Fumetsu no Anata e

Magenta

# __~~~This review contains mild spoilers for To Your Eternity~~~__ ___ I think that I speak for a lot of people when I say that the day that the first episode of _To Your Eternity_ released, the emotions that it managed to draw out in most of us was very unexpected. In the realm of repetitive seasonals that show the sheer uncreativity of the anime industry on full display, _To Your Eternity_ managed to stand out from the rest by telling a very resonant story in just the span of 25 minutes. It is an extremely rare sight to see something with such a limited timespan make a sizable portion of its viewerbase break down into tears. The only other episode off the top of my head that I can think of that I can compare it to is Violet Evergarden Episode 10. Out of nearly any anime that I have seen, _To Your Eternity_ was one that easily made one of the best first impressions. It is very easy to see why it gained so much attention by just the first episode. However since then, _To Your Eternity_ hasn’t really captured the same amount of attention as it did in its premiere. It isn’t like it was no longer popular after the first episode, but it never managed to spark the same type of emotionally driven passion in the anime community as it originally had. _To Your Eternity_ after its first episode never really captures the remarkable impression that it originally left. There are still moments of the series that capture the quality of that first episode, however those moments of brilliance stand alongside ones of pure mediocrity and ones that are completely baffling. _To Your Eternity_ is inconsistent to an astronomical extent, and it is honestly a remarkable feat that it even manages to encompass so many different realms of quality. img(https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/thumbnails/crop1200x630gHO/cms/news.3/155165/toyureternity.jpg) The first episode is definitely a smart way to start the series. It isn’t exactly dishonest about what the strengths of the series are, but it manages to frame itself in such a way that it makes its biggest weaknesses basically invisible. The first episode manages to be so strong, because the biggest strength of the series is its ability to create extremely sympathetic characters. It is a strength that the creator of _To Your Eternity_, Yoshitoki Ooima, has demonstrated fully well in her most prolific work, _A Silent Voice_. Ooima’s character writing makes the protagonists of her stories feel extremely likable and relatable to the audience in their introductions, which she eventually uses to create extremely heart wrenching emotional payoffs. The first episode of _To Your Eternity_ is possibly the most distilled version of her version of a character arc, since it manages to fit in the initial characterization for the unnamed boy and the final emotional payoff in a singular episode without feeling at all rushed. With how tight the first episode’s narrative is, it sets high expectations. Maybe even a bit too high. Now, when I say this, I am not saying that the arcs that succeed the first episode don’t have good character arcs in them. As a matter of fact, I’d say that the arc that comes after the first episode, the March Arc, has just as meaningful of a story as the one told in the first episode. The thing that drags the arcs down compared to the first episode is that every single story arc (which includes the first episode) has about the same amount of material that they want to say. Despite this, each arc gets progressively longer as the series progresses. This means that the watertight narrative that helped the first episode thrive gets generally lost as the series goes on. At the end of the day, _To Your Eternity_ tells simplistic stories with simplistic characters, which is fine, but the length of each arc fails to compliment this. It isn’t really helped that each story arc typically only really contains one character arc in it along with the greater arc of Fushi, compared to the multiple arcs contained in a story like _A Silent Voice_. The series increasingly has to stretch itself more and more thinly as it progresses, eventually making each arc feel more sluggish, eventually culminating in the absolutely godawful pacing of the Jananda Island Arc. While the increasingly sluggish pacing of the story arcs isn’t inherently the most awful thing at first, the ways that the series tries to relieve that pacing with padding spawns a whole new cavalcade of problems that way down that later parts of the series even further down into mediocrity. img(https://wherever-i-look.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/March-To-Your-Eternity-Season-1-Episode-3-3840x2160.jpg) As I said before, the March Arc’s story is one that is just as strong as the one told in the first episode. Compared to the first episode, it is only weighed down by the lack of multiple character arcs being told and the slower pacing. However, the arc is brief enough for it not to really be a problem in the grand scheme of things. It is the Gugu Arc where these problems start to really become noticeable. While Gugu’s story on paper should be a grand slam, it is also when the problems of the length of the arcs starts to work massively against the series. Out of all of the arcs, the Gugu arc definitely shines the most in the initial characterization phase of developing itself. Gugu is a very well developed character in the time that he has, and that is thanks to great dialogue scenes that flesh out his relations with the world around him. However, the emotional payoff ends up getting botched due to previously built up problems over the course of the arc and the fact that it felt more coincidence driven than emotionally driven. The series kept stopping itself with speed bumps of varying degrees that make the arc feel more dragged out than it really has to, this arc introduces a physical manifestation of the problems that this series has, the Nokkers. In a story that should be driven by its characters, the Nokkers being a literal emotionless husk used as a plot device to either add a fight that just pads for time or as a way to cheaply progress the plot completely spits in the face of ethos of the character driven story that the first episode built the series on. However, the Gugu arc only really provides a small glimpse into what the seeds of _To Your Eternity_’s problems would truly grow into compared to how much it affected the Jananda Island Arc. ~~~img(https://doublesama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/To-Your-Eternity-Episode-8-1.jpg)~~~ The Jananda Island Arc is an anomaly compared to the rest of the show it is attached to. The arc’s very existence confuses me in a series like this. By the Gugu Arc, I would assume that the strengths of the series have already been very well established. It should’ve been well established even way before _To Your Eternity_ even started to serialize based on what _A Silent Voice_ accomplished. However, the Jananda Island Arc is at a lot of times the antithesis to what makes Ooima’s writing work so well. The main cast of the arc is expanded to the point that none of the people that we are supposed to care about in the arc get enough time to get fleshed out so that we care about them. It feels like, for the most part, the main characters of the Jananda Island Arc aren’t as complex as any other main character of other arcs. This leads the emotional payoff to completely fall flat, since I really don’t care about what are effectively cardboard cutouts with notes written on them that could potentially be seen as character traits. The only mild exception to this is Tonari, who out of any non-Fushi character gets the most development, however she can’t get a proper emotional resolution due to being drowned out by all the white noise masquerading as actual substance. Hayase is brought back from the March Arc, but instead of her just representing an oppressive system that is difficult to escape from, she is turned into one of the most baffling one-dimensional villains that I have ever seen. There are honestly so many problems with the Jananda Island Arc, that naming all of them would make the review so long that it would seem like I was rambling. For all the small and big problems with the arc, the one throughline for all of the problems is that there is an absolutely callice disregard for how to actually develop characters satisfyingly and for what the strengths of the series actually are. What truly puzzles me about this arc in particular is that I can’t think of a reasonable reason as to why the series would end up with such a stand out section of it. It isn’t like this series needs to experiment to succeed since the general formula it set up for itself was so versatile. I really don’t know how the series that produced the absolute slog of these 7 episodes also made the incredible beginning of it. ~~~img(https://rabujoi.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/tye143.jpg?w=840) ~~~ _To Your Eternity_ holds a weird place for me. On the one hand, I didn’t enjoy it for most of the episodes, because in terms of episode count, the bad parts of the Gugu Arc and the Jananda Island Arc do outnumber most of the good stuff in this series. However, it isn’t like other series where the bad parts ruin what the good parts build up because of the semi-segmented nature of each story arc. While the first episode, the March arc, and the good parts of the Gugu Arc take up less than the episodes that I consider to be bad, I honestly got way too much out of those episodes to say that the bad parts outweigh those episodes in the end. I can’t definitively say if I enjoyed _To Your Eternity_ on the whole or not. It isn’t like it is perfectly mediocre, its quality varies massively, and that is really something that can’t be fully encompassed with just a simple score. _To Your Eternity_ occupies many places along a spectrum of quality simultaneously. It both makes fantastic and boring characters. It can both make anybody cry and people completely emotionless. It can both be perfectly paced and be as slow as a snail. Maybe I have a bit too much hope for what comes after this considering the general quality trendline of this series being downwards. However, I do find it easier for something like this to take a fresh start, since new characters for Fushi to interact with are introduced every arc. I wouldn’t say that the future of this series is bright, but just that I am hopeful for what is to come. But with what we have, _To Your Eternity_ remains to be an absurd combination of different features, managing to be one both one of the best anime of the year and one of the worst as well. ___ _Thank you for reading to the end of the review if you did. I really appreciate the willingness some of you have to get to the end of a review that probably disputes your own opinion. If you have any criticisms with how this review was made, you are free to message me to critique what I had to say._ _Also, please don’t like or dislike the review without reading it._

