Island

I was supposed to drop, but I'm glad I stuck with is the ending is awesome, ties the plot threads pretty neatly. Do not expect much from the first 4 episodes. Its gets slightly better during episode 5 then it gets more confusing. In episode 9 it gets better and better, then episode 11 comes around where they fix the problems of the first episode unitil episode 8. The final episode ties the plot points of the series pretty well I say but the road to its awesome ending is messy. In conclusion I don't know how to feel about this show. Awesome ending messy early plot. Awesome Ending.

TL;DR: An anime that barely connects its mysteries to develop a romance While Island is trying to be one of the remarkable romance, mystery anime, the outcomes are pretty unsatisfactory, as it barely connects the mysteries around and develops a romance story. I would say Island is an average show, but can't be considered as a masterpiece, as it can have a better story presentation, rather than things I just saw in the anime. +Kinda dense mystery elements +It can be considered as a complete story at the end +Colourful animation +The bond between main protagonists is presented +Usage of soundtrack and music are pretty cool -Bland characters, especially for side characters -Strange story pace -The characters designs are pretty much similar To begin with, people considered Island as a fan-service anime, but at the end, you'll be shocked or confused to realise that it's not really the case, as at the end, you will need to figure out the mysteries settled by the settings and most likely you may need to compare the story differences and try to figure what Island is trying to present. I think most people who watch Island in seasonal would have this kind of issue, as the story pace is rather strange and may suddenly have plot elements that you wouldn't expect and may even misunderstanding the ideas of Island, like considering it is just a harem anime or a fan-service anime.I could understand why people think like that, as at first, Island is really like a fan-service anime with many unnecessary fan-service or comedy elements. This is a really common error in most anime that they should present the story in a better way, rather than just rush it at the end, anime fans wouldn't be impressed even the ending is a good ending or bad ending, as in general the story is really feeling bland and the characters are easily forgettable. Speaking of anime characters, although Island tries to focus on the bond between Rinne and Setsuna at first, the efforts are ruined because of the plot twists. This is kinda strange to say that because plot twists usually contribute well to the story, but in fact plot twists are too late to be developed and there's not much character development because of the poor story presentation, like the strange story pace in this anime. Side characters like Karen and Sara are even more bland because in Island, it's either they're acting like a harem character or it just a minor character that barely contribute to the plot and at the end, I don't really know what the side characters are doing to be honest, they're just really bland and lame. In a nutshell, Island is really trying to bring out a refreshing romance mystery anime, together with the desire that the main characters want to love each other with a few plot twists, but turns out pretty bad due to a poor story presentation. It's really disappointing that with such great potential, Island could be a great visual novel adaptation, but it ends up like important plot elements are packed and rushed at the end and fan-service is placed in the beginning, like a harem anime. At the end, let's talk about the animation and sound usage. Well, Island does have kinda good animation, like the visuals used in the Island, the sunlight reflected on the clear sea water, but the character designs are looking too similar, same eye and face shape for female characters, they just change the hairstyle and the colours, others are looking the same if you realise that. Great and nice opening and ending songs, soundtracks and background music are used pretty well, they're kinda fit into the atmosphere. Sadly, this is the one only aspect I think Island is doing great. For those who are considering to watch this, either you watch other anime or you should consider whether you'd enjoy a dense and packed romance and mystery anime or not. Story: 5.5/10 (D+) (35%) Animation: 7/10 (B) (10%) Sound: 7.5/10 (B+) (10%) Characters: 5/10 (D) (25%) Enjoyment: 6/10 (C) (20%) Overall rating: 6/10 (C)

