After leaving her idol career behind, Fuuka Miyazawa finds herself on a spontaneous flight to Okinawa instead of returning home to her pity party in Morioka. Bearing a heavy heart and nowhere to go, she aimlessly wanders around the area until she stumbles upon Gama Gama Aquarium—an aging aquarium on the verge of closing down.
With a lack of visitors and costly but necessary repairs needed to keep its doors open, the director is faced with shutting down the establishment for good by the end of the summer. The director's aquatic life-loving granddaughter—Kukuru Misakino—cannot stand the thought of the aquarium closing and is determined to make enough money by the end of the season to keep the doors open.
Seeing the unique magic of the aquarium, Fuuka begs Kukuru for a job; however, she soon finds that her lack of experience makes her more of a hindrance than anything else. At the same time, Kukuru realizes that her ambitious goal might be more than she can handle. With mounting pressure from all around them, will Kukuru and Fuuka be able to save the one place they hold close to their hearts?
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Stark700
They're back again. After taking a half year break, Shiroi Suna no Aquatope (aka The Aquatope on White Sand) aired as one of the key projects celebrating PA Works' rich body of accomplishments. Or can it be called that? After all, P.A. Works can be a hit or miss sometimes based on their track record. But one thing is for sure, P.A. Works is no stranger in the anime industry. They've produced memorable adaptations and original works all the way back in 2008. Founded since 2000, you can bet that the studio brings their wealth of experience again to Shiroi Suna no Aquatope. Let me prefaceand say that if you're a familiar fan of P.A. Works, then you can easily tell the show dives into a slice of life story with coming of age themes. There's a bucket list to check off and of course, cute girls is among them. Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is yet, much more about cute girls doing cute things. It's about characters following their dreams and making a difference in their world. It all starts when an eighteen year old Fuka Miyazawa escapes to Okinawa and meets Kukuru Misakino, a high student with a passion for aquatic life. It doesn't take long for the two to become friends and she develops her own passion and finding her place at the Gama Gama Aquarium.
With slice of life stories like this, we have to realize and set expectations clearly. The show tells a realistic story that depicts how characters live. P.A Works is known for both their realism and fantasy naturalism. But for this anime, they decided to go with realism by telling their story, and focusing on the cast with their dreams. To the surprise of no one, Kukuru and Fuka represents characters that met by fate. The director obviously set up this show for the two main cast to meet through chance and added the texture of chasing a dream as part of the plot. Watching this anime made me realize how quickly Kukuru and Fuka became close together from the very start. Despite coming from different backgrounds, it's obvious the show wanted to see how both characters develop as a pair and individually. And let's just say, both characters learn a lot from each other. What's more important is how much the two characters affect each other in their own way. With Fuka's support, Kukuru discovers herself and continues to follow her dream regardless of any obstacles in her own. Similarly, Kukuru is able to show Fuka that there's a life outside of being an idol and that becoming part of the aquarium gives her new opportunities. That's what life is about, seeking opportunities, and following dreams.
With a total set of 24 episodes, the anime is structured in two parts with the first half taking place at the Gama Gama Aquarium. After certain circumstances, we get the second half of the story taking place at the Tingaara Aquarium. Despite the change in setting, the anime still retains its themes and knows no boundary about its love of aquatic life. From taking care of dolphins, nursing sea turtles, to cosplaying to attract an audience, every episode has its passion. To be honest, the anime does have its subtle yuri-tones but the relationship between Fuka and Kukuru eclipses so much more than that.
One thing I want to mention about Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is that while Kukuru and Fuka are the two characters that stand out the most, the rest of the cast seems to be here and there adapting their roles in the most safe way possible. What I mean is, the majority of the cast are introduced as who they are but receive little development overall. This is especially true in the second half of the show when the Tingaara Aquarium is introduced. Characters such as Karin, Chiyu, Kuuya, among others only get some involvement with the plot. After the first half of the show, it seems they are very much overshadowed by Fuka and Kukuru. Now, I don't know how the plot was created from behind the scenes but it became obvious that the director wanted to shift its attention entirely on the two main leads. It's just a shame that there's an overemphasis on Fuka and Kukuru than almost anything else.
But, don't let that distract from the gorgeous chereography and high quality stellar visuals. P.A. Works and their talent of crafting lustrious visuals is once again present in their latest work. It rewards fans with stunning quality of the aquarium waters to natural look of the outdoors. It remains that way throughout the series as there are no episodes with noticable drop in quality .Character designs are also decorated with simple yet mature look for its cast. Human emotions are protrayed with realistic expressions and every episode has its share of its behaviors. From a technical perspective, this is a breathtaking representation of classic P.A. Works anime and you're in for a treat.
If there's an answer to making a solid slice of life anime this year, then it's P.A. Works. From this original TV anime of 24 episodes, we see what their talent bought to us. And with Shiroi Suna no Aquatope, the show proved itself to be a simple yet effective story. It gave us a story that matters, a story that we can find ourselves relatable to, and a story that we can all share about following dreams.
Gween_Gween
A sudden weight on our shoulders comes when taking a decision about our future, the myths of following a straight path to success and happiness infect our decision-making by following a unique dream. The disruption of that dream by an external force is something that is bound to happen to most of us who decided to take a path, breaking the comfort zone of following an established and known path and leaving us in a multidirectional crossroad, obnubilating our sense of future. The Aquatope on White Sand tries to untie this assimilated conflict through the usage of a mysterious yet recognizable common place, the marineworld. By using a set of parallels coming from the experiences that the animal world can grant to us, while also applying a deeply human form of relationships and communication, the anime delivers a compassionate and warm place to fall into, installing simple yet helpful perspectives of how to confront the different paths, allowing the spectator to break free of judgement and fear to the unknown. Sadly, the anime is far from being perfect, with a concrete problem coming from the inconsistency of its building blocks, which concludes in uninteresting climaxes, redundancy issues, and wasted storylines that didn’t amount to anything.
The first impact from the series come from its appealing and full of life color palette, the white of the sand, the blue of the sea, and the green of the nature. The color palette let the anime to intersect with the common place of Okinawa, and to generalize, with the idea of being in a subtropical island. Okinawa is a place that is heavily affected by human action, coral bleaching has severely affected their ecosystem, and the purposeful intertwining of the story and the setting through the experience of the marine life make some sense out of it, forwarding a wish to protect the wildlife. The full of life landscapes are made so to fully appreciate the beauty of nature, using didactic representations of the biological ecosystems as a manner to express love to the theme and deepening the characters. The animation is sometimes rough, which can be justified by the complex and distinctive designs of the characters. The marine representation is a hit or miss, the penguins, otters and turtles look gorgeous, but the fish tends to pop up too much, getting a sudden contrast that shouldn’t be there and look unnatural. Overall, the intoxicating warm of the first impact provokes a beautiful invitation to deal with the unknown story, melting us up with the green and drowning our view with an intense deep blue.
The story comes then with two main characters, but it can be assumed that Kukuru is the most relevant one, since it grabs most of the screentime. And I could say that Kukuru is the embodiment of the inconsistency of the series, being particularly controversial because of its strange childish wrongdoings, almost like a person that has never been held accountable of anything. Of course, the main character faces the broken dreams mentioned before, through the departure from her childhood place to the capability of facing new issues, dealing with the idea of letting her character absorb new perspectives, breaking the walls of judgement and stubbornness. Many questions come around with her position, like the validity of our past path as the only possible path, or the adversity of the unknown, or the sometimes unavoidable meddle into the wrong conflicts. To do so, the series uses an extravagant metaphorical perspective about the issues, by using parallels between the struggle of the marine life and the struggles of Kukuru, which is one of the strong aspects of the show. The development of the conflicts of her are a fantastic way to study and teach the symbiotic relationships inside the marine life, the complexities of their mystery, and similarities of their behavior to the human nature (Watch the Orangutan School for something like this) and dealing with her problems through fully-fledged emotional impact. Examples like the obvious parallel with the turtles hatching, the lonely dolphin, the meddling crab, the impact of changing to a new environment portrayed by the penguin, it is both educational, entertaining, and provoking. Sadly, the resolutions of her character are either unrealistic or forced, providing just cop outs to keep the plot afloat because there were either no time or no intent to do something more fruitful and credible, which makes the whole experience a double-faced sensation, we have a full of life development, and the climax of the conflict is a montage of words and events, flat as a stingray.
This duality comes with Fuuka and the incorporation of the other characters too, and it is quite amazing how consistently disappointing the development of some of them is. Fuuka has the reverse problem, her conflicts completely pale in comparison to the main character, coming normally from her emotional fragility, and the series doesn’t provide her enough screentime, but her resolutions are always emotionally strong, by intertwining her position with the main character and giving us lyrically expressive conversations, touchy and delicate. The cast has this same issue, some part of the cast, like Chiyu or Tsukimi, have interesting appearances with a purposeful proposition, either by validating the conception of a new perspective and understanding of the unknown, or by being a bridge of communication with a non-aquarium related person, deploying a projection of the struggles in another area. Then, characters like Kuuya or the guy who just talk in marine lingo are just absurd comedy device that barely works, and the later one main feature is being snubbed out of a completely deserved scholarship, which is kind of sad.
The story is then in a limbo. Through 24 episodes we explore the dreams and the parallels, integrating a bland but welcomed ecological message in the way. The first cour is about keeping the dream alive, while the second cour is about dealing with the shattered dream and going forward, and while the idea behind of such structure is alright, the series extended itself way too much, padding some episodes with some redundancy or delivering half-assed narratives or explanations to keep the episode count. The main problem is that the stories are not slowly building but approaching either at full speed or slow-motion. The full speed manifest through the latest episodes, where Fuuka and Kukuru resolved their struggles in the most absurdly rushed way, by imposing a strange sensation of injustice to the viewer. The slow-motion defines the middle part, where barely anything but a good redemption arc was obtained, filled with misery porn that didn’t achieve anything powerful. The full speed also comes in the final part of the first cour, when the hopelessness invaded the story, chaotic but full of expression. The slow-motion defines the mid part of the first cour, when they decided to extend the concept of Gama Gama not being able to stay afloat with the properties of a gum, through a bunch of backstories that didn’t amount anything but maybe a tearjerker or two.
I suppose that the score could be the conclusion of the review, the series is average, doing some excellent episodes and some plain, awkward, or even enraging ones. While the series failed at many points because of its own ambition or rigid structure, the overall feeling is that this is worth to watch if you are into the position that the story tries to explore. If you are lost, nostalgic, or overwhelmed, then the story can fit an interesting niche to allow you to explore your own emotions and have another outlook of life. If you are not into such position, then the story can’t but feel extremely dry, with failing comedy and please cry drama, kind of ironic since the theme is water.
