While many fans are buzzing about the “meme” shows like Please Don’t Bully Me, Nagatoro! or Higehiro, the best anime of the season might just be Fumetsu no Anata e, aka To Your Eternity, which is unlike anything I’ve encountered before. It’s got it all: an epoch-spanning dramatic story, instantly unforgettable characters, and gorgeous production values.
To Your Eternity is a Completely Fresh Anime Concept
Early in Earth’s prehistory, an alien (god?) sends an orb down to the planet to observe it. The orb is an eternal and undying being named Fushi, which is capable of taking the form of objects and creatures nearby. It becomes a rock, then as the temperature warms, the moss growing on the rock. Snow falls again, and a wolf happens by, dying on top of Fushi’s location from a wound… so the being flows into the wolf, animating it and allowing the alien life-form to observe the world from the animal’s perspective.
The wolf (named Joann) is owned by a boy who’s the last survivor of a village on a frozen plain, left behind after the other members of his tribe headed south in search of warmer weather, and a mysterious kind of food called “fruit.” The boy decides to set out with Joann to try to find them. One thing leads to another, and Fushi finds himself in human form, exploring the world and interacting with the humans he encounters.
Four Reasons You Should Be Watching To Your Eternity
It’s a Totally Fresh Concept
These days we can usually tell what genre a new show is in seconds — isekai-reverse-harem or rom-com-based-on-needless-misunderstandings-between-the-characters — and can immediately decide whether we want to watch. As discussed in my interview with Kaho Shibuya, this might be a side-effect of us all being so busy, we want to be able to quickly identify whether a new IP is something we want to consume or not. It’s great that Fumetsu na Anata e is totally fresh and new, and I have no idea where the story is headed next.
There Will Be Feels
While I’m always down for bubbly stories about idols making their dreams come true, one of the unique aspects of anime is that it allows us to access strong emotions, from elation when a confession of love is accepted to sadness at the deaths of characters we’ve become attached to. Based on the manga by Koe no Katachi creator Yoshitoki Ooima, you can bet that To Your Eternity will be an emotional journey we’ll all enjoy sharing on social media together.
It Will Be a Complete Story
There’s always some anxiety among anime fans about whether a show they’re about to get invested in will actually be completed, or whether we’ll be left hanging for years with incomplete stories (*cough* The Devil is a Part-Timer *cough*). It’s nice to know that To Your Eternity has been pre-planned by NHK to be 20 episodes, which should encompass the entire already-completed manga.
It’s Got Music by Utada Hikaru
The only thing better than learning that the final Evangelion film had a new song by Utada Hikaru in it is learning that she’s getting more active in the anison world in general, and sings the OP to Fumetsu no Anata e. The BGM in the anime is equally incredible.
Thanks for reading this post about the currently-airing To Your Eternity anime. Got any other series or topics you’d like us to recommend here? Tell us below, or on Twitter!
Who says the perfect mousepad doesn’t exist? If you love the life-sized oppai and oshiri mousepads from Softgarage, we’ve got something very special: a life-sized butt mousepad by Miru Tights creator Yom. See all anime mousepads on the site, or read a review with up-close photos!