AnimeDweeb

>#One pays dearly for being immortal: one must die many times during his life. -[]() Friedrich Nietzsche ~~~ #In the beginning, it was an Orb. webm(https://i.imgur.com/Y8mBll6.mp4) ~~~ It is a shapeshifting immortal tasked with observing human life and suffering. What follows is a sprawling journey which takes the Orb across various villages and terrain, as it bears witness to various inhabitants' struggles. *Fumetsu no Anata e* sticks close to its wanderer's perspective, inviting us to peer into the lives of the individuals our Orb encounters. This collection of short stories provides a brief snapshot of the human experience — how circumstances of the past and hopes for the future meet in the middle and shape us in the present. And as with all things human, these stories all conclude with the same mortal end that awaits every one of us. But death begets life, for both the living and the dead. Even when our time comes, the memories we leave behind will carry on, long after we're gone. Let's have a chat about life, let's have a chat about *Fumetsu no Anata e*. This review contains **mild spoilers**, feel free to skip ahead to my **spoiler-free Tl;DR** if you'd like. *** ~~~ #*Fumetsu* is far from a fairy tale, but rather an emotional tragedy. webm(https://i.imgur.com/qLIdUQv.mp4) ~~~ This is the show's mission statement, delivered through a first episode that took the anime community by storm. (**Spoilers for Ep 1**:) ~!In the harsh winter tundra, the Orb masquerades as a dead wolf and stumbles upon its boy owner. Alone in the snow and separated from family, the Boy With No Name has only his canine companion and a dream held onto for 5 years. Throughout the episode we see the optimistic boy attempt to realise that dream of returning home, only for setbacks and despair to come crashing down. The tale ends with his hopes dashed, and his body given into the relentless winter. The Orb, as it did with the wolf before him, takes on the image of the dead boy and crosses the freezing landscape in his place. !~ *Fumetsu* 's devastating prologue was a precursor of what was to come. Sadness is all but a foregone conclusion for the series. But if that's the case, what exactly is the point to it all? ~~~ #Media outlets frequently compared *Fumetsu* to *[Koe no Katachi](https://anilist.co/anime/20954/Koe-no-Katachi/)* (KnK) when it began airing, but I wasn't entirely convinced. webm(https://i.imgur.com/e0iPR1U.mp4) ~~~ Both KNK and *Fumetsu* share [the same author](https://anilist.co/staff/105951/Yoshitoki-Ooima) and are really sad dramas at first glance, but their approaches to writing could not be further apart during the latter's early chapters. KnK used its gut-wrenching low points to demonstrate how precious life is in the face of personal adversity. The film's use of sensitive subject matter ultimately coalesces into an uplifting tale of forgiveness and resilience. Whereas KnK cherishes both the good and bad of human existence, *Fumetsu* instead appears to trivialize what it means to be alive. Our protagonist, Fushi, enters Earth in an animal-like state and initially sees the world in terms of stimuli, like warmth or physical pain. This Fushi is a creature who isn't conditioned to process emotions like we do, so it's hard to blame him for not crying along with us when the human companion in Episode 1 succumbs to the cold. There was a dissonance between how I wanted to feel about this story and how *Fumetsu* interpreted these same events. This rift grew larger with the end of its first major arc, twisting the knife with another tragedy and an ambiguous cliffhanger. The plotline was abruptly cut off at a crucial moment with an anticlimax so un-cathartic that it came across as a deliberate choice. Even Fushi finds himself in a brief moment of grief at the arc's end, which signaled that it was not the protagonist who was indifferent to the intimate stories being told, but rather the show itself. The fallout of this storyline wasn't for us to see, because Fushi never stuck around. This is a really confusing decision to make for a show that allows these powerful, small-scale tragedies to take center-stage. *Fumetsu* initially seemed like a simple anthology series loosely connected by Fushi and his bizarre abilities. However, it also harshly implies a bigger picture behind the scenes. Uncovering the hidden intentions of *Fumetsu* 's design does indeed reveal a purpose greater than any one of these short stories. The series isn't here to merely portray death, but rather to take these deaths and question the meaning of life. ~~~ #As people find themselves free from this mortal coil, one life is only just being born. webm(https://i.imgur.com/9eSvpG6.mp4) ~~~ After being awoken from his dormant state as the Orb, Fushi the Immortal gradually grows to understand the world and his place within it. His powers allow him to conjure up objects he encounters on his journey, and even shape-shift as other life forms. This is due to a phenomenon called "stimulation," which equates to memories. This includes pain, elation and death; the latter of which is the strongest stimuli. Memories of the dead cling onto Fushi, allowing him to borrow their appearances and physical attributes. Answers for why this strange creature wanders Earth lie with the being that brought Fushi here. The Beholder is a mysterious entity who is waging war with the Nokkers. Their cold husks feign life and match their intentions: to unite the world by stealing what makes us alive. Fans of the *[Evangelion](https://anilist.co/anime/30/Shin-Seiki-Evangelion/)* franchise may see similarities between the Nokkers' plan and SEELE's Instrumentality; both ploys involve the eradication of our old world, in exchange for a new one free from suffering. Only Fushi stands between Earth and a threat to all life as we know it. Through all these aforementioned plot mechanics, *Fumetsu* posits that memories are what constitutes life. We know that the Nokkers' quest for world domination involves some form of memory loss, because they've robbed Fushi of his memories during their encounters, thereby preventing him from transforming into past bodies. Were they to carry out that plan, all living things would revert to the inert state Fushi was in at the beginning of the series. All past memories and present stimulation would disappear. Anti-memory, Anti-life — Game Over. But the Beholder disagrees with this ideology and seeks to preserve our memories, even if they inevitably result in pain. *Fumetsu* 's philosophy closely follows the writings of [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/), who believed that suffering goes hand-in-hand with life and growth. Suffering is what allows Fushi to gain additional weapons for his recurring battles with the Nokkers. Now, that's not to say that suffering is all there is to life. Valuable lessons and cherished experiences can also facilitate growth and development, but they can only be appreciated in a realm where suffering persists. Fushi and the Beholder are fighting for the human right to suffer and become better than we were yesterday. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and Fushi is eternal. Life may end up in suffering or even death, but there will always be someone remaining to pick up the pieces. Fushi literally carries the memories of the fallen with him, mirroring how we mourn the loss of loved ones and live in their place. *Fumetsu* isn't just a story about how everyone suffers. Rather, it's about how Fushi suffers, so that we can continue to. ~~~ #In short, Fushi is a goddamn superhero for all of mankind. webm(https://i.imgur.com/7YdDrw4.mp4) ~~~ Thanks to its weighty use of secondary characters and philosophical ideas, *Fumetsu* manages to create a refreshing spin on a tried-and-tested *shounen* story structure. The way *Fumetsu* is written bears many similarities to *shounen* elements and tropes, yet is presented in a way which feels distinct and natural, while addressing common pitfalls associated with such storytelling. Fushi can be briefly described as your typical OP anime protagonist, yet is portrayed rather convincingly throughout the show. His characterization does shine light on what would happen if a deity crashes down to Earth, and patiently builds the being up from humble beginnings. The most important positive is that his character development is astounding, as the initially immature Fushi takes grand strides and comes to terms with his purpose in the world. Watching him blossom throughout the series is a really satisfying experience and the beating heart of *Fumetsu*. Fushi's coming-of-age is made more gripping by his godly powers and emerging humanity. His encounters with both the living and the dead shape his beliefs, which puts Fushi at odds with his creator. The Beholder favors inhuman solutions to an inhuman Nokker problem, whereas Fushi values human life in a way that the Beholder cannot. The two at odds over various moral arguments feature some of my favorite interactions across the series. Speaking of conflict, *Fumetsu* 's fight scenes pack a hefty punch in the writing department. Fushi's many battles are smartly handled for a character who cannot die. His arsenal of abilities is constantly kept in check due to thoughtful power scaling, and his moral values motivate him to arrive at creative solutions to his problems. Tense sequences range from 1-on-1 combat to epic confrontations of tremendous scale, set to Ryou Kawasaki's impeccable OST. *Fumetsu* makes a commendable effort in shifting from an intimate anthology format to a serialized epic of world-ending proportions. That being said, at times the series feels awkwardly trapped in the midst of this transition. ~~~ #A common recurrence when watching *Fumetsu* would be the trend of diminishing returns. img100%(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTQzM2Y3ZTAtNjVjYy00YTkxLTkyNTMtZWJmMGZlMDE5YzgxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzM3NDY3OTA@._V1_.jpg) ~~~ Despite my praise of the anime up till this point, I feel that none of the 3 arcs were able to top that incredible first episode. The succinct emotional gravitas of the pilot episode eclipses *Fumetsu* 's more ambitious ideas with devastating efficacy. And the general consensus surrounding *Fumetsu* seems to agree, with plenty of viewers claiming that the show went on a downward trend ever since. What the major arcs lack is a sense of novelty, which is what helped the wolf owner's death really hit home. *Fumetsu* spends plenty of time foreshadowing forthcoming tragedies, with all the subtlety of a battering ram driven into a glass door. It's good to be obvious when building up to sad moments, but audiences will catch on with what's happening. And each time the cycle of heartbreak is repeated across a 20-episode run, the effects tend to diminish over time. *Fumetsu* 's predictability means viewers can pin-point a death hours before it occurs, which could also diminish investment in the narrative. Now, I wouldn't call *Fumetsu* a repetitive tearjerker on-par with the likes of the recent *[86: Eighty Six](https://anilist.co/anime/116589/86-Eighty-Six/)*, which [retreaded and recycled the same sad story beats over-and-over during its otherwise-excellent first cour](https://anilist.co/activity/250687408). Unlike *86*, *Fumetsu* does make efforts to change course and establish a new story structure. However, I don't think such attempts have been a complete success within this anime's season. Even though the script tries to diversify its success outside of that fantastic series premiere, people still tend to associate *Fumetsu* as that one sad show where the boy and his dog dies. It also doesn't help that the very writing approach that brought the series such universal acclaim had to gradually be left by the wayside in order to put the spotlight on Fushi. The final arc on Jananda is the culmination of these issues and arguably the most messy stretch of the season. The worldbuilding in this strange setting is confusing with its many contradictions, and the ensemble cast that inhabits it lack the time and space to leave a meaningful impact on the viewer. If you're looking to watch *Fumetsu* for the aspects likened to an emotional rollercoaster, the diminishing returns of each subsequent gutpunch is something to take note of. Another issue present throughout the series' run is the cheesy melodrama. *Fumetsu* 's reliance on big emotional outbursts and corny comedy does distract from rare glimpses of nuance and reflection. It's quite the far cry from the grace and subtlety [Naoko Yamada](https://anilist.co/activity/210905962) injected into the gorgeous frames of KnK. Since we're comparing the overall series direction of this author's works, we may as well measure how well this adaptation visually compares to the [KyoAni](https://anilist.co/studio/2/Kyoto-Animation) smash hit. Brain's Base efforts here are mostly competent, albeit a bit of a let-down with key frames. *Fumetsu* looks fine by today's standards, but I can't see it aging all too well several years down the road. A series this epic in scale would have greatly benefitted from a larger budget, further immersing viewers into Fushi's arduous journey. Thankfully, the experience has been largely compelling as is. *** ~~~ #**Tl;Dr**: webm(https://i.imgur.com/CZX4M62.mp4) ~~~ *Fumetsu no Anata e* is devastating by design. It's a story of an immortal, and the heart-wrenching deaths that occur around him. Tragedy and sobering sadness is par for the course, but our pain is not in vain. *Fumetsu* adopts a Nietzschean philosophy and shows us how our past experiences strengthen us for our future. Alongside the death comes the fascinating growth of our undying protagonist, who's a frontrunner for one of the most interesting MCs of 2021. *Fumetsu* isn't all sadness, taking ample time to explore several individuals with different backgrounds and dreams. Uplifting moments of daily life are balanced with battle sequences, as Fushi fights for our right to remain human. The series sadly remains lurking in the shadow of a fantastic first episode, and is subject to predictable story beats. But despite its shortcomings, *Fumetsu* still provides a thought-provoking experience about what it means to be alive. The life we love is worth cherishing because of the hurt of the past. Hold tight to your memories, and carry on. **7/10**~ *** ~~~ webm(https://i.imgur.com/HfeDhjy.mp4) ~~~ Well, here we are at the end! To all those who stuck around from start-to-finish, thanks for the memories. Now if you'll excuse me, Imma be listening to [PINK BLOOD](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Ry2dM0B34) on-loop until S2 airs (Fall 2022!) If you happen to like my verbose rants, feel free to check out my other [reviews](https://anilist.co/user/AnimeDweeb/reviews) for seasons past and present. I also frequently post writeups under my list updates, so definitely take a peek if you'd like to see me mald over anime as they hit the airwaves. Peace~

