First Impressions: Glasslip EP 1- By The Sea

The first anime review of the summer anime season will be for the latest P.A. Works creation, Glasslip. Like any of their anime, it’s always a treat to watch and the animation is always so beautiful But can Glasslip have some substance with all it’s beautiful style?

Here’s my review!

Lovely

We start off the anime with some lovely scenery shots of the quaint little town this anime is set in; we see people out walking in the streets, some women dressed up for a festival. We see a train doing down the tracks too, something we continually cut back to every few moments (suddenly Rail Wars breaks out!) before zooming in on a guy sitting in the train. His name is Kakeru Okikura. From there we cut to later that evening and fireworks are exploding in the air; we meet another character, a girl named Touko Fukami. We also meet two other guys, Yukinari Imi and Hiro Shirosaki. Jumping over to another character, we meet one more girl, Yanagi Takayama. Finally we stop in the window sill of one more character’s house, this girl being Sachi Nagamiya. Back with the train, it’s still coming down the tracks and has now finally arrived at the station where Okikura exits.

The Douche

The Cute Main Girl

These Two Guys

The Tsundere Girl Voiced by Saori Hayami

The Quiet and Secretive Girl

Back at the festival, Touko and Yanagi are playing a game of ring toss, a game that Yanagi wins with ease. Her prize appears to be what looks like old school 3D glasses, except both lens are blue. Hmm… okay. While they probably aren’t that at all, but rather just some look-a-like glasses with blue lens, Touko takes them and puts them on. Suddenly things slow down as she looks up at the fireworks, mesmerized by the vibrant colors. As this happens, we hear the voice of someone, later it’s found out o be Okikura’s, as he says he’s finally found her. Before that really gets going anywhere, Touko directs our attention to something else she’s spotted to get as a gift for a ‘Sacchan’ who we later find out refers to Sachi Nagamiya; as she’s picking out the gift, a little bell, we have a freeze frame and we see Okikura walking past.

Nice

Stopping suddenly though he looks over at Touko for some reason, who also looks back his way, but he’s gone before she notices him staring. That’s weird dude. Later on both girls meet up with Yukinari and Hiro, who have bring some food and drinks, and the four of them admire the fireworks for a while.  We also find out during this part that Yukinari is into running, as if the opening didn’t show us that. As the four of them talk away, we’re shown Okikura walking determinedly up a set of stairs, this time Touko looks over and sees him. Yanagi brings her back to the conversation by stating that these are their last few months together, indicating that they must be nearing graduation soon. We end this scene with Touko making a prayer that they’re able to stay friends long after graduation.

Nice glasses

The next day we’re back with the gang, this time with Sachi, as they’re at a cafe run by Hiro’s grandfather. Yukinari is shown to be working there and does a very good job handling the customers. Back at the table, Sachi, who has yet to say anything, picks up one of the two gifts the girls got for her the other night, that being the 3D glasses. Taking off her regular specs the puts the 3D ones on (guess they can’t fit over the others) and looks around. Hiro, who is clearly interested in Sachi, takes out his phone and turns on some kinda flashlight thing for Sachi to look at, as the glasses make some sparkly things for the wearer to see.

Dem Skill!

That scene, which was really just to show us that Yuki has a job, ends and we’re back with Touko who arrives back home and we meet her mother as well as Touko’s sister, Hina. Hina though is just on her way out to some school related thing as she’s dressed in her uniform. Touko is shown in the workshop doing some glass making (or whatever it’s called) with her father. We jump around to Sachi as she recalls the conversation about the bell that Touko got for her, before stopping back with Touko at school doing some sketching of the local chickens that hang around in the school yard.

Touko is cute when she’s embarrassed

Not creepy at all

Okay so before jumping in with what happens here, I’m kinda annoyed with the fact P.A. Works didn’t make the awesome reference to True Tears by having some of the chickens names be the same as the ones in that anime. Think about it! In Tari Tari they had that epic shout out as they sung the OP from True Tears, this would’ve been perfect for them to use the names of those chickens here. Back to the scene here; so as Touko is struggling to draw the chickens as they keep moving around, Okikura walks out of the school and begins talking to her. Being that the sun is shining overhead, when Touko turns to see who’s talking to her, Okikura’s stance reminds her of David, as in that David.

