New Anime Series! Nagi no Asukara episode 1

Post 6 of 6!!! Go me!! Almost an entire week's worth of blogging in one day. Sure I had pieces of most of these just waiting in the wing. But now they are all up. Originally I was going to have 7 posts (Little Busters Refrain) but you know...clean clothes are necessary to get through another week of work. But the new season of Little Busters has been watched, screenied, and summarize. So it should be posted tomorrow. There is another episode of Vampires R Creepy that I downloaded today but we will have to wait and see.

Why hello there new show!!!!

Rejoice for fluffy new shows though. Well hopefully fluff. This is only episode 1 of Nagi no Asukara. I suppose there is plenty of time for things to go horribly wrong right? But for now spoilers for things going...swimmingly. XD

Well I can see there is a clear divide among the people.

Episode Summary: A young man named Hikari is busy making breakfast for what appears to be his family. He seems to be in a super rush to get somewhere. Also all this cooking is taking place under water. The “fire” is blue and kept in a little change. His sister thanks him for the food as he rushes out to meet his friends, mainly Manaka who apparently can't live without someone taking care of her. He sees his other friends Kaname and Chisaki along the way. He gets up to Manaka and basically manhandles her as she is wearing the new school's uniform and not theirs. She runs home to change, asking the others to wait for her. Hikari is like we are leaving her behind and together they swim/jump up to the surface. Yes they are fish people and their school has recently been closed and they must attend school on the surface. Manaka had been wearing that uniform to fit in with her new classmates but Hikari shut that down. Kaname and Chisaki start walking to school but Hikari stays behind despite saying he wasn't going to. Manaka runs to the meeting spot and of course no one is there. A net scoops her up and brings her to the surface. Hikari is all upset when he sees a fishing boat out of it's area. With the over fishing and salt problems Hikari is not too pleased with the surface people. When Manaka is caught in that fishing net Hikari has more reason to be mad as Hikari seems to connect with a young boy (Tsumugu) on the boat.

Totally necessary I am sure.

The 4 manage to not be captured by more nets as they make their way to the new school. The teacher tries to introduce them to the class but some of the kids start saying it suddenly smells like fish. Hikari doesn't appreciate that and tells everyone they smell like pigs. Hikari gets mad when Manaka won't trash talk the land dwellers so Manaka decides she won't talk to him anymore. Everyone is like what the heck while Tsumugu sits in the classroom looking bored. During gym Chisaki gives her uniform to Manaka to help her fit in. For some reason Chisaki is not partaking in gym. They look outside to see Tsumugu being the fastest runner. Hikari is trying to catch up to show up Tsumugu but he ends up tripping and taking out Hikari instead. The boys get yelled at by the teacher and Hikari walks home alone, all pissed off. He runs into his sister who runs a shop on the surface. Some brats were trying to leave gum graffiti on the property that basically said Go Home. The sister gets sorta sad and this makes Hikari even more upset. He goes home but it is stopped by some of the older men in the village. They are upset about the land dwellers with their over fishing and polluting the ocean with too much salt. They are worried that the upcoming festival will be disrupted by all these problems. It is explained that once upon a time all humans lived in the seas. But some watched The Little Mermaid way too many times and decided the land looked fun. They left the ocean and lost their ena that allowed them to live in the ocean. Life on land was super hard and the sea dwellers thought that was their punishment. The sea dwellers attempted to please the Sea Gods. At first they offered up young ladies (because we can't kill boys) but nowadays they offer up food and such. Hikari thinks this is all stupid but promises to inform his dad as he is the Head Priest in town. His dad seems to have more of a wait and see attitude which is kinda funny considering. Hikari is walking in town when he sees Manaka. She is still mad at him but they eventually apologize to each other. Manaka was going to see the village...protector I guess and his name is Uroko. He is in charge of recharing people's fire. Manaka tries to thank him with food but Uroko decides sniffing and commenting on her bodily functions would be better. She ends up hitting him with the food and Uroko says he will curse her. Hikari tries to calm her down outside but now she is all worried.

That would be a fish knee farting!

