A Stranger by the Beach Review : Perhaps a different kind of romance anime
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A Stranger by the Beach Review : Perhaps a different kind of romance anime

Updated: May 29, 2021

The Stranger By The Beach

(Umibe no Entranger)


The Stranger By The Beach is a slice of life and shounen-ai anime. It is an adaptation of the Umibe no Entranger manga written and illustrated by Kanna Kii. It is a rather short movie, faring for no more than 59 mins. If you want to watch a shounen-ai movie with a simple and realistic storyline, this anime is for you.



The stranger by the beach is a story about two young men who meet on a beach in Okinawa. Shun Hashimoto, an upcoming gay novelist, finds Mio Chibana, an orphaned student, staring into the distant ocean from a bench near his house. Despite the unfamiliarity between them, Shun is instantly captivated by Mio once he approaches him. As the days pass by, they grow closer until Mio has to leave for the mainland to further pursue his education. However three years later, with the realisation of his feelings for Shun, Mio returns back to Okinawa only to find Shun not being able to come to terms with his own feelings and sexuality. The story unfolds as they get closer while learning from each other.



The only drawback of this film is that it is very short and fast-paced. It gets over as soon as it starts, which makes it less satisfying than it could have been.

Otherwise, the animation in this movie is smooth, stunning and of high quality. It has beautiful character designs, aesthetically pleasing backgrounds and cute cats. This is accompanied by calming background sounds like that of the ocean waves. These aspects combined with the amazing voice acting, are successfully able to transport the viewer to the setting of summer on a beach.


The relationship between the two main characters is very well written. It is a simple storyline about same-sex attraction and societies reactions to it. Unlike other boys love depiction, there is no rigid and stereotypical seme/uke dynamic and both parties are equals in the relationship. For these reasons, it is a realistic and relatable representation of same-sex couples. Those people who enjoyed the realistic storyline of the anime movie Doukyuusei and the well-rounded experience of the film Call Me By Your Name will enjoy this movie.

I highly recommend you watch the movie. It is definitely one of the better shounen-ai animes and will be worth an hour of your time.


If you havent seen the trailer for The Stranger By The Beach, check it out below-


-By Siya Tanwar, a writer for TheLucidLlama

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