English Dub Season Review: Insomniacs After School Season 1

It’s Valentine’s Day this week and just about everyone is in the mood for romance! Or at least hiding from the romance that others have but they don’t. So, if you need a good show to snuggle up with your significant other…or to watch all alone in your bedroom and wallow in your despair of singleness, which is what I did watching this series week to week. Uh…I suppose I should actually talk about the show now, huh. Well, this show follows Ganta Namaki, a young boy with insomnia, who meets a girl with the same affliction, Isaki Magari, and the wondrous, fascinating journey and eventual romance that they take together through their learning of Astronomy. It’s a story about discovery, bravery, acceptance, and curiosity…that is also slow paced as hellllll. Now, don’t get me wrong, this show basically tells you up front from the get go that it is going to take its time and smell the roses so you can ease into its vibe, and I can see that being a very welcome pace for many people. Heck, if I wasn’t watching this for work, I would probably join them in that. But unfortunately, I do, so that has impacted my ability to enjoy it to an extent.

But despite the fact that it is not an easy show to discuss in great detail and runs pretty much purely on vibes, I’d say that’s still a pretty solid way to recommend it to people. Everything from the tone, to the art style, to the music, to even the pacing of the story is very cozy, but it also doesn’t forget to have a very compelling journey for the characters to go through. Ganta’s insomnia and Isaki’s come from two different places and circumstances, but they meet in the middle in the way that they are both terrified of the an uncertain future, with one trying to stop it from happening as long as possible and not knowing if they should plan for it, and the other not knowing if they’ll even have one. The way they end up bonding over this, finding an interest in looking at stars that are long dead, and finding a safe home in each other’s support is genuinely wholesome, and honestly something with many great lessons that any of us can take home with us. So, Happy Valentines or Single Awareness Day to all who celebrate, and remember that there’s always something to let you know you have a place in this world.