ef: A Tale of Memories.

On Christmas Eve, Hiro Hirono runs into Miyako Miyamura, a frivolous girl who "borrows" his bicycle in order to chase down a purse thief. After Hiro finds his bicycle wrecked and Miyako unconscious, the two unexpectedly spend their Christmas Eve together, and when they discover they go to the same high school, their accidental relationship develops even further. This sparks the jealousy of Hiro's childhood friend Kei Shindou, whose pure approach to life catches the eye of Kyosuke Tsutsumi, a womanizing photographer searching for the perfect shot.

Elsewhere, Renji Asou, a boy who dreams of being a girl's knight in shining armor, has a chance encounter with Kei's twin sister—the overly shy Chihiro Shindou, who spends her time reading alone—at an abandoned train station. The two quickly become friends and eventually decide to write a novel together. However, when Renji discovers Chihiro's secret, his childish ideals are put to the test.

Guided by two mysterious adults, these youths' relationships intertwine in a heart-rending tale of love, rejection, acceptance, and memories.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shindou, Chihiro Main

Yanase, Natsumi Japanese

Miyamura, Miyako Main

Taguchi, Hiroko Japanese

Asou, Renji Main

Takagi, Motoki Japanese

Hirono, Hiro Main

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Shindou, Kei Main

Okada, Junko Japanese

Amamiya, Yuuko Supporting

Nakajima, Yumiko Japanese

Himura, Yuu Supporting

Toochika, Kouichi Japanese

Kuze, Shuuichi Supporting

Hamada, Kenji Japanese

Hayama, Mizuki Supporting

Gotou, Mai Japanese

Tsutsumi, Kyosuke Supporting

Tai, Yuuki Japanese

Kubota, Mitsutoshi Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Matsuda, Akio Producer

Oonuma, Shin Director

Reviews

Mar 14, 2008

TheLlama

Recommended

Several love stories... they will make you cry. Definite recommendation.
Love. Tragedy. Sadness. This show has all the basic ingredients that's needed to make me cry. . However, not all shows with those basic ingredients have done so. What made this show so special then?

I guess the characters, and the way they were portrayed. They were all struggling... struggling with their dreams. What to do. Who to be with. That was portrayed in such a way that I completely fell into it, with my entire mind. It was as if I was standing next to them, having to watch them struggle through their dreams and loves... ... forcing me to cry, both in the good and bad times they were experiencing. Also, the animation and the way the scenes were made was really beautiful and enjoyable. It was something I've never seen before, and normally I'd probably say that it was weird, I guess. But with this show... it just fit in so perfectly. The ending of this show was also something that was enjoyable. When I started watching the show, I'd never think about the ending it had, and I'd definitely not like the idea of such an ending. However, after having watched it, I msut say that it was indeed the perfect way to sum it all up. It couldn't have been done more beautifully, not the slightest inch better. Not at all.

This show is truly one of the best shows I've watched, and I think that anyone who enjoys a tear-jerking show will love this show. Fully and completely.

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =)

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 3, 2009

Fonbella

Mixed Feelings

I decided to watch this anime after watching some AMVs. I've always despised the art style of this anime (big heads, pentagonal faces and skinny characters don't really appeal me), but the animation was gorgeous, which motivated me.

Story: 5.
The story doesn't pick up until episode 5. I almost dropped watching it because it's boring at first, but it does get better as it goes, and since it's actually a short anime, I recommend watching it all. This anime could be divided in three stories. Sadly, aside from Renji and Chihiro's part, the story is very poor. If you're looking for a more complex, mind blowing ... story, I recomend not watching this. While I love drama and I respect the director's decision to stage it in a unique way, some of the most dramatic parts in this anime are laughable, Like when Chihiro falls at the beach and Renji reaches out for her, or when Renji breaks down in later episodes.

Art: 6.
Here I devide it in two, visual style and animation. For visual style: 3, animation: 9. As I said before, I'm not fond of deformed characters, with extremely huge heads (like Miyamura's), but it's not for me to state my personal preferences in this review. I really like how a lot of the scenes in this anime look like vectors moving, it was really original and it's what I like the most about this anime (the opening itself is a very good example of it).

Sound: 10.
I have nothing to say here. It's really good from the very beginning to the very end. All songs are brilliant and it blends in magically. "Euphoric Field" is something you'll want to put in your iPod right away.

Character: 8.
For a 12-episode anime, the characters develop pretty well, each following their own pace. Most notably are Kei and Chihiro. Miyako also changes a bit at the end, but overall, she's your tipical annoying, childish girl.

Enjoyment: 7.
This anime has a very serious problem: you'll find youserlf glued to the screen at some point while watching it (episode 11 speaks for itself), but at other parts you'll just yawn and think about dropping watching it (like when Miyako calls Hiro in episode 7 and 10).

Overall: 6.
It could've been better written, but it wasn't a waste of time watching it. I'm still in love with it's animation and vector-like style (can I call this 4 wall breakage? I really enjoy that. Google it if you don't know what it means). It's not an anime I'd recommend to others, but if people asked me if it's worth watching it or not, I'd simply say: It's good.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 7, 2010

Brii90

Not Recommended

I can't even begin to fathom why people love this series so much. The story is incredibly, mind-blowingly generic, and the characters are so typical that I feel like I've seen them in dozens of other shows. On top of that, the "artistic" style of the anime was so distracting and ridiculous. I found myself laughing every time the scene became obnoxiously distorted or the colors changed, because it was so non-discrete and it never quit. Yes, this anime is pretty. But it's pretty in a way that makes it clear that it's trying way too hard to be beautiful and artistic. All in all, ... this anime was painful to watch. It was not deep nor creative like it tried so hard to be.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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