Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara – First impressions

Synopsis

The original 13-episode anime Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara is a story set “in a world where a minuscule amount of magic remains in everyday life”. The 17-year old Hitomi Tsukishiro is the main character born in a witch family. She lost her sense of color at a very young age.

Her grandmother, Kohaku, sends her back in time to the year 2018. After a strange bus ride, Hitomi finds herself in the house of Yuito Aoi. She manages to leave the house without being noticed by Yuito, but his friends saw her leaving from the window of the house, which they quickly spread to everyone else.

A bit later on, after seeing Hitomi trip, they approach her and ask her if she needs any help. They end up showing her the way to the magic shop Hitomi was searching in order to find her grandmother from 60 years in the future, Kohaku.

In the magic shop, Hitomi finds out Kohaku is currently studying magic in England. Kohaku’s grandmother reads the letter Hitomi came with, and offers her a place to stay until Kohaku returns. The next day, Hitomi uses magic to find the azurite she dropped, and it turns out she dropped it in Yuito’s house.

She finds Yuito, and when looking at one of his drawings, she is able to see colors once again. Yuito realizes Hitomi is in front of him and he turns off the tablet with his drawing.

Hitomi explains why she was in Yuito’s house. Yuito tells her not to worry about it, and asks her to be more careful with magic. Kohaku’s parents apply Hitomi to the Minamigaoka high school, the same school Kohaku is going to. Her first day in the school, the classmates start avoiding her cause of her relation to Kohaku, who is known for breaking school property with her magic.

After meeting Kazeno Asagi, Hitomi is also introduced to the other members of Asagi’s photography club. Yuito wants to see Hitomi perform magic, which she does, creating a star, While being introduced to the photography club and their activities, Hitomi finds out that Yuito is the sole member of the arts club. Hitomi wanted to see Yuito’s drawing once again, and she finds him at the rooftop of the school.

She gets her wish, and Yuito expresses interest in seeing her magic once again, which makes Hitomi smile.

My thoughts

So far, this series has really grabbed my attention. First of all, the art and the animation is stunning, the best quality since the Winter season of anime, when we had Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho and Violet Evergarden. The character designs work really well. The way Hitomi’s sense of color is portrayed and the scenes when she saw Yuito’s drawing for the first time are breathtaking.

The story has good potential. Time travel is involved, something that in most cases works for me. Magic being involved but not directly, but more as a hobby of sorts, is interesting for me to see. So far, in the shows I’ve seen with magic and school involved, it was in special magic schools and it made a huge importance to the story.

Here, it doesn’t seem to be as direct as that. Hitomi losing her sense of color is a new thing in anime for me, and I’m looking forward to see where will they go with that concept. And ofcourse, then there is Kohaku, and the reasons why she even sent Hitomi to the past. Loads to look forward to storywise.

Hitomi is a character I really enjoy so far. She is telling herself she doesn’t mind being alone, but deep inside she knows that is not the case. It seems she was isolated from the others in the past. I love how she reacts to things from 60 years behind her time, like when she had trouble opening a window, or when she didn’t recognize a sticking plaster. I’m looking forward to her growth and overcoming of her problems.

Yuito seems to be misunderstood by others, as they think he is only interested in drawing and nothing else. He is similar in personality to Hitomi and his drawings give her back what she lost – her sense of color.

Sound is another great aspect of this show. The OP and ED feel beautiful and refreshing. I really have no complaints about the rest of the OST, as it fits the mood every time.

Overall, this is looking like it’s gonna be among my top shows this season, and possibly year as well. It does everything right for me so far and I’m glad I picked it up. I highly recommend you do the same too