On a remote island far from the mainland named Urashima, a man washes ashore, with no recollection of his name or homeland. What he does recall, however, is that he is a time traveler with a mission: to save a certain girl from harm. As nightfall arrives, he meets Rinne Ohara, a girl who sings a tune that reminds him of a specific name—Setsuna—and decides to use it as his own.
Knowing another "Setsuna" herself, Rinne takes him to her household as a servant, hoping that he is the same one she remembers. On the other hand, Setsuna continues to learn more about Urashima, desiring to identify his lost past. He comes to know about the island's folklore, its three great families, and the endemic disease that prevents anyone afflicted from stepping out into the daylight.
As the mysteries of his missing memories and Urashima itself unfold, Setsuna must remember his purpose and fulfill his mission as soon as possible. But, as he witnesses the myriad of troubles plaguing the island, Setsuna begins to question—is his temporal displacement merely an effort to change a single girl's fate?
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
animesscythe
The review contains spoilers While waiting for someone to write a positive review about this, I thought I'd wake up because that won't happen, so I guess I should do it myself. I find 7 to be above average, not something I'd recommend, but it's good compared to the hate this show is getting, and I actually like it. So there may be spoilers because no one cares about a show with this low of a rating, right? The story with its mysteries and use of time travel is stunning, it's all connected and covers up most of its plot-holes (not really all though). The waySetsuna wants to save someone, which is later implied to be Rinne, the way the Island repeats itself, the way Kuon is revealed to be the future Rinne. It all felt smoothly connected, believable, and most of all, shocking. Even I was surprised by how an overhated anime can shock me with its twists, but surprisingly it surprised me. But that does not mean it is without issues. The ending where saving Rinne is neglected kind of was off the point, but I can't say after that big shock that I cared enough. It still dropped my scoring a bit, in addition to the Never Island segments having copies of the Island segment, that was hard to believe. Ignoring the flaws, I believe the story is the strongest point in the series, but its minimal flaws make me rate it a 7.
Songs by Rinne's seiyuu are really nice to hear, I love the seiyuu. Insert songs are also well made, no complaints. Art looks nice, which is something even the haters can agree on.
And I bet we all can agree that the characters are flat. They were used as plot devices, and if the plot wasn't good, this series would be as forgettable as School Days. Even though they are bland, I did not really dislike them, nor like them. The 3 main girls are cute with cute voices, and Setsuna with his manly seiyuu, not much to complain about, but I did rate the characters a 5. The show would be an easy 8/10 with stronger characterization.
Obviously after everything I said, I did enjoy the show. Characters do not really affect enjoyment, and enjoyment is the main reason we watch anime, right? So it's not wrong to ignore certain flaws if you enjoyed a show. You do not have to agree with me, after all, I like SAO. But I could name 50 shows better than SAO and Island, so even if they are good in my opinion, you can find better, but you can give this a try.
Stark700
Ever wondered what would be like to wake up and have no memories about yourself? Island takes this traditional trope but instead of translating it into a survival tale, it turns it into a story about rediscovery. It’s a series based on a visual novel but I confess to say that it’s very questionable in terms of presentation. Looking at the show made me wonder how such a simple premise descended into an abomination. The simple premise of Island honestly made me curious about the show at first. Taking place on this island known as “Urashima”, it gives the impression of a setting of isolation. It’saway from cities, civilizations, and the social problems that we have to deal in our everyday lives. In fact, the first few episodes really makes it clear that the islanders there live in a carefree way. However, it didn’t take long for me to realize that there’s more than meets the eye about the story’s mystery. A big part of the show is trying to sell its suspenseful plot by connecting the past with the present.
Before I actually get into the juicy part of the show, it’s noticeable that Island underwent some changes before the actual premiere. From my understanding, there was dispute over the script so what we see on TV may not be what was originally planned. I have not played the visual novel (even though it’s available now in both Japanese and English) so I came into the show as a fresh newbie. Still, a show like this felt more like a niche designed to target the specific audience. In this case, it’s aimed at people who enjoys the feeling of a dramatic adventure. And to be honest, that’s a tough pill to swallow. The first few episodes flirted with relationships between the main cast. Meanwhile, the story suffers pacing issues from the very start as each episode constantly bounces between cheesy comedy and dramatic sequences. Then, there’s the mystery that tries to carry the plot. What we get instead is more of a wish-fulfillment love story that doesn’t know what it’s trying to do. There’s a lot of pitfalls that hardly puts emphasis on the story. This is evidenced with the sex jokes, ineffective writing, and in general, lack of care in the characterization.
Speaking of characters, Setsuna Sanzenkai is what I like to describe as a blank piece of paper. You try to write down facts about him and there’s really nothing. That’s because the guy has a mysterious past but in reality, his personality is just as empty. Through his interactions with the main cast, he doesn’t stand out any more than they do. It doesn't help that his dialogues sounds robotic and often lacks enthuaism. The main cast consists of three girls – Rinne, Karen, and Sara. Each of them seems to have some sort of connection with Setsuna as evidenced through various flashbacks. The show also dedicates a decent amount of screen time by using montages to enhance their relationships. Unfortunately, it fails to cook up any meaningful relationship between Setsuna and these girls. There’s too much generalization on the girls’ personalities and much less on their development. Even Rinne, the girl that Setsuna spends the most time with suffers from this. Sure, there is background storytelling that makes it clear he and Rinne knows more about each other than meets the eye. However, it’s the type of relationship that adheres to wish-fulfillment. These characters are not larger than life and in fact, you can find them in just about any eroge visual novel. It’s a shame really since they look charming on the surface.
So is there anything worth watching about the show? To be honest, it’s really comes down to the decision on what you’ll find attractive or not. The comedy is blatantly inauthentic with poor timing between the characters’ dialogues. While the show had potential for its mystery elements, it really doesn’t get the ride going until quite later on. In other words, this anime will test your patience. I’ve honestly struggled to stay awake when watching Island and this show felt like it would be better if you played the game.
