CHITOSE-KUN WA RAMUNE BIN NO NAKA

DESCRIPTION

CAST

NOVEL ComedyChitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka
MANGA ComedyChitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka
ANIME ComedyChitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka Part 2

REVIEWS

• 

  rrakku

  72/100
  Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle reaches for the Moon, but can't bring itself to leave the Earth behind

  In a more well-respected medium, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle probably wouldn't have had to face as much backlash as it did back when it first aired. With the litany of repulsive goon slop out there, it's an understandable reaction to treat its 30-minute premiere as a failed attempt at satirising contemporary otaku-isms. Between the cheerful cast yelling nonsensical greetings to each other, to the three heroines practically confessing their love to Saku, to our hero's bombastic break-in to cap off, it's hard to put into words how obnoxiously loud and stupidly thick the introduction really is. But frankly, I think that's what makes it charming.
   

  

  Episode one quite literally ends with our protagonist destroying his classmate's bedroom window.

   
  The central problem Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle faces is the existence of its shitty peers. The sheer infamy of works like Oreimo or Haganai or Henneko or The Ryuo's Work is Never Done or Eromanga Sensei or Imoimo or Hensuki or Tsurekano or The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten or Kimizero or Roshidere or Kurakon or Danjoru or Imouza, just to name a few, inevitably prompts skepticism towards any work that shares the "light novel romcom adaptation" label. Yet, it pays no attention. The show unashamedly employs character cliches in the genre both ironically and genuinely; it draws on the "popular guy = bad" trope as a major narrative driving force, just to break it wide open with the main cast's deep sincerity and compassion; and it embraces teenage naivete and the naval-gazing, self-important philosophies to contrast with Saku and friends sociable front.

  This post-ironic approach lets the show eat its cake and have it too. By ingeniously relying on paratext to setup a fake veneer, it saves a lot of ink on exposition while also allows it to hide its true intentions: the seemingly stereotypical characters offer comfort in familiarity for the less adventurous, afford the narrative space to jump right into action without having to establish chemistry, and subvert audience expectations as each of the boys’ and girls’ masks slowly slip.

  All that is to say, it doesn't take a genius to catch on to the mountain of contradictions Saku & co. contend with, and arrive at the conclusion that something is brewing under the surface, even in early episodes. The most apparent departure from the conventional is that the show constantly and deliberately understates anything important that informs the cast's personalities. With the story starting in the second year of high school, the usual back story dump that plagues the genre is curiously missing, and any effort to bring it up is immediately shot down. This lack of any significant mention of past events for a story that starts in media res creates gripping, organic intrigue that lingers in the back of one's mind.

  

  The most prominent example is the paralepsis surrounding Saku’s relationship with baseball, which remains a mystery, but the intention to return to this plot thread is clear. From top left to bottom right: Yua, Hiiragi, and Haru all commented on it.

  

  Indeed, as the show gets to more serious themes/arcs, it recontextualises the material before it and elevates the work as a whole. Whether it is from Nanase's PTSD and the evergreen question of the line where the platonic ends and romantic starts; or Asuka's struggle with parental expectations and the anxieties of breaking out of your own bubble; or Saku's fragile facade and his wrestle with the concept of Honne/Tatemae that envelops it all, we come to appreciate the odd parts as genius: interactions feels performative at times, because to a certain extent, it is. The whole charade is a flamboyant act the whole group puts on in order to hide their insecurities and the brittle nature of their dynamic; and Saku's foolish, in-your-face idealism and philosophical waxing was never Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle's central thesis. Rather, the show goes out of its way to actively disprove such an unsustainable way of life.

  It's a bait-and-switch. Kenta's and Yuzuki's arcs aren't pointless exercises, but an noble solution a central issue with all of fiction: that your message basically never reach those that aren't already looking. Everything from episode 11 onwards is a great wakeup call to those that unironically enjoyed what was presented to them on the surface. Ultimately, instead of aligning itself with the "popular kid" escapist fantasy, the show flips the script to depict the common struggles of riajuus (aka, let’s face it, your average teenager) that are often much more complex than contrived McGuffins or the tired "love me, love me not" flounderings. The humanity it presents is perhaps ordinary, but a much-needed breath of fresh air in the landscape.

  Sadly, there's just no room for charitable readings.

  Context is King, and in an environment as toxic as this, any perceived misstep is a deathblow to whatever crumbs of confidence is left. The unfortunate reality is that, through guilty by association, the many brave choices Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle made can also be readily (and reasonably) dismissed as mere authorial blunders/laziness. The natural interpretation of Saku's genuine internal conflict, of living out the ideal and reconciling self-image with societal expectations, is but your typical chuunibyou bull; his "harem" acting like the whatever-deres you care to mention only reinforces this exegesis; and the admittedly absurd ending in episode one might as well be the titanium bolt on this stainless steel coffin.
   
