I have never been more unsure of what is a liquid than this anime, especially that blue water around the 1 minute mark. I am convinced that there is water in this world, or some type of liquid, but the studio could not 3D animate Wet Clothes, so they have been gaslighting us the entire time.

notice how people cant float or swim in this "sea water" seems like it is more a point than a mistake.

but yes also a way to not animate wet clothes

It is great to have people like you able to notice such detail.

But they able to animated 3D boobs bouncing for Ririha lmao.

Well, I mean, that's pretty important to the storyline, soooo,.. yknow, priorities. ;D

So true so true... 8D

boobs are the best plot.

That comes built into the 3d animator program as standard in Japan ^^

without which this anime would have no culture.

Hi hi gaslighting liquid :3

XD XD XD What a gas!

It's unfortunate your long winded theory from Ep.7 was marked as spam... maybe you could break it down into bite sized pieces?

For you, I will try breaking it into 2 or 3 parts so you can read it. Here is Part One.

Alright! So we are over halfway done with the anime, so let's do something a little different. You can read this before or after episode 7, as these questions and statements will be based on what we have witnessed from episodes 1-6. The goal with the following questions and statements is twofold: 1. What questions can we answer? 2. What statements/theories can we make about this world?

Let's get started. I'll break em into 3 sections: World, Factions, and Characters

1. Our world can be divided into three sections:
A. The world we have seen below the sea (the underwater cities suggest ancient civilizations.
B. The world known as "the surface", where the inhabitants either live on the roots of Orbital Tree (I have used the term "Canopy Tree in the past) or the mobile city made of wood that we started in episode 7.
C. Canopy, where our MC Kaina lived.

Now with the presentation of the underwater cities, we have a few questions:

1. The Orbital Trees(or Stems I guess they are called? I am not sure if there is One Tree and many Stems, or if they count as each their own Tree) that dot the Surface, what were their purpose? If we assume they were PLANTED by humanity, what was the intended purpose? We see the effects of the "Canopy" that Kaina lives on, as we can reasonably assume that the Dome surrounding this world is the cause for the drop in temperatures.

A. I assume that humanity planted the Orbital Tree based on the underwater cities and the Metal Signs that the Signkeeper maintained. The Signposts are seen as "billboards" in this world, and Billboards are advertisements to either warn or advertise. One of the signs was "beware of falling objects", and that suggests a construction site of some kind.

These underwater cities seem to suggest we have been here for many decades at least, as even the legend of the Sage that would solve our water problem is no longer believed. The Legend of the Sage is so old it is told to a child as a myth. The thing about Legends is that while they may have some embellishments, there can be some truth in them.

B. The reason I assume that the Orbital Tree is planted is also due to the scale of its growth. Humanity would have to be blind to not notice something of this nature overtaking the planet, and when we consider the technology of the laser cutter that Kaina used to scale down to the Surface, humanity surely had the option to prevent the Canopy Stems from completely enclosing the planet. If they wanted the Orbital Tree gone? Oh that thing would be gone instantly.

2. If humanity chose the Orbital Trees as a way to combat some unknown environmental disaster, what was the alternative? If humanity chose severe cold with the Orbital Tree and the Dome (we see this in episode 1, with Kaina hunting giant mosquitoes. This Dome also seems to be failing in areas), does that mean humanity was under threat of extreme heat instead?

Part 2

2. Our factions are a total of 3 as well:
A. Kaina's village was part of a people known as "Canopy".
B. The village that princess Liliha comes from known as Atland on the Surface. They live on one of the Canopy Stems. Gonna call them "White Armor" faction.
C. A warmongering nation that lives on a floating wooden fortress known as Valghan. "Black Armor" faction from now on.

Here's a series question for you. Keep in mind I am basing this on the idea that humanity planted the Orbital Tree themselves, but that could very much be wrong.

1. If you turned back the clock to when humanity was debating whether to try and climb to the top of the Orbital Tree, why didn't everyone decide to go?
2. If the people decided to scale to the top of Orbital Tree, did they do it to get away from the frozen climate? or was it more than that?
3. Why choose to stay behind, given what we see of the surface? Was there hope that the people of Canopy would come back with a solution, and that is where we get the legend of the Sage?
4. Why are there the factions of White and Black armor? I will go into more detail for this in the last section.

-

-

3. In terms of our Characters, I am going to narrow us down based on the three factions, and have one character represent them.

