To Your Eternity ‘s themes and concepts are something very thought-provoking and poignant. I like that, but there are problems. I will admit that this anime made me shed tears, but about 1/8th of those tears were me being emotional and the rest came from me yawning so much. The first episode started out absolutely amazing, and the first arc was solid as well,but afterwards each arc just becomes weaker and weaker.Little plot holes here and there start to suddenly appear more and more as it progresses,and it gets to the point where my initial intrigue for the series fades away.Not that the show becomes unwatchable at all. I really like worldbuilding and while some of the characters feel one note, they're kind of fun to watch together.
What really got me through the show was Fushi’s character of learning more and more about humanity and connection.Some of the worldbuilding is cool as well, i like how different parts of this world have different ways of communication and the fictional letter system or typography was impressive.But even in the world building it kind of falls apart,no spoilers but Fushi goes to an island in the final arc, and the way the island works is all over the place. Like there are no rules but there are rules, people can just kill others with no repercussions, there is this really stupid tournament where spectators basically cheat and kill fighters, yet there still is some type of security system and need for a new leader. It just feels all over the place so I couldn't really grasp how it works.And I feel the whimsical vibe of fumetsu starts to fall apart when it divulges into the “Fushi needs to fight monster” plot. It's not all bad though, throughout the show there are really great character moments that involve Fushi’s weaknesses, the fragility of humanity, the finality of death, and their legacy through Fushi’s memories.Gave me food for thought about how and why death shouldnt be seen as just the end but treated as something to commemorate a person’s life.And that memory becomes timeless depending on the bonds they made.
#ART AND ANIMATION
Fumetsu is pretty standard animation wise. The first episode looked beautiful and as the show goes on, the animation gets less and less stable, until the final episode where they just go ham on their animation budget.The problem is this show hits a lot of emotional beats and despite being cliche, they are really effective at times, usually because the animation is on point or the direction is strong. But as the animation gets rough later on, when it hits very dire or crucial moments, the animation is so sparse that the direction can't save it and editing makes it worse.And it's a big fat L at times.I will admit, the one thing that stayed on point was the background art.But the CGI crowds were given way too much exposure.This show has good body horror too.
Opening Theme
This is a weird place to comment about this but this makes a nice bridge between the visuals and the sound so i'll roll with it. Im absolutely addicted to the song “Pink Blood” by Hikaru Utada, not only is the song really great but the lyrics are so poignant and some parts in particular felt like an emotional gut punch.My main problem is with the visuals, they are ridiculously spoilery, and it's not weaved in cleverly like Jojo or YLIA, its straight up just climatic scenes that spoil events in the show.I dont get their intention with doing that and just overlaying the scenes, but I highly advise to just skip the visuals if you can.
#SOUND
I think it sounds nice, there is one piece of music that I want to touch on,its this music that uses this very bone chilling cello that gets me everytime i hear it.Just,oh my god it awesome and compliments the tone very world.
#CHARACTERS
As I said before, Fushi is what got me through most of the show. I like his bond with others and how they give him this “stimulation” while they get something else out of it.For example, when he encounters March, her passion to become a motherly figure creates a cute dynamic with Fushi.His relationship as a sort of family figure towards others is great too.Unfortunately his weakest dynamic is with the final arc where everyone values his powers more than his actual character.And since that dynamic is weak, the people apart of it dont really leave an impression.The main side character in that arc was also very boring with a one dimensional arc told through flashback. Despite the flashback being very devastating, I felt my eyes getting heavier and heavier and i wasn't tired, just bored.
I think one problem that annoyed me a lot is that these characters just spoon feed every theme and emotion to you through superfluous dialogue,and never gives the viewer time to feel the emotion or come to the conclusion themselves.Which can be very annoying at times,luckily im more lenient when a show is so dramatic as this,but if I was someone else, I would see myself despising this show more.
Also the villain is just annoying, they are one of those villains who are just mean just because they're mean, they're not layered at all.They cause a lot of crap to happen yet none of the characters do anything to them.Not even Fushi could do anything to deal with them. Thats when I realized my one problem with Fushi. He has that cliche moment where an MC is like, “I dont wanna kill people,that's bad” meanwhile they or another person is about to be literally killed by someone. I wasnt a fan of that in JJK because the way it was handled in that anime was that it was brought up three times and the rest of the show is just “ITADORI SMAAAASH”. I appreciate that element more in Fumetsu since the character experiences true grief and through human bonds realizes how that's a sad thing,but when that cliche element of the guy being a pacifist comes into play, it makes for some mildly frustrating moments.
#ENJOYMENT
Yea thats about all I have to say. I know some people who despise this show because of its emotional elements feeling very melodramatic,its not for everyone but I thought it was pulled off well enough when the characters were not telling you what to feel. I’m down for a season 2, the characters and world building need to step up their game though, and I hope they do different things with Fushi because by the end of this series, his arc doesn't have many places to go. And I hope they don’t do that stupid spoiler heavy bullcrap for the opening again.
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