I don’t think I’ve seen any slice of life yuri shows, but from the first episode of Aoi Hana, it feels like a very typical one. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, particularly for those who are fans of this type of story.
Aoi Hana uses the waking up for the first day of school opening, which pretty much plops this into the typical bin and didn’t do much to crawl out. Not being a devotee of this genre, I need something to pull me in, not just for the yuri genre, but high school romance in general. Whenever I see a lazy opening like this in a high school show, I guess I always compare it to Kare Kano, an opening salvo I truly admire.
Gripes on the lazy opening aside, Aoi Hana looks well crafted. There is segment with one of the characters running to catch a train. It has actual running, from different angles, full body, even a cut running down steps toward us, each step changing the size of the animated character, not that cheap-y just show the feet moving really fast or the head and shoulders bobbing up and down short-cuts, no, this is full on running animated in a non-action show. While it’s a pretty mundane event and scene (please don’t think I’m saying it’s teh greatest running scene evah), seeing that excites me because it’s a sign of a good production. I’m not really interested in the story, or the characters, but I am a fan of stuff that’s well done (who isn’t), which means I’ll probably hang on for another episode or two of Aoi Hana, even if it really doesn’t interest me all that much. I have a feeling it’s just going to be a well done show that I won’t be interested in finishing.
(Image taken from official website.)
That’s more or less the same what i think. Except, I find the story a little intriguing.
Hopefully, I pick up on that, because it’d be nice if I could hang on to something that so far looks pretty well done.