Handa Seishu is a young calligrapher who has been groomed for that life since birth. His father is an establish artist and much is expected of the son. When a respected curator in the Tokyo calligraphy community criticizes his piece at a showing, Sei loses his wits and knocks the guy out. As a punishment his father ships him off to cool his head on a remote island near Kyushu. On the island Sei has to deal with its small and colorful residents as he tries to refocus and find his own style of calligraphy. Much to his dismay his work is continuously disrupted by a group of children who are excited by his presence in their midst. The main antagonist is a spunky girl named Naru who lives with her elderly farmer grandfather. She quickly latches onto the distraught Seishu and instigates many of his experiences and adventures on the island. While he thinks he is losing his focus with all of the distractions it is helping him to experience life like he never has before and just may break him out of his rut.
This was a pretty fun show that I had been looking forward to for almost a year. To sum it up it’s like a combination of Yotsuba&! and Dennis the Menace. Naru is pure Dennis the Menace and Sei, in many ways, is uneducated in the ways of the real world like Yotsuba is. Each episode is mostly a self contained episodic event and the story is pretty straight forward with no unforeseen conclusions and realizations. With these rote ideas and comfortable patters it was an enjoyable and entertaining show. Watching Sei's reactions to all of the 'yokels' on the island are highly entertaining and Naru is a never ending ball of energy and wonder, wise to the way of the world yet completely ignorant to reality...ahh childhood wonder. The animation is pretty top notch in the realm of TV anime. The cast of colorful characters are enjoyable and all have very distinct personalities. Yet, if the series wasn't so by the book it would be a truly amazing show. It's a bit disappointing that this show also shares plot devices and an overall story arch of any number of Hollywood slice of life stories. Stories were someone begins with a closed and conceited view of the world only to be awoken to their faults and reality by fun loving and simple people around them.
The anime simulcast on Crunchyroll. A disc release of the show is imminent as FUNimation owns the license for it in North America. The manga is currently being released by Yen Press in North America. I may have to pick up the manga and enjoy more day to day antics with these fun and loveable characters.
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