Ao Haru Ride

While most young girls make an effort to show off their feminine charms, Futaba Yoshioka deliberately behaves like she wants to repel anyone who might be attracted to her. Ostracized by her female classmates in middle school for being a little too popular with the boys, she desperately strives to avoid a similar situation in high school by being unnecessarily noisy and graceless.

Nevertheless, scattered among Futaba's unpleasant memories are the treasured moments with the boy she had a crush on, Kou Tanaka. Unfortunately, that spell abruptly ended on a sour note when he suddenly stopped attending school and never came back. When Futaba finds out that Kou has returned—with a different last name this time—she can already feel the butterflies in her stomach. However, Kou Mabuchi is not the warm boy that she remembers from her days in middle school; he is now taller, more charismatic and withdrawn—making him far less approachable.

Futaba believes that if she returns to her former self, Kou will begin to take notice of her again. But is she prepared to sacrifice her bubble of normalcy and risk losing her friends in the process?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Mabuchi, Kou Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Yoshioka, Futaba Main

Uchida, Maaya Japanese

Kikuchi, Touma Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Murao, Shuuko Supporting

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Tanaka, Youichi Supporting

Hirakawa, Daisuke Japanese

Kominato, Aya Supporting

KENN Japanese

Makita, Yuuri Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Uchimiya, Haruhiko Supporting

Akabane, Kenji Japanese

Tanaka, Father Supporting

Tanaka, Hideyuki Japanese

Yumi Supporting

Makino, Yui Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Takei, Katsuhiro Producer

Kuroki, Rui Producer

Reviews

Sep 22, 2014

Stark700

Recommended

Ao Haru Ride (Blue Spring Ride) in the best sense can describe itself as a shoujo. The concept of a childhood girl developing a crush towards a boy is something that has been done over and over before. It also has a sense of innocence as the young Futaba Yoshioka sees boys as ‘violent’. The only exception is a boy named Kou Tanaka who she sees as gentle. The problem is that a simple misunderstanding leads to a separation between the two as Tanaka transfer from school. Simply put, the experiences that Futaba shared with Tanaka is a treasure. But that treasure right now is ... buried away until one day….

Based off the manga of the same name created by Io Sakisaka, the series depicts a show that hits shoujo at its very core. Recognized perhaps for her character designs from the recent movie (HAL) and the manga Strobe Edge, Ao Haru Ride also stands out on its own in a variety of ways. It takes one of the most classic genres and steers it into a direction with honesty, drama, and a show full of charm. The time for Spring is one of those seasons when youth blooms. Ao Haru Ride follows a group of characters that becomes interconnected in a story of young love and growing up.

The story revolves a group of characters during their school days. It’s easy to say that school is a setting for people to grow up and perhaps change themselves. Futaba tries to do exactly that as she makes effort to be less girly. Her actions speaks louder than words too such as when she purposely eats more than appears to be to play down her girly side. The friends she has made essentially can also be seen as the tough crowd as they ostracizes her later on. Nonetheless, Futaba is a genuine kind girl as shown through her relationship with Yuuri, a pretty classmate who is despised by other girls. Other characters joining the story includes the lone wolf Shuuko Murao and the energetic Aya Kominato. Most importantly, Kou returns but now goes by the name “Kou Mabuchi”. This isn’t the only change though. Unlike his gentle self, the new Kou makes a 180 degree personality change with his sarcastic behavior and cold gestures. Really, you’re probably asking yourself what in the world happened, right?

Parts that can make you engaged to the characters is the diversity. Almost every character has a different personality yet they all become part of the story that gets interconnected in some way. A short arc during the show also gets the main characters together to on a camping trip where they must collectively work together to succeed. It takes on development routes as circumstances are bought up between characters as they grow closer. Examples include Kou and Yuuri where the latter seems to feel more towards him than just a friend. Similarly, Shuuko also begins to open up more after confessing her own interests. Regardless, the show connects relationships in a realistic way that can be relatable. Ever wondered how love ever blooms between certain people? Ao Haru Ride pushes the buttons between the characters to both show and tell exactly just that.

Perhaps the most prominent relationship throughout the show is between Kou and Futaba. After all, there’s so much contrast in their characters that a seemingly meaningful relationship between the two just seems to be impossible. There’s a lot of teasing and sarcasm between the duo despite an obvious mutual attraction. Jealousy is also an easy feeling that both characters feel throughout the show during various scenarios. But for what’s worth, their relationship will spark a curious interest. The “will they or won’t they?” will be one of those questions viewers will ask themselves a lot of the time. Their story stabs in the heart at times when moments are broken by misunderstandings or interruptions. Nonetheless, the show has grace and spirit and isn’t afraid to pull out moments that draws them closer together. On the other hand, Kou’s actions often contrasts what he says. In essence, he is one of those guys that isn’t being entirely honest with himself and struggles to be closer with others. This stark contrast to his childhood self is an interesting insight to see as Futaba tries to remember their times together. Speaking of which, Futaba’s feelings also resurfaces as she gets to know the current Kou. While his personality as a friend has changed, she recognizes that he is still the same person she comes to love. With a depth of flashbacks, it’s easy to see how these two can connect together despite being so very different.

