Don’t Drink and Dive (Grand Blue Dreaming Anime Review)

Genre: Comedy, slice of life, seinen

Rating: PG-13

Studio: Zero-G

Episodes: 12

Overview:

Kitahara Iori is freshman in college who has just moved to the seaside town of Izu to start up his time at university. Iori has gone to live with his uncle in the town who owns a scuba diving shop in hopes that his time in university will be the best times of his life. Unfortunately, as soon as Iori arrives he is met with a bunch of drunken college hooligans who rope him into drunken antics of drinking copious amounts of alcohol along with teaching him how to scuba dive. Thankfully not at the same time. The anime follows Iori and his ridiculous group of friends as they have fun in the sun drinking, diving and enjoying student life.

Review:

If you have been following this nerdy blog for a while then you might already know this, but for those who don’t know, I am a huge fan of comedy. I’m always hungry for a comedy anime and Grand Blue Dreaming delivered comedy by the buckets. Or should I say, by the alcohol filled bottles. Punny titles (seriously though, can we appreciate my amazing  title) and jokes about drinking aside, Grand Blue is a fantastic series. The concept of a bunch of college students who are apart of a diving club who also like to drink excessive amounts of alcohol doesn’t sound like much in theory. But, Grand Blue Dreaming pulls it off superbly.

Both the cover artwork for the series alongside the opening animation give off the idea that this anime will be set around the concept of diving, summer time fun and the ocean. Well, that is pretty inaccurate if I’m honest. Sure, it has some moments about diving and being in the water in it but Grand Blue Dreaming focuses mainly on the comedy side of the anime which tends to involve a lot, like A LOT, of alcohol. The diving part seemed more of an add on instead of a focus which I found to be a bit misleading. That being said, I cannot complain with the content which the series provided as I enjoyed it far more than I probably would have it has been a scuba diving focused anime.

Grand Blue gave a range of great comedic moments throughout and each episode would make me laugh out loud. It doesn’t need to be said that a comedy needs good comedic moments and timing in order to work effectively but it can be said that Grand Blue Dreaming had it in the buckets. Grand Blue Dreaming offered everything from ridiculously detailed and over the top facial expression to stupid but equally as funny puns and ideas which only an idiot would do. The scene where Iori and Kouhei are trying to make a classic screwdriver drink is a favourite moment of mine. The series also has its fair share of dirty and adult style humour too and is jam-packed with ripped dudes getting naked almost 24-7. So if any of that makes you uncomfortable, then this is probably not the anime for you.

Alongside the comedy the characters are also a major part of what makes Grand Blue Dreaming so great. Most of the guys are total perverts in their own special ways whilst most of the girls have their heads screwed on a little more (some more than others) which creates a fun dynamic which occurs often in this genre. Characters such as Iori and Kouhei have a fun dynamic and have that love/hate rivalry style of friendship which makes the awkward situations that they get themselves into even funnier as the comedy bounces back and forth between the two.

Grand Blue is a staple comedy anime in my mind and I cannot recommend it enough to those who are looking for something to tickle the funny bone. If you want a serious scuba diving anime then this isn’t it, Grand Blue Dreaming is pure, intoxicated comedy and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Overall rating: 9/10

Until next time thanks for reading and I hope you’re having a great day!

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