So, I decided to tackle the 12 Days of Anime again, so I went for ef - a tale of memories this time around, since it had caught my eye. Although I wasn't able to keep on top of it as much as I had wanted, I did enjoy the anime, and did promise a review, so here it is.
Plot Summary
Taken from MyAnimeList:
On Christmas Eve, Hiro Hirono's bike is stolen by a girl chasing a thief who stole her purse. He gives chase and finds her unconscious and his bike ruined. The girl, Miyako Miyamura, soon awakes and the two begin to talk. After making sure she is okay, they end up spending Christmas Eve together. Later, Hiro finds out Miyako attends the same school as him and they begin to spend more and more time together, Miyako developing affections for Hiro. Kei Shindou—Hiro's childhood friend who has long held a crush on him—begins to become jealous and a love triangle follows.
The series also tells the story of Renji Asou. One day, he meets Chihiro Shindou, the twin sister of Kei Shindou, at an abandoned train station. Even though she's very shy, they get along pretty well and begin meeting at the same spot every day.
Just a side note, I left some stuff out, in order to not spoil all of the first few episodes.
Story
The story of ef - a tale of memories is certainly a complicated one, but it handles this very well. I never felt like one part of the story was being neglected. It has plenty of plot twists, and a lot of emotion put into those plot twists. While the "love triangle" has been done to death, they did really make it into a genuine, well-developed one. There were next to no hiccups, and overall it had a really solid plot.
Characters
This show has a solid cast of characters. All of the main characters were developed well, and none of them were really left out or neglected. They each had clear motivations and were very dimensional, creating strong and believable relationships within them. The side characters were also fairly interesting, and it succeeded in creating a sense that they have their own story to tell (in ef - a tale of melodies). The only complaint I had was that one character started to get a little.. annoying... with how stubborn they were.
Animation
This is definitely the strongest point of this show. The art direction is absolutely marvelous and really helped emphasize whatever emotion the show was trying to portray. It really blew me away on multiple occasions. The animation itself is shiny and smooth, and maintained a strong consistency that must be admired.
Music
The music of the show is also fairly strong. The opening is incredible, and is handled really well in how it connects with the show itself. It also had some lovely surprises along the way. The background music is also quite appealing, though generally soft and gentle, sometimes sad, with little drama behind them. The endings can be noted in that, well, there are multiple of them. The few of them that I've listened to are great, but I haven't listened to all of them, so I can't say for them.
Entertainment
Okay, time to get some issues out of the way:
First off, there was a character that I did think get a little annoying at times. I won't say a name, in order to prevent spoilers, but I did think they were annoying, and kinda wished they acted in a different way... if you want to know who I'm talking about, you can look at my 12 Days of Anime post, as I've talked about my thoughts on them in there.
Second off... it was a little hard to get me excited about the show at times. There's partially preference (I'm not as interested in romance anime), partially my fault (for leaving great spaces of time when I would watch the episodes), and partially... I don't know. For all that I've praised it, it's not quite enough to become a real favorite of mine.
But that isn't to say I didn't enjoy it, or that there weren't things to be liked - I really liked how they played the opening into the story, what with the book being in there, the three red strings of fate, and how the lyrics apply to the characters. I loved the style of storytelling, and I absolutely love the relationships between the characters. And, of course (I've mentioned this so many times), the art direction blew me away. Because of the art direction, there are many scenes in there that I don't think I will ever forget. I'm sad that I haven't seen much more from the director, and that there isn't a whole lot more notable works by him.
And I do plan on eventually watching its prequel (sequel? Companion story?), ef - a tale of melodies. It's caught my attention, the characters that appear in ef a tale of memories have caught my attention, and so I simply cannot ignore it (though I can neglect it... for a while).
Final Verdict:
Overall Quality: 9.4
Overall Entertainment: 8.6
Recommendation: Gibbeous
Despite my lack of enthusiasm towards this show, I cannot deny that I did enjoy it (to an extent). Not to mention that it has an incredibly high quality. This was a beautifully done romance, I do highly recommend it to anyone looking for one. However, for those who are like me, and just aren't as excited by romance, I would recommend you at least check it out, but no guarantees.
