The title says it prepares us, but the “To Your Eternity” anime debut (Fumetsu no Anata e) has actually already broken our hearts and I’m not sure how much more it will do. For start, we saw Tsuda Kenjiro speak as some form of a God who sent an orb to Earth to see what happens. It can take the form of anything, and it sits as a rock until a wounded wolf comes by. Then it quickly learns to walk and finds its way to the house of its owner, a boy whose name we didn’t even learn. “To Your Eternity” anime debut episode ended without revealing his name. It didn’t have an OP, and it lasted 25 minutes. (Studio: Brain’s Base)
The boy lives alone, and everyone else left to search for “Paradise”. He acts extremely optimistic and the creature enjoys great care and attention spending his time with him. It learns the joys of food and warmth, along with many other things, even imitating speech (sort of) with the “See?” after chewing. The first moment that made me feel sad was when the ‘alarm’ system the boy had set up sounded off, and he hoped it was someone he knew. He wished for it, but it turned out to just be a fish. He decided to not rot away with the house, and the two headed on a journey for Paradise themselves.
The soundtrack and animation both feel really good for the premise, and we saw their journey move forward with the boy seeing rock signs and still being optimistic. He injured his leg after falling into the freezing water, but said it was good to know there was a river there. He didn’t lose hope until he saw a rock with a crossed over sign, the remains of carriages and realizing that the others died without finding what they were looking for. He doubted himself and broke down, deciding to go back. After returning, the boy was obviously in mortal danger, but he still prioritized feeding his wolf over resting. Realizing his end was close, he sat down and asked the wolf to remember him forever.
I expected this to be sad, but didn’t think the boy would die in the first episode… We saw him reunite with everyone in the afterlife, as the creature took his form and went on to the adventures the boy wished for. “To Your Eternity” anime debut (Fumetsu no Anata e) was great, and this anime definitely has the potential to be one of the best this season. If you agree the debut was good, you can vote for it on our weekly poll!
You can watch “To Your Eternity” on Crunchyroll, and the first episode is now available.
All images via Crunchyroll
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