KANLen09
"What do you want to be when you grow up? What is your dream that helps you propel forward to initiate that push-to-shove action?" These 2 questions always comes up when I watch Shiroi Suna no Aquatope, yet another 2-cour long show that's pretty much the standard when it comes to P.A. Works shows, brought to you by the same team that produced Fall 2018's Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara (a.k.a IroDuku). And as much as I like IroDuku to a certain degree of it being the same P.A. Works visual masterpiece works that have been consistent for years now, the story and plot feelskinda whack and shallow somewhat that's heavily masked by the visual presentation. That...unfortunately carries over to Aquatope, and that I feel that the in-house director Toshiya Shinohara and his team clearly saw what works with that and amplifies it two-fold here, to hits and misses. And it's very unlikely that this popular formulaic stance that P.A. Works have adopted for years will ever change.
Rightaway, the core plot premise of Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is clearly defined in its title: "The two girls met in the ruins of (a) damaged dream." A story about the realities of growing up and moving on from the dreams that clearly hasn't worked out, and finding new meaning in things yet unseen and unimagined. Not all things are bad, and a life-changing tonal change can be good in the long run. And that's the case of Fuuka Miyazawa, a girl whom was once in the idol scene, only for that ambition to wane out and the internal monologue of running away from all the fame that she has amassed in search for something new for life outside the main city of Tokyo, and wandering into the state of Nanjou, Okinawa, where she met yet another girl named Kukuru Misakino. Like Fuuka, Kukuru is a high school student working for her family's business named Gama Gama Aquarium, which is on the brink of collapsing due to the rancid state of the aquarium and the small visitorship numbers, which is needed to recouperate costs and maintain the pristine shape of the aquarium that's literally quite hidden away from the Okinawan outset. The knife edges deeper because the aquarium is handled by her grandfather whom seemingly didn't know what to do with the place (which became Kukuru's 2nd home), and while his intentions to let go of Gama Gama spells out the disaster quick, the motive to let Kukuru take over the aquarium as a means to revive the place creates a haven for both girls and the characters around them. And that's where the story surrounding both Fuuka and Kukuri in a bubble starts.
For realism's sake for the overall slice-of-life story (since this is a 2-cour), I will divide it into 2 halves of the entire plot of Aquatope: the Gama Gama section, and the Tingarla section. Mild spoilers if you wish, but I won't dive too deep on that end.
The Gama Gama section covers the entire 1st half of Aquatope, and dare I say that if this show was ever only made in a batch of 12 or 13 episodes, this would've been the perfect standard of P.A. Works in achieving some great storytelling for once in a 2-cour setting. The introduction between the two girls that coincidentally met out from their damaged dreams, Fuuka having winded in Okinawa after running away from her idol issues, comes to Gama Gama after being severely dehydrated and found by the tourist manager Karin Kudaka, who transports her to the aquarium to get some recovery assistance. Over there, while Fuuka is recovering, she observes the huge aquarium and receives an out-of-body experience, to which after meeting Kukuru, pleads with her for a job just to get along. And simultaneously over the course of the Gama Gama section, converses with each other about their dreams/ambitions and uncertain futures, together with the other staff of Kukuru's childhood friend Kai Nakamura, fish breeders-cum-attendants Kuuya Yakamashi and Umi-yan, alongside Kukuru's grandfather and the two girls as well. Through the out-of-body supernatural visions experience, both Kukuru and Fuuka initiate sentiment feelings that parallels with the Yuri feeling, because Kukuru has an attachment to her parents that passed away when she was young, and all she had currently is her grandparents to speak of in a familial setting. Fuuka being there for her provides that bit of queerness akin to a family's love, and everything about Gama Gama just feels naturally and magically surreal being Fuuka-centric altogether from its short existence from a family business to a total collapse of demolition. In all, the Gama Gama section is truly the start of the new and beautiful potential of the show.
The Tingarla section section covers the entire 2nd half of Aquatope, and with the term "growing up" comes the major decision route of the show in its direction to shape the entire series as a whole. However, I feel that the 2nd half really wavers on for far too long with everything that's done from the 1st half, making it drag on until the series' core message comes around being about environmentalism and sustainability as the main narrative, then leave everything else behind in the dust: plot narratives, characters that can feel like they're after-thoughts or just only make cameos in wishing that we, the audience, would never catch on. The sad part is that the Tingarla section feels somewhat haphazard with the execution of the themes that were great in the 1st half, made worse with the whole schmup of having your dream to be defined when you don't get what you want. And that's the case of Kukuru, now being hired by Akira Hoshino, an acquintance of Kukuru's grandfather and simultaneously the head honcho Director of Tingarla Aquarium, which Kukuru's assigned position given from him isn't all about being a sea creature attendant, but rather to the marketing department instead. Kukuru, to the chagrin of a rebellious teenager, builds a reputation for being so pent up because she couldn't get her dream job that Fuuka got the position instead, and had to work from scratch with a different view. Remember that change can be good or bad depending on the person, and in this case, the Kukuru-centric plot takes a whirlwind of our emotions and slowly caresses with it until there is no more wind to blow.
The only character of note is Chiyu Haebaru, whom once went over to Gama Gama as an intern, and found that the practices there (such as the "special effects" supernatural visions aquarium experience) aren't so much sustainable from her stint with Tingarla. The real reason is that like Kukuru, Chiyu may come off as arrogant, but that arrogance is supported as she is a young adult struggling to land a job and raising as a single mother after a failed marriage. That in anyway is a far worse shape than what Kukuru felt losing her parents from an early age, and at least that section of the plot is really well done. What comes after that...only disappointment mounts as the staff over at Tingarla, which comprises of sea creature attendants Chiyu, Kaoru Shimabukuro, Marina Yonekura, Eiji Higa, breedmanager Bondo Garandоu, the emotionless no-nonsense assistant director Tetsuji Suwa and Director Akira himself. It just feels like a dysfunctional organization that's reminiscent of Japan's working style of being ordered by management overlords to maintain business, even if minor complaints get seemingly contrived and blown out of comparison. So it's for that reason that with the Tingarla section of the 2nd half, the show really lost its direction and only geared with the main message, which doubled down on the potential that had been lost right up until the final moments. Such a waste of what could've been a great follow-up story plot.
The disorientation of Aquatope only carries on with the characters, and for the same reason above that I've classified both Gama Gama and Tingarla sections, the former feels like a well-knitted close family while the latter is just like your average company-sized ambience. Most particularly with Fuuka and Kukuru, these two girls have been the subject that Aquatope carries the "Yuri-coded" tone wherever they go, and much that we can see that their time together exhibiting much of that Yuri-ness with each other. In actual fact, Fuuka is quite indebted to Kukuru because she helped change her life around to find meaning with being a sea attendant after abruptly leaving the idol scene, to the chagrin of her former members and her mother, while Kukuru is thankful that Fuuka feels like her older sister character that she can act like how siblings would with the whole uncensored, true feelings of vulnerability, much less her only family left alive that is her grandparents. The crux of both characters is that in the case of Fuuka, to "the feeling of being lost and trying to find something" to attach yourself to, and Kukuru as acting as Fuuka's foil, she represents "the feeling of pursuing a vague future you want but can't completely define", capturing the "feeling of being between stages of life, lost but searching." The other characters all serve their purpose to fleet along with the 2 girls gleefully glancing life in their own bubble, but when it all comes down to the main symbolism of the show (which is that magical aquarium "supernatural visions" thingie-a-bob plot device), you can put two and two together to see that overtime, the irrelevancy creeps up when you least expected it. Contrived or not, that's not my decision to make, but I'll let you decide.
Otherwise, everything else is as what you expect of a P.A. Works made anime: nice visuals and backdrops with beautiful artwork that exudes quality (that once again, obfuscates the story plot bit by bit), the one thing that you can never fault the studio for, but is by no means a good way to cover the inherent flaws of the show. The sound design is the same as per the story's tonal shift, and in regards to the OST, Arcana Project's 1st OP is just a simple but great song, only for their 2nd OP to become too busy even with the egregiously long song title. Mia REGINA's 1st half's ED compliments Arcana Project's 1st OP, which I thought was a nice touch all things considered, a duality serving the same purpose. The same however, could not be said for Risa Aizawa's 2nd ED, which is more like visual aesthetics than the upiftling of emotions.
We all love aquariums no matter our age, because it shows the wonder and naturalness of the sea creatures wandering in the sea and living in harmony despite the food chain cycle. Aquatope on the other hand, it's a good show if you want to just relax and watch an unhinged series that leans on the magical part and coping with a coming-of-age story that's all about the difficulties of reality shoved in your face, and learning how to deal with them. But take that away, and what you have is a subservience of a story plot that while manages to stick its core themes from start to finish, leaves some questions unanswered.
Maybe it's me that I'm being patient and tolerant of P.A. Works' original shows for years, and that this problem that has long existed only comes up now to leave a sour taste in my mouth, even if it's a teeny little bit. Don't get me wrong though, I do love when the story plot and visuals go hand-in-hand, especially for one that's an original story. But executions like these just keep me wondering if there's any scriptwriting prowess in P.A. Works shows anymore, and while Aquatope isn't the first, it won't be the last to do so.
Ironically, a great Summer show that by the Fall, it has fallen from grace into decency. A hidden gem from back then, that with the entire material on hand, leaves a mixed bag of an experience. If I have to take a lesson from Aquatope, it's that growing up is part-and-parcel of life, but dreams is what you make of it, so go and achieve it, even if it's damaged dreams and meeting in the ruins of a lifetime partnership.
Necrotoxic01
“I don’t agree with writing reviews before the season/series is over because that review would only cover the first few episodes, and these may not be an accurate representation of the rest of the season/series.” I remember writing these exact words for my Sing "Yesterday" for Me review, and these two sentences were all I could think about when watching the second half of Shiroi Suna no Aquatope or The Aquatope on White Sand. While the story and characters in the first half were good, all be it a bit forgettable, the story and the characters in the second half cycled between boring, frustrating, and confusing.The animation was good, but the music was utterly forgettable. I was so frustrated and bored when watching the second half of this show that it took a tremendous amount of effort to press the play button on every episode. This anime was so uninspiring, that even writing parts of this review were an absolute chore. Its only saving grace was the animation and the good first half. 6/10.
*Spoilers beyond this point*
As I said above, the characters in the first half were good. This is because the characters from Gamagama all had distinct, all be it stereotypical, personalities. The bubbly one, the old wise one, the dad, the newcomer, so on and so on. However, at the new aquarium, everyone fits into one of three categories, mean, mean but then they become nice later, and start nice. During the whole “getting to know the new workplace” part of the second half, almost everyone is unlikeable and openly hostile to the newcomers. Of course, not just behind closed doors, they are openly hostile in front of coworkers and in front of the public. This should be 100% unacceptable from “Japan’s best and largest aquarium.” I could go on and on about Chiyu Haebaru, but that wouldn’t be interesting to write or to read. So, I will stick to the larger points. The first one is, why is she so hostile to the people from Gamagama? Does she hold a grudge? If so, why? They didn’t do anything bad to her. If anything, they were nice to her when she came to Gamagama. In fact, she started messing with Kukuru first. When we see her again in the second half, she is working as the lead attendant at the penguin exhibit at the new aquarium. Despite that, she comes and goes as she pleases, pushes her work and responsibilities on to her coworkers, and seems to care very about them and what they have to do outside of work. I understand she has a young kid, but that does not justify and/or nullify all of the abuse and disregard she gives to her coworkers.
