Kozue Amano is a highly-regarded name in the anime community, specifically for her soothing, sci-fi manga series, ARIA. As a huge fan of ARIA’s manga and Sato Junichi’s anime adaption, I was curious as to how Amano’s latest venture, Amanchu! would measure up. Initially, I was a tad skeptical of Amanchu!’s premise, as one of the biggest draws of ARIA for me was its vibrant and fantastical vision of a terraformed Mars, Neo-Venezia. In comparison, Amanchu! is set in a sleepy seaside town on Earth – which certainly seems mundane in comparison to a futuristic Venice! However, after a couple episodes, I started to realize that the relative familiarity and simplicity of Amanchu!’s setting wasn’t so much a point of contention, but rather a matter of perspective.
At their core, both ARIA and Amanchu! possess similar worldviews. Romanticism is common throughout Amano’s stories and the idealism oh her heroines and the compassionate worlds they live in are indicative of this. Although the rosiness may be off-putting for some audiences, I feel it’s one of the defining traits of ARIA and now Amanchu!. The upbeat personalities of ARIA’s Akari and Amanchu!’s Hikari are our lenses into these characters’ respective worlds; from everyday life to everyday troubles, there’s always a positive undercurrent present.
While ARIA’s Neo-Venezia was fleshed out through Akari’s interactions with its residents and her exploration of its nooks and crannies, the setting of Amanchu! is characterized in a subtler manner. Unlike Neo-Venezia, Amanchu’s setting lacks the grandiose, European architecture, seasonal festivals and tiny pockets of magical realism. Instead, the charms of Amanchu!’s world are conveyed through the shared experiences of its two heroines – Hikari and Futaba.
They say opposites attract, and this couldn’t be further from the truth with regards to Amanchu!’s duo. Hikari is bubbly and hyperactive while Futaba is shy and reserved, partially as a result of her moving from Tokyo into an unfamiliar environment. To us as the audience, the scenery of an ocean and a typical high school may be familiar to us, but in the eyes of Futaba, they may as well be a foreign country. This is a point that I’d like to stress: a lot of Amanchu! operates on the basis of you putting yourself in Futaba’s shoes and empathising with her feelings of anxiety and excitement. Diving in a school pool may not be nearly as eye-opening to us as exploring a reproduction of Venice, but from Futaba’s perspective, it carries much of the same sense of joy and wonder.
This is a large part of Amanchu!’s appeal, but it’s a different type of appeal from ARIA’s. The scene at the end of Amanchu!’s second episode where both Hikari and Futaba float side-by-side in the cherry blossom-covered pool is one of the most serene and endearing moments that Sato Junichi has composed in his career. Above these small touches of expressionism there’s a genuine sense of togetherness and understanding between Hikari and Futaba during their brief respite. The simple act of Hikari showing Futaba an activity she enjoys as the pair gaze up at the clouds is simply put, special. There’s nothing extraordinary about the act of floating in a pool yet the girls’ emotions are conveyed with such grace that anything more would sour the moment. This was certainly a personal scene, for both the characters onscreen and myself as well, so I find it hard to describe using words. But perhaps that’s what Amanchu! is ultimately meant to accomplish.
When one breaks down Amanchu! to the level of its setting and characters it seems quite ordinary, even in comparison to other slice-of-life titles. However, by taking the time to experience things from Hikari and Futaba’s view, we start to see beauty emerge in even the smallest of things. It goes without saying that beauty is a very individual concept, so Amanchu! won’t be a show for everyone. But with that said, I believe Amanchu! has enough to set itself apart from ARIA that it’s well worth a shot for fans of the genre or Amano’s earlier work.
Let us know your feelings about Amanchu! in the comments below! How do you find it compares to ARIA?
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Brandon is a Brand Features Writer for Crunchyroll and also writes anime-related editorials on his blog, Moe-Alternative. Hit him up for a chat on his Twitter at @Don_Don_Kun!
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