I'm a big fan of time travel stories,
I love the intricacies of paradoxes, the creation of different timelines,
or if that's not the case, the changes to the single one that exists
the consequences, the butterfly effect
but most of all, I love the internal struggle that characters witness when they go back in time
and the very visceral pain of being able to witness a broken or terrible past, but
because of the risk, having to hold yourself back from changing it
knowing and accepting that you can't change the past, and looking towards a better future
that is the primary theme that makes Link Click stand out to me
a new Chinese 2021 anime that has truly blown me away
I'd say that I very much appreciate underrated anime, or under-appreciated rather
Hence my love for say, Space Brothers, or Mushishi, or the recent Odd Taxi
which like Link Click, went largely under the radar amidst Spring 2021 anime
but while Odd Taxi is just an anime of the season for me, or maybe even the year
Link Click is even further along the spectrum and genuinely stood out to me
as what could possibly become one of my all time favorite anime
yeah.
watch this show
it follows two main characters, the brains: calm and collected Lu Guang
and the more headstrong and ambitious–forgive me for my pronunciation– Cheng Xiaoshi
who i'll refer to as Cheng from now on for the sake of the ears of any of Chinese-speaking viewers right now
if you couldn't tell by the name, it is a Donghua, or a Chinese anime
a category which in the past few years, has had a number of breakthroughs in mainstream anime
the most notable being the King's Avatar
and I personally, I'm rather ashamed to say it, I've never watched one before
so I figured now was the time to start
and whether this show is an anomaly, or a true representation of the standard that Donghua reach,
this category of show has totally earned my respect, it was simply that good
now, Lu Guang and Cheng run a small shop called the Time Photo Studio, that fronts as a simple photo development store
however, their main job is traveling into photos given by their clients for various reasons
to collect information from someone's boss, say goodbye to a past lover,
they enter photos into past memories of people and look for information
now, Lu Guang is able to see the 12 hour time frame after the photo was taken
the timeline, every moment that happens–he essentially becomes this omniscient viewer
meanwhile, Cheng enters the photo in the body of the photo-taker
Lu Guang constantly informs Cheng of what he has to do to make sure he doesn't change the timeline at all
from ways he has to act, to words he has to say
all the while Cheng has to make sure he does the job, and collects whatever information the client needs
the overall concept is rather simple at surface level
enter the photo and do the task you need to, without changing anything
one of the lines Lu Guang, the calm and collected one, always says goes along the lines of
"We don't change the past for the sake of changing the future"
and first I must mention the awesome dynamic between Lu Guang and Cheng
aside from the very obvious Ying & Yang imagery of their hair, they are really just that
opposites that complete each other
without Cheng, they can't enter photos, but without Lu Guang, Cheng would inevitably change the timeline completely
return to a life that he doesn't even know
headstrong vs collected
ambitious vs reserved
and this dynamic, this dichotomy inevitably leads to conflict
because Cheng upon entering the body of the photo-taker experiences their emotions as well
how they feel at the moment, and should the photo be steeped in tragedy,
then the urge to change things, to make them better, becomes stronger,
and more difficult to avoid for the headstrong Cheng
but, while this is the makings for a rather annoying character at surface level,
being the one who can't follow the rules and is constantly trying to change the timeline, Cheng has actually done extremely well
I actually like him more than Lu Guang
it's hard to go into all of it without spoiling, but the combination of him being in the literal shoes of the characters
as well as the events he's put through,
you really end of sympathizing with him, because in a way he is the only one suffering here
the clients have already lived through these memories
Lu Guang knows the events from start to finish, and how it should go–he's disconnected from the story
but Cheng is the one who has to relive it, regardless of whether the end to that 12 hour time frame is good or bad
for Lu Guang, it's just a job, but for Cheng, it's his life and someone else's that he is embodying
and to go through that and accept a terrible end is very difficult and inevitably
the idea of changing the past becomes the central conflict of the show
again, I have to reiterate for any time travel buffs, any Steins Gate fans, or Vivy fans, or Re:Zero fans;
I think you'll love this show
the time travel is done very well, it's explained clearly without having any holes that I noticed, or anything like that