Perhaps there’s some redeeming quality about the show when it comes to the technical quality. I have to admit, Island does look well designed in terms of its setting. It’s able to convince me of the cultural differences between itself and the outside world. The idea of isolationism also looks credible with the relaxing atmosphere and being away from urban cities. Characters all look like they live the carefree life with their simple clothing and moderate technology. There’s also quite an abundance of fanservice that may sometimes feel uncomfortable. Because let’s face it, some of the girls in the show looks like kids. You be the judge but it’s hard to deny their physical appearances.
On the other hand, Front Wing was able to create this series with a very relaxing and atmospheric music. While the montage songs can sound a bit generic, they are also appealing by itself if you just listen to them. Unfortunately, the show definitely takes a step back when it comes to voice acting. I already mentioned Setsuna but his voice really sounds like a cog in a machine when he opens his mouth. The female characters’ voices doesn’t sound any better and often too high pitched to take to heart.
I’m glad this show is only 1 cour because any more than that would feel like a chore. To be able to attract an audience towards this show takes more than just a creative setting. The premise had some potential but it’s weathered down by its ineffective plot and one dimensional characters. Perhaps if I watch this without thinking too much, it would’ve been a better experience. The fact is, Island is just another example of a poor story with a budget that it doesn’t deserve.
animejas
The Summer 2018 season is wrapping up slowly and it's that time again. Today, I will be reviewing Island, an anime with time travel, romance and lolis! Story (1/10) Island had a really terrible story. The writing immediately suffers from absurd pacing where it either goes too slow with nothing happening at all, or goes too fast with major plot twists and elements failing to work due to being rushed to hell.And whatever content that was given, was super boring and for a guy that loves SciFi shows a lot, this did not interest me one bit.
It felt like they were writing this anime but it had no soul to it, since shit just occured with no real heart put into it.
Overall, a very boring, lackluster and terribly paced story that had to be one of the most boring SciFi stories I have ever witnessed.
Characters (1/10)
Setsuna was not the worst character ever. He ain't annoying nor a dick.
He was just a guy. Didn't feel anything for him but he isn't bad.
And the girls also feel very generic and the relationships between Setsuna and all the girls lack a lot of depth to it, with poor writing to blame.
Rinne looks cute but was nowhere engaging for me as a character and Karen & Sara were just there too.
Art & Animation (7/10)
feel. did not make this look as good as Hinamatsuri last season, but the art looks very good with some nice character designs.
Sound (6/10)
The OP and ED songs weren't that great but the OST was really nice and fitting for this show, especially its calm songs.
However, the voice acting was not good for me.
Rinne and Karen's voices felt off for me as they sound too striking for their characters.
Enjoyment (1/10)
Yawn.
Island was a massive letdown and a poorly written show from the get go. One of the weakest shows of this season and year for sure.
Score 1/10
KANLen09
This anime is a serious problem onto itself: promising us with the light-hearted romance turned dark-esque story with the time travel mechanics, but converting about 30 to 50 hours of play into a 12 episode series (which is honestly a no-go for VN fans and anime-onlys who has watched numerous VNs like myself). With it, this is a in-depth look on the controversial series called Island, and this review will be long as molasses (don't worry there's a TL;DR summary): The VN was created by Frontwing, who has done the Grisaia series, with 8-bit's adaptation in 2014 raking in massive success. This is the 2nd attempt thatthe company has done this (for their 15th anniversary) to promote the Eng Sub game by using the anime adaptation from studio Feel. Unfortunately, people who have played the Japanese version saw emerging red-flags from the get-go, with similar resonance and dissuasive implications with anime-onlys that this is a bad-ass poor adaptation of the game. The most obvious would be that its gameplay is based on narratives and dialogues, but somehow even the anime adaptation could screw that.
So yeah, a game that the company advertises Island as a "momentary and eternal fairy tale"? There are few scenes here and there, but I don't really think so.
So, going through the story background (and indeed from the game itself):
The "Island" of Urashima, one that has been heavily under suspicion on the tales of the 3 main girls (Rinne, Karen, Sara) and their family traditions in the span of 5 years. Oppressed under misfortune and cut from the mainland in order not to spread the curse around, in comes a guy who is aptly named Setsuna Sanzenkai. Formerly a nameless guy who comes from the future to kill and save someone, that is washed up ashore naked and questioned about his motives, but everything else to him is satisfactory. His main mission is to not let the recurring memories happen, and save everyone from the misery of the curse by doing some time-traveling on his way.
From there, criticism level 1: The story exists on 3 platforms (SPOILER WARNING):
The initial start but quickly dull and boring "Stage" (Ep 1-7);
The seriously rushed "Recursion" (Ep 8-10);
and the quickly made "to feel like the ending" "Jump" (Ep 11 and 12).
Aside from information that was cut out from the VN, don't bother to use the 3-episode rule because the story gets stranger every proceeding episode. The cheaply-made time-travel mechanism just made the whole series look like utter crap with confusion on the progression and beyond...and that's not all. An example would be when the time-traveling scenes came, the timeline was confusing. Only those who are able to discern the events within that period, were able to understand and enjoy/hate the predictability of the series going forward.
The characters...all are strikingly similar (at least the girls), so the point that looking at them reminded me of shows like Kodomo no Jikan: An adult-looking guy wanting to get dirty with the children pedophile lolis. And don't you dare try to sneak away by the thought that the characters have something unique to them, because they don't. They solely exist to fulfill the narratives and plot points from the game, and seemingly similar to the anime adaptation. Think about it:
Karen wants to leave Urashima to find out what really happened to her biological mom;
Sara is like a psychologist with all the charts, diagrams and whatnot, and questioning of past and future events;
Rinne has Soot Blight Syndrome (cannot stand under sunlight, it's a premontioned curse) and is like an owl, only active at night, and searching for the TRUE Setsuna, the one who has been with her before "his" disappearance 5 years ago;
Setsuna is there for the 3 girls to fill in the plot "holes" for them and get theirs and Urashima's problems solved, while working as a servant for Rinne.
