Don't get it mixed up - this isn't really about the romance. It's an element, but it's not the focus. This anime is about regret, and overcoming grief. Kakeru's lifelong regrets send him beyond the point of no return, which becomes everyone else's lifelong regret. But miraculously, they've d-mailed themselves the plot cliff notes, and have the chance to figure out how to erase Kakeru's regrets so that they can erase their own. Spoiler warning for this.
I'm also talking about Orange: Future (the movie), there's repeat moments but the new things they put in it are worth watching.
The strongest point here is the entire friendship group and the way they work together and support each other. Not everyone in the group has the most interesting development, a few of them end up merging into just a collective. I don't think that's the end of the world though. I think it's okay to have many characters feeling the same way, and it just goes to sell them as a collective, and reinforce their shared regrets and consequent motivation to save Kakeru.
The interstitched moments where they go back to the future, and you see them, 10 years later, calmly revisit all those memories. Their smiles are hiding the hurt they've had to live with, enough that they take a chance on an impossible idea just to relieve some of their regret. It makes it all the more powerful in the end when, 10 years later, ~~in the alpha world line~~, they can smile with their hearts with Kakeru.
The structure of having the future predicted in each note also gives them a lot of free foreshadowing. They don't even have to do anything. They just reveal what the letters say at the right moment and subvert the expectations when it's interesting to do so. A bit of a winning formula.
It's definitely not the most intelligent show I've ever watched. There wasn't too much flat-out stupidity, it's just not got a tonne of active listening and characters don't get as fleshed out as they could've. Naho can be frustrating at times, but that's just her personality, and she does show some small signs of growth toward becoming more proactive and confident by the end. Kakeru's grief was also manifesting inconsistently, but that's probably more realistic. It isn't looming over you at all times, it'd come and go, hitting hard sometimes, and falling back at other times.
The music was fine. There were a few ideas I didn't think were too bad, nothing really stand-out though. I first watched this about a year ago and just rewatched it now, and the first 2 bars of the ED were still like engrained into my brain, so those must've been somewhat memorable. (yes, I'm the kinda person to skip the OP and ED. Please don't downvote me. I just wanna watch the damn show)
Honestly, I think Suwa's story is the most interesting overall. Now, let me preface this by saying, I'm not into men.
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... Suwa's the kinda guy you treasure as a friend for life. It's a serious testament to how truly he cares when he can be so overwhelmed with guilt and feel like a terrible person, enough to push his own deep feelings aside and come to accept that. I personally found it really moving.
Also worth noting that the story actually ends; they actually have a complete narrative. Already better than a lot of other series out there by default.
It isn't flawless, and it isn't the perfect execution of the potential of their premise. But that's okay. It's enough to enjoy it for what it is and appreciate the feel-good moments that come from saving themselves from such a dark and traumatic future.
Their faces are definitely weird tho.
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