My review on Island Anime: The story was pretty much GOOD on some aspects on there line up of the Visual novel. It's like watching slow paste game at first, then mystery case on time travel appear. base on episode 1-3. Also episode 4-6 more solving problem island. 8-10 (spoiler) someone die they are trying to save him by going to the future. 11-12 (spoiler) TIME MACHINE it self is not time machine it like a freezing your body to not age at all. Like the story on future-rama show. Any-case they are all SAVE by Rinne alone. That main character didn't do anything at all. To solve the story on the island .Here is my point. There is no time travel he just continuous living 1 Million year or etc. The theory was endless cycle on life. story - Giving it 8 because i love the way author pull up this story. Art- Giving it 8 Love the art work and cute girls. Sounds Giving it 8 I almost cry on ending on that song. Character Giving it 5 I have MC also there voice quite bad! i mean no emotion at all! Enjoyment Giving it 10 (Bias it my review) I love the mystery on solving the Time Machine :) OVERALL 7.8 round of 8 GIVING IT 8

The Island anime is sort of like traveling nomads. A group of people who just travel around aimlessly without a fixated habitation. The problem with this sort of skeleton is that the anime just turns into a “master of none” type of scenario. Trying to incorporate all these different plot points and different tropes and it ends up just falling flat on its ass. Island has a cool time traveling thing it has going on, but it fails to develop it properly. Having very vague rules and up until the later episodes, activating when the plot demands it. It then just info dumps on you. Expecting the viewer to understand or even care at that point. It has a cast that has interesting backstories that connects back to the island, but instead of properly fleshing out its characters, it feels like a hentai. Just one-dimensional tropey characters that essentially want to bone the MC. Having an Island setting is somewhat interesting, but it has too much editing in post that makes the art look artificial and boring to look at instead of something natural. The one redeeming this is the music, but that only goes so far in your tolerance of what you can take on the BS happening in this anime. Having all of these things would make you have an average anime. However, what makes it very much below average is that fact that it constantly disappoints the viewer on all fronts. It isn’t good at anything that it's trying to be and culminated into a massive mess that I can’t recommend to anyone. It fails at being a thriller. It fails at being an ecchi visual novel. It fails at being a compelling character story and it fails at looking good. It fails on all fronts.