Anto10

AdolCrimsonWanderer

"Fumetsu no Anata e", or "To your Eternity" (which I'll be calling TYE from now on) is an anime that perplexes me, it has the ideas to be a great series, but ultimately the execution of it fails horrendously, the final products ends up being a hideous joke. TYE has several problems and I'm going to point most of them out: 1- Tonal Shifts 2- Annoying Characters 3- Cheap drama 4- Pacing 5- Plot Conveniences 6- Plot Holes 7- Inconsistency 8- Pointlessness 9- Identity Crisis 10- Visuals Starting with Tonal Shifts, this anime suffers from a thing most dramatic anime I've seen do: Creating a tense or dramatic situation, just to make a joke right after. Now, I get adding comedy for the sake of relief, considering some series are very heavy on drama, but TYE abuses of this every time they can. Oh, we just revealed that a character is fated to die? Let’s add dead eyes and then proceed to ridicule the entire scene by making a character do a cartoonish tantrum that completely offsets the dramatic ambiance. This scene right here could have been powerful by only adding a tantrum of a character that doesn't know what awaits them and questioning the customs and the decisions of the tribe, but no, let's just make a visually cartoonish tantrum for the sake of doing so. This kind of things happens repeatedly and gets old pretty quickly. By the 3rd or 4th time this happened, I found myself rolling my eyes, because it's not even funny at this point, only adds to the frustration of a product that could have been actually emotional rather than a tone deaf one. Moving up to the next point, this anime has so many annoying characters on it, and boy, the focus of each arc is usually the most annoying one, and the worst part? They don't seem to use their brain at all. Oh, a character is about to get shot? oh don't worry, let me just jump and receive the shot myself, dying in the progress on a completely meaningless sacrifice that wasn't really needed, add salt to the injury considering that our MC, Fushi, had the power to avoid this, but sat still not doing anything until the worst happened, conveniently tragic. Fushi is actually the worst offender when it comes to annoying characters, he is as inconsistent as a third world country internet speed, and he is a walking contradiction filled with conveniences and plot holes. He should be very powerful, yet, he barely does anything and let’s people around him die for no reason but to add for shock factor. There is this scene where he decides to flee an island of criminals, acknowledging that said place is unredeemable, but at the very moment he's about to escape with its allegedly now girlfriend, then, the Knockers (our "villains") attack and Fushi is somehow forced to help an island of criminals, because, oh boo hoo, poor things, they don't deserve this (after stating that this island is full of criminals mind you) and what does this achieve? Nothing, Fushi goes, fucks up, and gets himself 3 friends killed for no reason and then flees until it's convenient for him to do a "heroic" comeback and save the day. Another annoying character is a recurring one, Hayase, a god damn bitch that appeared on the 2nd arc, that somehow gets a very unhealthy obsession with Fushi after a time skip we didn't see, getting all powerful on a time skip we didn't see, killing and being on a rampage during a time skip we didn't see, who suddenly becomes the main antagonist of the final arc and boy, her whole persona is just extremely disgusting, incoherent and completely infuriating. Talking about her, she has some "guards" with her which are as great at guarding as potting plats, man, are this guards so damn stupid, blind and useless, it's as if they were paid actors because it's incredibly how negligent they are at their job, conveniently useless. Moving Forward, cheap drama, each arc has this side plot of a character that either is fated to die, or has an utterly tragic backstory on them, now, this is not bad by all means, there are some great anime out there that are great at creating characters like this and driving their story through character arcs like: Violet Evergarden, Kobato, Natsume Yuujinchou and many others, but the characters in TYE aren't memorable at all, and their backstory is often ridiculed by the tonal shifts I spoke about earlier, and the way the plot conveniently set up things adds to the feeling of being incredibly cheap it makes Clannad look like the second coming of God (I'm not too fond of Clannad mind you), so not only the drama stinks, the characters and the plot direction is ridiculously bad where every faint good intention of trying to make you feel for a character is wasted. Next, pacing. Dear God, the pacing is very inconsistent, either it moves at snail pace, it does a time skip, or it moves pretty fast. The worst offender here is the time skip that happens during an arc, because it makes no sense, and from it comes a lot of conveniences that are never explained or explored properly (which I'm gonna tackle later) During this time skip, Fushi ages and "learns" things, but then, all this is thrown to the garbage can after the nokkers attacked. The show goes like this: Introduction of a character, make that character know Fushi, attempt to make Fushi "learn" and bond with them, add tragedy, Fushi devolves as a character, Fushi conveniently makes a comeback and wins, then add more tragedy, rinse and repeat. Now, if only the plot and characters were coherent enough to make this edible, but all this bonding happens during very short time periods and it's constantly being thrown away in favor of inconsistency all thanks to the identity crisis this anime has (which I'm gonna tackle later) Now, plot conveniences, plot holes, inconsistency and pointlesness. This show is filled with them to an alarming extent. Fushi being the center of it all. What is he? What limits does his power have? Is he an idiot? Is he useless? The answer to all of that is yes. We have no idea what he is but a creation of "God". His powers has no limits, unless his brain capacity is on high demand, his powers have no limits as long as the plot demands it to, if the plot doesn't demand it, Fushi ends up being incredibly useless, letting characters die for no reason despite him having the means to succeed. Like when he battled against Hayase after the time skip, where he somehow loses against a human that got invaded by the spirit of a Yandere. It's all pointless. What did he do during March's arc? Nothing, he stood still, then tragedy happened and he reacts when it's already too late. What did he do during Gugu's arc? Nothing, he wasted YEARS doing nothing, there was an entire time skip and he did nothing, then people died again, and he made a comeback and won, what did he do during Tonari's arc? waste time again, he did nothing but participate on a half assed "tournament", earning praise for no reason only to be taken away the moment Hayase is reintroduced to us again, where he again does nothing until everything is fucked, then he somehow gets useful again. What is the purpose of this character? He gets involved in people's life, just to let them down and kill them due to his own stupidity, it's all pointless. I swear, Fushi enters on other people's life only to make them miserable: March? Gets himself a yandere waifu and some stupid and pointless deaths. Gugu? Fuels jealousy, forces romance, a strange and pointless timeskip happens and gets all characters of this arc involved in the Knockers' agenda. Tonari? Gets himself and a killer granny on an island of mindless criminal idiots, wastes time flirting with Tonari only to let her friends die, all because he didn't leave when he had the chance to do so. IT'S A DAMN ISLAND FILLED WITH CRIMINALS FFS, How pointless this is?. Moving on, Fushi's power is inconsistently convenient, he's able to shapeshift into or create anything he had contact with: Arrows, food, weapons, you name it, even the "friends" he got killed, he's able to do all that without any consequence at all, he's able to do many things, yet, he falls short, his power conveniently is useless when people is dying, but is conveniently powerful when nothing matters anymore, it just doesn't make sense and it's never explored properly, it's just there, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. By the start of the 4th arc, I've lost hope on this anime, I tried really hard not to get biased against it, given that I chose to give it the benefit of the doubt trusting the anime would clarify things, but ultimately, the 4th arc is where things got completely stupid, it's where TYE problems became more evident... It's when it became an irredeemable trainwreck... You guessed it, a pointless trainwreck. We're almost finished with this abomination: Identity Crisis, and this is probably the worst offender of TYE, it doesn't know what it wants to be, at first, it looks like it wants to be a slice of life, making the MC interacting with people to grow, but then, it turns into a battle shounen, with power shenanigans and some stupid shit like the Knockers, powers are not explained properly, they just work and without consequence. The aftermath? nothing, Fushi doesn't grow, he gets people killed, he steal their "powers" (and by power I mean their body and whichever shenanigan they had, like Gugu's hilarious fire breath technique), he then acts like if their deaths meant anything but in reality it never did. During a fight, Fushi is beated to a pulp like a bitch, but either he manages to escape or wins somehow. He never trains, he doesn't polish his abilities, He even claims to be powerless, becoming a crybaby, focused on not killing because "it's bad", which, ultimately, makes him way more useless, but he never grows or learns from this, he keeps screwing up until it somehow works for him. There's something so inept into trying to glorify not killing people, which becomes incredibly stupid considering that Fushi gets people killed because of that mindset. What is taking a single life, out of someone or something that killed several? Will you risk getting those you love killed just because you have this pretentious thought of being a child of light that doesn't kill anyone? Spare me the thought please, this is so stupid, by not taking action you're letting others get killed, which adds to your toll and you'll feel like shit anyway. Let me quote HBO's Chernobyl real quick: "you put a bullet in someone, you're not you anymore. You'll never be you again. But then you wake up the next morning and you're still you, and you realize that was you all along. You just didn’t know"... We have to get rid of characters that are so scared of confronting someone due to the scary thought of killing someone, it's ultimately very fake and will only get more people killed. Last but not least the visuals, dear God, what in tarnation is happening on Japan? It's horrifying to think about the conditions and deadlines the poor animators have to endure to animate something like this, whoever directed this should be imprisoned. The art style and animation heavily declines in the 2nd half, especially during the last arc, where you see a wide shot of CG zombies, on a terrain that has no depth of field, no shadows and janky movement, it makes the zombies look like they're floating. I'm not going to criticize the animators, but whoever is in charge of directing and whoever is in the higher ups that decided the deadline for this anime. Animation in Japan is heavily declining, and destroying the poor animators life with deadlines and horrible salary is hardly the answer. We've already seen controversy in Cloverworks with Wonder Egg Priority, and recently, studio Mappa and others where these issues are getting more evident, looking at animation videos from talented people in YouTube looks like it's a work of passion, but when you get to know about the awful reality behind the industry it's sad to see that talent is getting wasted in favor of exploiting their workers on a terrible schedule, hopefully this changes someday. I have nothing to say about the audio department, because honestly, it barely has any impact to my overall feelings about this trainwreck, the OST for me was only relevant during the first episode (which was the best one sadly), and after that, nothing else came close. It's hard to believe this work was made by the same author of A Silent Voice, what a complete and disappointing trainwreck.

