Overall it was very solid, very grounded, very sad. I’m one to get very easily and quickly emotionally invested in narratives, so I can’t really stomach depressing narratives like this all too often, but it’s okay every now and then. A nice little spice every once in a while when the context dictates it appropriate. Spoiler warning for this review.

From the beginning they make it pretty clear that the overarching structure of this narrative was going to be very simple: a clear rise, a clear fall. We know this from the second it starts, as Haruki signposts it to us. This is a good first step: they’ve made it clear who this show is for. Don’t come here expecting something that’ll make you feel good.

I still wasn’t prepared for just how devastatingly it comes crashing down though. It’s as if halfway through, a flip switches, and the characters keep choosing the options that will make them as sad in the end as possible. Everyone’s a total mess, they’re unrecognizable as characters, but that’s just what hopeless love does to you at that age. Haruki’s spinelessness and disregard for the hurt he’s causing his girlfriend after being a comically rational character up until that point did get on my nerves, but that’s more of a projection byproduct than it is a problem with the writing.

I think my single biggest issue is just with the believability of the foundation of these relationships. I just don’t really buy that these characters actually built such a strong foundation that they would wish so strongly to be the best of friends forever. They didn’t know each other very long, and I didn’t see anything that resembled true group chemistry. They just suddenly attached to each other. It looked more like 2 girls fell in love with a guy, and the guy’s heart was torn between the two girls.

In my personal opinion, it feels like something’s missing. Like there’s an X factor that’s off here. Maybe I’m feeling like what literally happened was a little underwhelming, like the scope of these 3 doing a concert and then struggling to stay together as a group didn’t feel substantial. Obviously, it was all just window-dressing for the true meat of the story- the love triangle- but I feel like with something like Your Lie in April, which feels like a good tonal comparison, the stakes were larger. You actually felt like something important was happening at the surface, so the emotional core of the story can feel justified. This is just sort of a nitpick to be honest, because it’s good even despite this, but it’s just another factor in why I wouldn’t say it’s a masterpiece or something.

On top of that, the world felt a little small. It feels like, beyond the main 3, nothing else really exists. Sure, there are some characters, Haruki’s guy friend with some very minor contributions, that one girl that’s kind of like a sidekick, and they have some cool moments where they clearly understand the social situation. Setsuna had a family that seemed a little nosy. Kazusa’s mom- Fey Valentine- also appears at points. But beyond that it’s as if the entire plot is happening in a vacuum. And I understand why, they barely had enough time to develop the main 3’s relationships in it of themselves, let alone build the world around them.

It’s a situation where, while it may have been possible to expand this into 2 full seasons to fix all that, the 1st season would’ve felt unsatisfying, both seasons would’ve had a major difference in tone, and they would’ve felt like the main actual plot was dragging too much. It’s just a byproduct of that plot that they don’t have time to do all this stuff. It’s unfortunate, but the solution is just to tell a different story, so it is how it is.

I still feel like Haruki’s family really should’ve been touched on at least somewhat. We got the slightest of hints that his parents must be relatively absent in his life, but I feel like that was more of a necessity for the story to work rather than a character aspect they actually explored. I definitely would’ve liked to have seen that utilized somewhere, maybe as a point of relatability between Kazusa and Haruki, maybe as some sort of simple trauma that explains why Haruki is the way he is, whatever.

Music was flat out good. Lots of great stuff in the actual OST, got lots of 2-5-1s in classic Japan fashion, some royal road progression action, which I eat all the way up. They pulled this move where they add a reverb tail to the BGM so that they can crop it to the length they need a lot, also to draw attention to the abrupt removal of music, but I don’t think your average viewer is going to notice nor care. It’s a bit of a dated way to do things, but the show is from 2013 so what can you expect.

Speaking of 2013, the show certainly looks it. Flip-phones aside, the art style alone pretty clearly indicates when it released. The animation isn’t too cheap, but it isn’t screaming “high budget” either. I’ve seen better, I’ve seen worse.

I liked the choice to use the brake lights and headlights as red and blue light sources here, thought it was pretty clever.

The literal character writing wasn’t particularly impressive either. They’re not expecting you to need to mentally unpack a lot of what’s going on. When a character is thinking something they won’t say, they’ll usually mutter it under their breath so that you can know. I think that might also be a sign of its age. There were a few moments with room to read between the lines, so it’s not completely turn-off-your-brain, but there’s room for improvement.

This was a cool moment where we find out that Setsuna's idle chatter was actually after she found out about Haruki's infidelity. They should've left it here, Haruki said all he needed to say for us to understand the situation now. ... but they went on to then explain all the stuff we already knew. In a real conversation you wouldn't need to repeat all this stuff. In a narrative it's just needless padding.

To summarize- overall, they got lots of the important stuff right, and if you don’t mind how focused on the main events the story is, it’s a nice quick season to have a little cry over. In my case I didn't actually end up tearing up like I do often, but that might just be because I found the infidelity made Haruki hard to sympathize with.