Awkward Journeys: Fumikiri Jikan Review

Short and sweet is sometimes a nice little change. And not only was this show short and sweet, but this review will be too. 

Fumikiri Jikan, known as Crossing Time in English, is a series of shorts/stories that explore youth, eros, love and more that all occur during the time people spend waiting at a railway crossing.  There’s not, really, much else to say about it. That’s the show.

Now, before you switch to a different tab, let me tell you what attracted me to this show. Sure, I only started watching it because it was a short on Crunchyroll that sounded like it could be cute, but what made me stay was the characters in the first episode. Two high schoolers talking about who they love – a simple concept but one that captured my interest completely. I can’t really say why for the sake of spoiling it, but from the moment the first episode ended, I wanted these characters to return. They did, eventually, and I was glad, but I had to sit through ten other episodes to wait and see if they did return.

My wording there makes it sound like this was a bad thing. Not at all. Sure, there were a few episodes I didn’t particularly like, but what anime doesn’t have that problem? There’s one episode that sticks out as being ‘weird’ in my eyes, which features an old man in a bush, but apart from that, the entire show and the little scenarios presented were all pleasant to watch after a hard day at university.

There’s no much character development, but it’s not needed in a show like this. You can just watch an episode and watch their personalities unfold in three minutes. You sometimes sort of feel like you’re also at the railway crossing like you already know these characters. It’s a weird feeling to put in writing, but it’s true.

Despite its simplicity in concept, the art of the show was quite nice to look at. There wasn’t a single aspect of the art that felt out of place, badly drawn… Everything from the trains to the characters, to the buildings to the foliage, was drawn really well for a short of this length and that was a pleasant surprise.

The OP was typical J-Pop, really, and doesn’t particularly stand out as a ‘good’ OP, but you can’t really complain about it when it’s on for literally thirty seconds. This is where you’ll see the credits as well, as there’s no ED for the show. The OST and voice acting wasn’t at all bad, which is also something that surprised me considering the usual budgets for shows of this length.

Finally, another thing to perhaps mention is that Fumikiri Jikan is EKACHI EPILKA’s first show. I’m usually a bit apprehensive when a studio brings out their debut show, but this felt…different. The studio was established in 2017 in Hokkaido with the intention of delivering fun animation to not just Japan, but to the rest of the world. So, if this is their first attempt, I’ll eagerly anticipate for what else they bring out.

Rating: 7/10