Since I only watched 2 shows this season, I figure I have no real excuse not to review the other one if I already did Sunshine. lol
Amanchu
So in many ways this show is my dream show, reuniting the writing of Kozue Amano and the directing of Junichi Sato to create yet another healing/mono no aware anime. Between
Amanchu and the special
Aria OVAs this year, this is probably the final time that the two will ever collaborate, so this show probably means more to me than it otherwise would for someone without an attachment to these two particular creators.
The fact that the anime exists in itself is a bit of a miracle - when Amano had her child and decided to switch to a quarter schedule for the manga, I essentially assumed the property was dead. Certainly I did not expect an anime adaptation to happen, simply because there wouldn't be enough material for someone to adapt. It's why I have to imagine that in some part, the anime is a passion project that Sato pushed for and brought to the small screen, because by all measures it really has no right to exist.
But what is
Amanchu? Superficially, you could call it a spiritual
Aria "clone" inasmuch as it covers the same subject matter - you have a girl thrust into a new, alien world where she learns to grow into a better person and everyone comes together and learns lessons about the meaning of life and experience joie de vivre. There's even a cat mascot, who just hangs around and does cat mascot-like things and interject himself into the story. And admittedly, Amano didn't stray too far out of her comfort zone so the comparisons between
Amanchu and
Aria are fairly apt.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that the main character, Futaba, is a shy and lonely girl who is struggling to connect with the people around her. The super genki, gregarious, and extroverted character, Hikari, serves as Futaba's foil. So if
Aria is about an excited girl exploring the wondrous world of Neo Venezia,
Amanchu turns the tables by having a shy character be the main point of view into the town of Shizuoka. It's an important distinction, because many times Futaba is gloomy and depressed, or at least feeling tremendous pain because she is unable to cope with her isolation as the new girl in school, but both Futaba and
Aria's Akari experience the world through the same sense of joy and wonder:
And of course, that wonder that comes from exploring a whole new world - in this case, the ocean depths, also serves as a life lesson. In this case, Futaba's struggles to be certified as a diver pays off not only in being able to experience a world that she cannot penetrate from above the surface, but it also allows her to make lifelong connections with the people in the diving club.
It's nothing new, of course. As someone who has watched anime for the past few years, the combination of girls + hobby + self-actualization is pretty much old hat now. Heck, I've been watching anime long enough for people to start actively parodying it in shows like
Gakkou Gurashi. But even after all this time, starting with my first experience watching
Aria and
K-On!! 6 or 7 years ago, it's a genre of anime that I don't think I'll ever really get tired of. Certainly it's something that feels so particular and unique to the medium that isn't replicated anywhere else.
I will say that
Amanchu didn't hit me as hard as
Aria did. Maybe it's age and experience, or maybe it's just the subject matter simply can't help but be less impressive (diving vs being a gondolier on Mars), but even though I appreciated what the show was doing, it didn't have quite the same emotional impact on me that I thought it given the pedigree behind the show.
But as I said in my preamble, it's almost miraculous that the show exists and I'm certainly happy that I got to see it made. It's sad to think about, but
Amanchu really does close a chapter on my life in terms of being a consumer of anime since there is no longer a "mythical" anime adaptation that I have to look forward to. But like Amano's characters, I'm happy to have been on this journey and look forward to what anime has in store for me, particularly as I turn into a much more casual observer of the art form.
