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Tasogare Out Focus Anime Review: Letterboxd Gays.

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Title: Tasogare Out Focus (Twilight Out Of Focus)

Episodes: 12

Genres: BL, School

Studio: Studio Deen

Year: 2024

Source: Manga

I have read some BL mangas in my time but only since two years ago did I start to watch more anime with some gay boys. I may not know much but I do know what I look for in a romance, be it queer or straight. 

P.S. It's a motherfucking science, baby.

Meaningful queer stories with something to say about the world are less likely to be adapted. Be it because of controversy or something else, there's a lot of profound romances we won't see on the screen. For example, I've been told Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare won't make it as an adaptation ever. It's not just a sell-able romance, but features trans, genderfluid, and other queer characters that are somehow still controversial with very explicit commentary on the hostility of the world and the injustice it fosters. All of this to say, simplistic, sweet, and kind of boring love stories filled with pretty boys is likely what we'll be watching for a long time. Or it's gonna be horrific, rape-y, and fetishistic, we simply cannot do anything else.

The Good

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Tasogare Out Focus is broken up pretty strangely into unequal sequences featuring three different couples. I was pretty annoyed because I ended up sort of caring about only one, and it wasn't the main duo. They were boring!

  P.S. I just... I just don't care about you two fucks.

Mao and Hisashi are as vanilla as they come. I mean they basically have no distinct character traits. Honestly, they feel like a watered down Sasaki and Miyano (which I enjoyed more but also found boring). I'm not saying they needed to be super kinky or something, I mean that they needed to have better developed and more distinct personalities. Their overcoming of the conflict was basically effortless and so their getting together essentially felt unearned.

This is coupled with their struggles after, where Mao feels too passive and useless as a partner as he cannot be more considerate of Hisashi. It is easily solved with some hugging, incredibly short dialogue, obnoxious internal monologues, and some nicely animated eyelashes. It's boring!

P.S. The hat STAYS ON during sex.

The second couple I found only mildly more interesting. Mostly because of Rei. It's always fun to see a cool-headed, uncaring, and self-centered scumbag realize he does care and is therefore forced to chase the guy he likes. I even found Shion pretty funny at first with his journey through the clubs and his effortless skill at whatever he tried only to abandon it. But soon enough he became just annoying and passive, not too different from Mao.

P.S. Now this is what I'm talking about!

Now, the couple that I actually cared about, Jin and Giichi (or Ichikawa). If the romance doesn't have some form of clownery, I don't want it. Flawed characters who act like they are perfect are some of my favourite. Jin embodies this very well, he's popular, he's good-looking, and some envy him. The rivalry between him and Giichi adds spice (sorry but I'm still a sucker for rivals/enemies to lovers as long as it's not straight up abuse-apologist nonsense). However, Jin is somewhat insecure, he can be vulnerable, but most importantly he's a cringe theater kid. He is dramatic as hell, a total attention whore who has to try something new to finally get Giichi's affections.

Giichi is no slacker either, at least in the weirdness department. He's obsessed with his club and making movies but procrastinates and gets in trouble for it. He's kind of a mess but is almost unaware of what a freak he is. He actually has the confidence by accident that Jin doesn't. In the end, they complement each other and it feels like you didn't waste your time being engaged in their little romance.

The Bad

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So, even with the fun that was Jin and Giichi, there is little else to enjoy about the show. Everything ranges from mediocre to almost bad. I kind of hate how this show looks. The animation is bare, certain angles are weird, the anatomy is weird, the colours and lines are boring, and some designs straight up suck. Sorry but the reflecting bowl cut twins look stupid. The backgrounds are also just so plain and uninspired. 

  P.S. Why don't y'all D-D-Dora your way to the hairdresser, okay?

Most of the music was either off-putting and took me out of the scene or it did nothing for the scene. The pacing also got really weird by the end. I actually didn't hate this one as much as FLCL but it got a worse rating because neither the story nor the style was in any way engaging. Despite what I said in the FLCL review I guess sometimes style can do something for the total lack of substance. 

I feel nothing for this anime so I'm slapping it with a No Recommendation Badge. There's nothing to take away from this.

The Score

 Story: D. Sadly, even though I enjoyed Giichi and Jin's romance, I can't say it was an exceptionally good story. And the others were more disappointing, so.

Characters: C. There are no stand-outs. I like Jin and if he was developed a bit more I think he could have been great. The side characters are totally forgettable outside of Kirito who was robbed!

Style: D. Honestly, the characters ranged from acceptable but boring to ugly. I hate Shion's design, it's stupid. Hisashi and Mao are just boring. Again, I only liked Giichi, Jin, and Kirito. I actually kind of liked how Rei was designed too but something was still too goofy about him. Probably his stupid hat. The setting is horribly generic and the beach scene at the very end looked so cheap it was painful.

Pacing: C. Honestly, everything takes too damn long and somehow also happens too damn fast. There is nearly no slowburn but every interaction is also so damn grating and passive it's crazy.

Animation: C. Outside of some wonky angles the animation is fine. Because nothing really happens there isn't much animation in general. A lot of stillness. This is especially awkward during "sex scenes" or intimate moments.

Music: C. Totally forgettable OP but a very great ED. The OST was honestly pretty awkward.

Final Score: D. Honestly, worse than expected. Whatever good it had going on was nowhere near enough to make the show worthwhile.

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Labels: anime2020s, anime2024, animebl, animereview, animeschool, manga adaptation, studiodeen, tasogare out focus, twilight out of focus