***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Fumikiri Jikan. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
Japan is a country that runs on rails.
Each and every day, thousands upon thousands of trains run all throughout the country’s biggest cities and smallest towns. Therefore, countless numbers of people must stand and wait at the occasional railroad crossing.
Pausing for a train to pass is such a mundane event, most of us never think twice about it. However, since it is something that happens so often, this dull moment might lead to an unexpected memory.
Perhaps its two friends on their way to school. Maybe it’s a brother and sister conversing. Or it might be an unbelievable meeting of fate. The point is, no one really knows what can happen in the few seconds it takes for a train to come and go.
If there is one thing we can take away from all this, though, it’s that you should never write off these little encounters.
Series Positives
Short and to the point. That’s what Fumikiri Jikan was, and that’s what I intend for this review to be.
Given how the Spring 2018 season contains giants like Tokyo Ghoul 3, FLCL 2, and the conclusion of Darling in the Franxx, I would be shocked if anyone had this series on their radar. Hell, I’m curious to know how many people even knew this show was a thing.
Fumikiri Jikan was a short form anime; completely finishable in less than 40 minutes. Therefore, I am not going to sit here and tell you that this series should have your attention right now. However, I would suggest you not let this show pass you by.
I don’t have much to say about Fumikiri Jikan. Even if I did, there wouldn’t be much that could be said. Although I am going to try to give a little detail, I can sum up my thoughts on this series in three words: It was fun.
Fumikiri Jikan managed to hit all the right notes. Granted, it didn’t hit any of those notes very hard, but from animation to content, this show was a pleasant sit. Albeit, a very quick one.
This series did not wow me. This was not the next big thing, and despite me liking it, I doubt I am going to remember much about Fumikiri Jikan a month down the road. I will definitely look back on this show with fondness, but not much else. Nevertheless, as is the nature of other competent short form anime, if you need to kill a few minutes, I can think of worse things to do.
Fumikiri Jikan’s strength was its comedy. This show made me laugh, and on a few occasions, it got some pretty big chuckles out of me. I credit this to the voice cast and their comedic delivery.
I’m only basing this on what I heard, but it sounded like the actors in this show were having fun with the material they were given. This was especially true when two characters needed to banter back and forth. Once that was over, this series moved on to the next thing.
When you get right down to it, this show understood the premise it was working with.
Every episode took place at a railroad crossing. In real life, getting stuck at one may take up ten minutes of your day. These moments may be annoying, but they are not long. For a show to focus on these insignificant occurrences, yeah, I suppose three or four minutes is the amount of time you can use before any one scenario becomes dull. You even see this happen in Fumikiri Jikan.
Not every episode had a winning idea. However, even the lesser ones were fine since they didn’t last. Whenever a particularly weak setup felt as if it needed to move on, the show moved on. No harm, no foul; try again. And usually, when this show tried again, things ended up working.
As for my favorite moments of Fumikiri Jikan, a.k.a. episodes, I would say they were SNS Siblings, parts 1 and 2, and Heart of the City Train, parts 1 and 2. For the former, these two episodes were cute, as well as funny. For the latter, believe it or not, they came together to form a rather sweet story.
What else positive can I say about this show? Don’t go into Fumikiri Jikan expecting depth. At most, use this as a palate cleanser before starting something with a lot more substance. If you do that, then yes, I think anyone can get enjoyment out of this show.
Series Negatives
I have less to say here than I did before.
What is there to be upset about? To be honest, nothing. This series wasn’t nearly long enough to be annoying. Not only that, there was no overarching story for it to screw up. I’m really at a loss of what to talk about here.
If I had to say there was something wrong with Fumikiri Jikan, it would be this show played things extremely safe, and as a result, it was a little too unremarkable. But then again, what else would anyone expect?
Let’s look at Fumikiri Jikan by answering three questions.
If I had to say there was something wrong with Fumikiri Jikan, it would be this show played things extremely safe, and as a result, it was a little too unremarkable. But then again, what else would anyone expect?Let’s look at Fumikiri Jikan by answering three questions.
One: Did this show need to happen? No, but it happened nonetheless, and you know what, it ended up being fine.
Two: Do I think this series will ever get a second season? No, I don’t, and I would be amazed if such a thing were ever to happen. But if one came, that would be okay too.
Three: Was Fumikiri Jikan a waste of time? In this regard, yes it was. However, I would also argue that was the point. This was a harmless time-waster because after all, you would only be investing 40 minutes.
I am having trouble finding anything wrong with what this series did. To keep things fair, though, like I did with my favorite episodes, my least favorite episodes were Majima Eriko is Sexy, parts 1 and 2, and Railroad Crossing Poet. These segments didn’t make me laugh as hard, but I still liked them for what they were. As I said before, nothing in this show had the chance to become awful.
The only thing I can add is what I would have done with this series. And as far as that’s concerned, I guess I would have kept Fumikiri Jikan to just four recurring stories. These would have been the episodes Their Youth, Together With Sensei, SNS Siblings, and Goth Ordeals. I didn’t pick these ones because I liked them all, I pick them because they were merely the ones I think someone could have done the most with.
That notwithstanding, Fumikiri Jikan instead decided to go with variety, and I think that was an okay way to go about it. In fact, some of the episodes I mentioned as maybe having more to them, had part twos.
I kind of wish there was some glaring problem with this show since that would give me something to talk about. As it stands though, no, there was nothing like that.
Don’t expect Fumikiri Jikan to make any of my Top Ten list of anything in the future, but if you’re not in the mood to start something much more substantial, why not check this one out? What do you have to lose?
Final Thoughts
This was fun. That’s pretty much all there was to this series.
There was nothing to this show that would make it stand out. As a short form anime, it did precisely what the name implies, and this series never tried to be anything more. And you know what? Good.
Sometimes it’s okay to have something light. With that said, if at any point you have an hour you need to kill, I highly recommend you give Fumikiri Jikan a shot.
But these are just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this show? What would be your advice concerning Fumikiri Jikan? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.
And if you liked what you read, be sure to follow me on my social media sites so that you never miss a post or update. Also, please share this review across the internet to help add to the discussion.
I’m LofZOdyssey, and I’ll see you next time.
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