What is this?
©竹嶋えく・一迅社／ささやくように恋を唄う製作委員会
At the high school entrance ceremony, a band performs for the incoming freshman. One student, Himari, "falls" for the band's vocalist Yori. When she encounters Yori at the shoe locker, she "confesses," thinking she's just become an avid fan. Yori misinterprets Himari's confession of love for her music and genuine romance and so begins a story of misunderstandings.
Whisper Me a Love Song is based on a manga series by Eku Takeshima. The anime series is streaming on HIDIVE on Saturdays.
How was the first episode?
©竹嶋えく・一迅社／ささやくように恋を唄う製作委員会
Rating:
Sometimes, it feels like everything needs a gimmick. In a media-saturated landscape, it's tempting for creators to grasp onto some twist or subversion to stand out. While those types of stories can turn out great, there's something to be said for sticking to rock-solid fundamentals. When it comes to a good romance, you don't need any fancy gimmicks or wacky add-ons; all you need is two awkward idiots making one another's heart go doki-doki. That's something Whisper Me a Love Song understands, which lets this premiere be charming, sweet, and funny in equal measure.
On the one side, we have Himari, an overactive puppy of a girl who shows affection for anything and everything with total abandon. She'll hug friends, loudly declare how much she loves someone or something, and rarely spare a thought for how others might take her actions. Introduce her to Yori, who looks and carries herself with impeccable coolness, but inside is a nervous loner who catches feelings the moment a pretty girl with a prettier smile looks her way. Combine the two, and you have a recipe for tragically comedic misunderstandings to solid and funny results in this episode. I especially appreciate Yori's friend group egging her on – and teasing her – through the whole thing. They add a lot of energy to the dialogue while letting Yori hash out her feelings rather than bottling them up, and in general, there's just a lot of good chemistry here.
The visuals are decidedly pedestrian, but it's clear that the folks involved are trying to make the most of limited resources. At its best, the pacing and direction feel reminiscent of Sasaki & Miyano, capturing the tingling thrill of first love alongside the shivering nervousness of putting feelings to words. The opening performance is heavily referenced, if not outright rotoscoped, but makes for a lively introduction to the voice for which Himari falls head over heels. Yori's solo musical moments are much more humble, but that works quite well for the scenes, distilling an awkward, tentative intimacy between her and Himari that does a lot to sell their potential relationship.
I don't think this premiere or show will blow anyone's mind, but it's hitting all the beats you want from a romance right on time. The characters are simple but endearing when they're together. The music is solid and fitting for the new emotions the story explores. The visuals are modest, but they know where to put their priorities to make the story work. It's good stuff, and I'll certainly be back for more.
©竹嶋えく・一迅社／ささやくように恋を唄う製作委員会
Rating:
There's a fascinating fiction out there that says that you must have experienced something to be able to write about it. Mostly, this pertains to romance – no one tells a would-be mystery author that they need to go out and commit a murder to be able to write about one. But for Yori, the idea that she can't write a love song without ever being in love is more of a convenient excuse, or at least that's what it feels like. Although we don't necessarily know it at the time the issue comes up, Yori isn't actually part of the light music club she performed with at a school assembly, and that suggests that what she doesn't want to do is be part of a club rather than not wanting to compose music.
That's reflective of how a lot of Whisper Me a Love Song's source manga frames things: the obvious answer isn't always, or even often, the correct one. We see that once again in this episode when Himari, the enthusiastic puppy of the story, tells Yori that she's fallen in love at first sight, only to turn out to actually mean that she's become a superfan of her music. This opens the door to questions of what Himari thinks “love at first sight” means or why she doesn't equate it with romantic love; refreshingly, that doesn't seem to be similar to Yori's previous statement about never having been in love. There's a real spectrum of romantic orientations here, and that's not always something we see in this kind of story. One or both of them could easily be demi-romantic or aromantic, and that gives the series a chance to differentiate itself from its fellows.
None of that means that this is a perfect first episode. I don't love Himari's breathless voice, and I think Yori's feelings move a little too quickly; while I appreciate that they need to move the plot along at a good pace to capture viewers' interest, it's a little too disjointed here. It also feels like Miki, Maa-chan, and Kaoru are extraneous, thrown in to pad out the cast, and although that may change going forward, right now, it's just more names to remember. But despite these issues, this contains much of what I love about the manga, and Yori's songs are gentle enough to make it plausible that Himari could fall for them so quickly. Even if this wasn't one of my favorite yuri manga, I think it's off to a good start, giving us a taste of what's to come.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiWWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFuaW1lbmV3c25ldHdvcmsuY29tL3ByZXZpZXctZ3VpZGUvMjAyNC9zcHJpbmcvd2hpc3Blci1tZS1hLWxvdmUtc29uZy8uMjA4NjI10gEA?oc=5
2024-04-13 19:06:42Z
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "The Spring 2024 Anime Preview Guide - Whisper Me a Love Song - Anime News Network"
Post a Comment