Kaina for Canopy, Liliha for White Armor, and Amerote for Black Armor (this is the redhead chick with the special arm).

The White Armor faction believe in the legend of the Sage. According to Liliha in episode 2, the Sage can produce unlimited water. The Black Armor faction is going around and destroying countries at the base of Orbital Trees (and it also can be inferred by the imagery we see in episode 5 and 6 of a giant downed Orbital Stem that Black Armor is felling them as a warning to future enemies), and Liliha's is being targeted for their water. Any countries that surrender to the Black Armor faction become slaves and join their ranks, as I suspect Amerote was one of those fallen countries (episode 6 suggests that the person in the cage could have been her brother, and Amerote was at one point a Princess just like Liliha).

Liliha believes that even if the Black Armor faction do wipe out all the countries for their water, it will do them no good if they don't fix the water shortage. Sure you are taking more water for yourself, but if you wipe out all the countries that "provide" it, what then?

Both Kaina and Liliha can see a "floating green creature". Liliha remarks that this creature helped her get home when she was lost one night, but what the creature's true purpose is? unclear.

I am not going to ask any questions in this section, just make a bit of a theory based on what I have seen.

Part 3

I'm gonna discuss my theories now. Gonna go with Occam's Razor and use "The simplest explanation is usually the best one".
Personal theory? The Orbital Tree and the Stems are disrupting the Water Cycle, though this was not an intended effect. Humanity needed the protection of the Orbital Tree and the Dome it created (I am iffy on the Dome, as it could have been an unexpected development), but that purpose has now backfired and it is leading to our destruction. Without the Sunlight (note that while we are getting day/night, we are don't have any plants that grow on this planet besides the Orbital Tree), water cannot start the processes of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation that is used to distribute itself.
I have seen theories that suggest humanity came here from space. Equally likely, but I don't want to assume anything that we have seen from the Opening Theme yet it seems to suggest a massive robot on the scale of a Gundam could inhabit the planet? Maybe inside the Orbital Tree's core?. The Laser Cutter we used to descend the tree is the most advanced piece of technology I would say we have witnessed, so it is possible that this is a clue to our spacefaring technology. I want to assume we started on this planet because it makes our actions as humans more interesting. If we crashed here and the planet was already enveloped by the Orbital Tree, it takes away alot of the mystery that could be buried in the story.

In terms of the Sage Legend, I am under the impression this is the man that planted the Orbital Tree that led to humanity's salvation. The theory that this man "provided unlimited water" is actually just the Orbital Tree. The Orbital Tree was a method of drawing water out of a large area because water was so scarce as a whole that humanity needed to "cast a wide net" as the saying goes. If I was going "equal and opposite", I would assume the Canopy was a tool to fight against Desertification, but that is the most extreme of my theory because I am basing it on the "Snow Sea" of this anime.

The Green Creature we are seeing is a holographic AI assistant along the lines of Cortana from the Halo Series. I have no proof of this, but I believe that only people that meet certain qualifications can see the Green Creature. What those qualifications are? Hell if I know.

The roots of the Orbital Tree we have seen seem to stretch potentially across the entire planet, and I assume this based on what we see of Canopy above is equal below. For a while, the Orbital Tree did its job well, until the Dome. If you were to look at most trees, what is one thing that the Orbital Tree does not have?

There are no Leaves, Foliage, or any greenery that grows off the branches

The "Dome" is the Foliage, Leaves, or the greenery perhaps? Most trees will grow the previously mentioned parts to absorb sunlight (this is where you get the shade of a tree). Some Trees keep this Foliage year round (Evergreen Trees), While others discard it when the temperatures start to drop (This is one of the reasons that orange, red, yellow and brown are known as "Fall Colors")

But our Orbital Tree either does not possess any foliage, cannot make it due to the Winter Temperatures of the Surface, or the Dome is its substitute for foliage.

-

So yeah, do with this essay what you will. Even if I am completely off the mark, I value this anime mostly for the fact that it can bring so many of these ideas to the surface for me. Theorizing based on the world, factions, and characters is the biggest reason I value this series so highly. It is a simple idea with lots of love put into the areas that matter.

Even if we don't answer most of my questions, or veer off into some strange answer for them that I wasn't expecting, just the fact that I look forward to this series enough to devote an hour or two to typing this out is a thumbs up in my book.

