Nagi no Asukara

[Kraco]

"Long ago, humanity lived in the sea. But the humans who longed for the land left the sea behind. They cast aside the special raiment they'd been given by the sea god that let them live in the ocean. The thinking of the sea humans and the land humans became as separate as the places they lived, and as countless time passed, they forgot they were once one people. This will change as the land-dwelling human Tsumugu Kihara befriends four students who live in a village at the bottom of the sea." -ANN

DL: Episode 1v3 | Episode 2 - Underwater-Vivid
Links: AniDB | ANN | Official
Genres: drama, fantasy, romance





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This looks like one of the shows few but I and Ryll would pay special attention to here at Gotwoot. That is, calm and with a unique atmosphere of its own. Although this hasn't actually been quite as calm as I thought. In fact, I expected this to be nothing but a picturesque fantasy of strange underwater lifestyle (and merely to contrast it the normal dry land habitation), but this seems to be as much about racism, bullying, the troubles of conservative thinking, modern stress, cultural degradation, depopulation of rural areas... So, not as calm as I thought. However, considering how I had to fight against falling asleep while watching the latest Tamayura, I reckon I prefer a little conflict after all. My only misgivings are caused by the intense love polygon that seems to be brewing and involving every central character of the show.

Voicing the main characters are: Manaka by the ever popular Hanazawa Kana who hardly needs introductions, Hikari by Hanae Natsuki (Kiri of Crime Edge, Wien of Tari Tari), Chisaki by Kayano Ai (Ooe Kanade of Chihayafuru, Lucy of Servant X Service), Kaname by Oosaka Ryouta (Maou of Hataraku, Marco of Titan), and Tsumugu by Ishikawa Kaito (Ledo of Gargantia). I have no complaints about their performance.

So far this looks like one of the more interesting shows this season, not that the competition would have looked awesomely fierce, to be honest. Unless this turns really sour drama wise (which I doubt), I'm sure to keep watching this.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm liking it so far.

[David75]

Same here.
Part of the show has a nice poetic feeling to it, eventhough the tales of the past and the rules of the present remind us human tribes are really uncivilised.
Tsugumu probably is the one leading the show in the right direction. But I don't know yet wether he was or will have feelings for Manaka. It felt like he loves her for what she is-like anything sea related-, rather than have feelings for her yet.

Regarding the childhood friend, although I understand where he comes from, his tsundere side really is gritting.

All in all, it's really nice to watch for now.

[Kraco]

Episode 3 - Underwater-Vivid





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I totally didn't see the revelation of the last scene coming, that the kids were harassing Akari not because of some childish racism (because they are indeed kids), but because Akari was actually dating a man with a child - and maybe a wife, who knows? He seemed to hesitate about the question of marrying Akari.

This show is working pretty wonderfully.

[David75]

Yup, the pace and plot lines are nice.
Now we know why the village rules are so strict.

Regarding folklore, particularly the maiden sacrifices to the sea God. I wonder if it was really a sacrifice. Maybe those girls were in fact given the ability to breathe under water. But the condition was to never set foot on land again. So for surface people they were as good as dead, explaining the sacrifice naming.
That would be a practice giving more females to the village so that its population can grow.

Last but not least, I did not expect the geezer to be a former village guy
It explains why Tsumugu knows so much.
Back to the folklore idea... I wonder if Tsumugu would be compatible with the process giving him ENA.
That would be nice tom have Akari choosing to go to the surface, the geezer who did the same and Tsumugu choosimg the village. So that it's not just some mysogynic custom and show choice.

[Kraco]

I think it would be pretty bold to assume that it would be possible to migrate the other way. After all, they did make quite a dramatic historical point of the people moving to the dry land to seek their fortune and losing the ability to live in the sea. That's also the general atmosphere, and one reason why the sea folks are so careful not to dry too much: Because there's apparently no way to recover after the utmost limit.

But yeah, otherwise it would be quite cool if Tsumugu could sink to the bottom instead of Manaka becoming a landlubber.

[Ryllharu]

These episodes are surprisingly dense, something I always like to see in anime series.

I'm glad Hikari stopped being a total dick to Tsumugu, and after the consultation between Manaka and Chsaki, Hikari even seems a little less possessive of Manaka. Hikari seems to have understood that she likes Tsumugu in that way, and the most he will ever be is her best friend. Strangely, as Tsumugu grows closer to the sea-kids, I wonder if he is a bit of an outcast on land too. The other children gave the five of them an odd look that morning they were all chatting. Perhaps it is common knowledge among the surface people that Tsumugu's family is led by a banished sea-village man.