A Brief Study of Visual Novels - On Mother's, Lolita's, Freud and 'Island'. The visual novel genre of anime adaptations is my favourite genre with-in the medium and quite possibly one of my top 5 of all media. This isn't to say I'm some sort of expert or authority on the genre - On the contrary I haven't even seen that many and played even less. Yet this is non-the-less my favourite genre. For this brief study of some of it's core themes and how those relate to modern stories like our anime focus of 2018's 'Island' adaptation - It's pertinent to first clarify a few things. For one I'll be freely speaking on Island, including any and all spoilers. Two I'll also elude to a number of other novels and anime, though I'll add appropriate spoiler warnings for the most important details but be warned in advance. Third is where we can start our actual discussion. Visual Novels have an odd reputation in anime as in a sense they represent everything we both love and everything the public discredits about the medium - Aside from gaint robots(for the most part). We got harems as a primary focus, coupled with escapism and touch of heintai for good measure. Further regular set-dressings include fantasy, Sci-fi, military and even Magical Girls - But what we also have is some of the most passion filled and talented productions and writing available to this whole industry. For my part it may help to understand I come from a somewhat A-typical perspective on this, in that I by rights have zero interest in the VN genre. I've no desire to be a high-Scholler again - Indeed in the few years of working and learning since I finished school life I believe I've learned more then I ever did in those 14 years of public schooling. Further I see little appeal to being surrounded by a half-dozen mentally fractured young women on a regular basis. But regardless I find this genre enchanting and genre is a key-word here. Visual novels are Genre-fiction at there finest. Let's do away with a misconception right now, anime as a medium is not one entity or genre but it is filled with them in abundance. There is nothing wrong with every harem show and isekai having a Tsundere in and of itself(The problems are broadly speaking their execution and lack of development). That is how common-fiction works. Beam Sabers in Gundam are unapologetically based off lightsabres and in turn the Jedi of Star-Wars are unmistakable Male Bene-Gesset from Dune - So on, so on. The point of genre fiction is to build and comment and create based on all that came before it and that's not a bad thing. If every-book built on every prior book, then by logic they should always be improving and that's one part of what makes visual novels so engaging, because you can see that conversation in play in a truly wonderful fashion. I watched the 'Planetarian Man of the Stars' film recently and I had this to say to my Brazilian friend whom has never watched any Studio Key products before; "I always think before I watch something adapted from studio Key that 'This time it won't be as good, this time I'll be numb to the feels' - and yet despite the fact I know these stories are written to make you sad and in spite of the fact I can predict almost every twist a mile before it happens.....I'm still blown away every single time God-Damnit" I have no interest in heintai stills, nor in being a student with amnesia or some edgy backstory. I don't particularly desire to live in most of these worlds but these worlds are most certainly beautiful in a way I don't find anywhere else. There our world, Earth, Terra Firma - Yet in a way so much more. I read someone once say; "When you watch the Clanned anime your watching Tomyio's journey which is great, but when you play Clanned you are Tomyio in his world, on your journey". If in all that mess I've managed to convey my surface feelings even a little on what this genre is to me without losing everyone who migth of had the faintest of interests in this 2 year old topic - Then it's time to get into the proper meat of todays essay - Island. Island is Bizarre; Island is a strange anime in that it's a tale of two half's, its the type of anime I sometimes refer to as a Rose; Beautiful in an emotionally resonant fashion that's hard to explain but ultimately kind of pointless. The sort of text that fades with time, wilts in the mind as it were - as that initial beauty is shadowed and all your left with is a fairly useless dead plant. Island is well made, there can be no doubt of that. The animation is gorgeous, the character designs distinct and the music on par with all it's contemporise while fitting perfectly, all matched by a competent direction. But equally Island is Balmy. It goes in far to hard with it's sci-fi elements, gets lost in the a quagmire of sudo-science, with plot holes so large that the pages start to crumple and it's characters though endearing fail to be anything of real substance. Island doesn't really seem to be saying anything and yet thrust me when I say it is inferring towards everything. The fixation of the community with the Lolita architype, that most complex of fantasy that lead you to both threat someone as daughter and spouse at the same time. It has further focuses on the family theme that so many before it have done so wonderfully but here it's almost Freudian in nature. And of course it's active commentary on what any of this means on if Visual Novels are, are.... good? How much of this is deliberate? How much a product of a hyper compressed video game, how much simply there to intrigue the audience into watching and spending their hard earned cash? Those aren't really the questions that fascinate me and it's for that reason that I haven't played the game in order to write this review - I have however read/played Front-Wings other flagship name 'The fruit of Grissia' and with that in mind there is alot to discuss here. I struggled with this one for a while and I doubt anyone will read this essay because it is mostly insanity. I don't know why I'm fixated on Island but I am, its like the focal point of anime all at once. The pinnacle of modern techniques while also the perfect examples of how not to write a meaningful story. It's seemingly in conversation with everything at once, while also totally missing the point of all that came before it. It may be a Rose to look at and listen to but it's a dumpster fire of a story and yet here I am, having rewatched Island, having first watched it when it aired. Here I am weeks later still thinking about that rewatch. Still thinking about anime. But let's slow down for a moment and try to recompose ourselves a little. To reacquaint with the story a little (atleast as I understood it), The man Setsuna repeats what he believe to be a time-loop at nauseum. In reality this loop is actually him only ever moving forwards in time which for some reason seems to reset and then re-enact itself with pin-point accuracy time and again. Ultimately the women Rinie who follows a similar path(maybe), while possibly de-aging and quite probably giving birth to identical children repeatedly - Finally matches with Setsuna, who almost bangs their daughter(Rinie Jr) by accident before the two live happily ever after. Not to mention the first few episodes which centre upon other semi-related girls. Phew that's alot of damage. If were feeling generous we could say the loop only occurs three times. If this is the case then theoretically that would mean our Setsuna is originally from the future Steampunk world and that Rinie has only given birth three times and only de-aged twice (This owing to the fact that the two have to be both moving forward as the one rule there clear on is that you can't go backwards - Ergo timeline 1-Rinie and steampunk-world Rinie as well as timeline 2 and steampunk + Timeline-0 Rinie are all the same individual, otherwise Rinie Jr(their daughter) literally can't exist in Timeline 1 and 2). But…

