True love waits.
There’s a lot of anime that are prone to make me cry. Throw in a tragedy of sorts, a new transfer student, some unreciprocated crushes, small town woes, and the tears are sure to start flowing at some point. Many shows have come and gone to fill this void, from Winter 2016’s time travel drama Erased, to all the way back in Spring 2011’s ghostly Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. This season’s Orange, from Steins;Gate director Hiroshi Hamasaki, seems to be pining to fill that gap.
The anime adaptation of Orange arrives fresh off the success of Ichigo Takano’s original five-volume manga, a wieldy tale of lo-fi science fiction mixed with slice of life drama. Orange begins with a group of adults in their mid-twenties. One girl, the now 26-year-old Naho Takamiya, expresses internally that she has regrets in her life. The show then flashes to ten years in the past. The now 16-year-old Naho discovers a mysterious letter written to her by her future-self in a scramble to leave for school after waking up late for the first time in her life. She brushes off the letter at first, until future-Naho’s recounting of the day goes exactly according to future-Naho’s letter. Future-Naho urges her younger self to keep a close eye on new transfer student Kakeru Naruse, and knowing deep down that the letter must be real, young-Naho carefully obliges.
Naho and her circle of friends are quickly introduced in a way that feels organic. The group of six (including new student Kakeru) trot home together from school. They laugh together, eating curry and melon buns while enjoying each other’s company. Yet Naho always appears visibly distant. Seemingly ever-pondering the contents of the letter from her future-self, and wondering why exactly she’s been nudged to watch over the solemn Kakeru.
Borrowing its aesthetic from Takano’s lush series, Orange unfortunately often stumbles when in motion. Its characters appear stilted rather than fluid, nor look as good when scenes are nearly at a standstill. Yet at its best, Naho’s large eyes feel even more expressive, Naho’s friend Azusa Murasaka’s cheerful personality bounces perfectly in harmony with her floppy ponytail, and Kakeru’s pointed expressions and faux-smiles draw worry. One of Orange’s surprise strongest assets is its success in bringing the characters to life through the voice acting. The worrisome Naho and initially shy Kakeru, in particular, are perfectly cast as Kana Hanazawa and Seiichirō Yamashita.
In its first episode, Orange reveals its premise in a swift, engaging manner. Its end of episode twist may feel a bit too-expected, but it carefully lines up the rest of the series to see just how Naho will try to intervene with her impending regretful decisions. The question if she will truly change the future and obliterate her heartache remains up in the air, but Orange has the potential to explore the now-atypical anime-bound time travel narrative in a fresh way. Especially since there’s no actual time travel, just that of the letter-bound past-future-self variety.
The Verdict
“Letter 01” is a strong start to the tragedy-driven slice of life drama. Orange’s science fiction qualities may rest at a bare minimum, but its delightful band of characters stand proudly at the forefront. While I didn’t grow glossy eyed at this episode, I’m sure it will happen some time down the road. Maybe even in the next episode, when the heartbreaking, yet unsurprising, “twist” grows engrained within Naho’s psyche.
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