Mixed Feelings
A six out of ten. I liked it, however I have one minor complaint near the end of the review. The amount of fluff in this thing is real high. I wouldn’t call it the fluffiest romance ever, and definitely not the fluffiest show ever, however it’s up there. The character acting is top-notch. As in, QUALITY. The lead character’s emotes are ridiculously cute and the little leaves that sprout out of her hair were honestly genius. Character sakuga in this OVA is off-the-charts. One could definitely go about analyzing the animation much further. The rest of the art is also fairly beautiful, but it has nothing strikingstyle-wise. It’s pretty, but it’s “generic high school late 2010s anime” pretty. It rides the trend of “heavily lighted, plant-abundant background art with almost-fragile outlining” that has been running strong recently. It’s nice to look at but it doesn’t stand out, and standing out is ultimately more important.
The art, however, does contribute to the overall tone which I can only describe as “these are the good days of life” or “lightly sunny” or, simply, “a quiet niceness”. The long takes, the long establishing shots that come in succession, the sound design, and the amount of light that comes in every room add to that. The mostly objective and relatively distant camera also makes sure that that tone is never disturbed and maintained throughout the OVA. It adds much to the fluffiness.
An exception to the objective camera occurs when the main girl is confronted by her best friend about a problem she’s been having. Suddenly, the main girl appears to be floating in a cloudy space and the best friend is with her in person saying the problem matter-of-factly.
It’s the only real visually metaphorical or heavily stylised moment in the OVA (other than the character animation) so I believe I should talk about this. I tried to imagine the scene done completely objectively, but it just came off as cliche, making an already unoriginal trope worse (we’ll get to that in a bit). So, I believe stylizing the moment was the better choice.
Visual metaphors work well in anime and animation because transitioning from realism to stylization is much less jarring than it is in live-action. While I can’t deny that the whole thing felt a bit sudden, the act of putting the two characters right next to each other, the best friend staring straight at the camera, makes the whole dialogue feel more direct and, in turn, more effective. Doing so also adds a sense of power to the best friend’s words.
I also kinda liked the ED but I didn't notice the rest of the music.
Now, the OVA’s scenarios and characters have to be its weakest points.
The OVA, as I alluded to earlier, uses common and unoriginal tropes and presents them perfectly straight.
Story examples include the “obliviousness to sexual advances” trope where one partner is oblivious to the other partner’s sexual advances, the age-old “sexual advances get interrupted” trope, the “kiss at a bus stop” trope, the “this rooftop is our private meetup” trope, and, the ever-classic [spoiler] “I’m applying to a different college” [/spoiler] trope that is pretty much universal.
[While the “I’m too shy and embarrassed to see you in the bath” trope and the “People have distanced themselves from me because they saw me naked in the bath” trope are new to me, but I can interpret them as a yuri translation of the “We’re seeing each other naked and the difference in our bodily attractiveness is making me uncomfortable” which, while not exactly “common”, is a trope I’ve seen before a few times.]
There’s nothing inherently wrong with these. Every trope, no matter how used, can further character development, move the plot forward, deepen characterization, and spark interesting character drama.
The problem is they are not memorable.
Repeated exposure to a trope takes away from its ability to stick to your mind. You don’t remember common and used ideas far less than new and original ones. They’re easy to forget because they blend in with all the other stories you’ve experienced and don’t stand out in your mind.
Actually, after listing down all the story tropes above, I’ve softened my stance. Those tropes, although not exactly new, weren’t exactly cliche. They list also failed to cover everything the OVA had in its scenarios. You could definitely use the tropes listed to create something memorable and even iconic.
I’m not going to say the same thing about the characters.
The memorability problem extends to and is more prominent with the characters who are as straightforward as straightforward gets.
The main girl is shy, easily flustered, and easily doubts herself but easily excitable and particularly expressive. Kase is cool and emotionally honest about herself with others but rarely fully grasps other people’s emotions. The dynamic the two have can be summarized as Kase being first to open up which prompts the main girl to open up in turn, but Kase doesn’t always fully detect or understand the main girl’s emotions so it’s the main girl’s job to make her emotions clear which sometimes needs some prodding. That’s them summarized.
Although I wouldn’t call this two-dimensional and some people will find this satisfying, I don’t find it complexly-written enough or detailed enough in its presentation to be memorable. Again, the characters are somewhat cliche and you’re bound to bump into at least some of these tropes explored in more depth and nuance if you spent enough time watching or reading other yuri or even straight romance in general. I’ll probably forget what happens in the OVA in a span of a few days. I don’t even remember the main girl’s goddamn name (although it’s probably just because they don’t say her name much while Kase’s name is in the goddamn title of the OVA and the main girl mentions her name over and over and over).
To clarify, I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PRESENCE OF CLICHES. I am complaining about THEIR USE which is simplistic and ultimately lacking in depth and nuance. The OVA didn’t play with tropes so much as place them in its story as is and leave it at that. It doesn’t take the time to explore each trope’s full potential, making these tropes lead to something interesting or create nuanced character development or, hell, do something actually rememberable.
Don’t get me wrong. I did end up liking the two leads and finding them cute both on their own and together. Their motivations were clearly defined, so it was easy to get motivated with them. The whole thing, as I said, was very fluffy. Fluff is always a good thing. I just didn’t feel like they presented anything memorable to them.
Man, did I say a "minor complaint"? That actually was far from "minor".
Ultimately, the OVA’s main problem is its memorability. None of it stuck with me and I’m sure I’ll forget all about it by tomorrow. As a fairly big fan of yuri myself, going through Dynasty Scans will probably get you something more interesting than this OVA.
Anyway, watch if you like gay fluff, character acting sakuga, and nice art but it ain’t the masterpiece everyone says it is. Forgettable.
