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Ever since I found Ran and the Grey World years ago I've had a predilection for Aki Irie's works. It's not that her stories are impeccable or developed to perfection, but her approach has a particular inspiring warmth.

With these short stories, it was particularly easy to tell why: she takes any sort of premise that occurs to her, and just draws it. It's a great example of how you don't need to an impeccable idea to write a story that tells something, and works. Most of these are random free-spirited tales, each with an entirely different tone and pace. None feel obliged to keep ... a structure of opening, development and ending: Irie writes whatever she wants to write (something that came to her going for a walk, or visiting a museum, as she describes later) and the resulting stories are somehow like vibrant, little experiences, when read.

I also love how with a few simple pen strokes she gets full features and expressions. No doubt the drawing is also her forte, particularly with these short stories that need to be told in only a few vignettes.

It was particularly heartwarming that, in the closing pages, she writes that she loves to draw great things based on small stories, and also that she hoped <i>Tabi</i> was a means to discover something beautiful in the midst of the daily hustle. That's exactly what this manga achieves.

I don’t tend to want to review TV shows because they’re long and there may be too much to say, to keep up with as the episodes roll on. But the value of The Rose of Versailles lies in its essence, and a lengthy description of its plot doesn’t feel necessary.

There are two things which, I think, might draw a variety of viewers back.
One is the animation, shoujo-ish to the extreme. Admittedly, the variety of sparkles and shiny eyes and dramatic eyelashes took a couple of episodes to get used to, but I came to appreciate the dramatisation that they bring to the characters. ... Besides, it improves as it goes and the series itself is full of animation techniques that make its visuals far more expressive than plain moving pictures. Sharp shading, mood-colouring, image fusion... Symbolic, emotive or impressionistic: take your pick, because Versailles no Bara brings an excellent visual arsenal to further its story.

The other possible draw-back is the tone of the drama itself. Initially, overreactions and despair abound (particularly from Marie Antoinette) over matters that don’t seem to be such desperate problems, yet that is solved as well. Once the characters have been introduced, the story settles and the events keep their dramatic tone, but gradually shifting to more serious and ambitious content.

The change of director (from Tadao Nagahama to Osamu Dezaki) within the first half becomes noticeable from the very first episode, and the story is openly heavy-themed (occasionally even disturbing) from there.

So past all this, what is it that makes it great? What did it do so differently? Because it IS different, and I don’t think any modern series could cope with this story and deliver it as this 1979 adaptation did.

The lens may be rose-coloured in the sense of romanticism, but the story has little of today’s air-headedness in romantic anime. The key to that may be in the characters: Oscar François takes under the icy-shield prototype, but there’s nothing typical about her. The premise itself is a tremendous help, but the development is what solidifies it.
She makes the characters around her better and vice versa, and presenting her as the protagonist is the only link that was needed to make inspired fiction from the French Revolution historical events. In terms of names and locations, the series likes to take after them closely, and observing how the story chooses to deal with that source for narrative adds one more layer of interest—one which lasts from the first episode to the last, with the eventual Revolution.

An emotive soundtrack gives the finishing touch to this old jewel that has something fresh to offer in every layer.
The ending song becomes iconic, sampling the voice acting in the series: one of the best I have ever heard. Here, that quality extends to every character.

Ao Haru Ride is one of the most popular shoujo manga publishing at the moment. For that (and knowing how as the variety of this genre decreases shoujo titles fall more into typical) I supposed this one would be different. When an anime adaptation was announced I took it as a good opportunity to see why this one story was special. And it turned out, it wasn't.

The story starts out fine. The concept is not anything original but the two main protagonists reencountering again being so different to how they were in the past, and unknowing all that has happened to each other during ... that time had some potential for a ride of feelings. And it was close during the first three episodes, especially because the female protagonist's personality is so lively and straight forward that her actions easily differed from the well-known indecision and passivity that are characteristic in the heroines of numerous romance series. But very early on the episodes fill up with the typical school and friendship events and problems, and the story soon loses its focus.

The following most important character after the female protagonist Futaba is Kou, the boy she had not seen for years and now attends her same high school as it turns out. The new Kou is, like the serious Murao states in several of her very scarce dialogues, a "brat". We do get to know the experiences that affected him enough to change his personality but these do not make him any more likeable. And I do not mean being dislikeable has to be a negative characteristic: when developed well, rebellious, mysterious or dark characters can be the most interesting and original, but Kou is none of that and he's simply ill-mannered. His actions do not provide much new to the plot, his beginning in the story is good enough to allow him to make a difference but he doesn't develop and just sulks in resentment all along. Which brings me back to Futaba, the personality of hers I found distinctive at first for a shoujo series, turns foolish and clichéd as soon as she falls in love.

Still the worst developed characters are the other three friends of the group: they have the importance of a flower pot to the story. Makita gets part of the focus for a couple of episodes but Murao and Kominato could have easily been invisible. Given they little participation these two seem to be present in the series only to fill up the archetypes of quiet, cold girl and noisy, blatant boy.

Animation is average concerning the fluidity and art of the backgrounds (excluding the slightly rarest watercolour style used during flashbacks; too fuzzy) but character design is very inconsistent. The manga art looks good, so do the anime covers and even the key visuals released before the series started airing are good enough, but once animated the proportions and expressions are too unstable and in many scenes their faces become either unrecognizable or unattractive. Fortunately this does not happen constantly.
There isn't much to say about sound: the opening and ending themes are average or fine depending on tastes, soundtrack is to be somewhat noticeable whilst watching and then forgotten right afterwards (like it happens with most anime OSTs) and seiyuus are good at accomplishing the expected voices that fit the stereotyped personalities.

