Geek It! Anime: Off the Record / First Impressions: Crossing Time

Hello again! What’s better than attempting to make a comeback (again) than sharing our thoughts and opinions on the latest season of anime offerings! Surprisingly, and oddly, this anime is one of the many shows that instantly caught our eye. 

We’re talking about Crossing Time — an anime adaptation based on Sato Yoshimi’s manga series, Fumikiri Jikan. In our third Off the Record corner, we discuss our first impressions of CROSSING TIME based on Episode 1!  

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When we stumbled across Crossing Time, we immediately became intrigued by the pictorial idea of the railroad crossing. Railroad crossings can be seen everywhere in Japan, and it is often seen and used as part of the anime storytelling.

Whether it is the moment that the crossing bar goes down or a train passing by at the speed of light, it is here at this particular anime setting where something unfolds in front of the audience and the characters of the story.

A tragedy. A brief encounter between two friends. Perhaps a love confession. There is just something alluring about railroad crossings that capture our attention. 

And this is the overall concept of Crossing Time as an anime. Bringing the audience a variety of short stories about youth, eros, art and first love, these stories occur at a railroad crossing setting. And to our amusement, the very first episode perfectly demonstrates this.

The opening tale of Crossing Time revolves around two best friends Tomo and Ai who were on their way to school and they momentarily stop at a crossing. Impatient and full of energy, Ai rants about wasting their time and youth at the crossing while Tomo takes a serious side to the debate. Out of nowhere, Ai makes a joke about two women not being able to fall in love with each other which Tomo quickly defends. 

First Impressions Rating: B

For many viewers, a three minute show like Crossing Time is unambitious and a pointless investment. It is disappointingly short and the character design and animation is average. 

We originally began with no expectations — just mild curiosity as to how the anime was going to play out. Now that we’ve seen the first episode, we would like to think the opposite. 

To achieve a short, well-paced story within three minutes, this is a feat that not many shows can execute. With a mixture of light-hearted comedy, character material and emotions on display, the writers certainly lived up to the challenge of what they wanted to achieve. 

Since Crossing Time will be an anthology of short stories, will this story between Ai and Tomo get revisited down the track? Or will it revolve around other dramas? As a viewer, we’re not too sure where the direction of this anime will take us. Guess we will have to keep watching and find out!