I binge watched this show twice as the first time through I missed important information about the story. I liked that it's a complete story from episode 1 through 12. The graphics and music are beautiful and the story is heart warming. The story keeps you guessing what's next all the way through. There is a lot of character development in the first 5 episodes and then "the plot thickens"... I loved it! The story really makes you think... It's worth seeing the story through as the ending is worth it. It is also a show I could share with my mother as I tried telling her a little bit about this story and she ended up having me watch it again with her and she loved it too! First Anime my mom ever watched and she liked it!

I don't know why people hated this show. I watched it, laughed, cried, laughed some more.... It was a very good show, i watched it without any remorse or regret. The story lacked some stuff. but otherwise it was music to my heart. I saw people hating it... but because im not the KIND of person who cares about opinions, i really must say that i enjoyed it. the time travel part and theories they called gave me an headache tho. The characters were not so... memorable, but they played their parts, as they should, they had some story behind, nothing bad. In the end, i gave this a fat 10, and i have every intention of keeping it that way.

I've had high expectations when I started this anime,expecting this to be the biggest show of 2018,I was clearly mistaken.The anime starts off with a fairly good introduction,introducing us to the cast and the mystery of the show,this is important to note later down the review.I would say that this anime is getting too much hate,its a fairly meh anime,but definitely not deserving of being torn apart,we have a top contender for that already.(Clue:The new isekai harem anime) I will like to tackle the art and sound of the anime first.It is of fairly good quality combined with what I believe are the powerful soundtrack of the source material itself.The art and sound are definitely of high quality,but it is the strongest point of the show.This is only the icing to the cake and we would still need the cake to taste good. This is a problem when we discuss the story and the characters.Let's start off with the characters.This is actually fairly simple to analyse as we have our protagonist Setsuna who is interesting at first but was turned into a boring harem protagonist after the introduction section,ep 2.Next, we have Karen, not too much to say here considering her relevance to the story,typical clumsy tsundere.At least her arc is pretty good to be fair.After that,we have our loli of a loli Sara,a funny and slightly obsess with myths and time travelling,however,she also is irrelevant to the story.Lastly,we have our main girl,or so we thought,Rinne,another tsundere who is absolutely obsessed with "her setsuna",pretty boring of a character but is important to the story. Let us move on to the juicy part,the story,which is also the worst aspect of the show.The story starts off by creating an intense atmosphere over the mystery of our setsuna.The story then tries to pull off a similar stunt from Steins Gate by putting casual slice of life events in the first few episodes to get us attached to the characters,which failed miserably due to how rushed and awkward the interactions are.We would then time skip to Rinne's supposed death which forced Setsuna to "time-freeze" his body,kind of like cryogenics.He then wakes up in the future and met Rinne 2.0,which is a product of all anime characters look alike.This future arc is EXTREMELY rushed with only 2 episodes and little development for any of the characters,this tremendously hurt the story as this anime is heavily reliant on its character.Setsuna would go back in time to save the world,oh wait nope.He just hooks up Rinne 2.0 of legal age who also went through cryogenics and became Rinne's father.In other words,he almost married his own daughter and start an incest.The whole problem with this ending is,the apocalyptic future is still assured,nothing has changed,the world will still perish,which would mean that the whole mystery mentioned in paragraph 1 is pretty useless.We spent the whole 12 episodes of this anime hoping for Setsuna to do something relevant to the "mystery",not just marry Rinne 2.0.This story is extremely unsatisfactory due to poor timing and throwing the entire plot out of the window in the last episode. All in all,I did expect Island to be a disaster if it only has 12 episodes,which it did.I was hoping that the series could save itself since it is produce with rather high quality judging from the art and soundtrack.However,at the end of the day,the story and characters of the anime are still important to consider,causing Island to be a mediocre anime,which is extremely pitiful due to its potential to be a great anime.