  This is not to blame the script's problems all onto the extrinsic, however. Arakawa Naruhisa is a veteran of the industry and should have known better to adapt the novels into something more fitting for the weekly TV format. To this end, it's hard not to get into suggesting easy improvements:

  1. Drop the descriptive slurries delivered by Saku’s internal monologue. While the prose is a standout in the original novels, visuals and voice acting could have done the brunt of the work with the change in medium. The omnipresence of Saku's thoughts, important and trivial, is a symptom of failing to "kill your darlings" and diminishes the impact of moments where his thoughts do have significant bearing to the story.
  2. Play the first four episodes at once to soften the shock from the gamble that is Kenta's arc. The first volume mirrors the structure of the show as a whole, itself being a post-ironic bait-and-switch that compliments its central message (of not judging others by first impression) well, which works well as a single volume, but falls short when split into a story in 4 parts.
  3. Cut the unadulterated fan service scenes that only serve to muddle the waters.

  

  The most offensive is probably this basketball scene, the author explicitly said he was fine if it was left out, but obviously that crossed some executive's perverse bottom line.

   
  But where parts of the weak script set it back, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle makes up for by doing visual storytelling well via great character acting and purposeful cinematography. At risk of committing the sin of the blue curtain, this washed out, almost artificial blue tint that the cast constantly basks under works as great visual metaphor for their unnatural relationship and symbolises an underlying sense of melancholy. More explicitly, important scenes are emphasised to get the point across succinctly without dragging down pacing or making things agonisingly obvious: focusing in on Asuka's eyes lighting up during the flashback in episode one, Nanase flinching at Saku's playful feint chop in episode five, or Saku's suspicious eyes in episode six, for example, comes to mind. And even more so, the ED paints a vivid picture of Saku's younger self that echoes his talk with Kenta in episode two, a big red flashing warning sign asking the audience to look beyond a purely textual reading of the story. 

  Creditless ED

   
  It's a slight shame that the production values aren't consistently great and there isn’t an impressive flair one can point towards. Although both the OP and ED are audio-visual treats, production masterclasses like Makeine and My Dress-Up Darling have shown the ceiling of what's possible for the genre and Studio Feel is simply no match. Facial features go off-model on occasion, movements are decent overall but are sometimes stiff in the usual way that seasonal anime almost necessitates (the football scenes come to mind), continuity rarely but do sometimes break in between cuts, and the occasional shot could use with a little more thought.
   

  

  Exhibit A on the last point: a nod to deco*27's Monitoring in episode one is cute but doesn't work in-universe. (There's no peep hole on Kenta's door)

   
  Alas, he who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster, and Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle clearly didn't take enough care; that much is said in earlier parts of this review. But I'm praising with faint damn here, those who are quick to judge are missing out on a story that's more introspective and intricate than it is on the surface. It ambitiously utilises its contradictory nature for characterisation and narrative realisation, crafting a story that captures the adolescent beauty/chaos in its very essence. And looking at recent seasonal charts, I feel the effort alone should be commended, if all else fails.

  And don't just take my word for it, Waseda Uni professors are telling their students to read at least till the third volume for class prep, when other series like Oregairu and Makeine only require one. So you better believe it.

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• 

  NeonKamui

  80/100
  Chitose is the Ramune Bottle S1 ending and adaptation thoughts.

  https://anilist.co/anime/180082/Chitosekun-wa-Ramune-Bin-no-Naka/

  After a long time of hiatus, waiting for the final set of episodes to come out we finally get to see the conclusion of S1, which at the end leaved us with some unresolved moments but that is something that would be explored on the S2 that thankfully got announced, even with all the production issues with delays and such; in any case, there is some elements about Chitose story that a strongly reasoned with and also others that pleasantly surprised my in regards to the exploration of certain themes, characters and the presentation of it all, at the start I wasn't all that sure on how to feel about first and for most, Chitose, and the whole dynamic between him and all the girls that surround him, one might have thought that it was going to be played about as any other harem situation or such, but it wasn’t the girls are interesting on him for a variety of reasons, it was explored through is arc with Nanase and there relation for a while but that at the end was more of a stepping stone in the story to help Nanase overcome her previous trauma and become more of the person She seems to be or living up to be.

  

  One of the elements that a I founded that make me keep watching and I gravitated towards was this whole idea of wanting to live a: “Beautiful life” mention by Chitose in multiple times throughout the anime, the idea for what I could gather centering around the self, of forming a persona of sorts of what you want to be and how you want to live that out, in centers of the very human aspect of identity and finding and constructing it, of you not only differentiating yourself from the rest, but becoming the archetype of your own story, your life.

