LogFAQs > #969083668

55. The Girl in Twilight
https://myanimelist.net/anime/37561/Akanesasu_Shoujo
Fall 2018 (12 episodes)
My Score: 8/10, MAL Score: 6.42/10
Best Character: Tsuchimiya Asuka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTJ4PUhWo1Y

Premise: The carefree Tsuchimiya Asuka and her friends try out an urban legend and end up traveling to an alternate universe. There they learn about a threat thats destroying the multiverse.

The Good: The Girl in Twilight is a sci-fi action anime about alternate universes. Asuka and her friends are mostly normal high school girls, at least until they realize they can travel between universes. The differences between worlds can be relatively minor, like Japan having a law that partners people up for marriage at a certain age, or major, like a Wild West aesthetic somehow taking over Japan and enduring into the modern day. Im a big fan of alternate universes, and it was fun watching the girls go on adventures through interesting worlds. They kept meeting their alternate selves, which were fun to compare to the originals. Each world was like a short story where one girl learned something about herself. There were decent action scenes at times, too.

There was also a compelling overarching plot in the form of the Twilight, a mysterious menace attacking alternate universes one by one. Early on, Asuka meets her alternate self, dubbed Seriouska for having a no-nonsense demeanor. I enjoyed watching those two interact because of how different they were, as well as their similarities. Ill talk more about Asuka in her write-up.

The Bad: The Girl in Twilight doesnt have the most impressive animation, and the story can get goofy at times (again, one of the alternate universes is Wild West Japan). I can see those things being a problem for some people, which would explain its relatively low MAL score. I thought this anime had a lot of charm, however. In my opinion, it doesnt have any major negatives!

Overall: The Girl in Twilight felt like a relatively low budget production and there were times where it didnt take itself seriously. Still, as a big fan of the idea of alternate universes, I enjoyed it a lot. Each of the girls had a little arc in a fun world. Seeing them meet their alternate selves was interesting too, as was the overall plot about Seriouska battling a multidimensional threat. It also wound up telling a really compelling, emotional story, which Ill talk about more below.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/8/2/AABz_zAAD1VS.jpg

CHARACTER: Tsuchimiya Asuka (The Girl in Twilight)
https://myanimelist.net/character/163278/Asuka_Tsuchimiya
Voiced by: Kurosawa Tomoyo
TOP 100 RANK: 16th

SPOILERS FOR THE GIRL IN TWILIGHT

(I couldnt find a good video for her)

Asuka is a fun character in all her forms. She was fun as the carefree goof (who is actually hiding her sadness) in the prime universe. She was fun as Seriouska, who has been hardened by her battles with the Twilight but still has similarities to the original. She was even fun as a Wild West bounty hunter or as a brainwashed resident of a dystopian world. And, huge spoiler warning, she was fun as the evil emissary of the Twilight. When they introduced the fact that Asukas younger brother had disappeared years ago, I assumed Kyouhei would be the emissary and the end of the season would explain his disappearance. It turned out The Girl in Twilight was telling a much deeper, far more emotional story.

For as goofy as the anime could get at times, the disappearance of Kyouhei was always treated seriously. It wasnt supernatural, it was terrifyingly realistic in the sense that it could happen to anyone. Asuka and Kyouhei were at the park. He wanted to go home, and she didnt. She was the older sibling and shouldve looked after him, but instead she let him go home alone. And then Kyouhei was never seen again. Years later, Asuka pretends to be happy and carefree. Her family pretends it has moved on. But they still make extra at meals, just in case Kyouhei comes back. His room is still untouched. For an anime that took a detour through Wild West Japan (god I loved that alternate universe), the trauma from Kyouhei disappearing was really haunting.

What happened to him is different depending on the universe, but Kyouhei disappearing at that time is seemingly a universal constant. The young Asuka who became the emissary of the Twilight has searched countless alternate universes and never found Kyouhei or learned what happened to him. On the surface, this anime tells a zany story about alternate universes and multidimensional threats. On a symbolic level, though, I really like what it said about trauma.

Kyouhei is gone. Asuka will never know what happened and never see him again, not even with the power of infinite alternate universes. She simply needs to live with that. However, there is still an infinite range of possibilities for how she chooses to move forward. Shes been taking an unhealthy route so far, pretending everything is fine even though the trauma was tearing her apart inside. By the end of the story, though, Asuka begins moving on. Shell never forget what happened to Kyouhei, but it doesnt need to dominate her life. I really liked how the story took the idea of alternate universes and used it for more than just fun worlds to visit. The concept was used to tell a heartfelt story about trauma and moving forward despite it. I liked it a lot.