Another employee at the new aquarium is Kaoru Shimabukuro. Most of the time she ranges from fine to good, but during the sea slug episode, her character reaches disappointing lows. In a confrontation with Kukuru, she says something similar to, “We use aquariums so people can fall in love with the animals in and out of nature.” This implies that she wants to take care of all the animals the best she can so the public can see the best side of them, right? No. Because soon after saying that, she says that the sea slugs don’t need to eat because finding their specific type of food would require work. Also, in this confrontation, she said, “We can’t return them to the sea because that would be unethical.” Why is that? They are sea slugs that were in captivity for 14 days max. They aren’t domesticated. The last thing I want to say about her is that she calls Kukuru, narrow-minded for wanting to find the correct food source for the sea slugs and not letting them starve to death. This should be the bere minimum required of all attendants, including herself. The final thing I really don’t like about the characters is that there was an attempt at redemption for Chiyu and the director of the marketing department. It’s not like we spent at least nine episodes seeing how abusive they are towards Kukuru and the rest of the Gamagama people. Despite Fuuka being one of the main characters, she takes a backseat in most of the second half. The only time the spotlight is on her again is the last three or so episodes. The rest of the cast is either written to be good or forgettable.
I have nothing to say about the story in the first 12 episodes because the story is good. I get the feeling like most of the characters care about the aquarium, and are fighting to keep it alive. And after it is shut down, all the characters really care that it is gone. The second half however goes downhill very fast. I could write hundreds, and maybe thousands of words on how the second half is not only bad, but also fundamentally flawed. But, as above, that is neither interesting to read nor to write. The first one is that Kukuru is a high school graduate who worked at an aquarium as an attendant and as the temporary director at Gamagama. So why is she assigned to PR? I understand that her grandfather suggested that she should be hired in that position, but any self-respecting employer should say, “What is wrong with you? Her experience and skill set is perfect for a high-up attendant position.” Of course, that couldn’t happen though because then we wouldn’t have a second half.
The management might, and in fact do, defend themselves by saying, “A lot of people work there not everyone gets what they want.” This is where a normal person would respond with “Right, but you should get what you know. Therefore, Kukuru should be an attendant.” Of course, it’s not just management that makes no sense because Chiyu gets to tell her what to do with no pushback. This makes no sense for a few reasons, but the biggest one is that even though she is the head attendant, there would be, at an absolute minimum, six people above her that she would have to answer to before giving a yes or no on Kukuru’s request. The final baffling decision of the management is to have a single person in PR create whole event plans by herself, and then get mad when the plans are not perfect. The final thing I will say is that from a character and story perspective Kukuru’s decision to stay in marketing makes no sense from a character, or story perspective for obvious reasons.
The thing is that the second half could have been done well. There are a few ways to accomplish this, but this would be my plan. First, Kukuru is hired as an attendant. It makes no sense for her to be in PR. Episodes 13-15 would show how different life is from Gamagama at this new aquarium. The new characters would not be openly hostile, but just doing things a different way. This, of course, would be the conflict for these few episodes. 16-18 would be all of the characters becoming friends, so their friendships all feel as natural as possible. 19-21 would be small, self-contained issues. This would provide more depth and deepen the character’s friendships. 22-24 would be the setup, climax, then pay off not only for the Hawaii study trip but also the whole series. I just came up with that on the fly, so tell me why the writers could not think of something better.
I have little to say about the animation because it is good. It has nice shading, color pallet, animation, and attention to detail. The aquarium in the second half feels more alive and well put together than Gamagama. This not only provides scale, and a sense of awe, but it also works well from a story perspective. But, it does have its problems though. The biggest problem is the first half is the main Gamagama tank. It has no plant life, decorations, or anything besides fish. Another example is the use of CG. While not unforgivable, it is a bit overused in my opinion. I get it. Drawing countless fish is not the way I would like to spend my day, but sometimes it needed to be done. Especially in the empty Gamagama tank. There was nothing in there besides CG fish, and it really looks bad.
I have even less to say about the music. Not because it is good like the animation, but because all of the music, from the first track to the last track, are all so okay it hurts. Honestly, it’s as if I fed the blandest, the most uninspired, bog-standard music to a machine and told it to give me an anime OST. Literally, nothing stood out to me after watching the show, and honestly, I don’t even know if I could hum the song that I heard less than ten seconds ago. The only good part of the sound is that the voice actors did a good job.
I catch a lot of crap in my real life for not liking shows like Re: Zero and Log Horizon, but I can at least see why people like them. Their worlds are well built, some of the characters are interesting, and the stories have twists and turns. However, I can not see why people like the second half of The Aquatope on White Sand. The sound is forgettable and both the characters and story are bad. The only good thing about the show is that the art and animation are really nice. With only one of the four main parts of an anime being good, it leaves me unable to recommend. Since the first and second halves are basically different shows, the score breakdown is as follows:
Episodes 1-12:
Story an 8
Art an 8
Sound a 6
Characters a 7
Enjoyment a 7
For a total of 7.2/10
Episodes 13-24:
Story a 3
Art an 8
Sound a 6
Characters a 4
Enjoyment a 4
For a total of 5/10
An average of 6.1/10.
Ironaditya
PA Works does it again with another brilliant Original anime. Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is a really great Slice of Life which doesn't leave you with a bucket of salt tear at the end of the show, which is what is now correlated with Slice of Life. "The two girls met in the ruins of damaged dream" is the perfect tag line for the show, depicting the our two main leads. The show is all about friendship and working hard for what you believe in, showing it not just with our main characters but side characters as well. We may not always achieve all that we wantand life may turn onto a different path, but we have to turn it into a correct one.
Fuuka and Kukuru, two girls at different ends of spectrum, one who has left her dreams and the other fighting desperately to keep her dreams alive. But fate had a different path for both of them which they never expected.
As always an Original anime is as good as it's ending, which they totally delivered.
PA Works as always get full points for their Best in Industry Background Animation and Character Design and their in house 3DCG, of which they amongst the pioneer in the industry. The soundtrack does a really good job of complementing the scenes, and the two opening by ARCANA PROJECT is pleasing to the ear.
The in-house director Shinohara Toshiya at this time can be considered as expert at water based anime.
To end things , like I always say
" PA WORKS + 24 episodes = GREAT FUCKING ANIME"
tsubagakure
'Endless Oceans' “The briny ocean, born of the human spirit, is endless, always overflowing. The ocean mixes everything together, and the ocean remains the ocean. Splashes of happiness melt away and become the ocean. Lumps of sadness melt away and become the ocean. Surprise, fear, shame, pride... All things melt and become the ocean. When a person peers into the ocean within, strangely, they find peace. They find peace, and they think to themselves: 'See you tomorrow.'” -- Kudo NaokoA stellar Yashikei P.A. Works series, inundated with love and hope.
Taking place in Okinawa, at two different oceanariums, Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is a Slice of Life about new beginnings. Coalescing the love of youth with the ocean, and its vast life forms, we are taken to a lofty realm, where magic blends with reality, where we are taught how to find our place in this world. Blooming with aspiring passion, Aquatope is presented with a modest, yet distinct panoply of characters, each struggling to attain a fragment of a dream, each working in the hope of a better tomorrow. Pigmented in ultramarine and sea green, the suave animation, joined by the sheet of a luscious piano tune, it’s an elation to our eyes. This is a story about the sea and its immense beauty, a story about friendship and valour, where sadness and helplessness give way to a wave of bliss and happiness. A powerful sense of adoration and respect for Mother Earth enraptures our hearts, with thoughts and idiosyncrasies most pure and joyful – a coming of age tale that can turn a drop of water into an ocean, a beautiful one, with sustenance and serenity.
MUSAB-KH24
This anime is one of the few anime that made me realize the nature of friendship relationships between females far from dramatic exaggeration. It is credited with teaching me the meaning of working in an aquarium, and thanks to it my interest in marine life and my desire to continue it increased. What I liked most about this anime is the combination of human life and marine life. Between our future in which we seek to achieve our ambitions, and the future of marine creatures that must be preserved, I wanted for a moment to work in an aquarium to see these two futures withmy own eyes. For a while, I haven't felt the desire to do anything or care about anything in particular, and now Shiroi Suna no Aquatope has brought that desire and interest back to me by sparking a love and interest in marine life in me.
ZeroMajor12
The Aquatope on White Sand was something I looked up to because I thought a show created by P.A Works could spark back the love for emotional moments that this studio managed to do back in its golden days. But sadly, I didn't feel that way with this one. This show has disappointed me in ways because I know it could have been so much more if it didn't focus on the newer characters. Story: 4/10 Not going to lie, I was interested to see what the show has to offer during its first half, a high school student coincidentally meets a failed idol on a crisisat an old and rusty aquarium. The problem is the synopsis you have read has already ended in the first half. This 2nd half felt horribly stretched out once it all ended. From once was an emotional tale of two girls breaking apart from the challenges in their daily life to a dull show about aquarium workers discussing things that typically don't mean anything to the story. They didn't connect. It lost the charm I once felt during the 1st half. Now it's gone and it could never rekindle that feeling even after a few good episodes in its 2nd half.
Art: 8/10
Let's appreciate the only good part of the show, the art itself. The character designs are superb eye candies and recognizable in a single glance. The aesthetic art and background designs look gorgeous. I am glad that there were backgrounds drawn from a real place and it helps provide information to viewers like me. Though the sound, oh dear. 1st half was great, but 2nd half just felt goddamn boring. I would roll my eyes when the 2nd opening comes up. It just wasn't that great.
Character: 4/10
I hated the new characters, they felt one-dimensional that weren't meant to act out of their one function. Every time they were on screen, I could tell what exact words would come out of their mouth every single time. They had no charm, nothing for me to invest in. The closest there was that gray-haired lady, she stood out, but the writing made her nothing more than a way to make people sympathize with her. The writers thought, "Oh we need a twist to make people like her after all the crap she spouted at the main character."
That's not all. I hated the fact that the older characters that were established earlier in the story somehow get forgotten and receive no character development, their personality is abysmal, rarely does any conflict happen to them right after the 2nd half. I liked these characters, why do they no longer get the writing they once did in the 1st half? There, I found out, it was obvious P.A Works intended this to be a show about aquariums and only aquariums. The characters were meaningless in the plot.
