Really, this is a cute, short anime about a -- believe it or not-- highschool girl named Aoi who's afraid of heights and how she overcomes that fear due to her meeting a childhood friend, Hinata, who loves climbing mountains. At least, that's what I got from the first episode. Turns out, the story is more about Aoi changing as a person and... the two girls climbing mountains together.
Well, let's get on with this review!
Story: 10/20 This anime gets a somewhat bad score from me when it comes to the story because the plot just goes in loops! The story usually pans out in this sequence: The girls (mostly Hinata)
plan to climb a mountain
Aoi refuses to do so
they climb the mountain anyway
Aoi realizes something about the world/herself
they may or may not meet a new character along the way
And... that's about it. I enjoyed watching them, but it got monotonous at times because I already knew what would happen. Nonetheless, it's a cute and light-hearted story.
Animation/Art: 8/10 To be completely honest, I thought the best part of this anime was its animation. The design is very light, soft, and looks somewhat like it's watercolored (well... it gives off that kind of feeling). It suits the gentle atmosphere of the story quite nicely and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Animation is extremely smooth and flows well~
**I've got a bone to pick with the character design, but I don't know whether I should rant about it here or in the character section. I suppose I'll just leave it in the character section for now**
Sound: 7/10 The ending of this anime is absolutely adorable and suited the "feel" of the story very, very well. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The characters' voices were kind of too "cute" sometimes and I'm the type of person who isn't too fond those voices, so a point or two were docked off for that. Sounds of cicadas, the wind, and other parts of nature were very soothing and calming; it's definitely a plus on that point! Nothing else really stood out about the "sounds" of this anime.
Characters: 4/10 **Rant** Guess what? When I first saw a promotional picture of this show, I thought, "How cute! A story about two gradeschoolers who want to climb mountains." Boy, was I wrong. They are highschoolers. Oops? One thing about anime that urks me is when characters don't look their age... without a really good reason. I completely understand if it's the "style" of the anime (ex: Lucky Star, Haruhi-chan Suzumiya, etc.), but these girls... they can hardly pass as kindergarteners! I was half expecting them to be wobbly on their feet and wrapped up in diapers on the first episode! Sure, it was cute, but there has got to be a limit to how young high schoolers can look!
Moving on to the characters' personalities... Aoi's character development felt just a bit forced, as if the creators were trying really hard to make her mature. But... honestly, there are limits to how much one can develop a character in twelve, basically two-minutes-long, episodes. I'll give them some slack for that. As for the other characters... They didn't change at all. Hinata stayed exactly the same throughout the entire series, meaning she was the damn bright sun that wouldn't stop shining throughout the whole thing. Kokona was adorable, but she was clumsy and shy as hell from her debut to the final episode. Kaede... I forgot she even existed until the final episode, when she suddenly popped up out of nowhere. These three characters were somewhat a disappointment.
Overall: 5.8/10 (How did I calculate that? Well, 10+8+7+4=29. 29/50= 58/100= 5.8/10) This is a pretty good show if you're looking to relax or to watch something that'll make your heart melt from cuteness. If you're looking for something with a serious plot and/or great character development, please move on and don't look back. I personally enjoyed watching this show (to some extent) because I was concurrently watching some other anime with very intense plots. It helped me relax and fall asleep with ease (not because it's boring). Do watch if you're looking for extreme cuteness!
Screenshots
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