So...criticism level 2:
None of the characters, yet alone the MC guy or loli girls are engaging nor interesting to follow. All of them are "walking" cliches. Their dialogue just made it seem like there's a narrative leading to plot points located around the strange Island, and the "going about everyday issues" thing don't really click all that well, accounting for the many issues that made this series much less enjoyable to begin with. You want some romance? It's minimalistic at best. Typical VNs will have sorta-based harems, but this one made the troupe seem far too conventional, like it is the last thing the producers want the characters to end up with.
One issue I would like to address (if that ever calms your displeasing qualms about the show):
The VAs however...through they remain the same as is with the game, Sara's in-game VA Rie Murakawa has been changed to Hibiku Yamamura for the anime due to disputes between her parent agency against the production committee. The full bio's on ANN if you want to check it out (because it seems like a big issue to fans of the VN).
The criticism though: All of them felt very muted and out of character, as much as they reprised their characters from the game, the exact feeling is barely fleshed out in the anime, and that is literally quite sad.
Now, let's get on with the good stuff:
The art and animation by studio Feel is bright, gorgeous and beautiful to look at, and no, I'm not saying that Feel is a studio that you can count on for VN adaptations. Just take a look at Yosuga no Sora in 2010 and you can see why (same type of adaptation but much enjoyable to watch). Such stuff like the scenes of reflecting water upon the beach and the soft touché background made this watchable to a degree, your mileage may vary. But for Island, striking art and good animation just doesn't do justice to warrant a series that's worth watching. With that said, I applaud the producers for good effort done to get the anime as close to the VN source as possible.
Easily the best part about Island, is undoubtedly the music, or the OST rather, and it's rare that we get a double-take of both the OP and ED for a 1-cour show. Since the events of Island happen within different timelines, it's considerable that the OST has to be confined to the overall presentation, and what we're given makes it for one of the best OSTs this season has to offer: the voice talent of Yukari Tamura (from Last Song) for the OPs and Asaka's amazing rhythmic-feeling EDs. Honestly, I would be much better just listening to the OST alone than watching this show (and you should, too).
In the end, the million-dollar question is: Should you watch Island?
Granted, most people's criticisms with this show are far more or less than what I can cover here, and that's to an insane degree. If you like the Kodomo no Jikan feels of "big" guy and loli sex-induced fanservice, I'm sorry but you're not gonna find it here.
If you want the TL;DR though: again, it's a poor adaptation of the VN with a whole lot of nothing. I was certainly looking forward to watch this, but ended up burning myself at the 3-episode rule and giving this another shot (after prelim review)...and yeap, I don't wanna come back again.
This is just another shot at making VN adaptations the cream of the crap ton of anime, and doesn't bode well either. The more deep the progress, the more insane those let-it-be ideas come and gradually, all sense is lost altogether. Skip this and just proceed onto better VNs like Clannad and the such. But yeah, I'd much rather watch sex shows like Yosuga no Sora more.
AlexPaulLEWZ
This anime, I daresay, is the BEST ANIME EVER. If you're reading this review, you have been most likely guided by fate. After all, this gem is hidden in the vast sea of hidden gems, as if you're trying to find a certain hydrogen atom in the vast universe. Sometimes, there are anime that people recommend to me. They were nice, I enjoyed them, and I gave them the usual 10. There are also anime that I randomly come upon which I enjoy more than those recommended to me. Island is one of those anime, but the feeling it left me is more than just enjoyment—more thanjust what any word can describe. Thrill? Pleasure? Entertainment? Amusement? I can't really say. Like I said before, it's the best anime ever. A score as low as a 10 will not suffice. Before I continue, this review will not include spoilers, but some plot points will be inferred based on how I'm going to describe them. Rest easy, though—I'm doing this to make anyone reading this very, very interested, sharing my ideas and feelings, supporting my statement above.
The story begins with a man who washed ashore Urashima, a habited island far from the mainland. He doesn't remember anything, not even his name, aside from his claims that he is a time traveler from the future who has a mission to save the world and a certain girl from harm. Nightfall comes and he meets Rinne Ohara, a girl singing a tune familiar to him, making him remember a specific name, which is Setsuna. Believing that to be his name, he adopts it. Rinne, however, knows another "Setsuna." Hoping the man she just met is that same Setsuna in her memories, she took him home as a servant. Setsuna, in the meantime, while trying to regain his memories, soon discovers the mysterious past and legends the island of Urashima has, and soon enough, it begins to delve into something more complicated as time goes by.
The story is very, very interesting. What happens in the early episodes is nothing like how the story progresses over time, and this story is the foremost reason why I say that this anime is the utter best. The execution at first is poor, and the pacing is very slow. However, it's not really stretched because Island does have a very magnificent development. If one were to analyze how the story goes, the "slow pace" is necessary, especially that when talking about plots where the main character's memories are gone, something like remembering it all afterwards is not something you rush into. This kind of development required the long episodes of preparation as to signify the better things that this anime has to offer. Do you plan to drop it on episode 8? Sure, it may seem that the plot should have been finally developed at that stage, but for this anime, it is still too early. Try to think of it as a lengthy exposition—you're still nowhere near the climax, and dropping it at that stage makes you miss something you should have invested more time for.
I could argue that I could have been bored while watching it, but in total honesty, I sacrificed sleep just to watch it. I don't need sleep, I need answers! When is Setsuna going to remember everything? Is Setsuna the same Setsuna who Rinne knows? What happens if he's going to remember it all? It was a rollercoaster of emotions throughout and it helped me see to it that I finish the anime. I admit that it was kind of a loli bait, but the story is not a mere CGDCT (cute girl doing cute things) or a slice of life. Like what I have been saying earlier, it has a plot—one of the best ones I have ever seen in my entire life. Considering this was directed by Keiichirou Kawaguchi who also directed Mayo Chiki, I expected some sort of ecchi scenes, but even if there was none, I am fully impressed.