Enjoyment: 5/10
Can't say. It's watchable but if you're looking for a plot-driven anime, I'm afraid you are mistakenly wrong. P.A Works will deceive you into thinking it's one, but very unfortunate that it turned out to be a dull slice of life about workers. Anyone who has plenty of time to take could give this show a shot, but I am clearly not what this show had in mind for its audience.
mushi_Jyou
Too beautiful for this plot. Story Subpar. Honestly, wasn't enjoyable. The beautiful background and scenes are wasted on this story. Story has 2 distinct parts. First half is on the Main Characters interactions revolving a small, closing down aquarium. All the main characters love this place, and tries to salvage it from its imminent demise. Hence the first half is about the main characters finding themselves and bonding over their efforts and intentions for this small aquarium. All intentions and wishes were very reasonable. But the actions are a little too weak. The story just goes on about how they wish to preserve the aquarium, but theiractions are not exactly shown, except for a few. No team discussions, or seeking outside help, or taking more down to earth methods. There was no effort in advertising and improving the old aquarium... Most of the first halve content was filled with "I will not give up" and "I am there for you" drama. Is a very empty plot. But they are just 16-17 Year olds, so I am "fine" with the lack of sensible actions here, but 12 episodes on this is pretty boring.
Second half is a little disgusting. It starts after a time skip with main characters finishing up their high school stage and stepping into the working world. It show case a horrible working environment. Now their interactions revolve around the new big aquarium that was the new tourism hotspot, while the old one in the first half was teared down. Main lead herself was put into a role she did not sign up for, but decided to go with it believing she could still do things for the benefit of this new aquarium. Which I believe too. All departments play a part in keeping a company(aquarium) going. Somehow for a big new aquarium, they are pretty short staffed. In her department, for her team, the main lead is the only staff other than her supervising manager who also happens to be the assistant director. So is a 2 man team. The main lead was already established as a young girl with full of passion for sea life, armed with sea life knowledge and expertise. Yet in her role in this new company, she wasn't guided or taught the basic scope of her work, just dumped with work, and to learn on the job. learning ion the job is not a bad method except for when the manager provides 0 assistance for guidance, or help with corrections. All the manager does was to try to keep her in her place, moulding her into a robot. And all her friends (the rest of the characters) are equally terrible for telling her she should just do it and commit to her work more, despite all the Over time, and additional leg work to coordinate between departments (that should be the manager's job?) . telling main lead that she is not committed to her job enough because she took a bit of time out of her day to do things that she enjoys that will mentally rejuvenate her.
Is definitely gross how everyone who knew the main lead's passion and her over worked schedule tries to tell main lead she is still not dedicated to her work. (????????)
If she is doing over timed everyday, is the company's fault for not employing enough personnel to do the work that they have. Why is main lead being gasllighted to blame herself for "underperforming" in a role she did not asked for and have no official experience in.
And they managed to beat down main lead to just being a dead fish eye worker with 0 interest in her work, or her favourite working environment (aquarium) . Then main lead revived on her own after seeing her best friend (gf) and some baby turtles....
There's no moral of the story here. No deep philosophical meaning in their actions. No point at all actually. With all that senseless drama and toxic behaviour, is hardly a slice of life style too.
There is a supernatural phenomenal appears in the story here and there during the first half, as though they are teasing something magical/ beautiful will tie they story up nicely. But that just vanished in the second half until the last episode.... that plot point could have saved this story a little, but the never developed it. As if it is as casual for that magical phenomenal as breathing to occur.
Art
Beautiful. Stunning.
Characters
Bad. Thy made the whole story bad. Whiney and wimpy and illogical. Unnecessarily self righteous and selfish. All their actions baffles me. Over the top optimism, zero considerations for anyones feelings except for when someone is crying. Like crying is the only expression they will care about. Main lead is also naively obsessive. Neglecting basic foundational studies, not thinking about the inconvenience she can caused, and has some sister complex with a girl she barely knows for 2 weeks.
All other characters are there to enable the main lead and not even try to broaden her perspectives.
I wouldn't recommend it, but I am putting this as mixed feeling because the art is very pretty to look at.
In conclusion, is boring but pretty.
KingShulox
The sea has always delivered us many beautiful stories, so when I discovered another water-related anime was in production, I couldn´t resist. Another original anime, hopping into the trend of gorgeously animated series with great story that studios have been lately try to make up with huge results. And let me tell you giving this one a try was, in two words, worth it. Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is a great series that tells the story of Kukuru, the main character and a character I personally like a lot, who is trying to save her family´s aquarium from shutting down and be demolished. In the wayshe meets Fuuka, another great girl who is escaping fame and trying to leave peacefully for a while. Fuuka starts working at the aquarium as a trial, and as they meet many new and local people and unveil secrets, the girls start building a special relationship and growing up, surrounded by mysterious underwater visions that magical aquarium has.
Fortunately, the good points of this anime are many.
The main core of an anime is its story. Aquatope is a series that makes you embrace a constant rollercoaster (ironic). You sympathize with the charming characters, feel what happens to them and want them to succeed at all time. Whether it be Kukuru, Fuuka, Kai, Teruya, Kuuya, Umi or any of their friends, you will never feel an empty character. Their relatonships are very great and diverse, and no character is left out of them. And with those relationships you will experiment a great story marked by the constant message of not giving up, helping each other, teaming up and fighting for what or who you want or like. For me it´s not another anime that will just go by like nothing, but another anime that marks their viewers with the experience and inspires them to chase their dreams.
The first thing that catches your eye are the incredibly stunning visuals it has. Clear blue skies, deep blue waters and light charming sand combine with the entire pallet to bring the series a colorful and both vibrating and darkening style. This beautiful display combines with great character design and detailed animal and wildlife modeling, making this series one of the most catching of 2021.
Another incredibly stunning point are the sound display. One of the things that made me start watching it is its beautiful first opening. Arcana Project brought up a nice, emotive and at the same time enthusiastic song that prepares you for the adventure. As well, the second opening also does it by changing the tempo to a constantly high one. And when the songs combine with the stunning visuals, you get two great OPs. The rest of the soundtrack during the episodes are also fine and fairly good implemented.
There are, of course, some other things that drag this anime down. Many of the things surrounding this world, like the illusions, their goal or even that spirit that appears since episode 1 (anime version enano bostero) does not seem to have a lot or any explanation at all. Lots of things seemed to be rushed up even though they had 24 episodes to develop those things. The series was nice and very charming, but without those, it leaves a bitter sensation at the end. Apart, despite I said the OPs were amazing, the EDs are exactly the opposite. Lame pacing, unintelligible lyrics and lack of nice animation make the endings something skippable and, the first one, one of the worst I have ever heard.
The Aquatope on White Sand is a nice and amazing adventure you won´t regret seeing. The magic of its characters will amaze you, and its story makes inspiration flow. Original anime are growing day after day, and their quality is getting better and better. And this one definitively proves the point.
Story: 8/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 8/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10 → 9/10
Should I watch it? Yes, if you are prepared to have fun and enjoy.
mythical_k
Spoiler Warning: When it comes to bringing in nostalgia, this anime has done a perfect job of giving me that feeling. Shiroi Suna no Aquatope was a touching yet beautiful summer anime I've watched during that season. Not only did it bring back memories of watching "Nagi no Asukara," my first official anime, but it made me interested in aquariums more than ever. Combining the typical slice-of-life genre with a tidbit of the supernatural, the two works well together and it made me intrigued to watch more. With that, here is what this anime did right and what it missed during the twenty-four episodes. The plot hada different feel when it came to the events throughout the episodes, and not because it's an anime about aquariums. The central theme that is common during the first half is dreams. The portrayal of those dreams by the characters felt realistic in terms of what they wanted to accomplish. Even though their ambition towards achieving their goals was motivating, but setting unrealistic stands for some of them is impossible to make them come true. That portrayal of dreams was done perfectly, and it sets up the tone towards the second half of the anime. The second half felt slow at times, but the aspect of getting settled in a new area was fun to watch. Character development is a general theme in this anime as it gives the two protagonists the chance to realize what they want to in life and improve in their work environment. Even though I loved the aquarium illusion surrealism during the first half, it felt odd that it rarely showed up in the second half until the final two episodes. Although some may say those illusions need a better explanation, the answer to that is simple. A specific character created them, acting as an island deity.
The story for this anime contained two parts with the two-cour episodes, and it was intriguing to watch. It starts with a former idol going to Okinawa and meets an aquarium-loving girl who allows her to work in a run-down aquarium. From there, it features that idol getting used to working in the aquarium named Gama Gama, while figuring out her new goal there. At the same time, the aquarium will close soon, but the other girl wants to keep it alive. Despite their efforts, she realizes that all things must come to an end, and soon, Gama Gama closes for good. The second half focuses on everyone getting adjusted to Tingarla, while the two girls continue their character development. Overall, the first story was breathtaking and motivating, and it was a strong start for the anime. The second half was slow at first, but it was still enjoyable for the two girls to realize their new purpose in their work environment. The ending finished brilliantly, which anime originals barely do until this year.
I love how diverse the cast of characters are in this series. Their design was a great combination of realism, yet they fit well in their personalities. The two girls, Kukuru and Fuuka, had great chemistry together. Even though this anime isn't in the yuri genre, their support for each other was endearing to watch. Both of their character development fits in well with each of the cours. Fuuka's story was the first half. Even though her dream as an idol ended, her realization of her new goal she developed ties in with supporting Kukuru with her ambition. Looks aside, she's my favorite character in the series. For Kukuru, she was more relatable in her work environment in the second half. Her development might've been rough, but towards the end, it paid off as it showed her change from a naive aquarium lover to a full-fledged working young woman. The other characters were great, but some were dislikeable at first. However, the anime explained their backstories, and it redeemed them in my eyes. On a separate note, that being with the red hair is called a Kijimuna, who is the reason why those illusions were there in the first place. In short, the characters, their personalities, and backstories were perfect and realistic.
The animation for the aquariums was beautiful as it felt like it was a real-life aquarium. The CGI used for the fish is an example of CGI done well, and it makes sense as animating all the fish in 2D would've been difficult. Combined with the realistic character design, the magic surrealism was animated beautifully, bringing aquariums to life throughout the series. Outside of the aquarium environment, the animation for the rest of the work was generic and nothing special. In terms of everything combined, the visuals for this series were breathtaking yet simple during certain moments in this anime.
The music was the second best part of the anime. The soundtrack gave off a rural island-like vibe, eventually transitioning into a more modern-like sound during the two halves of the series. The openings by Arcana Project sound incredible, as both of those songs describe the tone for the first and second half of the anime, which fits them perfectly. Both of the ending songs have a majestic vibe, with sounds like it takes place underwater, fitting in with the aquarium theme had. All of the songs sound beautiful, and it's also the first time I've ever listened to Arcana Project, and I've become a big fan of their music.
Overall, Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is one of PA Works' best anime to date yet. Everything about this anime is done perfectly, from the characters to the animation. The pacing was smooth, and nothing was done wrong with it despite no source material. It inspires you to go to an aquarium in real life and to realize your dream throughout your life. This anime has done a perfect job in portraying those aspects. By understanding how everything in this anime functions, then this original anime is a masterpiece in my eyes. I recommend this anime if you enjoyed watching Nagi no Asukara, and you'll not be disappointed.
imData
Story: 8 Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is an anime about two girls looking for the true meaning of her life. One is an ex-idol, trying to run away from her failure, eventually ending up in Okinawa on a whim. The other one is desperately trying to save the aquarium run by her grandfather, where her deceased parents used to take her when she was a child. The two girls will learn to let go of what they have lost to bounce back and move forward. It's a wholesome realistic anime about learning to deal with the hardships in life. Art: 9 Even though this anime is not the most demandingin animation, the art is pretty good. I could almost feel like I was in Okinawa.
