It’s always neat to see a work that feels every inch a P.A Works production. When you think about the studio, you’d immediately associate them with their original shows, chief among them ‘Mature women in workplace’ unofficial trilogy, and The Eccentric Family (I consider the latter their pinnacle work). For the last 5,6 years the studio has consistently built up their reputation, resulted in them having their own aesthetic lense and a great amount of control over their outputs. Come Irozuku, an anime that, while doesn’t totally blow me away, still complement many strengths of P.A Works as one of the best anime studio around. The production, for example, is simply stunning. Not only Irozuku excels on characters movement and expression, it has a drop-dead gorgeous and rich background designs and wonderful aesthetic. Moreover, it’s that the staffs know how to tell the story visually. The monochrome visual from Hitomi informs us a great deal of her psychological issues. Or the final moments in this episode, where the photography captain Shou sees Hitomi performing magic alone; that moment alone conveys more emotions than thousand words can describe.
With this second episode, I start to warming up on Hitomi as our main character. In the premiere, she’s clueless. She’s so passive that other characters or the plot have to carry her along. In this episode 2, at least I can see her drive and I can relate to many of her issues. She’s attracted to a boy in her school Yuto, or to be more precise, she’s attracted to his drawings. The paintings literally come into colors in Hitomi’s eyes and she wants to see that again. That’s pretty relatable in her situation and again, points for P.A.Works for their great touch of displaying the colors she sees (it’s not realistic colors but is more colorful and painting-like). Their first encounter is awkward, as it should be, with all the break-in affair and friends’ gossips. This uneasiness comes to the point where Yuto asks her to perform real magic to prove her story, and in turns brings up Hitomi’s another issue (look up to this episode’s title). In the end, however, they share a pretty intimate moment, where he kindly asks her to perform magic again sometimes. The bigger question I have for now is that how Yuto fits in 60 years from now. I’m not convinced he’s Hitomi grandpa or even anyone that she knows at that timeline. So maybe, just maybe, he will be gone at some points in the future? Is that Hitomi’s mission all along to save/ learn about him?
While Hitomi comes to school where her grandma goes is as tropey a plot point as it can get, there are few things that make her school trip a treat to watch. First is the yet-to-be-seen Kohaku, her grandma about her age. While she isn’t physically there, her presence and her energy are still felt in this town, to the extent that Hitomi’s classmate treats her like they’d treat a cranky lion. It’s a matter of time until Kohaku makes a first appearance (I guess maybe the next one or 4th episode), but her playful antic will add more energy to Irozuku and until then we can learn better the reason why Hitomi got sent back in this timeline in a first place. The second factors are the supporting cast, who are all members of photography club (clue for more gorgeous arts). They have an easy and natural chemistry and they help bringing Hitomi to enjoy the school life more.
We also get a glimpse of Hitomi’s magic and while it’s underwhelming, it’s not due to her lack of power, but her refusal to use it. It will be interesting to see how Hitomi eventually opens up to use more of her magic, at the same time to open up with friends and sees more color to her life. It’s a conventional growing up tale, I know, but so far Izoruku nails its slow-burning pace, and conveys emotional beat not by the melodrama (*cough VioletEvergarden *cough) but by the strengths of its visual storytelling. While Irozuku certainly has its lows, there’s still a lot to look forward to based on these first two episodes.