REVIEW: ‘Twilight Out Of Focus’ Season 1 Is Charming But Visually Stale

Based on the manga written and illustrated by Jyanome and produced by Studio Deen, Twilight Out Of Focus Season 1 is something of a mixed bag. There’s a lot to admire about the BL series and its dedication to detailing the lives of three couples as they navigate their sexuality and what it means to be in a romantic relationship. But despite the strong characters and the refreshingly frank depiction of intimacy, the visuals leave much to be desired.

That, plus the deviation between couples, makes for a fragmented story that is always trying to reach its highs, often stumbling on the way. We want to love the adaptation more than the execution actually allows us to. It’s sweet but clumsy.

The series begins by following Mao (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka) and Hisashi (Yuma Uchida), two roommates who made promises to each other at the start of living together, involving their privacy and keeping Hisashi’s sexuality secret. However, Mao soon realizes his feelings for Hisashi, and the two strike up a romance while Hisashi stars in the film club’s latest short film. Their romance is continually the most interesting since they’re the best-developed characters. And, honestly, our level of engagement in the couples themselves lessens as they’re introduced, even if the characters themselves are still intriguing and entertaining to watch.

Ichikawa (Masatomo Nakazawa) and Jin (Makoto Furukawa) make up the next couple, their enemies to lovers, a good follow-up trope to Mao and Hisashi’s friends-to-lovers narrative. Their relationship, in contrast, is combative but eases once they’re forced to live together. Ichikawa is a hilarious character who is often the butt of the joke due to his impassioned speeches and inability to let competitions go, dedicated wholly to film and his future as a director. While he and Jin don’t elicit the same style of romanticism as Mao and Hisashi, we do buy them being drawn to one another.

However, their storyline suffers the worst animation with frequent slideshow-style techniques that remove any movement or texture from the framing. Twilight Out Of Focus Season 1 is often a visually stagnant experience. The background shots have color and vibrancy, especially in the finale and Episode 4, but they fail to capture magnetism in the motions.

This is true too in Rei (Takuya Eguchi) and Shion’s (Soma Saito) portion of the story. However, there’s more humor, which helps alleviate the strain of the animation, with Shion being such a larger-than-life character. But for all the comedy the two deliver, they’re the least interesting couple as we never fully buy their emotional ties. Shion’s whole reason for starting the relationship is because he wants a boyfriend, not because he genuinely likes Rei. The show doesn’t entirely earn their coupling, even if they make for a fun pair.

The series also struggles with consistent character designs. Throughout all of Twilight Out Of Focus Season 1, the series characters’ appearances differ depending on angles — and not just due to perspective change. Characters shot dead on versus from the side look wildly different. It’s jarring but easy to look over when the story is good and the visuals strong. But so often, the story gets deterred by the motionless animation that grinds everything to a stop.

In some instances, the slideshow, fragmented effect works, such as when Mao and Hisashi go on a date, and the effect works as a montage of their burgeoning romance. It’s a shame they couldn’t manage to find greater creative means to deliver this story on a budget because when it all works, it results in a charming and heartwarming love story. At its best, the coming-of-age elements work in tandem with the romance, as we watch as the characters and their passion for film and personal growth inform and encourage their love lives.

Twilight Out Of Focus Season 1 delights in the small triumphs. Mao and Hisashi are lovable lead characters we wish to spend more time with. And while the animation lacks the necessary weight to keep viewers grounded in the moment, it still shines in moments of overt romanticism. That is why the finale works so well. When the series utilizes color and natural lighting, it soars, overcoming its own shortcomings. It needed greater consistency and a stronger, more confident visual language to tie it all together and make it memorable. If anything, it’s a rallying call to, at the very least, check out the manga it’s based on.

Twilight Out Of Focus Season 1 is out now on Crunchyroll.