A New Anime: Calligraphy Boys

Date: 12/23/2020

By the time I was aware of anything in this dream on a sensory level, I already knew some background about what was going on. I was trying to find a new anime to watch, & I was using some kind of VR set to find it. I landed on a show & started watching the title sequence of its first episode. The anime was called "Calligraphy Boys: Dissociation" (but since I only know 1 of the 3 words in that title in Japanese irl, I just heard the word "danshi" said aloud during the title sequence, while reading the rest in English on-screen) & was set in a version of Japan in an urban fantasy kind of world. The premise of the show was that it followed a set of calligraphy students, all young men, who were assigned by their teacher to take notice of a particular word's connection to the world around them each day & then write that word (in a calligraphy sense) in a way that's different from how they wrote it yesterday. A study in how individual words change in meaning depending on context & how an individual perceives them. It was kind of implied that the series had just a few episodes each season that used the word they were studying in the title, then it moved on to a new word the next season. So it was always "Calligraphy Boys," but never the same word after that between seasons. This season in particular, they were studying the word "Dissociation." The whole thing had very endearing, hand-drawn 2D animation. It felt like a peaceful slice of life or romance series (or both) right from the start. The intro lazily floated along until the camera "happened across" the main title floating in the blue sky. A calligraphy brush was there as well, finishing off the last character/letter in the title. It arced down with a flourish, which the camera followed as it panned down towards the street below. It had the viewer notice things slowly. The hair of the main character, a little bit messy in its lazy ponytail. The traditional Japanese clothing he wore (closer to a Buddhist priest's clothes than a calligraphers, based on manga I've read about both, look up images of them if you're curious). The way his arms were extended out from his body. At this point, the viewer also saw his spaced out expression slowly come back to reality. He followed his arms to find that the reason they were extended was due to being pulled slightly by the children holding his hands on either side of him. The children smiled up at him when they noticed he was "waking up" to their presence. He let out a noise of confusion, his expression becoming clearer but more bewildered. He noticed a long, slightly heavy flag/banner on a flexible pole at his side at that point, & so the viewer did too. He followed the pole down to where its base was connected to the wheel of a unicycle. He was, to his surprise, sitting cross-legged on top of the unicycle while another set of children held it steady to guide it forward along the busy town street. He was trying to ask questions, but they were in Japanese & I was very frustrated that the viewer I was using didn't have a subtitle option. I couldn't even find the settings. It was just in Japanese, not even captioned for d/Deaf/HoH viewers. I was too interested to stop it at that point, tho. None of his questions seemed to be full sentences, anyway. He was looking around for answers, & landed on the person walking by his side. He was a tall young man, with ponytail guy having to look up a little even from his unicycle seat. He was wearing the same clothes as unicycle man, but with darker close-cut hair & a stockier build; I somehow understood that he was not only a fellow calligraphy student but also the person in their class in charge of looking after ponytail guy. Apparently, he ended up in situations like this without remembering how rather often. Pretty much daily, in fact. He was strolling slowly, leisurely beside them to make sure he could catch the unicycle's passenger if it fell. Ponytail looked up into his eyes, but it just made him smile gently. Tall guy covered his mouth slightly, trying to hold back laughter at his friend's adorable confusion and the antics of the children around them. One particular child was a tiny fairy, able to fit in the palm of Ponytail's hand. She flew up to them from behind, doing laps around Ponytail's head for a bit while saying something to him, then steadied out her flight to catch up to her friends in the group of children just slightly ahead of them. It seemed that Ponytail had become roped into entertaining a group of 1st grade kids, but had dissociated through most of their activities. The kids had found this fun, while TG (Tall Guy) had taken it in stride as usual. They talked a bit, TG calmly explaining things & brushing off Ponytail's apologies, but I couldn't understand much of it since I could only properly hear the Japanese words I actually knew & the rest was a garbled mess or totally muted. As the camera panned out to show a larger shot of the street itself, viewers could see the variety of magical creatures in this otherwise normal-looking town. It solidified it as an urban fantasy setting, & that's when the theme song started playing. I don't remember much of the title sequence beyond that. There may have been a scene where both the main characters & their fellow students were diligently writing with their calligraphy brushes at traditional Japanese desks. I don't remember much beyond Ponytail's concentrated face from that part. There may have also been scenes that implied Ponytail & TG would become the main couple of the show following a cute, clumsy buildup of moments that showed they were into each other. What I remember most clearly is that near the end of the title sequence, as the song was on its final lines, Ponytail was shown on a cliff above the sea that was lush with green grass & flowers. It had a huge, old cherry blossom tree near the edge of the cliff. He was trying not to cry as some kind of magic happened around him. The wind flew past him, & a mute symbol appeared on the screen. He tried to call out, & the scene made it clear he was calling to TG. There was no sound from him when he called. He reached out his hands, too, but couldn't reach out to where the magic was gathering above him. He started crying for real at this point. He was going to lose the person he cared about most. He fell to his knees & hugged his own shoulders. Then the time of day changed in that time lapse way it does in title sequences sometimes, & the mute symbol disappeared. TG climbed the hill that led to the cliff's edge where Ponytail was crying, & calmly approached his friend. He gently touched Ponytail's hand on his shoulder & said "It's alright," which prompted Ponytail to get to his feet & hug TG tightly. The camera panned up across the cherry blossom tree, then out from the cliff. The theme song ended, & the title itself appeared one last time before transitioning into the episode proper. Unfortunately, I woke up before getting to see any of what happened in that pilot episode past the unicycle incident. I wouldn't have been able to follow as much without subtitles as I would watching my normal anime irl anyway, but still. I would've liked to see how the calligraphy word of the season connected to the episode & how the themes came across. Oh, well. Until next I wander.