  

  The more I watched, the more I came to understand that Chitose (as heavily implied on the ending sequence) is currently not completely alright or even living to this ideal that He wants to live by, being hunted by a past situation that hasn’t fully being revealed but that now on the final set of episodes we get a bit of a hint, regarding that fact that He used to be on the baseball team and apparently a bit of a star or ace of sorts, so clearly capable and talented on it, coming back to this final episodes we start to connect this past of his and another of the characters that was hinted but now confirm had a influenced on helping him overcome whatever was the situation that make Chitose quit the baseball team, and the sport as whole for what is seems so far, and all of this takes us to Asuka…
  

  

  Saku Chitose, and Asuka, have some previous story between the two, while Asuka being a senpai to Chitose the difference in seniority not a being an aspect that affects their very honest and very close relation, for Saku She came into a moment in his life where He clearly needed some light and spark that could help him with his wallowing sadness and purposelessness that He was previously going through with his quitting of baseball; For Chitose Asukas free spiritness and energy of showcasing a strong conviction towards forging her own path and wanting to follow on her own ambitions and desires, for as simple as those might be in the moment to move without others approval is all the elements that inspired Chitose to find his new call, this is a element that the story would tackle in the final two episodes of the season being a key part to their dynamic and evolving relation, one of the aspects that I notice from the get go is that I felt that Saku was projecting a lot of this ideals unto her, and I wasn't wrong, I like how the show acknowledges this later and actually makes the characters confront this, talk it out and find a conclusion or middle ground of sorts in between the two, regarding this.

  This is really well presented and developed in the closure of EP 12, where both end up arguing but as I mention previously managing to make their words resonated, specially Chitose with Asuka:

  

  To close the season and interestingly not the entire arc, because we are left with a semi conclusion of the story continuing later on, we get to the other aspect that Asuka has been battling without Chitose, and that his her own inner turmoil of choosing in between following her calling of wanting to become a writer editor and for that moving out of the town to Tokyo or staying a following a more predictable and stable path, this is something that many would resonate with even when you are older in life there are moments that we find ourself lacking any sort of direction or purpose, while in the case of this story is presented on the very real part of life when your graduating of highschool soon and needing to decide all of the sudden what, where, how, with who and Many other questions of one’s future is also one that repeats constantly for many moments and aspects in life, being one of the elements that I found the most compelling about this show, but coming back to the story, the problem with this situation for Asuka is her father who is vehemently opposed to their idea of becoming a writer editor, his point of view being a purely logical and pragmatic approach out of concern for her future and well being, while he might come across in the story as cold for this, even Chitose understand his view event if this clashes with his more idealistic position of wanting Asuka to live by her own decisions in the way that she previously showcase to him when he felt lost.
  

  In the end with some help from Nanase Yuki, when she comes to visit Chitose when He was feeling pretty defeated on not knowing what to do to help Asuka help his father mind, He goes to visit her and proposed the idea of getting together and go to Tokyo to see what her dream might entail when put into action, and so the season ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, we would have to wait or go read the LN where this story takes us.

  

  All in all, I liked Chitose is in the Ramune Bottle, while having a difficult production for the anime, with delays and having to wait around 5 months to see the final set of episodes I never felt that the studio compromised the quality of the show, on the technical and presentation aspects at all, so good on the studio for finding their footing and delivering at the end.

  

  It might not be the only show that has tackle elements as the ones I mention throughout my rambling thoughts in here but it managed to make me care for the characters, the story, the setting and the subject matters that they go through are relatable, explored and presented in a way that feels natural and engaging to follow, at times there is a lot of moments where Chitose or other characters do inner monologues or dialogues have a heavy use of metaphors and a more eloquent way of saying things, even coming of as poetic but is a different and creative way to present some of the characters dynamics and mentalities that get thrown into the anime adaptation straight from what it feels like reading lines from the LN, I feel like some gets lost in the translation knowing that Japanese as a language can have used of sentences with multiple meanings and depths of interpretation because of the kanjis and play of word (and example being Nisio Isin with the monogatari series being really well regarded in Japan for this clever use of Japanese literature and play of words).
  

  Besides the coming of age elements that the story tackles the aspect that I liked the most that was slowing being revealed regarding Chitose was the struggle between conformity and following your dreams, the versus between a more pragmatic approach to life, going with what is more save or seems to be the more simple and secure choice even if that doesn’t fulfil you as a person or risking a bit more in the pursuit of meaning, when Chitose talks of his idealistic sounding “Living a beautiful life” He is referring to Living a Meaningful Life filled with drive and purpose of what you want to do, striving towards it and actively having the freedom to make the mistakes in the path and grow into the person you envision yourself to be, is in a way the old of question of living a meaningful and fulfilling life in one's own view or sticking to the more simple but at times unfulfilling life.

  And with that I say it is a really nice question to make in a show that seems more simple that it gives at times.

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