an enjoyable, but rushed adaptation.
It's not a secret that I love the MAME-verse, so I was so excited to see another take on Love in the Air. This one felt very familiar and was fun! The adaptation is pretty faithful, following most of the same story beats and moments to the same effect, while still making the characters their own. The production is a bit more realistic in styling and acting, and a bit... tamer in the intimacy, but it feels suited to these characterizations. The production is a little rough around the edges but, honestly. it's rough around the edges in much the same way Love in the Air TH was... so that's just accuracy ;)
My main issue with this adaptation is the run time--with only eight episodes at 35 minutes each, LITA JPN struggles to balance two pretty tonally different stories. While I'm not concerned about speeding up or combining timelines--I actually quite liked the way the antagonists were better threaded throughout the whole story-- the traumatic climax of both arcs happening simultaneously was... bad. The two stories are not equivalent stakes, with Rei and Arashi embodying a campier, more spirited story line and Kai and Fuma living in a much, much more serious world. The mix didn't work and flattened both stories.
My main issue with this adaptation is the run time--with only eight episodes at 35 minutes each, LITA JPN struggles to balance two pretty tonally different stories. While I'm not concerned about speeding up or combining timelines--I actually quite liked the way the antagonists were better threaded throughout the whole story-- the traumatic climax of both arcs happening simultaneously was... bad. The two stories are not equivalent stakes, with Rei and Arashi embodying a campier, more spirited story line and Kai and Fuma living in a much, much more serious world. The mix didn't work and flattened both stories.
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