'Clione no Akari' Anime Spoilers: New Japanese Short-Form Animated Series Features Courage and Friendship Amidst Social Discrimination
The new Japanese short-form anime series, "Clione no Akari (Lights of the Clione)," is about an ill-stricken and constantly bullied girl named Minori and the two friends whose lives she is about to change.
Told in shifting points-of-view of its two core characters, the series tells the story of how a friendship is gradually formed between Takashi, Kyoko, and Minori. Although Takashi and Kyoko have both shown concern for the sickly, poor and bullied girl, Minori, they have yet to find the courage to freely interact with her in school.
The fear of gaining the disfavor of the majority has always held the two of them back from standing up for Minori. But will things still be the same after the three of them have spent time at the aquarium over the weekend? Will they finally be able to openly admit to everyone that they are friends with Minori and to stand up for the bullied girl before it's too late? Is there significance in how Takashi and Kyoko's narrative points-of-view have been referring to Minori in the past tense?
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"Clione no Akari" is based on the illustrated novel of the same name created by Natural-Rain and originally published online in 2004. The novel was published in print in 2012 by East Press. Its app version reached #9 among the paid applications on the Apple Store.
The anime adaptation is being directed by Naoya Ishikawa' one-man animation studio, Ishikawa Pro, which was also responsible for "Kuttsukiboshi" and "Magical Chocolate." Natural-Rain designed the characters and is also handling the scenarios along with MOLICE, Tsukasa, and Takeshi Onaka.
"Clione no Akari" airs on Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. JST on Tokyo MX and midnight JST on Sun TV. Other scheduling information and online resources can be found on the series' official site. Episodes are also streamed exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