...My only regret is that this series is only 11 episodes, though there will eventually be a movie that I guess gives a conclusion?

...Can you have a cliffhanger in a world where all the cliffs are buried under the snow?

I don't know how you're still this dense and insistent that an ocean of a substance has to be liquid or water after all this time, going as far as to just assume that the studio is incompetent, because it's a clearly not liquid, it's a very very dense gas, them not getting wet, how fast they sink without proper equipment, how unrestricted their movements are when submerged, and how they only worry about temperature instead of temperature and wetness while they're out in the sea are proof of that. People in the comment section pretty much has been pointing that out since the first episode. And that "blue" part is that very same sea of dense gas, but with the top layer of "snow" removed. Liquid like water very much exist and act pretty much the same as it normally would. If the studio aren't actually capable with animating wetness, how they handle it in this series is more of a feat than a mistake.

Now see you are calling me dense for this, but I am seeing the animals that inhabit this "snow sea", and they have Appendages that would be suitable for SWIMMING, not FLYING.

You would also have to explain where the Tree is getting all its water. The same water the residents of this world are extracting from its roots has to come from somewhere.

The Orbital Tree has to be getting its water from somewhere. The Water Cycle is non existent in this world. Has it rained a single time?

Again, I want to believe what you are saying with the "Super Dense Gas", but at the same time it would spawn the question of Where is the Orbital Tree getting the Water to sustain itself?

And then there is the whole kettle of worms that is BOATS SAILING ON SUPER DENSE GAS.

Or the GIANT FLOATING WOODEN FORTRESS.

I cannot envision a world where Super Dense Gas acts like water. It just doesn't register, and I cannot visualize it.

Until the anime outright explains it to me, I just don't know 100% that it is a super dense gas. I have to assume something I can wrap my head around...

Because a planet where super dense gas acts as our seas and ocean? Way too high a concept for my pea brain to see.

How animals are able to "swim" and how ships, fortresses, and rafts are able to float all comes down to weight and surfacearea. The makeshift raft in this episode was able to sustain the weight of three whole people without sinking while a human would just sink under their own weight because of surfacearea, the same logic applies to the fortresses and ships. The animals are able to "swim" in super dense gas because they're most likely way lighter than they look and they can manipulate their weight to sink and float, including manipulating their weight enough for humans to ride them.

And you basically just answered your own question about what the sea is made out of. Since there are no rain cycles it means there are no liquid to evaporate, so the sea is not made of liquid or water. That also means the trees get their water from somewhere else, the most plausible guess is from underground using their roots like how trees normally would, and because they get their water entirely from underground, maybe that's why water runs out eventually.

So then how does snow exist? Because firstly, it's not actual snow made of water, they just call it "snow" and they're able to form because of wind and temperature and some other type of substance, not necessarily out of water or liquid.

In the end i can't be 100% sure either until the they explicitly tell us how the world works, but a sea of super dense gas is the most plausible theory and i'm 99% sure of it. You're too fixated on applying real world mechanics with this anime's world mechanics. Sea doesn't always have to be made of water or liquid and a sea of dense gas is pretty plausible for a sci-fi show.

It's made out of orbeez

its salt water with snow bruh the sea is liquid

nope, it's not liquid.

then i dunno im just a kid who watches anime

Seems to be a thick gas?

but the how they float? it must be some thick white salty liquid :D (dont you say it)

hydraulic fluid. some bulldozer's hydraulic fluid leaked out. then boom! snow sea. plot convenience.

honestly thought it was just some hydrophobic snow that floats on top of the sea but then again it could just be anime logic

So we have some developments! We have made it back to Atland, and we have even pieced together some of the mysteries we have been witness to from all the way back in episode 1!

The Signkeeper and the Words on the Clothe Tapestry. We have words!
The One Ring to Rule Them All One Tree. We have a destination!

An additional thing that has occurred because of the rescue of the Princess is the fact that Kaina now has Credibility. Even if Kaina is not truly the Sage of Legend, the fact that he performed a miracle (at least how some people see it) in rescuing their princess in a completely unknown way (he managed to get to her without stealing any transportation). People believe in Canopy now, so when Kaina and the Princess retrieve the Tapestry and start making their plea to be allowed to search for the Original Orbital Tree, they will be given support.

...Although I have a sneaking suspicion our Redhead Knight will be joining them on the journey. Call it a hunch, but it feels like after episode 7 that she will switch sides...
and our journey would be alot easier if we had one of those boats!

