One of my personally most hyped Fall Anime, Adachi and Shimamura finally has received its anime adaptation. There’s been a scarcity of yuri anime recently, and even fewer decently well made yuri anime, so it’s always nice to see an acclaimed yuri light novel be adapted, and it looks so far to be a faithful adaptation as well. With Otherside Picnic coming in January, we are blessed with yuri light novel anime to come. Now onto the first episode.
Disclaimer: I have not read the light novels, but they are all online to read at your discretion.
I’m already confused, I thought this was a yuri anime but there’s an astronaut floating in the river. Ok bud
First look at our protags! Adachi (the one with dark hair) and Shimamura (the one with light hair) look quite nice in this art style, really comparable to the light novel’s art. Both are frequent truants, opting to skip class in favor of ping pong. I mean, how they haven’t gotten caught is a wonder, when they’re playing literally right above the school gym. Young love’s gotta start somewhere, and that’s ping pong for these goobers.
Already the Big Gay has struck Adachi, look at her eyes. Careful, Shimamura, she might misinterpret what you’re considering exciting hehe. And cue to the opening.
Wow that’s cute. And their hands are slowly inching towards each other. Just friends, right?
JUST FRIENDS RIGHT, as they look into each others’ eyes in the sunset. (Cool ET reference, biking to the sky) Opening is very soothing, I’m getting a relaxing vibe from this already.
It’s a hot day, and Adachi’s sweating buckets. Of course, Shimamura has to comment on that, and wow she is more forward than I expected her to be. Get your mind out of the gutter.
They already skip class quite frequently, and Shimamura already knows at this point that she does it to spend time with Adachi rather than to skip for the thrill of it. Self aware characters, love it.
Skip forward, and Shimamura is salty over being beaten by Adachi in Ping Pong, and is buying a book to learn advanced techniques. And she runs into…
Possibly another yuri couple?!? I didn’t catch their names, but I got strong vibes when uh this happened…
Nice excuse, but that won’t go unpunished you fiend. Shimamura you’re looking way too interested, avert your eyes child.
We then get into the next scene which breaks my heart.
Shimamura and the comedic duo run into Adachi, but Shimamura has no idea how to react seeing her secret waifu in public. She decides to just ignore it and walk past. HOW COULD YOU!!!
She goes into an inner monologue how relationships are hard and fickle, but c’mon that was ice cold. They then return to hanging out upstairs like nothing happened.
You are forgiven. For making it up to your waifu. They then bike home together, but Adachi addresses the elephant in the room.
Oof.
NOOO. Don’t make Adachi sad. Protect!!!! It’s clear that Shimamura means the world to Adachi already, although she may not know she’s already feeling something special. Go for it chief.
Wrap it up folks. Shimamura just ended this man’s career with three words.
So the dynamic couple return to playing ping pong, but unfortunately, they are found out by Shimamura’s friends. And oh boy, are they in for a treat.
Yeah, Adachi ain’t havin none of that. There’s a reason her eyes are green (turquoise?). She got that jealous vibe all the way down, and won’t share her wife.
I wonder why Shimamura? (Those eyes are of someone who’s boutta clap some folks)
Fortunately, Adachi couldn’t stay away forever. The thirst brought her back haha.
Wow, she really just goes for it. Adachi is a possessive yandere confirmed. Episode ends with them reconciled, thankfully. And don’t miss the ED…cuz it’ll melt your heart.
SPOILER ALERT??? FORESHADOWING??? Or just platonic hand-holding? Up to you.
After credits scene. Looks like it comes full circle, so the astronaut IS important to the story. Not sure what they’re relevant for but we’ll see.
So final thoughts: This will be an anime that’s a slow-burn romance for sure, and a heavy emphasis on self-introspection. So, dialogue is heavy for inner monologues. That’s for the best, as the light novels mainly focused on the characters’ inner thoughts.
The art is very calming, and I weirdly like the characters’ eyes?
From the first episode alone, it was easy to tell that Adachi considers Shimamura to be someone special to her, but doesn’t seem to know why. Shimamura likes hanging out with Adachi, and is more self aware of her feelings at least. Unfortunately, Adachi is a loner, and wants to monopolize Shimamura to herself. Not good man, your waifu can’t be your everything. You gotta branch out chief. Overall, good episode, definitely looking forward to the next one to see what progress our lovebirds will make. I hope this will be Bloom into You’s spiritual successor, as season 2 eludes us (cries in corner).
Anime Drabbles 