Sound: 9
Same as the Art section, the Sound was good, especially the OSTs, which are one of the strong points of this anime.
Character: 9
This anime being about how to deal with the hardships in life, having good characters with great evolving is mandatory. And that's the case, the main characters evolve greatly as the story progresses. The first arc centers on Fuuka while the second is about Kukuru. Both protagonists learn to let go of their past dream and become stronger and more mature throughout the episodes. Sub-characters too have their own kind of evolution even though it's not as developed as for the main characters.
Enjoyment: 8
The journey was pretty good, sometimes I was cheering for the characters, sometimes I criticized their actions, but overall, it was a great show. The beautiful landscapes feeling like we're on holiday makes a great contrast with what the girls have to come through to grow up. It's almost as if I too wanted to go to Okinawa and start working for Tingarla even though I don't know a thing about fish.
Overall: 8.6
Spirit_Chaser
The penguins are more entertaining than the cast. In the first cour, there is lots of mystery with the Gama Gama Aquarium though it never gets properly explained. It gives people visions based on their own personal issues. This leads to the mystery of Kukuru's lost twin sister among other nice reveals. This became the most interesting part of the series for many viewers. Sadly, they completely abandoned this for a long while, but kept shoving it in your face with the openings and endings as the viewers wonder, why? For a slow paced series, they sure inexcusably failed to properly develop characters who hadpotential to be much better. Every filler like episode was a waste of time that could have helped with this. Still, this is a series that can make you feel happy with all the irrelevance that goes on in it much of the time. But after the fact, it brings nothing meaningful or amazing. It's a treat of a series when I am looking for something that is more like a main feast.
Speaking of lack of character development, one is Kai, who became the love interest of Kukuru. Sadly, this childhood friend was abandoned by the writers and reduced to an irrelevant punching bag. Regardless, this wasn't even advertised as a romance, but that didn't stop all the theories about him and lesbianism. The other is Kuuya, who was actually funny, but got shafted to the side alongside Kai eventually. On a related note to him, the orientation of the characters is another part of the series that is made unclear on purpose to lure viewers in who theorized about what I mentioned earlier. Then there is the mysterious kid which is something that P.A. Works often does in their projects: They put in a mysterious character that is mostly pointless and is there just to add "mystery." But maybe that spirit was always there since it was implied it's what caused the visions, though it's still tragic this spirit had 0 development.
The animation can be very nice, but the music is forgettable. It's sad to say that one of the few things that stood out was the background art.
The story is deeply rooted with what life working in an aquarium is like. The viewers will learn a lot about what it is and means to be an attendant. It isn't boringly educational; it is interesting at least. Subtly, however, Kukuru's life and struggle is often portrayed through the marine life. In relation to penguins, there is the quote "Someone who courageously takes on risks, like the first penguin that jumps into the water regardless of circumstances. It can be terrifying to be the first person to challenge something new, but once you do, the others will follow. A First Penguin has strength within them to have a positive impact on the people around them." Afterwards, Kukuru reassures the viewers after this quote that is about her is revealed by adding, "Someday, I want to have the courage to challenge myself to something new. I made those with that in mind". Though this is all good and well about her, it would be terribly executed in most of the second cour until the series picks itself back up around episode 20.
Fuuka is a failed idol who ran away from facing disgrace at home. She runs into Kukuru, and the two become best friends. Fuuka joins Kukuru in the Gama Gama, and eventually catches on as an attendant. Their story of friendship and support is all the series really had going after it abandoned the aquarium fantasy aspect, since nothing else seemed too interesting for the most part. The second cour would flip this as Kukuru would become the one in need of help. It's a friendship about uplifting each other after failures, comforting and supporting, overcoming, and ultimately learning to let go.
In the second cour, I understand what it is trying to do, but the series drags on far too long with being aimless, and Kukuru doing painfully boring office work. The viewers also felt the pain of how boring and uneventful this part of the series was. Kukuru would go into marketing, which obviously wasn't something she'd be good at for a while since the lack of that skill is why she couldn't raise money for new equipment for the Gama Gama. This was a futile attempt in the end to save it anyways. As ridiculous as it sounds, she just needed training that for whatever reason she didn't get. As a result, her boss, that hilariously calls her plankton, treats her harshly and expects a lot from her. Her boss is a man that though appears mean, is sincere and passionate about running aquariums, and the rest of the staff don't have too much of an issue with him. Regardless, his development was terribly done and he felt awkward and hollow. T-1000 has more emotion than him. Kukuru struggles and ultimately gives up as he never lowers his standards of her and always expects the best no matter how much he sees her struggling or coming up with bad ideas. She abandons her job and he still doesn't fire her. After some soul searching and support from Fuuka, Kukuru overcomes her flaws and comes back stronger.
I myself wanted to give up after episode 19, and it took me weeks to catch up to episodes 20-22. Amusingly enough, I grew up as a child often being taken to the same aquarium many times over those years. Going in, I always appreciated the aquatic life, how mysterious and beautiful it was, and the excitement of the exhibit where you could get a feel of the sea stars, orchids, etc. Because of this anime, I went back recently after so many years, and this series made me appreciate it a whole lot more. I stared at the huge tanks, remembered this series, and went through the memories of being there as a child.
Fortunately, it was these recent episodes that made the series much more enjoyable by this point. Now that the unnecessarily long "work is hard and painful" arc is over with the terrible "just slave away, you'll be rewarded some day" message, it moves back into Fuuka and Kukuru learning to let go as they have finally found some balance in their lives, partly thanks to their friendship. Fuuka had already accepted this, but Kukuru still struggled to at first. Previously, this had lead to Kukuru running away to a nearby aquarium where the sea turtles were about to hatch. I'm sure she saw herself in those turtles where only 1 in 5,000 make it, as they struggled towards their own goals of reaching the sea.
The ending was underwhelming and mostly didn't feel like one, but at least it was bit enjoyable. Besides how emotionally satisfying that meet up was, nothing else really felt meaningful, relevant, or that it really mattered, as most of this series felt that way.
Jonsitoa
Weakest PA works anime i ever watched, the background as always are great but the animation of the characters feel deformed, the openings and endngs are very beautiful, but the characters are bland and not interesting, only the legendary old man is unique, the two protagonists are not very particular fun to watch, the idol and the director of the aquarium are pretty, the friends or sode characters are forgettable. The first part of the show and second part feel different,i prefer the first part it was less boring and a little more interesting than second vour, im a big fan of PA works butshows like nagi no asukara or Shirobako are much better, this is a 6/@9 show for me guys.
yhcominthru
When PA Works go for this route, you already know it's going to be beautiful, wholesome and some life lessons and sometimes even onions brought to you. It's a wholesome slice-of-life done right, both openings are good and it fits the anime well. It is that type of anime where you resonate with it more and more as you get older as it portrays the emotions of trying to reach for your dreams, the reality check in the workspace(office or whatever), social relationships(reminder: it definitely differs from how you make friends/acquaintances in school) and so on. Story: 7/10 The story-telling of this anime is linked well between episodes,there won't be moments that get you confused about what is being shown, it's that type of anime that you wouldn't have any problem trying to understand while having your meal.
Slice-of-life anime are usually somewhat predictable, if you watched enough of them, what matters more is the shaping of the atmosphere and the execution, I would say, it is done right. #wholesome
Art & Sound: 9/10
You already know that PA Works' anime original that belongs to the slice of life genre gonna be consistently good/decent (depending on your standards).
Character:
The chemistry between the main 2 FMCs (Kukuru & Fuuka) is well portrayed.
As you go along the episodes, how they develop to be more mature is smooth, there ain't no unorthodox development. And sometimes, the things that they have faced, the emotions that they have shown, the worries that they've had, for all these, you might even find yourself relating to it. But some of the side characters aren't that much explored in but you can still find some interesting narrative & character development in them as well, it's just not as much as the 2 FMCs.
Enjoyment: 9/10
Wholesome, songs are good, hits in the kokoro at times, relatable, inspiring at times.
If you like something beautiful and mid-paced, and tired of harem/isekai/shounen, you should give this a try.
Shingster
Please note this review assumes that you have finished watching Shirai Suna No Aquatope and while care has been taken to minimize story related spoilers there may still be spoilers present within character analysis. You have been warned. Based upon an original idea Shirai Suna No Aquatope or to western audiences as Aquatope of White Sand is a drama and slice of life anime that gives us a unique opportunity to see what will happen if one day two girls of similar age, but different backgrounds, motivations and overall life goal were to one day have a chance encounter with each other and see withineach the one spark that had been missing from their eyes.
What will happen if these two were given a second chance to not only find a field that fascinates and inspires them but also the chance to ask themselves the difficult questions that they never had the chance to ask themselves. What kind of life do I want to live and what do I want to bring to society through it? Only by answering these questions would the two be finally able to find the life path they both desired as well as a job that they can both pledge themselves wholeheartedly to and bring their newfound passion to life once more.
As human beings, our lives have always been one of struggles whether in trying to achieve the right grades in school or do well enough to enter the career field that you have always dreamed of going into. But what of those who after entering their dream fields and seeing its brutal reality have not only lost their passion for it but also the very direction that they should be aiming their life towards. While the overall premise of the series of two girls of differing backgrounds, desires and life goals and their chance meeting on Okinawa after becoming lost in life was my primary motivation for choosing to watch this series the one aspect that convinced me to watch it to the very end was the desire to see just how would the main leads of Kukuru and Fuka and their many friends rediscover the passion that they have for the sea and its many denizens and how will they apply the lessons learned in their care to change not only their current lives but their destinies as well. If there’s one thing in life that can be changed with hard work, it's destiny a belief that I felt was most appropriate for the struggles that Kukuru and Fuka were forced to confront in their struggle to forge a new path in life. The opening episode of the series I felt was an excellent one as it while doing while in introducing the main leads of Kukuru and Fuka also did well to showcase the majesty of the denizens of the deep that we seldom encounter as well as the magic that their care can provide to those that attend to them. While one might argue that this magic is a one-trick pony that’s only relevant in its original setting, I would say that this effect eventually transforms with the cast into a motivation that serves to drive them ever onward in their desire to educate people about the beauty that the sea possesses.