You actually expect a different answer from foe?

From here we learn that Okikura has transferred into the same school as her, but overall their first official conversation is quite strange. Okikura is giving off a very… hmm, strange vibe to him; he’s way too edgy, angsty and just gives a very bad first impression. I have no idea what he was rambling on about, the pros and cons of keeping chickens in cages or not because of the wild animals in the area, but geez this guy is failing terribly at the mysterious transfer student thing.

Touko is also getting the same impression that I’m sure lots of us were as she’s slightly confused and also annoyed with this guy. He’s just shown up at her school and he’s already quickly descended into the realm of a character type that I don’t like at all. Hopefully this douche can pull his act together but if he’s gonna be an edgy prick, then I hope he likes the world hating him.

Touko makes the hasty choice that to protect the chickens, the safest way to divide them up between her friends and they each keep one at home. They drop one off at Sachi’s place, who still hasn’t said much, before ending up at Yuki’s house. Now I’m not sure the relationship between Yuki and Yanagi, are they supposed to be siblings or something, because they both don’t have the same last name, so why is she living in the same house as him? I can’t seem to really find any info to answer my question, but was there something I missed? Anyways, Yanagi asks Yuki if this was Touko’s idea, to which he says yes and it’s clear that Yanagi isn’t thrilled by that answer. No I’m not trying to start some wincest ship here, I’m just wondering why they both live under the same roof, that’s all.

Over a chicken hot pot dinner, Touko breaks down her spur of the moment choice to bring the chicken home, wondering if it really was a good idea in the long run. The next day all the chickens are back at school, guess things didn’t work out. Back in the cafe the gang are talking about all going out and doing something, something that Sachi will be okay doing. This makes me wonder if Sachi has some kinda medical problem or something like that. But the fun times end when in walks none other than Okikura. Goddamn prick.

What’s interesting about this part though is that Sachi seems to know this guy or something, as she stands up when he drops his name. Yuki isn’t really one for games though as he just wants to know who Okikura is and what he’s doing. Before we get that answer though, Okikura says to Touko that he saw the same thing she did that day. Wow, mysterious as ever bud. And the eps ends there.

So walking into this one with high expectations, I can say that I’m pretty happy after the first ep. Sure this was mainly just a introduction to all the characters, but the ending starts to get things going and now I want to know what Okikura is babbling about seeing things. Like every P.A. Works anime, the visuals are amazing and I’ll give them massive points for delivering this again. Overall I’m interested in seeing more of this one as it feels like it’s got a lot to offer and hopefully the plot will be crafted and executed well too. I also wanted to quickly mention that I really enjoyed the music in Glasslip as well. The OP is sung by ChouCho and the group nano.RIPE sings the ED. The OST is simply marvelous, as every P.A. Works anime OST is, and it adds so much more to the viewing experience when the stunning visuals are accompanied by such lovely music.

If you watched the premier of Glasslip, what are your thoughts on it?

Let’s take a look at some screen shots now.

 

So after ep 1 I’m enjoying this anime a lot and I’m looking forward to next week’s ep. Looking at how things are now, for a schedule I’m thinking I’ll watch it first from the CR rip then for my review I’ll use the Kaylith Subs edition. Being that their release is a bit after CR, my reviews might be posted sometime late Thursday night/early Friday morning, or maybe just Friday afternoon. I’m still waiting for Rails Wars to start as that might be my Friday anime to review, but I’ll have to wait before I can really make a solid schedule. If you didn’t notice yet, at the bottom of the page I have a text widget where I’ll have the schedule posted once I have it planned, so be sure to check that out as it slowly fills up over the week.

Alright then ep 1 is over and the hype for ep 2 has already begun! Once again if you’re watching this one, what are your thoughts on the series opener? Liked it? Hated it? Favorite character? Let me know in the comments below!

Enjoy the first bonus pic of my reviews! I’ll cya in the next post!

Bonus Pic 

Start off with an awesome kazenokaze pic! Click for full size!

[Pixiv Link!] 

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Note:This post belongs to my great friend and fellow anime blogger Nick Corps. He’s just letting me use it because I was so behind on Glasslip. So do me a favor and thank him by following on Twitter and asking him questions on Ask.fm