Seiren

Episode 4

And so ends Seiren's first arc, the saga of Shoichi and Hikari Tsuneki. This episode saw Tsuneki quickly solving the mystery of who actually snitched about her part-time job, followed by some speedy romance and surprisingly grounded career resolutions. It wasn't a truly stunning episode, but it was a reasonable conclusion to a pretty believable romantic narrative.

It helped a lot that this episode finally saw Shoichi summon enough character to actually feel like a reasonable romantic prospect. Up until now, Shoichi's diverse fetishes have been pretty much the only noteworthy thing about him, but this episode featured him demonstrating some strength of conviction in his conversations with Tsuneki. He wasn't overbearing, but he also didn't let Tsuneki walk all over him, and he clearly pursued the things he wanted. It's hard to imagine the Shoichi of the first couple episodes outright asking “why are you so desperate not to be seen with me?”

For her part, Tsuneki's feelings for Shoichi felt well-articulated as well. Outside of the fetish non sequiturs (this episode's highlights included rabbit play-acting and “I've been hooked on taking baths in uniform lately”), the conversations felt very grounded, allowing Tsuneki's behavior toward Shoichi to possess some actual nuance. Tsuneki clearly does see Shoichi as the harmless guy that he is, but she also sees him as considerate and occasionally charming. Tsuneki enjoys messing with him and also enjoys shooting straight with him, and her appreciation of his feelings felt very believable here.

The big confession scene was easily this episode's highlight, as Shoichi and Tsuneki met at the beach to make up for the mixer she'd missed. Seiren's visuals have never been particularly impressive, which did hurt this scene - in addition to the backgrounds lacking much detail, the color design leaned too heavily into one specific shade of pinkish light, making everything but the principal characters feel indistinct. But there was a clear sexual tension in the scene regardless, and Seiren's generally odd focus on specific fetishes for once felt appropriate.

The resolution was a bit more abrupt and less satisfying for its attempted realism. Tsuneki's decision to focus on her future goals and forego an immediate relationship was kind of admirable, but frankly, we haven't spent enough time with these characters for me to want them to make wholly rational decisions. What Tsuneki has “learned” from Shoichi took place across a couple scenes in a pair of episodes, meaning her decision to pursue cooking didn't feel satisfying as the resolution to any established dramatic thread. The conclusion's attempted realism kind of shot itself in the foot with the coda, where we were expected to believe that two high schoolers who kissed after a couple weeks of flirting and then never spoke again would still be holding out for each other five years down the line.

But expecting a more satisfying ending than that is probably holding Seiren to a standard it's never going to reach. Overall, this was a reasonable conclusion to a just-barely-passable love story, building coherently from the characters' personalities and bringing their romance to an acceptable close. Seiren remains occasionally quirky and reasonably watchable all around.

Overall: B-

Seiren is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.