hontou ni Stripey Insists Sisters Cry Oniichan Now

Umi Monogatari Review

Lord of Darkness, Shining like gold upon the Sea of Chaos

Stripey and I have informal anime exchange sessions. It works like this: the venue will be either one's home, each of us will choose two episodes of one anime series the other hasn't seen, both will watch all four chosen episodes together. The latest exchange was me pushing Bakemonogatari and Stripey pushing Umimonogatari; I think he got the better deal.

Story

Two sea dwellers, Marin and Urin, venture onto the world of land and air (the Sky to them) to return a ring thrown into the sea by Kanon. In the process, Urin accidentally releases an ancient dark power Sedna. Only the combined powers of the Sea and Sky Shrine Maidens can defeat her. It turns out, surprise surprise, that Marin and Kanon are the chosen ones. The adversary takes on a familiar form and, in a great twist, a surprisingly familiar origin. The girls triumph, learning lessons and life goes on.

Chara

Stripey's review shows keen awareness of how this series is as strong or as balanced as it could have been. I had the same favourite character and really enjoyed all of Kanon's screentime but I reacted very badly to Marin. I am positively allergic to hyper-genki characters and Marin's initial LOVE AND SUGOI was barely endurable but her later mournful cries of "Uri~~~n" where like nails on a chalkboard - even her good looks couldn't redeem her in my books. As a result, I did not have even a shred of empathy for the Marin x Urin crisis that drove the latter half of the series.

Ostensibly there's some sprinkling of yuri from two angles; Urin's Oneechan crush on Marin and Marin x Kanon. But, as mentioned above, I didn't enjoy the Marin x Urin dynamic. And LexXich's comment says it so well - Kannazuki this is not.

Production

This was a series that was very easy on the eye - the chara designs and the backgrounds were all pretty. The fight scenes were surprisingly entertaining and action-backed with some Gundamesque moves and angles. Definite thumbs up for Kotobuki Minako for her voice acting as Kanon but I definitely feel sorry that Kana Asumi and Horie Yui's talents were much unappreciated by me because I just disliked their characters so much. I echo Stripey's complaint that the music was really badly used and often ruined the mood by being so obviously unsuitable for a scene e.g. blah piano pieces for scenes of danger or melodoramaz.

Judgment

One great character (Kanon) versus one terrible character (Marin). Story was not at all captivating story but it had an interesting twist (Sedna's origin). Good looking but let down by story and character weaknesses and seriously flawed music. If it wasn't for marathoning momentum it's highly likely that I would have dropped this series midway; I certainly wouldn't watch this again or recommend it to others.

Zyl's Rating: 2/5

Related posts:

1. [Series Aftermath] – Umi Monogatari ~ Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~
2. CANAAN Review
3. Kanon PV