For a while now, I haven’t watched anything from Mari Okada for a while mostly because the first two episodes of AKB0048 left a very bad taste in my mouth back in 2012 (to be fair, I haven’t watched the Hanasaku Iroha Movie nor Sakurasou either). To me, I feel that her strengths lies in coming of age, love triangle romance and melodrama types of shows, which is one of the reasons why many people liked Ano Hana, Hanasaku Iroha (despite its flaws) and True Tears as the drama is not necessarily clear-cut and the complex character development. Not only that, she is one of the prolific female Anime directors in an industry that is male dominated.
With that, will Nagi no Asukara live up to the likes of the big three? Maybe. (Image Source)
…
