The show I am looking forward the most this summer is “Amanchu!”, the anime adapting Kozue Amano’s lovely slice-of-life manga story about two high school girls, their unique friendship and wonderful days spent diving with their fellow scuba diving club members.
Although “Amanchu!” shares many similarities with Kozue Amano’s other famous slice-of-life manga “Aria”, such as a leisurely, soothing atmosphere, as well as enchanting backgrounds and key themes such as enjoying life to the fullest, there are several significant differences between both stories.
Whereas “Aria” starts from a science-fiction setting as it occurs far into the future on the planet Mars, “Amanchu!” takes place in modern-day Japan in the coastal city of Itou in Shizuoka prefecture. Featuring less characters than “Aria”, the story in “Amanchu!” focuses more on the bond that develops between main characters Hikari and Futaba, two girls with very different personalities who change and grow after befriending each other.
Especially Futaba’s personal growth thanks to her friendship with Hikari has been a great core plot throughout the manga. We are shown how Futaba change as the story progresses from a shy, almost gloomy girl who hesitates to step out into the world, to her taking adventurous steps into scuba diving mimicked in everyday life as she slowly becomes more confident.
Have high expectations of this anime adaptation and was ecstatic after watching the first episode, it really blew me away. It featured stunning visuals that perfectly capture Kozue Amano’s art style and help elevate it to the next level thanks to vivid colours and smooth animation, soothing background music and gentle pacing.
Was impressed to see many scenes boast terrific use of lighting and shadows, especially in the ocean scenes this was a real visual treat. Hope they continue to make it a gorgeous visual experience in future episodes too.
After this gorgeous first episode, am confident that studio JC Staff will create a new anime masterpiece with “Amanchu!”. For those among you that enjoy slice-of-life anime like “Flying Witch”, “Aria” or “Hanasaku Iroha”, you simply cannot miss this show.
You can watch “Amanchu!” on Crunchryoll.
