Orange - Reviews

I haven't spoiled anything. I haven't watched the whole thing yet.

Ok, so this is one of the best romances I have ever watched partially because it isn't focusing on love but actually the connection between all the characters.

The development of the main characters is great however some of the secondary characters don't have as deep of a story as the main, while this is fine because the the whole story is about the main character, it would have been nice to see a little more in the other characters.

The romance is amazing, there is no fan-service. The romance is very realistic, the feelings between the two lovers feels very genuine.

All of the characters are amazing, they all have amazing personalities, none of them are greedy or incredibly annoying. When you watch this, you will really see understand me when I say all the characters are extremely likable.

There are some funny moments you will laugh at!

Overall, an amazing anime that should be watched by people who hate ecchi or fan-service type animes. You will experience different emotions, mainly sympathy and your heart will be warmed by the characters' actions mainly H____ S__a (trying not to spoil).

Don't not watch if: you want fan-service, you want a fake romance, you cringe at comedy (you are dead inside if you don't laugh), you want action (there is next to none, it is all about the story.

If you can't be bothered to read my review then JUST WATCH THE ANIME ALREADY.

I'd never heard of this anime before, I'd only read some of the summary and thought i should give it a go. Towards the beginning of the first episode i was quite afraid of it being the typcial cliché shoujo, but oh boy was I wrong. Never in my life have I ever watched anything that has impacted me more than this anime, considering i am a serie and film addict, I think only the korean movie Hope has impacted me as much. Anyways, this anime is definetely not for everyone, it led me tears so many times, I think it's a beautiful way to shed light on the taboo (at least in japan) topic that is mental illness, and I dare say it does it properely. I'm not here to write a review like most others, I just want to express that it's a beautifully written, directed and animated anime, and I think more people who have struggled through mental health, insecurities, suicidal thoughts and tendencies should take a peak at Orange, in fact, everyone (who isn't sensitive to topics of suicide and mental illness) should. As dramatic as it seems, I dare say that this anime has completely changed my life, sure, it didn't get rid of my problems, mental illnesses and the rest of my worries but it really gives you a new perspective on the value of life, opening up to people and most of all the importance of checking in and making the most of it to live with no regrets. This a genuine story (excluding the time traveling and letters) that many people live through, and I think the importance of animes like this is to shed light on the fact that mental illness is coped with and shown in many ways, we are never as shiny as we make out to be. I really hope to see similar anime in the future, I'll stop here, at this point i'm ranting but I just hold this anime close to my heart.

If you're looking for an anime with emotional build up, relatable characters, believable plot, GORGEOUS animation and are willing to shed a tear or two, this is for you. Not to mention, there is love, and not the clichè type.

It must be something in the water that so many anime love miserable characters who essentially make themselves miserable.  Kakeru and Naho are perfect for each other as they are both full of nerves, anxieties, fears, self-doubts, and reluctance to express themselves honestly. Naho however has far less of an excuse, since most of those sorts of anxieties come from the uncertainty of the consequences of your actions, yet as she has an insight into that causality her continued hesitation is harder to comprehend.   If you basically send yourself a guidebook to the future that your past self can use to avoid certain pivotal mistakes, wouldn't you heed such advice and not constantly hesitate as much or more as your past self did the first time around?  It almost becomes comical how Naho doubts the proof of these predictions and her self or rather the word of her future self and continuously wallows in the misery both of her selves created for herselves.  Confusing isn't it? Eventually and gradually she does begin to believe in her future self's warnings and the consequences of not taking the advice of her future self more seriously but the question then muddles in the mind "is it too little, too late" to heed said advice?  Par for the course, she has a childhood friend who in some ways seems to take on the "it is inevitable" approach to preordain himself to her, well in the original timeline anyway.  His interest in her honestly never surpasses a sensation of older brotherly love, but then that seems to be a big thing in Japanese anime to delve into incest.  I can't quite say for sure if the love Kakeru and Naho is right either cause I am not sure I feel their love for each other is true or comes off as a bit more forced.  I kind of like Takako the most of the girls because she is far more direct and is willing to stand up to a ugly heartless bully known as Ueda, the so called prettiest girl.  Though in fact she is the ugliest.  It is no wonder no guy in his right mind wants to date her.  Hagita is the most likeable of the guys as he is more balanced and never forcibly imposes himself on any inappropriate situation.  I just can't quite feel convinced Suwa's friendliness is geniune nor that Kekeru's heart is true or just insane and desparate.  Neither character makes a clear cut break from undesirable traits to stand out as solid or geniunely cool characters that are true to themselves or others.  

A heavy breath of fake coms off both.  Asuza is like a bright joyful cheerleader but other than that I never see much more depth to her character.  The story is dramatic and interesting but not all that original even among recent anime such as Erased for example.  It moves a bit slower than other similar stories and often flows in a bit of more confusing way.  

