H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~, at a glance

January 4th, 2008 by Shirukii

First person to ask if it rocked my soul gets a dango shoved down their throat.

So uh…this was…interesting, sorta. Actually screw it, I’m not going to sugarcoat things, this was pretty bad. I usually have stupidly low standards when it comes to harem/school life type anime, but try as I did I couldn’t really get into this one. By the time CM eye catch signaled the halfway point of the episode my interest had already wandered to my second monitor, mindlessly surfing 4chan. But hey, it’s only the first episode, I’ll definitely be giving it the chance to redeem itself.

I do have some praise for the opening episode though, it sure did start off with a bang. It’s not everyday that the opening scene to a series is of one of the lead girls getting beaten to a pulp. It succeeded in getting me excited about the series, wondering how in the world they were going to explain this poor girl getting pounded on 2v1, and by guys at that.

Unfortunately this is where things start to fall apart, and quite badly too. We’re introduced to our main male protagonist, Takuma Hirose, who is admittedly rather unique, being blind and all that. But after that, the cast begins to degenerate into a lifeless batch of anime stereotypes. From the airheaded Hinata to the spunky pseudo-loli Yui it seems like the writers were just trying to cram in every personality archetype they could think of to pander to the widest audience possible. The problem is that they all seem so shallow, even the interaction between the characters was painfully boring to watch. Albeit that this is only the first episode, there’s only 11 more to form a unique personality for each character, which seems like a futile endeavor to me.

The only character that I find tolerable is Hayami, the tsundereko. It’s probably just my innate love for tsundere shining through, but I think she can develop into a likable character. She’s already shown a bit of her dere dere side when talking to Hirose and it’s clear that she’s pushing him away only so that he isn’t subjected to the same scorn and bullying that she’s going through.

As for Hirose himself, he’s pretty much your standard harem lead, maybe a cut above, having the guts to step up and defend Hayami on two separate occasions. The explanation behind his blindness was pretty lame, the cause basically unknown, and in the end it was nothing but a means to deliver fanservice. Also, the effect is kinda ruined when it’s miraculously cured at the end of the very first episode by some random girl that claims to be a spirit. She mentioned that her gift was going to be short lived, so I suspect that Hirose’s blindness will come and go as the situation calls for it, which I can see either leading to some awesome breakdown scenes where he has to deal with the pain of losing his sight over and over again, or if it’s just used as fanservice fodder it’ll get extremely annoying very quickly. Sure it’s funny to see a guy get away with groping girls, justified by his handicap, but that gag is pretty short lived.

Since we’re not given much idea as to where we’re heading story wise, I’ll focus on the technicals from here on in. The animation was irritatingly inconsistent, it’s not exactly KyoAni level animation to begin with so when the quality began to vary scene to scene I started to take note of it more than I usually do. Character designs are also pretty standard harem fare, ie. colorful hair, oversized ribbons and frilly dresses, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing I suppose.

Music was actually well done, in my opinion, which admittedly isn’t worth much when it comes to anime OSTs. The OP was fitting and I found myself able to sit through the whole thing instead of skipping as I usually do, the ED was alright but I did skip most of it, but that was probably due to me being bored out of my mind at that point, rather than the song itself. Background music was your typical piano melodies, fitting for the genre, but overpowering the scene at times.

Not the greatest way to start out the winter anime season, but hey, at least it can only get better from here. I won’t be blogging this series but I will continue to watch it in hopes it gets better.

On a random note, it was done in Kimikiss and now in H20, but please don’t use lab equipment as a substitute for cooking equipment. I remember the residual chemicals left over in beakers, flasks and test tubes from chemistry experiments back in high school, definitely not kitchen friendly stuff.

~ Shirukii ~

18 Comments »


18 Responses to “H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~, at a glance”

  1. on 04 Jan 2008 at 11:40 pm1 SHiN_aKuMa

    I’m sensing cases of food poisoning looming over Japan right about now.

    I’m with you in your views and will follow this until things improve.

    My other reason?

    *wears yuri-goggles*

  2. on 04 Jan 2008 at 11:55 pm2 Totali

    ROCKS YOUR SOULLLLLLLLLLLL

    I think I understand these crazy “at a glance” titles now! >:3

  3. on 05 Jan 2008 at 12:00 am3 Michael

    So, are you gonna blog this one or what?

    It actually seems half decent with the protagonist being a blind kid who gets action from school girls. His chosen oneness will make him a fine paedobear.

  4. on 05 Jan 2008 at 3:25 am4 Greggo

    The meh is strong in this one.

    I have a feeling I’m going to be catching up on a hell of a lot of backlog this season.

    Now to check out Rosario to Vampire. =3

  5. on 05 Jan 2008 at 4:33 am5 kenshin514

    Oh, it seems that you don’t like it that much, Shirukii. So is it that bad? I only saw the preview video and I thought it was decent. I guess I was wrong. Oh well, I’ll see when the sub come out.

