Orange Episode 1 [First Impression]

Regret is one of the things in life that holds us back and we have to learn to either live with or move on from. Orange is special because it calls on a great fascination of the human condition: if you could write a letter to yourself to stop something you deeply regretted from happening, would you? The story actually begins ten years in the future with the protagonist Noha and all her friends opening a time capsule with letters from their 16 year old selves. We jump back to 10 years before and Noha, running late, finds a letter from herself. The story begins here as she reads the letter in the beginning of class only to find it accurately predicts the transfer of a student named Kakeru and warns not to invite him out that day.

Immediately I liked Orange because it created a bond between all the characters. Even though Noha’s letter is the focus I felt drawn to her and I really like her character. I really love everyone already and ultimately that’s why I want to keep going with this show, it is very hard not to just keep loving Kakeru. I find Kakeru and Noha incredibly cute but we also see a future where it seems like she and her friend Suwa have a baby, so the show is already throwing us a bunch of what-ifs. Is the future inevitable? Will this just be a story of friendship, does Noha regret merely not saving a friend or does she also regret losing the person she loved? I can already tell there will be a painful cycle of love but that the focus will be on Kakeru.

I don’t know what it is Kakeru is going through, but because he has some sort of issue going on I feel inevitably drawn to him. What makes this anime unique are the letters and the concept that Kakeru will die without them. I don’t know if this will really invoke time travel or if the letters will be the only thing, as I’ve not read the manga, but I like the nature of the letters and that even though Noha is a shy girl she is doing her best to make sure she doesn’t have regrets like her future self does. She doesn’t know how to stop the first thing the letter recommends because all of her friends invite Kakeru out with her, but even though she doesn’t want to she ends up being the pitch hitter and wins the softball game for them.

Sometimes anime just feels right. Orange makes me want to keep watching. I already want Kakeru and Noha to end up together but even if they don’t and the only future is one with Suwa, as long as all these characters end up happy in some way I will be fine. I feel drawn to every character involved and I would watch this anime even if I weren’t covering it, because it feels special. Friendship and strength radiate just from the atmosphere and the excellent animation. I think the anime succeeded in making Kakeru seem interesting and giving him both moments of somber silence and charisma so that we would be invested in his future and I definitely am.

That being said, I have to cover this and I will be using my shotgun to take the show. I hope you all continue reading on this journey to save Kakeru the precious cinnamon roll .  .. oh who am I kidding, everyone in this show is a cinnamon roll. We have to protect this show and all its cinnamon rolls!

Status: Guaranteed Coverage 

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