In one sense, this reminded me of “Daily Lives of High School Boys”, in that it is a series of events and actions where, at the end of the day, nothing really happens. That is not a bad thing, as we see the blush of youth, trying to understand love and getting it all bass-ackwards. Welcome to “Tsurezure Children” (“Tsurezure Chirudoren”).

Now, the anime is a light version of the manga, as they have, like, 30 characters that they are dealing with. And it also is a 4-kome, which is readily seen in how they present the tales it tells. It’s a bit tough for an anime to have so many people underfoot or lurking in the wings, so we deal with a grouping of six or eight of them, as they try and understand love and relationships and growing up and the other gender. And you see how they try to cope with a multiplicity of problems and concerns. Zits are the least of your issues.

And it would help to know what ‘tsurezure’ means. Among its many definitions, the two we glom on to are ‘thoughtful silence’ and/or ‘silence and loneliness’. And these folks have tons of that! The course of true love never runs smooth and for some of these folks, it’s sometimes a Category 6 Whitewater River Rating (not for the faint of heart). But still, they forge ahead, so you get some genuinely hilarious moments and some genuinely heartbreaking moments, and usually in the same show.

The episodes run about 13 minutes each, which allows for three or four tales inside each time segment to get spooled out. They are all loosely connected, as they go to the same school and there is a caliber of awareness about some of the other people, even if there is no direct contact. The time frame is about half a year, from the deep snows of winter to the broiling sun of Sports Day and summer vacation.

I sometimes use the phrase ‘a nothing show’, and I have that mean that not a lot happens in an overt manner or that there will not be a game-changing moment that alters the course of mighty rivers or bends steel with your bare hands. It’s small and it’s quiet and it’s contained, but it can still pack a punch, as these tyros try and understand Life, the Universe, and Everything, but still not be able to take it all in.

I enjoyed these tales, as it tells us that the situations remain the same, only the characters get swapped out for the next generation. You can do it all right and still get it wrong. Welcome to the party, pal.

Oh, it’s a short-pull series, so you walk right in, sit right down, Daddy let your mind roll on. Things play out a whole lot better as we see all these divergent strings trying to come together and there is not going to be a confusion as to which one is which story, so the sum of the parts end up being greater than the whole. Or a bird in the hand spoils the broth.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork           8 (Simplistic but effective)
Plot                  8 (Works well in its truncated time)
Pacing              8 (Moves along much as life does)
Effectiveness   8 (Good use of time and tale)
Conclusion       7 (It reaches a ‘coupler point’, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service      2 (A similar show would be “Okamisan”)
Bingeability     9 (Go for it)

Overall            8 (Brevity is the soul of wit)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. It must be a confession.