The characters' personalities were as well-written as the story as well. Each of the four main characters—Rinne, Setsuna, Sara, and Karen—had their own character developments which developed quite nicely. For example, Setsuna is a kind man and continues to be kind as time passes. However, this doesn't mean that he's a flat character. What he goes through as the anime goes on is just one of the proofs that he is more than just a man with amnesia. Each of the characters have their own backgrounds that, while I admit is not that unique, blends in with the story as a whole. Think of it as ingredients for a well-cooked cuisine. The ingredients can be used on another serving, but it doesn't mean that the food will be equally delicious as the previous one—even if they share the exact same amount. Not because Setsuna is amnesiac means that he's the same as other anime amnesiacs. Karen may be your usual child with parental issues, but it doesn't mean that she's the same as other children with the exact same issues as well. That's how Island's characters blend so well together.
Once again, I admit that I was baited by the cute girls in the illustrations. That's why I say that the art is good. Not only that—the sceneries one can see on the lush and tropical island of Urashima gives off that rural aura that makes you want to take a vacation there or whatnot. The character designs are really good as well, and I must note that the studio that adapted this was very faithful to the visual novel design. Just look at Garandou Sara's large hair that resembles a tumbleweed. Is it ridiculous? Yes! But it's also has its charms that I actually loved it so much. Setsuna's character design reminds me of Kamijou Touma from Toaru Majutsu no Index, and with their similarity in personality, I don't mind it. Rinne kind of looks like a child version of Enterprise from Azur Lane and remembering Enty's famous line "OWARI DA!" hits too hard once the plot kicks in. Karen is Karen. She's also cute. That's all there is to it.
The musical themes were quite splendid as well. The opening themes and ending themes were so melodic and pleasing to the ear that I have a folder dedicated to them, and I listen to all of them on loop while doing something, because I always want to sing alongside those themes. The songs really symbolize where the plot is going. If you can understand Japanese, the better you'll understand that the songs are very meaningful and it's not just there for show. For example, the opening theme entitled "Eien no Hitotsu" and its chorus that goes in English as:
"As if you're hugging me, under the summer's light, (Natsu no hikari dakishimeru you ni)
Wherever you may be, I want you to look for me. (Doko ni itemo, watashi dake wo mitsukete)
I don't want to let go both of our hearts so true, (Hanaretakunai futatsu no kokoro ni)
Anytime this truth will always be the one that's true and that will never fade!" (Itsumade mo shinjitsu wa sou yo hitotsu dakara)
This is just my independent translation and might not be accurate because I worded it so anyone can sing it word for word, but the essence of the song is still there. It's very amazing how this song resonated the anime as a whole and still preserves the feelings one can feel about it.
The enjoyment factors I felt from this anime is not just mere enjoyment. Like how I worded my previous paragraphs, no word can describe how I felt. I am not just happy nor sad about the development, and I am really far from disappointment. I found it really enjoyable, but I can't stop crying as to how amazingly executed the scenes were. Of course, I didn't really cry like a baby, but there is something you call "post-anime depression," where I felt like any other anime became subpar as soon as I finished it. I even went as far as scoring all my anime as 9 in MAL afterwards due to how good the anime really is. But then I realized, rating 9 on anything is not me. However, even if all anime in my list is a 10, the 10 I gave Island as a score really just doesn't suit it, considering how excellent it is. I have felt post-anime depression before, such as from Shinchou Yuusha and Da Capo, but this one takes the cake. I could write an entire term paper about the amazing characteristics of this anime, and if this goes on, I feel like I'm going to create a paradox, and that's just scratching the surface of this great and wonderful masterpiece.
After this anime, I don't think anything will be as satisfactory as an anime as this one. I can continue giving 10s, but my most special 10 is for this anime, and by watching it you can understand why. Its charm is not something one could fully experience when watching episodically, but by binging it in one go. If you ever find this review, please consider this as my recommendation on how to watch it. Watch it in one go—do not let anything distract you. Finish it even if you think it's boring. After all, time will tell all secrets.
Oh yes, I haven't played the visual novel. I'm quite scared, to be perfectly honest.
Pipe
Island an aberration for some, an acceptable series for few. For me, Island is a series that delivered a different story from the average anime and is more interesting than the generic seasonal series. Is it bad? Is it good? The answer is none; the anime is acceptable, it has good points and some disgusting events that mislead the spectator but in the end, I enjoyed the story. Perhaps the biggest grotesque event of this series is in episode 9. It helps to add fire to the opposition that considered Island as a pedophilic vessel, in my case, I got angry because those scenes arejust fanservice and are not needed. However, the show isn't searching to do that, but those events are disgusting and generate a repulsion towards the series. It is wrong saying that any spectator who watches Island is a pedophilic lover. The biggest mistake is the look of the characters but after paying attention to the plot, the age of the characters is not that young, but the perception is incorrect. Another mistake, unusual comedic events, they are poorly executed.
On the other hand, the plot complexity does not help to entertain the spectators. The plot is confusing, but if you spend some minutes understanding it, the outcome will be interesting to the point that you can like some twists and you can question about the Island history and existence. Additionally, all happens in a small portion of land where we can see how the persons inside believe in mythical stories involving the main characters in the present, past, and future (Setsuna and Rinne). Sadly, some parts of the plot give the sensation that is misplaced and leaves a gap that needs to be explained. Another factor that scares a lot of the spectators is the pacing. The pacing is not that bad. In a short amount of time the series setups an interesting concept full of mystery, fables, and love. Island could have improved with a better pacing and/or more information about the story.
The characters are not that amazing, they can be generic and not too special. However, I think it is intentional because in that way you can appreciate the contrast between Setsuna and Rinne and how they are related to the island fables. In addition, the main characters tend to lose their memory so it is obvious that they are not going to have a full background. My favorite character is Kuon because at the end of the series is a character that presented an important evolution. Kuon has more personality compared with the rest.
