Karen's Anime Blog

Ruri Rocks is a gorgeous looking anime. It’s a slice of life anime about two girls who enjoy hunting for minerals, but the outdoor environments are so beautiful, it feels like it’s a fantasy anime with an enchanted forest. Like at any moment, elves are going to come out dancing or something. I would recommend this one on the basis of the visuals alone.

Our main girl Ruri is a bit of a bratty teenager, who initially gets into mineral hunting because she wants to find some crystals so she can make herself jewelry. She pouts and whines and it can be annoying, but she has such a childlike zest for life that you never really think too badly of her– at least, I didn’t. Her energy is perfectly balanced by grad student Nagi, who’s cool as a cucumber and knows more about rocks and minerals than you can shake a stick at. It’s easy to think that the louder Ruri is dominating their excursions, but though Nagi is calm, she’s not meek in the slightest and won’t let Ruri pull off anything that might damage her integrity as a scholar of minerals.

In addition to the art being great, there’s some pretty nice animation too. Music seemed forgettable (it may grow on me with time), but this is a really impressive effort from Studio Bind.

One thing I liked was the fact that Nagi is a full-figured woman. Her ample bosom and hips are the target of some extremely convenient camera angles, but you know what? To have a larger woman as a main character in an anime, I’ll take it. It’s a shame that people often think “big breasts=fanservice,” not thinking it through that there are plenty of real women who have large chests and they are not there to be anyone’s fanservice, that’s just their body type. I don’t think anime should change and start making people look more realistic– I don’t need anime to change to suit me in general– but it is nice to have some variety in character design once in a while.

I’m happy to spend some of my summer watching these two ladies forage for rare minerals. Will I use up all my goodwill if I declare this the “hidden gem” of the season? Ah well, too late.