English Dub Review: To Your Eternity “A Girl Named Tonari”

Overview



Fushi transforms into Parona of Ninannah in the middle of the gladiatorial tournament he was forced into being part of but is shocked when he realizes what being part of this tournament implies. Meanwhile, Tonari, desperate to have Fushi join her and her friends, offers to help rescue Pioran…


Our Take

The primary focus of this episode feels like it wants to delve into very specific topics regarding the consequences of violence and the moral implications of killing people. Simple enough, but much of whatever message it wanted to convey felt side-tracked from the narrative. The pacing was also too fast and the animation was clearly a step-down. For example, a scene happens where of nowhere, a large group of people spawn near the Nokkers with giant rope catapults and have bows to destroy it? This was a mess on a technical level and where do I even begin with Tonari?

As a character, Tonari seems to be an individual that fans will either hate for her sarcastic annoying attitude or grow to like for the fact she has loyalty and cleverness up her sleeve that isn’t to be overlooked. We know nothing about her as a character yet which makes us wonder if she’s even worth sympathizing with or even worth trusting since she was the very same person whose previous actions put both Fushi and Pioran to their Island imprisonment.

Overall, I like Tonari’s group but not Tonari herself. I think she’s a bit cutthroat but it makes sense in context to the brutal environment she is in. It’ll take a pretty decent backstory to get people to care about her if she were to die. But based on observation, that’s what this show does anyway in every storyline. And I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if that’s what they’ll try to do next episode…