summary (ANN): Kaname Okimura, a student of Prefectoral Umineko Shougyou High ("Umisho" for short), joined the school's swimming club in order to learn how to swim, but the club is filled with weirdos, let alone teaches him swimming. Then, a sunny, happy-go-lucky girl named Amuro Ninagawa who was transferred from Okinawa joined the club. Her extraordinary underwater speed and unorthodox swimming style (plus her personal habit of nude swimming—a powerful magnet to teenage boys) surprised every club member, especially Okimura, because she reminds him of a mermaid-like creature he saw only once in his early childhood.
Genres: comedy, romance
Themes: Ecchi, Sports, Swimming
Number of Episodes: 13Date of Airing: 2007-07-03 to 2007-09-25
Let's see.. at first I stumbled upon the manga about 2 weeks ago when I was lurking for "certain thing" at AnimeSigma irc channel, then I saw the people there mentioned something about Umisho. So on a whim, I download the manga give it a try, and surprisingly it really got me addicted over the content. Really entertaining read for me - nice theme for a sport manga, the jokes never fails to amuse me, and... fanservice :3
Done with the manga (currently at chapter 45 iirc), I started thinking that it would be nice if there is anime adaptation of such an awesome manga (yes, I highly rated the manga because it simply went along the kind of story that I like). And to my surprise, there really is. Digging on the info, I found that the anime started airing on July 2007, hence that explains why I never really heard about the anime (I started to follow anime season starting Fall 2007 btw). So I started downloading the full 13 episodes batch from Ayu fansub, and watch away.
...And finished watching the anime a week ago. I regret not knowing this show sooner, somehow. Umisho definitely is one of the best show I've ever watch, in term of entertaining value. Almost everything about this series are to my liking, from theOP Song "Dolphin Jet" by Ayane, the plot itself which never strayed much from the manga, animation which maintains the original manga arts, as well as the ED song "Splash Blue" by Ayumi Murata.
Done with the manga (currently at chapter 45 iirc), I started thinking that it would be nice if there is anime adaptation of such an awesome manga (yes, I highly rated the manga because it simply went along the kind of story that I like). And to my surprise, there really is. Digging on the info, I found that the anime started airing on July 2007, hence that explains why I never really heard about the anime (I started to follow anime season starting Fall 2007 btw). So I started downloading the full 13 episodes batch from Ayu fansub, and watch away.
...And finished watching the anime a week ago. I regret not knowing this show sooner, somehow. Umisho definitely is one of the best show I've ever watch, in term of entertaining value. Almost everything about this series are to my liking, from theOP Song "Dolphin Jet" by Ayane, the plot itself which never strayed much from the manga, animation which maintains the original manga arts, as well as the ED song "Splash Blue" by Ayumi Murata.
Story
First, don't believe wholeheartedly on those plot summary by ANN - although its true that she has habit of nude swimming, she only do that when swimming in the sea and when there's no people around, or only to the people she like :3
As the theme suggest, it uses swimming as it's main attraction, and you can never really escape from fanservice if we talk about swimming and swimming club at school. However, I don't really find the ecchiness to be disturbing, because most of the times they are coupled with some cracking moments that always made me laugh.
As stated earlier, the story never stray that much from the manga. It started off with the main heroine Amuro coming to the city of Umineko (a unique way to introduce herself too) from Okinawa and how she seems to remember the main character, Okimura from her old memories. The story then proceed from that point to their usual after school activities at Swimming Club, to prefectural tournament and finally, Kantou Tournament. The story can go further to into the InterHigh tournament, but I'm pretty much satisfied with how they end the anime at Kantou.
As for the content of the anime itself, most of the story covered can be found in the manga except maybe the final episode which went further than the currently scanlated chapter (ch45).
characters - ripped off MAL with a bit of addition from myself because I'm lazy to describe them
Animation/Music
As the theme suggest, it uses swimming as it's main attraction, and you can never really escape from fanservice if we talk about swimming and swimming club at school. However, I don't really find the ecchiness to be disturbing, because most of the times they are coupled with some cracking moments that always made me laugh.
