“Kin-iro Mosaic” (“Kin’iro Mozaiku”, or “Golden Mosaic”) also appears to be a caliber of nothing show, as we follow these five friends in a year of school.

The story actually begins five years earlier when Shinobu Omiya (second from left) spent some homestay time in England with Alice Cartalet (to her left). Much to the surprise of Shinobu and other folks in the school, when Alice is fifteen, she joins her at her school, accompanied by Alice’s friend, Karen Kujo (can you find the other blonde up there? Good).

We also meet Shinobu’s friends, Aya Komichi (long pony tails) and Yoko Inokuma (red head).

We follow them through a year of understandings and misunderstandings as they try to overcome language barriers and cultural differences.

I seem to find myself drawn to these kinds of shows as of late. Not much different than “Non Non Biyori”, this one has a bit firmer idea on the plotting and pacing, although I always ask the question “Do girls always talk about boobs when they are with each other?” I have seen enough of these shows that this topic comes up all the time. Still, this is a kind of magical time for the quintet, as they hang out together and help each other with homework and even have a sleep over; all those cutesy things girls of this age do.

But there is also a sense of sadness in the show. No matter how hard you wish, it will never be this way forever, so you should enjoy the time that you can spend together. And even when the ending for the series is bittersweet, someone does find the silver lining in all of this.

This is not everyone’s cup of tea and many may find that it either moves too slow for their tastes or is not all that interesting to them. Well, that’s OK. I am not a fan of Giant Fighting Robots, but I am willing to look at shows like that. I feel that “Mosaic” does have something a bit different to offer for the ‘nothing’ genre and is at least worth a two-episode commitment from people.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork 8 (Nicely rendered, especially the memories)
Plot 7 (Still a rather standard offering)
Pacing 7 (It can stop and start)
Effectiveness 8 (Works well)
Conclusion 7 (It reaches a ‘coupler’, but doesn’t really end)
Fan Service 3 (A similar show would be “Okamisan”)

Overall 7 (A bit too soft)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. You speak Japanese well.