love through a prism
People’s college years are often among the most formative periods of their lives. That’s likely because college places you in a liminal space between childhood and adulthood—a time when you’re encouraged to dream about and actively pursue your future. This idea is never truer than in art school. Unlike more traditional academic paths, art school is closer in spirit to trade school: students are defined by practice, repetition, and a deep commitment to honing their craft.
That environment also makes for an especially compelling backdrop for a romance series. What ultimately sets Love Through a Prism apart for me is its explicit focus on art school students—people whose identities are rooted in the act of creation itself. This idea crystallizes in Episode 09, when Kit, the male lead, passionately defends the value of effort and dedication in artistic work to his long-time arranged fiancée, Kathrine. At the same time, Kathrine is already struggling with her lack of direction and purpose. The moment lands with extra weight because it immediately precedes Kit’s confession of love to Lilly, who—like him—is pursuing painting at the same art college.
This revelation sends Kathrine into emotional free fall. Although she shares Kit’s age and social background, she ultimately has no real connection to his passions or inner world. In that sense, she feels like the inverse of a familiar art-school romance archetype. In Paradise Kiss, for example, Yukari Hayasaka is pulled into the world of fashion and art by George Koizumi and his eccentric, creative circle. Kathrine, by contrast, is left standing outside, looking in.
Her position instead mirrors Nana Komatsu from Ai Yazawa’s Nana. Early in that series, Nana’s entire identity revolves around her long-time boyfriend, Shōji. While she works tirelessly to become the “perfect” partner for him, Shōji—a graphic design student—grows closer to a fellow student, Sachiko, and ultimately cheats. While Shōji is clearly at fault, the series also makes it evident that Nana is more in love with the idea of love than with Shōji himself. Kathrine’s feelings for Kit feel similar: she’s attached to the version of him she imagined, not the person he actually is.
This is where Love Through a Prism diverges from the melodramatic tragedy often found in Ai Yazawa’s work. Kathrine ultimately resolves her inner conflict through an unexpected friendship with Lilly, allowing her to reclaim agency and self-definition outside of romance.
As The show moves into more melodramatic territory Kathrine ends up being something of an emotional pillar for Lilly especially since she gain freesom in a way non of the other cast members hav. becoming the first of the collective cast to be anything close to to creatively fullfilled.
Notes
(full spoiler warning)
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LOVE THROUGH A PRISM
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Type: ONA
Episodes: 20/20
Status: COMPLETED
Overall Rating: ★★★★★ (8.56/5)
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SERIES NOTES
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Rating: ★★★★★ (8/5)
Reminds me of the group of Japanese students I met in Morocco years ago or junko
Slightly steam boy esque
Great backgrounds
Super expensive animation
Very shojo adjacent character designs
Thers so much compositing in each shot
Has a visual quality like Fena
It doesn’t have the confidence of a Ai Yazawa storyline
Goes deeper then just a love story
The color to black and white trick they pull is really excellent
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EPISODE NOTES
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▸ Episode 1: Black Bread and Iridescent Hope
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
reat vibes very light harted
Great faces and meet cute
I’ll get used to it but the British accent on the main character who’s supposed to be from japan is….odd
Great set up
Great conflict
Dorthy is wildly Racist
▸ Episode 2: Feeling Blue
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Charming little British apartment
Dorthy has Wendy’s energy
Nightmare pie
I like that the teachers are rel esoteric
Getting hit on and HATING IT
The bullying reminds me of Kirk stealing shit from other students so they would fail
Great first assessment
The build up to the critique is smart
Good teacher feedback
What it means when your surrounded by people who are at or above your level
Feels almost Super flat in terms of style
▸ Episode 3: Lillies
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
eat highlight of the difference in skill and importance placed on a sketch
Kit is great at art but not much else
Impromptu bus stop scene
▸ Episode 4: His Rough Sketch
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
The contrast between Japan and London is interesting
It’s pretty clear that hit just has the time to be good at art
▸ Episode 5: Views of a Honey Gold Summer
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Steam trains are here
Don’t love that Sakura is mute
Lilly is included by way of skill not station
Kits father is a duke witch makes sense
Great change of setting
That’s one long neck on that lady in the painting
▸ Episode 6: An Asymmetrical World
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Exilent back back story delivery through flash back
Henry seams like he clearly understands how important people think he is but how unimportant much of the trappings are
Out here just drawing hoarses
Hoarse with fuck me eyes
The head maid is a real one
All hail kit the blond jumbo twink
All of the romantic rivals are in place
▸ Episode 7: A Red Rose Has Thorns
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
und by her country men
Kit hoarse guarded Lilly
Cute charm from the romantic rival
The voice acting is a bit stilted
Poor art student problems
Art jobs!
Rivals only field trip
The Old Duchess is a great name for a bar!
Great lighting in the bar
The use of Lillie’s is great
Good montage
What is Katherine’s angle?
