H20 - Footprints in the sand review
Story: 6
Now this is a series that started out really promising. The first episode did contain a lot of fanservice however things were still interesting. The 2nd episode did contain a lot less fanservice and it still seemed promising so I decided to watch the anime further from then on. Well lets just say that this series kept amaze me. On moment the story was so touching and deep that I would think it could become one of the best anime of the season and the next moment everything was thrown overboard because a completely random episode was thrown in and I thought it would become a major flop. One thing is certain: with this anime you never knew what to expect. It could be that you were totally amazed and touched when an episode ended or you were left frustrated and confused.
The animation overall is cute. There are bright colors used most of the time and the nature backgrounds are really pretty. However there are some odd things in the animation as well. Some movements being a bit off, like Hayami’s hair moving in the wind still felt kind of static and unnatural. This is a pity because if they would have paid more attention to such details, the score would easily have been an eight because I did like the overall feel this anime has.
I actually quite like the opening theme of the series. It is catchy, yet not too happy or hyperactive. A lot of scenes are accompanied with suiting orchestral background music, which set the right mood. The voice acting is ok as well, all though some girls do have high pitched voices, the voice actors manage to lay a lot of emotion in the characters. Kudo’s for Harumi Sakurai who voiced Hayami. The ending theme is quite good as well, so nothing to complain about audio wise.
The character development faces the same issues as the story basically. In the beginning of the series the characters develop really well and the series mostly focuses on one character in an episode. This concept worked for the first half of the series, and then randomness kicks in. When you expect a character would develop a certain way, things turn around and things go in a total different direction. It is good to make some unexpected twists however these twists didn’t make sense at points and it looked like the makers just threw them in at random, making development forced, unbelievable and unreal. Especially in Hirose’s case his development felt rushed in the last episode, like they wanted him to end somewhere but didn’t have enough time to make it look natural.
This series starts out in a good way and the first half is really enjoyable to watch, however the series feels unnatural after that because of the many random twists and forced development stated earlier. The series could have been a brilliant one but turned out to be a flop due to the bad decisions of the creators.
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