It does at least have somewhat of an ending where you feel like things are resolved but do not really see solid proof of such.  You actually only see the very beginning of the end then the anime stops.  So you might feel a tad short changed by the time you get to the end.  Naho is certainly a charming and cute character but at the same time immensely annoying.  No matter how much evidence she seems to get to the contrary to either trust in the words of her future self or trust her friends, she closes up too much and/or takes it on the chin way too much.   She is the "willing victim" type just waiting for someone to take advantage of her or some traumatic crime to befall her.  I give her some credit for coming around a little albiet it very gradually and essentially it takes until almost the last shots of the series.  I would think though her confidence both in herself and her friends might have risen a tad more after the big reveal about episode 10.  Kakeru's mom seems a bit spiteful given her last and harmful hurful words or it could be she sucked at writing her thoughts and feelings clearly without sounding bitter.  Given her behavior one could easily conclude that she only needed the slightest thing to set her off down that path and no matter what or when Kakeru did what, she would have had the same result.  

The anime itself is almost paced about the same as Naho's development, which is of course pretty slow.  By the end you may even wonder if she learned or developed much at all.  Still, I never fully get the sense that her interest in Kakeru is beyond infatuation or a childhood crush.  Kakeru's constant depressing attitude and frequent stand offish behavior makes her match to him questoinable, though in a sense he is as slow to grow or develop as she seems to be if not slower.  His cheery demeanor may be an act to hide his depression but his reluctance to divulge honestily anything about him or his feelings to anyone else only serves to exacerbate his own misery as well as that of his friends and Naho.  Other than Asuza constantly teasing Hagito it is hard to see any of them attracted to anyone else genuinely.  The so called romantic part of the story doesn't really develop like any romantic element or story I ever heard about so it maybe hard to follow or see any truth witin it.

I will have to give credit that although the ending was a tad murky, at least it made an attempt to properly close the story and it did answer a number of questions by the end.  Despite the somewhat haphazard attempt to tell a dramatic traumatic and romantic story, you can still feel a sense of relief and even a bit of cheering by the end.  Animation and art wise this series was above average especialy the art work depicting Naho.  From her emotions to subtle changes to her eyes, you get a pretty strong sense of realistic visual depiction.  The characters all have their own charms and such but nothing that stands out very exceptionally nor all that far apart from other very similar anime tv shows.  Sound seems ok though it does not exactly stand out either.  It is certainly watchable but if you want this type of trauma story, you might enjoy erased, the live action movie Frequency, or the anime movie Kimi no Na Wa better.  For a romantic angle, well Kimi No Na Wa or the live action movie Somewhere In Time features similar qualites done quite a bit better.

This anime is short, sweet, and heartbreaking. Sure, the plot has a lot of holes and things weren't really fleshed out as much as it should have been but that's not what keeps you watching. The main character is shy, awkward and at times a bit annoying. However, she's also relatable if you have similar issues with anxiety and shyness as she does. She doesn't realize how brightly she shines simply because she's always putting herself in shadows of her friends. Everyone has their own unique personality and they all fit together almost perfectly.

The story is typical, the plot is a bit one dimensional but it has heart and it's extremely sad. They try their best to save their friend and in the end it leaves us with more questions than answers. They do almost everything that they can do and have slip ups like normal people. They all care deeply about one another and that is what is moving. It's depiction on mental illness is far too real that sometimes it made me slightly uncomfortable watching it play out. It hit home in a lot of spots for me.

You find yourself leaning more towards the main male with his emotions but my favorite was still Suwa in the end. He gives his all and gives up his future in order to make others happy. He puts the needs of others before his own without making it seem like it was a huge burden to do so. He sacrificed greatly for the sake of others that you can't help love him even more. His natural charisma and his welcoming personality is what made me love him as well. All in all each character had their own unique traits and you will find reasons to love each one.

If you want an anime that might make you cry and you want your heart teared to shreds over something that could very well happen to anyone then this anime is for you. However beware of how silly it may seem at times and how repetitive it may seem in some instances. Also the switching back and forth sometimes was not obvious which confused me in parts. This anime is a nice watch regardless.

**Spoiler free**

Orange is a good romance anime with a great premise, solid execution, mostly likeable characters and just enough plot twists to keep you hooked.

~Story~

The only reason the story isnt 10/10 is because I personally didn't like the route they took at the end. It started out great with a solid hook, had great pacing and ended cleanly without any big cliffhanger/go read the manga teases which i hugely appreciate. The story is not only romance and i think for people who struggle with romance the time travel aspect is enough to keep you interested but i did count it as a major factor when giving it a 9/10.

~Animation/Sound~

Animation is what you would expect from most shows nowadays, very appealing and clean giving me nothing to complain about. However it did not blow me away or particuarly stand out. so 8/10. 

The voice actors did well and the music added to any scene it was used in. The OST was great and I particuarly liked the OP and ED songs. 10/10

~Characters~

The whole cast of characters were incredibly likeable and got a fair bit of development. My score would be 9 or 10 if not for kakeru's character. He was still a technically good character and is probably one of the appealing aspects of the show for some people but his personality and a few of his decisions rubbed me the wrong way. 8/10

Overall it was a great show and i reccomend it to people who appreciate a good emotional show. Time travel is just a bonus ;)