(CR) Aquatope of White Sand (Shiroi Suna no Aquatope)

[SeijiSensei]

I liked Sakura Quest more myself. I'd rank Shirobako first, Sakura Quest second, Aquatope third, and Hanasaku Iroha in the bottom slot.

[ryllharu]

I did like Sakura Quest, and in some ways I liked it more than Shirobako, but I thought that the first part of the 2nd cour was a little weak. Overall it was fun, and the ending felt rewarding.

Aquatope is one of PA Works' weakest series outside of the truly bad stuff like Glasslip, because it didn't follow through on anything.

Someone else earlier said it was PA Works being "cowardly" and that's probably the best way to describe it. They never committed to any element of this series, including animating the animals (the dolphin has a lot of reused material).

[Infinite Zenith]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

Someone else earlier said it was PA Works being "cowardly" and that's probably the best way to describe it. They never committed to any element of this series, including animating the animals (the dolphin has a lot of reused material).

The individuals who were throwing around the words "cowardly" are themselves the cowards, blind to what this series was doing simply because what was presented do not align with their narrow worldviews. For them, there isn't such a thing as self-discovery, and careers are either a grind one takes simply to put food on the table, or dream jobs free of any challenge. Plainly, these individuals have never worked a day of their miserable lives. If anything, Aquatope on White Sand fully commits to the ideas that losing one's way and picking oneself up are a part of any career, that sometimes, chance brings people together in ways that impact their paths, and how over time, experiences impact how people make decisions. The first half showed the world from the perspective of an idealist, a world of magic and possibilty. The second half is about what happens when adulthood kicks in, and certain dreams are tempered by reality. Similarly, conflict resolution in Aquatope on White Sand is presented as far as it is needed to convey these aspects: in real life, seemingly show-stopping conflicts can often be resolved in an unexpectedly quick fashion. If it didn't suit someone, that's fine, but it sounds like this thread's devolved into a pointless echo chamber decrying this anime's outcomes.

So, I'll say it again: anyone throwing around the words "cowardly" or similar are the cowards. They hide behind their keyboads and act like they are the authority on careers, professional growth and emotional intelligence to conceal the fact they have no relevant experience. They believe that their criticisms necessarily hold true because they alone know what "good writing" is, and beyond going off their knee-jerk reactions, never stop to rationalise their perspectives in a satisfactory manner. Only a single person in this thread has taken the effort to write a convincing explanation of why this series didn't work for them by sharing their own story and thoughtfully tying this to discrepancies in their experiences. The rest of the people here either make unreasonable demands of the series or issue meaningless, sarcastic and patronising commentary. This is not what good discussion looks like, and more than anything, it simply shows how some people in this thread are ignorant, closed-minded and resort to tearing down in order to sate their own egos.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I liked Sakura Quest more myself. I'd rank Shirobako first, Sakura Quest second, Aquatope third, and Hanasaku Iroha in the bottom slot.

I liked Sakura Quest too. I also liked Tari Tari, which had nothing to do with "working girls" a lot as well. I don't think PA works are the best at anything, really. Sometimes they make a really great anime (Shirobako and that's about it), sometimes they make good/decent ones (like this one), and sometimes they make awful ones. What is consistent is the quality of the animation of their works. I like that there are still studios like theirs committed to making original anime, but perhaps their talent might be better used for adaptations.

[stray]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I liked Sakura Quest too. I also liked Tari Tari, which had nothing to do with "working girls" a lot as well. I don't think PA works are the best at anything, really. Sometimes they make a really great anime (Shirobako and that's about it), sometimes they make good/decent ones (like this one), and sometimes they make awful ones. What is consistent is the quality of the animation of their works. I like that there are still studios like theirs committed to making original anime, but perhaps their talent might be better used for adaptations.

What they really need to do is make a 12 episode "adaptation" of Third Aerial Girls Squad. I feel like I've seen that premise at least 2 or 3 times since Shirobako and the Shirobako OVA is still the best version of it. Granted, the OVA was a blatant homage to Independence Day, and it was based on a manga that never existed, but somehow they could make it work.

