Review: Fune wo Amu

Some shows can elevate a seemingly mundane topic to a level that actually makes it interesting to an outsider. Other times it falls flat on its face. Fune wo Amu is a series that tells the story of a team creating a dictionary. Now this immediately left me with a raised eye brow or two but I decided to give the show the benefit of doubt since it airs in the noitaminA block and shows there have rarely let me down.

Majime is a socially awkward bookworm who works for a PR department. He goes around trying to promote his companies works to all manner of bookshops. When another employee Nishioka catches him making an embarrassment he goes to scold and correct him. Upon chatting to him Nishioka realises Majime may be a bit of an odd guy thanks to his innate ability to define words. This though is the catalyst that helps Majime move from the PR department to a new one where they make dictionaries. Now Majime’s role and life will change.

Setup wise it straight away dives into the basic setup and starts fleshing out characters. This is Majimes journey so the focus is on him and to see how someone, clearly not adept at situations with people, begin to react is the right way to go in enticing you and keeping you interested. The basic premise is interesting as well, I have not seen anything about making a dictionary before so all the content and focus is fresh to me.

Majime is sweet, he is a bookworm sure and he is not good socially but he is earnest and strives to do the best he can no matter the qualities he may lack, the dictionary department helps him grow and come out of shell more. He lives in a house with owner who treats him almost like a son. The dictionary department consists of Araki, Sasaki and Nishioka who whilst not eager to work there made it is home and those there like family such is the level of dedication needed. It is Majime and Nishioka who are the main characters at first.

The actual topic of making a dictionary opened my eyes to the incredible amount of time spent on one and what goes into one. I’ve never really given it a second thought; a dictionary gives definitions of words. But here that is not simply the case. There are different dictionaries to match times, that give a focus over different topics. It’s fascinating to see what they do and how they come up with definitions for the words themselves. An example here is that they want The Great Passage to feature more words to reflect technological changes and use so they choose words akin to this. Yet that is not all, font, covers, spines, paper texture and thickness and more are also brought up with sensible and understandable reasons.

Another aspect I really liked an appreciated comes from a business standpoint. Dictionaries are a drain on resources; they don’t make their money back in quick time but are a long term prospect. This means the head company are reluctant to finance one. The team get wind of this and set plans to force their hand by tying up contracts and the like so they have no choice but this leads to more issues with extra workloads forced upon them to try and get their value from it.

It just adds to the realism of this series. Anime is not known for realism but when one comes along now and then it’s fascinating to see the take on it and here it just shows that research has gone into this, they have looked at real life instances to see how they are made, how it affects a business and so forth. It is surprisingly gripping as well keeping you on the edge of your seat as you see a team potentially being broken apart.

This series touches on romance but doesn’t make as big a deal out of it as I expected. There was one particular moment where Majime gave Kaguya a 15 page love letter full of obscure and hard to understand poems because that was what he felt. He immediately left after giving it to her and sat in his room all night with a sense of childlike wonder for what might happen, for Kaguyas response. It was really sweet to see and seeing Kaguya answer those feelings really hit home. From there though it skips a lot of content which I found odd. It felt like this was going to be a big part of the series and in some ways it is but it felt glossed over.

And that is my one gripe here. There is a time skip about half way through the series and it whilst it is nice to see the characters mature and it feels needed (because making a dictionary takes a while) it does skip over a lot of the development between Majime and Kaguya. Their awkward blossoming romance was something I looked forward to but it skipped over it. It does tie into the realism aspect as relationships are natural and normal but Majime being the way he was it would have been lovely to see him grow through this experience. A real let down.

That said the time skip does give rise to the results of years of growth in Majime which we can clearly see and the changes are startling but for the better. It also introduces a new character that provides a great contrast to Majime when he first started work on The Great Passage with his co workers. Seeing how Majime treats her, helps her blend in is a pleasure to watch. This new girl is also a delight to watch because she brings a much more real presence to the team, an outsiders presence if you will.

Visually the show is a mix. The cast look like normal people, the women aren’t idealised to perfection nor are the men. They have regular body proportions, dress regularly and it fits into the realistic show they are going for. Characters move naturally whether it be walking or interacting with one another, their facial expressions change to convey their feelings feel real and it just helps create an aesthetic that looks great but also manages to cover over the limits in budget they had.

There is also a rather picturesque world of words that comes up when Majime is in deep thought about words, wording or his own worries that is a fascinating look into his own mind. It changes, displays a sense of dread, of helplessness and being absorbed that Majime actually feels in these emotional moments.

The soundtrack goes a long way to helping bring out the nature of the situation at the time but also keeps it quiet when serious scenes are at the fore, bringing out the words the characters say and shining a light on them. It heightens the sense of trouble, accomplishment or nervousness very well. The OP and ED were personally not my cup of tea, fairly bland J-Pop numbers that, despite listening to for 11 episodes, not once stayed in my head.

Going in I wasn’t sure what to expect but came out thinking I have watched an incredible series. Back to my original point of can anime elevate a seemingly mundane topic and the answer here is an overwhelming yes. But it’s not just that, every element adds up to create a fantastic, absorbing series worth a watch.

Studio: Zexcs

Released: Autumn 2016

Length: 11 episodes

Availability: Amazon Prime

9/10