Glasslip (グラスリップ)
is a 13 episode dramatic romance written by Sato Rika. A manga adaptation
was published to coincide with it. The series aired in Japan during the
summer of 2014.
Fukami Toko and her friends begin the final summer of their childhood in their small coastal town. Their idyllic life is shaken when a boy named Okikura Kakeru shows up suddenly and begins to act as if he knows Toko. As he tries to get closer to her the group begins to splinter, with some emotions playing out and jealousies rising to the surface. Kakeru confides in Toko that he is sought her out, believing that she, like him, can see fragments of the future. He believes they are intertwined and wants to work with her to discover the secrets of the fragments. Toko is intrigued by this idea and works through her emotions and relationships with her friends to figure out what direction her life is going to take.
This is a very dry drama that can be a bit confusing at times and ultimately does not have any sort of resolution. Sorry for the spoiler. In order to understand what the show is about you have to look past all the supposed supernatural elements to see that it's just a simple story about a group of friends emotionally evolving into adults and being honest with their selves. In the final episode Toko's mother sums this up rather simply. The entire time though I was hoping for something akin to Toki o Kakeru Shojo, knowing it wasn't going to actually happen...one can dream right!! For a while though it's uncertain what the hell is going on and you begin to wonder if some of the characters are actually schizophrenic. Hell, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the show would have ended with it pulling back and discovering that Toko was living in her own brain, while she resided in a care facility due to some traumatic accident from earlier in her life or due to some sort of disease of birth defect...that would have been something, if also partially lame.
The show is slow and essentially pointless though, from what one typically wants to get out of anime in the West. It’s about character development and nothing more, as there really is no climax or ah-hah moment to speak of. But, it’s not bad either. It’s relatively well done even if the characters are one dimensional. The animation is nice, with average character designs. It's not a show for everyone though and what I took from it may actually not be what the authors intended. I may have to look into the manga, as it appears to be a separate story. A light novel is also slated for release in the fall of 2014 in Japan. The show wasn't bad, but it also wasn't what I was ultimately expecting.
The series simulcast via Crunchyroll but there is no word on a disc release in North America. Something tells me it won't happen either. The manga as well will probably never see a commercial release in the West.
Fukami Toko and her friends begin the final summer of their childhood in their small coastal town. Their idyllic life is shaken when a boy named Okikura Kakeru shows up suddenly and begins to act as if he knows Toko. As he tries to get closer to her the group begins to splinter, with some emotions playing out and jealousies rising to the surface. Kakeru confides in Toko that he is sought her out, believing that she, like him, can see fragments of the future. He believes they are intertwined and wants to work with her to discover the secrets of the fragments. Toko is intrigued by this idea and works through her emotions and relationships with her friends to figure out what direction her life is going to take.
This is a very dry drama that can be a bit confusing at times and ultimately does not have any sort of resolution. Sorry for the spoiler. In order to understand what the show is about you have to look past all the supposed supernatural elements to see that it's just a simple story about a group of friends emotionally evolving into adults and being honest with their selves. In the final episode Toko's mother sums this up rather simply. The entire time though I was hoping for something akin to Toki o Kakeru Shojo, knowing it wasn't going to actually happen...one can dream right!! For a while though it's uncertain what the hell is going on and you begin to wonder if some of the characters are actually schizophrenic. Hell, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the show would have ended with it pulling back and discovering that Toko was living in her own brain, while she resided in a care facility due to some traumatic accident from earlier in her life or due to some sort of disease of birth defect...that would have been something, if also partially lame.
The show is slow and essentially pointless though, from what one typically wants to get out of anime in the West. It’s about character development and nothing more, as there really is no climax or ah-hah moment to speak of. But, it’s not bad either. It’s relatively well done even if the characters are one dimensional. The animation is nice, with average character designs. It's not a show for everyone though and what I took from it may actually not be what the authors intended. I may have to look into the manga, as it appears to be a separate story. A light novel is also slated for release in the fall of 2014 in Japan. The show wasn't bad, but it also wasn't what I was ultimately expecting.
The series simulcast via Crunchyroll but there is no word on a disc release in North America. Something tells me it won't happen either. The manga as well will probably never see a commercial release in the West.
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