Judevin

~~~img750(https://i.imgur.com/45VNT4z.png?1)~~~ ~~~_This review might contain mild spoilers._~~~ - - - #~~~__Setting/Story__~~~ ~~~img750(https://i.imgur.com/o1eplR1.png?1)~~~ ~~~Set in ancient times, the story follows an orb that is casted onto Earth that takes the form of anything that leaves an impression/stimulus on it. From a rock, to a wolf, to a human being, everything leaves a stimulus and after their death the orb can assume their form. The story follows this immortal orb named Fushi (Japanese for "Immortal") as it travels the world, meets new people, and forms human bonds with them. The story's writing is really good albeit the last arc falls a little flat compared to everything else in the series (this is on purpose, read the Character section of this review, I elaborate there).~~~ - - - #~~~__Visuals__~~~ ~~~img750(https://i.imgur.com/ZaGO1J8.jpg?1)~~~ ~~~I think the visuals here are similar to Artland's adaptation of Mushishi, you have lush greens contrasted with rocky textures, and all that amazing artwork going on in the background without any complex detail, but rather this messy waterpaint style - giving you the feeling of a Bob Ross painting. Do not go in expecting it to have Studio Wit kind of animation, that would simply not work with this anime as the simplistic artstyle suits the series better than anything else. But the animation is good when it matters, the action heavy scenes while simple in nature are still animated fairly well and again while not Studio Wit or ufotable quality, they're perfect for this series in particular. The animation quality does drop in a couple episodes at the end but overall the animation holds up fairly well for the type of show this is.~~~ - - - #~~~__Sound__~~~ ~~~Having an OP by Hikaru Utada is a feat in and on itself, "Pink Blood" is a very vibey song but if you read the lyrics and the translation of what they're saying convey exactly what the anime is about. But apart from that the OST is absolutely fantastic, you have sad music, you have upbeat music, you have that magical score in some scenes where your tears won't stop flowing simply because the visuals, the story, and the soundtrack come together in perfect harmony. The soundtrack is well done enough that after ep12, particular tracks from the score will just punch you in the stomach and remind you of every character that left an impact on you and on Fushi just the same.~~~ ~~~youtube(https://youtu.be/QAdvDmhE2fg)~~~ - - - #~~~__Character__~~~ ~~~This is where the anime shines the most. The character writing in this anime is nothing short of amazing. I will only talk about Fushi since he is the protagonist and I really don't want to spoil anything because this is a series that deserves being watched firsthand. img750(https://i.imgur.com/0AtPtdP.png?1) So Fushi is an immortal orb, he has a human form, pretty straightforward. However, immortality comes at a cost, Fushi cannot die so anyone he comes in contact with, anyone he forms relationships with, bonds with, they will die, he won't he __can't__. That's the curse of immortality. Fushi starts off his journey as an orb that does not understand emotions, he learns pain, he learns death, then life, love, and so on. Like a child growing up and learning things, Fushi is the same - learning everything about being human from scratch. But herein lies the real problem, Fushi quickly realizes that if he comes into contact with people, they'll die since that is inevitable, they're mortals, he isn't. Fushi is an immortal that gets forms of the people that left a stimulus on him and perished, which means unlike the rest of us getting immortality and moving on by forgetting, he isn't that lucky. In an essence, Fushi is a machine designed to suffer, he must get new forms, but the only way to get them is to get attached to people, and watch them die, and then living forever with their pain. But as one of the characters puts it, nobody is truly dead as long as someone (Fushi) remembers them and carries their will and memory forward. img750(https://i.imgur.com/VcKaDFy.png?1) The side characters are also exceptionally well written, some of them will leave a huge impact on you (the viewer) and Fushi, some will not leave any impact at all. But the side character cast is splendid regardless, and all of them play a significant role in Fushi's realization of his own humanity and immortality. There are characters that you will get very attached to, just like Fushi. There are characters that you will feel were nothing more than a burden, again just like Fushi. In a sense, Fushi plays the role of a self-insert character for the immortal "viewer" since viewers will never die (meta I know). However, one must keep in mind that just because one side character was elaborated on and got their own arc, doesn't mean every side character will be the same. This is Fushi's story at the end of the day, and that means you only get attached to characters as Fushi does - which in a nutshell means that if Fushi didn't get __too__ attached to some side character and their story wasn't really elaborated on then neither will the viewer. This is not bad writing but rather purposeful writing because Fushi's lack of disinterest in people is the same as the viewer's in those specific moments and/or arcs. img750(https://i.imgur.com/B4dlIwY.jpg?1) The writing in this show is nothing short of amazing, you feel exactly as Fushi feels, right from ep1. You feel confused and helpless in ep1 as you watch the side-character struggle just like Fushi, and then slowly you feel pain, sadness, anger, all these emotions that Fushi also feels. Eventually resigning yourself to the inevitable conclusion of "If I don't get attached to anyone then nothing will hurt me", this is precisely what Fushi feels in the last arc, and this is what the viewer also feels by the last arc - broken and emotionally exhausted from getting hurt. The last arc feels mediocre for this very specific reason - because it was written that way to portray the detached cold emotionally exhausted Fushi and I feel like a lot of people failed to understand that. Fushi is just like a regular person at that point, he likes some people and doesn't like other people, but most of all he does not want to get attached to anyone, which means he didn't explore those characters, and neither does the writing, hence neither does the viewer. The viewer feels exactly what Yoshitoki Ooima wants you to feel - whether you need to cry your heart out, or feel absolutely nothing about some character(s), Fushi will mirror your feelings (or are you mirroring his?). He will feel exactly what you feel, and I think that is amazing writing.~~~ - - - #~~~__Overall__~~~ ~~~I think Fumetsu no Anata e is an amazing show about life and death, and learning what makes humans human from the eyes of an immortal non-human being. It sports some of the greatest character writing in an anime that I have ever seen, with good visuals and an amazing gut-wrenching score to back it up. It serves as a very good interesting character study into a child learning about how and what humanity is. This show is nothing less than a rollercoaster, one that makes you feel every emotion on the spectrum that is possible, and probably leaves you a little bit wiser about humanity. The focus of the series is not side characters or the setting as much as it is simply on that orb and how it learns how to "human" properly. It is a very enjoyable show and I highly recommend you sit through the journey of this immortal orb named Fushi as he suffers constantly for 20 episodes due to his immortality.~~~ ~~~img750(https://i.imgur.com/0oYv7j3.png?1)~~~ ~~~_Thank you for reading._~~~

EpicSponge101

This review will contain no spoilers unless later warned. (Edit 6 reviews later: Give me some leeway since this is my first review. I've unprivated it so people can see my growth over time, but this one isn't great.) img800(https://tinyimg.io/i/vEJHp8R.jpeg) # ~~~Overview~~~ Emotional, yet frustrating. To Your Eternity is a flawed gem— a diamond in the rough— that is simultaneously masterful in its premise, while being mixed in its execution. It depicts the struggles of a being named Fushi, a being that experiences psychological and physiological stimulation to grow, or “evolve”. Sent to earth for mysterious reasons, we watch as Fushi obtains emotions and rational thought, developing from a blank orb to a kid searching for his place in life. I very much like this aspect of the story; I think the concept is beautiful. It’s a wonderful way of presenting character development in a more physical, present way— even if it throws a bit of subtlety out of the window. Plus, it’s just a fantastic way to convey the themes of death and memories being all we have. # ~~~Characters~~~ Img(https://tinyimg.io/i/y5TPSU8.png) The characters, at least to me, are what make this story great. How they affect and change Fushi, helping him to experience shocking and new things, is very well done. Sometimes, especially in the case of Gugu and Pioran, they experience a nice arc of their own. A sister growing to protect her siblings, a romantic coming of age, a child coming to terms with her parent’s actions, an old woman fulfilled in life— there’s really a lot to like in the characters, even if they only exist to springboard Fushi’s own development. My main, permeating issue with these are the tertiary cast, though. There’s a good few characters, particularly in the Janada Island Arc, that feel a bit underdeveloped which makes emotional beats feel a little hollow. Overall, pretty premier stuff, though— just don’t expect to have your mind blown. While good thematic depth is present, it’s still a fun Shounen at the end of the day. (Spoilers for character death.) ~! img(https://tinyimg.io/i/dFhVGT5.png) SPOILER ALERT— I appreciated how each character’s deaths contributed to Fushi in different ways, and taught him different things. It didn’t really feel like typical cry-bait thanks to the care they put into each arc thematically meaning something different. The highlight for me has to be Pioran’s death, though. Somehow a fulfilled life is more tragic than an early death— and generally, I appreciated how it highlights that we all have to die eventually, and the best thing we can do is remember our loved ones.!~ img(https://tinyimg.io/i/SKxEIH8.png) As for the antagonist on this note, it’s pretty interesting. There are three total characters you could say take up the mantle of this for the series, but none of them feel quite apt. If you care about VERY minor spoilers, skip past this paragraph, because I will expand a bit upon the premise here. First of all, The Man In Black is definitely the least traditionally antagonistic. He’s fine enough as a character, though— he’ll just need more fleshing out as a character, given we get a second season. His best parts are definitely when his opposition to Fushi’s ideals are highlighted, and Fushi is forced to play directly into his hands— but this isn’t anything super phenomenal as of yet. Now, as for the Nokkers— I mean, they’re okay. I really like how they take Fushi’s memories, really accentuating the importance of how someone is reflected upon post-death. In the end they’re just a typical, mysterious alien force, however. They didn’t add much beyond their strategies to kill Fushi being cool, and adding intrigue into what Fushi’s purpose is. I really hope to see them being given some sort of leader with an actual personality, or something to ground them as the antagonistic force opposing Fushi. Nameless, individually uncharacteristic creatures don’t really work as antagonists unless it’s horror. As for our final antagonist, Hayase, I thought she was good but had major issues. Read the spoiler paragraph below to see why. (Spoilers for Hayase’s arc.) ~!img(https://tinyimg.io/i/jC8UHIb.jpeg) Lastly, Hayase is our final “antagonist” to look at. I actually will get into spoilers for her arc, so please skip past this paragraph if you plan on watching. Overall, she was pretty lackluster. I enjoyed her and Fushi’s cat and mouse dynamic in the earlier parts of the story, but as it developed she returned to be incredibly imposing— but this was almost immediately ruined. She began to make irrational and unexplained decisions, even when we began to comprehend her twisted mindset. She really didn’t have any reason to attribute sexual or loving feelings to Fushi, even if she was infatuated with his immortality. I’m simply not willing to believe such events could break her sanity down to such a suicidal level, though it did make for some cool scenes. I liked the final scene with her, and I hope to see it spiral into something greater later— but for now she’s VERY flawed. !~ # ~~~Production~~~ Img(https://tinyimg.io/i/81rdg8W.jpeg) The production value of To Your Eternity is lackluster to say the least, I really hope to see this improved in the second season. The OST was alright, though amazingly un-noteworthy— but that’s not my main issue. The animation really took a dive the further the series went on, driving down the quality of life for the show. It may appear arbitrary, but it became increasingly frustrating to see an unfitting color palette and poorly drawn backgrounds in certain scenes. Worst of all, however, the direction became a detriment to the plot at times. For example, Hayase had a Nokker enter her arm to grow to the size of a balloon, bursting to leave almost no wound. Most of her skin was fine— and it doesn’t even make sense her skin could stretch so high in the first place. Also, one time they knocked out someone by sending an owl to attack them. Little details like this drastically affect the experience of the show, in my opinion, making the quality of the story get drowned by lack of care. This may be something the manga will fix, though. To be fair, there were some scenes I thought looked REALLY good. It’s just unfair to pick a biased sample, when most of it falls into a below average adaptation. It’s certainly not insufferable, just don’t expect anything phenomenal. # ~~~Conclusion~~~ img(https://tinyimg.io/i/qXtt267.png) Overall, I very much look forward to seeing more from this story; experiencing the beauty of Fushi’s arc bloom. I just hope they can really fix the nagging, persistent issues bogging the show down— from production to the useless characters. I would also like to see the thematic prevalence here compounded upon, and turned into something greater. Not that it was bad here— it was great— it’s just nothing truly special YET. Anyway, I really enjoyed this story, and I definitely recommend it to those of you interested. Thank all of you for reading, and enjoy the story!

Santt