Call me spoiled, but if I had to make a Journey to a Mythical Tree, I would much rather do it in a boat vs a Raft/Dolphin.

Damn...the instant I finish watching Lord of the Rings, I find a reference to it in your essays XD

I think she won't join up till much later, unless she turns traitor on the older leader of the antagonist's nation. Remember he still has that mysterious "beast" that is the true threat. I think he service is rooted in fear, and the "beast" is the cause. She'll flip, but only when "freed" from her own shackes.

The beast should be that ominous giant they keep teasing in the OP. Really curious what that's all about.

Baited us in that steam room. Though he was going to get a happy ending but nope it was a guy masseuse. At least he got to see the princess' goods.

Well he did say he was exhausted afterward so happy ending may not be entirely off the table. Though, I don't know how "happy" it might have been.

I'm going to choose to interpret that as just a very tiring massage due to muscles and joints stretched beyond what they are used to as a very thorough chiropractic release can do. (Seriously, a good full body massage should be very tiring, no happy ending needed. XD

Soooo...IMO he (the hidden male) may have been a masseuse, but he was definitely not a "handy-man". XDXDXD

"the intermediate mountain drop for plot reason, obviously"

He still remember the rainbow incident

Kaina: Why are you embarrassed? We don't have even nipples!

Ririha: I did not have a full 3D body until this episode and being half-naked is already embarrasing for me! We were just heads! Heads!

Kaina: Ohhh!

Ririha should slap gravity. It's at fault why her towel fell.

I'm surprised they didn't sleep in shifts after that little incident with Yaona on the raft. He could've rolled overboard again while the other two were sleeping.

THEY TIED HIM UP AFTER THAT INCIDENT

Ah…somehow I missed that detail.

They trusted the rope they had XD

i think they tied him to 'something' around the rudder... or the rudder itself.

This show, I mean I just don't know.
Were they drifting or somehow using some sort of propulsion? It seemed like drifting except they pulled the wood thingy and stopped.
They drifted (I guess?) all night in the blind but still wound up right where they needed to be? With no way of actually navigating?
Kaina was the last remaining young person in the canopy village. Does that mean one of those old ladies was somehow his mom?
After miraculously escaping and pulling off what everyone believed impossible, her dad goes right back to blowing off the whole thing about the great tree as though they're just making it up.
Can they just explain to us what the snow actually consists of instead of making us guess?
I still wish neko mimi ninija was the mc

Well now, let us consider.....If the "ocean" is really a "gas" as many people think....maybe they could move forward using oppositional gas propulsion?...Sooooo magical farts?

A "gas" would be a good explanation. If it was water it could be purified & extracted with pumps especially with the use of "air berries".

This also means all of the boats, the entire fortress, foil suits, the sea foam, and critters MUST be lighter than the "gas" so it's got to be incredibly dense. I feel if it does turn out to be a gas, than the show royally messed up with the "underwater" scene because moving "underwater" would have incredibly sluggish.

OR

it's really just water, and for some reason that is obvious to all the characters, but not to us. It IS a liquid, but just not "water".

Ahhh yes, good points density is indeed key...my revised theory.......Magical Farts on Taco Bell night!

No the fortresses and boats doesn't always have to be lighter than the gas, they just need enough surface area to float. The makeshift raft was able to carry the weight of three people and float just fine while a human would immediately sink under their own weight, that's because the raft has a wide enough surface area while a human doesn't. That white material they used to to steer the raft also seem to have an effect, it might be the same material kaina and ririha used for them to float in earlier episodes. I think the ones that has to be light are the creatures like the seal and the underwater spaceship looking thing. So it's still more likely that the sea is made out of very dense gas, not water or liquid

kaina is convenient but it kinda makes sense i guess since he traveled a lot and has good eye sight, they didnt directly end up there, they just went the general direction to keep an eye out for the tree. He said both his parents died in the beginning episodes.

He alluded to going in the same general direction as the fortress. He had to assume that, that fortress was headed directly at Atland (or whatever it's called) and he in turn directed the raft in that direction to begin the journey. when the stopped moving they lost the directional momentum so at that point his experience was the only thing they had to guess direction. What I find amusing is that the night watch saw the raft leaving and no one chose to tell the general until the next day.

Finally some more romance!! Slight fan service is fine ig.