orange

ORANGE

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
13
RELEASE
September 26, 2016
LENGTH
24 min

DESCRIPTION

Everyone has regrets in life. So who wouldn't take the chance to change the past if given the opportunity? When sixteen-year-old Takamiya Naho receives a mysterious letter, claiming to be from her twenty-seven-year-old self, her life is suddenly thrown into flux. The letter tells her that a new transfer student by the name of Naruse Kakeru will be joining her class, and to keep her eye on him. But why? Naho must decide what to make of the letter and its cryptic warning, and what it means not only for her future, but for Kakeru's as well.

(Source: Anime News Network)

Note: The last episode aired with a runtime of ~40 minutes as opposed to the standard 24 minute long episode.

CAST

Hiroto Suwa
Makoto Furukawa
Kakeru Naruse
Seiichirou Yamashita
Naho Takamiya
Kana Hanazawa
Azusa Murasaka
Natsumi Takamori
Saku Hagita
Kazuyuki Okitsu
Takako Chino
Rika Kinugawa
Rio Ueda
Ayane Sakura
Kakeru no Sobo
Gara Takashima

EPISODES

Dubbed

| | |

RELATED TO ORANGE

MANGA Dramaorange

MOVIE Dramaorange: Mirai

NOVEL DramaOrange

REVIEWS

ReBuggy
80/100
Orange probably won't be the best anime you'll ever watch, but it might just be the most important.
Orange tells the story of a high school girl named Naho who receives a letter from her past self, telling her about all the regrets she wishes she could erase. Most of these are centered on a recent transfer student named Kakeru who is immediately ingrained into her group of friends. The letter tells Naho that she falls in love with him, but that he was taken away from them by a death that could have been prevented.

It’s revealed early on that his death was not an accident, but a suicide. With so much on the line, Naho is forced to try to overcome her timid, self-sacrificing nature in order to save Kakeru from the depression that will kill him.

The question the story posits then, is this: if you had the opportunity to prevent something from happening, how much would you be able to change? Could you change the future? And could you change your own nature to accomplish it?

Orange is an anime that has major glaring flaws that it makes up for with incredibly powerful strengths. Let’s start with the good though, shall we?

One of Orange’s strongest aspects is its characters. You have Naho struggling with her timidity and Kakeru struggling with his depression, of course, but the core cast is rounded out by Naho’s four other friends. There’s Suwa, the kindhearted, dependable jock. There’s Hagita, the sharp-tongued self-deprecating nerd. There’s Azusa, the cheerful and energetic girl, and Takako, the quick-tempered tomboy. They’re all well-written as individuals, but the real strength of the cast is the cast’s dynamics with each other. As a group, they all feel very much like a group of friends, and you can see varying different friendship dynamics between them clearly.

In addition, the sound design is fantastic. The music hits the emotional beats it needs to wonderfully, and the world itself is filled with all sorts of conversation and background chatter that add to the realism of the world and the sense of place. The visuals also work well for the series, with colors that pop vibrantly, but are also washed out and muted, emphasizing the bittersweet tone of the show.

This is not to say that the show is not without flaws. As strong as the characters are, they sometimes behave infuriatingly. Naho’s constant hesitance in particular can be frustrating, because she’s so afraid to take certain steps even when she knows what’s on the line. In addition, she can be dense. At one point, Kakeru offers his hand for her to take, and she’s completely unable to read the cues he’s sending her.

The show can also be heavy-handed with its metaphors. They’re emotionally powerful, but there’s not always a lot of nuance to them. The art also falls apart at times. Episodes in the mid-late range take a noticeable dip in quality.

Perhaps the biggest problem of the show, however, is an unfortunate result of the premise. The entire show relies on the letter that Naho receives, and leaving how exactly she received a letter from the future unanswered would likely feel unsatisfactory to many. However, it’s instead explained through some bad science fiction in what is otherwise a very realistic story. When the entire premise of the story hangs on something as hackneyed as what we got, it’s hard to look past.

That said, I think Orange is a series I would recommend everyone, not just anime fans, watch, because it covers such an important subject matter so well. Yes, from an objective, detached standpoint, it’s a flawed series, but when it hits, it hits well and hard enough that these flaws don’t matter. At its core, Orange is an emotional, cathartic story, and it’s that catharsis, not the story details, that will carry the show. In this sense, Orange succeeds fantastically.

Orange is, ultimately, a story about people stepping in to save a friend’s life, which is an incredibly relevant story for almost everyone. There are so many people in this world who have been touched by depression and/or suicide, and unfortunately we don’t have the option of getting letters instructing us how to prevent it. Orange attempts to offer up at least some perspective and understanding, though. What sort of signs someone who’s depressed and/or suicidal will display. What sort of phrases might send the wrong impression. What they’re wanting, needing someone else to tell them.

Orange might not be the best anime in existence, but it’s easily one of the most important. I honestly think it has a huge potential to impact lives. Maybe it’ll even be able to save a few. Five stars.
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beanwolf
20/100
A poorly-executed time-travel romdrama without the characters or animation to back it up. Avoid at all costs.
Why in the everliving FUCK do people like this show? I just don't fucking get it. I L.O.V.E. this genre. Anyone who knows me will immediately tell you that when it comes to anime I'm the biggest fucking sap ever. It doesn't take me much to get invested in a romantic story, and even less so to get me to feel heavy emotional pangs and sympathize with the characters. More than one anime romance drama has left me in tears, but this show has me crying for completely different reasons.

