Jun 11, 2014
Uhm, this one is a bit tough to review. The problem is, that this anime is composed by two stories, and while one of them is good, the other one is... well, somewhat bad. That's why I tought it was better to review each one on it's own merits. However, first I ought to say that the art and sound are great, animation is kind of artistical, the music fits perfectly with the story and the seyuu excell at their jobs.
Now, I will begin with the "good part" of the story: Chihiro/Renji.
This is the story that Ef tells better. It's the story of a
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complication standing in the way of the relationship between the two main characters, Asou Renji and Shindou Chihiro. It's a bittersweet story filled with symbolism, and I was pleasantly surprised. Even if I saw the ending coming from miles away, it was really well executed. I should say that the amount of symbolism in the story fitted the animation style much better then the "bad part of the story" (I will get to it).
Chihiro and Renji are both extremely likeable characters, and the supporting cast does it's job in the right measure, without interfering too much in the main character's relationship. The story it's not without it's good share of flaws tho. The pace dragged out a bit, some of the emotional scenes were a bit off and, as I said before, the ending was predictable. Even with it's flaws, however, the last two episodes of the series, who focused exclusive on this storyline were by far the best ones in the show.
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Now, to the "bad part": Kei/Miyamura/Hirono
My main problem with this part is that it uses a extremely common trope in anime (SPOILER...........)
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the childhood friend missing the oportunity to get the guy because she didn't confess
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(/SPOILER)
and it does not execute it better than most other series. In fact, I would call it's execution absolutely poor. I mean, why would I find this interesting even if I have dozens other shows doing the exact same thing, and doing it better?
Also, the character building here didn't made me feel sorry for none of the characters at the end. I actually hated the two main heroines to death. And Miyako's behavior at the last episode wasn't reallistic AT ALL. (you would know that if you ever got involved with an obsessive woman). It just felt tremendously poorly writen, and a "shipping bait" to people who are into this kind of thing, I particularlly wouldn't be able to ship between two obsessive crazy girls who would probably make the male main character's life a living hell in a relationship. I said that this anime didn't made me feel sorry for any character, well, I changed my mind, I feel very sorry for Hirono, none of the main heroines deserved him, altough he wasn't particularly well writen as well.
The only thing this storyline did better than Chihiro/Reiji's one was the pacing, wich was actually very good, but even that didn't stop me to have an enourmous will to just jump it due to the lack of enjoyment.
Honestly, it feels like a waste to give such a lousy storyline and crappy characters this splendid art and music.
Overall, if you want to watch this, watch it expecting one good story, altough flawed, and one bad. Well, to be honest, if you manage to get emotionally invest in either Kei or Miyamura it would still be a crappy, poorly written story, but you may get more enjoyment from it than I did. I somewhat recommend this show, but if the Miyamura/Kei/Hirono thing starts to bother you, pass it without fear, as it won't get better.
Chihiro/Reiji - 7/10
Miyamura/Kei/Hirono - 4/10
Overall - 5,5. Turned to 6 as a bonus for the art and sound.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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