Slow Loop | #Short Anime Review

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Since childhood, Hiyori Yamakawa has witnessed her father’s various eccentricities, but one activity she has always loved doing with him is fly fishing—a complicated yet rewarding method of catching fish. Even after his sudden death, Hiyori still visits the seaside in her spare time, savoring the joy that her father’s memento brings her.

Three years later, Hiyori’s mother decides to remarry and arranges a dinner with her fiancé, his daughter, and Hiyori to celebrate. Anxious and wanting to pass the time, Hiyori goes to her usual fishing spot when a rather energetic girl named Koharu Minagi suddenly appears before her. The two soon become acquainted, with Koharu taking an interest in fly fishing herself. However, their meeting is more than just a coincidence: Koharu turns out to be Hiyori’s future stepsibling, which is only the beginning of treasured memories the both of them will reel in as they foster their sisterhood.

Slow Loop is an anime is more about the friendship and comradery and less about fishing. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, well for me I didn’t think it was.

Slow Loop follows Hiyori and Koharu, once strangers now sisters. Their meeting was definitely one of convenience because they so happened to meet on a pier admiring the ocean. Where they both mentioned that their parent had recently gotten married and that they were moving in today. This is what sparked a weirdly entertaining and oddly satisfying sister relationship.

As you’d normally expect from a Slice of Life anime, it is carried by its characters. If they’re not a strong pairing, or if they didn’t possess a personality strong enough to carry the anime, then the show will flop. For me, I thought Slow Loop could have been better in this regard because it often felt at times that Koharu was the one carrying the anime, episode after episode. She’s that character whose job it is to provide comedic relief. Which is fine, only if the character react in a manner that would be entertaining. Sometimes this wasn’t always the case and Koharu’s efforts of being the funny character at times felt muffled.

Something I will also admit, there were times throughout the anime where I didn’t really know what I was watching. What I mean by that is that there were times when I would be watching a fairly comedic episode, only for the next to be highly emotional, which is then followed up by an episode that felt pretty normal. We go from comedy, to fishing to understanding ourselves. In a way, it didn’t really feel like Slow Loop had a concrete premise.

I guess you can argue that Slow Loop is about building a sisterly bond from nothing. You can also argue it’s about understanding yourself. But yeah, I don’t know there were times when I didn’t really know what I was watching. If everything was a lot clearer then I think Slow Loop would have generally been a more enjoyable anime.

As is the case with Slice of Life anime, it’s hard for me to give a proper review because, in my opinion, once you’ve seen one slice of life then you have seen them all. So in that regard Slow Loop doesn’t really stand out from the bunch I’ve seen over the years. To me it definitely felt like just another SOL. If you have some free time then that’s when you’ll probably consider watching Slow Loop. Otherwise, I don’t think it should be too high up on your ‘to-watch’ list.