Kukuru Misakino
Kukuru Misakino is one of the main characters of the series and is one of the series two protagonists. A teenage girl that works as an attendant and stand in deputy director for the local Gama Gama Aquarium that while no doubt proving exhausting served to provide her with a place in which she while gaining plenty of valuable life skills also served to instill within her a deep passion for both the sea and a desire to take care of the many denizens of the deep that they hold. From her initial appearances, Kukuru was seen to be a positive, energetic, kind, and friendly person by nature that while possessing a mind that was almost always focused on her duties at Gama was someone that had the trust and friendships of countless people around her while simultaneously causing countless headaches for those that try and change her teachers included. While Kukuru’s passion for her job at Gama is undeniable as reflected in her diligence and her determination to confront and overcome the many trials that were arrayed against Gama this trait also served to make her a difficult person to know especially those that don’t share the same strength of bonds as her childhood friends did as Fuka discovered in her first days. However, while her passion towards sealife and desire to take the best care possible of them can serve to push people away this was offset by the fact that Kukuru deep down was also someone that was understanding and capable of self-reflection that within the series proved to be an able trait of hers that allowed her to clean up misunderstandings and forge bonds anew with those that may have been pushed away by her base nature.
As the series progresses and Kukuru’s personality is gradually expanded upon it can be seen that while on the surface Kukuru was someone that was positive, friendly, and diligent to a fault that approached each day with a beaming smile on her face that beneath this were many surprising insecurities that she kept hidden from her friends. While Kukuru’s passion towards the sea life that Gama possesses as well as her diligence in ensuring that they are cared for to the best of their abilities showcase well her skills as an attendant this within the narrative was offset by her sense of overprotectiveness towards both the sea life and to Gama itself. This sense of protectiveness towards them while showing well her desire to allow them to live their lives freely within the confines of Gama also likewise showed just how important the place was to her heart as it was here that she developed her love for sea life as well as being the place where her last cherished memories of her parents resided at reasons that served to ensure that within her life at that point in time Gama was one that took utmost priority. While this focus on preserving both in the face of declining visitors showcased Kukuru’s trademarked determination to persevere it also highlighted one of her more notable traits in the form of her ability to think outside the box which I felt synergized well with the strong friendships that she shared with her friends that allowed them to create some pretty creative ideas that acted as an effective stopgap for Gama in the form of the Touch pools and shaved ice that was shown in ep6 that took advantage of both human curiosity and desire to try animal-shaped seasonal foods.
While the success of these events did well to lengthen the time Gama had left these events also demonstrated the fact that while Kukuru’s desire to take care of others whether animals or humans is a strong one it was compounded by the fact that at the end of the day she was still a child whose stubbornness, inability to adapt when dealing with outsiders and her lack of knowledge on the activities needed to manage a business was actually making it harder for those around her to do their jobs properly while pushing away people whose life experience would have been useful for her to learn from. While the parting with her beloved Gama was a painful experience for Kukuru it also served to allow her to take her first steps into a brand-new world that would open her eyes as to what is truly needed to run an aquarium that is populated not just by the sea life but by her coworkers and visitors as well. While the transition from a small-sized aquarium and living in the rural areas of Okinawa to living in an apartment and working within a large purpose-built aquarium inside a big city proved to be a rude culture shock to Kukuru working within Tingarla had also allowed her to realize many things that she had not known Aquariums provided nor needed as part of their management which included among many things a PR department, planning events, larger amounts of staff and the need to ensure that both visitors and animals within the venue were cared for equally.
As a result of these revelations, Kukuru was able to realize that while the care of the animals that were housed within Tingarla was important they were not the only things as an Aquarium was not just a home for them but also a business and a place of learning whose main role was to not only educate the visitors on the sea life that it houses but also ensure that the guests visit, and overall experience was stellar. While Kukuru’s long grounded belief that an aquarium’s main role should be about the care of the animals was not completely eliminated this revelation allowed her to realize that without visitors it will be her beloved sea life that will suffer a sense of motivation that did well to establish a need within her to establish a balance within her priorities that would allow her to balance both and by doing so keep her dream alive. Arguably one of the most notable developmental traits for Kukuru as a result of her new role at Tingarla was the revelation that simply doing her best by herself is no longer adequate for Tingarla as this was a place that housed not only more animals but also employed a far larger amount of staff across its departments.
To be effective here, she had to be able to not only work well with others but also coordinate her actions with them as well. More importantly, she needed to place her trust in her fellow staff members in their roles as they have in her role within Tingarla a difficult prospect indeed but one that she was gradually able to accept the need for as she slowly grew from an overly idealistic girl who did not know the value of teamwork and trust and who always tried to do everything herself to someone who not only realized just how much work goes into keeping aquariums active but also the kind of bonds of trust and respect that are needed in a modern-day workplace.
Fuka
Fuka Miyazawa is one of the main characters and is one of the two main heroines of the series. A former idol that’s in her late teens prior to her arrival in Okinawa and joining the ranks of the attendants in Gama and later Tingarla Fuka from her initial appearances was shown to be someone that was a striking contrast to her fellow attendant Kukuru in almost all aspects. A quiet, soft-spoken and friendly and kind person by nature Fuka while possessing neither the kind of fierce determination and confidence that Kukuru had nonetheless possessed a caring, friendly, and polite nature that allowed her to stand on equal footing with her eventual best friend. While Fuka was shown to be a diligent and dutiful girl who always tried her best in her former life her low self-confidence and her unwillingness to share her inner thoughts and worries served to make her an enigma that was difficult to get to know for both her former friends and her friends within Gama that served to make her early days a nerve-wracking experience. However, despite these problems that plagued her daily Fuka while unsure about the kind of responsibilities that were expected of her as an attendant nonetheless approached her new role with calmness and a willingness to adapt herself to learn the new knowledge that’s required of her.
Despite the dramatic bad experience that Fuka experienced on her first day of work with the penguins Fuka’s strong work ethic and a desire to pitch in when needed served to make her a valuable part of the team and allow her to forge lasting bonds with the one that had shown her a new path that she can now take in the form of Kukuru and for the first time in a long time be able to show a side of her that while fragile showed well the kind of struggles that she had secretly had to wrestle with as a result of trying to achieve her dream of being a popular idol that can bring joy to their fans. This unique experience of knowing full well how hard it must feel to be lost after having your dream shattered I felt served to create an excellent foundation for not just Fuka to ground herself on and motivate herself but also in creating the first sparks of the bond that she will eventually forge with Kukuru as to Fuka she was the person that had saved her from the darkness that had manifested after her own dream of being an idol had been shattered. While Fuka’s passion towards sealife and working as an attendant at first was not as strong as that of Kukuru especially after the scare that was her first day and indeed Fuka’s view of the job was only a temporary one at best her passion and interest into the role gradually began to increase as a result of not only seeing the beauty of the sea life but also of the many smiles that it can bring to the guests. In a way perhaps I felt that Fuka seeing the reaction that this job brings to the guests was of the belief that while not bringing them joy as an idol she through this role was able to bring it through her new role as an attendant that in turn served to make her approach her new role with far more passion than before which within the series is shown in her desire to learn more about the sea life that she cares for and her endeavor to care about her charges the best that she can.
Though Fuka in the beginning of the series was shown to be someone that had low self-confidence and had trouble in forging close bonds with her co-workers due to her fear of that they would start to distance themselves from her as they did in her previous role this gradually began to change as a result of both her desire to become more independent and forge a path of her own in something that interests her without being influenced by others as well as her desire to stay and support her savior by being there for her when she needs her. While she still prefers to stay quiet and do her assigned roles without interference the journey to become more independent and forge a new path of her own served to allow her to better assist her co-workers by chipping in with creative ideas such as the touch pool of ep4 and having a long overdue heart to heart with her mother to convince her of her desire to forge a new path with her own two hands experiences that served to gradually rebuild her into a better person that will be able to help far more people than she had in the past. By the time of the second half of the series that saw her join her co-workers once more as an attendant, we can see that as a result of her determination to improve herself Fuka was shown to have become more attentive and more mentally prepared for situations that she can potentially encounter in life that was further boosted by her increased confidence and a strong determination to help her friends once again. Though having increased self-confidence and a willingness to do what she can to help her friends Fuka however was shown to have not lost her trademarked trait of honesty and a desire to learn all she can to be of better help to others as shown in her desire to memorize the names of every penguin that was kept in Tingarla to prove her mettle to the staff there instead of simply relying on her past experience a feat that I felt was most impressive.
Overall as a character, I felt that Fuka was one that was well designed and developed as the series progressed with her evolution from a quiet and soft-spoken young woman who not only had her dream of becoming a top idol smashed but also had to battle some serious confidence issues to someone that had not only managed to reignite the spark of her passion by discovering a new career field that she has grown attached too but doing so in company with friends and allies that she is comfortable with showing her true face too while genuinely enjoying every day that she spends with them being especially well done. While Fuka’s individual development was certainly done excellently it is the chemistry that she shared with Kukuru that in my opinion really served to make their bond that much more heartfelt as their development was a direct result of the increasing bond that they have with each other and within this bond, Fuka’s older sister role I felt did an excellent job at balancing out Kukuru’s brash nature and open her eyes to the larger picture that those who wished to run an aquarium solely needed to have.
AMV
In terms of animation overall, I felt that PA Works did an excellent job at animating not only the characters present within its narrative but also in showing the beautiful scenery that the island of Okinawa features. When used in combination with the various sea life that the cast encounter and take care of over the course of their careers as attendants with the everyday moments that the cast experience whether it’s in events promoting their workplace or simply bonding over delicious food at Tsukimi’s I felt that the animation only served to enhance the experience by introducing a level of magic and warmness to their interactions while also having the unintended bonus of promoting the actual setting as well IRL. The animation used to showcase the series sea life of which the penguins seem to have been the main focus I felt likewise did an excellent job at not only personifying them but also show that resilient as they may appear to be they are also creatures that require careful care and management in order to allow them to live their lives comfortably and that it’s not simply a matter of just keeping them fed. Location variety wise while the locations featured within the series were not especially many, I felt that each of them did well to showcase an effect that served to not only provide them with a place to go to when the situation calls for it but also provide some nice expansion to both the cast and the narrative when needed. Tsukimi’s mothers’ shop and her later workplace for example provided the cast with not only a place to eat and relax at but also a place where they can forge stronger bonds with their co-workers while the hangout club allowed the cast of Gama to bond and make peace with the staff of their new workplace.
Narrative wise however the locations that were the most important were the aquariums of Gama Gama and Tingarla that while being the same manner of businesses within society within the series represented two different types of venues in the eyes of the cast with the former representing a venue that thrived on its core values of humility, warmness and a desire by its small but close-knit team of attendants to showcase the beauty and majesty of the sea life that it houses and through this try to persuade the locals that visit to come again to see the unique magic that the sea brings to the people. While compared to Tingarla Gama while smaller in size I felt was unique in that it managed to leverage not only its unique close-knit community of attendants that is almost akin to a family but also its ability to come up with small-time but creative ideas that make great use of the unique atmosphere that Gama offers to its guests.
