Slow Loop

Attachment 1944

"* Based on a slice of life manga by Uchino Maiko.

Hiyori is a girl who enjoys fly fishing by the beach, an activity passed down to her by her late father. On one typical day at the beach, she happens to meet Koharu, who happens to be her new stepsister from her mother's new marriage.

Source: ANN"

Genre(s): Slice of life

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We've already done cute girls fishing about a year ago- but how about fly fishing? Where are you going? Not that I can blame you- shy girl enjoyed fishing with her late dad; (forcefully) insert genki airhead girl who isn't skilled at fishing, but is a wiz in the kitchen, and you have a serviceable duo dynamic of catch and prepare. Other than the tip-toeing around the later father's room getting repurposed for the new adopted family, there isn't much going on here, though the character designs were cute.

I picked this up to fill in the gap for something I dropped, and it was kind of a hugely pleasant surprise.

For a "cute girls doing cute things" series...it really does it all extremely well. It's so much more than what it comes off as in a synopsis.

It is a really intelligent mix of "cute girls doing cute things" on the surface level, and uses that as the comedy relief for what it really is, and exploration of grief, loss, and the corresponding recovery. The cute girls are stepsisters trying to bond and become more of a family since their widowed parents married, doing the thing (fly-fishing) cutely. But there's a ton of introspection and emotional exploration packed into these episodes.

A series like Yuru Camp played with the "experience of being alone" and solitude of winter camping. But the undertone of this series is actually a main focus!

It's light, and it approaches the heavy stuff with the appropriate level without ever getting mired in it. The family bonding isn't treated like it is effortless or even easy. The two stepsisters put in the serious effort to get there.

It's kinda just nice.