Hikari takes her home safely but the next day she refuses to leave her room when all three friends arrive. Hikari floats upstairs to see what the problem is. Turns out that Uroko did curse Manaka...by giving her a fish to the knee. Manaka doesn't want anyone but Hikari to see her like this because he is different. Feeling special Hikari ties her leg up but not before making the fish fart. They go to school and life goes on. While Manaka and Chisaki wait on the boys the rest of their classmates sorta...take Manaka and sit her in the light as her ena will glow. Chisaki tries to save Manaka but the classmates claim they aren't doing anything wrong. Tsumugu comes in and basically tells the girls to cut it out. Manaka tries to run but her knee hits the desk and the fish farts. Super embarrassed she runs off until she trips and falls down a cliff and her ena slowly starts to break and crack. Chisaki tells the boys what has happened. They attempt to look for Manaka but their ena starts to break too. Hikari tells them to go home while he looks for Manaka. He runs off and Chisaki gets upset, knowing she will never be able to compete with Manaka. Kaname tries to make her feel better by saying maybe one day Manaka won't be around with makes Chisaki more upset. Manaka is eventually found by Tsumugu who is instructed by an older adult to put her in the bath and sprinkle some salt in. She eventually recovers but freaks out when Tsumugu can see her fish knee. He walks away and at first she panics, thinking the boy was grossed out. But really he went to get some bread to feed the fish. He says it is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen...and Manaka (mainly because of her skin). Manaka is beyond blushy and happy. Meanwhile Hikari is exhausted as he has looked for Manaka for a long time. He eventually finds her...being escorted by Tsumugu. Hikari flies into a rage but Manaka tries to calm him down. Tsumugu walks home like nothing happened while Hikari returns Manaka to the sea. She is happy to hear their people practicing their singing for the parade but Hikari is very sad because Manaka was comfortable enough to show Tsumugu her fish knee. THE END!!!

My fish knee or my broken skin?

So long!!! My summary is so long. Especially when compared to how long the Sadist Vampires R Us post. X___X I am reading over, trying to see where I could make cuts. But I guess when it is episode 1 there is always going to be a lot of explanation and characterization that needs to be explained. That and I am a wordy person to begin with.....

Is there more to this story or is this the real deal?

So these are mermaids without tails. But really as the explanation comes out this is how humans were meant to be. Unless the sea dwellers are telling a lie and all humans started out on the land. But for now this version of events seems to make sense. All the humans lived in the ocean...because there is way more ocean than land. Then one day a bunch of them left, found out life was tough, and resentment grew between the now two species. Makes sense.

Everything else is the same though....

What will probably never make sense is the all the stuff under water. XD But I guess it might not have to. I think I will accept the fire as it looked...unfire like. And has to be managed by a special kind of person. But the other stuff...I guess when civilizations evolve they will find a way. I guess I thought things were going to look a lot different. Perhaps they found ways to use different materials to get the same results. Or despite the fact that the two races don't see eye to eye one everything there is still trading amongst them. Still...almost everything is the same underwater. TV's, the way they cook, the way they dress themselves. Almost no difference at all.

This is me trying to take a pic of the cracking ena.

Except when it came to ena. That seems to be the only thing that separates the land dwellers from the sea ones. And it seems that had the land dwellers done things right they could have kept the ena. Now we don't really know what ena is. I am assume it something that allows humans to breath under water, to not be bouncing all over the place, and allows for their skin to not turn into goo by being in the water too long. Or maybe human skin would always be like that and we were never meant to be in the sun too long. The point being this ena shines in the sun and if kept out of the water too long can flake off and presumably make a water dweller into a land dweller for life.

Fighting for the same girl? Only one of us doesn't know it?

For some very special reason the school in the main character's town is closed down. Have no idea why. Is the village dying out as I didn't see too many kids going to the high school? It looked like there were lots of houses under water. I mean not a major city but it didn't look like the city above ground was any bigger. Just you know...two small towns. So why is the school shutting down? I wants to know as this seems....odd to close one school down and send your kids above ground where things could happen, bad things. That seems like something that isn't going to be explained though so moving on.