~~~__Considerações iniciais__~~~ Essa _review_ é desprovida de _spoilers_, mas recomendo lerem após terem assistido ao anime em questão. A sinopse citada abaixo foi feita por mim mesmo, tomando como base minha experiência ao consumir o anime em questão. (Tempo de leitura: 3 minutos) ----- ~~~__Sinopse / Introdução__~~~ Um orbe que assume as características de seres mortos começa uma jornada inesperada em busca do "desconhecido". Durante sua caminhada, ele se depara com diversas situações e pessoas que de alguma forma vão encaminhando ele como uma "pessoa". ----- ~~~__Enredo__~~~ O anime acompanha a jornada da "esfera" que assume a vida de seres que morreram. Essa "esfera" é um ser criado do zero, ou seja, ele é desprovido de quaisquer conhecimento, mentalidade, sentimentos, etc. Para ir adquirindo conhecimento, a "esfera", durante sua jornada, se depara com diversos personagens, e que em cada um dos encontros com tais pessoas gira entorno de algum tema relevante para o desenvolvimento dele como "pessoa", como o significado de vida, amor, laços de irmãos, liberdade, violência, etc. além de outros conhecimentos, como falar e ler. De certa forma, as experiências provenientes dos arcos no qual a "esfera" vivencia tem sua importância para sua construção como "pessoa", o problema é que a qualidade com o passar dos episódios vai decaindo. Na verdade, no geral a qualidade se manter linear. O "X" da questão aqui é que com o passar do tempo as coisas vão ficando mais no mesmo. Por exemplo o primeiro episódio: o primeiro episódio deu o que falar na comunidade, e realmente, é um episódio bem emocionante, arrisco dizer que foi a melhor estreia da temporada. Só que com o passar do tempo o anime não conseguiu transmitir as emoções do seu episódio de estreia. Isso passa uma sensação bem negativa, já que logo de cara ele estabelece boas expectativas do que está por vir, mas depois isso vai se perdendo. Agora, fora a "esfera", a obra apresenta várias histórias envolvendo certos personagens que tem uma maior ligação com a "esfera". De certa forma, as histórias são boas e bem explicadas, elas cumprem com o tema levantado. ----- ~~~__Personagens__~~~ Como a obra é sobre contar histórias envolta de personagens, há bastante deles dependendo do arco. Cada um tem sua importância na vivencia da "esfera", sempre em situações e histórias envolta deles. Alguns dos personagens são apegáveis, com poucas ressalvas. E isso é importante, pois a obra envolve muitas mortes, e ter um bom sentimento por eles é algo que eu prezo. Citei acima que há bastante morte na obra, e com o passar do tempo isso acabou me incomodando. Isso se deve porque em todos os arcos algum personagem morre, o que acabou acarretando em uma coisa obvia com o decorrer da história. ----- ~~~__Produção / Animação__~~~ Admito que eu não esperava muito no quesito animação, mas a equipe de produção conseguiu entregar um bom produto visualmente, mantendo uma boa consistência durante o show. Apesar disso, depois de alguns episódios senti uma queda em alguns momentos, mas nada que estrague ou ofusque os bons momentos que estão presentes. Quanto a trilha sonora, não tenho muito o que falar. O show é bem servido quanto à isso. Diria que não é algo ruim nem algo muito bom. ----- ~~~__Conclusão__~~~ Depois do primeiro episódio, ao meu ver, ele não demonstrou a mesma qualidade do seu episódio de estreia, e foi isso o que mais prejudicou minha experiência com ele, como expliquei anteriormente. Mas reconheço que ele cumpriu bem sua proposta de ir mostrando a evolução da "esfera" durante todos os eventos dos arcos, mesmo que aqui e ali eu senti que ele se perdeu em alguns casos. Enfim, é um bom anime. ----- ~~~__Considerações finais __~~~ Obrigado por ler até aqui. Se quiser e puder, deixe um comentário sobre o que achou dessa ou de outras _reviews_ que já fiz, seja positivo ou negativo, sou bem tranquilo e aberto quanto à isso. Para comentar, vou fazer um post aqui no AniList falando exatamente sobre essa _review_. Novamente, muito obrigado.

rjxn

Let’s start off with a quick disclaimer and reminder. Shounen anime does not need constant fighting to be good or not boring. In my opinion. Now into the review. Plot: Personally I view the plot of To Your Eternity as something unique and refreshing from what we usually see in anime and manga currently. A refreshing break from your basic battle shonen we’re introduced to a completely different story based around the idea of mortality and emotion within a human being. The idea of bringing a completely foreign being into a world with no knowledge of what’s to come to teach it to be human and learn through experiences is nothing short of beautiful. Overall our plot is simple but unique and is drawn out in a way to make it enjoyable as an anime. I give the plot a 9/10. Characters: The characters introduced throughout the story are made to attach the watcher to them, and then break their hearts. I think they do a really good job of building up your love and bond with a character in order to deliver the final outcome in the most devastating way possible. If I had to rank the characters in terms of heartbreaking it would go 1. Gugu 2. March 3. Pioran 4. Parona 5. Tonari’s friends Overall the cast of characters were great, though to be honest I found Tonari to be an annoying but well written character, personally I just didn’t enjoy her as much as the others. Overall characters were a solid 7-8/10. Of course it’s hard to give them a solid rating after they all DIED so quickly :(. (atleast gugu got a timeskip) Protagonist: I didnt include Fushi in the characters because i wanted to give him his own breakdown. I believe Fushi is one of the beautiful characters to watch unfold. Watching him grow from just an unknowing being to a functioning human was truly beautiful to watch. It was always a blast watching him gain new experiences and derive stimulation from others. Watching his emotion throughout the story truly makes you want to cry. As we see from the very first episode, when our ‘nameless boy’ dies, Fushi has absolutely zero emotion, and instead of grieving, he becomes the boy and sets off. In our final episode, a fantastic contrast to the first episode, after the death of Pioran, one of Fushis longest lasting friends we hear him become absolutely destroyed. The sounds of pain from Fushi tell a story by themselves showing how much this “orb of life” has progressed. Overall Fushi was one of my favorite main characters during this season and one of my favorites overall. He receives a solid 10/10. Story Arcs: As short and as sweet as these story arcs may be, they were still very enjoyable and easy to get immersed into. Though if I had to be totally honest, I was not a huge fan of the Jananda arc by any means. The ‘Nameless Boy’ arc, as short as it was is one of my favorite story arcs to date. It’s quick and to the point, but there’s enough to make you cry (impressive), a 10/10. The March arc is my third favorite, seeing Marchs life being stolen so soon was heartbreaking. She tells the story of any young man or woman wanting to grow up to be a father/mother though before she can achieve her dreams she’s wrongfully killed and stripped of her dream. Overall her arc receives a 7/10. Gugus arc was my 2nd favorite, for good reason. Out of all the characters Gugus backstory and life up until meeting Fushi gave me the most heartbreak. I think he was a character I had grown so attached to seeing his development and even a timeskip and then seeing him die absolutely destroyed me. I wish he was still there with Fushi in another way other than being someone Fushi can transform into. May Gugu rest in peace :(. Overall Gugus arc recieves a 10/10. I don’t care enough about the Jananda arc to properly review but it gets a 5/10. Giving the arcs an overall 8/10. Story Conclusion: Though I did dislike the Jananda arc, the final episode was fantastic and made me excited for season 2 and to continue reading the manga. Piorans death to me was Fushis final straw, and now I hope he learns to grow and become even stronger to protect the ones he cares about and keep them alive for over 5 episodes. The conclusion to the season was fantastic and heartbreaking. I give it a 10/10. Review Conclusion: I’m not really good at these but I just wanted to share my thoughts on one of my favorite anime of the season. Overall the anime was great and I give it a 9/10. I’m super excited for season 2 but until then i’ll keep reading the manga. Thank you for reading. - rjxn

Nitroade24

I will preface this review by saying that episode 1 was a masterpiece, easily 100/100 and one of the best episodes of any anime I’ve ever seen. It perfectly introduced the world, the themes and the concept. This paired with a brilliant OST and a heart-breaking story made it basically the perfect episode, so I had extremely high hopes for this series coming off of episode 1. I thought that the drop in quality and enjoyment was pretty much instant. The moment I got into episode 2 I didn’t like the setting or characters as much, but it was still solid and I enjoyed it quite a lot, even if it was no longer an anime of the year contender or even a contender for one of my all-time favourites, as I thought after episode 1. The next sad scene was sad but not nearly as much as the ending of episode 1, and the second arc ended pretty soon after it started and it didn’t overstay it’s welcome. The third arc was originally my least favourite but once it finished it grew on me and I consider it the second best arc now. The pacing was pretty slow and not much was going on but in retrospect it was cosy and devastating when it needed to be. The fourth arc was another drop in enjoyment and quality. The animation got worse, the characters got barely any screentime or development, I didn’t even know their names, so this time around the deaths made me feel nothing. It stuck the landing pretty well at the end of the arc, but overall it was pretty forgettable and I wasn’t invested in it at all except for Fushi’s personal struggles. I might say that one bad arc doesn’t make the rest of the series lower scored, but when that arc is over a third of the entire series then there is a problem. Hayase as a villain was… fine I guess. She wasn’t hugely captivating but I didn’t think she was awful. She was certainly more interesting than the Nokkers, which I grew pretty tired of as the series went on since they were just inevitable and had no personality or anything interesting about them. They were just something that Fushi had to deal with when they came. The characters weren’t a particularly strong point overall. I only really liked and got invested in Fushi and Gugu since we saw their growth from the very start and they are generally likeable. The ways Fushi used his abilities were creative and the early fight scenes were actually very good, such as the first Nokker fight. Fushi never felt too overpowered but he was never completely outmatched by his opponents. With both Gugu and Fushi it is great to see them gradually becoming who they grow to be, and the events that shape them as a person, so I grew attached to them a lot more than the other characters. Finally, the last episode was a good way to end it, even if it felt a little too fast paced overall. If it were made up of 2 episodes it could have been even more emotionally painful, for example if Pioran losing her sense of who she is was explored better. Overall, even though it peaked in its first episode I enjoyed the rest of the series and I will be watching season 2 as it relelases.

KitKitovsky

Review contain spoiler scenes. [Yoshitoki Oima](https://anilist.co/staff/105951/Yoshitoki-Ooima) received considerable credibility when [Yamada](https://anilist.co/staff/102498/Naoko-Yamada) and Kyoani sculpted an audio-visual [miracle](https://anilist.co/anime/20954/Koe-no-Katachi/) based on her mid work. Two months after the film's premiere, her new manga, about the journey and becoming an immortal being, is out. A promising idea, but we remember very well, Koe was scolded solely for the plot. The first series throws in a huge chunk of exposition in a rather modest setting. White snow, questionable music, and a mountain of text to be disposed of. Somehow, a sizable majority thought it was "art," noted the finality, multiplied it by said credibility, and the ratings skyrocketed. Some personalities really surprised me at the time. The series was interesting in places. The two key pillars, Takahiro Chiba and Ryu Tanaka, performed the animation with metamorphosis and transformation very well, the rare battle scenes dispersed the overall boredom webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/e458c987c0a38ce1cca30f1984b81324.mp4) webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/f244d5ffff250199c10ba7c819d87c58.mp4) ~~~_Unfortunately, there are very, very few such scenes_~~~ Those were nice moments, but I still have to go back to the first episode for an example. The director at the time was [Koji Yabuno](https://anilist.co/staff/144535/Kouji-Yabuno), the character designer. He was involved as director 4 times, and the focus on drawing and simple movements is evident everywhere. But the task of direction he (like fellow directors) shifted to the source material, not really changing anything (like the useless text). That's where the show went sour. All of the problems can be driven to a common root - an inexperienced author goes into a fantasy genre that is foreign to her, with pretensions to philosophy, but out of habit writes a tearjerker, making the characters suffer and die. Surprise, it doesn't work. For example, petty thugs kidnap the main creature and sell him for gladiatorial fights. Negative or indifferent attitudes toward the kidnappers are assured, but the author seriously believes that a poorly pitched sad backstory with a fatal outcome will make you change your mind. The arcs change, the characters change, but not the pattern--the inarticulate storyline, the sad story, and the death. Incomprehensible storytelling because of the dead and empty world. A set of incoherent "here's cold, here's swamp, here's the Corrida Coliseum" locations.The mangaka doesn't even try to reason and reveal how the world can change in a huge amount of time beyond the length of human life. She needs to cut out the heroes en masse, because then the main being will want to save everyone, even if they are rapists and murderers, the highest point of character development from nothing. Secondary characters exist solely to evoke pity. Come on, a boring little girl dies, and yet she had dreams. Even the final episode builds on the return of the only sympathetic hero to the plot, and with a finished arc to do what with him? Not a difficult question. webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/aae1641a652732731acc13d5f46837b8.mp4) _~~~And when the deed is done, the philosopher-narrator God appears with the great quotes "he sacrificed himself for your salvation. It's like suicide." ~~~_ It is safe to say that no one will leave indifferent after watching it: the inexperienced viewer will be pierced by a stream of raw drama; the experienced one will feel complete apathy towards everything that is going on. Definitely, the Staff didn't take the risk of fixing such weak work. More questions for the manga author herself: if Yamada happened once in your life, maybe you should have at least tried? Not every director can repeat that feat.