▸ Episode 8: The Perspective of Childhood Friends
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Bitches be out here buying buildings so the can be close to their crush
Japanese + British hospitality is a real bitch
She’s (Katelynn) gonna be an asshole this whole time
No one is really asking kit what he wants
Hi looking like a fine little British snack with his groceries
Lilly is clearly being manipulated by the facts
The show makes Lilly feel like a real art student especially in comparison to the rest of the cast since she has more responsibilities than they do
Katherine realizing she doesn’t have any real passions is interesting
Shins sculpture work is interesting
Katherine is much more complex then first thought
A great explanation of what art really represents for the artist
SHIT JUST GOT COMPLICATED
▸ Episode 9: A Gradation of Talent and Effort
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Interesting portrait of artists impostor syndrome with Peter
Lilly needs to except reality
Really important turning point fo Katherine
Lilly don’t really have a way to process her feelings other than her feelings about his work
Katherine is trying to help Lilly in the only way she knows how
Art school kid party!
Geoffrey is the kind of art student who people forget what his major
Kit is talent with out understanding but he doesn’t really baleave in himself
▸ Episode 10: Outlines of Triangles
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Dorthy is still a little racist hu lol
Sketching at the zoo!
Shin is less of a “intentional” romantic rival
Lilly gives Mary poppins vibes
Shin feels like Tokumori with out the “crush” angle
It’s so clear tha Katherine wants to persu clothing l.
Some people don’t have support systems that give them permission to persue art
Art bes
▸ Episode 11: A Portrait in Sepia
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Kit’s brother is pile of shit
Kit becomes the damsel in desired
Mythical horse nonsense
It wasn’t just Mellon drama ther was a family emergency
▸ Episode 12: The Golden Ratio Between Them
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
anufactured conflict
Starts to drag a bit
It starts to shift to b a more traditional love story
▸ Episode 13: A Collage of Joy and Sorrow
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
The start of the Dorthy home town arc
Great change of settings
Pack of gingers
Ther using chromatic aboration to set the characters off the darker background
Dorthy’s family all have the same stereotypes
Melencolic feelings about going back to Japan
Shit you don’t know about your friends in college
The backgrounds are BEAUTIFUL
Dorthy is really over clinical about love
Everyone can read Lilly like a book
The idea of absent mindedly creating a new kind of flipbook art
Corny clapping
Slight reference to th congratulation Evangelion scene
The idea that some art should rewrite the “rules”
Kit going home AGAIN!
▸ Episode 14: Farewell on the Sea
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Kit’s dad dies
Richard might just have the world on his shoulders
Continued use of nature as a motif
Richard and kit’s mother were madly in love and deeply honest about it
Richard is the origin of kit’s love of art
The lives of the arastocrisy are borrowed from its people
Surprise WW1 drop
Interesting that Lily is from Yokohama witch is a international shipping hub
Kit is deciding to uphold his aristocratic duty and be sent to the battle field
Lily trying to make him come back to her
▸ Episode 15: Stormy Crossroads
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
WW1 confirmed
Kit leaves Lilly in shins care
Lilly is doing really complex work
Good and effective balance story wise
▸ Episode 16: Colorless Cubism of the Heart
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Kit is starting to look like the other men in his family
Lilly’s fate is being taken out of her hands fo her own safety
Shin and Lilly are being called home immediately
The world is about to change
The academy closes dut to the start of WW1
The show turns into something different
Professor Burns is dropping hints HARD
Kit is trying to grow up by force of his own will
Lilly’s speech is exilent
Kits not really connected to his own feelings is he
▸ Episode 17: A Confession Gone With the Waves
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Every one is scared and trying to get to the next day.
Peter is going on to a bigger more impressive academic school
The bullying seems really out of place but it seams like they’re training to lighten up the mood
Divorcing passion from occupation
They just set up a possible ending
Katherine is here!
I love that they set up Kathrine as the person who doesn’t need to follow the rules
Thers a core sadness to the Church family
Wildly sad
Shin is ther for her
She finally said it
▸ Episode 18: Five Years Later, an Engagement Ring
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Shin is s like nobu or Tokumori
The black and white hits hard
The ever present grief is incredible
Shin is doing his best
Lily isn’t unappreciative of shin she’s just so incredibly in grief
They instantly peg kits work
Drained of color
Shin is still there for her
Marriage is so mechanical in this time period
She can’t paint anymore it’s to hard
Shin s doing his best and he feels like Nobuo or Tokumori
Sakura speaks now!
Everybody grows up and gives up on there dreams and it feels wrong
Oh shi Katherine for the win!!
The contrast with this episode with the others in Terms of colors is incredible
▸ Episode 19: Drawn to Destiny
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Starting with Lilly helping shin move forward with his dream is interesting
People need to start talking to each other
Kit came to find her!
The black and white is so good
It’s in color for a moment!
Shin is just happy to see his friend back
Kit accepting that the world moves on with out him
As soon as kit comes back every thing lightens up
Poor shin
Drawing as a affliction
Constantly referencing Japanese black an white films
Lily gets her groove back
▸ Episode 20: Love Through a Prism
Rating: ★★★★★
Watched: Feb 4, 2026
Watching lilys dad get his shit rocked by his daughters work is great
The first time we see shin really working
06:07 in and the color is back!
Every good art student has a good impression of their teacher
They actually did the setup to earn the last episode
Shin is a goddam hero
Thier doing the break off to Lilly’s parents together
Lilly’s dad rules
Lilly’s mom does care
Be hair
Great montage
First hint of CGI
I take it back are they using the real ocean composited in?!
I was right! Geofery gets a bar!!!
They get to travel the world together as a couple
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