, Ryodari, and Sami. Chakuro is the main guy who bears a gentle personality. This is a contrast to characters such as the emotionless Lykos and cold hearted Ouni. While I can’t say Chakuro is an impressive protagonist on paper, he is able to influence others such as Lykos throughout the show. The two forges a unique bond after the two begins to understand each other more. However, the anime doesn’t go too far into developing their relationship nor does it explore them individually as characters. It’s sad to realize this but I think omitting characterization makes the characters harder to accept. For the others, they play a variety of roles such as Suou becoming a leader, Ouni as the rigid combatant, or Ginshu as a guard of Mud Whale. It’s also noticeable that even deceased characters in the series has some influence on the present story. This is especially true when applied to characters like Chakuro as death affects his mentality. Meanwhile, I can’t say the antagonists of the series are appealing. The most noticeable one to point fingers at is Ryodari, the pink haired child soldier. We only see a glimpse of his past but it’s shown that he is clearly unstable and has a thirst to kill for the thrill of it. It lacks any depth in characterization and really doesn’t make him feel believable as a character. Indeed, the characters in the show is a mixed bag. As I watched more and more of this series, it felt like the creator didn’t really put too much thought into making them. On the other hand, the experience I got from watching this anime felt rather memorable at times. The drama brings a reality to death and there’s a sense of tragedy that can send chills down the spine. While character chemistry isn’t always meaningful, it does have a way to express itself and evoke emotions. The vulnerability of the characters is clear and it shouldn’t take long for viewers to discover how death affects them. While it is also a shoujo, don’t expect romance to actually develop though. It serves more as a genre to carry the style of the story. The mystery elements develops more and more as the story progresses but don’t expect answers to everything. It’s explored through some background storytelling but will still leave viewers to their imaginations. Adapted by J.C. Staff, this anime really stood out in the artwork department. A utopia like Mud Whale is depicted as a perfect society and before the events of Lyko’s encounter, it really does look like one. From the simple character outfits to natural spectacles, it’s a sight to feast eyes on. Mud Whale itself is also decorated with colorful features such as the sand particles, atypical structure, and natural aesthetics. The world fiction gives the impression of what a fantasy shoujo should be with the endless sand. It feels like a vast open world video game. Character designs also makes quite an impression as a majority of the cast are children. It gives off a sense of innocence, vulnerability, and youth. There’s also violence so do expect action to pick up once the conflicts really gets going. The amount of blood isn’t presented as shock value but more as a way to illustrate the reality of death. Fan service isn’t explicit but does also exist with bath scenes so be on the lookout for that. Beautiful and harmonious. That’s how I’d describe the theme songs of the show and overall tone of the OST. The technical elements of the soundtrack is outstanding to fit with the genres of this anime. Sound director Jin Aketagawa (known for his work on some other fantasy series) impressed me with the overall direction. The synchronization of the soundtrack with some of the more emotional scenes made them feel impactful. Not to mention, there’s also harmonious singing in the show that really took my attention. Character voice mannerism can be a mixed bag at times. Lykos is too emotionless to be memorable while most of the younger characters all sound the same. Ryodari takes his personality often too far to be declared impressive. Adapting a shoujo fantasy adventure isn’t easy but the final product that came to be felt like it’s missing something. Whether it’s the weak characterization or underdeveloped plot is up for you to decide. It definitely has visual splendor though and sells its setting convincingly to viewers. I just wish they took more time to expand the story and characters to really capitalize on this series as a whole. To me, this is a show that needed more passion to bring audience for appreciation.

