One of the most colourful animes of this year

By Mahjabin Rahman

Any landscape in the world
Without you is boring
– Kit Church

One random weekend youtube algorithm put an anime trailer in front of me and I instantly loved it and wanted to watch the entire thing. So since it made its place in my watchlist, I did some background checks and knew it was an original work of Yoko Kamio for Netflix after many years.

Yoko Kamio was the creator of the legendary manga Boys Over Flowers, and ohh boy! That manga was so amazing that it was translated and distributed in so many other countries and it also became the most legendary k-drama named the same Boys Over Flowers. That drama captured the hearts of millions and is still considered as the OG Drama of all time. For this manga Yoko Kamio received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1996, is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and the best-selling shōjo manga of all time.

But when that manga was on the hype I was not there to enjoy it. So after knowing that Ms.Kamio is back with her work after so many years and this time with a completely new story. I was totally up for it.

The most beautiful feeling for humans is considered Love. It can be love for another human romantically, it can be friendly, it can be for your work or for your art that you create. It can be anything and everything. And what if you get a series that shows almost all forms of love together? How would you feel about that? Yes, that’s what Love Through A Prism offers you.

The anime is set in the early 20th century when Japan was still trying to be an industrialized nation. A young woman named Lili Ichijoin who is an heiress of an old kimono business. But instead of thinking about taking over the family business, Lily has her heart set on becoming a painter. She wants to study art and create her own piece that speaks her truth. So dead set on becoming an artist she goes against her mother’s wishes and sets sail from Yokohama to London, England where she got into the prestigious Saint Thomas Art Academy.

The very first day when she steps onto the streets of London, all alone in a completely new country, Lili finds herself overwhelmed by the bustling city around her. Lost and unsure of where to go, she keeps pacing back and forth when suddenly she notices a boy sitting on the roadside railing. But what catches her eye is not just the boy, it is what he is doing. He is completely immersed in sketching on his notebook, his hands covered in charcoal from all the sketching.

So Lili stops for a moment and watches him, and suddenly her stomach growls with hunger. The boy notices and casually offers her a piece of bread. But the bread is covered in charcoal and seeing how unbothered he seems while eating it, Lili immediately decides that he is some strange fellow and runs away.

Later on, Lili arrives at her hostel where she meets Dorothy Brown and the two instantly become friends. Dorothy tells her everything she needs to know about the art school and shows her the work of some of the top students and introduces her to a few people around the school. Among them, one name stands out the most, Kit Church, whose paintings are considered some of the best in the academy.

Now here is the thing. Lili has to beat this Kit and become the top student in order to continue studying there as per her mother’s condition. So without even meeting him properly, she instantly makes him her rival.

Lili starts attending classes and meeting everyone, and while working on one of her tasks she suddenly notices that the weird boy who had offered her black bread on the roadside is going through her luggage. Shocked, she screams and Dorothy along with everyone else comes running to see what happened. But instead of panic, they all start laughing because standing right there was none other than Kit himself. And that is how Lili Ichijoin was properly introduced to Kit Church.

The days at Saint Thomas Academy begin going well for Lili. She meets another Japanese exchange student named Shin and with all of her new friends by her side, everything feels bright, exciting and full of possibility.

Now from everything I have told you so far, it might seem like this is just an average romantic anime. But it is not. This anime slowly shifts from being a peaceful slice of life story into something far more heartbreaking and full of yearning. Because beneath all the colours, art and youthful excitement, the story is set during a time when the world itself was entering an unsettling period where war was beginning to spread everywhere.

And then suddenly the story takes a drastic turn and we see how the world can shatter in an instant and force people to suffer under circumstances they never asked for. Kit takes on the responsibilities that come with being the second son of an aristocratic family, Lili and Shin are forced to return to their country, and all of a sudden the colourful world Lili had been building begins losing all of its colour.

And when the girl who once fought so hard for her dream of becoming an artist says that painting feels difficult, that is when you truly understand that somewhere along the way, she has lost her colours.

But what makes this anime truly special is that it is not simply a story about war and separation. It shows what happens when passion slowly begins to fade, when feelings remain unspoken even though they were always there and when artists who were meant to spend their days painting beautiful canvases are suddenly forced to face a world that makes them trade their brushes for war maps instead.

And yet, despite all the despair, the story never leaves its characters broken forever. It beautifully shows how even after losing their colours, people slowly learn how to find them again, proving that even the darkest periods of life cannot completely take away the parts of us that make us who we are.

And the best part of this anime is that it has given each character an arc and it shows how well written each character is. All the characters have their own burden and the way they handle things in life is something to learn from.

One thing that completely stole my heart was the art style of this anime. Since the story revolves around artists, it almost feels poetic how breathtakingly beautifully every frame has been created. There is a softness to the visuals that makes even the smallest moments feel meaningful. The colours feel alive, almost like they carry emotions of their own, and I especially loved how the anime uses colours not just to make things look beautiful but to reflect what the characters are feeling deep inside.

After finishing the anime, I immediately remembered a song by Taylor Swift and somehow it felt like these lyrics perfectly captured the feeling this story leaves behind.

“And somehow I know that you and I would’ve found each other
In another life, you still would’ve turned my head even if we’d met
On a crowded street in 1944
And you were headed off to fight in the war
You still would’ve been mine
We would have been timeless.”

Because at its core, this anime carries that exact kind of love. The kind that exists silently, remains unspoken, survives distance, survives war and somehow continues to exist even when life forces people onto entirely different paths.

And then I remembered that internet trend that says, “I would give you my only Ultramarine Blue if we have to paint the sky, but you are not nerdy enough to understand.” if you wanna understand then you must watch the anime. Because sometimes love is not about grand confessions or dramatic promises. Sometimes love is simply offering someone the most precious colour you have left so they can keep creating beauty.

Also Love Through A Prism made me realise how beautiful it is to be an artist together, traveling, imagining and painting the same place but in a different perspective. And mostly how beautiful it is to be an artist’s muse.

So if you are looking for an anime that beautifully captures love, friendship, passion, heartbreak and what it means to hold on to your dreams even when the world around you is falling apart, then Love Through a Prism is something you should definitely experience for yourself.