Warning: The following contains spoilers! Viewer discretion is advised.
I wrote this review halfway through the series (thirteen episodes in); opinion is subject to change.
When I first decided to start watching Nagi no Asukara, I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting much. The only reason why I even started watching it in the first place is because the animation looked pretty. That was it. But now, thirteen episodes in, I am absolutely in love with this series and deem it as one of my favorite anime series of this year.
Story
Nagi begins pretty simply. Four middle school friends—Manaka, Hikari, Chisaki, and Kaname—are sea people, meaning they live under the sea. They are able to breathe because the Sea God gave the people of the sea a gift many centuries ago: Ena, a sort of layer of skin that allows people to breathe underwater. The sea people look exactly like humans; the only differences are that the sea people's eyes are an awesome blue color and their skin (aka their Ena) sparkles like the vampires from Twilight when they're in the sun.
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| Gah! Never mind! Let's stay away from that atrocity. |
So anyway, the school of these four children closes (for what reason, I have no clue), and they have to go to the school above the surface. Now the sea people and the surface people have this sort of racism against each other, the sea people calling the surface people pigs and the surface people calling the sea people . . . well, fish. The root of this hatred goes back to when the first sea people went up to the surface to live there. The longer they stayed there, the less powerful their Ena became. Ena is extremely sensitive to UV rays, so when a sea person stays out on the surface for too long, their Ena begins to break, like glass. So the people who went up to the surface eventually lost their Ena and could no longer live in the sea. As time went on, less and less people believed in the Sea God, therefore weakening his power.
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Now that being said, one of the kids Hikari, the son of the Chief Priest of Shioshishio (the village the sea people live in), has this prejudice against them as well, believing them to be greedy pigs for throwing away the gift of Ena from the Sea God. So of course Hikari is rude to the surface people and calls them pigs. So when Manaka accidentally gets caught by a surface boy named Tsumugu in a net and is instantly enamored with him, Hikari gets a little worked up, especially since he has feelings for Manaka. However, as the anime proceeds, Hikari starts to form a friendship with the people of the surface, and even at one point stands up for them to his own kind, saying that they are not greedy pigs.
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| Yeah! We aren't animals! |
So not much happens for a few episodes (just relationships growing and friendships forming) until around episode eight or nine. Around this time it starts snowing saline, something that's only supposed to happen underwater. It is discovered that the Sea God's powers are weakening, causing the saltflake snow to keep falling and cooling the world, which will eventually lead to the world freezing and all the surface people dying. In the meantime, the sea people will enter hibernation, staying asleep until the Sea God's powers are renewed and the world is restored to its former self. Hikari and the others want to avoid this, so they want to perform the Ofunehiki, a sort of ceremony in honor of the Sea God. Hikari's older sister Akari (yeah, their names rhyme) wants to replace the offering with herself so that it'll please the Sea God and she can go marry her boyfriend from the surface.
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So a few episodes later, episode thirteen, they perform the Ofunehiki. However, the Sea God wants to take Akari as an actual offering and tries to drag her down in a whirlpool. Manaka and Hikari go down to save her, but the Sea God won't allow them. Manaka then offers herself to the Sea God in place of Akari, and he releases Akari. Hikari tries to rescue Manaka but he fails. Also caught in the whirlpool, Tsumugu flies off the boat and is pulled down by it. Chisaki and Kaname go to rescue him and return him to the boat. As Kaname is climbing onto the boat, he sees Chisaki hugging Tsumugu. At the same time a pillar falls down near them and the boat makes a quick turn to avoid it, accidentally throwing Kaname off the boat and into the place where the pillar falls into the water. Suddenly a barrier covers Shioshishio and Akari is found alone floating to the surface.
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You really have to give credit to the story of this anime. So little happened in the beginning but so much happens in the halfway point. The last episode definitely had me on the edge on my seat, and left me awed and wanting more. You already got what is assumed to be two deaths (Manaka and Kaname), somebody's missing (Hikari), the people of Shioshishio are hibernating, and the Sea God is a total douche canoe.
Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you do a cliffhanger. Nagi no Asukara will continue airing on January 9. And so the wait begins.
Characters
The character development in Nagi no Asukara is one of the best I have ever seen. Hikari grows from this immature, rash kid to this wise, determined man. Manaka matures from an annoying crybaby to an independent young lady. Honestly, you'll have to see it to believe it.