This anime is so unique it could be one of a kind Not really anime, not really Chinese cartoon, this story sail between being weird and great. Children of the Whales is a story which could not be for anyone. It appeals and please quite a niche group of people. Nevertheless it did really please me with its unique story and world. §§§§ STORY §§§§ So I cant really go deep in the story without spoiling it so I won’t. That would lessen the fun of watching it yourself. Children of the Whales is told form the perspective of Chakuro who occasionally narrates some of his thoughts. Itgives the feeling like you’re being told an tale or good story by the mc himself. For just 12 episodes this anime feels deep and convinces me that there is a lot of lore behind the real storyline. They have funerals, festivals, laws, culture. It all adds up to interesting world building while simultaneously laying the foundation for future events. It really conveys a story rich world and shows that the Whales is more than just a plot device. It is something that lives and breathes. Something where obviously more happened, before we got to see it. I feel it was unjustified to be just 12 episodes and feels like it could have been easily 3 seasons long with the amount of lore unexplored. The characters aren’t abused up to the point they will just be for tear jerkers or comic relief. They have more purpose, like in the real world. It makes each of the characters stand more out, even if they don’t get much screen time. I’ve got to say that the pacing is fast but well justified. It doesn’t go in to deep in the history of the Whales, what was disappointing, but it does create a new story for us to be a part of. Luckily it doesn’t drag out unnecessary parts as it feels like you will always move along the story while watching. The fast pacing does leave some information left desired. §§§§ ART §§§§ The background felt like Chinese art style with anime characters popping in. It felt so fresh. The easy-going background gave my eyes plenty of rest while still being appealing. I would say that it is one of the strong points of Children of the Whales. I noticed some CG was used for sand and some other effects, but it was blend in so well that it made the anime better looking, rather than an abomination (like most CG scenes). The character design was simple yet attractive. It fulfilled the role of “simple looking” on an island without too much tech. The way thymia was handled was very beautiful. A simple depiction of power while still being very appealing. The rules are simple, more thymia means more power. Luckily there is no stupid thing like instant powerup with mad effects. It was simple and appealing. §§§§ CHARACTERS §§§§ We see multiple characters developing and adapting to a changing world. Reactions and actions were taking accordingly if you would think about how the characters were before the invasion. Emotion plays a big role, but that doesn’t really seem prominent at first. It gradually evolves and opens up. You might re-watch it for the sake of understanding the first few episodes. Because I didn’t really understand the world and the characters yet, their reactions ticked me off and I was almost ready to drop it. But when I look back, I think it was really well done. Im happy the characters don’t act “out of character”. The characters have their own treads and their own strengths and weakness. We get to see Chakuro evolving from slow mc to better mc. Suoh/Souo changes his thinking and decision making, but still remains kind and gentle. Ouni stays badass. I’m a bit puzzled by Lykos, she wasn’t really easy to read and the story didn’t really support her choices and motivation. I guess she is a nice addon but I feel like she wasn’t really needed. To bad she had to replace a character. Because the story deviates real quick I’m not discussing the characters in detail, as that would spoil most moments. I would say that they won’t be new characters at the end of the season, but you get to see what makes them move and what moved them. On the other hand, if this would be 24 episodes, they could flesh out just a bit more of character. §§§§ MUSIC §§§§ The music is beautiful and does a great job at expressing scenes, guiding the pace and supporting the art in general. The ambient tones fluently changes to upbeat battle style with each changing scene. The scene where Neri (purple lil girl) sings and dance was beautiful but very alienated from the story. It felt theatrical and soothing. It did add some element, yet I puzzled what it exactly added. The music felt in a way nostalgic, reminding me of something spacious, worldly, yet very close and cozy. I don’t know if this is personal, but I liked it. §§§§ FINAL THOUGHTS §§§§ This anime sails between being good and mediocre. Some moments were bright and other were really frustrating. As mentioned earlier I was ready to drop this anime on episode 3 but something etched me to really finish the story and I’m glad I did. It wouldn’t be an anime for many people but in a way it is really artistic. I had some moments where I could see the skill of the story writer, how things turned out or how things are handled. It didn’t feel like there was plot armor and most things played out very natural. Sacrifices are made and somethings are gained from it. I would ship Chakuro and Sami and I hope they will be happy together. If you would love unique painteresque anime with unique premise and a beautiful evolving story, I would recommend you Children of the Whales! If you like mc who do crazy ass pulls and always push through or clear and predictable story, this isn’t your call. I hope for a sequeal.

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