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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:4217#1552] |
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Adachi and Shimamura plays out as a slice-of-life light drama involving its titular characters developing a friendship due to both having their troubles with socially interacting with others. The series does a reasonable job exploring the issues facing both Adachi and Shimamura with properly interacting with others as the former's shyness and the latter's lack of motivation to properly engage with others serve as areas the two have to learn to gradually overcome through the course of the series with their bond. A few other characters get focused on to explore their relations with Shimamura, though one is an odd one proclaiming herself to be an alien and randomly appearing at points throughout the series with its more grounded storytelling. Also, the series does end inconclusively as our two lead characters are still undergoing their developments and the title's light novel source material still being ongoing as of the time the series aired. In short, Adachi and Shimamura offers enough fleshing out of our main pair of characters to satisfy fans looking for a light slice-of-life/ yuri series to get into. But the lack of a proper conclusion is likely to leave many feeling unfulfilled after watching this.
Last updated Sunday, May 29 2022. Created Sunday, May 29 2022. | ||||||||
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 Stretch
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[series:4217#628] | ||||||
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(Watch+ or Rent-) (All episodes watched): My response to episode one was that I was liking it--two sincere and likable friends who skirt the rules but aren't hurting anybody by doing so. Their conversations suggest that they have realistic and distinctive minds rather than the mass produced sort that most anime characters possess. They do things that most characters wouldn't even dream of, like make observations regarding human nature. The colorful but subdued artwork is nice. But what to make of it? Episode one didn't seem to be trying particularly hard to tell a story. The closest thing to a conflict is the awkward moment when Shimamura pretends not to know Adachi while in the company of her more conventional friends Hino and Nagafuji. But Adachi doesn't seem to mind, perhaps because she has no other friends. Everything is perfectly plausible and could easily happen in the real world--except, perhaps, the inexplicable bit about someone in town who likes to wear a space suit. But apparently even that won't be the main thread of this show, as I learned while reading the ANN synopsis which revealed that this would ultimately be a Yuri series. That was news to me; nevertheless I was still on board for Adachi and Shimamura. To paraphrase, I don't know how to define 'quality', but I know it when I see it, and I think I'm seeing it here. And then things started to go south. Episode two left one thought on my mind: what the f--- is the deal with this spacesuit person? How seriously are we supposed to take this Yashiro Chikama person? Is this all a joke to lighten the mood, or is it possible that he/she really is an alien time traveler? Chikama offers no proof to back up the fantastic claims he/she makes, and seems pretty human otherwise. The two plotlines--yuri romance and this person--seem completely unsuited to each other and at the time I couldn't see how they could possibly fit together. In episode three we see Chikama's face at long last, and it's not all that remarkable (she says she has adopted a human face in place of her usual one). But she sort of nudges her way into the friendship/romance between Adachi and Shimamura and Adachi doesn't like it. It looks like she was included in this story for a reason after all. I just wish I knew what that reason was. But this seemed better than the discordant tone the series had a week earlier. ...but she doesn't appear at all in episode five, which is basically about Adachi agonizing over asking Shimamura to spend part of Christmas day with her. Shinamura has learned a little about Adachi's family life as a result of running into her mother in a gym. But not much is done with this development; Adachi doesn't seem to have a troubled life at home or anything like that. I was becoming tired of this story, perhaps because it lacks a really gripping conflict that must be resolved. I didn't sense that the Chikama business was going anywhere, and it wouldn't be the end of the world if Adachi and Shimamura remained friends rather than lovers. In episode eight Chikama apparently floats in midair while Shimamura and her mother watch--was that a joke, or did it really happen? The response of the characters in this show to such bizarre things is so detached from reality that you don't know what to take seriously. Surely the discovery of a verifiable alien would grab the lion's share of Adachi and Shimnamura's attention, wouldn't it? But it doesn't, so it must be something else--right? An old friend of Shimamura's, Tarumi, turns up, but there doesn't seem to be any sign that they will hit it off and Adachi will have a rival for her attention. This show had gotten to the point where watching yet another episode almost seemed like work rather than pleasure. In episode ten Adachi worries that something as minor as being assigned to a different classroom as Shimamura might mean the end of their relationship, which shows you that their relationship isn't exactly racing forward. The story is very subdued and laid-back--the worst thing that could possibly happen (from Adachi's point of view) is if the two broke up, but Shimamura still seems largely oblivious to her friend's feelings, which isn't exactly exciting. Again, the basic problem seems to be that I don't feel that these two girls falling in love would necessarily be the best ending. I'd rather learn the truth behind Chikama. And, in the final episode, we finally do (I think)--but one question that remains unanswered is why Chikama was included in this story in the first place. The relationship between Adachi and Shimamura doesn't exactly reach a crisis and be resolved; there's no confession which is accepted or rejected. But something sort of cathartic and moving happens (I just don't know exactly what). I guess I don't regret watching this series to the end, but I'm also glad it's over. Last updated Monday, January 04 2021. Created Tuesday, October 13 2020. | ||||||||