This show started off fine. A dumb weak sci-fi premise where the future versions of all the characters send back letters so their earlier selves can avoid their regrets. Seems like a weak idea for a show if the characters never fuck up or create any drama, but whatever, I can roll with it. I'm a sucker for romance after all. There's this new kid in town, Kakeru, who is the express subject of nearly all of these letters. Turns out that he's sad as fuck because of some bad life stuff, and ends up offing himself because all of the core cast are just bad friends and didn't really support, or some shit like that.

Of course, our special needs MC, Naho, likes this guy, but is too cripplingly disabled to say it, like all portrayals of high school girls in anime. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, and we'd spend 13 episodes of high school bullshit getting them sort-of together and end on a half-assed, half kiss like every other shoujo ever, but now we have to save Kakeru's life. It's alright though, we'll just use the magic future letters to make sure we don't fuck up... UNTIL WE IMMEDIATELY START IGNORING THEM ON EPISODE. FUCKING. ONE. Naho is more dense than a fucking neutron star and decides to throw the magic letters that are ALWAYS RIGHT out the fucking window because she "just can't handle it".

I get why she doesn't from a story perspective; this show would have no drama at all if they just followed their future selves' instructions, but that isn't good for us as an audience. If we know what the two possible outcomes are, we just don't care, because a show like this reads from the first episode that everything is going to be OK despite a couple bumps in the road. Orange just can't fucking decide if it wants to be some sort of "we choose our own destiny" bullshit or just a normal high school shoujo romance, and it suffers heavily because of it.

From an aesthetic perspective, this show leaves everything to be desired. The shoujo fat-lipped art style is incredibly generic and the animation is the farthest thing from fluid I've seen in a long time. This isn't even counting the numerous 'QUALITY' moments that line the series middle section. The consistency takes a hard drop off a cliff at episode 3 (which is also where the anime jumps the shark from the manga, BTW), and doesn't even remotely pick up again until episode 10. Literally half drawn frames are there for you to see plain as day. Music is also incredibly generic. Everything about this show is generic. And bad.

Burn this show in the dumpster fire it deserves to be left in. There are hundreds of mediocre anime romances and a handful of great ones that you could be watching instead. Avoid this like the plague.
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Interleukin
69/100
If letters to the past could change the future, would I still watch this anime in the future?
Orange.

An anime about time travelling letters, romance, great art and friendship. It tells the tale of two socially [redacted] individuals, Naho and Cuck, and how their relationship develops and saves the mentally unstable boy. Along with 4 of their friends, they work together to ensure Kakeru doesn't kill himself yet again.

The story starts off with Naho being late for class, after reading a letter supposedly from the future. "Don't invite brunette out after school today" It said. Naho, despite that, doesn't stop any of her friends from inviting him out, albeit understandably. Firstly, she had no idea if the letter was reliable or just some prank. Secondly, it would be one hell of an awkward situation if she were to be against welcoming the new kid into their town.

Off they go choosing bread and Kakeru's mother ends up dying because like her son, she is mentally unstable and killed herself. This is essentially the basis for everything that happens in the anime. Let's finally get started on the review.

The art was the first thing I noticed. It was crisp, nostalgic and fluid. Easy on the eyes and calming, it was one of the better animations I've seen. Each picture sets a fitting atmosphere, although the atmosphere itself could be enhanced with more activity from the public, instead of the scene showing only Naho and Kakeru for the entire duration.

The music was alright, it wasn't memorable but it was very fitting. I appreciate the opening sequence for giving me goosebumps with how... nostalgic it feels. It's as if I were travelling back to the countryside to my home, with my childhood memories waiting for me.

One thing Orange does right is the brilliant characters. Brilliant side characters. Suwa, Shinpachi, Azula and tall brunette girl were the best wing men you could ask for, and the most reliable friends. They constantly wash down my rage with their smart decisions and quick saves, like Naho vs Short hair senior girl, ending with Naho running away and Suwa stopping her. Azu was really a bubbly character, often turning the gloomy atmosphere into a warm one. Tall brunette girl....just keep doing whatever you're doing.

Plotwise, this anime is like Shiina Mashiro. Smart, artistic and absolutely destroys tests with perfect grades, but doesn't realise you can't run your finger against the blade of a knife. I love how they barely explained how the letters went back in time- that wasn't the point of the anime and I'm glad they didn't throw in some Deus ex machina. However, the constant [redacted] of Naho and Kakeru's uncontrollable rage- hitting her, ignoring her all while claiming "hurrr i just didnt wanna git close to you innit?"- worsened the experience of what could be a great anime.

One thing that majorly irritates me is how all the future characters INCLUDING suwa ship Naho with Cuck despite Naho ALREADY MARRIED TO SUWA. What is this foul smelling shit? It doesn't make sense at all. Despite Naho saying "I'll choose you even if Kakeru were alive", it doesn't help that she EXPLICITLY states in the letter that she regrets not confessing and dating Kakeru.

Despite the cockamamie plot (In the last quarter of the anime, the first 3 quarters are actually fine) Kakeru's "ticking time bomb-esque behavior" and "easily angered" behavior seemed over exaggerated. I don't get what Naho sees in him. I felt that the writing doesn't justify his anger most of the time, especially during the shrine visit. The anime went downhill after episode 9 and that is extremely unfortunate, because aiming to let the viewers leave with a sweet taste should be a goal amongst all content creators.

In conclusion, Orange is a slightly heavy slice of life/romcom, but it is definitely worth the watch if you're a sucker for such things. I never regretted watching this anime once; It was a good experience and heartwarming watch. I'm sure we all wished for friends we don't come close to deserving, like Suwa, Hagita, Azusa and Takako.
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