Because of a plane crash a group of students are spending their lives on a desert island where there’s nothing available and they’ll have to make it themselves. The students will show to eat cicadas, how to build traps, a simple allergy test, how to eat hermit crabs, and more. – ANN
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: TBA (12 minutes apiece)
Source: Manga
Episode Summary: If things had gone the way they should have, Homare, Asuka, Shion, and Mutsu would be kicking back at a hotel with their classmates, enjoying the first evening of their class trip. Unfortunately, their plane crashed into the ocean, and after fighting through dehydration and shark-filled waters, they’re now stranded on a small island in the middle of the ocean. Luckily Homare knows a thing or two about survival skills due to her father’s teachings, but it might be an uphill climb to ensure that all four members of this unwilling adventure party survive to see their own rescue.
Impressions: I was curious about this series when I first read about it, since survivalist fiction is interesting to me. I enjoy learning about the ways in which human beings have figured out how to use their environment as a source of food, water, tools, and shelter, and thought this might be a quirky way to gain some helpful information. The first episode delivers a few interesting tidbits, but in a very odd (and sometimes uncomfortable) package.
The series stars four pretty teenage girls, and the camera framing and subject matter throughout the episode wants to ensure that you don’t somehow forget that fact. One of the opening shots is aimed straight up a girl’s skirt, there are copious depictions of the characters’ damp, translucent shirts clinging to their bodies, and there’s even a “kiss” between two characters (one shares saliva with the other since she’s starting to become dehydrated). Homare freely disrobes, first to use her shirt as a tool for crushing a fish (so she can squeeze its juices out), and later to remove her panties in order to pee in another girl’s mouth (again, in order to stave off dehydration). While these actions may technically work as methods of survival and I don’t doubt there’s some basis in reality, it’s fairly obvious that the purpose of these things in the episode is not necessarily to educate, but instead to titillate.
The characters are sort of your garden-variety female ensemble cast, with a matter-of-fact hard-ass, a quiet glasses-girl, a sporty girl and a pretty, popular girl. I would like to think that, once the series gets over its overt horniness (since anime series tend to front-load that kind of content), each of the characters might have their time to shine and contribute their various skills and social talents to the survivalist cause. Because there seems to be a simmering yuri undercurrent, as well as a penchant toward vulgarity, I might unfortunately be barking up the wrong tree.
It may surprise some to know that I often enjoy relatively vulgar humor, and there are a couple of moments during the episode that I may have found funnier in isolation. During the aforementioned fish-crushing scene, Homare wrings out the blood and organ juices right into her mouth, which got a decent chuckle out of me. She also has a flashback to her younger years, living off the land with her father and eating a moose’s testicles. Her only protests are that the testicles stink (I bet they do!). This kind of stuff tickles my funny bone a lot more than the kind of underage lewdness that characterizes the rest of the episode.
This episode is a very mixed bag. I can see myself watching more simply to learn some more survivalist fun facts, but I suspect that the (especially weird) yuri content would eventually put me off quite a bit.
Pros: You can learn a few interesting things about finding (or getting) water out in the wilderness.
Cons: Some of the camera angles and content are overly-lewd and make it clear who the intended audience is.
Content Warning: Underage creep-shots/sexualized imagery, bodily fluids, blood/gore involving animals.
Grade: C-