Tingarla however can be said to be the opposite in that unlike Gama it was purpose-built to be an aquarium that centralized the housing of sea life within the island that aimed to offer its guests not only a large facility that housed twice as many species of sea life but also a venue that is able to offer large scale events that it hopes can be used to better educate people on the beauty of the sea life that they share the planet with. While larger in size and featuring a larger team of staff can often become a hindrance due to conflicting goals and desires of its staff, I felt that despite some teething rivalry’s in the beginning that Tingarla served to eventually transform into a business that was finely balanced between educating its guests on the beauty of the sea life and the commerce part of running it through the usage of events such as the cosplay event of ep18 and the visit of Fuka’s former co-worker in ep19. While the animations for the many locations, characters and animal species was done excellently within the series I felt that it’s also worth mentioning that the lightning within the series was something that I felt was done really well as it served to enhance the unique atmosphere that its locations featured with its usage within the aquariums being the most notable as it helped to give each a unique sense of identity within the narrative.
Music-wise the series made use of a total of four themes split between the two cours with two opening and ending themes for each. The opening and ending themes for the first cour was Tayutae Nanairo and Tsukiumi no Yurikago that was performed by Arcana Project and Mia Regina respectively while the second cour opening and ending themes were Tomedonai Shiosai ni Bokutachi wa Nani o Utau daro ka and Shingetsu no Da Capo that was performed by Arcana Project and Risa Aizawa. Each of these songs while all excellently performed by their respective groups and singers also represented well a unique theme that served to complement the series with the first being new beginnings in a new land amidst having a dream shattered, shattered dreams and the quest to rediscover a new direction in life, Reforging one’s life and broadening of one’s life by forging new connections and learning new knowledge in a brand new setting and lastly the realization that no matter where you are working whether it’s at Gama or Tingarla that their passion for both caring for the many sea life that they encounter in their careers as attendants like the bonds that have been forged between the main leads will never change and will only get stronger as they continue upon their chosen life paths.
Voice acting-wise I was really impressed by the vocal ability of the two main leads of Miku Ito and Rikako Aida who I felt not only did an amazing job at portraying their assigned characters of Kukuru and Fuka as per the specifics for their characters but also served to add a lot of chemistry between them within their voice as well that served to add a lot of depth to their interactions in my opinion. With regards to the supporting cast in general I thought that the seiyuu’s assigned to the supporting cast all did an excellent job in their assigned roles, but I felt that the characters of Karin and Tsukimi in particular who were portrayed by veteran seiyuu’s Lynn and Azumi Waki respectively provided much needed emotional and physical support for the two main leads within the narrative. Of the new characters introduced within the second cour of the series, I felt that only Chiyu and Marina were given enough screen time to develop as individuals while Akari’s only standout role was her brief development in ep18 via her arc. In hindsight, I believe that it was a waste not to give the new cast more time to develop as individuals as it would have allowed them to better chip in within the narrative when needed.
Overall conclusion
In overall Shirai Suna No Aquatope I felt was an excellent anime that had among its strong points an excellent narrative, characters, voice acting, animation, music and its strong emphasis on not only the need to find a life path that you have a genuine interest in but also the need to be both open-minded and determined as you strive to learn all the knowledge that is needed in order for you to walk that chosen path to its completion.
Undoubtedly the series overall narrative is what can be said to be the heart of the series and is here that I felt the series truly shined at thanks to not only its excellent cast of characters but also its usage of different locations that allow it to adhere to the central themes that the series has among its narrative which among others includes a desire to find purpose and direction in life, a place where you will feel belonged at and a destination and life path that one can take after losing one’s own dream. To a T I felt that the narrative did an excellent job of being able to frame the narrative around its stated themes through the usage of its two arcs that while featuring similar businesses in the form of Gama and Tingarla were ones that featured subtlety different qualities that made them differ from each significantly.
While the first half of the series did an excellent job at introducing the particular roles that attendants needed to be trained in within their field it was paired well with not just the start of Kukuru and Fuka’s eventual bond with each other but also with the rapidly approaching storm of closure that Kukuru was desperately trying to overcome and in the process making great use of the themes of hope, despair and determination to both find and preserve one’s own cherished dreams in the face of the brutal realities of change that is part of society’s advancement. The second half of the series that was centered upon Tingarla I felt represented an interesting challenge for Kukuru in particular as it not only represented a place that took her cherished dream from her but also a place that was completely alien to her both professionally and personally as a result of both its myriad departments that she never knew was needed within the field but also experience that she required but never had the need to possess in her former workplace. When combined with the themes of rediscovering your life path and the overcoming of one’s past by broadening one’s horizons by interacting with and bonding with new people and learning new things on top of the gradual development of both main leads I felt that the second half of the series was where the narrative and the cast truly came to shine despite the challenges arrayed against them.
In overall as a final score, I would say that Shirai Suna No Aquatope easily deserves a final score of 8/10 for its strong narrative, excellent characters, unique insight into how sealife is cared for at aquariums, strong bonding moments and chemistry between its main cast. While the series brought me a lot of entertainment it’s the core values that it serves to educate us upon via the insight into Fuka and Kukuru’s desire to learn how to better take care of sea life while charting their life direction that I felt was most fascinating and while the series itself is fictional the knowledge it imparts is not and I hope that by watching their struggles viewers would realize just how beautiful and yet fragile nature is and to do their part in protecting it by educating others. At the same time in this time of crisis being able to showcase the island of Okinawa to its viewers and promote it via the anime, I felt proved to be an unintended boon for both the staff and seiyuu’s and the people of Okinawa as well and I hope that with this it will be a location that will join people’s lists of places to visit once the crisis is over for I know it will be joining mine.
i-like-this
Penguin Ex Machina. Aquatope on White Sand is another summer anime that like Remake our Life came out at the right time to the right audience. That is to viewers who have effectively had careers ruined by the pandemic or other events that have helped acquired feelings of failure, loneliness, lost motivation and are struggling to get back on their feet. Unlike Remake our Life however which is a wish fulfilment anime about one man going back in time and ruining the lives of his once, future successful friends, Aquatope is a slice of life, coming of age, healing anime about two young women having arandom chance meeting in the depths of their own helplessness in an aquarium who both inspire and help each other to move forward with the power of sisterly friendship, penguins, lots of fish and one very cultured crab (you know the one).
Fuuka Miyazawa is a failed, Tokyo idol who wants to avoid the literal pity party waiting for her back home so badly that she flees to Okinawa on a whim. She ends up at Gama Gama Aquarium where she experiences a super natural phenomenon that only happens in Gama Gama and begs the acting director Kukuru Misakino (a sea life fanatic) for a job.
Fuuka and Kukuru’s relationship starts out rocky at first due to Fuuka’s inexperience working with sea life, but they have very natural chemistry. They’re both very charming characters and watching them grow and help each other is very satisfying to watch. I do feel like the shows scene direction sometimes mixes messages by making their relationship feel like it’s going in the “yuri” direction, but if that concerns you don’t worry, it doesn’t and it only feels that way around the middle of the first half.
The rest of the cast are very charming as well. Tsukimi the chef and Marina who gets introduced in the second half are always a delight when they’re on screen. I like Chiyu and the stand-offish struggling single mom who takes time to warm up too, the Gama Gama staff… this anime is just really charming in general.
The animation is pretty solid too. The digital animation doesn’t get in the way and the hand-drawn animation and although there are times where it does feel a bit clunky to watch or the cg sticks out a bit too much it doesn’t really effect the overall quality of the show.
I enjoyed the story for the most part. The Gama Gama arch (first 12 episodes) focuses on Fuuka moving forward from her failures and Kukuru’s desperate quest to raise money to keep her families aquarium open. The second arch focuses on Kukuru’s struggling with her new job in a new environment and Fuuka’s growing interest in marine life. This is a slice of life anime so there are some episodes which do drag. The second half especially has pacing issues as it loses the whimsical mysteries that come with the Gama Gama setting.
Overall Aquatope on the White Sand is very recommendable. It won’t be everyones thing. If you’re not into chill, slice of life anime about girls helping each other then this won’t be your vibe. But if this is your vibe then I think you’ll really enjoy this anime. Just watch the first episode. You’ll know if it’s for you.
Also there’s like a little boy who just sort of hangs around and eats offerings and I think might be a nature spirit or something… the show never explains him, but it won’t effect your viewing… unless you’re someone who cares about the deep, Aquatope lore.
8/10 Great.
arthurddduarte
I loved! I love this anime, I followed it since the first episode and throughout the 24 episodes the story of each character was very well presented and developed, they managed to make me feel part of the anime. The quality of the production is exceptional, a quality reference, and I'm already somewhat sad to have reached the end of the work. The anime's story covers a very beautiful theme, which is the overcoming, given the problems in our life and the dreams that end up getting in the way... what did the two girls do when they were at this point in their lives? The two friends supportedeach other and found the strength to win, the life story they built is very beautiful.
Watch and get emotional, it became my favorite work!
PyraXadon
Oh boy. It’s another P.A. Works show set in a town that’s next to the ocean. Because NagiAsu, Kuromukuro, Irozuku, and Glasslip all turned out to be bangers. So I’m sure this one went off without a hitch whatsoever. For the record, yes, I have seen this pattern a lot. Story: Wavering in the prospects in her idol career, Fuuka Miyazawa runs away from home to the island of Okinawa as a way to get away from everything and just take a breather not knowing what else to do. Here, she wanders aimlessly to the point of even sleeping on the beach on her first night beforeencountering the small, run-down aquarium known as ‘Gama Gama Aquarium’. Here, she meets the feisty and hard-headed girl named Misakino Kukuru, who swears that she’ll save this family aquarium of hers that’s on the verge of bankruptcy. In an outburst, Fuuka asks if she could work at the aquarium, getting a job there as an attendant as the two forge ahead on a journey to repair their dreams and/or find their paths in life.
At least that’s what the show wants you to think. I believe the intent that P.A. Works had when they were making Aquatope was to tell a story about a pair of lost girls that were trying to find their path through life with the use of fish and aquariums as its setting. From a broad perspective I think the show does give off that impression, but a lot of the smaller kinks when parsing through episode to episode really makes that idea fall apart.
This becomes more evident with the two halves of the show. As with all 2 cour shows that P.A. Works produces, there’s a significant difference in storytelling between part A and part B that Aquatope really does not stick the landing for.
Starting with roughly the first 13 episodes, Part A is what I regard as the better half as it’s got a more centralized focus that starts with Kukuru’s determination to save her family’s aquarium in spite of its aging equipment and building structure with Fuuka going along for the ride. In this part, every episode is basically a new scheme where the workers at Gama Gama attempt to raise the visitor count before the foreclosure, coupled with some character moments here and there that help build up the cast in a meaningful way whether or not it’d be requiring a skill that one of the side members have or just focusing on them because they previously hadn’t gotten much time devoted to them.
Part B on the other hand feels like a significantly messier show that doesn’t have an end goal and just kind of has the characters meander back and forth between different topics and significantly smaller subplots that may or may not have anything to do with the two girls that we’re following. It also has an indeterminate timeskip which really doesn’t tell us the passage of time all that well considering it seems like nothing about anyone has actually changed in a significant way. Does it finish with a meaningful end? I’d argue so, but the payoff doesn’t feel as genuine as it could’ve been on account of the sheer number of ham-fisted endings that are supposed to be resolutions to character arcs but come off as shallow time-skip futures that just kind of gives only good endings.
