Iroduku: The World in Colors Review

4 star magical coming-of-age anime.

Iroduku: The World in Colors is a 2018 Japanese animation, produced by Studio P.A. Works (Charlotte, Maquia: When the Promised flower blooms) and directed by Toshiya Shinohara (Gunparade Orchestra).

It is now available in the UK on Blu-ray courtesy of MVM Entertainment and is presented here in both the original Japanese with English subtitles and an English dub.

Then I got older. People important to me went far away. And before I knew it, the world had lost its colour.”

The year is 2078 and the world is full of magic and wonder, with a local magic shop selling star sand, magic infused sand that can cast spells upon the user. Hitomi is a teenage girl, disillusioned with magic and no longer able to see the world in colour. As the people she cared for left, her world gradually faded to monochrome and with it, her joy of living.

In order to help her out, her Grandmother Kohaku (Wendy Powell – Fullmetal Alchemist, Vinland Saga) who is a powerful mage, uses her magic to send Hitomi back in time 60 years to 2018 so that she can meet the younger version of her (Cat Thomas – My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU) and try to get her life back on track.

She arrives confused and in a boy’s bedroom and is spotted climbing out of his window by Photography Art Club members Kurumi (Allison Sumrall – Girls und Panzer) and Asagi (Brittney Karbowski – Love After World Domination). They are intrigued and later when they see her in town, she is approached by Shō (Adam Gibbs – Penguindrum, Tokyo Ghoul:Re), the President of the Photography Arts Club, who takes her to the magic shop.

Here she finds Kohaku’s family, although she is overseas they allow her to stay with them while she waits. She begins to make friends and come out of her shell a little, especially when she discovers that she can see colours in the drawings done by Yuito (Nathan Wilson – Food Wars! The Third Plate), the boy whose bedroom she arrived in. But how will she get back to her own time?

“That drawing is more special to me than you know. That drawing showed me the colours I’d completely forgotten. It instantly shone a light on my ash coloured world.”

Iroduku: The World in Colors is a very enjoyable anime to watch. It’s a great idea for a story and beautifully animated, with excellent voice acting too. It’s not fast moving and there isn’t any action, this is all about the relationships that form in this unusual coming of age story. The overwhelming positivity of the characters is lovely, although tinged with the bittersweet knowledge that at some point she will have to leave.