Deiji Meets Girl is a wonderful little love letter to its setting, Okinawa. A short full of promise and intrigue bites off a bit more than it can chew but remains a piece that satisfies.
It’s summer in Okinawa, and teenager Maise Higa spends much of it working the reception desk at her family’s hotel. The sunny days pass uneventfully—until the arrival of Ichiro Suzuki, a mysterious guest from Tokyo about Maise’s age. Then, strange phenomena, spectacular impossibilities of nature, begin to occur almost immediately.
An anime that is almost dreamlike in its look has a heightened level of seriousness. We see how lost both of our leads are. Maise in yearning to escape her situation, bored in her family run hotel as she waits to return to school. Added in Ichiro’s desire to get away from the pressures of his life due to how overwhelmed he is. With mysteries wrapped in mysteries throughout, we are given a short with a solid story, yet it does have issues.
The main pitfall in Deiji Meets Girl is that it was initially made to be mini 100 or so second episodes, so we never fully get things explained to us as we would like. The story moves on without us seeing it. For example, Maise and Ichirou are conversing about what brought him to the island and then suddenly, he is working there. If you are unaware of that before viewing the short, you could be in for a confusing time. Which is frustrating as this is a short that is trying to say something; we are just missing the flesh to its well-structured bones.
This short episodic nature of Deiji Meets Girl causes it to lose the momentum when watched as one whole piece. This is despite the intrigue it gained in those fantastic opening minutes. Resulting in it never entirely finds itself in the way you want it to. This is a shame as you really want to love it as a piece, but with it having one arm tied behind its back narratively, there is little it can do. Luckily for us, the visuals come in to save the day.
We are presented with a strange yet charming world with two main characters to which we can easily attach ourselves. There is a wonderful mystery to it all after that opening as you are left having to stay on your toes as to what to expect next. This dreamlike world we have been thrown into captures you from the first second. An example of this is when our duo try to navigate their way to the top of the hotel via a massive tree that has suddenly sprouted through the building. This randomness to Deiji Meets Girl really does keep your interest piqued.
This shows that sometimes as long as the characters are relatable and the overall theme is strong, coupled with pleasing visuals, then the small issues can be forgiven. Deiji Meets Girl is a solid anime that holds your attention for the entirety. You will be left wanting more from it, which can only be a good thing. With a bit of hope, we will see something a bit longer down the line.
★★★ 1/2
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