0215MADman

#~~~__The following review contains major spoilers for the entirety of To Your Eternity’s first season.__ `` #If you're here to figure out if you should watch the series, you should. I'm giving it a 95/100. Please go watch this. I recommend it to everyone. `` #In order for me to express how this series made me feel, I have to talk about very spoilery things that happen throughout the series, some of which will be in-depth. The first episode, all the arcs, and the final episode in this season. `` #__Do not read this review if you want to avoid spoilers for To Your Eternity.__~~~ `` --- Usually when I'm reviewing a show on Anilist, it's a show that is generally overlooked and I think deserves more attention. Not this time. To Your Eternity has gotten the exact amount of attention that it deserves. It's the kind of anime that I wish we had more of. So seeing everyone saying that they felt disappointed with the direction this season took in its second half, I want to throw my hat in the ring to express how I feel about the series. I'm taking a very different approach to this review. I typically just say my feelings on what I liked and didn't like because that usually is enough to fill up a review. But instead of that, I want to go over the five main parts of the first season. The first episode, the last episode, and the three arcs in-between. Because this is a series where people's feelings are mostly reliant on the arc. Which I disagree with. Yes, some arcs are stronger than others, but there's an obvious purpose to it all. So let's start at episode one. --- ~~~__EPISODE 1: THE LAST ONE__~~~ --- Is episode 1 the best episode of To Your Eternity? It tells a complete narrative, sure, but in my opinion episode 12 is the season's best episode. What matters is that this episode floored everyone that saw it. The series starts with God (actually he’s “The Observer” but he’s got Old Testament God vibes, I’m calling him God for this review) dropping an orb onto Earth to see what it does. The orb is an immortal lifeform. It's able to duplicate inanimate objects, as well as take on the form of living creatures that it connected with in a strong way. The first living creature the orb takes on is a wolf that dies next to it. As the wolf, the orb walks back to the original owner: a boy who doesn't know that the wolf has died and assumes they are one and the same. The rest of the episode follows the boy as he searches for the tribe that he last saw 5 years ago, all of whom have died. After suffering an injury, the boy also dies. In his final words, the boy asks the orb to never forget him. The orb grants his wish, as it takes on the form and identity of the boy, becoming the main form it identifies as throughout the series. ~~~img650(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/521492807031193610/901526246851231744/unknown.png)~~~ You wanna know when I cried? It was when the boy’s soul passes on. The boy doesn’t know that he has died. Because as he passes on, he sees his pet wolf and his villagers. The only thing that matters to him is that he got what he wanted. `` He found paradise. `` --- ~~~__THE MARCH ARC__~~~ --- The short tale of the boy is one where the boy embraces death. The tale of March is of a girl who doesn't want to die. March is a girl in a village who is to be sacrificed by a woman named Hayase to appease a god they call “Oniguma” . While escaping, March finds the orb in the form of the boy, naming him Fushi. Fushi is similar to an artificial intelligence in that he learns from experience. At this point, Fushi has the brain capacity of a wolf, so he acts like one. March decides to be “Fushi’s mommy” and try to teach him how to be human. Or at least have common manners. For a series that takes itself relatively serious, it's one that is not afraid to have a little humor spliced in, as one of the episodes in this arc ends with Fushi speaking his first words to March. In his wolf form. ~~~webm(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/521492807031193610/901531305299296326/thank_you.webm)~~~ The rest of the arc follows Hayase, interested in Fushi's immortality, taking him, March, March's sister Parona, and an old woman named Pioran to a larger city. This is where To Your Eternity establishes its ambiguous setting. Exact times are never given, but it's early enough in time that March and all of the villagers are illiterate, while also having bustling nations relatively close-by. Hayase is only truly interested in Fushi and his immortality, however, and soon throws them all into a prison. They quickly escape, but just as quickly, they are pursued. And in the crossfire, March is shot and soon after dies. ~~~img650(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/521492807031193610/901534892461023272/unknown.png)~~~ This is an important death for the series because, beyond the shock of killing her off, March is a character that didn't want to die. Most people that die prematurely don't want to die. Hell, several people in old age don't want to die. They try to fight the inevitable. March's death signifies the two things this series is about. It's about Fushi's search for humanity `` and it's about death. --- ~~~__THE GUGU ARC__~~~ --- Leaving the village, Fushi encounters Pioran in the wild. Seeing Fushi's interest in writing, she starts to teach him how to write and speak. Thanks to her, Fushi is now able to speak...robotically. Baby steps. But then God shows up to inform Fushi of the Nokkers. The Nokkers are the impending doom of the series. We don't know too much about them, but we do know that they want Fushi dead, and will destroy anything in its path to do so. Fushi and Pioran go to Takunaha, where we meet the arc's protagonist: Gugu. As a boy, Gugu supposedly gets his face mangled after saving Rean, a girl he has a crush on, from a falling log. I say supposedly because, if I recall correctly, we never see Gugu's face after the incident. All we see are people's reactions to seeing his face. Pioran's old lover, who Gugu refers to as Booze Man, saves him and gives him a mask to cover his face. Several months later, Fushi and Pioran arrive. Gugu connects with Fushi, thinking of both of them as ugly monsters, while Fushi is like a child who has no understanding of connotation. I'd love to keep summarizing the pre-timeskip half of the arc but this is a review and if I keep summarizing this arc pre-timeskip I'm going to sound like Wikipedia. So why is this the best arc in the season? Well, two reasons. The first is the characters. Gugu, Rean, Booze Man, they're all some of the most likable characters in the season. The romance between Gugu and Rean feels genuine and deserved. One of my favorite moments from the arc is when Rean wears the makeshift mask for Gugu after Fushi brings back his original mask, having both of them hide their faces for two different yet similar reasons. ~~~img650(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/521492807031193610/901551598239617024/unknown.png)~~~ The second reason I personally consider this to be the season's best arc is Fushi's development, and it becomes immediately apparent when the series jumps ahead four years. After living with Gugu, Pioran and Booze Man for four years, Fushi is now capable of talking like a human. It's the biggest sign of the time difference besides Gugu's significant growth. But this is not a show about friendship. It's a show about death. The Nokkers appear at Rean's birthday party and attack. Fushi and Gugu are able to get everyone out of the collapsing building but themselves. Fushi is "killed" in his March form (causing Fushi to temporarily forget March), and Gugu, just like before, sacrifices himself to save Rean. ~~~img650(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/521492807031193610/901555210344869898/unknown.png)~~~ Now's as good a time as any to bring up the music. I adore the soundtrack composed by Ryo Kawasaki. It's without a doubt in my mind my favorite anime OST of the year, making scenes so much more powerful with it in the background. Give it a listen when you can. --- ~~~__THE GLADIATOR ARC__~~~ --- I was originally going to call this "The Tonari Arc" but she isn't really the arc's main character. This is the arc where Fushi is, by and large, the main character. This arc is, in a sense, the reason that I felt the need to make this review. Reception to this arc is mixed, as people say the story is weaker and the animation gets rougher. I didn't think the animation quality got worse whatsoever, so take that as you will. Is this the season's worst arc? Well, by process of elimination, yes. But that implies that I think this arc is okay or of lesser quality. I think this arc is still great. And it's all because of Fushi's development. `` We realized this show was about death when March died. But Fushi never realizes it until Gugu dies. `` Gugu was Fushi's best friend. To people watching the series, he was our best friend too. So losing Gugu made Fushi want to avoid death as much as possible. When he sees the next arc's group of new characters, he at first wants to avoid them because he knows that death constantly follows him like a curse. He starts to lose trust in God and tries to go on his own but Pioran tags along with him. She takes him to a new island but both are labeled as prisoners and sent to a different one. There, to rescue Pioran, Fushi becomes a successful gladiator thanks to his immortality and changing forms to the various people and animals Fushi has come across, which no one thinks is breaking any rules. Fushi does this so that he can rescue Pioran and escape the island with the rag-tag group of friends he finds there, including their leader Tonari. But eventually, his final opponent turns out to be Hayase (from the March arc). She has become obsessed with Fushi, even murdering March's sister as a "gift" to Fushi. He makes a deal with Hayase that he'll let her do as she pleases as long as Tonari and the rest of the prisoners are set free. She agrees, kinda, but Tonari and her friends end up getting off the escape ship in order to save Fushi. `` As if that wasn't enough, the Nokkers show up. `` In a change of pace, Tonari DOESN'T die! But her friends do. And Hayase almost gets Tonari killed because she's a crazy yandere who really wants to bang Fushi. If you've seen the show, you know I'm not joking. After the battle with the Nokkers, Fushi strands Hayase on a boat in the middle of the ocean, where Hayase confesses her love for Fushi. After everything he's been through, and knowing the people Hayase killed to get her here, Fushi responds by leaving her to die. ~~~webm(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/521492807031193610/901567992930893834/no.webm)~~~ --- ~~~__EPISODE 20: ECHOES__~~~ --- I didn't think I'd have to dedicate a whole section to the last episode before watching it, but of course this episode hit me like a truck. Throughout the season, there has only been one recurring character besides Fushi and God: the old woman, Pioran. It's ironic that, in a series about death, the human that has shown up in all three arcs has been an old woman. A woman who is satisfied with life and is comfortable waiting until death arrives. After several months go by of just Fushi and Pioran on their own, Pioran lies down and asks God (who only Fushi has been able to see up until this point) if she can be reborn as something to help Fushi on his journey. And that's when we see a young Pioran, about to enter "Paradise". She's the first person close to Fushi that dies peacefully of natural causes. ~~~img650(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/521492807031193610/901578054810365992/unknown.png)~~~ This scene hit me hard because of how close it was to how my grandma died. `` She was a very close relative, living next door and for her last years in the same house, and she had been through a lot, including a near-fatal head injury that she was able to recover from. A religious person, I remember as a child her telling me that she had hoped that in heaven she would look a lot younger than she did now. So seeing a young Pioran about to pass on really got to me. On her last day, my dad told her that he was going to drive me out to the college I commute to (responding with "Okay."). When he came home, she had already passed on. After everything she had been through, she died peacefully in her sleep. It's been three years since her death. `` It's worth noting that Yoshitoki Ōima conceived To Your Eternity after her grandma's death. This is not a series where characters are created just to die. It's about the encounters and friendships that Fushi develops with these characters. Fushi is an immortal being. Even if he succeeds at stopping the Nokkers from killing anyone else in his life, those people will still die of old age if it gets to that point. By the end of the first season, Fushi is able to transform into seven people, as well as three animals. He doesn't do it as a form of "collecting", he does it so that he will never forget the people that have affected his life. `` Because they were his friends.