Let's start saying this is an anime adaptation of a visual novel released 28th april 2016 for japan while for english language it was released 24th august 2018 on steam (about 2 months later the airing of the first anime episode). Key tags: Novel Adaptation, Time Travel, Love Story, Drama, No Harem The plot is kinda "complicated" and I saw a lot of hate for this anime for being "confusing" and with "boring characters". While the majority of characters is actually bland, i actually found the plot interesting, so far i also went to play the visual novel because i couldn't bear to wait cliffhangers of each episode and trust me when i say you this: the novel is REALLY confusing, with characters making suddens U-turns on their personality making me doubt i was watching other people with the same face; also the "true ending" was really...a letdown so i went back watching the anime, and honestly? Damn at least for me it was MUCH better than the novel! But well let's stick to the anime review. Story - 7.5 I don't get what's so "confusing" honestly (aside the overabused use of Setsuna and Rinne as names). This isn't your usual slice of life/comedy anime so the plot is bound to be more complicated and in this case we have also different "time arcs". The "main plot" itself definitely makes sense, being an adaptation some details are lost in the way but while they weren't that important for the sake of the main plot, the narration goes quite fast at same point and you need to catch up fast what's happening to fully understand the plot. The first half is quite "easygoing" but the last half get more interesting the more it goes on and ultimately ends in a good way (far better than the novel, which was very confusing ending). Chararcters - 6.5 While the main "trio" of girls itself it's actually your usual bland group (tsundere, smart loli, kuudere), the main protagonist is very fun to watch bickering with other characters and there is a "secret" character showing up later on which is really a godsend and became the true "important" character later on. Overall score around 5 for the main trio but 7.5 for setsuna and special char. Overall - 7 While for sure Island isn't the best anime of the summer season it can definitely hold its ground as good love sci-fi drama anime thanks to an interesting plot and main character which gets better the more the show goes on. If you are fine with these premises you should definitely give it a shot! In short: Save the world -> Save the girl!

So many bad reviews from people who mainly expected something else... I rate it 7 aka above average. Island is a story that takes some time to build up but unravels in a dynamic second half. This show has a plot that puts to shame so many "great" and recognized anime. While the first half, episodes 3-7, are indeed too slow, they are not uninteresting, with a few redeeming, unexpected plot points, and I had a good time watching them on speed x2. The rest however makes you will make you glad you waited. No spoilers! Characters are flat, that I will admit. Breaking news : character development isn't the only way to make a show interesting. You have so many shows where the only sort of story to be found is the emotional development of everyone involved. Here in Island, characters are functional. They exist to serve a plot worth watching. Art and music, while not particularly memorable, fulfill their role well enough. The designs are cliché yet sober enough that you won't give them more thought that need be.

I don't understand why many people hate this show. At first I had no expectations of it, however that changed when I watched it. The twists that are set in the story is a favorite. Only a few anime are ones that i consider my favorite and this one slipped in to that list. The characters are another thing, they are are greatly drawn characters with the feel of caressing them. Even though, for some reason, the female mc's are meant to be high schoolers yet look like middle schoolers. It fits into the story line with the male mc being able to hold them tight within his arms, which many fantasize about, and which is perfectly normal for an anime watcher. Now; end of discussion

Very happy ending! Had some twists at the ending, unlike other anime you see now a days. If you want to watch a loli harem, I'd definitely recommend this to you. It felt kind of like a musical with all the singing, but it tied in nice with the plot. Let's just say the protagonist ISN'T beta like most other anime MCs. So points for that. Some questions left unanswered like about him having to do some things to people (it's in ep1, vague for no spoilers), but other than that pretty good drama and romance watch! My favorite character was Rinne AYY LMAO