Poor Manaka. :( Either way this was going to end badly.

Things aren't all happy in this world though. Getting flashbacks of mole people. When the kids arrived at the school there was teasing on both sides. Fish, pigs. The girls were fascinated by Manaka's skin. Almost to the point where they weren't treating the girl as human. Like look how amazing this girl is. It seems that the land dwellers are intruding on fishing space that doesn't belong to them and are making the water too salty? Okay that one is a bit special but still. People fear what they don't know and what is different from them. The ones in the sea fear the ones on the land, that they have to worship the sea god to make sure nothing bad happens to them which makes everyone on edge. This has trickled down to the smallest of kids, saying GET OUT!!!!

A chance meeting or the catch of the day?

That sets up the world we are in. But it seems this show is going to be very relationship heavy. A love.....something or another. Once again getting flashbacks to kids with special powers. Like bam you all are assigned a role except this time Saki is going to be a very crybaby girl. The real enemy is going to be actual mermaids which is what you all came from and forgot and BAM everyone is going to die.

And then the whole world died. THE END!!!!

But probably not. Still there seems to be a lot going on. Hikari likes Manaka. Manaka is friends with Hikari and seems smitten with the idea of Tsumugu. Tsumugu seems to like fish and water folks so by default he likes Manaka. Chisaki likes Hikari but acknowledges he likes Manaka. And Kaname is just happy to be there. He might be supporting Chisaki because he likes her. I have seen others say that Kaname likes Hikari. Either way way too many triangles up in this mess.

Hikari flying to the rescue and calling land dwellers pigs weee!

What do I think about each character? Hmmmm I think since Sixteen Candles we have been rooting for the childhood friend to always come out on top. Rarely in anime does that happen. It is usually the new person to the group that ends up with the main character. So in a way we are supposed to feel bad for Hikari. He has been there for Manaka her entire life. Now she tosses him aside for the enemy? HOW DARE SHE! But really....he should be her friend. Not expecting anything more. If he hasn't said how he feels she can't know she is hurting his feelings. She suffers from DUH girl syndrome. And even if she did know she doesn't have to end up with him. She can have her own life. Hikari's reactions to a lot of the situations seem normal. All your life you are called names, I would be acting like that too. Even if people would say that just makes things worse.

Which hurt Hikari's feelings.

Manaka seems like a giant crybaby. Like WAAAI the world is hard and I can't function it. We have seen this character a lot. Sometimes it is understandable and sometimes I am like...do real life guys like seeing girls like this? Because I sure as heck don't want a giant meathead for a man even if that is what is portrayed as desirable in the media. I want a well rounded person. Someone who has moments of weakness but sometimes can stand up for themselves. Someone who can laugh at themselves and someone who can go enough is enough. It just seems exhausting being around Manaka. I understand loving a person but come on Hikari. She clearly doesn't see your feeling for you even though they are obvious. However sometimes bubble headed people can have a good heart, a pure one. Which is what draws people to them. Thus the connecting to Tsumugu.

Do you want to be in a couple too?

Kaname....we really didn't see much of him. I think that might be a theme with this show. But there are a lot of episodes with this season so maybe he will have time to shine and get his own love story in there. Or you know...not everyone wants to shine. Tsumugu is more of a wild card. He didn't stand up to the rest of the class when they were calling the other kids stinky but he did so when Manaka was being singled out. He rescued Manaka but I can see there being problems as Tsumugu's interest in Manaka could apply to any of the sea dwellers..or fish. Chisaki....at first I thought she had a crush on Manaka. But no she likes Hikari and is caught in making her friends happy and making herself happy. The other character that had significant air time was Uroko. He seems like a giant pervert but what Hikari said about Uroko in passing was important. That they really don't need the festival because Uroko is there to keep things in line. As if he is the one protecting them from the sea god or making sure they don't act up. Interesting watcher of the fire.

How long will they continue to hold hands for?

Anything else to say? Um the fish to the knee was gross. The amazing ability of everything to stay in place under water is amazing. The art is pretty. And things seem interesting. As long as I don't see some mole rats running around being creepy we might be good to go? XD