Adachi and Shimamura – The Search Continues

Production

I thought Adachi and Shimamura looked great. It’s not an original look by any means, in fact, it looks as if it was a Kyoto Animation feature. I even had to go check but it’s not. The main difference I saw was that the characters are more…oily(?). That’s not the right word. The characters look clean just sort of shiny. I’ve seen the aesthetic in a couple of CGDCT shows, I’m not sure what the idea behind the look is.

Beyond the character designs, the backgrounds are more utilitarian but not bad by any means. There are a few really pretty sunsets and although the colour palette is very conventional, it occasionally is also quite pretty.

I think Adachi and Shimamura was more about visuals for me than sound. The music and general sound design were fine, as in they didn’t get in the way of the production ever, but I also already forgot about them completely. And I finished this show 2 days ago. I have a similar takeaway with the voice acting. All the characters sounded fine and I do think everyone did a good job, but I wouldn’t say anyone elevated the material. I think a little more chemistry between the two leads could have really brought something extra to the show. Then again Shimamura is written in a very noncommittal way so maybe more chemistry would have sounded out of place. I didn’t really hear the girls falling in love is what I’m saying but I think both actresses did sound their part otherwise.

Story & Characters

Let’s just get this out of the way, Adachi and Shimamura is not one of those Yuri titles that made me like romance. It’s a super typical romance anime with all the tropes and narrative beats I usually don’t like. And I didn’t particularly like them here either. I think my big note at the end of the series was: Adachi and Shimamura is thoroughly inoffensive. And I guess that’s something!

The narrative is typical high school romance stuff. Adachi and Shimamura are both sort of aimless high school girls with no ambition and little interest in school. They are both struggling to find themselves and figure out what they want. The difference being that Shimamura is a popular well-liked girl while Adachi has a reputation as a delinquent and tends to be avoided by all. They strike up a friendship that eventually develops into romance.

And that’s it, except with all the complications you would expect. Of course, there’s some of the usual jealousy, jumping to conclusions and weird misunderstandings, mixed in with the genre-specific doubts and fears about having feelings for someone of the same gender. I should say they get over those doubts and fears very quickly. Adachi and Shimamura is pretty much a girls-only universe so everyone is a lesbian. That means they also don’t go into the social issues if that’s what you were hoping for. Personally, I like the lighter approach.

There is one thing that’s out of the ordinary: Yashiro. In many ways, she was my favourite part of the series. We never get an explanation. Yashiro is a little alien girl who is on Earth to find her partner. As far as all the characters in the story go, she is an eccentric child with an overactive imagination but we do see hints that she may really not be human. I mean she glows, why doesn’t anyone mention that? she is a little twee at times though. And seems like a fanservice character (not the sexy kind) in many ways. So I had mixed feelings but I do like the character concept.

Anyways, whatever the reason, Yashiro is a space cadet and her antics were a fun little break in the angst!

To me, Adachi and Shimamura looked very much like a cookie-cutter high school romance. One girl is much more invested and much less popular so she finds herself constantly on the short end of the power dynamic. The other girl doesn’t know what she wants so simple decisions or events get dragged on for 4 to 6 episodes. A lot of girls stare at the ceiling or sky while wondering why they exist and what it all means. That sort of stuff.

One thing I really appreciated about Adachi and Shimamura though, is that the story did not feel the need to overdramatize. let me explain that a bit. The characters themselves are dramatic and act dramatically. They are high school girls in love, it would be weird if they didn’t! But the story didn’t throw in a huge heap of trauma and horrible backstories on them. They are all pretty average normal girls you could meet anywhere. I think this aspect worked very well and helped make the characters much more relatable. Which in turn made me care about them more.

However, at the end of the day, this is first and foremast a classic romantic drama. And that’s just not my genre.

You might like this anime if:

You like romance dramas and/or anything Yuri!

I save all my screencaps on my Pinterest and you can find more there if you are interested. But I still like to show you a few in the post. If you’re like me, screencaps are something that really helps you decide to watch an anime or not.