To Your Eternity

To Your Eternity is a story about life. The struggles, the memories, the people we meet. As a whole, To Your Eternity initially does a solid job at presenting such events and ideas, from what I have seen of it in the past, it plays well with this whole journey concept it has going for itself. It doesn't feel half-hearted, the characters are believable, and for the most part, it was something to look forward to as you sway your way into the oncoming episodes. This, however, is true until it isn't. The latter half of the story sure goes on the same initial path asthe first, however, with a substantial objective of the former half somewhat achieved (basically intelligence acquired), the story had to drive itself around a new fundamental for storytelling, which it did, but the result was lazy writing. It was evident that the writers didn't even try to fish out new ideas and instead resorted to "generic" ideas, generic isn't bad, but I'd say a poor shift is. The characters themselves felt like they were for the wrong demographic too, with random shounen-esque ideas coming for the sake of "there was nothing else to do", when in fact, the initial dark side would come and go when it was conveniently called for. It's a sad downfall, but it isn't one of a catastrophe, just one that didn't hold up to what some could consider an "initial lie". The audiovisuals are relativity consistent, you know, they looked nice and sounded good, as they should, the general. That is until the latter half where if you are astute, you'd notice the drop in animation quality, it shouldn't hinder overall experience, in fact, it will only hinder if you care about it too much, however that is not to say it passes as a fault in my eyes. Maybe there were some background issues going on around this one, I don't have the information on me to come to such a conclusion, but considering the work ethics of studios, I think an educated guess shouldn't misinform people too much, though it's not like that's directly related to the final product anyway. Overall, it's a fun and interesting experience, that had its faults, sure, so much so that I could not possibly call this a masterpiece or those other fancy words I am too dumb to understand. The anime got me thinking about the themes it had for itself, mostly relative in its anime universe, not superimposed onto a reality. But it does get you some thought as to, what you would do if you were in the same position. Is immortality a blessing or a curse for humans? Well, that's for another time.

To Your Eternity is not a great anime, nor is it necessarily a bad one. It’s stuck at an awkward in between, with interesting themes and a refreshing story being weighed down by clumsy and often boring writing. The blend of adventure and drama sets it apart from other anime like it, and as disappointing as some moments in the series can be you can understand why many people will find them emotional. There are three main arcs throughout the 20 episodes, four if you count the first episode. Each one offers a new cast with new experiences for our immortal main character, Fushi. On theirown the arcs aren’t bad, however after watching them back-to-back you will simply stop caring. The fact that the cast is always changing means you won’t be with any long enough to care about what happens, and the ones you do find yourself caring about are quickly forgotten as a new cast and setting is shoved in your face. Any sense of emotion or excitement offered by the first episode loses its touch almost instantly. You already know that something bad is going to happen everywhere Fushi goes, and it becomes a matter of when the bad thing happens rather than what will happen. Now this predictability on its own isn’t a bad thing. If it is backed up by interesting and planned out characters, it won’t matter how unoriginal the actual scenarios are. The thing is though, every single character throughout the show is flat, bland, and honestly just plain boring to watch. It’s like the writer imagined one specific sad scenario in their head and ran away with it, forgetting the very basics of what makes a story interesting and engaging. It takes multiple episodes to get to an overall underwhelming outcome, and this repeats itself for three whole arcs. I’ll repeat myself here, at some point in the series you will simply stop caring. One thing I can give it credit for is how the growth of Fushi is shown. It honestly feels like with each new episode and event Fushi grows in some way, and these additions to his character will impact how he acts and speaks onwards. It never feels like he hits a wall with character development, and it is much more interesting watching Fushi grow than a typical melodrama character. There is obvious planning and care behind his character, and you can see it greatly pay off in the long run. Now onto what I would consider the worst part of the whole series, the “antagonist,” though I would probably describe as more of a mindless opposing force. It is introduced as a mysterious entity that interrupts Fushi’s adventures and forces him to grow stronger. Great right? Now there is something to move the plot along provide areas for character growth. Except that that’s all there is to it. Every time this mysterious opposing force appeared I wanted to groan. There is obviously something more to it, this is made obvious early into the series. Don’t expect find out what though, the show is too busy dabbling with other ideas to expand on it at all during the 20 episodes. Thankfully, there is a human antagonist with a bit more personality and depth. They’re still messily written but for what it’s worth the episodes that they appeared in were some of the most engaging for me. If it wasn’t for their awkward placement in and out of certain arcs, they probably would’ve been the highlight of the series. I tend not to worry about art or sound too much, but I think Brains Base did a solid job with both and I have no major issues. That said, there are no real times where either of these will stand out and leave a lasting impression. The visuals and audio are just consistently good throughout all 20 episodes. Overall, I think To Your Eternity does a good job at experimenting with and expressing its themes and ideas, especially surrounding mortality and what it means to be human. If it wasn’t for the repetitive and disconnected plot as well as the poor character writing this series could have easily been around an 8/10. I would recommend at least giving the anime a try, though be prepared for the plot to become predictable and repetitive straight from the very first episode.

