Actually I didn’t even finish episode 1 of Nagi no Asukara, so maybe 3/4ths is enough? You might be wondering why I tend to drop so many shows after just one episode, but I’ve been watching anime for almost 20 years now and I’ve learned a few things first about my own tastes and secondly about anime itself.
The first episode is basically an advert for the rest of the show – it’s usually the studio putting their best foot forward: this is what we have to offer and this is why you should spent 20 minutes every week for the next 3-6 months on this particular show. Episode one doesn’t necessarily have to get me chomping at the bit for the next episode. It’s enough for it to make me go “Hmm, that wasn’t bad. I think I’ll watch just one more.”
I can’t count the number of shows where I went “I think I’ll watch one more” 26 times and ended up finishing the whole series. On the other hand I also can’t count the number of times where I thought the first episode was crap but forced myself to continue and ended up regretting it, usually after quitting later anyway. Couple that with the fact that I have a large anime backlog that is getting bigger with every passing season and you have my One Episode policy in full bloom.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, what was wrong with Nagi no Asukara in particular? Nothing much, really. It didn’t have much against it, but it didn’t have much going for it either. In quick point form, the good things about it were:
+ Unique setting under the sea
+ I don’t mind love triangles, in theory
+ Art looks bright and gorgeous.
Everything else was against it
– I hated all the characters, especially the whiny, abusive male lead and the whiny, cringing female lead
– Love triangles are one thing, but this seems set to become a love decahedron.
– The undersea setting is wasted since people walk everywhere and eat carrots and chicken just like surface-dwellers do. You wouldn’t even know it was set under the water if not for some fish swimming by from time to time.
– Fart humor? No.
– Grown-up issues about ceremonies and modernization and a declining birthrate and speciesism and blah blah… so boring. Either focus on that or focus on the kids, it just get distracting when there’s all this stuff going on at once.
tl;dr – It looks nice but it’s not that interesting. The main characters really let the show down and nothing else picks up the slack. Even if I had nothing else to watch I probably wouldn’t watch this but luckily I do have other stuff on my list so *dropped*.