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[ANIME] Children of the Whales Review




Author: Michiko Yokote

Director: Kyōhei Ishiguro

Genre: Fantasy, Science fiction

Released: October 8th, 2017


Anime, Anime, Anime…


Why only now have I been blessed with your presence. Why only now are you consuming my precious time. Why only now have I discovered the reason why people love Anime so dearly.


Poeticness aside, I am completely new to Anime and the time has come for me to get stuck into the mass of content that I have for so long simply given the cold-shoulder to. So where to being? Death Note, Attack on Titan, One Piece?


Well actually no, I simply found myself scrolling though Netflix when I encountered Children of the Whales (Kujira no Kora wa Sajō ni Utau). This anime first aired in Japan back in October 2017 running for 12 episodes in what is currently the first and only season.

A little about the story. It mainly follows a child called Chakuro that lives on a large boat named the Mud Whale that is drifting aimlessly over the sea of sand. The story often branches off to other characters and their own backstories which I’ll come to later. The boat’s inhabitants consist of those who are marked and are able to use the magic ability ‘thymia’, which in turn shortens their life span and those who are unmarked have no magical powers but can live a full life. The boat eventually stumbles across a solitary island where Chakuro finds a girl which changes the lives of everyone on board.

Firstly, I have to say how impressed I was with not only the artwork throughout the Anime but also the soundtrack used in both the intro and closing scenes. The soundtrack is enchanting and moving which more often than not goes hand in hand with the emotion of the current events. The art style is simply stunning and it really complements the fluid animations and particle effects that the anime offers.

The character design is also a fantastic trait for this Anime. Every character has their own unique personality and backstory which are shown excellently throughout via a series of flashbacks. This coupled with the beautiful art and animation make for a very compelling story-line and left me feeling emotionally attached to certain characters who, through a series of backstories, let you build up an understanding of their life and their journey.

The way I became emotionally attached to these characters is really down to the fantastic storytelling throughout the first season. For example, following the story of my favourite character, Ouni, was quite the emotional roller-coaster, from his sorrowful past to the thymia wielding badass he is today. The level of detail they crammed into a single season is just phenomenal, especially without it feeling rushed or unfinished. This is the same for all of the main characters, there was clearly a lot of care and attention put into making these characters feel genuine and unique.

The story-line seemed to start of quite slowly which did concern me a little, although it wasn’t boring, it simply lacked any ass kickin’. However, that was short lived as the season soon began to pick up the pace. The fight scenes were very impressive and certainly didn’t lack in the blood department. The main combat comes from an invasion scenario but I’ll let you watch and see how that goes down.


The story progresses nicely from one episode to the next, with every episode containing a good portion of action and no filler episodes in sight. The episodes do not tend to rely on cliff hangers because the 10 - 15 minutes sections of tension and / or action are enough on their own to entice you into the next episode.


The voice acting is also on par with the quality of the story itself which helps the characters be easily distinguishable as well as letting us build up further knowledge of their traits and personalities. The characters share beautifully woven bonds between one another which have built up over their time together on the Mud Whale throughout the years which makes this story even more compelling than it already is.

Humour comes infrequently throughout the episodes but it’s a nice edition from time to time and it gives you a nice little break from the bombardment of twisted emotions that get thrown your way. At times it can be a real struggle to hold the tears back in moments of despair in the closing episodes of the season. So be sure to have those tissues at the ready. In all honesty, if I am nit-picking, I could only criticise the way the bad dudes just kind of stood there and looked at the main characters when they were having a moment instead of giving them the good ol’ staberino. Anyway, I think that about wraps this one up.

I highly recommend this Anime to you, I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. I know it’s my first Anime review and I have nothing to compare it to, but there is no denying that I had a great time watching this and that I have been left with that empty feeling now that it’s all over.


I am going to rate Children of the Whales 8 out of 10


Leave your thoughts in the comments section below,


All the best,


- Scorpio


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