This world is full of so many colours. I wonder what colour I am? note
"I wonder when it started. When did I stop enjoying fireworks? The fireworks I saw with my mother, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, they were all so beautiful. I got older. People important to me went far away, and before I knew it, the world had... lost it's color."
— Hitomi Tsukishiro, the opening line of the series.
Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara ("From the Colour-Changing World's Tomorrow", or Iroduku: The World in Colours) is a thirteen-episode anime produced by P. A. Works, which aired in the Fall 2018 season. Iroduku is written by Yuuko Kakihara and directed by Toshiya Shinohara, while Yoshiaki Dewa composed the soundtrack. The series is available for streaming
on Amazon Prime.
Hitomi Tsukishiro is a seventeen-year-old who is descending from a family of witches. After her mother left, Hitomi lost her ability to resolve the world in colour and fell into melancholy, becoming distant with those around her. Hitomi's grandmother, Kohaku, decides to send her on a journey sixty years into the past, to 2018, and meet her seventeen-year-old self. While Hitomi feels out of place in the world six decades earlier, her curiosity is piqued when she learns that she can see colours in certain drawings. Learning that Yuito Aoi produced these drawings, Hitomi yearns to learn more, and in the process, befriends Chigusa, Shō, Kurimi, Asagi and Yuito classmates of Kohaku's. Hitomi ends up joining the Magic-Photography-Arts Club. Encouraged by everyone in the club, and inspired by Kohaku's determination to make others happy, Hitomi comes to rediscover the colours in her own world as she experiences support and friendship with Kohaku and her friends.
Iroduku: The World in Colours provides examples of:
- Animal Motifs: The golden fish in Yuito's drawings come to represent Yuito's desires to be free in creating and drawing the worlds he chooses to, rather like how fish have freedom to swim about as they please.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Star-sand is a special material that can imbue specific kinds of magic and recall the magic at a later time. It is made using special kinds of sand that is only found under moonlight.
- Art Shift: The animation style in Iroduku transitions between the highly detailed and vivid world, and the pencil-crayon style of the worlds that Yuito imagines.
- Bittersweet Ending: At the series' end, Hitomi returns to the future, as the time magic begins to weaken. While she's saddened to leave her cherished friends behind, the experiences she's had in 2018 leave her more confident and gives her the inspiration to pursue magic more fully.
- But Now I Must Go: In the final episode, due to the time-travel magic running out, Hitomi is left with no choice but to return to 2078 and leave her new friends behind.
- Colorblind Confusion:
- Hitomi is unable to see the world in colours, but longs to properly appreciate things like fireworks.
- In episode 3. Hitomi is told to grab a bottle of blue star-sand to use for a water-walking spell, but accidentally grabs a bottle of pink sand instead, causing the spell to fail.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Many shots over the course of the series are shown in first-person from Hitomi's eyes, and as such, are devoid of color. However, these shots occasionally show certain things in full color, primarily Aoi's drawings.
- Does Not Like Magic: Hitomi believes that her use of magic resulted in her inability to see in colour.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Upon arriving in 2018, Hitomi finds herself unfamiliar with appliances and technology of the present day. She initially struggles to figure out how a window latch works while trying to escape from Yuito's room. Later on, she struggles to operate a vending machine until she's shown how by Shō.
- Genki Girl: Kohaku is highly spirited and has seemingly endless energy, always striving to pushing Hitomi forwards with her enthusiasm.
- It's All My Fault: Hitomi blames her own magic powers for driving her mother away, believing that she didn't understand the pain her mother felt, not being able to do magic.
- Japanese School Club: Initially, the different characters belong to separate clubs. The Photography club consists of Shou, Kurumi and Chigusa, while Yuito is the Art Club's sole member. When Kohaku returns from her studies abroad, she suggests that the clubs be merged together to form the Magic-Photography-Arts Club.
- Love Dodecahedron: Feelings begin developing amongst the members of the Magic-Photography-Arts Club as they spend more time together. Hitomi and Yuito like one another, while Shō begins falling in love with Hitomi, and Asagi has long held feelings for Shō.
- Love Hurts: Asagi has had a crush on Shō ever since they were kids, so she begins to experience this when he starts to show feelings for Hitomi instead.
- Mystical White Hair: Hitomi has white hair, and is a mage.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In the fifth episode, Kohaku's mother forces her and Hitomi produce more star-sand after Kohaku exhausts a large quantity of it in trying to teach Hitomi how to imbibe it with magic.
- Parental Abandonment: Hitomi's mother left her after her daughter showed magical prowess, when she didn't. Hitomi blames herself for this, and it's a major cause for her melancholy in the present day.
- Real-Place Background: The events of ''Iroduku'' are set in and around Nagasaki, with the city's skyline, harbour and Megami bridge being prominently featured in many scenes.
- Scenery Porn: Whether it be the details, the vivid lighting and colouring of landscapes, interiors and closeups, the artwork in Iroduku is of a superb quality and brings the world to life.
- Secret-Keeper: Kohaku is initially the only individual who knows that Hitomi is from the future, but with a bit of persuasion, Hitomi summons up the courage to let the others know.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: After Hitomi is photographed sneaking from Yuito's house, his classmates assume that the two must be dating, and it takes a considerable amount of effort from Yuito's part to convince them that they are not in a relationship.
- Shrinking Violet: Hitomi is initially very quiet and socially withdrawn. She gradually grows out of it over the course of the series.
- Stable Time Loop: Iroduku makes use of a causal loop, and Kohaku's skill with magic undoubtedly sufficiently well-developed to send Hitomi back to the future, since Hitomi was able to return to the past.
- Time-Shifted Actor: Seventeen-year-old Kohaku is voiced by Kaede Hondo, while Sumi Shimamoto performs the elderly Kohaku.
- Time Travel: Kohaku sends Hitomi back sixty years to help her discover friendship and regain her ability to see in colour.
- Time-Travel Romance: Hitomi, from the year 2078, and Aoi, from 2018, over the course of the series. Unfortunately, it's not meant to be, as Hitomi has to return to the future at the end, alone.
- Unskilled, but Strong: While Kohaku has a broad knowledge of magic and its capabilities, she's also prone to causing chaos when her spells run out of control.
