Season 1
Soundtrack
The Ramparts of Ice has an amazing soundtrack, honestly. If I could describe the vibe opening track, it would be the word "beginning". That makes sense, given the subject material. On top of that, it's a really good song that's really listenable. The type of synth-adjacent music I would've listened to 3-4 years ago.
Then, of course there's the highlight of the season, maybe of the year: the ending song. Okay, before I talk about the song itself, I just want to say that I'm so glad to see the return of the ending song playing earlier than the credits. Maybe this is seen in other animes sometimes, but for some reason the effect feels stronger here. Anyway, the song itself is incredibly catchy and fun. The jazzy ass piano instrumentals, with the exciting drumming and combined with the fantastic vocals really makes for an incredibly fun ending song. I also think they nailed the vibe. After every episode, the "oh shit" I felt after an end-of-episode lore drop was nothing but amplified by this ending song. Definitely great.
Thoughts
I thought that The Ramparts of Ice would be just okay. I saw it was made by the same person who made You and I Are Polar Opposites, so I didn't have that high of expectations. I thought it would be just okay, honestly. Then, I finished the 14th episode. What an incredibly well-rounded anime. No complaints from me. I'll just glaze this anime for the rest of the article. Simply put, The Ramparts of Ice is an anime that manages to effortlessly make you invested in the lives of high school students. It's just not fair how good the plot, storytelling, and pacing is.
First and foremost, the plot and the main character. I'll talk about the other characters later. I won't lie to you, the plot is basically the secret wish of most people who keep to themselves (including me). At the start, Koyun (the MC) figuratively puts up walls around her due to a past of bullying. She's unconsciously very cold to other people, so people avoid her and the cycle repeats. Then, shenanigans happen, she meets someone of the opposite gender, joins their friend group, and eventually falls in love. Wait, that's it? I'll admit, the way I described the plot is very disingenuous. There's a lot of kinks of complexities in the story along the way that were really subversive. The story isn't as clean-cut as a generic romance anime. Like, I mentioned at the start he meets Minato, a somewhat normal guy that Koyun eventually opens up to. But, there's actually a lot of depth at the start of their friendship. One thing I liked seeing was Koyun distancing herself from Minato in real-time. This time, consciously. She doesn't want to be pitied or anything like that. On top of that, she's also subconsciously afraid of the events of her past repeating. I felt what she felt viscerally through the screen. Koyun's entire character arc is truly something special, one of the best depictions of a closed person.
Hey, I'm not done talking about Koyun! Within the context of the forward-moving plot, Koyun's already an interesting character. I've already talked about that. What really elevates her character without being her scapegoat is her backstory. I touched on it earlier, but I'll explain it more deeply this time. Koyun's backstory is basically about how she attempted to love someone who loved her, which eventually led to her getting bullied. Her backstory's dramatic, and I love how darkly it's depicted (I can relate!). I especially loved the scene where she and her bully broke the glass. Anyway, the main point of her backstory is her unfortunately less than ideal introduction to love. She tried to love someone who loved her back, but she was punished for it. That's basically the reason why she puts up walls, and is cold to people, like some kind of Ramparts of Ice? Her backstory's interesting, relatable, and depicted incredibly well that adds well-needed context to the overall plot.
Koyun's male love interest, Minato is, admittedly, the least interesting character out of the main four. He's basically just a normal high school kid. I didn't say he wasn't interesting, though. What makes him interesting is the story, the persona built around him. He'd seen Yota and Miki grow up alongside him. Along with Koyun, they make for an incredibly fun and interesting friendship dynamic. On top of that, I enjoyed the depiction of Minato's inner thoughts best out of the entire cast. His thoughts are realistic, believable, and the actions that occur due to them just make way too much sense. Minato is truly open, so it's really refreshing to see the thought process of someone like that interacting with a more closed person. Finally, there's the budding romance between him and Koyun. It's a slow, slow burn. He's the one who fell first. He's the one who became interested in Koyun as a person first, after all. I love seeing him react when Koyun enters the frame. I especially love seeing his jealousy, too. Unlike a lot of other animes, we actually get to see a character fall in love in real time. I love it. I love everything about it.
Functionally, Miki is the perfect side character. Obviously, she supports the main character. It's almost a requirement for a character with a dark past to have a best friend who survived through thick and thin with her, after all. I think you can imagine the story beats that could potentially be birthed just by that premise. On top of that, Koyun and Miki's dynamic is really endearing, too. They're so fun! Then, there's Miki's own story. Her story is an amazing side plot that I would say took up 30-40% of my headspace. To me, that's the perfect amount for a side plot. Basically, her story's about her growing out of her code switching. She's the type of person to act different at school and around the people she's closest to. Wait, is that it? No, most of her side plot is explained in the next section.
Yota Hino is one of the most pleasant characters I've seen in an anime. He barely has any character flaws. Does that sound boring? It really isn't boring at all. From the start, Yota is clearly a very kind person that works hard and doesn't judge books by their covers. He really is someone who cares about the people he's closest to. But what about himself? As much as he tries to not hurt the people around him, he can't help but sacrifice himself. We get to see this after he confesses to Koyun that he likes Miki. At that moment, I really understood what he was going through. He had so many opportunities to confess directly to Miki. One important one was when he chickened out of saying who he loved the most by listing out all of his friends. Then, there was the scene under an overpass. That one was especially heartbreaking. He's so scared of hurting the person he loves the most, the one that he practically grew up with, that he resorts to bottling up his emotions and hurting himself. I resonated with that. Truly, Yota and Miki's side plot is incredible interesting.
Near the half point of the anime, the confusing drama starts to get really all over the top and I love it. It's not a love triangle per se, but there are so many assumptions that Minato and Miki make that make for some really funny and dramatic misunderstandings. On top of all of that, the main four become second years and the first years come into play as third parties. The misunderstandings get more confusing for the main four from then on. I won't get into it, but basically there's a scheming "pick me" girl, Momoka and another girl which I found to be confusing that's the younger sister of the person that bullied Koyun. Momoka's so annoying, and it's fun seeing a person who you truly cannot root for.
In terms of art style, there's nothing to write home about The Ramparts of Ice. I have no complaints. Maybe it's not as colorful as You and I Are Polar Opposites, but they look pretty similar.
By the way, I watched all fourteen episodes in one day, save for the last one which I watched after midnight. Anyway, go watch The Ramparts of Ice already. It's complex while being digestible. It's dramatic while being fun. The light-hearted parts of the story are really nice, while the more serious parts are captivating. It's got something for everyone. Also, there's no love triangle. It's just a bunch of misunderstandings. You won't be disappointed, trust me. 9/10 Gem-Gem.
