If you follow the seasonal preview and the first impression posts, you get an idea on where I stand about P.A.Works originals as a whole. I have deep respect for an anime studio that prioritizes original contents over adapting popular-but-empty isekais and idols and all that jazz. At the same time, it’s a bit frustrating to see these series are quite there but never fully reach their own potential. Almost all of their previous originals start strong but fail to stick the landing. After 3 episodes of Aquatope, I can sense the same patterns – it’s thoughtful and resonant in small moments but doesn’t quite have a strong narrative to carry its fuel.
One thing that Aquatope has done right, though, is boosting two multi-dimensional main girls who have their own issues and how they support each other, both physically and emotionally. In the premiere we follow Fuuka as she made a rash decision to run away from home and ended up working in the Gama Gama Aquarium, in episode 2 & 3 we learn more about Kukuru and her struggle to keep the aquarium afloat. The aquarium is in bad shape financially as her granddad can’t afford to buy new equipment and is on the verge of closing down after the summer. Kukuru’s struggle is well-realized, in a way that we can see how she loves Gama Gama Aquarium and being around the animals.
And for me her feeling of being in a corner enables many interesting situations where she is so conscious of her own responsibility that she ignores the feeling and the help from others. We have some good variations of that issue throughout the last two episodes. First, she is furious at Fuuka as our girl in training fails to feed the penguins properly. Her harsh comment upsets Fuuka, but then she (and we) learn about the aquarium situation. This is a good move from Aquatope to not delving too much about it, because I feel this is a recurring issue of Kukuru that will escalate to something more serious before she can learn to … well, relax. In episode 3, again too burdened with her responsibility, she decides to seek help from pregnanted vet rather than asking her granddad. It’s unfortunate that the vet is in labor right at the time, but it serves to be a good lesson for Kukuru to rely more on others.
The vet-in-labour subplot serves as a good chance for Aquatope to bring up its more magical-realism touch. As she is about to give birth, she is washed over by the blue water and sees the future version of her son, something akin to the magical moment Fuuka experienced in episode 1. The idea of us as human beings immersed in the grand blue natural life of aquatic creatures, or the concept of death and birth (which the show explores briefly in episode 3) are something I enjoyed. I’m not too sure how Aquatope will handle its fantasy element – there’s this strange girl who doesn’t belong to the rest of the show, but as far as its “realistic” version goes, I’m happy with what we got so far. It’s certainly a delight to see both Kudaka (the tourism board lady) and Teruya (the fortune-teller lady) back to this story. The mere fact that they are still around adds much needed spice to this show.
As for Fuuka, upon assisting the labor, comes around and texts to her Mom about where she’s at. It’s a nice little moment that closes off episode 3 on a high note. While my worries remain that Aquatope might prefer to tackle the same themes over and over again rather than advancing its plot – Aquatope’s very strength might also be its weakness: its restraint and understated approach keeps viewers from fully engaging it.
I have been saying it since the premiere. This show has clear potential, like all PA Works do at first, but it just borrows too much from their catalogue – a little bit of Nagi-Asu, a little bit of Glasslip – and it just doesn’t have enough originality for me to fully embrace it. I have just been burned before and can’t help but be cautious now. Still, here’s to hoping it improves along the run.
Also, welcome back, Mario!!! 😁
On a possible twist this show might use after revealing that Kukuru’s mother had 2 maternity guides, I think that Fuuka and Kukuru might have shared a mother in the sense that Kukuru’s mother was Fuuka’s surrogate mother because Fuuka’s mother kept getting miscarriages or something, so they had Kukuru’s mother give birth to Fuuka. It could be that the god guided Fuuka to Kukuru so that they could meet each other.