[Triple_R]

I haven't been here in awhile, but my experience in watching Aquatope along with reading some of the comments about it here on this thread made me feel like I had to drop back in to defend the show some.

I get Aquatope isn't for everyone. Aside from beautiful sea creatures and some of the nicer FuukaXKukuru moments, it's pretty light on fanservice. As a big idol anime fan, I admit I would have liked to have seen Fuuka's background as an idol play into the plot more, especially given how her seiyu voiced Love Live Sunshine's Riko Sakuarachi.

That being said, I'm surprised at just how much criticism this show has received here on Anime Suki.

A few points:

1. Yes, FuukaXKukuru is never fully confirmed, but totally 100% confirmed yuri is not that common in anime in general. At least Aquatope did not do a yuri-to-het swerve, which some other anime have in fact done.

2. Is Kukuru's immediate boss a bad boss? Yes. I don't think the show forces you to think otherwise. Yes, he gets the classic anime antagonist sob story, but again, it's not like he becomes best friends with the rest of the cast in the final episode or two. Also, if he wasn't a bad boss, Aquatope would be less realistic, given the other bosses in this show are pretty good and solid. If you're going to do a workplace anime, isn't it good to show a good range of the types of co-workers and bosses you can encounter?

3. I get the criticism of the creative decision to have Kukuru pick office-work over attendant-work. But I think what the anime is showing here is how there's more than one way to pursue a general passion or interest. You can find a profession that enables you to act on a sincere love of animals that doesn't involve you spending much time in the actual presence of animals. I think it's helpful to show this with Kukuru given what I think the main theme of Aquatope is.

The main theme of Aquatope is this... If your primary dream in life falls through, if it doesn't pan out, then don't just give up on life. Try to find a new dream (what Fuuka did), or try to pivot to something similar to your primary dream (what Kukuru did).

Fuuka's dream was to become an idol, and Kukuru's dream was to save the Gama Gama.

Both of their primary dreams had failed by the end of Cour 1. Cour 2 is about showing how both found a new dream or similar dream, and made that work out.

In real life, a lot of people will fail to realize their primary dream. This is especially true for people who try to be a popular entertainer (like Fuuka) or save a dying business (like Kukuru). Showing that there can be a good and generally happy life after enduring a shattered dream is a good thing to show, in my opinion.

My favorite anime of all-time is the original Love Live. So I know well how watching someone's primary dreams succeed is wonderful to watch. But it can also be good to show how a person can still be successful and happy even if their primary dream falls through. And I honestly found Aquatope somewhat bold here.

[ryllharu]

Originally Posted by Infinite Zenith

The individuals who were throwing around the words "cowardly" are themselves the cowards, blind to what this series was doing simply because what was presented do not align with their narrow worldviews. For them, there isn't such a thing as self-discovery, and careers are either a grind one takes simply to put food on the table, or dream jobs free of any challenge.
...
So, I'll say it again: anyone throwing around the words "cowardly" or similar are the cowards. They hide behind their keyboads and act like they are the authority on careers, professional growth and emotional intelligence to conceal the fact they have no relevant experience. They believe that their criticisms necessarily hold true because they alone know what "good writing" is, and beyond going off their knee-jerk reactions, never stop to rationalise their perspectives in a satisfactory manner.

I explained briefly in a previous post why this series has terrible writing, composition and storyboarding. It doesn't have anything to do with the "broken dream vs career path" theme the series was attempting to convey. But fundamentals of storytelling and conflict.

There are numerous abandoned plot threads, multiple character development and plot elements that were introduced and then forgotten about over the course of the series. The mysticism, the island god, the visions in Gama Gama I can forgive (but then why was such a big focus placed on them?), four or five new characters who were given maybe three lines of self-exposition as character development, grief in general (partially resolved by the airport scenes but also handwaved with the timeskip), the relationships with specific aquarium guests who appeared more than once, and I'm probably forgetting about a half-dozen more that were given a quick resolution and then swept away to never return.

