Prism Episode 1 Review
Only a very few works in popular fiction gets their title so right. Prism is one of those works. The title speaks a lot about the main protagonist and her story. Prism is symbolic of her. It is a series for the nature loving romantic.
Maejima Satsuki (a commendable performance by Sugisaki Hana) does not have her life the way she wanted. There is something bleak about her and she is not at all cheerful. Her dream to become a voice artist is almost shattered and she works as a part-timer in a garden shop. The perfect contrast to her life is her more successful room mate. Her gloomy, monotonous life is suddenly shifted when Morishita Riku (played by a very charming Fujiwara Kisetsu) enters her life.
The series is visually stunning and a huge shoutout to the cinematographer. The scenes involving greenery (the gardens and the forest) are spectacular. The sudden change in the color scheme when Riku discovers Satsuki’s present shows attention to detail and foregrounds how the life of the protagonists will now change, hopefully for good. Sound mixing is as good as the cinematography, especially in the forest scene and the restaurant scene.
The first half of the first episode is layered with sad and gloomy piano/ violin music. But in the second half when the life of the protagonist gradually changes with the arrival of Riku, the music become pleasant (it is still piano and cello) and captivatingly soothing. Satsuki also gets a little cheerful as the narrative progresses. But the dramatic background score in the garden argument scene was underwhelming and unnecessary.
Prism is a slice of life, coming-of-age narrative. It seems very simpler on the surface but it gets layered and complex if you scratch the surface a little bit. The story of course is very simple but the treatment is very artistic. The screenwriter Asano Taeko’s script is very solid and she has beautifully molded the female protagonist into the concept of prism. Satsuki makes terrarium as a part-timer but unbeknownst to her, she herself is that terrarium. The forest moss which grows inside it, is highly symbolic of her character.
In a pivotal scene, she casually explains why she likes making terrarium. Terrarium represents what she wants to do in life – keep beautiful things as they are. But that is far from reality. The moss inside the terrarium represents how Satsuki who lived in a village would grow in the real world, in a city life, in Tokyo.
How the two characters meet and grow connected to each other is like serendipity. Both of them are so rooted to nature. Whenever both the characters meet, they are surrounded by greenery. Even in the restaurant that they dine together the interior is covered by green plants. In the pivotal restaurant scene, there is a change of heart for Satsuki when she finally confronts a fear that she had. Satsuki says in a scene why she went back to work in the garden is because she was attracted to the greenery. This greenery is symbolic of Riku. With his arrival her life becomes more and more green.
Prism looks very promising right in the first episode. It has so much to offer and hopefully there will be a lot of takeaways from this series. This series could give valuable life lessons to the audience. It is very watchable and I would say it is a must watch. As I said, this is a series for the nature loving romantic.
Read more on Prism herehttps://mydramalist.com/731721-prism
Arya is a curious soul and nerd who loves books and cinema. You can read her articles on Medium. You can also follow her on Instagram where she talks about her favourite books and movies.