Disclaimer: This is my first review on Anilist, so please cut me some slack, as I feel I may not be able to fully articulate what I wish to say properly. With that being said, I hope you enjoy reading this! Also, I'll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, putting absolute story details in appropriate tags.

Synopsis:
The story of Nagi No Asukara (A Lull in the Sea) takes place in a world where there are people from the sea, as well as people living on the surface. Growing rifts form between the two groups of people after certain events over the course of many years, leading to racism and discrimination. Our main characters are Hikari, Manaka, Chisaki and Kaname, four childhood friends from the sea who are forced to attend school on the surface after their original school closes. Tsumugu–one of the students living on the surface– is another character also enters their circle. Other characters also make their appearances as well, and I'll be sure to talk about them later.

Story:
This anime breaks off into two arcs. Without spoilers, there are a couple of major events that happen in the series during the first arc which sets a tone shift for the second arc. The first arc is very slice of life-y, introducing our characters, their personalities, and their dynamics with each other as well as them navigating surface life and dealing with initial discrimination from the humans on the surface. Some people find this arc boring, but I personally enjoyed it more than the second arc. I like slice of life settings quite a bit, and this one was no exception.

The second arc takes a tone shift, and rather than focusing on the setting and worldbuilding, the story now shifts to focusing on the characters and their relationships with each other (this is a romance anime after all). This is where it became a little too melodramatic for me. More in the spoiler tag if anyone is interested and has already seen the anime.

Both arcs have a common theme though: change, which is addressed throughout the anime in a different sense through both arcs, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the story.

Characters:
TL;DR: Sayu best girl, Hikari best boy.

All of the characters offer something to the story, but some characters had more fulfilling stories to me than others. Hikari is a character that grew on me as the story went on, growing from a hot-headed young boy to someone more mature and his development was absolutely my favorite. Chisaki was my original favorite character, but I began to grow frustrated with her actions during the second arc even if she had her reasons, however I actually find her to be the most relatable with her worries about change. Kaname is the group's voice of reason, and I adored this aspect about him because it seemed like he was the only one that understood the concept of COMMUNICATION. Tsumugu is a hit-or-miss, because his aloof personality bothered me sometimes, but he also had some good moments when people confided in him. Now Manaka is probably my least favorite, which honestly isn't even saying much because all the characters are good. More on that in the spoiler tag (if you've watched the anime again, feel free to read).

Two other main characters are introduced later: Miuna and Sayu, both of which are fantastic characters. Sayu became my best girl within the last few episodes, and Miuna is also very mature and calm, which is a nice contradiction to Hikari in the beginning.

Other side characters are mentioned, like Akari (Hikari's older sister) and Uroko (a sea god scale protecting the sea village) and I liked them as well.

Setting:
Okay, I WANT to live in Shioshishio so badly. The sea village (pic above) is one of the prettiest places I've ever seen in an anime. The surface town of Oshiooshi is also very nice, and looks very quaint.

Animation:
The animation in this series is GORGEOUS. It's probably one of the prettiest anime I've ever seen, which doesn't surprise me since P.A. Works is known for this visually stunning work. The colors are bright blue with high saturation to compliment the sea theme of the show and the movements of the characters are smooth and crisp. It's such a visually nice show honestly.

Music:
The OST is also beautiful. Both OPs and ENDs are fantastic, complimenting the tones of the show at the time they're used, with my personal favorite being the second ending. The instrumental themes used throughout also very nice, and compliment the setting of the show well, they are mostly relaxing the quieter themes, along with a couple of more dramatic songs for important scenes.

Conclusion: I personally enjoyed this anime quite a bit, and I wish more people would watch it! Subjectively speaking, I wish they spoke about certain things more, but objectively speaking, this series has a great story. It's very original (this is an anime original by the way) and it had me hooked the whole time I was watching it. If you're looking a romance anime, this is definitely one to consider. The same could be said if you're looking for anime with high stakes and drama as well. 8.5/10 for me!