Do you know the legend of the diamond dust? They say if you see it with the one you love, the two of you are guaranteed to be happy together.
Atsuko, Karin, Kyoko, Suomi, Shoko and Akari live in different cities on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. The girls have very diverging life styles, but they all share the belief in the mythical properties of "diamond dust", which occurs when pretty floating ice crystals form in freezing air.
The anime, also known as Kita e ~Diamond Daydreams~ or Kita e ~Diamond Dust Drops~, was released in 2004 and is loosely based on the Kita e series of visual novels by Red Entertainment. The stories, with little to no overlap between them, depict the girls' moments of happiness and hardship, mostly regarding feelings of love. In most cases the girls' feelings involve a man, although two stories deal with friendship and family relations.
All of the girls become stronger and more independent through their experiences, which gives the series a very positive feel.
Tropes :
- Acquainted in Real Life: Karin begins receiving emails from a "fan" who she believes to be her doctor at the hospital, on whom she develops a crush. She later finds out that she's actually been communicating with the doctor's nurse and girlfriend, who'd wanted to help her gain the courage to receive life-saving surgery.
- Anime Accent Absence: Suomi's Japanese is impeccable.
- Arranged Marriage: There is one set up for Atsuko, but she won't have any of it. It runs in the family.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Atsuko's great-grandmother asking Minoru if he can make her happy. After this, he stops taking the marriage for granted and vows to become a better potential husband for Atusko.
- Back for the Finale: Some of the girls meet each other in the last episode.
- Bait-and-Switch Credits: The girls are depicted as a group of friends, which would have been interesting.
- Bittersweet Ending: Kyoko rediscovers her passion for film-making and becomes a supportive captain for the film club, but Yu only comes back some time later, in the last episode.
- Brand X: Karin's "Aivo" laptop.
- Catchphrase: "To the North!"
- Kyoko's "Let me clarify one thing."
- Celebrity Is Overrated
- The Chew Toy: Jurota.
- Cipher Scything: The Slice of Life Nature of the Series is the result of the male main character of the Visual Novels upon which it was based being removed and, with him, his storyline which served to tie the stories of the girls together.
- Coming of Age Story
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Atsuko & Akari.
- Dream Sequence: Karin has a few, which are at times pretty scary.
- Dysfunction Junction: Subverted, since all girls straighten themselves up after a while.
- Every Episode Ending: The ending theme starts a few seconds before the real ending.
- Eye Catch: In which the current girl shouts "Kita e" ("To the north") while pictures of prominent places in Hokkaido are shown.
- First-Name Basis: Karin won't have her new doctor call her by her first name. Also, Kyouko feels insulted when someone of her camera crew tries this.
- Flashback: Numerous.
- Furo Scene: There is one for Shoko, which actually has a very symbolic meaning.
- Heel Realization: It isn't until Kyoko's boyfriend walks out on her that she realizes how hard she was being on everybody for not matching her standards.
- History Repeats: Invoked by Atsuko's mother. The reason she is so wary about Kurata is because she doesn't want Atsuko making the same mistake she did, abandoning her arranged marriage with Minoru's father in order to marry Atsuko's father.
- Indirect Kiss: Haruto gets one through Suomi's chopsticks. She also gives him a kiss on the forehead just before leaving for Finland.
- Meaningful Name: Suomi means "Finland" in Finnish—which is perhaps a bit of an odd name for someone coming from that country.
- Motifs: The diamond dust, of course.
- Otaku: Akari's father loves panning for gold.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Suomi. This is somewhat justified, since a Finnish person has a higher likelihood of being blond and blue-eyed.
- Plucky Girl: All of the girls, really.
- The Promise: Several, but most notably the one between Suomi and Hanna.
- Real-Place Background: The series shows off many of Hokkaido's eye-catching locales, including the towns of Sapporo, Hakodate and Asahikawa.
- Running Gag: Jurota being humiliated. How he ends up in all the girls' stories is anyone's guess.
- Scenery Porn: Sometimes the series feels like an advertisement for Hokkaido.
- Slice of Life: In purity perhaps only surpassed by Piano.
- Snow Means Love: The whole premise of the show, since diamond dust fulfils the role of snow just fine.
- Soap Opera Disease: The illness of Akari's father. Somewhat.
- Sparkling Stream of Tears: Hanna after her emotional talk with Suomi.
- Stalker with a Crush: Shoko has one, but doesn't mind after a while. He actually turns out to be rather nice.
- Sweet Tooth: Suomi loves cream puffs.
- Team Shot
- There Are No Therapists: For some reason Karin gets absolutely no professional counselling for her fear of surgery.
