Barakamon is a series I hold near and dear to my heart. Recommended to me by a friend, I fell in love with it after a chapter and read as much of it as I could get my hands on. The characters are loveable, the comedy spot on, and the more dramatic bits aren’t half bad either. Though I tend to be a bit of a stickler when it comes to adaptations of things I like, I’m thrilled to say that, if this first episode is anything to go by, Barakamon‘s adaptation is shaping up to be as much of a joy as the source material.
Barakamon centers on Seishuu Handa, an up-and-coming calligraphy artist, who “exiles” himself to a remote village island in order to focus on his art after he punched a famous Calligrapher for calling work mediocre. As these things tend to go though, Handa ends up spending significantly less time in seclusion than he initially planned. After meeting Naru, a little girl who made his house her secret base and takes an immediate liking to him, Handa does, however, end up rediscovering what it means to cut loose and have a bit of fun, as well as how that can inspire him.
Though I’ll be one of the first to say calligraphy isn’t exactly the most interesting or exciting topic in the world, Barakamon is, thankfully, more about Handa and how he learns to stop being so concerned about doing everything perfectly than actual calligraphy. In that sense the story is pretty simplistic and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how Handa will end up growing as a character over the course of the series. That said, the simplicity is part of what makes Barakamon so great because it allows for the quirkiness of the characters to really shine through, especially when it comes to Naru. Speaking of Naru, seeing her come to life in this first episode was an absolute pleasure. Her bubbling excitement and general happiness had me smiling throughout the episode, not to mention her golden interactions with Handa, the poor sucker he is. As I’m sure many will point out, she is reminiscent of everyone’s favorite manga child, Yotsuba, and added a similar atmosphere of joy and innocence to the episode. Handa’s a pretty fun guy to watch too and I actually genuinely like seeing him learn to let go and enjoy life outside of calligraphy, but really, Naru is where it’s at.
As for animation, I really love how Barakamon looks. Though the backgrounds are a bit lacking sometimes, the show is full of bright, light colors that are a perfect fit for the show’s atmosphere. I love the character designs, and I think Naru, especially, was brought to life in a way that did a great job of conveying her energetic personality. Another plus for me as someone who read the manga is seeing the calligraphy stuff animated. The big scene at the end was really fun to watch, and I find myself actually kind of looking forward to seeing him draw more in future episodes.
As you all can probably tell, I really, really liked Barakamon‘s first episode. It hit all the right buttons and has successfully eased any worries I had about one of my favorite manga getting an adaptation. I am most definitely looking forward to watching more, which, at the very least, means getting to see more Naru.
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AnimeEmily
I'm a shy, lazy, easily impressed person who loves anime and manga. I've been seriously watching since about the summer of the sixth grade and have been in love since. I'm pretty much an amateur when it comes to anime and am somewhat still in that starry-eyed phase, but as I continue to watch more, I have become more critical, I suppose one could say.
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