Now, because these two characters have so much growth, they outshine the rest of the cast—for a while, at least. Chiaki, while a bit of a mother figure, doesn't really grow like the other characters do. Thankfully she isn't really annoying, but she's sort of . . . bland. As for Kaname, he seemed like the typical nice guy; quiet and mature, not much is going for him. That is until this happens:
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| Wait. Am I reading this right? Someone actually confessed? And Kaname of all people? |
Way to go, bro! From the third (or fourth?) wheel to badass, congrats!
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| Holy ****! This guy is fearless! |
Where did you come from, person? What did you do with the real Kaname? Not only did you confess to someone, you actually told her parents you did.
. . .
Hold up a second. My mind is having trouble processing this. This man deserves a medal for being such a badass!
Moving on, last but not least we have Tsumugu. The guy who seems to always have a blank face and a cool head, and at times offers advice to the other characters. Like Chisaki, Tsumugu is a bit boring, as well. But I do see what he wishes to be (a sea person with Ena, like his grandfather is implied to be) and where he wants to be (Shioshishio).
Now there are other characters as well, like Akari's boyfriend from the surface, the boyfriend's daughter, the daughter's best friend, the kids' teacher and friends from school, etc., etc. But at least most of the characters have an importance in the overall plot. Most of them are rather enjoyable to watch.
Now something that has to be addressed in Nagi no Asukara is that there is a love, er . . . polygon going around. Here's a picture to help you out:
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| Hm . . . all the arrows end up pointing at the fish. |
The love polygon isn't bad, in fact it's probably one of the best ones out there, but it really irks me that nobody realizes that someone likes them. Thankfully, though, around episode ten Kaname confesses to Chisaki, Hikari to Manaka, and Chisaki to Hikari, so hopefully something good is going to happen.
Animation
The animation in Nagi is absolutely breathtaking. I love the backgrounds, I love the shading, I love the reflections, and I love how the sun's rays look. Everything is so detailed, so life-like—it's gorgeous! Like look at this picture:
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| Ooh! Three suns! Pretty! |
Oh. My. God. Have you ever seen anything so pretty? Before watching Nagi I thought that Free! was the best animated anime of the year, but once I saw this show, my opinion changed in an instant!
Sound
The opening song is sung by Ray and the ending song by Nagi Yanagi (ha, ha, her first name has the word nagi in it; great coincidence to the anime, yeah?). Interestingly enough, both Ray and Nagi have worked together before in another anime, Amnesia. But in this anime, Ray sings the opening song and Nagi sings the ending song, so the roles are reversed. Just a little interesting tidbit there.
So, how is the opening? Well, I absolutely adore it. The chorus is so soothing and it gives you such a good feeling. I think it works real well with the anime's mood.
Now for the ending, it fits the anime's theme to a tee, especially after episode thirteen. It sounded really cool, with its chorus's "hehehe," but once you watch episode thirteen, those little "hehehe"'s sound absolutely spooky and make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
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| Note how the hourglass has water in it instead of sand. But hell if I know what it means. |
I hear there's going to be a new opening and ending song, so, if it's true, I hope they'll live up to the previous songs. I look forward to listening to them.
Overall Enjoyment
In the beginning, the anime is pretty slow-paced. Not a lot of drama is happening, and only some tween love triangle is going around. However, once the main problem is revealed, a flood of dilemmas come crashing through and real-life worries are addressed. What if one of us wakes up before the other? What if one of us doesn't wake up? What if they never wake up at all? These are all questions the characters ask and are concerned about. And the wonderful thing is that the problems just keep on getting bigger and bigger.
In the latest episode, episode thirteen, Manaka sacrifices herself to the Sea God in place of Akari, Kaname seemingly dies from a pillar falling on him, Hikari is nowhere to be seen, and a barrier covers Shioshishio. All these problems and we have to wait until January to see how they are resolved and what'll happen next.
I am literally left speechless at how mature this anime is and how fast everything seems to be going. Nagi is a beautiful anime that is more than just your typical slice-of-life romance show.
The Bottom Line
I hereby give this anime the score of ★★★★☆, with each section rated the following:
Story: ★★★½
Characters: ★★★★☆
Animation: ★★★★☆
Sound: ★★★★☆
Enjoyment: ★★★★☆
Because of its rating, this anime is deemed "Great," and I recommend it to do the people who wish to watch a good anime with fantastic animation, character development, and a growing plot. And with that, see you next time, otakus!
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