Nagi no Asukara or A Lull in the Sea does well in telling a story full detail and so many shining emotions. Four friends who live in the sea: Hikari, Manaka, Chisaki and Kaname, must attend a school on the surface after their middle school is closed down. These characters must face their new environment and deal with the issues between the people of Shioshishio (the people from the sea) and Oshioshi (the people living on land). On the surface they make new friends and face new emotions that stir up within them. While watching this series I was enthralled by each of the journeys that the characters took and enjoyed seeing them grow and develop.
STORY
I found the story to be great. It was interesting and had my attention most of the time. The lore of the story is definitely great and you could tell it was thought out well unlike a recent anime that just finished (FRANXX) which had interesting lore, but the explanation was just lazy and a complete ass pull.
The first half of the story deals with the main characters adjusting to their new environment and facing the problems between the people from the land and sea. The two different populations feel bitter towards each other. They blame each other for their problems. The people of Shioshishio blame the people living on the surface for the decrease in their population. Over the years men and women have left the sea village to marry someone they love who lives on the surface. If this occurs, a person from the sea is banned from returning. People of the sea are born with ena which is a special coating that allows them to breathe underwater. An offspring from someone from the surface and someone from the sea is not born with ena which means that the population of Shioshishio has decreased over time.
Because of the adults, the kids are prejudice against the people on the surface and vice versa. The kids begin to bond through the building of Ojoshi-sama and realize they are not bad people and are actually very much alike. Uroko-Sama or also known as the scale of the Sea God, tells that a disastrous event will occur, and the world will freeze and the people of Shioshishio must hibernate. The people on the surface will be left to die. The children hope to reach the sea god through the Ofunehiki and stop the drastic event from occurring.
SPOILER:
Spoiler, click to view
In the end the Ofunehiki does not go as planned. The sea god is mad and Hikari and Kaname end up going into hibernation with the rest of the village and Manaka becomes the sacrifice for the Sea god. Chisaki is stranded on the land with no family or friends.The second part of the story deals with the change that the characters have gone through. Most of the characters have their emotions all over the place. They feel loss, sadness, anger, loneliness and vulnerability and most overcome these feelings. The world itself has also gone through change and they must find a way to resolve the issue with the God of the Sea before anything drastic happens.
Spoiler, click to view
The world has slowly begun to freeze five years after the Ofunehiki and the characters must reverse this affect.Both parts of the story deal with change, with both parts focusing on the fear of change and coming to terms with change occurring. The way the anime dealt with this was done really good in my opinion. It was nothing special but I understood the way the characters were feeling and it truly resonated with me. Change can happen. And that's okay. Change doesn't have to happen. Whatever is fine.
CHARACTERS
Other than the four main characters, there is also Tsumugu, a boy who loves the sea, Miuna, the daughter of a man from the surface and a woman of the sea and Uroko, the scale of the sea god who takes care of the village of Shioshishio. There are other characters as well, but I can’t name all of them.
The characters were likeable and the chemistry between them was good. Their friendships feel real and so do their emotions. They were pretty realistic for the most part. Characters had some development whether it was big or small. Secondary characters in the first half of the story become main characters in the second half. Two characters that I liked were Hikari and Chisaki.
Hikari started off as a person who was very aggressive and hated the people on the surface. At first, I found his character really annoying but seeing him grow changed my view on him. He cares for his friends deeply which is the reason for his aggressive nature. Hikari begins to become more understanding of others and becomes a bit calmer. His core traits are still there but he grows a lot as a character, becoming more mature by the end of the story.
For example, when it comes to Akari, Hikari's sister, Hikari does not approve of her relationship with her boyfriend who is from the surface, but he begins to understand the people of the land he wants his sister to be happy and accepts her choice even if it means she can't return to the sea anymore.
Chisaki is another character who goes through development. She cares about her friends deeply as well and usually puts them ahead of herself. She pretends to be mature even though she's the same age as them. When her and her friends start a new school on the surface, she doesn’t like the new feelings that begin to stir within her and her friends. It makes her sad seeing her friends go through pain, suffering and vulnerability. She feels as if the four of them are changing. She wishes she can go back in time to the days where they were still in school in the sea. When everything was normal between them. She hates change yet she's the one who ends up changing the most. She must deal with it and accept the fact that she has grown as a person. She might have matured but deep inside her core traits are still within her and when her friends tell her she is still the same, it makes her happy. I found myself resonating with her.
VISUALS AND AUDIO
The visuals for this show were really something. Seeing the sea and the world of Shioshishio was incredible. A lot of thought and detail went into creating the visuals and making them as stunning as possible. The scenery combined with the music from the anime made for some real memorable scenes which I know will be stuck in my head for a long time.The score felt like an anime titanic OST and certain tracks reminded me of kimi no Nawa.
Spoiler, click to view
Scenes that stood out to me where Shioshishio and the ceremony of the Ofunehiki in episodes 13, 24 and 25FINAL THOUGHTS
I really enjoyed the hell out of this anime. I believe this is a hidden gem that not many people know about. Or I possibly don't realize that it's pretty popular. It did have kind of a slow start. I really wasn’t into the first few episodes, but it did pick up pretty quick and I ended up binge watching the final episodes. An issue I have is the second half kinda felt like a repeat of the first. Also this is just me nitpicking but the whole live triangle thing was kinda annoying. It wasn’t even a triangle bruh, this shit was like a frickin love dodecagon or something. Like this person loved someone but that person loved someone else and that person had feelings for another person and so on. Like man this thing is all over the place. Still a good romance though. There really aren’t any real issues with the show that bothered me. Was I satisfied with the final relationships? Eh, not really. There was one in particular
Spoiler, click to view
Chisaki and Tsumugu