What They Say:
The promise of another world drives Asuka and her friends to perform the 4:44 Ceremony. What’s the worst that could happen?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
An original project known as Akanesasu Shoujo that was commissioned for Animax’s 20th-anniversary, the series is localized as The Girl in Twilight that got my attention for having Masakazu Katsura handling the character designs. His work years ago was influential on me with Video Girl I and I’s among others and getting a taste of his style in the modern is always pleasing even if it’s not quite as distinctive as his own original works. What we get here is more traditional character design than Katsura’s design work but some of the edges are there in the faces and hair that I like, making it easy to enjoy them since they play to the familiar with just enough quirks.
The premise is simple enough in that we get a group of friends that somewhat play at trying to open a portal to another world through the 4:44 ceremony that they do. Some are a bit more serious than others but it’s the kind of thing that kind of binds them together as part of the Radio Research Society, something that not all of them quite belong to since there’s a level of embarassment with it and their grudge against the Broadcast Club. they’re comically in trouble for various things they do, such as taking over the school speaker system, but mostly there’s just this sense that they’re acting and playing out things like you’d normally see boys do here. It’s amusing and works well since they throw some cuteness into it in how they deal with the teachers over it, making it clear why they manage to get away with things in the end.
The first half largely deals with them going through their day to day motions until they try again with a little prayer at the shrine after school, which actually ends up working in transporting them elsewhere. It’s a curious world of gold falling from the sky and submerged buildings but also cute little yellow snow rabbits of a sort. The rabbits have a cute feeling to them and I’m amused in how it gets weirdly sexual before they become weirdly violent, which allows for the arrival of Asuka-X, aka the girl in twilight who saves them. This is one of those key selling moments with the action as it’s beautifully animated as she fights off the critters that turn into snake-dragon types, all of which looks great with the golden yellow colors used. It’s definitely distinctive and sets a tone for the moment.
What’s intriguing is that the woman here, who looks like Asuka, talks about how this group came from 633.0, making clear a kind of multiverse approach to it. While she brings the girls back to their world, her attempt at returning to her own fall short as she’s exhausted from the fight. It’s no surprise that the others would take her in to help her and set her up at Asuka’s in order to figure out what’s really going on. Though all the girls get some focus it’s Asuka who gets more and tied with Asuka-X as well once she appears as the catalyst. It’s cute seeing Asuka basically taking her in and taking care of her while Asuka-X starts to realize more of who Asuka is and the similarities. It’s one of the fun elements of multiverse stories with similarities and differences and exploring this through Asuka could give the show some fun going forward.
In Summary:
The Girl in Twilight gives us a good handle on the main cast as introduced so far with how their lives are and the way they played at exploring the multiverse out there. Once it shifts to the back half as the first other world is explored and they meet the other Asuka it ramps up big with a great action sequence and some really nice design work and overall execution. I liked that it played the action well and mixed in a little sexuality of sorts. The main issue at this point is a familiar one where nobody asks Asuka-X’s name until the very end even while commenting on how much she and Asuka look alike. There are hints of bigger things here to be sure with it all and I like what’s introduced but it didn’t quite nail the ook as strongly as it should, though it introduces more connections toward the end that lets Asuka finally figure out the basics of it all. It certainly has potential.
Grade: B
Streamed By: HIDIVE