As for the Akari plotline, it is impossible not to feel sad for her, but with the reveal at the end, there may be a lot more going on than we realize. However, I was disappointed that Hikari didn't hug her as she started to lose it. She definitely needed the comfort. He's nowhere near the asshole he was the first two episodes, but that would have been a nice touch to the story they were going with in this episode.

[Kraco]

Strangely, as Tsumugu grows closer to the sea-kids, I wonder if he is a bit of an outcast on land too. The other children gave the five of them an odd look that morning they were all chatting.

At least Tsumugu seems like the strong, cool & silent type, so I can't see him getting bullied. But then again, even the sea kids haven't been bullied that much of late.

As for the Akari plotline, it is impossible not to feel sad for her, but with the reveal at the end, there may be a lot more going on than we realize. However, I was disappointed that Hikari didn't hug her as she started to lose it. She definitely needed the comfort. He's nowhere near the asshole he was the first two episodes, but that would have been a nice touch to the story they were going with in this episode.

To be fair I can't see a guy of that age hugging his sister very easily (or anyone, for that matter). Especially one with his kind of aggressive, bravado filled personality.

[Kraco]

Episode 4 - HS



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A fine episode. Sometimes Tsumugu feels a bit unfair character, always being so cool, composed, and correct while everybody else is making mistakes or being hasty, but I guess he needs to be like that for the plot to work. After all, he's the bridge character between the sea and land folks, so both sides need to respect him at least to a degree. Still, I have to say the way Hikari and the dude made up was far better than any smooth and (physically) painless way Tsumugu could have come up with. Somebody needs to fix the doors, though: I don't think they are supposed to come off their rails like that.

It's pretty funny it seems to me like Hikari already won over Miuna. The whole relatioship mess was far less a mess than everybody made it out to be. The wife is three years dead already, so it's not exactly strange for the widower to be looking at other women. Maybe the case will be solved when Miuna comes to think she will get a cool onii-chan in Hikari if she accepts Akari.

[shinta|hikari]

The relationship mess was like a fake out. The background story was actually fine, but then again, the main story is absolutely chaotic.

Does Isaki actually like Chisaki? Nothing blatant says so, but any anime/manga/LN/VN fan knows it is practically solid.

I usually hate characters like Hikari (though I obviously love the name) because they are straightforward and simple, but being able to be this honest and true deserves admiration.

[Ryllharu]

Any ideas what the "I know, Lord Sea God. We can't let the surface have the people of the sea right now," meant?

That line was rather ominous.

[Kraco]

Yeah. I thought maybe they are considering stopping the underwater human way of life. The society seems to be deteriorating anyway, with lack of children, lack of marriage partners, lack of work... Maybe they are waiting for the appropriate moment to end it all and migrate all the sea people to the dry land. After all, once the (working age) population has dropped below a certain point, they can't anymore maintain a decent quality of life. They would get demoralised well before that, as well.

But since tensions are still high, the time is not yet at hand.

I hope Manaka will invite Tsumugu for a visit at some point. He could just borrow diving equipment like Akari's man.

[Kraco]

Episode 5 - Underwater-Vivid




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I don't know why, but for some reason I thought unnecessarily harshly of Miuna. Her reason for not accepting Akari was really cute, in the end. I guess the fact she's a tiny ice queen allowed her to keep up the harassment to drive Akari away. Hikari managed to solve the issue quite smoothly, especially considering he's not any giant of intelligence. But I suppose he was able to see all the sides of it and Miuna clearly started to like him as well. In any case I'm glad that issue seems to be over, with Akari looking like she's again ready to leave the sea.

I'm happy Tsumugu played no role. He's too competent as it is (I'm not complaining, he's the coolest of the characters).

[Ryllharu]

I think Hikari really redeemed himself the last couple of episodes. He was such a little prick in the first two, but he's probably grown more mature faster than anyone else in the series. He had some really cool lines to Akari this episode, Miuna too.

On the downside, Akari's crying did get a bit over the top and shrill. It kinda killed the immersion just a bit. Her VA is better than that.

I'm not sure what to make of the Chisaki plotline yet. Of course, I'm always on the side of the overdeveloped jilted girls. Speaking of which, Kayano Ai seems to always play the busty (or even bustiest) character of late. It's hard to say if Manaka is really upset or not. She doesn't really view Hikari as a boyfriend kind of thing, because she's not really emotionally mature. While Manaka is definitely more attracted to Tsumugu, she really only sees Hikari as her closest male friend.