VivavideoUser2x

To Your Eternity ‘s themes and concepts are something very thought-provoking and poignant. I like that, but there are problems. I will admit that this anime made me shed tears, but about 1/8th of those tears were me being emotional and the rest came from me yawning so much. The first episode started out absolutely amazing, and the first arc was solid as well,but afterwards each arc just becomes weaker and weaker.Little plot holes here and there start to suddenly appear more and more as it progresses,and it gets to the point where my initial intrigue for the series fades away.Not that the show becomes unwatchable at all. I really like worldbuilding and while some of the characters feel one note, they're kind of fun to watch together. # STORY What really got me through the show was Fushi’s character of learning more and more about humanity and connection.Some of the worldbuilding is cool as well, i like how different parts of this world have different ways of communication and the fictional letter system or typography was impressive.But even in the world building it kind of falls apart,no spoilers but Fushi goes to an island in the final arc, and the way the island works is all over the place. Like there are no rules but there are rules, people can just kill others with no repercussions, there is this really stupid tournament where spectators basically cheat and kill fighters, yet there still is some type of security system and need for a new leader. It just feels all over the place so I couldn't really grasp how it works.And I feel the whimsical vibe of fumetsu starts to fall apart when it divulges into the “Fushi needs to fight monster” plot. It's not all bad though, throughout the show there are really great character moments that involve Fushi’s weaknesses, the fragility of humanity, the finality of death, and their legacy through Fushi’s memories.Gave me food for thought about how and why death shouldnt be seen as just the end but treated as something to commemorate a person’s life.And that memory becomes timeless depending on the bonds they made. #ART AND ANIMATION Fumetsu is pretty standard animation wise. The first episode looked beautiful and as the show goes on, the animation gets less and less stable, until the final episode where they just go ham on their animation budget.The problem is this show hits a lot of emotional beats and despite being cliche, they are really effective at times, usually because the animation is on point or the direction is strong. But as the animation gets rough later on, when it hits very dire or crucial moments, the animation is so sparse that the direction can't save it and editing makes it worse.And it's a big fat L at times.I will admit, the one thing that stayed on point was the background art.But the CGI crowds were given way too much exposure.This show has good body horror too. __Opening Theme__ This is a weird place to comment about this but this makes a nice bridge between the visuals and the sound so i'll roll with it. Im absolutely addicted to the song “Pink Blood” by Hikaru Utada, not only is the song really great but the lyrics are so poignant and some parts in particular felt like an emotional gut punch.My main problem is with the visuals, they are ridiculously spoilery, and it's not weaved in cleverly like Jojo or YLIA, its straight up just climatic scenes that spoil events in the show.I dont get their intention with doing that and just overlaying the scenes, but I highly advise to just skip the visuals if you can. #SOUND I think it sounds nice, there is one piece of music that I want to touch on,its this music that uses this very bone chilling cello that gets me everytime i hear it.Just,oh my god it awesome and compliments the tone very world. #CHARACTERS As I said before, Fushi is what got me through most of the show. I like his bond with others and how they give him this “stimulation” while they get something else out of it.For example, when he encounters March, her passion to become a motherly figure creates a cute dynamic with Fushi.His relationship as a sort of family figure towards others is great too.Unfortunately his weakest dynamic is with the final arc where everyone values his powers more than his actual character.And since that dynamic is weak, the people apart of it dont really leave an impression.The main side character in that arc was also very boring with a one dimensional arc told through flashback. Despite the flashback being very devastating, I felt my eyes getting heavier and heavier and i wasn't tired, just bored. I think one problem that annoyed me a lot is that these characters just spoon feed every theme and emotion to you through superfluous dialogue,and never gives the viewer time to feel the emotion or come to the conclusion themselves.Which can be very annoying at times,luckily im more lenient when a show is so dramatic as this,but if I was someone else, I would see myself despising this show more. Also the villain is just annoying, they are one of those villains who are just mean just because they're mean, they're not layered at all.They cause a lot of crap to happen yet none of the characters do anything to them.Not even Fushi could do anything to deal with them. Thats when I realized my one problem with Fushi. He has that cliche moment where an MC is like, “I dont wanna kill people,that's bad” meanwhile they or another person is about to be literally killed by someone. I wasnt a fan of that in JJK because the way it was handled in that anime was that it was brought up three times and the rest of the show is just “ITADORI SMAAAASH”. I appreciate that element more in Fumetsu since the character experiences true grief and through human bonds realizes how that's a sad thing,but when that cliche element of the guy being a pacifist comes into play, it makes for some mildly frustrating moments. #ENJOYMENT Yea thats about all I have to say. I know some people who despise this show because of its emotional elements feeling very melodramatic,its not for everyone but I thought it was pulled off well enough when the characters were not telling you what to feel. I’m down for a season 2, the characters and world building need to step up their game though, and I hope they do different things with Fushi because by the end of this series, his arc doesn't have many places to go. And I hope they don’t do that stupid spoiler heavy bullcrap for the opening again.

RebelPanda

_Review originally posted August 30, 2021_ If you’ve ever experienced the death of a loved one, you know the feeling that To Your Eternity seeks to evoke in its audience. Several times I found myself sobbing, and it gave me an outlet to release the pent-up sadness I’ve held from the deaths of people I loved. To Your Eternity follows an immortal being named Fushi who assumes the form of dead humans and animals he encounters along his journey. He can transform into them at will. A few are a giant bear, a girl who can climb trees, and a wolf. Though he is immortal, he has fears and things to lose. He befriends kind people and fears losing his memories of them. There is a forest monster who can steal his forms, along with the memories. While fighting murders, warriors, and monsters, he utilizes his toolbelt of fallen friends. The high concept premise makes for enthralling action. Although the manga was published in a shounen magazine, it has a relatively slow pace, making the action feel monumental rather than inevitable. In one moment, Fushi is a wolf to lunge at his enemy, and in the next he becomes a massive bear to stomp on them. There's a set-piece with dazzling animation in every other episode; explosions, collapsing buildings, blood, and gore. Studio Brain’s Base has a collection of talented animators, artists, and editors who put their best work into this show. Whether it be time or budget constraints, the art quality becomes more simplified as the series progresses. Even at its least impressive, it stands above the studio's prior works like In/Spectre. img1000(https://i.imgur.com/ZGN6BNj.png) Any anime that succeeds at making me cry has a special place in my heart. This show made me cry… A lot. The first and the twelfth episodes hurt the most because I was emotionally invested in the people Fushi met. The story begins with him meeting a boy who has lived alone in a snowstorm for 5 years, waiting for his family to return. If that sounds sad to you, it gets a lot more depressing. Seeing their goals, aspirations, hopes, and dreams become wasted upon their death shook me. For the main cast, death is a meaningful tool used to evoke catharsis. Some may call it emotionally manipulative, but for me, it works due to the stellar execution. Though you will witness plenty of violence, the artists do not linger on blood or suffering upon an emotional death. Once the moment passes, we see whoever died glowing in the afterlife. Realization sets in that they're gone, and it hits you like a ton of bricks. What happens after that is left to our interpretation. I would go so far as to say the framing is sensitive. Accusations of misery porn have no place in these parts. Personally, I recommend against watching the anime’s opening theme because the visuals contain spoilers all the way until the last episode. If you mistakenly watch it like I did, you’ll find the deaths pretty unsurprising. I need to praise the voice actors and script for this. Especially Fushi’s VA who went from babbling like a baby at the start to slowly learning the language with a slight stutter. That’s what he needed to sell an alien being transforming from a rock to a fully sentient human. In the first two arcs, the characters felt real. Their dialogue was natural, they reacted to the world believably, and their struggles kept me waiting to see what would happen next episode. img1000(https://animeshelter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/fumetsu-no-anata-e-episode-1-0891.jpg) Flat characters, intrusive narration, weak storytelling, hammy dialogue, and forced drama plague the underwhelming second half. For the remaining eight episodes, the surfaces were flat as cardboard cutouts. The show's final arc jammed in a dozen new people with any characterization, and it expects us to remember their names. Even the sensitive portrayal of death I praised became watered down. Using sad music, tears, and afterlife imagery should be used to make a tragic death more impactful, not trick us into caring about a character who had barely any dialogue and no development. That's emotionally manipulative. Despite this, the first two arcs prove that big-budget anime productions can adapt poignant anime in a market that prioritizes adapting generic isekai light novels. Each chapter of Fushi's journey isn't tied together with an overarching plot. What we have instead is a constant threat of danger, the unpredictable monster chasing after his memories. Around halfway through, we get a vague, amorphous antagonist with unclear motives explained in a tiresome exposition dump. I always appreciated Fumetsu no Anata e for not overcomplicating its high concept premise until it did. Throughout the whole show, there is a narrator. Around the halfway point, he becomes a visible man who interacts with Fushi. Looking like a cultist, he shows up wearing a black hood whenever Fushi needs guidance, or rather when the story feels like it's time for exposition. The story tends to overcomplicate itself through the narrator; he explains the rules of Fushi's supernatural powers and arbitrarily tells us what the true antagonist's motives are. Fushi could've confronted the antagonist, then discovered its motivations. Or, they could've left that information vague, as it had been. Being spoon-fed lore and character motives feel forced. Eternity has plenty of death and mature themes. Spoon feeding the viewers with exposition in an R-rated show is like a mother feeding a teenager baby food. img1000(https://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire1/2e5a4f250fab6062bd528153058b43411632265485_main.jpg) Fushi has the mind of an infant at the beginning. Seeing him learn how to be human as the months pass by is compelling. I assumed the whole story would consist of him learning to become human, but that development happens relatively quickly. For the rest of the story, we have a protagonist with a mundane personality. He goes from an intriguing mystery to a heroic traveler. His motives are clear—save whoever his person of interest is at any given time. Due to the spoilers in the opening theme, you sort of know things won't always go as planned. Shortly put: once he gained a personality, I didn't like him. How compelling is a guy whose reason for living is to save people in danger when he's at no risk of dying? Well, "no risk" isn't entirely true. The amorphous antagonist introduced early on threatens to steal Fushi's deceased friends, along with his memories of them. Fearing that Fushi would lose a character I liked kept my interest in the underwhelming final episodes. To Your Eternity has a truly poignant message at its core; even after we die, the people we leave behind will remember us. Ironically, it is a forgettable show in the end.