Island had all the ingredients for a compelling sci-fi mystery story, love, destiny, and a mysterious wouldn't you guessed it.. island. its promising premise was ruined by awkward pacing and clumsy execution. The story in it self, while still somewhat intriguing, felt slow yet the critical development moments rushed, it makes twists feel unearned. Characters had potential but there was not much depth to them. The art was okay, nothing to write home about. Fans of extremely open mind and patience may still find value here in the emotional sci-fi side of things, but most will likely be frustrated by the wasted potential. Overall the anime isn't that bad, but the wasted potential here is surreal

This anime, seriously, it's the best. People sound like don't like it so much, but for my it's brilliant. I love how the story tells, for the first time, you probably don't get it clearly. It's can make your "brain blow up", but through the story timeline, and it has lots of punch lines that will make you shocked and for part it's can make you feel some feels that I can make you understand this. For the art and character, it's for your feels, but for me, it's 10/10. For the sound, OP, and ED it's great, but there's a song or a sound that originated from a Spanish song that will make you remember it's for so long. For enjoyment, it has everything to make you love it. In total, it's brilliant So believe in me, you should get right into it and also fall in love with this!

Honestly I am not a huge critic when it comes to anime. I appreciate a good story, interesting characters, and especially a good twist. For me I thought that Island was very confusing in the beginning, which it is sort of meant to obviously. Though after finishing the anime I do think that without knowing the information you get at the end, the first few episodes are difficult to appreciate at first. This is not to say that the first few episodes are not entertaining. I very much enjoyed the first few episodes. There were all kinds of entertaining and funny moments. I think if you are looking for a good anime to watch you should give this a chance. It probably won't be your favorite anime, but if you are looking for something to pass and stay engaged in then I would recommend this to you.

ISLAND, for better or worse, is your typical modern visual novel-to-anime adaptation. It takes a 30- to 40-hour, multi-route story and somehow condenses it into one 12- to 13-episode season. How well does it do that? I never read the visual novel, but honestly, even I could tell how rushed the storytelling was. The beginning seems fine. The main character, Setsuna, wakes up naked on an unknown island, where he meets the three main heroines and eventually helps them with their personal issues. I like the idea of this because, like many anime adaptations of visual novels, it takes the main points of each route, puts them into one timeline, and removes most of the romance outside of the main heroine. Eventually, the story takes a serious turn, and we learn more about Setsuna, the main heroine Rinne's origins, and how they tie into what the plot is really about. However, the main plot of ISLAND has a lot of issues for me. The first issue revolves around Setsuna, the main character. First of all, while the amnesia is far from the worst execution of the trope, I am really tired of it being used to add intrigue to mystery stories. The second issue is Setsuna's age, especially compared with the other main heroines. The other heroines are clearly high school age at most, while Setsuna is well beyond being out of school. There is also the fact that, while I do not dislike Setsuna, I do not particularly care for his goofy, mildly perverted personality. He is not the most unlikable guy or anything, but his humor is kind of lame. The three main heroines, Rinne, Karen, and Sara, are fine. Similar to Setsuna, personality-wise, I do not particularly care for them, and their humor is not especially good. However, I will give the show credit because all of their personal issues can be pretty relatable, especially since almost all of them are family-related. Honestly, in terms of character likability, I thought Rinne's mother, Kuon, was the most likable. That is not saying much, but she was the only one who actually made me laugh. I also somewhat liked the eventual reveal of her role in the story. Sadly, as I mentioned above, ISLAND is cramming a 30- to 40-hour story into 13 episodes. The stories around the heroines, as well as their reveals and development, are clearly rushed, so there is not much time to get to know them. I know the opposite end of the spectrum would be reading the VN, where I would probably have to deal with more of the lame comedy. However, the build-up for the characters' serious sides was not exactly satisfying by the three-quarter mark, where the story transitions into its serious twist and mystery. Sadly, I have a lot of issues with that part as well. Even though the setting in this part of the story is quite interesting, there continue to be issues involving age-gap romance, and the big reveal of how the story ties together is honestly kind of stupid. Literally, the only saving grace of the ending is figuring out who the true main couple is and how it ties into the original ending. Some people consider the anime ending better than the original VN ending, and it is a nice way to make this adaptation at least worth checking out, even if you have already read the VN. Having said all that, I consider ISLAND to be an okay-at-best experience. It has an interesting enough setting, some occasionally interesting twists, and some heroines whose personal growth is kind of good within the 13-episode time frame. I just have too many issues that prevent me from liking this show consistently. The main character is kind of lame, the comedy is not very funny, the stories are clearly rushed, there are multiple age-gap romances, and a few reveals are a little too over the top compared with the story that was initially presented. If you want a relatively unique setting with some unique drama and twists, you could check this out. However, I do not particularly recommend this anime or the VN based on what I have seen.

