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On one hand, this anime is a passion project, since its production started around the arson that Kyoto Animation suffered back in 2019, so the fact alone that it was recovered and exists is inspirational and something to be kinda glad about. On the other hand, KyoAni is likely not the appropriate studio to be in charge of the adaptation. Look up some opinions from source readers and you’ll find that they changed aspects and order of events of the story, details in characterization, and added lgbt bait that goes nowhere as their usual trademark.
Despite belonging to the reduced group of their works that aren’t about cute girls doing cute things with Munto, Full Metal Panic and Violet Evergarden, KyoAni still gave Sparks of Tomorrow their usual flavor. For what’s supposed to be an alternative history drama, the tone is very light, it’s almost like the plot can’t remain serious for more than two minutes without anyone saying or doing something silly, having what it’s supposed to be a funny reaction, or dropping some catchphrase, as both protagonists have one.
The characters are very quirky, the two protagonists with their catchphrases, the antagonist by being over the top and an obsessed gay yandere that randomly drops some English here and there making you cringe a little every time, and the two friends of the main girl making stuff appear when needed and who the series baits to have something going on but does not commit to it, as the studio never does despite baiting on every anime they make.
The characterization itself feels two-dimensional at best, the protagonist who’s big into creating with electricity but it’s also skeptical, the main girl who is naive and very positive talking about miracles, deities, believing in talents and people no matter what and stuff, the two friends that are just kinda there and one is secretly lesbian, the yandere secretly gay antagonist, the side characters that are defined by a role and a quirk. The tall and strong dude compared with a machine, his fiance who judo chops him regularly, and such. Heck, for most of the series the antagonist remains so passive you might not even consider him as such. I gotta say it’s not even consistent, the girl who is supposed to be heart over brain ends up making some of the most important discoveries out of observation, for example.
The writing is a mess, as everything good or bad seems to happen through accidents. It’s not every day that you can criticize something for having not only plot conveniences but also inconveniences for the protagonists. Your usual situation in this anime would play out kinda like this: protagonist-kun and main girl-chan are chased by bad guy-san, who sends side character-dono at them, luckily he trips while running so he doesn’t reach them, but his shoe goes flying and pushes some lever that stops the vehicle the main characters were on, but they go around the corner that he can’t get in so they are fine, but oh no, villain-san is already there somehow. Everything plays out like this. Oh but sometimes the main group reaches out to the bad guy to show him their progress, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?
Heck, even the characters are introduced just as casually, they happen to be in the place the protagonists are in on a scene and episode, they happen to be related to some other known character, and those in turn happened to know about the main plot device of the story and the older brother of the protagonist. It could have easily been solved by having secondary characters introducing other side characters to the main ones by their own initiative, but no.
Even if you disregard the writing, the scenario is not believable. Ok, let’s accept the premise of electricity being invented in Japan, it’s not the worst alternative history otaku work out there, go find mangas and anime about time travel samurais or admirals changing the course of Japanese history if you don’t believe me, I could only watch three episodes of Konpeki no Kantai before dropping it. Still, the speed and way the characters invent things are simply unacceptable, even though they are not Dr. Stone levels of impossible. I mean in six episodes you have the three girls playing jpop death metal as if they were Babymetal by playing shamisens and such instruments. Well, the antagonist made an android with an electro brain of his mancrush near the end, and all of this happens at the beginning of the 20th century.
Even if you accept the writing and the scenario, there are so many ridiculous things happening in most episodes. That one where the antagonist dances with the protagonist while the latter wears a dress is the second worst episode I’ve seen so far from this year after the first of Ghost Concert, and I went with the three episodes rule for Red River, yes, it was that bad in my opinion.
The pacing and narrative are also messy. The setup is kinda steadily presented during the first episodes, but then it becomes semi episodic midway through, only to remember its goals later on, but at least it always retains its continuity. In a single episode you could have the main girl at school, the protagonist getting something he needs, then you’d have both of them on another place doing some other thing, then we see the antagonist scheming something else, but then he appears in front of the main characters from who knows where, then the two guys confront each other, but then the latter sends some side character his way, that one is antagonistic, but then an ally, then goes back to the bad guy. Would it kill this anime to slow the fuck down a bit?
I even have to criticize the sound design a bit, which is usually not an issue with anime made by KyoAni but it is for something from Netflix. The sound effects can be either the best I’ve heard so far from this year, and other times can be weak and go unnoticed. The music is good and does its job fine but again at times can go unnoticed. The opening and ending can be weirdly modern for the setting and the former even features some big change in melody midway, but somehow they also fit the series. Both insert songs ala Babymetal suck in my opinion. The voice acting is ok but I gotta say for the genki character that Sora Amamiya plays and for how good she usually is, her performance sounds weirdly low energy.
Not everything in the anime is bad though. As expected from Kyoto Animation the visuals are good, very solid artwork, well made and thought out backgrounds that reflect the steam in the air in Kyoto, and the contrast when they go to another city. Well rendered and integrated CGI, good motions as usual for the studio, scenes in POVs and in total darkness, which seems to have been kind of common this year strangely enough, and serve to reflect the fear of it of the protagonist. The coloring is darker than their usual brightness and fits the steampunk-like aesthetics well, it’s like I’m seeing the response from KyoAni to Kotetsujou no Kabaneri or something. The character designs mix traditional clothes with usual Kyoto Animation style fine, but man if I don’t feel like I’m seeing Hyouka or Violent Evergarden due to their faces half the time. The main girl does have the prettiest eyes of the year however, surpassing even Akane Osaki, it’s like I’m looking at a lake or something.
And in usual KyoAni fashion, they let some moments with no dialogue nor even sound effects, just music, and in this case show the process to produce electricity without explaining much about it. Even when the protagonist can go all technical about it, the other main girl just chooses to ignore him, thus no moment in the anime features some boring exposition. On the other hand the series does lack needed scenes explaining how these inventions are plausible, but clearly that was not important for the team behind the show.
I’m in no way a fan of Kyoto Animation, even though I love Hibike! Euphonium. I have voiced my dislikeness over the years of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-on!, Maid Dragon, Violet Evergarden, Koe no Katachi, Phantom World and more, and deleted from my ptw lots of other titles from them. Nonetheless I’m kinda glad this anime exists and the studio tried something different than their usual stuff with it, and as far as visuals, directing and exposition goes, they were up to their high standard. The same can not be said about its execution on everything else as writing, pacing and characterization were still pretty expected from them and sucked big time. Only worth giving a shot to see the studio try something other than cute girls, otherwise it’s an easy miss.
4/10
