Island: The Complete Series

Based on a 2016 visual novel, this fantasy-romance anime centers on Setsuna, an amnesiac young man discovered on the beach of Urashima, an island cut off from the rest of the world. Setsuna takes a job in the Ohara family household, where he meets and is attracted to Rinne, the master’s reclusive daughter. But there are two other significant girls as well: Karen, the mayor’s daughter, who seeks a way to the mainland, and Sara, the temple priestess, who has some peculiar ideas about her own past. The plot revolves around Setsuna’s effort to connect the fragments of memory that he still retains and discover his purpose on Urashima, which he becomes certain involves killing someone. The first half of the series is rather meandering, with the tedium exacerbated by Setsuna’s phlegmatic character and the unexceptional animation. Things eventually improve, however, and the concluding episodes are intriguing, with scientific elements such as time travel added to the mix, although some of the resulting implications for relationships among the characters might raise a few eyebrows. Compiling all 12 episodes from 2018 in a dual-language Blu-ray edition, rated TV-14, this is a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)