The director and series composition lead are "cowardly" because they avoided and deflated conflict as quickly as they created one. Not once or twice, but every time and by means of convenience.

The wedding planner is a good example. Kukuru messes up her first presentation, (runs away for days, but let's ignore this to make this point), re-does the presentation and the wedding planner still has some substantial reservations which she voices, but is convinced of Kukuru's vision by simply being at the aquarium and deciding she's suddenly okay with the proposal. Miraculously solved.

Chiyu's personal conflict with Fuuka just evaporates out of thin air. Chiyu's conflict with Kukuru's attitude, one they spent multiple episodes building, is solved by...what exactly? It isn't the party, it isn't Kukuru babysitting. It appears to be a simple as Kukuru hearing the explanation that Chiyu has a child.

Many people comment that Fuuka is actually the main character and not Kukuru. That is a little unfair, but not completely unfounded because Fuuka has consistent character development while Kukuru is a very static character in the 2nd cour, who is driven by circumstance rather than making a decision and acting on it. Kukuru reacts to things that happen, rather than initiating them like Fuuka. That's the true rationale for why Fuuka is the real main character.

Fuuka...who the writers then angle to put on a bus rather abruptly because they need to keep the focus on Kukuru reacting to stuff that happens to her, not because of her.


edit:
The series isn't all bad. The elements about Fuuka's former career as an idol and ultimately deciding she doesn't want to ever again are well done. Chiyu's plots are well done. So are Kuuya's, despite him generally being a gag character. It's just everything else that falls apart when you look at it closely.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I haven't been here in awhile, but my experience in watching Aquatope along with reading some of the comments about it here on this thread made me feel like I had to drop back in to defend the show some.

It's good to see you again!

I largely agree with what you said, and I respect the message of the show but it has been clumsy in presenting some of its themes and conflicts. My issue with Kukuru choosing to stick to marketing is that she was basically forced into this position by the director on her grandpa's recommendation, and she spent the entire second cour whining about it and wanting to go back to being an attendant. When she gets the opportunity to be an attendant, she's not sure what to do any more because she just got one win (the wedding thing) and it's hearing her boss' sob story that ultimately swerves her. It could have been handled a lot better.

The other major issue the show had was that some plot points were dropped. The dolphin Ban-chan was mentioned earlier. What about Kai having to take a break because his father was sick? He didn't get any closer to Kukuru, his dad ended up being fine, and he just resumed work albeit under Chiyu this time. What was even the point? I totally thought they were setting up the yuri-to-het swerve you mentioned with this (especially with Fuuka going away for two years), and while I'm certainly glad they didn't do it because it would have been super forced, I wish they'd at least done something with Kai's character. He ended up just being Kukuru's punching bag. His main goal was to confess to Kukuru, he never did that. But perhaps after working under Chiyu, he awakened a MILF fetish and switched goals/dreams

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kanon

It's good to see you again!

Thanks!

I largely agree with what you said, and I respect the message of the show but it has been clumsy in presenting some of its themes and conflicts. My issue with Kukuru choosing to stick to marketing is that she was basically forced into this position by the director on her grandpa's recommendation, and she spent the entire second cour whining about it and wanting to go back to being an attendant. When she gets the opportunity to be an attendant, she's not sure what to do any more because she just got one win (the wedding thing) and it's hearing her boss' sob story that ultimately swerves her. It could have been handled a lot better.

Those are fair points, especially since Aquatope's 2nd cour had a couple episodes that didn't have much happen in them. I agree that Kukuru's change of heart could have been executed better.

The other major issue the show had was that some plot points were dropped. The dolphin Ban-chan was mentioned earlier. What about Kai having to take a break because his father was sick? He didn't get any closer to Kukuru, his dad ended up being fine, and he just resumed work albeit under Chiyu this time. What was even the point?

