Even in soft focus, there’s no substitute for “being there”
Partially due to Crunchyroll availability, and partially due to JC Staff’s recent track record, I checked out Aoi Hana (aka Sweet Blue Flowers). I can’t say I’m normally into this kinda stuff — it’s not as if I’m the target demographic — but as has really been the case lately, JC Staff has taken something usual and made it shine through a solid execution.
Aoi Hana features, as Arudoc noted, Perky (Akira) and Pouty (Fumi), what I would imagine is a fairly standard pairing in these kinds of shoujo-cum-yuri series. They are, so far, not the most winsome characters ever. As is often the case with anime characters, assumptions are made and we’re encouraged to stick to them. The assumption here is that Fumi has something to offer as a friend, but in two episodes she’s really just whiny and needy. She cries constantly, she changes her mind quickly based on what she thinks a cute girl will be doing, and she puts ridiculous expectations on people like her cousin Chizu-chan. Akira is her foil — a reasonably genki-girl, at least within the slow and breezy pace of the series thus far (Minorin would be, obviously, out of place).
Character designs are nice, with a bent towards the plain you might see in less “sparkly” shoujo (if you know what I mean) such as Itazura Na Kiss. There’s nothing as exciting as the dynamic always-in-motion style of Toradora! or Hatsukoi Limited’s refined eye candy. There’s nothing particularly exotic about any of the characters, even the ones that I get the impression are supposed to seem slightly exotic. But there certainly isn’t anything terribly ugly either, and I never really worry about JC Staff making animation foibles so consistency is a plus too.
Everything here seems to be executed with soft focus — I suppose that’s the style, and even more than usual, the studio’s backgrounds are watercolored and pastel.
But even amidst all this, details of immersion are done really well: you can easily feel what it’s like to be at the train station, slump in defeated envy at Akira’s beautiful school, or climb under the downy covers of Fumi’s bed with her.
Now, maybe that’s not done quite as well as Bones has done it with their Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, which despite its cartoony style really has an eye for realistic body language and scenery. But Magnitude absolutely depends on a feeling of immersion — however interesting the characters might be, the earthquake and the world are the main characters here, or at least the main attraction.
Aoi Hana, on the other hand, is probably a simple love story and doesn’t require a level of believability beyond what any other basic anime might have. It only does what it does out of sheer devotion to a quality product, and here’s the kicker for me: if you’re not ready to dedicate yourself to an immersive, visual experience, what are you doing telling stories in a visual medium? Aoi Hana is proof that you can do that without action, mecha, fanservice, or psychedelic Shinbo-isms.
You know this is a question that bothers me about Legend of the Galactic Heroes. To me the thing is so plain, and while I like the character designs — it is only after liking the characters that the designs grew on me. The visuals were competent, but certainly not the attraction point.
I wonder too why it was even done as an anime. I mean, thank Jesus Minci that they did it! But I rather wonder if the animation added any real value to the story. I suppose I will have to wait until I get a chance to read the novels. I certainly think that Crest of the Stars added value to the novel(s), despite the rather dated and crude animation. Then again, that show had no shame servicing me and by golly I’m thankful.
You should do a bigger post on this issue/idea.
I realise that this isn’t the point of your post, but you might want to watch the 2nd episode to understand why Fumi has those expectations and whether or not they are actually that “ridiculous.”
Despite J.C. Staff’s penchant for making trashy shows in the past and adding cheap fanservice to everything, they do a bang-up job of making adaptions that always seem to play a little better than their source material. However, because of their faithfulness, the studio never dramatically improves on anything, so are ultimately limited by the kind of story they’re handed. Aoi Hana seems like another such work, a pretty average shoujo-ai school drama, but done with care and, dare I say, heart.
Well, we’ve learned to always take first episode impressions with a grain of salt, but it at least makes me look forward to seeing more.
This still doesn’t excuse you from punching some kittens :<