About the art and sound, the art isn't that generic. It is clean, smooth, and the colors are bright. However, the technique is incorrectly used. Since one of the main attractions of Island is the time travel, the artists couldn't find a middle point between young and old. They defined characters with a very youthful look misleading the viewers and affecting the outcome directly. It creates a wrongly pedophilic sensation with the slogan “Setsuna wants all these girls.” Maybe it was the fault of the director, but they wasted some acceptable art trying to create a failed visual contrast and a failed visual age gap between the characters. The result is inappropriate but I cannot dig the series for a mistake that comes from the Visual Novel. It is just the artist perception of the story.
The sound is acceptable and helps to guide the spectator when the climax changes. The OP is great if you pay attention to the lyrics and the catching rhytm while the ED is normal.
Should you watch Island? Maybe you can try the first episodes but have patience, the story is complex and you could notice some pacing and narrative issues. Honestly, the final score went up from 6.11 - 6.46 after the last two episodes. That indicates the show isn't abysmal.
crustaces
This anime adaptation, while trying to mirror its original game, falls significantly short in capturing the game's unique essence. The story, which in the game is rich and immersive, feels rushed and predictable in the anime, lacking the depth and intricacy that fans of the genre would appreciate. Artistically, the anime's style doesn't quite complement the story. It misses the nuanced visuals that the game presented, making it less engaging. The characters, a vital component of the original game, are not well-rounded in the anime. They lack the complexity, showing neither significant flaws nor strengths, and their reactions to situations feel unrealistic and oversimplified. For fans ofthe game, this adaptation might be a disappointment due to its lack of fidelity to the source material. However, newcomers to the franchise who have no background in the game might find it somewhat enjoyable, albeit a generic experience. Overall, it's a missed opportunity to showcase the game's rich narrative and character development, making the game itself a better choice for those seeking a more authentic and fulfilling experience.
Tanauwu
I'll spare you the long essay. It's not amazing, but it's not horrible either. The story had a lot of potentials. I gave it 7/10 and here are the two main reasons why: 1) too rushed. The ending, oh it could've been so good, so prolonged, and chewed up well, but unfortunately, it was way too rushed IMO. I personally think this show should've been 18-24 episodes long. If it was, I surely wouldn't mind watching because the idea is good! But it felt like a last-minute project, where you start off slow and hardly focus, and then by the end you're really into it but have50 minutes to finish and present the whole things. So yeah, too rushed imo.
2) The fucking lolis lol. It's just me, but I personally couldn't stand to see a 4 inch tall kid doing THAT thing with the main character. Threw me off a bit. I think they could've worked more on characters. It wasn't bad. But again, if this was 24 episodes they probably would have more time to plan the feelings and connections between the characters better and to showcase that.
So yeah, too rushed, and some questionable character choices. But not as bas as some other stuff I've seen lol
fuck_bryan
"lol what??": The Anime. As a person who habitually watches trash anime for kicks and giggles, I jumped into Island expecting to laugh at all the wrong things, poke fun at the story, and generally have a blast watching through this summer's overblown soft-core hentai. Problem is, I didn't laugh. Not even at the mind-numbing ecchi scenes. Not even at our self-insert protagonist memeing his way into tight, questionably-aged thighs. Has it finally happened? Do I not find these types of shows morbidly entertaining anymore? Am I a normie? To make sure, I went back and re-watched an episode of Kiss x Sis. No, I still find badecchi animes supremely entertaining. When how come was Island making me more irritated as I watched on? Then I realized it: one of these animes finally did the impossible, and made a story that not only uninteresting, but painful to watch.
[VERY LIGHT SPOILERS (though idk why you would care)]
Story:
"This stupid anime makes no goddamn sense" ~one guy in the comments section of Episode 7
Island is about a young man who mysteriously washes up on a small, populated island, beached with only his wits and his alarmingly long, protagonist schlong to aid him. Cool. Within 30 seconds of the very first episode, one of the main heroines finds him, and promptly trips and falls face-first on his freshly-washed balls. While I greatly appreciated the big laugh I got from that scene, I realized rather quickly that the breakneck speed that episode 1 took would a be trend that would be this anime's ultimate failure as a half-way coherent story. The studio who developed the story board for Island thought that it would be a fantastic idea to cram 10000000000000+ arcs into a 12 episode time frame. Stop it. Don't do this. You're only confusing the audience.
Which brings me to my main gripe with this series: the story doesn't make sense in Island. To an infuriating extent. And to make matters worse, they shove this really bad time-travelling BS plot device down your throat, that never is fleshed out. I expected absolutely nothing from this garbage, and still left somehow disappointed.
Far be it for me to judge the plot of something I knew from the start was going to be retarded, but damn, stop trying to build the plot and throw a titty or two up on the screen, Island!
Characters:
At least the cast is small, thank god. You got four people:
Setsuna, the protagonist of this story. There's nothing to say about this guy, because he's a self-insert for basement dwellers. Nice when he needs to be, happy-go-lucky when appropriate, and absolutely useless when the plot needs to be dragged on. When one of the girls hits the protagonist with that classic "You're so nice" line, you already know he's got nothing going for him.
Rinne, the main heroine of the story. She's 17 years old ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), physically 23 ( ͡◉ ͜ʖ ͡◉), and lives with her recluse mom in a massive house. Your typical VN main girl waifu that has a mysterious background and a big problem that tied to everything else in the story.
Karen, the other girl. She's a 17 year old tsundere with daddy issues and an adventurous soul. Wants to leave the island. Oh, and she fell face-first into the protagonists nuts that one episode. Good times.
Sara, the third wheel. She's the loli of this dream-team cast. I actually don't really know what's up with her (the anime decides not to really deal with her lol), but her hair bothers me so I kind of just focus on that when she's on screen.
Sound:
Industry-standard. Opening and ending forgettable. All other sounds in this series are nothing to complain about--they're either too unexceptional to notice, or quite well-designed.
Animation:
Slightly above average. The girls are cute enough. The art style is uninspired and bland. Some series creators would kill for an animation budget like this though, so hey.
Enjoyment:
Haha.