  6. on 05 Jan 2008 at 4:37 am6 PCgamer

    What a Title. I get the idea of the last pic that it has something to do with chemistry but is it only cooking and the H20 is just for the show. May I will start watching that one having the fact that there is only the gunslinger Girl 2 that I’m sure will watch this season… hope not to end with 6-7 ongoings and wondering how to finished them :D few days ago I finished School Days that I start in the summer while still on going but it was a nice boat indeed :). well will give chance to that one. and maybe post again :D

  7. on 05 Jan 2008 at 6:05 am7 Erilex

    I wonder if the trap (The one with the white ribbon on the fourth screencap -Hamaji, was it?-) will end up becoming the show’s only saving grace, much like Jun was in Happiness!
    Too bad he’s nothing but a side character. They should forget about the game’s plot and just turn “her” into the main heroine. I’m sure the series would greatly benefit from that change. At the very least, the resulting WTF factor would undoubtely “rock the souls” of many.

  8. on 05 Jan 2008 at 11:53 am8 slacker182

    Aww, you made sound really bad. I too thought the preview was good. I’m sure things will improve as the series move on, but then again some series don’t improve at all. But I’ll keep my hopes up since I still have yet to watch it and that I have it dl-ed too. Rosario + Vampire is pretty good I thought. =)

  9. on 05 Jan 2008 at 1:52 pm9 Rakushu

    I don’t think it was that bad. Maybe I’ll continue watching it, however I really hated the scenes where Hayami gets hit by guys. Let’s hope this doesn’t get fucked up, like Myself;Yourself

  10. on 05 Jan 2008 at 2:09 pm10 Shirukii

    @ SHiN_aKuMa: I didn’t see much potential yuri, aside from that scene with the student counsel president on the stairs, that’s some stretch though, lol.

    @ Totali: It’s my variant of “first impressions” I try to be different =P

    @ Michael: Nah, not going to blog it. I’ll continue to watch it as sort of a guilty pleasure maybe, depending on how seriously it chooses to take itself.

    @ Greggo: I’ll be doing my first impressions on Rosario tomorrow, pantsu-shot heaven.

    @ kenshin514: Subs are out for the first episode, and yea, it wasn’t that great =\

    @ PCgamer: Also, if you’ve watched the first two ARIA seasons, I’d suggest watching ARIA the ORIGINATION. If you haven’t watched the first two, do it, naooo! They’re awesome.

    @ Erilex: WHAT!? That’s a trap? Suddenly, awesome.

    @ slacker182: I sincerely hope it improves. I might have been a bit overcritical, but it didn’t grab my attention at all.

    @ Rakushu: Heyyy, I liked Myself; Yourself, the randomness of the plot made it fun to watch and blog.

  11. on 05 Jan 2008 at 4:55 pm11 W4

    Okay, I’ll admit it; I don’t get the “rock your soul” reference.

    Back to H2O… I have to agree with you pertaining to the blindness. I would have liked to see more of the blind male protagonist in action. (Bonus points if said protagonist has a seeing-eye dog.)

    Alas, the episode says, “Hey, look. A new twist. PSYCHE! It’s a Kanon/Clannad/Pronouns remake!”

    I’ll keep watching, of course, but if it continues along as we expect, I’ll end up shredding it like I did with Myself;Yourself.

  12. on 05 Jan 2008 at 9:55 pm12 Kaelyn

    The “H2O ROCKS YOUR SOUL” is a reference of the promotion clip.

    You should watch it, they have this manly movie preview voice saying crazy crap like ” MORE INNOCENT THEN THEN THE CHILDHOOD RENAISSANCE”.

  13. on 05 Jan 2008 at 11:52 pm13 Alias

    Actually, if you ask me, it shows SOME promise, just like how Myself;yourself shows SOME promise during it’s first few episodes. It always takes time for SoL harem anime to get to the interesting bits, so the first episode can’t be used as much of a judgement.

    ….Okay, you want the truth? The winter season is basically bone dry and I need to replace my weekly dose of Love comedy, so yeah, I’m picking up everything I see.

  14. on 06 Jan 2008 at 1:12 am14 AS

    I’ve been looking for a review for this, I read a description earlier and it didn’t seem like something I wanted to pick up. Thanks for the help ^^.

  15. on 06 Jan 2008 at 10:14 am15 lolikit

    So 14 comments in, I still have the opportunity to eat delicious dango.

    DID IT ROCK YOUR SOUL, SHIRUKII?!

  16. on 06 Jan 2008 at 2:54 pm16 Shirukii

    @ W4: Watch the promo clip for the soul thing.

    Myself; Yourself turned out ok, dunno if I’ll be able to say the same for H20 though.

    @ Kaelyn: Cheesiest promo ever, but made me lol at how bad it was.

    @ Alias: Yea, aside from Minami-ke, Gunslinger Girl II and ARIA this season is pretty terrible.

    @ AS: No problem, sifting through the crap is something I apparently do quite often (ie. DCII)

    @ lolikit: No, no it did not. Enjoy your dango.

  17. on 07 Jan 2008 at 7:49 pm17 lolikit

    /me uses RAPID JAW MOVEMENTS to consume dango in mudkip-liek manner

  18. on 22 Aug 2008 at 3:01 pm18 air tv

    mmm se parese a la de air tv

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