Orange Episode 9 [..Eh?]

In episode 9 of Orange I found myself lamenting the state of the show. For some reason every episode of this series had left me with a sense of profound engagement and yet, I found, this episode [HorribleSubs] Orange - 09 [720p].mkv_20160829_160659.359could not produce the same level of joy or fulfillment. This episode of Orange was fundamentally lacking in what made the other episodes of this series special. What is usually a consistent stark
animation was instead made up of lackluster far-away shots that seemed to contradict what the show was before. Granted I understand the production industry in Japan creates a brutal and demanding schedule and being able to publish is very important and makes the anime industry function as it so does.

 

Despite that, Orange before this episode was a sleek and very pretty production that only seldom had wacky faces and generic details. Yet what once before was fleeting moments of disparity in content now made the entire episode lose focus. On top of that a show that is usually centered on reminding the viewer of their mortality, the people they love, and loss instead turned into a pedantic love triangle which otherwise made me resent characters I genuinely know I like.

[HorribleSubs] Orange - 09 [720p].mkv_20160829_160708.468Today Azusa revealed part of her letter was about regretting an incident between Kakeru and Naho, but hilariously it all pans out and is cute. It forces Naho and Kakeru to talk to each other and be closer together, which is what they need. What causes the episode to go downhill is when the festival begins and instead of animating beautiful scenes for Kakeru’s memory, we get many scenes lacking detail. Shouldn’t I be feeling Kakeru’s pain?! Instead the entire episode is disjointed and disappointing. I can easily say this is the worst episode of Orange to date, because it took scenes that otherwise made Kakeru into and interesting and pained character and made it much less moving. The point got across and I did feel very sad for him, but I was very upset for him to have his past so misrepresented and for him to be so bitterly jealous.

I am very disgruntled, to the point I don’t know what to say anymore. Everything about the second half of this episode was boring and stupid, and misrepresented everything about the show. I feel like this is the first time I roled my eyes at feelings I normally empathize with. Let’s just hope next week is better. . .hope.

[HorribleSubs] Orange - 09 [720p].mkv_20160829_160636.687

Oki

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Anonymous August 29, 2016

    Let me just start off by saying, wow, this review was brutal. I’m trying to read the manga alongside the episodes, though I haven’t been watching the anime. I got up to the end of the last episode with the revelation that they all had the letters, but after reading your post, I had to spoil a little and skim through this most recent episode, but not too deeply to spoil a lot.

    I gotta say, you were right about the quality of the episode. Compared to the past episodes, I can see some places where the animation was not up to par, to put it nicely. I understand that sometimes, animation is like this because of time crunches and the like, and I see where you’re coming from where the animation is distracting to the episode. Nevertheless, I tried my best to treat this as a hiccup and just decide to enjoy the episode for what it is.

    Having said all that, I’ll say that I didn’t watch the entire episode. I wanted to read the manga, so I just skimmed through bits and pieces. The last part I saw was the flashbacks of Azusa reading her letter. I don’t recall seeing that in the manga yet, but I think that it’s really nice to see other people’s letters. It’s a nice change of pace. Also, seeing the animations of her birthday is just adorable. I guess I don’t really have much about the episode in general, just about the post. Despite this hiccup, I still enjoy Orange, at least as much as I can while reading the manga.

  2. Anonymous August 30, 2016

    Also, recently, when I read the manga, I imagine “Tooi hi no Kizuato” from Suzuka playing in the background. It brings about a slight depressing tone which really follows the story.

  3. or September 1, 2016

    The race is one of the highlights of the whole manga in my opinion, episode 10 better improve and do it justice. It hurts to see how terrible the production has turn when we are going to reach the best and most emotional parts. The manga and the live action movie were very popular and both sold a lot, I thought they would try to be more responsible with the anime adaptation and not let it become a mess.

    Regarding this episode, it did adapt a ‘boring’ part but it is a shame the derpy animation didn’t allow to capture the essence of certain scenes, like during the fast food restaurant, the face Suwa makes when Azusa says she hopes Naho and Kakeru remain happy and together in 10 years or Takako’s worried look at Suwa when he agrees with Azusa.

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