TL;DR: 2/10. This ain't it, chief.
PixEFit
A naked guy on a beach with amnesia wakes up with a girl laying face down on his dick. This is the first scene of Island, a show airing this summer anime 2018 season. Labeled as a drama sci fi show, Island takes place on an island that is isolated by the rest of the world. Bound by its old traditions, the island has its own social structure, which consists of their three families basically acting as major political figures on the island. Recently, the island has been under some distress and the families are under suspicion. These odd circumstances can only be solved bythe daughters of the three families, named Rinne Karen, and Sara, and by a mysterious man that washes up on the beach devoid of all memories. Except the fact that he is named Setsuna.
This show is quite obviously a visual novel. It has three girls, and a protagonist that looks generic as have the watcher imprint themselves on them, and a story that clearly shows all of the girl’s story options. Now me myself haven’t played or seen any gameplay of the game, but with basic visual novel tropes I can guess some things about the anime based on that. So the anime tried to adapt all of the endings and make it flow into a cohesive story. I feel as though this backfired though, because it feels suddenly split from one girl’s storyline to the next one, which made things more confusing for me. And it doesn’t help either that Sara and Karen’s story ended before the 6 or 7 episode mark. I guess in this visual novel there is a very specific girl you were meant to follow, and they tried to make the majority of the show about that. That in and of itself isn’t bad, but it feels like the other two stories were rushed. Especially with Sara’s story, where the revelation and the twist happened literally in the span of 10 minutes. It was resolved as soon as they knew what the problem was. And after both their stories were finished, they were forced to the sidelines almost immediately, now acting as side or even filler characters to react to what they protagonist and Rinne does.
Its mentioned in the synopsis that the island is cut off from the rest of the world, which suggests a more tropical, deserted island feeling. But, this isn’t the case at all, and is pretty industrialized for what it claims to be. It seems to be receiving manufactured goods, so the only way its cut off is that the families won’t let anybody enter or leave. Another issue is with the genre tags used for this show. The first half of the show doesn’t have anything to do with sci fi at all. Even some of the middle episode after that only hint at some ancient technology before we get hit all at once during the last 4 or so episodes. Before that its a slice of life drama with a piece of mystery through and through.
The characters in this show represent your basic girl tropes in anime. Karen is the blond hair tsundere who is the daughter of the family that currently runs things. Sara is a shrine girl loli that works really hard to compensate for her family that has gone off the map in terms of politics. And Rinne is the main girl which has the most backstory and development behind her. The protagonist I already touched on as being your typical anime protagonist. I can’t say the any of them are good characters. There are always leaps in logic and stuff that should have been obvious, but wasn’t. It doesn’t go far beyond in accordance to their personalities. They’re mostly carried by their stories.
Island’s story is confusing, rushed, and boring. The first 6 episodes were very very slow, almost completely ignoring the sci fi tag. And even when they did go into the mystery more, I just ended up not caring for anything they were showing me. Or in this case, telling me. Maybe if this show was more then one cour or season, they would have had the time to flesh out the stories of each character more. I feel like they stories they presented were genuinely interesting, but it was just presented in such a way to the point where it became a snooze fest full of characters I don’t care about.
The art in this show is below average. In terms of both character art as well as background art. On a tropical island, you were expect to get long shots of beautiful beaches or some pretty pictures of some of the scenery you would see. Island has that, but they don’t look good in the slightest. If the show takes place in a setting where it's supposed to be bright sunny and beautiful, I would assume you would spend more of the budget on its art. This show’s animation is also sub par. Its very stiff and it doesn’t do much extra when it comes to its “action” scenes. It's not on the lowest tier of animation I’ve seen, but it's enough to notice that something is wrong here.
Island, for me, felt like it had more to say. But its short run time made it feel like they didn’t get enough stuff into it as they would’ve liked. Anyway, the end result is a bad show all around. I recommend this to someone who wouldn’t mind waiting for a while to watch a only decent sci fi mystery. Maybe someone else can appreciate Island more than I could. I give this show a 3 out of 10. This has been PixEFit’s spoiler free, but not really anime review on Island.
Mama_Mega
My experience with this anime that is... ALLEGEDLY a VN adaptation can be summarized in one word: "...what?" At least once, I found myself going back to the info page to make sure this was indeed the VN adaptation I was following this season, because it suffers from an issue I've never seen before in a VN adaptation (and I've seen plenty of subpar VN anime): every week, it felt like they were making it up as they went along. I'm not sure who's at fault for this, actually; whether the anime team didn't do a proper job explaining everything or the VN itself didn't dothat, but either way, I, the viewer, was left scratching my head.
The cause of all this confusion is that most ill-defined and whatever-they-want-it-to-be of plot devices, time travel. I recall something in the earlier episodes about one of the leads thinking they were from the past or something and one thinking they were from the future, then some side characters (who ultimately proved to be irrelevant) were given arcs lasting a couple episodes each, some of whom were convinced they were or had to become time travelers themselves, then they took away the protagonist's memory a second time or something and had him time travel again and suddenly the setting was totally different for just two episodes, and then the final episode with its final twists that feel like they thought them up in the week beforehand got even more ridiculous and I've given up trying to follow the order of events.
I was so clocked out trying to follow the plot, I had actually dropped it by episode 11. At the time, I was thinking the plot still made so little sense that they'd be making something like 16 total episodes to properly resolve everything in a way that made sense. It wasn't until I found out it suddenly ended at just 12 that I decided to watch that final episode. That final episode, I can summarize the same way I'd summarize this whole series: while it kind of has good character moments, I'm too busy not understanding what's going on to feel anything.
lLeco
Island It's very weird... IDK... I didn't hate the show, I actually enjoyed it, but the Story made no sense, it has 192093012930192039 loose ends and I guess only the people who played the game will understand. IT MADE NO SENSE BUT HAD KAWAII GIRLS AND FUNNY CHARACTERS... so it's worth watching I guess?? maybe... IDK... AAAAAAAAA the ending made me lose my mind... idk boyz and grills BYeeeeeee Well MAL won't let me finish the review so I guess I will write a bit more lol. So here is the deal... go add me as a friend so We can talk about anime and stuff.
