IRODUKU : The World in Colors

(Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara) This is a story about a colourblind girl who possesses magical powers and goes back in time to meet her grandmother. And, erm, that's all that really happens. That being said, it's adorable and beautifully animated. Every scene is a joyous artistic masterpiece. The lighting, scene paintings and colours used easily rival the best works by the top anime film makers. Sure, it's a very slow series and there isn't any action or drama but the main theme about finding oneself and coming of age still provide a powerful emotional narrative.

Irodoku's central character is Hitomi Tsukishiro, a very pretty but painfully shy and withdrawn young girl who cannot see in colour. You might think not being able to see colour isn't a very big deal but take it from me, when you are colourblind, it can knock your confidence when it comes to dealing with things that others take for granted - like when everyone else is discussing nature, food, artwork or photography and other everyday colourful stuff. And so it is with Hitome. She's so shy she barely makes eye contact or speaks in most of the earlier episodes.

Hitome also possesses some magical powers but these powers are repressed and so in a bid to unlock them and make her a bit less unhappy, her grandmother uses magic to send her back in time....back to when the grandmother was the same age as Hitome (which I assume to be our present day). The present day world that this anime is set in seems to take for granted the presence of magical powers - that being said the powers that are being summoned are more or less used for entertainment purposes rather than life changing stuff.

Hitome meets up with her grandmother and her friends (from the school art and photography club - not the best club for colourblind folks). By making friends and sharing experiences with her new school mates, Hitome begins to open up her emotions which simultaneously unlocks more of her innate magical ability. Key to this transformation is Hitome's relationship with young loner artist, Aoi [side note, in anime you are either a loner or a hyper confident extrovert it seems]. Whenever Hitome sees one of his artworks she is instantly able to see in full and rich colour. The effect disappears once the artwork on his digital drawing tablet is closed. Aio enjoys her company and even fancies her. Hitome desperately wants to see his drawings so she can enjoy seeing in colour. It seems a perfect match. Except, what a time for Aio to get artist's block! He can't draw anything and gets hung up about it. Duh, the fool! If it was a teenage me, I'd be drawing crayon stick figures...anything...just to grab her attention, sorry I meant to help out a fellow classmate, ahem.

Amazon Prime Video only show up to episode 5 so I'm guessing they will air it weekly until the season finishes (Wikipedia suggests it is a 13-week series). I really like it. It's cute and nothing much really happens so far but the slow pace helps us explore the characters a bit more. I also am interested in the many references to formality. I get to learn a little about Japanese social etiquette - the manner with how to call one person's name and not making any faux pas when doing so. I think I'll stick with this until it finishes then update this blog entry.




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