The Golden Orchid
joined Jan 19, 2017
What on earth. This is such a wonderful gem of a story. I can't even. It's beautiful.
If I were to make commentary I'd end up commenting on every single chapter. It's a tightly woven story with clear ideas it wants to express plus a believable build-up and resolution, which I adore. I loved a lot of things about this. A personally relatable favorite is how Mirei's power to stop time is inverse to her willingness to interact with others. That line about how difficult it must be to live in a world where you can't run away, as well as her own difficult integration back into society is heart-breaking and then heart-warming. Haruka's desire to break all the rules, live freely as she chooses is similarly relatable and heart-breaking. Then the story's climax in a immensely public confession/meltdown scene was satisfying for dramatic tension as well as fulfillment of the story's themes.
I'm so proud of Mirei for standing up to Haruka!!! She returned time to normal just to force Haruka to confront that rebellious side of hers, the "real" her, and reveal it to others. Similarly I liked the twist that Haruka could move freely during the time stop not because Mirei wanted to share the time with her, but because she wanted to share in Mirei's time. In the beginning the initial explanation didn't make sense because it didn't seem like Mirei had paid any special attention to Haruka so that was random. But once we see Haruka's side of the story, it all makes sense.
Have to say, it's really amazing how their classmates barely react to Mirei/Haruka suddenly appearing out of place or straight up disappearing during the middle of conversations. Don't they think it's weird or have any thoughts about how abnormal that is? Oh well, the plot requires such non-reactiveness.
I liked this a lot! It's a shame the animation studio went MIA and then declared bankruptcy. Maybe I'll watch the movie at some point.