Name: All the feelings, all the art will take good or bad care of you in this trip.
Item: Love Through A Prism
Rating: 100
Author: yalexi

Waifra

All the feelings, all the art will take good or bad care of you in this trip. · Waifora

If you'll watch this, prepare yourself to live this romance as the main character. You lowkey love art? You lowkey love the cruelty of reality? The true faces of life, friendships and love are well expressed in this anime. So before starting to watch it, remember: feel it in your bones brazenly. As an afternoon tea this anime has to be drank with calmness, savoring the unique flavours inside it. Get excited from the warm of this tea, and be sure to put a lot of sugar. That way you'll start getting touched to the herbs (the characters) inside it, and that's where the goosebumps comes! Don’t worry, if it’s too hot let it rest and if it’s too cold don’t force yourself and wait until you feel like you want it again.

I'll introduce the keys that made this anime a gem for me, one of the best romance anime of all the times. Am I exaggerating? You can believe me or not, but give it a chance.
There might be some semi-spoilers, I’ll talk about the plot! Read the spoiler warning if you finished the anime or if you're curious ^^

★ The use of art

The anime is set in the early 20th century in London. The main character is Lili, a Japanese girl who went in the UK with the dream of becoming a great artist. She had the chance to get in the st Thomas art academy with the help of her country, who previously discovered her talent for art. From the first episode we can immerse in Lili's life, feeling her excitement, her fears and determination but more importantly her love.
What's so special about the art in this anime?
When we look at a painting, without knowing who the artist is or his story we have the power to decide what the subject is, for who the painting was aimed, and the reasons behind it. Taking aside our creativity we can also just pay attention to the techniques, that's what Lili did with Kit Church painting initially. After getting to know him, she (and us) began to swim in his painting, searching for answers (same questions that Kit kept reflecting in his art, desperately) and finding the missing freedom (obviously art isn't static so the way we can perceive it and the way it's expressed can change and that's what makes it more captivating in the end).
Not only in the course of events the paintings had a drastic and necessary change, they were also pure containers of human emotions. And knowing the life behind those brush strokes made them more powerful, impactful for the story.
Attention. Not only paintings, sculptures too. And obviously we cannot forget to mention the London environment. The pleasant chaos of the city, the lovely silence of outskirts, the sounds of people moving, the music of the boots touching the flour, the classic music, the shapes of the sky, the beauty of nature and its time. The art explodes into the gestures, the words, the glances of the characters.

★ The demand to accept ourselves

A lot of character, if not all of them, went through a grown path whose main focus was "accept the reality".
Am I good at drawing? Is this my vocation? Will I become someone? Can I improve? Am I talented? Will the effort be enough to fill my void?
This is the type of anime that people on their 20s need to watch to get motivated and feel represented. What we wanna do? What are we good at? The anxiety behind these questions is palpable. Are we wasting our time? Spoiler: no. What we are wasting is our potential to destroy the world with our trying and failing. Our trying and finding our true passion, the things we're good at.

Spoiler, click to view

"sometimes what you like and what you're good at aren't the same thing" Peter,

saint words. Another important phase of this reading key was the loss of motivation for drawing. All the characters reacted to this fundamental stage in their way (big spoilers ahead)

Spoiler, click to view

Dorothy saw straight in her heart and accepted that she wasn’t talented and that art wasn’t her purpose of life, just a funny hobby. Jeffrey had an idea and conclude it. Peter went through a lot of stages, from oil paint to economy and sculpture (which was predictable since he fell in love hard for Shin’s works and knew all the techniques). Kit had chosen to step back and come back after the caress of boredom, but in the end he never ever left his art just his subject (Lili, and he found her back so great!). And Lili needed Kit’s words: “One piece of paper, a pencil and you Lili, that’s the only things you need” for drawing.

★ The beauty of passion

As I saw with Katherine, Lili exposed her passion for painting with enthusiasm. What is passion? Passion is choosing to go to London to draw. Is challenging your abilities. Is accepting criticism for improve. Is explore for expand the variety of the world and exploit it. Is forgetting unconsciously our lives and live the moment. Is being dubious but determined. Is choosing to quit something for good. And a lot lot more.