Notice how in spite of the show having enough content to fill up two cours of material, I never once touch up on the girls’ significance in the stories beyond just occasionally appearing every now and then or being the starting gun for a lot of things. That’s because Aquatope really isn’t what the showrunners intended for the series to be. A lot of the show’s runtime is devoted to filling up the miscellaneous character stories for the coworkers that these two girls are surrounded by, a trait that continues all the way to the end of the show where they’re still throwing out some character backstories because these girls and the audience just NEED to know what drives everyone to work. The issue with that is, none of that really matters. Despite being the title characters, both Kukuru and Fuuka have such staggeringly little character time to themselves that their arcs feel incomplete and unsatisfactory. Especially in the second half, there never seems to be a clear goal that the girls are working towards, and even less time towards the girls taking a step back and doubting what they’re doing as a way to ask themselves “What am I doing with my life?” Which is something that they as young adults really should be doing if they were trying to portray a story about two girls meeting in a shattered dream, only to rebuild themselves in ways that would make them happy and give them something to work towards. I’m aware this character arc actually does happen for a bit, but it’s so minor that it acts as more of a footnote in the series than a serious thematic plot point that encompasses the whole show.
And it’s because of this aimless storytelling that the pacing and story execution ultimately suffers as well. The workplace politics/environment that the show is adamant at revealing is riddled with sudden and inconvenient plot threads that cause drama and tension for the sake of drama and tension, thus making a lot of episodes feel really poor to watch given how terrible characters’ attitudes can be, only for it to be ‘forgiven’ later because they have some kind of tragedy that makes them more sympathetic. Which to me just makes the writing look lazy because it’s retroactively creating a bandaged solution just to gain sympathy points.
Overall, Aquatope is a show that intends to send a message about the hardships of young adult life and trying to find a suitable path that one can work towards, but is ultimately bogged down by all of the rubbish that the showrunners tried to also put in in an attempt to ‘help’ that point along. Truth be told, the show just needed to cut down the fat and really focus on telling the stories of these girls instead of arbitrarily make more side character stories so the drama and revelations actually made sense. As it stands, there’s more side story than main story, and too many cooks in the kitchen ended up ruining the soup.
Characters:
I’ll start with Kukuru since she’s the character that the show really likes to focus on. Kukuru is a hot-headed girl with a passion for fish and ocean conservation with little to no tolerance for those that disrespect oceans or her generally stubborn nature that focuses solely on the health and safety of the animals above all else. Kukuru as a character pretty shallowly and stubbornly clings onto the past and holds onto the things that she’s passionate about even if they’re no longer around or get in the way of what she’s doing. She’s definitely a frustrating character, but I think what makes her bad is almost certainly how the show just simply has no idea what to do with her. What they should’ve done is make her go through an arc longer than 2 episodes to resolve the aimless feeling of loss that she had instead of making her butt heads with the supporting cast because she has a different opinion of how things should go. At no point in the show does it feel rewarding to watch her go through trials and tribulations because she never goes out the other side being a changed character. I can forgive a bratty character for being close-minded and awful in the beginning if it means that they come out better on the other side. Which is usually what happens when teenagers become young adults and become functional members of society. But because Kukuru didn’t get any of that, I can’t in good conscience sympathize with her plight or character traits because it just started to become annoying with how much her code of ethics becomes the antagonist in an aquarium where making money is also a major priority.
Then we have Fuuka, a character who really got the short end of the stick in the show for a multitude of reasons that include the ones that has made Kukuru less than stellar. Fuuka for the most part is almost entirely defined by her relationship with Kukuru, as she was the one that brought Fuuka into the space of taking care of marine life and ‘reignited’ her passion by giving her a purpose as an aquarium attendant instead of an idol like she previously was. Which is something the show really hates to touch up on cause it almost never brings up the fact that she was an idol in the scenes she’s in. Taking that away, Fuuka has almost zero screentime to herself, save for one episode which apparently solved the apparent back and forth she had to returning to idol life. It’s for these reasons that I find Fuuka to be more of an empty void that Kukuru vents her problems to instead of an important part of the main cast. I really wish that the show put more effort into giving Fuuka a voice to project out on account of how insignificant her issues seem to be in spite of the fact that she spent the first few episodes aimlessly not knowing what to do with herself and I feel like that should’ve had a way bigger impact on her personality and goals than it really did. Especially since she’s a lot more soft-spoken than her counterpart, and there was a lot of potential to make a compelling character that found a moment of solace and appreciated the stability around her. Which they did, but her lack of screentime prior kind of made it appear out of nowhere.
Then we get to the sidecast. A group of quirky characters that all have some kind of backstory that drives them to keep working or continue with their goals. Otherwise known as story filler. The show really likes to push these stories on the audience, to the point that only their relatively shallow stories kind of stick because they’re simply just too many characters to keep track of, and the show just likes to do one-off episodes to give everybody a chance in the spotlight. The underlying problem with all of this however is quite frankly how little it all matters in the end because these one-off stories barely add anything, or impact the main two girls in that many meaningful ways. Sure, Haebaru has a kid and works hard to support him as a single mother. Yes, Akari doesn’t exactly have a passion in fish and sees this job as mostly a thing to get an income from. And yes, Kai is the dedicated unrequited love character that chased the girl he likes only to get nothing out of it in the end. Does any of this really matter though? Absolutely not. The second half is absolutely infested with these smaller plots, even more so than the first half, to the point that the show is more this kind of plot instead of anything else. Truthfully, I wish we could just not have any of this or at least naturally fold them into the narrative instead of awkwardly devoting an entire episode to this because the audience doesn’t know about X person, so we should talk about them next. As if the showrunners were spinning some demented wheel that a needle could land on in order to determine which side character should be talked about next.
Also there’s like a God character that kind of runs around in the background and adds no value to the show whatsoever. Which I question why they exist considering they have almost no voice lines, impact only select parts of the first half, and do absolutely nothing beyond that. Which I feel like the show would be worse off IF they had an important part, but if they were just gonna be an easter egg to begin with, why try and make them seem somewhat important by featuring them in the both openings?
Aesthetics:
P.A. Works really does do good art. True, it’s kind of the classic P.A. Works style, but given how well they were able to make water look in NagiAsu, the quality that comes with this show looks very nice. All of the characters shimmer softly, which gives the show a gentle look that’s never harsh or hard on the eyes. Something that’s even better when put next to the water graphics that give off some rather stunning shots. The background shots and certain cuts in the show are just great examples of visual storytelling and somehow just have an air to them that I don’t think I’ve seen any other company consistently pull off in everything that they do.
The only downside I could really give Aquatope in the art department is their CGI fish in the aquariums. Which undoubtedly is the one thing I will give them a pass on because hand drawing that many creatures on the screen is far too much effort, and the models don’t look too glaringly obvious that it’s worth pulling teeth over.
The OST is in a similar boat to the show’s art quality being that it encompasses the ocean and seaside themes that the show evokes with its setting.
Of the two OPs, I think I prefer ARCANA PROJECT’s “Tayutae, Nanairo” more simply because of its drop and its more melodic ballad tones which I think fit the show more with how bouncy and upbeat the song is. True, “Tomedonai Shiosai ni Bokutachi wa Nani wo Utaudarou ka” is in the same boat, but I find the more energetic beats of its part A sister to be more superior. Despite that though, the differences between the two are quite minor due to the same group performing both songs and the energy between the two being equally similar in spite of the setting and tonal differences.
Both EDs have a very somber tone by comparison to their OP counterparts, with Mia REGINA’s “Tsukiumi no Yurikago” being more of a slow ballad with yearning tones whereas Risa Aizawa’s “Shigektsu no da Carpo” having something of a more resolution sounding tone to it. I prefer the latter personally, but both songs do bring something to the table in spite of any similarities that they have with each other. Altogether, I think the songs that Aquatope came equipped with were great and deserving of a listen to. Which is something I’m glad with because P.A. Works’s consistency in the art and aesthetics department remains top tier and in spite of any reservations, I’m glad they always have this to fall back on and are things I can gush about with no remorse since this company undoubtedly knows how to make a pretty show.
Final Thoughts:
This…should not have been as poorly written as it was.
While my usual reservations with P.A. Works were assuredly present given the fact that this was yet again another P.A. Works show that was set in a setting that was near the water, I was confident in saying that considering that this show didn’t have anything to do with romance, it would at least be a decent show without any really glaring issues. Of course, P.A. Works always has to prove that my hope is misguided and really should be put somewhere else, but let it be known that in spite of anything that I have said up until this point, I truly did believe that this show had the potential to be one of their best works yet.
The lack of focus is what really saddens me with Aquatope. It really feels like the showrunners decided that their best course of action was to cram as much as they could in this show, polluting it with random character stories and sideplots without focusing on the real stars of the show: Fuuka and Kukuru. Fuuka was an idol who left her position due to her insecurities and competitive fear in the idol marketplace, and Kukuru is a girl who in spite of everything she did, was hit with the reality that some dreams just weren’t meant to be. These girls had their dreams crushed, broken, and they were aimless in what to do. So what could they do next? Find something else? Find something new? Try again? Or just give up? The potential to do a beautiful coming of age story between two characters was there. The groundwork was present and the potential that the show had at the beginning was something that I was really excited to see when the show first came to light.
I desperately wanted this to be something that I could rave about. I wanted to clap my hands and shout “This is why I adore P.A. Works” and see the girls form a genuine connection with each other, support each other in their pathways through life, and grow beyond what they were at their starting point. But that moment just never came. Instead, in spite of the show having stunning visuals with visions of the past, and an OST that set the mood for the emotions and personal journeys that these girls would go on, Aquatope just didn’t deliver. In place of that was a slice of life show with enough character stories to weigh the show down and eat up a majority of its runtime, and shoddy character growth for our main duo that came up unsatisfying and unworthy of the time it took to get to that point because the ending makes everything seem all great and amazing, but that payoff is ruined by the arduous journey and slog that got us to that point.
I’m not just gonna throw this one on the pile of ‘bad’ P.A. Works shows because it did a number of things right; romantic subplots, cheap pull rug out moments, and crippling melodrama were all absent here. But the things Aquatope did wrong were big enough and noticeable enough to make the show more of a creative tragedy than I think it really should’ve been. It’s to this end that I lament Aquatope more than I curse Glasslip or Kuromukuro because it could’ve been so, so much better with the right direction. It’s reasons like these that make Aquatope a show that I wouldn’t really recommend to people. It’s so unfocused that episode to episode feels clunky at times, and the A and B parts really don’t mesh together that well. And honestly, Fuuka deserved way more screentime and attention than the show bothered to give her. She doesn’t have a story of her own, much less a compelling one that’s got much meat to it. And if you’re trying to sell the fact that it’s TWO girls that met in the ruins of a damaged dream, you should at least make them equal partners in the relationship instead of just one of them using the other as a place to vent their problems to whilst the other one just listens despite being her own person with issues, concerns, and aspirations of their own.
