The Aquatope on White Sand

The Aquatope on White Sand (Episode 5)

I thought there would be some conflict in this episode, but I didn't expect such blandness. Both emotions and reasoning had been paving the way, and even the most extreme way "escape" was chosen at the beginning, but why did it still unfold the story in such a bland way? There could have been stronger emotional conflict.

And the small fish, as a plot twist, was seen by Fuuka as one of the reasons why she stayed at the aquarium, and was something that resonated with her. Fuuka found that it might be sick, but before she could deal with it, she was urged by Kukuru to run away, and later Fuuka was confused until she was almost completely out of the aquarium. This episode has a scene of tunnel shadows that showed the ups and downs of Fuuka's mood and change of understanding, which should be easy to tell, and at the same time this part can also be explained that Fuuka couldn't let go of her past self in the end.

But well, this twist was expected but still looked quite abrupt. There was no natural and smooth feeling in the plot, with development and transition like rusty gears, which is really worrying if it goes on like this, but well, the two female leads are still the biggest attraction, especially Fuuka with double ponytail in this episode, which was really good looking, and the hand-holding yuri in the end, which I won't resist and want more lol.
 
Episode 6
Pretty wholesome episode this week, nothing too much to say overly beyond that, they team up with one another to think of ideas to save the place, simple but effective (maybe no in actually saving it... but effective in enjoyability).
Them shaved ice designs did look pretty damn awesome to be fair.
Oh, i also love the big guy, i never remember his name but he is just great, the job there really suits him well too, he is so friendly!

The bit of magic thing was... not as bad as i would of thought. So I'm pretty much not expecting this fantasy side to go well long term but i concede that i did enjoy the use of it this episode. Having the old guy who comes every year in hopes of seeing his long dead brother was a nice touch, it's not tapping into the feels but its certainly something i can get on board with, and Kukuru seeing her parents and random girl 1 certainly is a bonus touch. This normally isn't my thing but it kind of just fits, Kukuru linked into the old guys story and his story was simple but understandable. If by small chance you experienced such a phenomenon and believed there was more to it, you probably wouldn't pass the chance either. So yeah pretty nice.
All in all, a much more chilled episode this week.
 
Madoka said:
Episode 6
Pretty wholesome episode this week, nothing too much to say overly beyond that, they team up with one another to think of ideas to save the place, simple but effective (maybe no in actually saving it... but effective in enjoyability).
Them shaved ice designs did look pretty damn awesome to be fair.
Oh, i also love the big guy, i never remember his name but he is just great, the job there really suits him well too, he is so friendly!

The bit of magic thing was... not as bad as i would of thought. So I'm pretty much not expecting this fantasy side to go well long term but i concede that i did enjoy the use of it this episode. Having the old guy who comes every year in hopes of seeing his long dead brother was a nice touch, it's not tapping into the feels but its certainly something i can get on board with, and Kukuru seeing her parents and random girl 1 certainly is a bonus touch. This normally isn't my thing but it kind of just fits, Kukuru linked into the old guys story and his story was simple but understandable. If by small chance you experienced such a phenomenon and believed there was more to it, you probably wouldn't pass the chance either. So yeah pretty nice.
All in all, a much more chilled episode this week.
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What I like about the fantasy bit is that it's ambiguous if it's real or in their heads, or possibly both (I like the third option, myself).
 
Episode 6.
Generic anime version of a website, or the subber making an Owl House reference? You decide.
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Anyway, chill episode was chill...these visions are still weird though.
 
The Aquatope on White Sand (Episode 6)

Shaved ice with animal features? It would be somewhat a special promotion for the aquarium. This episode felt like one with the most working atmosphere so far. Also, wonder if it was her sister that Kukuru saw in that fantasy place.
 
The characters giving exposition to each other because something vaguely tangential to Kuuya's backstory happened is clearly the best way to narratively expand on a side character. 100% it is. I'm definitely not being ironic right now.


This show is so frustrating. If the next episode sucks I'm finally dropping it.
 
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Episode 7 - honestly i watched this Friday, it's now Sunday night coming on Monday morning, I can't recall it detail for detail so i will keep it brief.

The old man - not sure what to make of him, he certainly has no faith in this place holding on, he is adamant on it will close, which isn't to say is a bad thing, it is logical to have plans in place but it is weird to see someone who apparently wants it to survive seemingly do nothing to save it, of more over, help Kukuru save it, i get he himself is getting on but he oddly has shown more effort to helping Kuuya get a job somewhere else than help this place, it's very strange to me.

Kuuya - So we find out why he don't like girls. I mean, fine, i guess. It really wasn't a remarkable story but i could see it being true, it just feels weird as we really have little to do with this guy so its hard to care.
Whilst i wont write the story its self off as BS, in the modern day i could genuinely believe some girl full of herself would do this to ruin someone's life (all the while, 10 years later she will complain on facebook when her children are bullied), so yeah i could accept it... but it still feels hard to accept. Like i can believe it might happen, but I equally struggle to accept it... i guess the story is just one of them things where its probably happened to someone but it still feels a bit hard to digest. Though credit where its do, i could accept this in turn might push him to not want much to do with girls, i doubt it's gonna trigger some trauma but it would be believable that he fears this repeating, which is fair enough.