Kurgo
A ****show. That's what this anime is, an utter, unrepentant, disgraceful, atrocious, obnoxious, boring ****show. I've never given an anime such a low score before but this anime is just so bloody awful, it beggars belief. Disclaimer: I have only watched the anime, I have no idea about the original source that led to this adaptation and have no interest in it. Also, TL;DR at the end. The two things that bury this anime are, by far, the story (if one could even call it that) and the characters. I won't bother writing different sections to grade each thing separately, it's pointless, so I'll just whine aboutthe two worst things, ye've been warned.
The story is just atrocious. Even without knowing the original source, I can see that this needed A LOT more episodes than 12. Everything is jumbled together in such a nonsensical way that when the music ramps up for the "ta-daaaaaaaaa, plot twist!" moment I only felt extremely confused because I didn't know what the hell I was supposed to think. The gist of it is time travel, I guess. The amoeba and only man on the island thinks he travelled back through time to...there, I don't know. At one time I thought it was to save his daughter (that he very much felt like shagging when he didn't know she was his daughter, obviously) and at another time it felt like he needed to fix the problems that would lead to the future.
BUT NO! In the end, it was only about him ******* his old love, because the time machine isn't a time machine, it's a time stopping machine, whoever goes in has their time halted while the rest of the world keeps going on, and yet the island is still THE SAME, where all things happen the same bloody way in a continuous loop. This is so bloody retarded that I feel like my lowly IQ got shot a few points down just by trying to think about it again.
Story is a guy who flirts with 3 different girls, one of which his daughter, only to eventually marry his original girlfriend who of course used another time stopping machine (which conveniently awoke her a couple decades before him). That's it. It's atrociously stupid.
Characters. Oh boy. The thing I noticed the most is how death is treated here. A girl finds out her mother died and will you look at that, 5 seconds later and a quick transition is enough for her to be as cheerful as she was. And it's not the "oh I act cheerful but I'm so sad inside" kind of thing, she was LITERALLY as cheerful as before finding out her long lost mother had died.
The rest of the characters are useless. Pointless. Inconsequential. There is a miko whose only reason to exist is that her...future self, great great nephew, what-the-****-ever, has huuuuge oppai while she's as flat as an ironing board. That's it. Then there's the rebellious girl who treats her mother's passing like the death of an ant and whose only purpose is to lead the protagonist to another "time machine".
Then the two main ones. ****able daughter Rinne and only guy in the anime, known as Setsuna. Rinne is boring. I'd rather watch paint dry than having to listen to anything her character says. She has no personality, she just wants to shag Setsuna cos she feels so lonely and blahblahblah you get the point.
Setsuna himself is just "oh I have to help everyone and I have to save Rinne because oh I don't know, what's this feeling BLAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" ffs, I can't be bothered. He's an idiot, with no traits other than the I'llsaveeveryonecosI'mthehero one, he's not charming, he's not funny, he's not intelligent, he's not witty, he's the human equivalent of a room painted eggshell.
TL;DR I regret every single minute I spent watching this ****show. Please be smarter than me and DON'T waste your precious time with this sodding disaster of an anime.
DakenFrost
Let's start saying this is an anime adaptation of a visual novel released 28th april 2016 for japan while for english language it was released 24th august 2018 on steam (about 2 months later the airing of the first anime episode). Key tags: Novel Adaptation, Time Travel, Love Story, Drama, No Harem The plot is kinda "complicated" and I saw a lot of hate for this anime for being "confusing" and with "boring characters". While the majority of characters is actually bland, i actually found the plot interesting, so far i also went to play the visual novel because i couldn't bear to wait cliffhangers of eachepisode and trust me when i say you this: the novel is REALLY confusing, with characters making suddens U-turns on their personality making me doubt i was watching other people with the same face; also the "true ending" was really...a letdown so i went back watching the anime, and honestly? Damn at least for me it was MUCH better than the novel! But well let's stick to the anime review.
Story - 7.5
I don't get what's so "confusing" honestly (aside the overabused use of Setsuna and Rinne as names). This isn't your usual slice of life/comedy anime so the plot is bound to be more complicated and in this case we have also different "time arcs". The "main plot" itself definitely makes sense, being an adaptation some details are lost in the way but while they weren't that important for the sake of the main plot, the narration goes quite fast at same point and you need to catch up fast what's happening to fully understand the plot. The first half is quite "easygoing" but the last half get more interesting the more it goes on and ultimately ends in a good way (far better than the novel, which was very confusing ending).
Chararcters - 6.5
While the main "trio" of girls itself it's actually your usual bland group (tsundere, smart loli, kuudere), the main protagonist is very fun to watch bickering with other characters and there is a "secret" character showing up later on which is really a godsend and became the true "important" character later on. Overall score around 5 for the main trio but 7.5 for setsuna and special char.
Overall - 7
While for sure Island isn't the best anime of the summer season it can definitely hold its ground as good love sci-fi drama anime thanks to an interesting plot and main character which gets better the more the show goes on. If you are fine with these premises you should definitely give it a shot!
In short: Save the world -> Save the girl!