the show itself, aside from the central concept, is also just put together very, very well
it's widescreen, which often isn't seen in anime honestly
I can personally only think of the Monogatari series of the top of my head
but in Link Click, along with the great animation and the widescreen,
it works together to make this very cinematic and artistic feel to it visually
the first episode has a food-making scene, a staple of any well animated movie
like
ALL of the anime movies have it for some reason, I don't even know why
and the animation just stays consistently strong, it never falters
I mean, they even have a whole episode where it's just Cheng playing basketball in someone else's body
and it's animated like, almost better than half the games in Kuroko no Basket
it is very, very visually pleasing
and plus, on my mandatory OST rant
the OST itself isn't necessarily top tier–it's good don't get me wrong–
but the opening and ending are awesome, it's where the show really shines sonically
the opening is this funky english track where the characters are tutting,
it has like a similar feel to Jujustu Kaisen's ending, with real human-like dancing
and the song is great of course
and the ending is this dope Chinese hip hop track, that always gets built up to at the end of each episode
almost every episode ends on some kind of dramatic note or cliff hanger, and the ending just eases right in
listen to this:
*OverThink by Fan Ka playing*
but to return to that idea of Link Click having a cinematic feel to it,
even more than just aesthetically, this show is almost like multiple movies put into a single series
each client, or each photo, that Lu Guang and Cheng go into feels like a single movie in itself
it tells a complete story through these characters' past
for example, here I will briefly discuss what happens in the side story episode,
which is technically an add-on to the 11 episode series, so I'm trying to avoid spoilers
while making sure to give you a rather, holistic view on what happens in each episode
now here the two boys receive an image from a man, who loves this girl from a strict martial arts family
and he can only marry her if he beats her father in battle
despite him not being from a martial arts family, and the girl being older than him,
year after year he walks up to the mountain to their temple, and feudally fights her father
now Cheng goes into the photo to figure out the key to beating him, what the father's hidden technique is
as he fights, and Lu Guang of course tells him how to avoid the hits and survive since he knows what'll happen,
he feels the perseverance and feelings of the man towards his lover
what keeps pushing him year after year
and unfortunately, it's revealed in the past that there is, in fact, another man who wishes to wed her
so this is our client's last chance
but, Cheng couldn't figure it out, he ends the 12 hour time frame without ever figuring out what it was
so after they leave the photo, they return to the man, who they've never met, they got the photo without seeing him
only to realize now that the young man, who you expected to be just a year older than said photo, trying again
is in fact a man now well into his years, a father, a grandfather even
he never once figured out how to win, but has run a dojo for years now because he never gave up
and continues climbing those stairs every year
it's heartbreaking and beautiful
knowing that this photo that he sent them, was just a last ditch effort
that he's tried all this time without ever knowing how to win, and they take him up one last time to the top of the mountain, and...
on second thought actually, I won't spoil the end
just watch the show :)
but you can see how emotional Link Click can get, because the entire premise is essentially using the past to make a better future
and there actually is an overarching plot that is drenched in mystery and intrigue that comes by every so often
so it's not just episodic, if you don't like that
I really can't praise this show enough
I might even make a more deep, philosophical type video about it once it's finished and has time to marinate in my mind
but I just had to get this out now, cause I wanna make sure people hear about it
I mean, I don't even remember how I found it yesterday afternoon, but I couldn't stop watching after I started
I feel like because it's an ONA, not Japanese, it's naturally goes under the radar more
but, but
please, give it a try
it is awesome, it's emotional, it's dramatic and intense, and I just love it
I've loved it since the start, and hopefully by the time it finishes, in two episodes, I'll love it to the very end
what do you guys think? have any of you watched it?
if so, do you like it as much as I do?
you might not, I'm a big time travel guy, and animation so it really just hit all the bases for me
leave a comment down below
as always, this has been the Anime Culture Corner
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