Fotsuan

img(https://lyricsfromanime.com/animes-info/fumetsu-no-anata-e/cover/fumetsu-no-anata-e-lyrics.jpg) It is fundamental to express emotions in order to make a work of fiction great – that’s something the anime industry knows very well. Sad and depressing emotions are frequently seen in anime works, but the real key to success is to combine them with pleasant and hopeful emotions. Thrill, suspense, compassion, excitement and enjoyment; all of them are important to form a good show. Fumetsu no Anata e has its unique style, which most people like – considering its global appeal and popularity - and others do not. But this style is what really prevents it from standing close to “top tier” anime, and that is a fact. img(https://64.media.tumblr.com/5b91fa5bd7e80e0b85e8afd2c284c000/78b35ccb892a3321-79/s400x600/ad667e0034ab566e42c57af99c0200317aaf51a0.gif) Fumetsu no Anata e started off with an amazing opening episode; full of emotions, beautiful character interactions and plot twists. It felt romantic and succeeded in piquing the watchers’ interest. This episode was the prologue arc, and then a chain of longer character arcs followed. What went so wrong that made this anime’s content controversial? That’s definitely the repetitive use of the pattern Ooida Yoshitoki used in every character arc. And after giving it some thought, I reached the conclusion that this pattern I’m talking about might work in a novel, but not in a TV show. So it is not necessarily the writer’s fault. img(https://as2.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/01/08/25/01/1000_F_108250149_z28MTNot31panKiEAvMHOlZUUcOsd8iT.jpg) The pattern promoted mostly depressing emotions and failed to emit the ones I mentioned before. As the series moved on, everyone was able to make a successful guess on how the story would proceed, which led to the loss of enthusiasm, thrill and enjoyment. The protagonist’s character development made sense, but in the end, that was all that happened in these twenty episodes. What only mattered was how strong (mentally and physically) Fushi would become, after a row of unpleasant and heartbreaking events. img(https://i0.wp.com/doublesama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/To-Your-Eternity-Episode-12-1.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1) Nevertheless, a character alone cannot make a top tier work of fiction. When it comes to the world build up, what is understood is that it concerns Fushi and only himself. People live in an underdeveloped society, but the mystery revolves around the supernatural element of the series; which is something he has to solve alone. The main villains’ character and motives (Nokkers) are not exactly shown yet, but it seems they are simple and exist to end our protagonist’s journey. As for Kansatsusha, it is not yet known if there are other creatures like him or why he behaves the way he does. img(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/da/85/df/da85dfccb4fd4e0c48ae91d84ee622ba.jpg) The soundtrack of this anime is mostly atmospheric (“Emotional Suite”, “Pink Blood”, “Mediator”). It is not something special, but it fits well the atmosphere. The animation looks nice and fits the atmosphere as well. The prevailing colours are purple, brown and green. The voice acting is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Tsuda Kenjirou’s narrating is great. To conclude, Fumetsu no Anata e is a fantasy/supernatural anime whose main purpose seems to be to indicate how people can become stronger by facing hardships and moving on with their lives. To convey this message, it uses many short arcs which include a lot of tragic events and sad human emotions. It also shows human behaviour under difficult circumstances, people’s hope, people’s narrow-mindedness and other characteristics you may find out by watching. My personal advice is to not expect much even if you love the first episodes. Because I loved them as well, but my final score was 35/100. Thank you for reading!

Christian

"Fumetsu no Anata e" is a drama series with fantasy elements, following the tale of an immortal being and their process of learning to be human. The series heavily relies on "arcs" where the main character goes meeting a new set of characters to live new experiences with just a few remaining as recurrent. The problem that lies with this series is how inconsistent the arcs are compared to the first episode and how even within an arc, there can be many highs and lows. The first episode is a massive rush of emotions. This is the episode where we are introduced to the main character, nameless, at this stage of the story. Starting from a simple rock, our MC will transform into a wolf and meet his first human contact, a nameless boy living in a hut on a frozen landscape. This first story delivers so many emotions throughout the telling of the dreams and realizations of our unnamed human. This delivery hits so profoundly that it is impossible not to feel captured in engagement and vulnerable to crying if the viewer is sensitive enough to do so. That was my case. But this story only lasts one episode, for better and worst. I rate this episode as a 10/10. ~~~img660(https://i.ibb.co/h2s9RGC/mpv-shot0003.jpg)~~~ After the first episode, we are introduced to the first arc, which I prefer to call them, not by their setting but instead by the name of the most crucial character for Fushi. In March's arc, Fushi will take their first step in becoming a human after receiving the care of a small child called March, who will help them learn the realization of themself and the love for others on a basic level. The problem I have with this arc relies on a few aspects of March's character and the setting itself. Despite being active and voice-y about her wishes and dreams, I couldn't connect with March as a character. She felt shallow, and even weirder was the resolution of this arc where I didn't understand March's intentions. I rate this arc as a 06/10. Connecting this arc with the next is how Pioran and Fushi started to bond with the first, beginning to help him talk and write. The sparkle set by March's presence on Fushi's side is developed more deeply by Pioran. Finally, Pioran takes Fushi to a new location and the beginning of a new arc. Gugu's arc was by far my favourite of the three adapted this season. In this arc, Fushi becomes even more a human with the teachings and sharing experiences with the person who will be their brother: Gugu. This new character is way more fleshed out than March with a story of his beginning and livings in a city with his brother and later on his own until a catastrophe leads him to meet Fushi. The main trait of Gugu is the persistence of his character under dire circumstances, which the series showcases during his life. The curiosity of being a child and the bonding he feels with Fushi makes their lives the ones of brothers, and on many occasions, Gugu will teach Fushi to be brave. Sadly this arc ended in episode 12. This final episode cashed out all the building the series did on Gugu's character. It was done wonderfully. I rate this arc as a whole with a 7.5/10 and episode 12 as a 09/10. ~~~img660(https://i.ibb.co/BTXbt4v/mpv-shot0003.jpg)~~~ Another transition episode with the lovely and lively Pioran sadly interrupted by the beginning of the worst arc of this series. ~~~img660(https://i.ibb.co/FXnmqHh/mpv-shot0005.jpg)~~~ Tonari's arc was a chore, a horrible arc with the shallowest setting of all (all locations are pretty shallow, but this one was the worst) and the most annoying or bland supporting cast this series offered. Tonari is an asshole, to put it quite straightforwardly, and her band of friends is dull. This combination makes any emotional scene with them bland, superficial, and on many occasions having me as a viewer wishing Tonari was already "taking care of" by the plot. In addition, the villain was quite disgusting. This arc brought down the series for me. I rate this arc as a whole with a 5.5/10. ~~~img660(https://i.ibb.co/4dc2cM4/mpv-shot0007.jpg)~~~ Thankfully, the series had a heavy hitter under the robes. Episode 20 was charming and emotional, and again, as in the first episode and episode 12, it made me cry rivers. This episode honours a beautiful character that was present in all arcs, and I'm talking about Pioran. This episode was a dream, sweet and sad. I rate this episode as 9.5/10. ~~~img660(https://i.ibb.co/ggzJ2Dp/mpv-shot0008.jpg)~~~ I already mentioned that the worldbuilding department is shallow and quite random. There is no transparent idea of how this world works, how the cultures are interconnected and how they came to be and operate. The setting is just a canvas in the background for the characters. Also, the series always aims for a 09/10 in every moment, but the storytelling delivery and characters alter this score constantly. As a result, many moments feel pretty shallow, especially in March and Tonari's arc. The viewer has the feeling of a feeling trying to be conveyed but missing in hitting the necessary notes to resound in the viewer's soul. The musical department was a hit or miss; only my highest rated three episodes have emotional music supporting the delivery of powerful emotions the rest, as the storytelling delivery is inconsistent, makes on many occasions feel the music out of place. Voice acting work was standard, aside from a special seiyuu. Tsuda Kenjirou shines in this role, but more on the off-screen side than the on-screen one. Hard to explain why. I loved him as a recap voice and narrator con crucial moments, commenting on what was happening or Fushi's feelings in an organic way. Rating this series is complicated due to the inconsistency, but I wanted to comment on every arc and my rate for them. I think a fair rating is 7.5/10, noting the high inconsistency issues this series suffered. Thank you for reading! ^^

LuxuEnjoyer

The tale of how the most simple living thing evolved into a completed intelligent human being. __Fumetsu No Anata e__ tells us a different point of view, the most tragic one. A simple rock thrown into the world through "divine retribution" will experience the evolution of Earth. It can take the form of every living thing that dies near him, the "stimulation" makes him able to. First of all, we are presented a no-name white haired boy who wants to get to know the outside world, his family left and he cant stand being alone on that cold land for one more second. ~~~ _STORY 10/10_~~~ - The rock experiences the first (and not the last) death of the series. Our white haired boy dies, our rock (already transformed into the boy's wolf that previously died) recieves the first stimulus, a painful one. So the story goes on, the boy it's inmortal, he gets the name Fushi and the stimulation keeps flowing. Pain and Distress are also ways of evolving, Fushi is taken through that path, every human being he stays with, the greater the danger he is on. March, Gugu, Parona, all their stories fascinated me, Gugu's especially, and in turn all of them hurt like a backstab. Fushi keeps evolving, he learns how to talk, to write, to feel, feel pain, feel bliss. However, the stimulation is created by distress, Fushi is going through all of the deaths of the people he started to feel something of. img220(https://lostinanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Fumetsu-no-Anata-e-05-31.jpg) img220(https://lostinanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fumetsu-no-Anata-e-12-36.jpg) The Season goes on, the drama does not stop, and then we arrive to the last arc, Jananda. Jananda shut the season with a wonderful twist, Hayase is on the island, the Tonari group is presented, the place go rumbling when the Nokkers arise. Fushi's life gets darkened again, most of his friends died again, he found out that Parona died as well by Hayase's hand, everything is trampled up. The stimulation never ends, the story's moral give a final message : ``Accept death, embrace it, live with it, dying is a part of living, you cannot stop the unstoppable, being inmortal makes you feel double the pain. `` img220(https://i.imgur.com/kfrusmG.png) ~~~ _ART 9.5/10_~~~ I can't really extend or criticize the art, it's just amazing, the ghibli-like animation makes the series SO beautiful to watch, the opening, sang by the GODDESS Hikaru Utada is so so so good, is top 3 openings for me rn. Everything was according to my expectations. ~~~ _CHARACTERS 10/10_~~~ The path of Fushi, the self-acceptance of Gugu, the harsh reality realisation of March, the madness evolution of Hayase, the love story of Rean, the fulfilled role of Parona, the mother-son relation between Fushi and Pioran, Tonari's path of hatred and forced-happiness, EVERY character was perfectly built and executed, I can't think of any remarkable mistake. ~~~ _CONCLUSION_~~~ Im already starting season 2, and I will start the manga as soon as the season ends, I'm in love with this series, with the music, with their characters, with everything.