As stated earlier, the story never stray that much from the manga. It started off with the main heroine Amuro coming to the city of Umineko (a unique way to introduce herself too) from Okinawa and how she seems to remember the main character, Okimura from her old memories. The story then proceed from that point to their usual after school activities at Swimming Club, to prefectural tournament and finally, Kantou Tournament. The story can go further to into the InterHigh tournament, but I'm pretty much satisfied with how they end the anime at Kantou.
As for the content of the anime itself, most of the story covered can be found in the manga except maybe the final episode which went further than the currently scanlated chapter (ch45).
characters - ripped off MAL with a bit of addition from myself because I'm lazy to describe them
Okiura Kaname
He's a second year student, and the swimming team's manager. He had a traumatic experience involving a creature he describes as a mermaid during his childhood, and after which he has been afraid of swimming ever since. However this scenario started to change after Amuro's arrival at Umishō. Always in trouble due to Amuro's unpredictable behavior, he usually denies his growing feelings for her.Amuro Ninagawa
She's a second year student at Umisho and came one day with a "house-raft" from Okinawa. She's a very skilled swimmer and loves it to swim nude in the ocean, what often leads to trouble. Though she only swims nude with those shes familiar with, especially Kaname. She recieved the X's on her head from her grandmother who is lost at sea.Momoko Orizuka
Vice captain of Umisho swimming team, Momoko is one of the founders of the club together with Ikariya and Kise. She is the fastest front crawl swimmer on the team and the most serious competitor(though a bit obsessive at times).Mirei Shizuoka
A second year, and the swimming team's backstroke and madley specialist. She is admired by the boys because of her generous measures and polite demeanor. Probably the winner in boobs competition among all Umisho girls.
Very few people know of her repressed erotic desires, and that, despite her innocent and pure appearance, she casually wears lingerie under her clothing.Maaya Nanako
A famous model and very good swimmer at Inter high level who transferred to Umisho, so she can get to see her childhood crush: Kaname. Very self-centered and confidence with her abilities, except her chest :)
She's always have been jealous for Amuro of her swimming speed, bigger boobs, and affection for Kaname.Masa Ikariya
The captain of the Umisho swimming team. He's a muscle-bound third year student who's known for his unhealthy obsession with shaving his (and others') body parts. He can be seen at both practice and tournaments in speedos, spouting enthusiastic nonsense and being generally oblivious.
Animation/Music
Eh, I don't expect this kind of anime to have bombastic animation like the CG's in Last Exile or the beautiful settings of Someday Dreamers. As long as the art concept sticks with the original manga arts, and the animation looks appealing, then it's fine. And Umisho did just that. Simple animation, easy to the eyes. Musics are pretty much ordinary but they do know what bgm fit best for a scene, especially when it deals with the actual swimming matches. The OP theme was sang by Ayane - coincidentally one of my favorite jpop singer, and this song too is one of my favorite song from her. As for the ED theme, at first I didn't give much attention to the song itself until the very last episode, where the song is used perfectly to fit the mood of the ending.
Seiyuu - good choice of voice acting for most characters imo, except maybe for Shizuoka. I was hoping her voice to be more like Mamiko Noto to be honest :))
overall Umisho has been a very entertaining watch for me, worth watching for the laugh (my MAL score is 10/10 zomg). Recommended for people who looks for humor and are immune to fanservices :3
Seiyuu - good choice of voice acting for most characters imo, except maybe for Shizuoka. I was hoping her voice to be more like Mamiko Noto to be honest :))
overall Umisho has been a very entertaining watch for me, worth watching for the laugh (my MAL score is 10/10 zomg). Recommended for people who looks for humor and are immune to fanservices :3
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