Ao Haru Ride wasn't especially boring but it's a series that doesn't offer anything new, and one of those series where little relevant happens when you look back on it: something that stays in mind is how right before the conclusion the show throws in a (predictable) final hook to keep the audience following the upcoming events. This season of 12 episodes covers only 14 of the +40 chapters the manga currently has so sequels are to be expected.
Due to my discrepancies with the characters I barely found any scenes touching or disclosing as they themselves apparently did, but I still do not regret having watched the anime. It gives me a good idea of how generic content keeps on being labelled as special when it gets popular and how success certainly isn’t correlated to uniqueness.

Overall Blue Spring Ride has average sound, average animation, decent enjoyment and development below average. So don’t watch it if you’re looking for an overall good series, unless like me, you want to get an idea of the manga without reading it.

Those who watched the Arcana Famiglia series will remember what became of it. The show did not follow its first episode's interesting premise but got full of "filler" episodes instead. If not fillers, al least episodes that, though entertaining enough for some, were shallow and unnecesary to the main plot (usually with a different theme each). This unaired episode is just another of those random stories.


- Story: 6
With no introduction at all, the OVA directly starts with the main male characters (Felicità barely appears) receiving a written invitation to gather in a room where some chocolats await. When they eat such chocolats they find out ... they were one of Jolly's experiments (the "man of Science" here) and their effect makes their bodies switch. This will lead to a series of comical events that will conform the rest of the OVA.

- Art: 8
General animation is average (most of the episode happens indoors and few or none action scenes appear, so there's not much to be seen) but character design is attractive to sight (very much like in the series). Bright and clear, pretty smooth and expressive.

- Sound: 7
There is barely any soundtrack noticeable, the opening and ending are the same from the TV series. Catchy at the beginning, then they fall more into average but still nice enough (especially the ending with its unsual starting tune). I didn't find Voice Actors remarkable, but you can have a good time noticing how they change voices as characters adapt to the new person in each body.

- Character: 6
In the whole series there is barely any character development, so what could you expect from a short OVA? Each character's peculiarities are highlighted as they try to act like somebody else, but that's all there is to it.

- Enjoyment: 7
As random as the episode is, a couple of scenes are uninteresting and almost boring, but the body exchange creates lots of jokes and amusing moments that you can find quite funny if you are in a good mood.

- Overall: 6.8
In contrast to the series, this OVA is not pretentious at all: that's clear from the beginning and it doesn't promise you more than you will have. Do not expect a new and definite ending to the series, a serious plot development or anything meaningful at all. If there was something in Arcana Famiglia that you liked, or you just feel like having a nice time watching something silly then this might be a good choice for you. If not, there are better things for you to see.

As MAL includes a synopsis and you're here reading this, I start my review deducting you are somewhat interested in this film and you already have a basic notion of its plot.

Despite what the cover might imply, this is not really a magical girl film. The superpower idea is there, but it won't bother those who don't like the genre, and those who do will have it just with a bit of imagination. I don’t think this should be catalogued as comedy like MAL put it, that I noticed very few moments were intended to make you laugh and it is mostly drama, dissembled or ... clear.

In cases of bullying there are mainly two types of people in relation to the ones that are harassed: people who don't care or don't involve in fear of becoming bullied themselves, and people who help those in need in compliance with the consequences.
The main character in this story is the second type, nonetheless he is still influenced by the thoughts and actions of others on him, changing his exterior facade through the story. Hiding one’s inner self and confronting others if it comes out is something that gets a lot of importance in the movie.
For these reasons Ichirou Satou's evolution is one of the reasons for which this plot is interesting to follow. The other is the main protagonist Ryouko Satou. She's a strange girl who (apparently) nothing affects, and she clashes into Ichirou's gloomy world changing the uninteresting way of life he had had for months. Though from a hostile and outsider point of view they would seem completely different (an ordinary student and a freak) the plot unveils they have much in common apart from their surnames (to avoid confusion I will refer to them with their first name).

Ryouko’s difference with the rest of the world is also shown in the animation: her eyes are brighter and warmer than anyone else’s and her hair shines more. In some scenes you can notice a change of light (a park of brighter greens in comparison to the greys around it, or the sun’s orange light in the darkness), but most of the film is presented in shadowy, opaque colours. The school is one of the (scarce) scenarios where this is most obvious, and (excluding Ryouko with her notorious attire) everyone there is coloured in the same muted tones. Characters are drawn with simple traces, becoming the eyes more detailed in close shots (as usual) but though I think the design to be pretty and I do not consider the choice of colours as inadequate for the film, the animation’s cleanliness fails when faces portray strong emotions. In some scenes I guess angry or anxious people were intended to have a crazy gaze, but in others this is exaggerated or the features seem just badly drawn during sudden changes of positions. Fortunately, this happens mostly in the beginning and when the film is reaching its end we are granted with beautiful and carefully drawn shots.

About sound, some of the soundtrack might seem typical, but the OST has some nice pieces and it almost always fits the image well, concluding the film with a song adequate for the mood. I think voice actors did a good job (especially Nobunaga Shimazaki as Ichirou), displaying all the different and numerous moods these characters show. During the movie also a couple out-of-place fanservice moments appear, but as they are short and unusual scenes they don’t influence the story’s style.

Story: 8
Art: 6.9
Sound: 7.5
Character: 8.6
Enjoyment: 8.3
Overall: 7.86

Overall, this might not be a film at its highest referring to technical, but it’s the emotional part what makes you like it. Or better, the story’s development. In fact, it begins with a low level of tension, but it evolves to some special last minutes. I would recommend the movie to that people who want to see how normal people deal with the 'antinatural' or what someone feels when helping a person who’s trying to overcome the same problems. Or to someone that just wants to know why a girl is carrying a cloak and a box on a stick!

This was first review ever! If you did not found it helpful, I hope it at least offered you something new. Thanks for reading.