Nice to meet you, and hello!
Today I am giving my impressions of the first episode of A Place Further Than The Universe, otherwise known as Sora yori mo Tooi Basho, the basic premise of which is four highschool girls embarking on a journey to search for Shirase Kobuchizawa's, one of the girls', mother who went missing somewhere in antarctica.

• The main character is Mari Tamaki, an airheaded girl who oversleeps and stumbles upon a old notebook of her's that mentions all of her plans for once she entered highschool which includes keeping a diary, skipping a day of school, going on a trip without a plan and getting the most out of her youth. Much to her dismay she has accomplished none of these things and tells her friend that she usually talks herself out of trying new things, which isn't something someone would just straight up say but it does offer insight into her character.
• Megumi Takahashi is Mari's friend, she doesn't think of Shirase as weird for wanting to make good on the plans she made before she entered highschool and instead simply encourages to do those things, telling her there is nothing wrong with skipping school. I think she's a very good friend for these reasons.
• And then there's Shirase Kobuchizawa, the last character to be introduced in this episode. Mari notices her drop a envelope on the ground while Shirase rushes to check and train, after Mari loses her and she looks inside the envelope, she realizes it contains ¥1,000,000. The next day she sees her entering the bathroom at her school and after a probably unintended jumpscare, she returns the money to her and Shirase explains why she has that much. She has been working a part-time job in order to earn enough money to travel to antarctica to search for her mother, it's all she talks about and everyone at school makes fun of her for it, but that just fuels her drive. She asks Mari to come with her, she has people about it before and their friends talked them out of it or they got scared, so she wants to make sure that Mari is serious so she asks her to come with her to look at a boat she's been looking it on the weekend. Thus begins Mari's journey to both fulfill her own wishes and to become stronger as a person.

So far it has been presented in a cute way, but also written in a beautiful manner. So expect to see a anime with plently of laughs but also some more warm, touching moments. The right balance between a light-hearted and serious tone. That's it for now, please join me next time when I take a look at Yuru Camp△, have a wonderful day. = )