Here’s another one that was fairly highly placed in my tier of expectations this season.  I even called it a sleeper pick, though I don’t know if a P.A. Works original can really be under the radar.  My relationship with PAW is complicated, but in general I think I was predisposed to like Iroduku Sekai no Ashita kara for a couple of reasons.  First, I do tend to love the P.A. Works visual aesthetic.  Their animation isn’t necessarily the slickest (at least not all the time) but their backgrounds tend to be gorgeous.  And speaking of gorgeous, the other factor working in this series’ favor is that I recently spent some time – my first – in Nagasaki, where it’s set.

The first thing I’ll say about the premiere of “Iroduku” (I am going with that Romanization) is that it is indeed gorgeous.  The visuals are absolutely stunning even by PAW standards.  P.A. Works is a lot like Kyoto Animation in some respects.  They tend to work with their own people, they have a signature visual style, and there’s a definite vibe common to most of their shows.  I don’t always love it by any stretch (my favorite of the studio’s recent works is Uchouten Kazoku, which totally breaks that mold) but generally, it’s good at drawing you in at least for a while.  Follow-through is often a problem for P.A. Works, but their shows usually start quite well.

Iroduku Sekai no Ashita kara started pretty well, I would judge – though apart from the eye candy not brilliantly by any means.  Main heroine Tsukishiro Hitomi (Ishihara Kaori) is kind of a mope, and frankly as interesting as lukewarm water.  I suppose since her vibe is that she’s broken inside, symbolized by not seeing colors, it fits that she’s drab and lifeless.  But damn, I hope that changes.  She’s also from 50 years in the future (though Nagasaki looks strikingly the same) and her grandma – who’s a mage – sends her back in time to meet her when she was a 2nd-year in high school.  Very suspicious, that.

We certainly dove right into that premise, without any preamble or explanation, and to be honest I’m not really feeling it yet.  OK, I’ll bite for now – not only is the world of tomorrow ruled by magic, but it seems to be established in our own time too.  Grandma’s spell drops Hitomi (via a very clever bus ride through time) in the bedroom of a young man named Aoi Shou (Chiba Shouya, who was incredible as Koutarou in Tsuki ga Kirei).  Eventually, with the help of Aoi’s “friends” (more on those parentheses in a minute) she ends up at the magic shop her family still owns. but her grandma is away in England (very suspicious, that).  But her great-great grandma looks exactly like her grandma (hmmm) and agrees to take Hitomi in once it’s clear she’s extended family.  As for the friends – seriously, you’re going to post that video online?  That’s a horrible thing to do to somebody. (Edit: apparently the CR subs screwed this up, and she actually said she was sending it to their mutual friend who works with Aoi.  Pretty big effing difference).

I don’t know about any of this, really, but the last original Kakihara Yuuko wrote was the aforementioned Tsuki ga Kirei so there’s definite cred there.  Director Shinohara Toshiya is a PAW vet who helmed Red Data Girl, for my money the most underrated (and gorgeous) show in the P.A. Works catalog (and one of my top 5 ED themes ever), as well as NagiAsu (it jumped the shark majorly, but that wasn’t on him) and Kuroshitsuji, so you know he’s plenty competent.  A few commenters dropped the “G” word (Glasslip) but I don’t see much here that puts me in mind of that utter trainwreck, and the staff here is too good for that.  I’m cautiously optimistic, but the story and characters are going to have to grab me a lot more than they did in the first episode.

I have to say a word about Nagasaki, and the way Shinohara and his team depicted it so beautifully here.  I spent a lot of time prowling the part of town where “Iroduku” is set – including Mt. Nabekanmuri park, from where the fireworks were viewed.  This is all in the part of town near Glover Gardens, and it’s a pretty magical area.  Nagasaki is surely one of the hilliest cities I’ve ever seen (and I lived in San Francisco), and the backdrop of water and mountains is truly stunning.  The whole town is chock-a-block with the kinds of stairways and overlooks you see here – it’s a pretty magical place, I have to say, and I could hardly imagine a better canvas for P.A. Works to work their mojo on.