Orange

Naho Takamiya's first day of her sophomore year of high school is off to an uneasy start. After waking up late, she receives a strange letter addressed to her. However, the letter is from herself—10 years in the future! At first, Naho is skeptical of the note; yet, after witnessing several events described to take place, she realizes the letter really is from her 26-year-old self.

The note details that Naho's future life is filled with regrets, and she hopes that her younger self can correct the mistakes that were made in the past. The letter also warns her to keep a close eye on the new transfer student, Kakeru Naruse. Naho must be especially careful in making decisions involving him, as Kakeru is not around in the future. With the letter as her guide, Naho now has the power to protect Kakeru before she comes to regret it once more.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Suwa, Hiroto Main

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Naruse, Kakeru Main

Yamashita, Seiichirou Japanese

Takamiya, Naho Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Hagita, Saku Main

Okitsu, Kazuyuki Japanese

Murasaka, Azusa Main

Takamori, Natsumi Japanese

Chino, Takako Main

Kinugawa, Rika Japanese

Naruse, Mother Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Ueda, Rio Supporting

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Takamiya, Father Supporting

Tsuboi, Tomohiro Japanese

Naruse, Grandmother Supporting

Takashima, Gara Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Yoshizawa, Takashi Producer

Hayashi, Ikumi Producer

Morosawa, Masao Producer

Reviews

Nov 28, 2025

NEEDY_SPY

Recommended

Orange – Review (6/10)

NGL, my hopes were high after the first few episodes the setup was emotional, mysterious, and really drew me in. But as the series went on, it started to lose its grip. It didn’t hit me emotionally the way I expected. I thought it was going to wreck me, but by the end, I didn’t even feel close to crying. Some episodes felt slow and dragged out, and I actually got bored at points.

🧠 Story & Concept

The premise is super interesting getting a letter from your future self to help prevent a tragedy is a really unique and emotional setup. It mixes ... slice-of-life with time travel and regret, which should be a strong combo. But while the concept is great, the execution starts to fall flat. The time-travel/parallel universe logic is very vague and underdeveloped. It’s not really explained in a satisfying way, which makes the sci-fi side of the story feel like an afterthought.

🖼️ Art & Animation

The art style is soft and fits the emotional tone of the series pretty well. It's not super flashy or unique, but it works. However, the animation isn’t particularly impressive or memorable there are a few nice shots, but it feels a bit plain. For a show that’s supposed to hit you hard emotionally, stronger visual direction could’ve helped.

👥 Characters

The characters are likable, but not deeply developed. Naho, the main character, is incredibly passive to the point of frustration. Even when she knows something bad is coming (because her future self warned her!), she often hesitates to act. Kakeru is more fleshed out since a lot of the emotional weight revolves around him, but the rest of the group mostly exists to support the plot rather than having their own arcs. They do feel like real friends, which is nice, but I wish they had been explored more.

The characters do react in a mostly realistic way, especially when it comes to guilt, regret, and depression but some moments feel repetitive or overly dramatic without actually going deeper.

Final Thoughts

If you're into slow-burn, emotional slice-of-life stories with a touch of sci-fi, Orange might still be worth watching. It has a meaningful message about second chances, friendship, and mental health, even if it doesn't always land as hard as it should.

Would I recommend it? Maybe. If you're okay with a slow pace and don’t mind vague sci-fi logic, you might enjoy it more than I did. But if you’re looking for strong emotional payoffs or well-developed side characters, it might leave you a bit underwhelmed.

Final Score: 6/10 – Solid idea, good heart, but loses momentum and impact along the way.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 24, 2025

Amoxcide

Mixed Feelings

The show has a good premise and a good plot but you will beat your head against a wall with how stupid the main character is. It just seems like so many problems in the show could have just been avoided if the MC wasn't so dumb and awkward. It would be different if it was a comedy and she was just dense, but the whole point of the show is to not let their friend die and she does all the things she can to make him want to kill himself. That in its self is actually quite comical. Other than that its an ... original story that most people will probably enjoy. You understand everyones feelings from the start so its hard not to expect the characters to make the right choices.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 19, 2022

Executor23

Not Recommended

Informative

I am not a big fan of shoujo shows (or manga). Mostly because it is the most formulaic type of all media. But that doesn't mean when one title catches my interest (like this one) I don't give it a try.

I liked the cast of characters. The personality and acting of the main female lead makes her more of a hit or miss (I had no issues with her); but the way she and her friends act together is really heartwarming. Their friendly interactions are likable and it seems they trust each other, since they are willing to talk about their issues to each other ... and trying to find a solution together.

It got a very good start, but a very bad conclusion; to give you an idea without spoilers, imagine it this way – you are cooking a very tasty meal and you are looking forward to eat it (that's the first half of the show), but then, instead of black pepper, you add cinnamon (that's around episode 9-10) and when you start eating, you realize you added cinnamon instead of black pepper, because it tastes terrible, and the whole meal is ruined (last episode).

The non-spoiler flaws I can talk about goes back to its root formula – being a shoujo show. Expect a lot of cliches (e.g. running away from people during serious dialogues, melodrama, acting on emotions, misunderstandings…).

The premise is very easy to get into, but the show won't deliver anything close to satisfying.
Watch only if you are a diehard fan of shoujo genre, yet still, you may find yourself end up being disappointed. I had high hopes for this one, but it all got shattered to pieces. The conclusion is nonsensical and pointless (and even somewhat illogical).

Pros:
+ hooky premise; easy to get into
+ initial chemistry between characters

Cons:
- final events destroyed the whole story
- insignificant/meaningless conclusion
- use of too much shoujo cliche

Double-edged:
+/- potential to be very good, but it wasn't
+/- female protagonist’s nature/traits are hit or miss

4/10 (BAD)

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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