Adachi to Shimamura

Now this one maybe an interesting one! Adachi to Shimamura, is classed as a Slice of Life, Romance, School, and Shoujo Ai. There were a few things that pulled me to this anime, one of them being the feature image used by MyAnimeList.net to show off the anime. I thought it looked really neat and it was enough to pull me in and want to figure out more. It was only after I clicked on the anime that I found out that it was also a Shoujo Ai. Shoujo Ai‘s are usually a hit or miss genre with the anime either falling on either side of the spectrum. Given the first episode, I think Adachi to Shimamura will fall in the middle.

Believe it or not, I actually really enjoyed the first episode, the art style and in particular the art design was really unique and different, something I like to see. The eyes of the characters are great, I love the design of them and I love the overall design of the characters. Everything with regards to character design felt really light and weirdly very inviting. That in itself is hard for me to explain so I’ll leave it at that. Something else I really loved was the narration throughout the episode, it was almost like one of the main characters was interacting with us personally telling us a story. Which is what happened this episode. I thought that aspect of the episode was absolutely wonderful.

We’re presented with two high school students, Adachi and Shimamura. We do not know anything about these two characters all that we do know is that they met simply because they didn’t want to go to class and needed a place to hide and relax. A lot of the story told during the first episode is told through the eyes of Shimamura. As the episode progressed, we got to know what she thought, and how she felt. Whenever Shimamura mentioned how she felt or what she was thinking, they would always place her in a wonderful and beautiful scene.

It’s almost as though a deeper meaning was there to be had, whenever Shimamura talked. As her relationship with Adachi grew the more she found comfort in her, the same thing could be said with Adachi because she’s portrayed as a loner, introvert, shy and timid individual. We knew immediately that the two had a strong admiration for each other when later on in the episode Shimamura is in their school’s gymnasium playing table tennis by herself. There Shimamura realized that she was happier, more comfortable around Adachi. Something that is also true for Adachi as shown at the end of the episode.

I am really looking forward to the rest of the episodes, if they’re anything like the episode 1 then I may find myself falling in love with this anime.