Like yourself, I was worried they were going to use the situation with Kai's father to setup a yuri-to-het switch. That this situation would focus Kukuru more on Kai, make her explore her feelings for him more, and the rest would be history. I was really relieved that this yuri-to-het switch never happened. Ironically, I think the point with having Kai take this break was the opposite of what I had feared - they wanted a believable reason for Kai to (mostly) go away for the final section of Cour 2 so his ongoing failure to confess to Kukuru would seem a little less pathetic.

It would have been nice, and better, if there had been a scene of Ban-chan swimming away, especially since that would kinda reflect the show's themes. That being said, Ban-chan did get a lot of scenes overall, it felt like to me.

He ended up just being Kukuru's punching bag.

Ha ha! His hands certainly are her punching bag.

Aquatope's supporting cast definitely had their issues, that I agree with. But I really liked Fuuka and Kukuru, especially Fuuka. I found their stories pretty compelling.

I enjoyed Cour 1 a bit more than Cour 2. With that in mind, I agree with what some other people said about PAW being better at coming of age stories than work-life stories. The strongest elements of Aquatope itself are the CoA elements more than the work-life elements. So yes, maybe the next PAW show should be something more like Tari Tari.

[Kaoru Chujo]

A very "meh" series for me. Slow, mechanical and without depth.

The best P.A. Series? For me, True Tears, Glasslip and Shirobako, in that order. The first two had depth and subtlety of emotion. Glasslip, in my opinion, is terribly underrated. Yes, it didn't exactly lead anywhere, but the journey was a special experience.

[Guardian Enzo]

True Tears and the Uchouten seasons blow anything else PAW out of the water for me. Uchouten is easily their most atypical show but I can’t hold that against them, they still did a great and respectful job with it. The most underrated for me is Red Data Girl, which never gets any love and kind of bungles the plot in the second half (as almost all PAW shows aside from the above seem to), but it has some wonderful qualities. It’s extremely PAW, whatever that once meant.

[Archon_Wing]

Lol omg. This discussion feels pretty nostalgic. *Waves to you all* I watched about half of this and got sorta bored. It's not bad mind you and I'll probably finish it off eventually.

@Triple_R: Well, nice to see you on another topic about yuri. I never really felt Kukuru and Fukka were that close and people were pushing for that really hard at the start. Despite that I felt it certainly seems they (along with Kyoani) would rather not have het romances anyways so.... why not. Well, maybe next time.

@Kaoru Chujo: Well, glad to see someone enjoyed Glasslip so it existed for a reason. Shirobako is probably the best of their works if you ask me.

@Guardian Enzo: Yea, True Tears was alright. But I think that red haired girl should have won. Forgot her name though. Maybe I'll watch Red Data Girl someday.

@all: I find it funny this show has lots of Penguins and now there seems to be a new Penguindrum work.

[Liddo-kun]

I give this anime two scores... a high 9/10 for the first 12 episodes. And a very generous 3/10 for the second half. First half of the show has mystery with the magical visions that people see, the mysterious boy, and Fuuka being the mostly the focus + attempts to save Gama Gama. Second half is just a business show, and Kukuru drama which is so boorrring... glad I did not pre-order anything in this show, as it would be entirely a waste of precious money.

[stray]

Oh wow Red Data Girl... I actually really liked that series though I don't remember it too well. I don't really like Mari Okada though so True Tears bored me to tears. I really liked the series about the color blind time travel girl, Irozuku (Iroduku) Sekai no Ashita kara as well, though it was pretty subdued.

I think PA Works actually does really well with their subtly magical series though in Aquatope that mostly ended in the first cour. Maybe this is what happens when their "magical realism SOL" team and the "working girls" teams try to collaborate? Just don't let them do action series at least.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing;6496245

@[B

Triple_R[/B]: Well, nice to see you on another topic about yuri. I never really felt Kukuru and Fukka were that close and people were pushing for that really hard at the start. Despite that I felt it certainly seems they (along with Kyoani) would rather not have het romances anyways so.... why not. Well, maybe next time.

