Listeners is still very much in the bubble zone for me.  Or rather, it would be in a normal season.  But Spring 2020 is anything but normal, either in the anime or global sense.  And when I’m still considerably less than bought into what this series is selling, for the moment at least it hasn’t fallen victim to the rash of postponements that’s racing through the schedule, leaving few series standing.  So for now, that’s enough to keep me on-board.

Of course if I hated Listeners none of that would matter, but I don’t.  The things that annoy me about it fall more in line with execution than intent, and on balance I find that easier to tolerate.  Especially when tolerance is really the threshold here – I’m looking for series to actually watch, and anything beyond that is gravy.  The earnestness with which Listeners approaches its narrative is appealing – up to a point.  But the balance isn’t as good as it was with Satou Dai’s best work (most notably Eureka Seven).

I’ll give Satou this, his cultural references are certainly interesting.  There’s a definite Bauhaus tint to things so far, the latest evidence of that the dubbing of Mu as “Chelsea Girl”.  That moniker comes courtesy of Birin Valentine, who along with mechanic and ex-player husband Kevin slip into a sort of Ray & Charles role here.  They’re played by Mizuki Nana and Yamadera Kouichi and their presence instantly elevates the material.  They save Echo and Mu (typing that symbol was a pain in the ass) from the Dada trio and instantly create a generational dynamic that’s kind of endearing.

I wish Echo and Mu were more charismatic (like Renton and Eureka, it has to be said), because that would help Listeners a lot.  I don’t dislike them – they’re cute and all – but very vanilla at this stage.  And overall the show is conspicuously trying just a little too hard to be hip and retro.  That really only works when it doesn’t look like you’re trying, and we’re nowhere close to achieving that here yet.  And with the guest players apparently changing weekly, it’s dicey to have most of the show’s char come from them.  There’s no guarantee next week’s will be as appealing as the Valentines were.  For now, in these crazy times all this is enough, but it’s a near thing.