Title: Glasslip

Director: Junji Nishimura

Studio: P A Works

Screenwriter: Tatsuhiko Urahata

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks

U. S. Release Date: 11-3-15

Format: Blu-ray , subtitled

Genre: High school Romance

Age Rating: 14+

Overall Personal Rating: B

Synopsis:

Toko is in her last year of high school. She lives in a small seaside town and is artistic. Often, she is seen drawing the school’s chickens and she also helps out in her father’s glass blowing studio, sometimes making glass beads to give out as presents.

She hangs out with her group of friends at a local cafe. Originally, the group claims to have a no dating each other policy, but, that is getting a bit shaky. Everybody is trying to figure out what they are going to do after graduation and wondering if they will still be close friends. It seems that it is now or never to confess feelings for someone.

Kakeru is a new guy in town. He says he is drawn to Toko by voices of future fragments. Toko herself sees visions of what she believes to be the future. She turns to Kakeru to help figure them out and how to better experience them.

Kakeru’s presence isn’t widely appreciated in the group. He throws things off balance and Toko’s friends worry that he has gotten too friendly too fast.

Looking to their futures, hanging on to the past, these students navigate school, friendships, dating and finding meaning on their life’s journey.

Commentary:

Glasslip is a high school romance, nothing exactly out of the ordinary, but it was gently rolling along and fun to watch. Now there is the part about Toko seeing visions, and they can be quick flashes or a whole event. Well, sure, that is odd in the real world, but in Glasslip it seems that isn’t that far fetched. I didn’t see that these visions were important to the story, except to bring Toko and Kameru to meet.

The character were nicely written, people you would want to meet. Even the parents were given some personality instead of just being accessories to the settings. Occasionally things were more dramatic than they needed to be, and some cultural things didn’t translate well, but it didn’t ruin the show.

I thought it was beautifully animated. The colors were rich and saturated, and great detail to surrounding was given. Each of the settings had their own personality because of all the structures and items included in the art. The camera work was also interesting, there were times when during a long shot, some one would inadvertently walk in front of the camera, with it not having anything to do with the story. Those little things were fun, and made it more real.

The ending was a soft ending. Somethings hinted at being resolved, but it wasn’t really there, at least to me. I guess it ended up with things able to go anywhere, there is a chance for it all to work out. This took it out of the romance and made it more a slice of life.

Overall Grade: B

I think if you like Glasslip, you will also like Sketch full color and

Tamayura.