Sparks of Tomorrow

Episodes 1-3

On paper, Sparks of Tomorrow should be my jam. A big part of my appreciation for Golden Kamuy stems from it taking place in early 20th century Japan (aka the Meiji era) when the nation was first beginning to become a global cultural hub. I've also read all of the Dr. Stone manga, largely because it was super entertaining to watch those hyper competent weirdos reinvent various kinds of technology from first principals. Between all of this and the studio behind Sparks of Tomorrow, Kyoto Animation, putting out my favorite anime of last summer in CITY The Animation, you would think that the stars would align in a way that makes me adore this show. However, Sparks of Tomorrow instead feels like it's explicitly designed to annoy me specifically, and no amount of gorgeous or inventive animation can make me forgive these frustrations.

Sparks of Tomorrow focuses on Kihachi Sakamoto, a timid boy and awkward young man who was inspired by his older brother Seiroku to unlock the mysteries of electrical energy, though this dream was cut short when the charismatic Seiroku died while away at war. You see, this anime doesn't take place in the Meiji era as it actually was, but rather a steam punk version of the Meiji era! As someone whose got all the steam punk fiction they ever needed out of that one Key & Peele sketch and the old Atomic Twins video, I find this kind of historical fiction to be really unappealing as it tacitly implies that older eras of history aren't engaging as they actually existed.

This first episode features various characters fighting over Seiroku's “20th Century Electrical Catalog,” which supposedly includes his ruminations on how to bring electrical energy into this world. These characters include, a queer coded villain who takes a child as his bride to enrich himself, said child bride who's super religious and a klutz, the eldest daughter of a wealthy family who's inexplicably an Aikido master, her husband who basically has superhuman strength, a hyper competent butler, and girl who might be a ninja, and a girl voiced by Cassandra Lee Morris doing her Edea Lee voice.

All of these characters feel like they were written with the advice of, “every named character in your story should have at least one interesting trait” and that's the extent of the thought put into their characterization. As a big fan of both Baccano! and Durarara!! I know how good pieces of temporal, ensemble cast fiction can be in this medium, but I highly doubt Sparks of Tomorrow is going to meet the bar set by its predecessors after this first episode.

Sparks of Tomorrow doesn't technically do anything wrong, but it also doesn't do enough right in its script to merit these stunning and inventive visuals. There are a lot of other amazing anime for people to watch this season, and I really hope this one gets better soon.

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Sparks of Tomorrow is currently streaming on Netflix.