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Hello and welcome back to Otaku Thursday! Today I’m coming at you all with another first impressions post, and today we’re going to talk about a very dramatic slice-of-life/drama/romance anime. Today, were going to talk all about Sing “Yesterday” for Me.

So to be honest, watching Sing “Yesterday” for Me can feel like watching a train slowly crashing at times. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. In fact, it’s quite the opposite really. The narrative follows four individuals who are seeking direction of some kind in their lives, and who end up in a bit of a messy tangle of unrequited love. None of the characters are perfect, and sometimes we question their motivations or get frustrated with how they act, but they all are so well rounded because their imperfections seem real. Honestly, moreso than many slice-of-life of characters I’ve seen. The individual episodes also tend to focus on character stories, giving so much character development in such isolated stories, and thus getting you very invested in each episode. The only problem I can see with such a form of storytelling? Well, much like the characters, the anime too feels as though it doesn’t have a clear sense of direction. Right now we’re seeing snippets–vignettes–of their life. There are a LOT of romantic things going on, which I think is going to be the main theme? Like, the way the narrative is told is so that they can all move from their past loves/crushes–or at least that’s how I see it. If that’s where it’s going? No idea. If it was, I think it’d be pretty cool. But honestly, just going back to the storytelling overall–it’s great. The plot lines are well thought out, and while some characters seem unreasonable to some–they are just people, and people are unreasonable sometimes. And again, every episode has a great vignette to tell of a character. I can’t wait to see where all this growth takes them.

So, I mentioned characters already and how they are very real. But I wanna just talk a little more in depth. Starting with Rikuo, we have a guy with no real sense of direction in life and still stuck on his love. Rikuo is, unfortunately (for everyone involved), living the life that so many I know are. They graduated. They did the do. And now what? Stuck in a dead end job with no life trajectory. He’s fairly relatable…and a genuinely nice person. He just does some dumb things sometimes. Then we have Shinako–who Rikuo is in love with. Shinako seems to have everything figured out and is a teacher, but she’s still heartbroken after losing her first love. The way she relies on Rikuo can often give off mixed feeling, but it’s understandable why she might do certain things due to the feelings she can’t let go. So speaking of Shinako and her past love, we also have Ro–who is the younger brother of Shinako’s past love. Ro is a sweet kid, a great artists, and also in love with Shinako. I really like him as a character–he may want Shinako to move on because he loves her, but he is clearly also hurt from not just losing his brother but also having been jealous of his brother, and also from the fact that Shinako always compares him to his brother. He has some interesting things going on and I want to see more of him. Then we have Haru. Haru is cute, she’s spunky, she’s honestly a delight to watch….and I feel like she’s the most un-relatable. Now I like Haru and she has some really great, relatable moments and emotions (goddess when Rikuo left her waiting), but there are certain parts of her that feel sprite-like. And when I say that, I mean a cute pixel pixie who is just there to be best girl. She’s quirky, she’s confident, she’s cute, she’s the one we want to root for. And I do. I want to root for her! But she also feels like an unreal underdog.

The one thing I really have to give this anime props for, it’s the cinematic value. The frames? Wonderful. The music? Nice and subtle. Pacing? Feels like a movie. Melancholic factor? You betcha! But it’s also funny because despite the fact the overall story isn’t amazing and isn’t something you feel COMPELLED to watch, you get absorbed into the episodes…or at least I do. So much so, it took until I was looking for anime openings from this season that I realized it had no opening song–just an ending. Like damn. Was I really that into the stories?

Overall, Sing “Yesterday” for me has been a pretty decent anime. I still want to know where it’s going, but existentially–I would also like to know where everything’s going! This anime is a great glimpse into the mindsets of people who are trying to figure things out. If the world is made of strings…they are just sorting through them until they find the one they are connected to. I know Star doesn’t see this as good as I do, but I honestly think it’s one of the best slice-of-life drama’s I’ve watched in a while. I truly look forward to more. Let me know if you’ve seen Sing “Yesterday” for me and what you think of it~!

Til next time

xoxo

Luna