An anime series that initially appears to be a "regular summer romance/friendship story", but in the background of each episode it also presents small pieces of a larger story. The second half of the series starts to deal with the story in a big way and we see a rather interesting ending, although I must say that I probably managed to get a little lost and I'm not sure if I completely understood how everything happened, but the core of the story is clear. Overall, it's not an exceptional anime, but I simply enjoyed watching it so much that I give it 9/10.

Adapted from one of my favorite visual novels (top 10). Made by the super reputable studio Feel Animation, which has made 2 other masterpieces adapted from visual novels, Yosuga no Sora and Kiss x Sis. But the important thing is that I didn't pay attention to the studio's name before watching, didn't look at its profile on the site, only knew from the visual novel and watched enough anime to add to the summer list. And it surprised me... twice. Surprise 1: Too good, far beyond my expectations, far beyond. On a remote island separated from the mainland, a young man drifted ashore, he didn't remember anything about his identity or what happened, he only knew that he had traveled through time to come here to save the girl he loved. Even though it's a 12-episode anime, I enjoyed this series. The show has a lot of mysteries and knows how to arouse curiosity at the end of each episode. The anime sets up a lot, asks a bunch of questions, and then goes through a lot of time to find the answers. Then, when I think I know everything, the show has plot twists that spin the entire plot. The pace of the show is regulated, the scenes are arranged naturally, and it's captivating without being drawn in. The anime has a plot-building direction similar to Steins; Gate, with many timelines and plot twists. Summer in the anime is depicted with many beautiful shadow images, and in the series I've watched, Steins; Gate and this one have them. The music is... taken from the visual novel, that's enough to tell how good the music is. Verdict: good plot, good music, captivating, I think Island is an anime worth watching this summer. The second thing that surprised me: When I went to the anime's page on mal... everyone was criticizing it, the movie's score was low, all the reputable reviewers I trusted criticized this series, I even had to check to see if the movie's name was correct. I really don't understand what's so bad about the movie after reading those reviews, maybe there's a big problem with this anime that I haven't realized yet, overall I would still recommend it.