Not quite sure why we watched the little boy vs Kuuya. Like everyone is saying to take it easy on the kid, all the while Kuuya is being called every name and people mocking him implying he couldn't win if he wanted to, the other kids say to take it serious... so what does he do? I bet a million, if he let the other kid win, everyone would laugh and mock Kuuya, but because he was serious, they was all pissed, literally no way to win.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he should of been serious, it was just a kid after all but the kid tells him to be serious whilst everyone else implies he couldn't win if he wanted too... seems everyone else was toxic. Surely the better way to handle this would of been to yeah, let the kid win and impress his little girlfriend without talking to Kuuya like a useless waste.
On the little girl, what the heck? He is (to quote) "In line" to be her boyfriend? I don't care if she is the best looking girl in the town, anyone who literally has guys lining for her and plays along isn't worth your time anyway. Which feels dumb to say about what look like 10 year old children but apparently, kids have harems now days. Quite sure at 10 I was pretty content kicking a ball around and collecting pokemon but sure, this seems legit.

In short, Kuuya's part felt meh, the story was acceptable but still feels like its lacking whilst the barbecue... errr child race was stupid to say the least, which really just resulted in the guy who essentially dislikes women due to mental abuse suffered... being mentally abused by a bunch of girls, ahhh the thoughtfulness. Sure you could argue I'm being too serious but if they want to excuse his disliking of ladies to this, at least make them think about their actions. They literally narrated the story themselves, they know why he is this way so they use this opportunity to not bond with him and maybe establish a slightly better friendship, helping him potentially let his guard down around them some more over time but instead, to playfully bully him, 10 minutes after explaining the bullying he suffered, okay.

Otherwise, can't remember the smaller details, i just remember this part annoying me.
 
Fuck it, I'm way too bored. Dropping at episode 8 and never looking back.

Sorry @interregnum but I'll never be able to tell you what happened to that backstory, because in all the episodes since you dropped this is never came up again. Nor did anything else interesting happen.
 
Madoka said:
does this mean I am ball and chained to the show now?
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Yes.

You lose your SoL card if you leave. So...better hope Former Idol doesn't suddenly realize she was really a Norse god all along.

Madoka said:
I don't quite remember what the backstory is we was after though.
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The baby book stuff.

...unless it's been so long since I thought about this show that I've forgotten what else I wanted to be updated about.
 
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Episode 8-
Yep, I think I'm out. I know this episode was supposed to be touching and funny, but I just didn't care. If this show was only going to be one cour, I might have tried to stick it out, but I don't think I can survive two cours of this. I was only mildly curious about this show from the beginning, and now I'm not even that. It is pretty to look at, but it's too slice-of-life and too aimless to keep me watching.

If you're going to have an episodic slice-of-life show focusing on mundane activities, you need to have really well-developed characters to keep people interested. This show doesn't have that. They basically give us a little background at best on each one, and then instead of building on it, they go back to being cardboard cutouts. Why isn't Fuuka's private life still a thing? What about Kuuya's fear of women and his worries about starting over at another aquarium? What about Kukuru's angst over her family and possible little sister? What about Kai's crush on Kukuru? What about finding homes for the rest of the animals? All of these ideas could be explored more while they also actively try to find ways to bring in more revenue. Instead, it's like watching them go about their daily lives lamenting the closure as it looms ever closer on the horizon and it's actually just really depressing.

In my opinion, keeping the aquarium open feels like a really naïve wish at this point- closure doesn't happen overnight, and Kukuru's grandfather seems pretty set on it. You know, maybe he just wants to retire. Running a place like that is a ton of work, and Kukuru is really too young to take over. Also, presumably the aquarium has been operating at a loss for some time, and with the mention of a new one being built, I just don't see what hope there is.

I actually want the aquarium to close- it will free all of them from a huge burden- half the cast are only children with their whole lives ahead of them. They shouldn't be stuck trying to hang on to a dying relic of the past. With her passion for sea life, Kukuru should go to college and study zoology or oceanography or something. Fuuka will find her bearings and move on- maybe she'll go to college with Kukuru and study sea life too.

I have a feeling this first cour may be a reeeallly slow buildup that will have all the questions answered in the second cour, but in that case, you need to give people something to hang on to until then, and they're not.
 
Just...just gonna make another pitch for Glasslip, before everyone cuts out of this thread forever. Nothing but SoL character drama in that PA Works show!

Well, character drama and the extraneous supernatural thread the PA Works feels compelled to include in everything, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut...
 
interregnum said:
Just...just gonna make another pitch for Glasslip, before everyone cuts out of this thread forever. Nothing but SoL character drama in that PA Works show!

Well, character drama and the extraneous supernatural thread the PA Works feels compelled to include in everything, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut...
Click to expand...

Glasslip was actually way prettier than this show, oddly enough. The colors, omg. Story was pretty crappy, but at least it was more interesting than this. I hate too much character drama, but none at all, especially in a show with no action makes for a really boring story. I'm all about the supernatural stuff, so am always disappointed when it winds up being included just because and doesn't really have any active role in the plot- which Aquatope seems to be doing.
 
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