Grand Blue Dreaming
Grand Blue Dreaming is a series I’ve come across as anime first. I laughed my arse off for pretty much the entirety of the series, eventually resulting some sort of facial spasms. I was hoping for season 2 but that looks unlikely.
So, I went for manga. So far, I have 10 volumes.
Grand Blue is a diving series, on surface at least. Realistically though, this is a diehard drinking series. Well, it’s diehard something series. Well, I don’t know what the fek this series is about. It IS about something and it is bloody hilarious.
FYI, anime adaptation covers only about 5 books worth of content, so if you want to dive deeper, the manga books are pretty much a must. English version is available on Amazon.
The main character is Kitahara Iori (Last/first name). He is entering university and moves into his uncle’s diving shop which is located close by. It all begins from here. From there, he meets Kotegawa sisters who are Iori’s cousins. It’s important note, however, that Iori’s father is not blood related in their main family branch; he was adopted, meaning there is no blood relation between Iori and Kotegawa sisters.
This fact is fairly important as Iori and one of Kotegawa sisters, Chisa, seem to enter a relationship.
From get-go, Grand Blue starts off hilariously. You will also be reminded of Attack on Titan a lot as you watch / read this. It also has a lot of fan service shots as well, mostly from Asusa and Nanaka. Sadly, Chisa doesn’t have the assets to really show off.
The gist of overall story is university kids enjoying their lives. The whole plot can be summed up like that. It’s the details that are worth watching or reading.
For a supposedly diving manga though, diving is like 5% of the whole. 45% is devoted to drinking and getting naked, for no apparent reason of course… 49% is just screwing around. 1% is getting serious. Yeah, it does get serious someeeetimes.
My verdict on this series is: Get it. You can either watch the anime or read the manga. Both are hilarious AF. Anime adaptation omits few stuff but nothing major.
The only downside of this series is, well, no relationship gets anywhere. But that’s to be expected from a comical series like this. Besides, romance is not the main focus. Underwater diving is the main focus.
I think.
P.S. A fun fact. The voice actor and actress for Iori and Nanaka in the anime are actual siblings in real world.
Iori is voiced by Uchida Yuma.
Nanaka is voiced by Uchida Maaya.