Nice to see you, Archon, it's been awhile! And yeah, anime with yuri potential tend to get the most attention from me these days. Aquatope wasn't as yuri as Bloom Into You or Adachi to Shimamura, but to me, the FuukaXKukuru relationship was close to the point of feeling romantic.

@all: I find it funny this show has lots of Penguins and now there seems to be a new Penguindrum work.

A big part of why I liked Aquatope a lot was the penguins!

Originally Posted by Liddo-kun

I give this anime two scores... a high 9/10 for the first 12 episodes. And a very generous 3/10 for the second half. First half of the show has mystery with the magical visions that people see, the mysterious boy, and Fuuka being the mostly the focus + attempts to save Gama Gama. Second half is just a business show, and Kukuru drama which is so boorrring... glad I did not pre-order anything in this show, as it would be entirely a waste of precious money.

I liked the first half more than the 2nd half. You did a good job of explaining the strengths of the first half. I wonder if Aquatope would have been better received if the entire show was just its first half, if it was an one cour anime.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Nice to see you, Archon, it's been awhile! And yeah, anime with yuri potential tend to get the most attention from me these days. Aquatope wasn't as yuri as Bloom Into You or Adachi to Shimamura, but to me, the FuukaXKukuru relationship was close to the point of feeling romantic.

Well, it was a possibility. But if they wanted to write them as friends, that's much more plausible.... then certain other things. Such as:

I'm glad you watched Adachi and Shimamura! I was actually annoyed nobody was talking about it. Unfortunately, it may actually kind of get into why sometimes it doesn't get too far into it because then people lose interest if it becomes definite. :s That to me is no debate though you still had people trying to deny it which was really bizarre since the show isn't exactly hiding much.

But if you really wanted that kind of thing, there's also season 3 of Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero. (I really don't hope that's considered a spoiler)

And yea, penguins.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I wonder if Aquatope would have been better received if the entire show was just its first half, if it was an one cour anime.

I would have much preferred having the two cours be completely different stories, with completely different casts of characters.

And I think Sakura Quest was my favorite among these "workplace" shows.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

A very "meh" series for me. Slow, mechanical and without depth.

The best P.A. Series? For me, [I]True Tears

PA Works needs to bring back Okada Mari to get anywhere close to that
The writers PA Works doesn't have the nerves to do anything out of the ordinary, and although Okada has a hard time closing out her stories, at least she brings to the anime interesting concepts.
Instead of "Penguins don't care about gender norms duh-huh", she would have done actual Yuri drama and maybe bring in that worthless guy and make him not worthless with a love triangle thing.

[stray]

Has Okada actually done any remotely decent yuri? She loves her osananajimi, so whatever triangle she might have come up with it would have been Kukuru with Kei in the end somehow.

[Liddo-kun]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Nice to see you, Archon, it's been awhile! And yeah, anime with yuri potential tend to get the most attention from me these days. Aquatope wasn't as yuri as Bloom Into You or Adachi to Shimamura, but to me, the FuukaXKukuru relationship was close to the point of feeling romantic.

Bloom Into You and Adachi to Shimamura are true yuri shows, with the source materials being yuri.

imo Aquatope writers just used the girl meets girl premise as bait to hook in yuri enthusiasts. Once I recognized the trap, I stopped hoping for any yuri relationship, and just focused on enjoying Fuuka's interactions with the other characters.

I liked the first half more than the 2nd half. You did a good job of explaining the strengths of the first half. I wonder if Aquatope would have been better received if the entire show was just its first half, if it was an one cour anime.

it's a hit or miss actually... have seen some people on myanimelist actually like the second season more. So it's a matter of preference. I prefer the magic and mystery of the first half, and hated the business environment of the second half.. so I'm very biased to like the first.