Anime Review: The Aquatope on White Sand Episode 1

The Aquatope on White Sand

Studio: P.A. Works

Genre: Slice of life

Streaming: Crunchyroll

The latest anime from P.A. Works is the intriguingly titled ‘The Aquatope on White Sand,’ which sees former idol Fuuka Miyazawa taking a spontaneous journey to Okinawa and taking a job at an aquarium there. There she meets Kukuru Misakino, a local high school girl who devotes much of her spare time to running the aquarium and is clearly extremely passionate about sea life and the importance of the building to her town. Yet, trouble is on the horizon as the aquarium is struggling and due to be closed in the future – can the two work together to save the aquarium and work through their own internal struggles?

I’m going to start off by saying that thus far, this anime has some of the most gorgeous animation I’ve seen in a long while – everything from the character designs, the scenery, and the CGI fish are beautifully detailed, colourful and full of life.  It’s close to movie quality in fact, so very interesting that this series is going to be a two cour show – most anime series coming out nowadays (particularly those in the slice of life genre) tend to consist of just twelve episodes. From what we’ve seen so far, the series looks to delve deep into the drama between the characters and their internal emotions. Both of the main protagonists so far are explored greatly throughout this first episode and in particular, we see a lot of the emotional struggles Fuuka is going through by retiring from her career as an idol and being unsure what she wants to do next. A lot of her emotional story beats hit hard and she’s surprisingly relatable – a hard-working quiet girl who is clearly depressed and unsure where her life is heading. It’s heartbreaking to see how people judge and choose what’s best for her and you can’t help but find yourself rooting for her as she breaks free of it all by going to the anonymity of the little seaside town in Okinawa.

There look to be some slight hints of the supernatural present within the anime also which was a surprise, but ultimately I see this series being more about the character’s development and their time spent in the aquarium than about the fantasy aspects. Kukuru is a nice foil for the more restrained and quiet Fuuka, being loud, passionate, and not afraid to communicate with others and it’s clear that her reaching out to Fuuka was a huge turning point for her. Still, despite her bright demeanor, it’s clear that Kukuru has troubles of her own such as her dread of the upcoming closure of the aquarium and there’s an underlayer of anxiety about her character. And now we come to the aquarium itself – a beautifully realised place which in the animation comes across as completely magical in its otherworldliness.

The first episode is quite slow-paced but never really feels like it’s dragging – instead, we as the viewer can take in the sights of the world, slowly get to know Fuuka’s troubles, and indeed, it really does feel like we’re travelling along with her. The music and gorgeous animation fits the tone of the show completely and make even just looking out at the landscapes seem new and stunning. The ending of this first episode was somewhat abrupt but otherwise, this anime felt like a beautiful slow burn that’s clearly leading up to great things.