First Impression: A Hundred Scenes of AWAJIMA

“Is there any point in reaching the top by stepping on other people?” first-year Wakana asks her new roommate Kinue, to which the older girl responds, “Platitudes won’t get you anywhere.” The world these girls have entered is a difficult one. Wakana, Kinue, Wakana’s new friend Momoko, and others are attending Awajima Opera School, where they will become rivals to reach a place on the stage. But at their tender age, some will struggle—like a talented opera singer who weeps when she has to share a bath with the other girls—and they will try to find their way among girls whose skills may be different, but aspirations are the same: to shine.

I’m a sucker for a good shoujo-ai series. The tenderness with which many of them tell coming-of-age stories grips me. That bittersweet and sensitive quality shows through in the second half of the first episode of A Hundred Scenes of AWAJIMA—but first, the introduction. There’s a lovely quality to the animation, that same watercolor look (especially during some key scenes) that is common to many GL series and which I first experienced with Hourou Musuko (more on that in a minute), but also a childish look given to the characters: Their faces are less angular and some chubbier than expected out of modern anime, looking as if they’re out of a child’s anime from years gone by. That helps convey what a tender age they’re at. The dreamy quality is emphasized, too, by sepia-tinted scenes, and some evidence (like flip phones) that this is in the past. After introducing the setting and some of the main characters, the series shifts in the second half of the episode to Kinue’s past. There’s no real foreshadowing that we’d take a deep dive into her life, which is part of why I love this so much; it seems we’ll be learning about so many girls from a very personal perspective, and that the show won’t be only from Wakana’s perspective. And when it does go into that flashback mode, whew, it really captures the delicate quality I mentioned earlier. This show reminds me deeply of Hourou Musuko—but it should. I discovered after watching this premiere that it’s adapted from a manga by the same author. I wouldn’t have needed to even watch the episode to know that I would love it, but having done so now, I’m doubly excited for the series, which I think could become one of my favorite anime of the year.

A Hundred Scenes of AWAJIMA can be streamed on Crunchyroll. Christian audiences, as always, should approach viewing yuri, GL, and shoujo-ai series thoughfully.

Twwk
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