“Waste of time” is not a critique I like to give to a piece of fiction, but “To Your Eternity” really pushes it. My view is generally that if you try, you can usually find some redeeming quality to something you otherwise dislike. An optimistic media enjoyer should be able to find something of value to walk away with; be it an exciting plot point, a character you liked, an interesting/well executed setting or premise, good music, or beautiful art/animation. Though there is a second season announced, as a stand-alone product, To Your Eternity S1 unfortunately delivers a general lack of redeeming qualities while alsofeinting a build-up towards something grand and exciting then instead leading to a spectacular letdown. It is possible the eventual second season turns everything on its head, but given the steady decline in quality that constituted the first season I will not be making that bet any time soon. Minor spoilers below If there is a correct way to enjoy TYE it is to stop after episode 1. Though it is not the most subtle attempt at grabbing at viewer’s emotions, it is the most soul the show ever has and at least feels like it could be the start of a meaningful story. From there, if you have a decent imagination, the continuation you can think up is probably better than the actual show so my recommendation is that you stop. If you continue watching, you’ll be met with an overall lack of direction or meaning from both our protagonist as well as their adversaries--resulting in mandatory conflict with no purpose but to kill off side character after side character in cheap attempts to evoke an emotional response from the viewer. Each of these victims is less interesting/endearing than the last but not for lack of time spent attempting to develop them. In fact, a *large* majority of the show is spent developing side characters only for them to be killed off a few episodes later and for new ones to stumble in and take their place. There are some authors who seem to have an unlimited supply of fantastic characters, each with distinct personalities, designs, and quirks that make them feel real and immediately relatable. To Your Eternity’s author is unfortunately not one of them. Even going from one arc to the next, the decline in the quality of the characters is hard to miss. In the early arcs you at least know what drives characters; what their hopes and dreams are; why one might be saddened if they were to die. By the final arc, characters known only for their use of a folding chair as a weapon are being killed off in dramatic fashion. Yet there seems to be an underlying expectation that the viewer be sad anyways despite the lack of development and despite having seen it all before multiple times. Some might find this formula to be in poor taste while others have no problem with it; however, it is this cycle on repeat from start to finish that makes TYE feel like a waste of your time after some number of these iterations despite the potential its premise initially held. Considering other potential redeeming qualities, you won’t likely find them in the art, animation, or music. The fantasy setting manifests sparsely throughout the 20 episodes. The protagonist, Fushi, as well as his adversary, the knockers, are of course the most obvious fantastical elements but we hardly see anything else. Early on, we have a terrifying, giant bear which is revered as a god and presents itself as an obstacle. It makes for some exciting scenes and raises questions about what other interesting things the viewer will get to see as we explore this setting. Unfortunately, not much else. And, in fact, the bear later becomes comically underwhelming despite how powerful it seems like it should be. The fights between Fushi and the knockers do have a certain weight to them, but the execution is average at best in terms of direction, choreography, and especially animation. I went into To Your Eternity with high hopes and even remained cautiously optimistic through much of the drag in the middle. Even though I didn’t find anything too impressive or cool, it seemed like there was still hope for the show as long as there was interesting build-up or an apparent plan for an eventual spectacular ending. A couple episodes into the final arc of the first season it became clear we would get no view of such a plan. No vision or spectacular ending. Just a directionless story for the sake of a story. I’d love to hear that they turn it around and the second season is fantastic, but the first season gave me no hope in that regard.

Watch it until the Jananda Islanda Arc and it's a masterpiece 10/10. Spare yourself the pain/anguish/anger/disappointment of going further as well as the following seasons. Just pretend they were never created or existed in the first place. The format of the review forces me to write more info about the anime, so here it is. I have watched it fully and S2. I constantly regret my decision. I'll try to erase my memories up to the Jananda Island Arc. I cannot put into words how bad the anime gets. It's like looking at a sex joke made between coworkers on a sheet of toilet paper passedbetween stalls. I still can't believe it was made by the same person/persons. It is mind-numbingly horrific. One of the biggest shocks and disappointments of my life was that such a good idea was pissed and dumped on, for no reason, at all, at least from what I can tell (tho probably someone sold their idea or themselves for money). That is all. I have spoken. P.S.: After (unknowingly) watching the rest of the anime and giving myself free cancer because of that, I can't in good conscience give it 10/10. That's not to say it doesn't deserve it. It only means that I acknowledge the existence of cancer called the Jananda Island Arc and the "ending".