Island First Impressions

“I’m supposed to save a girl and save the world. I think I came back in time to do those things.”

Certain series leave me struggling to provide a basic recommendation. Is it good? Bad? Somewhere in-between? If I had to take a stab, like a certain peculiar shrine-maiden from this first episode, I’d maybe fall towards placing Island in the latter of those three, but that might just be me hedging my bets. Part of the problem is that, while I don’t know that I could call this series a “mystery,” it certainly does set itself up as being mysterious. It also plays with many tropes, but it seems to take a certain delight in twisting them on their head. This leads to Island being the type of series where it is difficult to pin down exactly where it is going to go and whether it will be good. At least, I’ll concede I’m curious to see where our amnesiac protagonist from the future is going to go, who he’s going to kill (if anybody), and why he might need to be killed himself. This show might be a bit odd.

I can definitely see the visual novel roots of Island peeking through in this first episode. The male population of this initial episode is significantly outnumbered by the female population. Fortunately, the show doesn’t treat its cast as some buffet of waifus for the male audience to peruse. Most of the female characters are merely hinted at as the episode focuses primarily on introducing its odd premise. Our main character wakes up naked on an island beach with no memory of who he is. Like I said, the show seems to love its cliches. Before he can even pick himself up, we’re treated to the classic trip-and-fall into fanservice moment, except it is a female character falling into… well… I did say he was naked didn’t I? I’ll admit it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that scenario play out in that particular way in anime. Once the local police officer gets our nameless protagonist clothed he questions him, and determines the amnesiac (His name is later revealed to be Setsuna, so I’m just going to call him that) claims to be from the future and that his is tasked with saving the world. The show could best be summed up as one-part Steins;Gate’s “What the heck is going on,” factor mixed with one-part… Clannad drama, maybe? Air might be more appropriate given the summer setting, but I never watched it. The point is, there are details that lend credence to Setsuna’s story, but, at the moment, it’s still difficult to parse out everything. Before I skip ahead, I should take a moment to summarize three of the girls that Setsuna interacts with on the island. There is Kurutsu Karen, the daughter of the mayor who is also the one who discovers (yeah let’s use that word) Setsuna on the beach. Then we have Ohara Rinne, a peculiar girl who appeared on the island several years prior under similar circumstances, and claims to be from the future as well. Finally, there is Garando Sara. She is the young shrine maiden whom I alluded to earlier. She appears to know something about nature of Setsuna’s presence and believes he needs to die for the sake of the island, but is too earnest and clumsy to carry it out herself.

There was one detail that put me one edge about Island, before I ever watched it, and it was the promo-image that I saw. It featured the three female main characters, and while none of them are all that provocatively dressed or designed, each of them looked was posed in a way that made me wonder if I was getting into something a little too ecchi for my tastes. Despite those concerns, the actual episode is almost devoid of fanservice shots. Almost. Whenever Setsuna has a memory flash of the future, nine times out of ten it seems to involve something fanservicey. Admittedly, these moments are brief, but it leaves me unsure of what direction the show will take moving forward. I’m also not entirely certain as to when the series is set. My best guess is it takes place in the not too distant future, given that some characters were discussing robotic dogs, but, then again, they could just be talking about toys. What constitutes a robotic dog? The island’s isolated nature is also bizarre. Setsuna barely avoids getting himself shipped back to the mainland, and the mayor’s position on outsiders is pretty strict. Frankly, I’m not 100% sold on Studio Feel’s direction on this, but given how lauded their recent adaptation of Hinamatsuri has been, I’ll probably afford them some faith.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• There is a moment towards the end when the character Rinne is singing a song where I was about to fault the show for giving her back up orchestration despite her singing it in the middle of an empty beach. However, it does such a good job of emphasizing the song’s abrupt end that I ultimately changed my mind.
• Ages are a little difficult to judge in this first episode. Setsuna appears to maybe be around college age. If I had to guess I’d say Rinne and Karen are probably both high school age (The episode confirms that Karen is in high school, but doesn’t mention anything about Rinne’s age). Sara could be in middle school, I guess. There is a brief gag where she accuses Setsuna of sexual harassment, which is mildly funny, but also a little awkward since I’m not sure how old this character is supposed to be.
• So, he’s supposed to save a girl and save the world? Too bad I don’t see any cheerleaders on the island… That joke probably hasn’t aged well, but I assure you it would have induced minor polite chuckles about a decade ago!