Island (Never) I am on a good streak lately for random shows I’ve come across. Keep in mind, this could be a very well known anime and I’m just out of the public sphere, but I’ve just learned of it. I’m very glad I decided to give it a shot though! Spoilers ahead, and trust me, this is a show worth going into blindly. If you haven’t seen it, give it a chance! I’d like to start out by saying the romance of the show is so nice. Once you get to the end, it’s debatable, but in the moment it’s nice. There were definitely a few choked up moments, but I had faith everything would work out. Aside from the whole parent thing, Setsuna and Rine have great chemistry and give the show a front runner for best girl, along with Kuon. I can honestly say that I’ve never been able to predict the girl that the protagonist will choose, and I guess in this case that still stands since I had hopes for Rine in our current era (Thank God it doesn’t end that way though). If Lost, Primer, and Cloud Atlas came together to make an anime, it would be Island. It starts out a little “slice of life” or “Romance”, then abruptly goes to reincarnation territory, and finalizes in the mystery/twist genre. It would be an understatement to say the show is unpredictable. Maybe I’m just dumb, but with how convoluted the science ended up being, I doubt any blind watchers were able to see that end coming. Moving forward, I’ll try and not be too nit picky since my brain is struggling to understand the concept of time loops and genealogy, but no promises.. I really enjoyed where this show took me. The first episodes didn’t really stand out to me, but were enjoyable enough to continue watching. It’s when Rine starts to remember Setsuna 1.0 back on the island that things start to get interesting. During that whole timeframe I just felt bad for Setsuna 2.0 chasing after the girl obsessed with her past, but good on him for following her to the island. Although it ends with Rine’s death, the moments they shared up to that point were nice to see and I’m glad she realized she needed to move on. The show switching to the future ice age storyline was a little jarring and difficult to get used to. I was briefly annoyed with the change in the environment. Part of it was Setsuna not having much of a reaction to seeing Rine/Kuon again, who looks identical to Rine. A touching reunion would have been nice, or at least a semblance of appreciation for this unlikely opportunity. The environment was bleak and filled with despair. It took a second, but eventually I grew to appreciate the new world the show throws us into because the story was so enthralling. I appreciated their struggle and felt sad for their deaths. I really appreciated seeing Setsuna actually show his love to someone. Kuon and him work well together and I was happy to see they had so much love for one another. Their marriage was comforting as well. I was surprised that this era felt more important to me than the previous, considering I was just upset at the idea of changing the environment so drastically. I’m really struggling to put everything together in terms of the world looping, it’s all very convoluted. If I think about it, this show is kind of depressing. Yes Setsuna ends up with a love of his life, but not the original love of his life. He’s the only time hopper to journey 3 times, whereas Kuon only hopped forward once. So yes he ended up with Kuon (Rine), but it’s the second version of Kuon that loved him, while the first lost her daughter and didn’t get to be with Setsuna at all. I suppose this was irrelevant to Setsuna. I personally would’ve liked to see the “future” cryopod actually be a time machine so the iterations of the characters we know from the start could remain the same. That being said, everything revealed in the final episodes were so surprising. They definitely subverted my expectations with that twist. This is a hard one for me to rate. I loved the romance and mystery aspects of the show and it kept me on my toes. I suppose what bugged me most though was Kuon staying silent about knowing Setsuna. Although had she said something, there wouldn’t be a need for 12 episodes I guess. Regardless I’d be pretty mad if I ended up falling in love with my daughter, all because of my natural attraction to Kuon’s genes and Kuon failing to tell me it was my daughter…it’s definitely incest…but I’m choosing to look past that for the sake of plot. If I accept everything at base value while not looking too far into it, this show was amazing to say the least. The characters were all entertaining and cute. Each one an individual but not so much to be unrealistic. I really enjoyed Rine and Kuon’s characters. Their arcs were beautiful to see play out and the characters were always a main focal point regardless of what was going on. Believe it or not, I found Kuon intriguing from the get go and I wish we could’ve had more time with her. Especially seeing her life with Setsuna play out…it was just too brief. Either way I’m happy with how it turns out. It was nice to see everyone happy in the end, with no awkwardness or sour feelings. I don’t feel I did a good job of reviewing this. The premise alone is so eccentric, it’s difficult to judge the show on a singular level. I love shows that go in depth, but this is more on a science fiction level than anything. Thus it would take a few pages just to understand the setting. I’m confidant there are a few holes in the logic, but it’s understandable enough to appreciate at least. All in all, I enjoyed my time with this show and will be recommending it in the future.

It's so underrated this anime and I'm glad to have finally given a chance to this anime that I kept in the plan to watch list. I thought it was just a slice of life anime set on an island at first, but as the anime goes on I got really into the story which is typically what you want for your enjoyment. The time travel stuff, I think is always my jam and it is always fascinating how authors are going to explain the troubles and holes dictated by this matter. Unfortunately, it is rushed at the end, since the anime is only 13 episodes. Nevertheless, I bet that the manga would explain better the story, thus having a good pace of the events. Normally I would give a 7 for this anime, but since it's so underrated I gave it a 8.