★ The importance of friendships

As I could see while watching this anime my devotion for the characters comes from their good representation and connections between each other. You can clearly notice that they all needed each other to find themselves a bit more. There isn't a single character who didn't had its time to share its persona, even the side characters had that chance.
Some examples:

Spoiler, click to view

Katherine was the opposite of Dorothy, she was cold and apparently cold hearted, but she needed Lili. She needed her question "There's something you love to do? A hobby?" to find her path and create her life. It was thanks to her that she started listening to herself. Lili needed Peter and Kit to talk about talent to understand she was doing all for approvement. Kit needed Lili to keep drawing.

Also, the energy of a friendship doesn't stops just because of distance. We could see that too!

★ Your heart is trapped in this game

This anime plays with your feelings.
You’ll get what I mean.
At some point you’ll start ask yourself “everything is going well, when will arrive the surprise?” And that’s a great quality in my opinion. Even if it costs your tears, your hanger, your joy and energy it’s what makes the series special.

★ The reality

Lili was in the middle of peak joy, the land of happiness. Everything was going her way, there was just one thing left to say, just one. And it was all thrown away in the blink of an eye. This is the portrait of life.

Spoiler, click to view

The depression she felt as a "reward" after what happened in London removed the vivid colours of life, and that's the lesson of destiny and the tombstone that our hearts create and chooses when it finds its place (sometimes at the wrong time). = Her heart was fulfilled with joy because of art yes, but because of Kit mostly and that's why with his disappearance Lili went straight into depression.

Not everything can be defeated immediately, but surely only by dreams we can fly higher than the malicious world we live in. Our voices, our presence is significant. That's what I learned watching this.

[spoilers of episodes from 17 to 19 ahead]

Spoiler, click to view

Shin loved Lili, he admired her, he kept an eye on her as Kit asked him and this is another piece of reality that reeks of sadness and unrequired love repressed by gratitude, responsibility and cozy cuddles, caresses without fervour. He was about to marry the girl she liked but what he liked about her was the determination that she discovered by Kit for painting. It was admiration who reached love for Shin on Lili. But in the end the marriage would have been for pity, with love yes but not concrete and pure love.

★ The dramatic change of colours

Spoiler, click to view

As said before Lili had lost the colours of the world when she came back to Yokohama, and that was a peak choice from the author. The London we saw before moving was shining, so when we had to look at Yokohama with that black/white/grey eyes it was inevitable for us to come in Lili’s senses again. Feeling her anxiety, and depression. I, personally, had an anxiety attack while watching, but this is my sensible response ;-;.

The incredible role of colours in this anime is surely part of its charm and appeal.

Spoiler, click to view

When I saw Kit’s hair and eyes receiving their light in the episode 19 I could do nothing but getting emotional. The ultramarine oil colour was a main character from the start, the colour that made Lili realise her passion for art, and the colour that made her paint once again, and the artifice of all this was the lost and found Christopher Church. “Colours express space and awaken feelings that had been locked away. Yes, I really do love painting”

Attend to arrive to the last episode of this anime to get what the title means and most importantly what I mean when I say the dramatic but powerful change of colours

★ The time

Spoiler, click to view

I felt those five years. Everything was impactful, different and had characters completely disconnected from the previous years in London. It wasn’t just to make a scene. It was necessary to make the emotions more intense. When I read the “I’ll take you there one day. Don’t forget the blue paint.” quote wrote in that diary I saw in Lili’s face the Lili of 20 years old, and as flashbacks the first episodes came into my mind and created an image of Kit and Lili in that cave with lilies.

Everything is a matter of time? No everything is a matter of people. Even if it’s impossible to get, the people around you, the good or bad ones can improve or destroy and refill or replace your version of you. The true one, the fake one, you. I saw this in Lili’s and Kit’s eyes.

★ The faces of love

Starting from mutual love, going on with the forced bond, colliding into the impossible love, then the one-side love, the familiar love and last but not least the real love I had a fantastic and aging trip.

★ The last episode

As for many animes, series tv the last episode it’s the last peace of a beautiful, intriguing puzzle. Everything is well assembled and well done. For me this episode was as good as the first episode. It felt like the anime was just about to start for real.
This is because life is now, and yesterday and tomorrow.
What you are when you’re in your 20 yo isn’t what you’ll be in your 25 yo. So explore vague dreams and horrible jobs, study and learn new skills. Fail a lot, do mistakes. Never search for perfection. You’ll find your path one day and it will not be easy to take, a lot of illusions will appear, but what’s yours will find you. That’s what Lili and Kit and all the characters made me realise even more.

Spoiler, click to view

“I’ve stumbled and fallen. Now I’ve become bad at painting. But I really don’t mind. I can just start again from scratch, can’t I”