Man it seems like visual novel adaptations are starting to come back. Not a whole lot compared to the previous decades but the fact that some are still being made is nice to hear. I previously played and reviewed the original gamehttps://joyousmenma93.livejournal.com/710659.html for Atri: My Dear Moments a little after an anime adaptation was announced. Short version: While I did enjoy parts of the game I did feel other parts could have been improved upon but it was a valiant first game for Aniplex.exe to start with. With the knowledge I gleaned from the game I was curious as to how the anime would adapt it especially since the game itself is a fairly short 1013 hours. Its inevitable that long visual novels would need to leave things out in the transition from a game to the TV format especially a 1213 episode series. On the whole I do think the anime adaptation for Atri succeeded in its goal of adapting the game to a TV format but it did make quite a few changes from the game. Some I liked some...not so much and the ones that didnt work are the animes biggest problems. In the near future a sudden rise in sea levels floods the majority of the world and ends human civilization as we know it forcing humanity to eke a living on what little dry land remains. Natsuki Ikaruga a boy who lost his mother and his leg in an accident some years earlier returns disillusioned from a harsh life in the big city to find his old countryside home halfswallowed by the sea. Left without a family all he has to his name is the ship and submarine left to him by his oceanologist grandmother and her debts. His only hope to restore the dreams for the future that he lost is to take up an opportunity presented to him by the suspicious debt collector Catherine. They set sail to search the sunken ruins of his grandmothers laboratory in order to find a treasure rumor says she left there. What they find is not riches or jewels but a strange girl lying asleep in a coffin at the bottom of the sea. The girl Atri is a robot but is so expressive and humanlike that she could easily pass for a real human being. As thanks for salvaging her Atri declares that shell serve as Natsukis leg until the end of the summer. The time they spend together over that summer changes the both of them. I wont go into every single change the anime made from the game as thatd make this review way longer than it needs to be and I wont belabor a lot of what I said in my review of the game. Ill stick to my usual format before going into the nittygritty starting with the animation. TROYCA famous for Idolish7 was picked to do the animation and while they couldnt quite replicate the finer details of Yusano and Moto4s character designs they make up for that with kinetic character motion and fidelity to said character designs. They did however succeed in bringing the games backgrounds and setting to life without compromising on the details. I also appreciate that the animators gave characters who didnt have sprites in the game actual designs so it definitely has that going for it. On the sound front I definitely appreciate that the anime decided to make its own original soundtrack as opposed to just reusing background tracks from the game with the exception of a few with one of them being important to the plot. I wasnt a fan of the overly chirpy ending theme but as someone who usually doesnt like idol songs I really liked the opening theme Nogizaka46s Ano Hikari. I never skipped it every time I watched an episode its that good. Hikaru Akao is still annoying when she sings in her squeaky voice though. A lot of the changes the anime makes is rearranging some events to make them happen either earlier or later than in the game which does make some sense considering this is a 13episode anime as opposed to a 13 hour game. The characters and their respective development remain the same from the game even if a lot of aspects that put them on the path to getting it are either changed downplayed or cut out. Unfortunately a few changes I didnt like were removing huge chunks of several characters backstories with Natsuki being the biggest victim of this. While his personality and development are the same as in the game some really important parts of his backstory are cut out completely such as leaving the Academy due to a combination of his own arrogance and a teacher being ableist towards him both of which form the backbone of his development. By cutting those parts out Natsuki comes across as much more needlessly angsty and mopey potatokun. On the opposite side Catherine and another character are made to be much nicer with their more questionable actions watered down compared to the game. The anime seems to speedrun through the sliceoflife parts just to get to the plot faster and while I can understand why they did this as many who played the game complained that the plot should have happened a lot earlier they kind of diluted the parts of the game that were genuinely good such as the whole arc about the kids building a generator for the school. There is one change that I definitely liked. In the last third of a game theres a new character who gets introduced named Yasuda who hates Atri and wants to kill her. Hes universally despised by fans of the game due to a combination of his appearance completely lacking any established buildup or foreshadowing so it feels like he comes out of nowhere and for being a generic villain whose motivations are really weak and tenuous at best. The anime doesnt change his characterization nor give him more depth and nuance but it does go out of its way to address the first issue with him in that they add in whole new scenes where hes not only going after Atri multiple times he even goes after other characters directly and using different methods whether it be appealing to their guilty conscious or straight up trying to kill them ranging from shooting them or unhooking Natsukis submarine to wash him out to sea. While I do wish Yasudas backstory had been fleshed out more or given a stronger motivation for hating Atri than what he has I definitely appreciate the animes attempts to make him a more constant presence and a genuine threat and it seems like the manga is doing the same. But there is one addition the anime made that I really REALLY wish they hadnt. Remember how in my review of the game I mentioned that I absolutely hated the scene where Natsuki slips and falls into Minamos boobs because it felt like unnecessary fanservice? The anime removes that thank God As does the manga...but it also adds in new scenes involving Atri being sexualized or offering herself up to Natsuki in whats clearly meant to be a sexual manner when she clearly looks and acts like an elementary schooler Like TROYCA did we REALLY need a scene where Atri flashes her nude body to Natsuki several times when shes wearing nothing but a bath towel? I mean its at an angle where we cant see her nude but come on The game at least kept it limited to Atri jokingly calling Natsuki naughty and jumping to conclusions before she gets conked on the head Its like the show is worried that we wont care about Atri and her death flags unless weve been assured shes a potential sex object and it does a disservice to the storys stronger emotional beats. Who thought deciding to openly sexualize Atri MORE was a good idea? Because it isnt Basically Atri the anime traded one form of unnecessary fanservice for another and it just makes me cringe into a singularity. Its honestly a shame the anime decided to implement a lot of those more questionable changes because I did enjoy the rest of my time with this show and I want to recommend it to people who dont want to play the game or are unable to for whatever reason. I like the animation the music the opening song most of the characters and some of the better changes Atri: My Dear Moments made. But the notsogood changes leave a pretty big black stain on what on paper is still a fairly decent adaptation of Aniplex.exes first visual novel. Personally if you want the better experience I recommend just playing the game if youre able. The anime is fine if youre into it or cant play the game for whatever reason but I really wish I could recommend it more enthusiastically.