Man, it seems like visual novel adaptations are starting to come back. Not a whole lot compared to the previous decades, but the fact that some are still being made is nice to hear. I previously played and reviewed the original game for Atri: My Dear Moments, a little after an anime adaptation was announced. Short version: While I did enjoy parts of the game, I did feel other parts could have been improved upon, but it was a valiant first game for Aniplex.exe to start with. With the knowledge I gleaned from the game, I was curious as to how the anime would adapt it, especially since the game itself is a fairly short 10-13 hours. It's inevitable that long visual novels would need to leave things out in the transition from a game to the TV format, especially a 12-13 episode series. On the whole, I do think the anime adaptation for Atri succeeded in its goal of adapting the game to a TV format, but it did make quite a few changes from the game. Some I liked, some...not so much, and the ones that didn't work are the anime's biggest problems.

In the near future, a sudden rise in sea levels floods the majority of the world and ends human civilization as we know it, forcing humanity to eke a living on what little dry land remains. Natsuki Ikaruga, a boy who lost his mother and his leg in an accident some years earlier, returns disillusioned from a harsh life in the big city to find his old countryside home half-swallowed by the sea. Left without a family, all he has to his name is the ship and submarine left to him by his oceanologist grandmother, and her debts. His only hope to restore the dreams for the future that he lost is to take up an opportunity presented to him by the suspicious debt collector Catherine. They set sail to search the sunken ruins of his grandmother's laboratory in order to find a treasure rumor says she left there. What they find is not riches or jewels; but a strange girl lying asleep in a coffin at the bottom of the sea. The girl, Atri, is a robot, but is so expressive and human-like that she could easily pass for a real human being. As thanks for salvaging her, Atri declares that she'll serve as Natsuki's leg until the end of the summer. The time they spend together over that summer changes the both of them.

I won't go into every single change the anime made from the game, as that'd make this review way longer than it needs to be, and I won't belabor a lot of what I said in my review of the game. I'll stick to my usual format before going into the nitty-gritty, starting with the animation. TROYCA, famous for Idolish7, was picked to do the animation, and while they couldn't quite replicate the finer details of Yusano and Moto4's character designs, they make up for that with kinetic character motion and fidelity to said character designs. They did, however, succeed in bringing the game's backgrounds and setting to life without compromising on the details. I also appreciate that the animators gave characters who didn't have sprites in the game actual designs, so it definitely has that going for it. On the sound front, I definitely appreciate that the anime decided to make its own original soundtrack as opposed to just reusing background tracks from the game, with the exception of a few, with one of them being important to the plot. I wasn't a fan of the overly chirpy ending theme, but as someone who usually doesn't like idol songs, I really liked the opening theme, Nogizaka46's "Ano Hikari." I never skipped it every time I watched an episode, it's that good. Hikaru Akao is still annoying when she sings in her squeaky voice, though.

A lot of the changes the anime makes is rearranging some events to make them happen either earlier or later than in the game, which does make some sense considering this is a 13-episode anime as opposed to a 13 hour game. The characters and their respective development remain the same from the game, even if a lot of aspects that put them on the path to getting it are either changed, downplayed, or cut out. Unfortunately, a few changes I didn't like were removing huge chunks of several characters' backstories, with Natsuki being the biggest victim of this. While his personality and development are the same as in the game, some really important parts of his backstory are cut out completely, such as leaving the Academy due to a combination of his own arrogance and a teacher being ableist towards him, both of which form the backbone of his development. By cutting those parts out, Natsuki comes across as much more needlessly angsty and mopey potato-kun. On the opposite side, Catherine and another character are made to be much nicer, with their more questionable actions watered down compared to the game. The anime seems to speed-run through the slice-of-life parts just to get to the plot faster, and while I can understand why they did this, as many who played the game complained that the plot should have happened a lot earlier, they kind of diluted the parts of the game that were genuinely good, such as the whole arc about the kids building a generator for the school.

There is one change that I definitely liked. In the last third of a game, there's a new character who gets introduced named Yasuda, who hates Atri and wants to kill her. He's universally despised by fans of the game due to a combination of his appearance completely lacking any established build-up or foreshadowing so it feels like he comes out of nowhere, and for being a generic villain whose motivations are really weak and tenuous at best. The anime doesn't change his characterization nor give him more depth and nuance, but it does go out of its way to address the first issue with him in that they add in whole new scenes where he's not only going after Atri multiple times, he even goes after other characters directly and using different methods, whether it be appealing to their guilty conscious or straight up trying to kill them, ranging from shooting them or unhooking Natsuki's submarine to wash him out to sea. While I do wish Yasuda's backstory had been fleshed out more, or given a stronger motivation for hating Atri than what he has, I definitely appreciate the anime's attempts to make him a more constant presence and a genuine threat, and it seems like the manga is doing the same.

But there is one addition the anime made that I really, REALLY wish they hadn't. Remember how in my review of the game, I mentioned that I absolutely hated the scene where Natsuki slips and falls into Minamo's boobs because it felt like unnecessary fanservice? The anime removes that, thank God (As does the manga)...but it also adds in new scenes involving Atri being sexualized or offering herself up to Natsuki in what's clearly meant to be a sexual manner, when she clearly looks and acts like an elementary schooler! Like, TROYCA, did we REALLY need a scene where Atri flashes her nude body to Natsuki several times when she's wearing nothing but a bath towel? I mean, it's at an angle where we can't see her nude, but come on! The game at least kept it limited to Atri jokingly calling Natsuki naughty and jumping to conclusions before she gets conked on the head! It's like the show is worried that we won’t care about Atri (and her death flags) unless we’ve been assured she’s a potential sex object, and it does a disservice to the story’s stronger emotional beats. Who thought deciding to openly sexualize Atri MORE was a good idea?! Because it isn't! Basically, Atri the anime traded one form of unnecessary fanservice for another, and it just makes me cringe into a singularity.

It's honestly a shame the anime decided to implement a lot of those more questionable changes, because I did enjoy the rest of my time with this show, and I want to recommend it to people who don't want to play the game or are unable to for whatever reason. I like the animation, the music, the opening song, most of the characters, and some of the better changes Atri: My Dear Moments made. But the not-so-good changes leave a pretty big black stain on what on paper is still a fairly decent adaptation of Aniplex.exe's first visual novel. Personally, if you want the better experience, I recommend just playing the game, if you're able. The anime is fine if you're into it or can't play the game for whatever reason, but I really wish I could recommend it more enthusiastically.