No relationship can be without misunderstandings and love triangles. Ao Haru Ride doesn’t break far from that as it follows the cliché. The catch is that Futaba doesn’t wish to hurt others despite of her own feelings. A part of the story depicts her inner struggles to tell a friend about what she feels towards the boy. And if you guess right, that friend also shares the same feelings as the boy he fell for. Awkward moments must be accepted for enjoyment or this show will haunt you like a ticking time bomb. Luckily the show doesn’t play on a viewer’s patience too much. Even when it gets a bit intimidating, the show still is able to manage by with its clever humor and dramatic dialogues. They are often lighthearted with no shock value or profane scenarios. The slight problem sometimes though is the way it tries, especially with its dialogues during conversations. While the drama can get emotional and feel realistic, it has empty thrills and predictable outcomes. Furthermore, there’s little you can feel at times because of the stereotypes. And because Kou and Futaba are the main focus, there’s an obvious lack of characterization on the other characters. We don’t find out too much about other characters besides who they are on the surface and their personalities. In retrospect, they feel less conventional as the love triangle is more of a plot device to draw Kou and Futaba closer together. The collateral damage is the one that’s hurt as they become a cannon fodder; without the actual injury of course.

Besides romance, friendship and family values is also explored. The main girl trio (Futaba, Yuuri, Murao) often interacts in ways that girls should be like. The key difference is that Futaba’s new friends treats her with actual sincerity. I think it’s appreciable to see how they connect with different interests. They also open up with honesty and help each other out when help is needed the most. On the other hand, there is also some family connection between Kou and his brother Yoichi Tanaka. This isn’t much explored in depth but does show that the two shares a connection despite their different personalities. Just realize that it can be dull and the awkward meetings often feels static with little interest. Luckily, this is brightened up by the humor of the show. Playing as a class clown of sorts, Aya Kominato often brightens up the series with his ebullience. A noticeable factor about him is the fact that he doesn’t have much social issues unlike many of the others. His obvious crush on Murao is often seen as a comedy relief as the latter pays little attention to his advances. While this seems amusing, the problematic development between the duo is almost non-existent. Again, the main focus of the show is Futaba and Kou so don’t expect much depth on the others; at least not on the same level as those two childhood birds.

Artwork maintains a youthful appearance throughout the series. The background centralizes on the theme of Spring with the graceful weather, palate framework, and simple yet convincing imagery. The outdoors and weather has distinctiveness with its consistency. Flashbacks are cleverly decorated with aura-like water paint to illustrate youth. However, character designs are moderate. Most characters look stiff and movements are limited. There’s less much focus on how the characters look but rather than the moments they capture. Important scenes have longer focus with a cool down time before a transition. I think the purpose for this is to create new memories and show how characters make of them during those short yet meaningful moments. But nonetheless, studio Production I.G. brings its top notch A-game when it comes to overall animation adaptation.

Soundtrack is surprisingly strong even for a shoujo series such as this. Both the OP and ED songs have colorful imagery and symbolism. The OP song possesses both energy and a girly-like feeling while the ED song depicts more of a montage. OST is well-timed during key moments to bring out the best message of what they are motivated to do. Certain background songs are also played that further heightens memorable moments. This usually applies to scenes when characters’ connections seems to be at their closest almost if they are in their own little world. Character voice mannerism also deserves praise as well as we see a sharp contrast between the former Kou Tanaka and Kou Machibi. Shuuko is also noticeable for her cold mannerism as a lone wolf but slowly adapts to a more sincere girl through her change. On the other hand, Futaba’s voice can be irritating to listen at times with her stereotype.

For a shoujo series, Ao Haru Ride is surprisingly well structured based on its story. It has the look and feel of what a shoujo series should be with its characters, visuals, and other commonly seen tropes. While the show doesn’t characterize everyone at the same level, it’s interesting to see how their lives become interconnected through one and another. And through that, relationship are developed that can be everlasting. The show also does well with its realism and wastes little time to flesh out what it’s trying to do with the premise. Indeed, the show doesn’t stride far from where it begins as we see the relationship development between Futaba and Kou. An issue might arise that makes the audience ask themselves ‘was that it?’ or when the story feels repetitive. Still, with what it has offered up in its sleeves, I can say that Ao Haru Ride is definitely a ride worth taking.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 23, 2014

Manumento

Mixed Feelings

Welcome to the Vanilla cafe. Would you like to pre-order a vanilla pudding with vanilla toppings from our vanilla menu?

