citrus Anime Review

Next on my list to cover is the anime Citrus. For anyone reading my posts in order and checking FUNimation. Yes, I skipped 3 shows. Don’t sue me for going out of order. I decided to watch Citrus while taking a break somewhere between letters A and B. So while I also wrote this one out of order, I’ll add I watched in out of order as well. Oops. I wanted a Slice of Life show with some romance sprinkled in and I got it with this show.

Citrus is about two girls that meet and fall in love. But, in typical anime plot twists the girls find out they are step-siblings. From there you have one sister Mei, who is a typical Tsundere, dealing with past childhood trauma while trying to find a way to be more open about her emotions. The other sister, Yuzu, has an infectious rebellious personality and wears her heart on her sleeve.

Question will these girls suppress their emotions and become family or will they give in to their desires and love one another? Watch the show to find out.

Citrus was adapted from the best selling manga with the title, you guessed it, citrus. It’s run lasted from 2012-2018 and consists of 50 chapters. After watching the anime, I decided to check out the manga. I must say, it was a pretty solid read. The show does a good job of following the manga plus or minus a few things. You know how adaptations are, none are depicted 100% accurately.

But before I get sidetracked, this is about the anime, not the manga. If in the future, I still don’t have a life I’ll think about sharing my thoughts on the manga and doing a comparison.

I’ll probably state this a million times in the future but I love me a Tsundere but here Mei was a bit annoying. In 12 episodes we see growth between the two characters, but Mei’s was a tad lackluster.

From beginning to end the audience sees her dealing with her trauma with her father and making more of an effort to openly express her emotions, but she ends as a melting ice cube from the icy glacier she was. I personally prefer a Tsundere that goes from glacier to slushy, but I’ll take what I can get in this case.

I became a fan of Yuzu early on. Her abrasive, impulsive, and indecisive nature kept me eager for her to find her true feelings and actually make a move with Mei. I appreciated the element of showing a high school girl sorting out her thoughts on finding her sexuality and what it means to be in love. Regardless of your gender or preferences, anyone could find this easy to relate to.

Throughout the show, the supporting characters do a great job of bringing Yuzu and Mei together. For 12 episodes the interactions and situations are brief but also long enough that we get to see changes in characters and progression towards a stronger relationship. The supporting characters are what solidify the strength and depth of the show, as aggravating as Momokino is, I enjoyed the rivalry she has with Yuzu. Matsori, while may have been a tad evil, forced Mei into a position where she had to be more open about her feelings.

Now let me mention the elephant in the room. While this is a cute dramatic romance there are quite a few instances where sexual assault is apparent. In fact, we see it in the first 10 minutes of the show. I’ll never condone the glorification of sexual assault of justification in any case. Within the anime, it’s overlooked and not taken seriously but that’s what makes this show unrealistic. The love story that comes out by the end would never be healthy in real life.

The show is a drama and while I don’t condone any of it, in some ways it added to the story and depth. The audience knows that Mei has past trauma and issues with expressing her emotions, acting out aggressively show her trying to gain back power that was stripped away from her when her father walked away. Also, it shows her lack of confidence and a lack of self-identity. She puts on a show of how she thinks society perceives her with a warped interpretation.

While the characters are good and have depth, the anime falls short of noticing their full potential and continue the story. Since its airing in 2018, there hasn’t been any news that would suggest a season 2 which to me is a bit depressing and would be a waste. To equal the material from the manga and newer spin-off, it should have more than enough to continue.

As it stands, I give this show an 8/10. The characters have depth, the plot although sometimes rushed, was good. It was enough to make me love the characters and search for plans for another season. While the conclusion wrapped things up nicely with the two “dating”, it’s clear the producers left the show open to returning if they make the decision to bring it back. Seeing how this was a guilty pleasure for me to watch, I’ll gladly welcome a new season if it’s renewed.