Reaching for Greatness, Grasping at Straws – A Review of "Sing Yesterday for Me"

             I wanted to love Sing Yesterday for Me, I really did. The premise was solid – a seinen show focused on the post-graduate ennui as reality crashes into and destroys the idealistic hopes of youth. The main character, Rikuo Uozumi, languishes in his angst after graduating from university, unable to bear the tedium and frustration of job hunting and thus preferring to simply work a dead-end job at a convenience store. Watching as his friends get jobs, get married, and get on with their lives while he wallows in his self-pity, Uozumi is similar to other characters like Hyouka’s Oreki or Oregairu’s Hachiman in their apathy. Because of this, I had hopes of an interesting social drama developing along with the main theme of moving from the past. Instead, what I found was a terrible soap opera that plays fast and loose with character development, wrapping up with a slipshod and unsatisfying ending.

            The first few episodes felt rather reminiscent of the two shows I previously mentioned: Hyouka and Oregairu. A socially awkward main character is unwittingly dragged into situations that leads to their eventual development as individuals and growing out of their self-imposed ideals and isolation. Here, Uozomi meets Haru, a strange girl with a crow on her shoulder – a parallel character to the strange and unique existences of Yukinoshita Yukino or Chitanda Eru. From there, the show spends an episode or two establishing the dynamic between the two; Uozumi is reluctant to show any affection to Haru, while she showers him with affection, beginning a sort of game – especially as the rivals to his love is introduced in the form of a friend from university. While generic, there isn’t much to critique here. Unfortunately, things start to go downhill from the halfway mark. Uozumi starts moving forward with his life, gaining the motivation to start working at a gallery to pursue his passion for photography, while apparently Haru is content to wait upon him like a particularly annoying maid. Her rival, Shinako, pines after a lost lover while playing with Uozumi’s and her childhood friend’s feelings. Uozumi’s ex also shows up just to shock the other two contenders, before disappearing without a trace. Then the melodrama really hits – for some reason, Shinako decides that now would be a good time to get with Uozumi for no clear reason. Because the both of them are cowards, and because the writer is annoyingly predictable, they avoid telling the other two about their relationship, which obviously leads to more drama and tears when they find out. Also for apparently no reason, Uozumi realizes that he liked Shinako only because she was nice to him, and Shinako also just wanted him as a friend. They share a good laugh over this, before breaking up. Uozumi goes to confess to Haru – because apparently he loves her, though he doesn’t explain why other than that she was cute. Finally, because the writers decided that this was already a shitshow, they show Shinako going to see her childhood friend only to find him partying with other girls. Ha ha ha, right? And then fin, as I cry tears of joy as I am free from this hell called Sing Yesterday for Me.           

            The greatest mistake the writers of this anime made was trying to do everything, which lead them to failing everything. They make a half-hearted grab at every theme, every character development moment, creating an incoherent mishmash that fails to deliver or express anything of depth. Let’s begin with the title itself: Sing Yesterday for Me. Obviously this is a nod towards the idea of being stuck in the past and unable to move on – except that most characters end up delving even further into their past, and the anime rewards them for it. Haru’s love for Uozumi was from an event five years previous, and even though everything he does in the present hurts her and demeans her she still loves him, because apparently things in the past are really important. Shinako decides that even though she got over her dead lover, she can’t get together with Uozumi because she cares too much about her childhood friend. Of course, that isn’t before toying with his feelings and hurting Haru and being an all-around manipulative bitch. And her childhood friend, even though he claims to have grown up, keeps throwing temper tantrums and acting much more like a toddler than a grown-ass man. Finally, Uozumi appears to have learnt nothing from meeting Haru. On the train ride to meet her in the final episode, his internal worries are personified, speaking to him like another person. It accuses him of being selfish, of only liking people because they like him, of caring too much about himself. His response? A mature “shut up!” while adding that he was doing it only for his own closure. Selfish? Yes. Egoistical? Yes. Does it ever occur to him that he might like Haru because she also dotes on him like a pet dog? No. None of this makes any sense in the context of the themes and ideas presented, which means each melodramatic moment only serves to create frustration as these characters flounder nonsensically along their path, hurting everyone they interact with for no reason than to create more drama.

            Aside from the obvious failure to express the main theme of the anime in any coherent way, there are also tonal issues abound. There are a few minor strange moments like how Uozumi and Shinako, once they get together, are unabashedly happy without care for the other two who have feelings for them. Even after Haru (rather fairly) accuses Shinako of keeping Uozumi as a back-up option and runs away sobbing, the two happily skips along, going on more fun little dates. Of course, the worst of the worst is when Uozumi and Shinako decide to break up – Uozumi starts laughing as Shinako cries about how her relationship with her childhood friend is destroyed, and somehow that became a way for them to bond over their friendship. What are they, sociopaths?! I know the show is trying to show that the two of them are returning to their dynamic as friends (what happened to moving forward?) but at the same time, come on! Read the mood, damnit! Two people’s lives have been turned upside down by these two’s idiocy and cowardice, and you think it’s something to joke about? And then, the ending scene… at this point the writers must’ve given up, because instead of wrapping up the final loose thread in the story, they decided to shoehorn in an inappropriate joke. Oh wow, Shinako’s about to confess her love for her childhood friend, let’s create another stupid misunderstanding! I’m sorry, but I did not sit through all twelve episodes to see this crap.

            Finally, characterization and motivation. I think all this anime does is chalk up people’s motivations to “well, it’s love!” Haru fell in love with Uozumi literally because she picked up something he dropped and gave it back to him. Why? It’s love! Why does Uozumi prefer Haru to Shinako? Dunno, love? Why does Shinako suddenly give up on her dead boyfriend for Uozumi? Love, obviously (but not true love because they break up again)! That’s what happens when the characters are all rather despicable. Shinako’s childhood friend is a prick that says that he enjoys seeing her in the kitchen and demands that she make him food even though he’s already becoming a college student. He even says that when he moves out, he wants her to come cook for him at his apartment! On the other hand, Shinako stops making him food because she’s busy making lunches for Uozumi instead even though she promises she’ll continue to take care of him. She’s also spineless, literally hiding behind Uozumi when Haru confronts them about their relationship. Also, did I mention that she told Haru she wasn’t interested in Uozumi? Really makes you ask why all these people are in love with her. Haru’s not as bad as Shinato, but her world revolves around Uozumi’s existence, making her a rather pathetic and uninteresting character. Altogether, these four fools truly belong together, if only to separate them from us sane people.

            I truly had high hopes for this anime – there has been a dearth of the more introspective anime which really focus on the psychology of the characters. It even takes place outside of high school, which at least sets it apart. But unfortunately, for all the reasons I laid out above (and probably more), watching it was an exercise in endurance – to bear the melodrama, the stupidity, the abject meanness, the incoherence, the utter lack of depth. To end this painful review, I’ll just say one last thing. Remember the crow on Haru’s shoulder? I was intrigued, hooked by it, only to find out that the crow had no symbolic importance, that it was just a superficial attempt at being unique and interesting. It was just there for shock value and drama. And the show? Very much the same.