I do wish that Kaname got more screen time or development. He's basically the Shioshishio equivalent of Tsumugu. Calm, collected and wise, but it feels like they forgot to give him a personality. We basically don't know anything about him.

[Kraco]

I'm not sure what to make of the Chisaki plotline yet. Of course, I'm always on the side of the overdeveloped jilted girls. Speaking of which, Kayano Ai seems to always play the busty (or even bustiest) character of late. It's hard to say if Manaka is really upset or not. She doesn't really view Hikari as a boyfriend kind of thing, because she's not really emotionally mature. While Manaka is definitely more attracted to Tsumugu, she really only sees Hikari as her closest male friend.

I'm sure Manaka acted like she did because she was embarrassed over hearing something she wasn't meant to hear, plus, like you said, she's so immature she simply didn't know how to react. I'd be very surprised if there was even 1% of jealousy over there. I wonder if Chisaki realises she needs to do something proactive if she dreams of getting forward. Supporting Manaka is admirable, but in the end love is selfish business. But maybe she believes she would hate herself if she tried to drive Manaka and Tsumugu together to get Hikari for herself.

I do wish that Kaname got more screen time or development. He's basically the Shioshishio equivalent of Tsumugu. Calm, collected and wise, but it feels like they forgot to give him a personality. We basically don't know anything about him.

Kaname? Who's that? Haha, yeah, I don't really see what his role is in all this. He hasn't basically done anything at all. Is he there simply to build the polygon but nothing more?

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 06


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This show's ED is beautiful. So is Chisaki.

Any ideas what the "I know, Lord Sea God. We can't let the surface have the people of the sea right now," meant?

It sounded to me like they can't have any more sea->land migrations because their society is/will break down if they do so any further. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the land people also stopped giving offerings this year (the school did it on their own accord), and the offering actually does have some tangible effect on Shioshishio life.

[shinta|hikari]

Hikari should just give up on the Tsumugu fanatic and go for the loli. It would make for really fun family dynamics.

[Kraco]

Hikari should just give up on the Tsumugu fanatic and go for the loli. It would make for really fun family dynamics.

Hah hah. You reckon Miuna actually fell for Hikari? It's pretty clear she likes him in some way, but maybe not romantically. I hope not. It would be immature infatuation she would never confess, and Hikari would hardly reciprocate either if she did.

The underwater community seems to be finished anyway, so I don't think the words were meant to refer to saving it, but perhaps saving the individuals still left.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 07

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The underwater community seems to be finished anyway, so I don't think the words were meant to refer to saving it, but perhaps saving the individuals still left.

Why would you need to save the individuals? The Messenger himself seemed pretty alright with freezing them, so he seemed more interested in preserving their bloodline or just keeping them physically "intact" underwater than trying to promote their wellbeing.

Remind me if they've already covered this and I missed something: Sea people can survive just fine above water, as far as we've seen. Their Ena develops cracks after some time without seawater, but we've yet to see some lethal repercussions. Do they lose their Ena permamently if they're dry for too long? Gramps kept his. It may either be a visual residue that serves no function, or he kept his functional Ena due to his work, so his keeping it doesn't rule out the lose-Ena hypothesis completely.

Manaka couldn't put Hikari's change into words, but it's basically trying hard to do something he doesn't care about/like for someone else. As an adult you've got to do that sometimes, but I'm not sure I agree with what's happening here. It's definitely not all that healthy if he's forcing himself. He'll turn into a Chisaki at this rate.

[Kraco]

I believe it has been said the ena will simply cease to function, if not disappear, and they can't ever go back to living in the sea. I'm not anymore sure of the sea god's intentions. However, it's still clear the sea city is already finished. These kids seem to be pretty much the only children, as the sea school closed down already when the transferred. Akari commented how difficult it's to find work or partners undersea, so the only chance is to go to dry land. What future does such a community have? None at all. It might be the sea god doesn't want to end it before they have (all) realised there's not much difference between the land and sea people and are in some sort of harmony. Otherwise every person leaving the sea will only make the remaining sea people more and more angry and the land people gleeful thinking they have bested the "enemy" once again.

Or at least I seriously hope it's something like that. Otherwise the sea god would be really petty and not worth any ceremonies.