English: Orange
Japanese: orange（オレンジ）
Episodes: 13
Aired: Jul 4, 2016 to Sep 26, 2016
Genres: Drama, Romance, Shoujo
Duration: 24 min. per ep.
Rating: PG-13 – Teens 13 or older
My Rating: 8 out of 10
Orange. This anime has been popping in and out whenever I search for some sad anime online. And since I’ve already exhausted my sports anime to-watch list (well, almost *wink), I decided to try something dramatic this time. I originally tried some other anime suggestions first but it’s only with this anime that I was able to settle in as early as the first episode.
My whole viewing experience was really eventful, which definitely explains why I wrote this article, *wink. After watching all 13 episodes, I’m still not sure whether I love this anime or not. Ofcourse I have some few points that I love and some that really frustrates me, but thinking back, I think this anime is a really good interpretation about having regrets, feeling guilty, and depression which we can really relate and learn from.
For this article, I am going to break up my thoughts through the following points:
(WARNING: I might include some major spoilers ahead, so if you don’t want to get spoiled, stop reading right now and watch the anime instead, *wink. But if you’re really that curious, feel free to continue reading.)
Opening and closing themes (plus the music and art)
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the opening theme is spring. It has this calming effect to it and the art works’ really good, as well as the song. In comparison to its opening song, the ending song makes me want to curl up in bed and cry my heart out. Not my usual catchy anime song but it went straight to my heart that all I wanna do is emote (lol)!
I actually have no violent reactions about the arts, characters design, effects, animation etc. because they all look fantastic to me.
Plot
Time-related plots (like time travel, etc.) were pretty common these days and I think it could be considered cliché to some. We all hate clichés, right? (well, I think not all) But time traveling or stories where the characters got the chance to change the past or something like that isn’t part of my most hated cliché in the history of cliché list. Unless ofcourse it’s done so horribly.
For this anime, Orange was able to capture my attention the moment it mentioned the strange letter Naho received from herself – 10 years in the future! A letter from herself 10 years in the future? What’s the big deal?! But that isn’t just a simple letter, it’s a letter from her future self that tells Naho’s future life is filled with regrets, and she hopes that her younger self can correct the mistakes that were made in the past and most importantly, save the person she loves. And right there, I wanna burst to tears.
The addition of suicide, regrets, guilt and depression makes this anime more than just your usual time (travel) stories. All of those things we’re pretty dark but I think Orange was able to portray those issues so well. It can be a bit frustrating especially on how Kakeru handled them but thinking back, it made me realize how powerful guilt and depression are and that it could easily snatch a precious life away from someone.
Another thing I like about this anime is what amazing things these set of friends did to save Kakeru. FRIENDSHIP is another big word in this anime and you know me, next to family, I love reading stories where it highlights friendship.
Narration
You can really feel the emotion with every narration but for someone who loves fast-forward (very guilty, haha), you may find Orange quite slow. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t feel bored watching this anime but it was quite slow (especially on some sad scenes between Naho and Kakeru) that I wanna hurry up and learn what happens next.
Lesson
No one can change the past so you shouldn’t dwell on them. But sometimes, you have to go back to the past in order to really move forward.
Another thing which I think makes this anime really good was the set of lessons the viewers are able to learn from. It ranges from – guilt, regrets, sacrifice (hands down for Suwa), and that you can’t carry all of these burdens alone and that somewhere along the way, you’ll be needing your friends and family’s help.
Characters
Another thing why I love shoujo anime is that most of them showcases set of friends who may share different personality but were able to create an amazing friendship. For Orange, it didn’t fail to show me that. Ofcourse the main focus for this story is Kakeru so there’s no complete introduction with each character but all throughout the show, we can definitely get an idea what kind of person each of them are.
I actually like most of the characters but there’s this one specific character that really stood up for me, and that’s Suwa. I just love him. Even after what he found out, he still supports Kakeru and dropped everything (even the future for the one that he loves) so he can save him. So yep, the best friendship and the best guy ever award for this anime goes to Suwa.
Romance
I love YA especially if the settings’ in highschool, which definitely explains why I always seem to watch shoujo anime, hihi. I think this anime focuses more on friendship rather than romance, but ofcourse for a hopeless romantic, I can’t help but giggle whenever Kakeru and Naho have their moments. But my most dreaded bitchy-ex-ruining-everything scenario happened in this anime which really made me want to throw a tantrum, but luckily it wasn’t stretched that long.
Since there’s two sets of timeline in this anime, there’s also two sets of pairs you are going to look out for. I was actually kind of torn which one of the pairs I love the most but because of the issues Kakeru is encountering, he can act really weird and frustrating sometimes so I can’t help but also cheer for the other guy. I guess this is also the reason why I’m not sure what to really think of this anime.
And lastly, both the girl and the boy confessed their love but they’re not officially dating. What’s with that?! But looking at the boy’s point of view, I think I kind of understand. But still, it’s definitely not good for my hopeless romantic backbone.
Ending
It was bittersweet which exactly explains why this anime is entitled Orange. The ending may not be your ideal boy-get-married-to-the-girl scenario but it’s definitely giving us an idea what will happen next now that they were able to accomplish their goal.
But truthfully? I think your reaction to the ending depends on who you are rooting for. For me? I am rooting for Kakeru at first (that seems to happen when you know that the guy’s dying or something) but as I watched further, that changed and now I am rooting for the other guy too. I think both of the guys deserve Naho and if I could be mean, I don’t like Kakeru to end up with Naho, I think the other guy deserves her more. But I feel something weird, really. I kind of don’t like the idea of Kakeru and Naho but whenever they have their sweet moments, I am silently cheering for them lol.
***
Based on the pointers above, I still can’t commit to just one emotion but one thing’s for sure now – it’s not hate. So, I guess it’s somewhere along the way to love? If it helps, I gave this anime an 8 out of 10 rating in MAL, *wink.
Btw, there’s both an animated and live action version of Orange that I am yet to watch, *wink. Please see the trailers below.