SeasideLua
The Island anime is sort of like traveling nomads. A group of people who just travel around aimlessly without a fixated habitation. The problem with this sort of skeleton is that the anime just turns into a “master of none” type of scenario. Trying to incorporate all these different plot points and different tropes and it ends up just falling flat on its ass. Island has a cool time traveling thing it has going on, but it fails to develop it properly. Having very vague rules and up until the later episodes, activating when the plot demands it. It then just info dumps on you.Expecting the viewer to understand or even care at that point. It has a cast that has interesting backstories that connects back to the island, but instead of properly fleshing out its characters, it feels like a hentai. Just one-dimensional tropey characters that essentially want to bone the MC. Having an Island setting is somewhat interesting, but it has too much editing in post that makes the art look artificial and boring to look at instead of something natural. The one redeeming this is the music, but that only goes so far in your tolerance of what you can take on the BS happening in this anime. Having all of these things would make you have an average anime. However, what makes it very much below average is that fact that it constantly disappoints the viewer on all fronts. It isn’t good at anything that it's trying to be and culminated into a massive mess that I can’t recommend to anyone. It fails at being a thriller. It fails at being an ecchi visual novel. It fails at being a compelling character story and it fails at looking good. It fails on all fronts.
linemare
My review on Island Anime: The story was pretty much GOOD on some aspects on there line up of the Visual novel. It's like watching slow paste game at first, then mystery case on time travel appear. base on episode 1-3. Also episode 4-6 more solving problem island. 8-10 (spoiler) someone die they are trying to save him by going to the future. 11-12 (spoiler) TIME MACHINE it self is not time machine it like a freezing your body to not age at all. Like the story on future-rama show. Any-case they are all SAVE by Rinne alone. That main character didn't do anything atall. To solve the story on the island .Here is my point.
There is no time travel he just continuous living 1 Million year or etc.
The theory was endless cycle on life.
story -
Giving it 8
because i love the way author pull up this story.
Art-
Giving it 8
Love the art work and cute girls.
Sounds
Giving it 8
I almost cry on ending on that song.
Character
Giving it 5
I have MC also there voice quite bad! i mean no emotion at all!
Enjoyment
Giving it 10 (Bias it my review)
I love the mystery on solving the Time Machine :)
OVERALL
7.8 round of 8
GIVING IT 8
MouradSME
A'ight, here's the thing: a lot of people have been giving some pretty bad reviews about this show, and anyone who has seen it would most probably agree... Except I don't. So, before I get to the part explaining how I "chose" to enjoy this show, I will start by trying to "spoiler-less-ly" summarize the plot. [Story] You have your average looking Shujinkou (Protagonist) "Setsuna" who claims to have come from the future on a rescue mission. His destination is a certain island, "Urashima" with a rather confusing and dark past led by three distinguished families. Each family has its role and its domain on the island.And there's apparently a legend revolving around these families, more specifically the girls who belong to them (I'll say nothing more to avoid spoilers). Anyways, the island seems to be in a pretty bad shape, and it's only getting worse, and the key to save it is one of the three girls of the Island's top families.
[Art/Animation/Sound]
The technical stuff was all good, just what you'd expect from a newly produced Anime. The art and the character design were nice, I'm actually a big fan of long white hair female characters ( :3 ), and the design team didn't disappoint in this matter. The Anime itself didn't have that much action, to begin with, and yet the animation was pretty good as well as the sound whether it's the voice actors or background music...
[Enjoyment]
First of all, I must say: I'm a guy who can rewatch a show as many times as humanly possible and still enjoys it pretty much the same. And I have an unspoken rule not to drop any show regardless of how much I enjoy it, and up to this day, I haven't broken this rule, yet. I still find it very hard to decide whether I enjoyed a show or not... It's a dilemma for me!
Here's my take on this one:
Well if you've seen Heroic Age, Wolf Rain, Special A, Kannagi, Bounen no Xamdou, Druaga no Tou, Shikabane Hime... etc (plus any other show I rated 6 or less in my list) and still enjoyed them the way I did, you'll probably feel the same about Island as me: "As long as it ends well without complications, then it's been a decent show". That being said, there were a lot of parts that are still unclear and confusing to me in the story, and there are many plot-holes; I decided to disregard them and try to just enjoy watching and digesting the story...
The truth is, I felt like the whole thing was rushed, and after I read about the source material I found out that this was based off a VN and I chose to give it a 6 overall because of that (the VN), which I'm pretty sure would be pretty enjoyable...
P.S: I didn't write about Character development, because I honestly don't know how to talk about it. If this was handled a little more cautiously, I bet the story would've turned out much better.
But still, I'm grateful for the show. Even if it lacked in so many aspects, I decided that I enjoyed it nonetheless. Hopefully, next time there the studio will do a better job than this one so that we'd enjoy it more.
Now I won't recommend anyone to watch this show, not the fans of the VN and definitely not the newcomers, but if you believe that you're a tolerant kind of Anime-viewer, or if you're that bored, then sure, go knock yourself out! :D
AstolfoPlushh
I dont know why most all of the member of MAL score this badly In my opinion ISLAND have a unique story based on a Romantic, Sadness, and time travel. in beginning episode you will be find loli and other fucking stuff in it. but you must be know that most of all anime have an story introduction. i think most of all anime have story introduction in rage of episode 1 to episode 3 or 4. in beginning episode you shouldn't skip anything, just stay and watch it until finish. Because you will lose the main story in beginning. Next to the my score of this anime STORY (10/10) :Why i give 10/10? because main story in middle episode to the end of the story have unique atmosphere, that you won't miss any sec on this anime. (REMEMBER YOU SHOULDN'T SKIP THE BEGINNING OF ANIME OR YOU WILL LOSE THE CORE OF THIS ANIME)
ART (9/10) : I think all of the art is ok, i didn't see anything wrong in art section
Sound (9/10) : I don't know why but i feel the sound of this anime is good enough XD
Character (10/10) : For character i think this anime have very good art and animation
Enjoyment (10/10) : I belive if you watch lots of anime you can compare and says this anime is best from other drama anime (in this case anime like grisaia series that have dark story)
Overall I THINK 10/10 is worth
i think this anime will have same or maybe will above the grisaia series anime
Setzuki
I don't understand why many people hate this show. At first I had no expectations of it, however that changed when I watched it. The twists that are set in the story is a favorite. Only a few anime are ones that i consider my favorite and this one slipped in to that list. The characters are another thing, they are are greatly drawn characters with the feel of caressing them. Even though, for some reason, the female mc's are meant to be high schoolers yet look like middle schoolers. It fits into the story line with the male mc being able tohold them tight within his arms, which many fantasize about, and which is perfectly normal for an anime watcher.
Now; end of discussion
