In this anime humanity is divided; most live on land but some live in the sea. The land dwellers are ordinary people but those who live in the sea can breathe both underwater and on the land. When the school in the undersea village of Shioshishio closes its students must attend the local surface school. The small group are initially not happy to have to leave their old school but gradually become friends with the surface. Time passes and things seem to be going well until it starts to snow salt; this is a sign that the sea dwellers must hibernate for an unknown number of years. Five years pass before the first of them wakes; for him it was as if no time had passed but his surface friends have all aged and he has no idea when the other sea people will start to wake. As well as dealing with their changing environment the youngsters have to deal with their feeling for each other and their surface friends.
This series was a delight; the characters were interesting and the story was surprisingly gripping. The settings, both above and below the sea were beautifully designed. The story is very much character driven with little time being wasted explaining how they can live under the sea we are just told that the sea dwellers have something called 'ena' which lets them live under the sea and that is all. Surprisingly this is easy to accept within the context of the story. The romantic part of the story is nicely told and dovetails well with other events.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
This series was a delight; the characters were interesting and the story was surprisingly gripping. The settings, both above and below the sea were beautifully designed. The story is very much character driven with little time being wasted explaining how they can live under the sea we are just told that the sea dwellers have something called 'ena' which lets them live under the sea and that is all. Surprisingly this is easy to accept within the context of the story. The romantic part of the story is nicely told and dovetails well with other events.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.