Blue Spring Ride stands at the top of the Summer 2014 season pedestal, at least for now, with great character writing that mixes oh-so-well with the themes of the story.
What They Say:
“Page.2”
At the end of her first year of high school, the main heroine, Futaba suddenly has a chance encounter with her first love, Tanaka Kou. Three years ago, he transferred schools before she was able to say how she felt about him. After meeting each other again, Futaba realizes that he has gone through many changes. He acts more cool and even had his last name changed to Mabuchi. Gradually the two rekindle their love while piecing together what had happened in the time that they were apart.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Blue Spring Ride jumped at me out of nowhere. I look through those previews of the season, but I never really read the descriptions. I should, I know, because what I end up doing is sampling almost literally everything. It’s often horrendous and what I end up doing with the worst of it is browsing Tumblr or Twitter while I watch it. I don’t know why I do this, but I do. What this means is that I get surprised by things a lot and disappointed by things almost never. I have no expectations going into shows because I don’t know what they are. GLASSLIP is something I actually read about because it had the P.A. Works name on it, but everything else I judge on the picture provided. Those pictures rarely, if ever, are indicative of the show itself. How can a picture even do that?
With the second episode, Blue Spring Ride has added layers and layers of parallels and symbols to go along with its themes of identity. Makita, the cutesy girl who all the other girls hate, was always the girl that Futaba was. I mean, Makita’s high school life as we see it exactly parallels Futaba’s in middle school. But as we delve at all into Makita, it’s evident that her life isn’t what Futaba’s was, it’s what Futaba wants out of her own. Makita attempts to hide none of her own characteristics out of fear of fitting in. She says that girls want the attention from guys. Isn’t that true? Or at least that girls want the attention of those they find attractive? Almost universally that’s true because we want that significant other to be able to love and care for. Makita has no reservations about seeking that.
There’s a bit of commentary here too, though. There’s a line that Futaba says that goes, “The ‘wanting to like me’ vector only applies to girls.” And of course it doesn’t She comes to that realization moments later and Tanaka represents that later. The shampoo he used in junior high—the same one he uses now—mixed with the smell of a new cologne. Just like the makeup and perfume that girls use, guys use products to try and attract as well. With subtlety, the show plays no favoritism to either sex in attracting the other, even though on the surface it appears it does (girls attracting guys, through Makita).
I think Tanaka is perhaps the most intriguing character, if not the most interesting (the most interesting is yet to be seen in a cast full of potential to be). Tanaka seemingly never speaks in definites unless the situation calls for it, like with the first episode’s bread scene. But everything else in high school has been playing around with his words. Even the hug wasn’t fully genuine because he was hiding her face—the face that he sort of, kind of caused to cry. But can she call him Kou? Is he really a nice guy? Is he really this indifferent? The only thing he seems to care about is that he’s not Tanaka, he’s Mabuchi. While Futaba may have been hiding behind a persona, Tanaka’s hiding behind a name. It was evident in the first episode, but they play with it so much more here. It’s like Tanaka finally recognizes Futaba when she calls him Kou. The all-important name plays a huge role in Blue Spring Ride, at least for Tanaka.
What was even more important for Tanaka, though, is that Futaba dropped her act. She valiantly stood up for Makita to her friends, even if it cost her their friendship. Chie seems like she’d be the dark horse; the friend that could or could not swing either way, but just has too much loyalty to Asumi. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chie comes back later in an episode or in small roles.
Unrelated, Asumi kind of reminds me of a mixture of Yano and Chizuru (mostly Chizuru) from Kimi ni Todoke. Maybe it’s just me.
In Summary:
The ending animation showed Tanaka, Futaba, Makita, and another boy and girl hanging out together. We caught a glimpse of the girl running into Tanaka-sensei on the stairs and she seems just as outcast as the other three. I sort of dislike this in anime openings and endings, but it gives us something to look forward to. With the character writing matching so well with the theme, I can’t imagine the other two making the show worse.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24” Dell UltraSharp U2410 set at 1920 x 1200, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II