Ao Haru Ride is a shoujo romance slice of life manga adaptation of the same name. It follows a story of a curious high-schooler girl wishing to find out what happened to her crush from three years ago and why did he change. It has "generic" and Kimi ni Todoke written all over it just from looking at the cover, and going deeper, it further proves this statement.

Plot:

Futaba Yoshioka is your average 1st year in high school, who wishes to change herself and find new friends. ... She stumbles across her middle school crush, Kou Tanaka, who has changed his name to Kou Mabuchi. Shocked to find his personality completely changed, she starts testing her feelings for him, all in attempt to find out what happened to his old self.

The premise screams vanilla and generic all over the place, and it is just as it looks. It is your average shoujo romance with a double unrelated love triangle introduced later on. There is just nothing driving the romance forward and it uses cheap gimmicks in an attempt to move it further but it is really an uninteresting story once you get familiar with the characters. The main love triangle feels very artificial and is only there to make some progress, and the secondary love triangle isn't explored at all. The plot devices the anime introduce to kickstart an event are quickly forgotten. And, in the end, nothing happens. It is extremely predictable from the very start and not engaging. However, for an anime that is entirely character-driven, plot shortcomings aren't as important as in other shows.

Characters:

The story follows a group of 5 teenagers. Starting from the worst, we have Murao, a silent and self-centered girl that later is not like that, for some reasons hardly mentioned. She is bland and uninteresting, but is a main piece of the second love triangle, as Kominato has a crush on her, and she has a crush on Kou's brother, Tanaka-sensei. Kominato himself is just a friendly and energetic guy, nothing else to say about him, he's not relevant at all. Yuuri is a shy but sweet girl who is a piece of the main love triangle, but it feels like she is just a plot device thrown in to escalate the plot. She has some sort of characterization and personality though, so she's not a bad character per se, but really underwhelming going against the main duo. Tanaka-sensei, Kou's brother, is an important character in Kou's personal drama and life and manages to have some good characterization in relatively short screen time.

And here we have our main duo, with the main protagonist Futaba going first. Futaba is a rather curious and gentle girl who has a crush on Kou but starts questioning her feelings after meeting him, after she got supposedly dumped by him several years ago, and circles around Kou to find out more about his changed personality. Futaba is not a great character by herself, as she is rather simple and two dimensional at most, but the best part about her is that she makes some great character interactions with Kou and the rest of the squad. There's nothing special about her, but she is the one that moves the story forward entirely by herself.

Kou is the best character in the series, surprisingly because he acts as a pseudo-plot device for Futaba. His personal drama and personality change is done very, very well and is the biggest highlight of the show. He has an "I don't care" mentality and acts like a typical jerk, but for some reason the group constantly tries to get along with him instead of leaving him alone. His story was predictable, but executed well after all, and is the only part of the show that didn't come off as bland and boring. (like the rest of the show)

For a character driven show, only two characters are relevant to the story at all. And that is really bad. At first you would have some sort of hope that you get to see a lot of interesting character interactions and different approaches to romance from different characters and how they react and develop from it but in reality, once you get familiar with the characters (around half of the show), all of them, except for Futaba and Kou (and plot device Yuuri) become completely irrelevant. And that is not how an anime should treat its cast. There was a limit to how much Kou and his story could have carried the rest of the show, and he alone couldn't quite reach the top.

Writing:

For the comedy, it is simple reactional stuff over and over again. Something happens, characters react and you are supposed to laugh. Basic, but it actually works better here than other shows since you have some sort of attachment to characters and most of the comedy comes from at times funny interactions between Futaba and Kou. There's no fanservice to keep you interested, and although it doesn't ruin the narrative by being there, which is a good thing, the show actually got boring mid-way through so I don't know, maybe they should have had that? There's not so much slice of life to talk about, but Futaba's wish to not be labeled as an outcast once she experiences that in middle school is done quite decently and worth mentioning (along with Yuuri's situation, although she is just ruined later on)

There aren't any obvious writing mistakes, apart from the extreme overuse of wind in dramatic or tense situations, but I would like to mention that the show rather quickly and completely forgets a rather interesting plot device in "making the main cast the class representatives" which could have sparked some more interesting situations to happen. The anime didn't use the potential of some of the introduced elements and instead went along with the most generic and uninspiring way possible - a completely vanilla romance with no backdrops or anything else for you to care about. Didn't like the romance? Tough luck, there's nothing else for you here.

Animation and Sound:

There's nothing so much to talk about the animation, the art looks good but the chibi-looking face expressions were sometimes unnecessary and distracting, and made the show's comedy look like trying too hard.

