Shizuku Kanzaki works for a Japanese beer company and is the son of legendary wine critic Yutaka Kanzaki. Ironically, Shizuku loathes wine out of spite for his father's obsession and his childhood experiences of doing absurd things to refine his senses for wine. One day, Shizuku receives word that his father has passed away and is summoned to the family home to hear his father's will. At the hearing, a wine critic named Issei Tomine appears, claiming to be Yutaka's recently adopted son and insisting that he's the one set to inherit Yutaka's estate, wealth and esteemed wine collection. To determine who receives the inheritance, the late Yutaka arranged to hold a competition for the two, where they must identify and describe 13 different wines he selected, known as the 12 Apostles and the "Drops of God". Much to Shizuku's chagrin, he accepts the terms in order to make sure Issei doesn't claim his father's fortune, only to become enticed by the world of wine in the process.

It's not at all surprising that a subculture as old and robust as wine appreciation would eventually inspire a globally successful manga, The Drops of God, and that said manga would someday receive an anime adaptation. Having heard about the manga previously, I went in knowing the lengths this series goes in exploring the world of wine and expecting some top-tier anime melodrama. However, even if this first episode is unique enough to make an impression, it's still wildly underwhelming and a bit frustrating to watch.

I can appreciate the indulgent and hyperspecific instincts that drive a wine connoisseur, since they're essentially the same emotions that drive me to obsess over things like classic video game franchises. That said, it is difficult to get through the first few minutes of this premiere without wondering if the show taking itself so insanely seriously isn't meant to be a joke. The operatic vocals on the soundtrack, the overdramatic narration, the utter deadpan nature of it all... Can we all admit that it's a little funny? Like, when Shizuku takes a sip of wine and experiences a divine vision of prog rock music video visuals for a few seconds to try and visualize what he's tasting, we're supposed to be giggling like mad fools, right?

To be fair, once you recalibrate your brain to operate on the show's frequencies, it becomes easier to see what it's getting at. With all the jargon and impressionistic visuals on display from the get-go, it's clear that this is one of those hobbyist anime that's really trying to sell folks on the experience. To a degree, I have to imagine that Shizuku's theatrical display is capturing at least some of what the target audience experiences every time they uncork a bottle of a twenty-year-old merlot. But while I'm willing to buy into the central premise of watching two adoptive brothers compete in a wine identification contest to earn their recently deceased father's fortune, the execution is sorely lacking. Shizuku is comically ignorant of wine to the point where he doesn't know what a commonplace term like "vintage" means, and yet he can perfectly decant wine and expertly describe compounding flavours subconsciously thanks to the years of wine tasting training he received. Shizuku being hyper competent at this very niche skill without realizing it just makes the character feel uncanny.

It also doesn't help that much of the animation and direction in this episode is fairly rough and stilted. Characters often move and position themselves awkwardly and their expressions change their face shape so wildly that they nearly look like different characters from scene to scene or even shot to shot. This premiere also jumps around chronologically quite a bit when the narrative would've been perfectly engaging and easier to follow if it were told linearly. And then it ends on a cliffhanger where Shizuku has to replace a rare vintage that he and apprentice sommelier Miyabi Shinohara broke while doing research, and I would've much rather gotten any kind of resolution on previously established plot points before this new one was introduced.

So yes, the show is at least taking its niche interests seriously, perhaps a bit too seriously, but the real question is if the drama that supports all of this will be enough to win over the folks that aren't just here to take notes for an upcoming wine tasting that they want to show off at. I won't say that there isn't potential, but I'm far from convinced. The Dead Daddy Drama that Shizuku is going through has been done a thousand times before, so the show is going to have to work extra hard to craft a version of that old tale that's worth telling. Let's just say it's hard to feel confident that this one's gonna pull it off when we get scenes like Shizuku dramatically dumping a bottle of hilariously fake-looking CGI wine down the drain while weeping over how his father loved his fermented grape juice more than his own son. It at least doesn't look terrible, aside from the awful CGI, but its bold linework and overwrought direction seem to be masking an underlying cheapness that undermines whatever dramatic potential it might've had. That being said, I do appreciate the watercolour collages and musical cues used to represent the flavour a given wine evokes.

The Drops of God isn't completely without potential, but the rougher parts need to get sanded down fast for its stronger elements to really shine.