The soundtrack is worth mentioning as having a few emotional pieces and rather well timed songs. It is easily the best technical aspect of the show, and you should look forward to the official soundtrack release. Another mention is Yuki Kaji in his role of Kou, which was executed outstandingly. I rather have him voicing these kind of characters rather than screamy kids (Eren, Satomi), cause here he can unfold his full potential.

Summary:

Ao Haru Ride is just an extremely cliched and generic title. The execution is decent, however it could have been better, but there are just no other hooks or interesting elements or setting to keep you interested, and it gets boring half-way through unless you absolutely love the characters. Not everyone's the same though. If you like Shoujo romances, then it's definitely a watch. It is not a bad show, but it is not a good one either. It is right down the middle, and that's why it deserves the rating it gets.

Final Verdict - 5.3/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 23, 2014

Urnaos

Not Recommended

I have not read the source material for the show and the following review is for the anime adaption only, the manga, LN or other source material is not included in my review of this anime.

Ao Haru Ride is a character driven romance between the two main characters Kou and Futaba. The show kicks off when Futaba recognizes Kou at her high school and goes on from there.

Story

I pretty much already went over the basic premise but, it's also important to know that Kou and Futaba knew each other in middle school. The premise itself is kind of generic which isn't entirely bad. I liked ... how the two main characters had met in the past and, now Kou was entirely different for reasons unknown to Futaba and the viewers. It was a good way to hook people.

Art

I enjoyed the art of the show. It was colorful and, the character designs fit the settings and, the characters themselves. The art is distinguishable from other series but isn't anything unique or all that interesting.

Sound

The show had a good OP and ED. The music during the show was appropriate and, sounded nice. Also, there was some good voice acting for the characters, especially Kou.

Characters

Sadly, most of the characters in Ao Haru Ride aren't all that great. The characters I didn't like were Yuuri, Kominato, Murao and Kou.

In the case of Kominato and Murao, they didn't add anything to the story. The show would have been the same if they weren't there. So why were they in the story, I don't know? In addition to not having a point, they aren't particularly interesting and, the viewer isn't really given a reason to care for them.

Yuuri is the second member of the Kou fan club and, the third member of the show's love triangle. The problem with her is that again, she doesn't do anything for the story, it would have been the same if she was removed from the show. All she does after befriending Futaba is obsess over a CD she borrowed from Kou. The fact that she and, Futaba both love Kou is supposed to be a source of conflict for herself and Futaba but, it doesn't really cause any issues in their relationship. Her love for Kou doesn't cause any conflict for the two main characters Kou and Futaba. Why I didn't include her with the other two pointless side characters is because Yuuri is supposed to have a purpose. She is supposed to be a part of the story. She is supposed to cause conflicts between the two main characters and, have conflicts with them but, she fails at all of the points I listed.

Kou starts off as an interesting character. The viewer is after all supposed to be drawn into the show by his mysterious change from being kind and, quiet to cold and, "too cool to care". My problem with Kou isn't that he can be an annoying, angsty teenager. My problem is that he isn't a consistent character. Somewhere around episode 7 or 8 all of his progression just disappears until the final episode. It feels really unnatural and, forced for the sake of the "story" which is finding out why Kou is different then he was before.

Ao Haru Ride forces this unnatural character reset by having Yuuri and, Futaba pursue Kou before they find anything out about him. If the writers would have put the revelations about Kou's past at the start of the show and, then had Futaba and Yuuri try to get with him everything would have made more sense and, Kou wouldn't have had to have a forced character reset.

Futaba, and Kou's brother are the only other relevant characters in the show. They are both members of the Kou fan club and, I didn't have any particular problems with either of them. That being said they aren't really all that great of characters either since the only thing about them that matters is how they feel about Kou.

Enjoyment

I enjoyed the beginning of the show. It may have been a generic premise but, it was well executed. I wanted to know more about the characters and, was interested to see how the show would progress. However, the addition of the side characters, love triangle and, after Kou's character reset, Ao Haru Ride just wasn't all that interesting or, something I really cared about anymore. One scene that left a terrible impression with me was when Kou told Futaba that he could sexually assault her if he wanted to after climbing on top of her. I just felt that it was unnecessary and, in bad taste.

Overall

I gave Ao Haru Ride a 4/10. It has good art and music but neither of these elements overcome the pit falls of the show. The biggest problem of the show is that it forces character "resets" for the sake of the story. Another problem is that the side characters don't do anything to warrant their inclusion in the show. For reference the most useful side character is Kou's brother whose only job is to feed Futaba information about Kou and, his back story. Finally, I really hated the creepy sexual assault scene.

***DISCLAIMER*** I have not read the source material for the show and the review is for the anime adaption only. The manga, light novel or other source material is not included in my review of this anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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