ef - a tale of memories.

[guuchan]

We can argue over opinions, but over personal understanding (I won't say facts anymore because I see that somehow obvious things can be seen in a different way, like how the scene of Kei opening the door can be interpreted as a rejection. I mean, I... *try to find words*) is just a bit too much.

I would like to fill in an interesting piece of information though: in the game, if you reach the bad ending in Miyako's chapter by choosing to go to watch Kei's basketball game instead of spending the day with Miyako on bed, Miyako would leave you, and you will end up with Kei as a brother and sister relationship just like before, which means back to square one. You can tell the story is just intended that way, that Kei and Hiro are never meant to be lovers.

Wonder if that's convincing enough.

[ScR3WiEuS]

as someone who worked with guuchan on this show, i think that you guys are just overanalyzing it. same happens with other romance shows like Suzuka, where people keep trying to relate it to all sort of psychologic and philosophic crap.
if you look hard enough, you'll always find something to support your argument.
i think the show is best enjoyed for what it is, for the atmosphere it creates. some things are better left alone.

[tabun]

Originally Posted by guuchan

You can tell the story is just intended that way, that Kei and Hiro are never meant to be lovers.

Originally Posted by ScR3WiEuS

as someone who worked with guuchan on this show, i think that you guys are just overanalyzing it. same happens with other romance shows like Suzuka, where people keep trying to relate it to all sort of psychologic and philosophic crap.
if you look hard enough, you'll always find something to support your argument.
i think the show is best enjoyed for what it is, for the atmosphere it creates. some things are better left alone.

Absolutely!

If you watch a show, no matter the genre, it is always fun to analyze the motives behind each person's behaviour or decisions; but it is even more fun to take their decisions then as something you just have to accept, as a given. The wondering how all will work out is a part of the enjoyment such an experience can bring you.

However "bad" the writers may have approached certain aspects in your eyes, just let it go. Let the impression sink in. After all, having such a discussion in this thread, about a show that wasn't even given it's own sub forum, is a neat thing just don't resolve to bickering.

Cheers

[cyoti]

I have a question, why are there no scenes in the present timeframe between Chihiro and Kei?

[Zippicus]

Originally Posted by cyoti

I have a question, why are there no scenes in the present timeframe between Chihiro and Kei?

I don't think they ever touched on that particular subject. We do know that they keep in contact at least. I always thought it was odd that Chihiro didn't live with her parents or Kei.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Zippicus

I don't think they ever touched on that particular subject. We do know that they keep in contact at least. I always thought it was odd that Chihiro didn't live with her parents or Kei.

Really? Considering chihiro's needs, it would have been the better choice to leave him with someone who could take care of her pretty much every hour of everyday. Kei wouldn't have had the free time to do so and god knows where their parents are (mental breakdown after the accident? I duno ).

[Zippicus]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

Really? Considering chihiro's needs, it would have been the better choice to leave him with someone who could take care of her pretty much every hour of everyday. Kei wouldn't have had the free time to do so and god knows where their parents are (mental breakdown after the accident? I duno ).

Her condition isn't that bad, she doesn't really require any special care. From what we were shown she basically took care of herself, she just lives with Yu for some unknown reason.

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

Really? Considering chihiro's needs, it would have been the better choice to leave him with someone who could take care of her pretty much every hour of everyday. Kei wouldn't have had the free time to do so and god knows where their parents are (mental breakdown after the accident? I duno ).

And instead she is stuck with a guy that leaves her alone sitting in abandoned train station all day. Definitely a vast improvement if their intentions were "having someone constantly look after her"

I really wish the show had expanded on the reasons she is living with Yuu .. as of now all of it is wild speculation.

[tripperazn]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

I really wish the show had expanded on the reasons she is living with Yuu .. as of now all of it is wild speculation.

I wish there was more exposition on Yuu in general. He's incredibly cynical and does seem to have a history with Chihiro. Not to mention his romance with Yuuko in the game and the last scene in "Coda: Dream"

[ironbomb]

Originally Posted by guuchan

We can argue over opinions, but over personal understanding (I won't say facts anymore because I see that somehow obvious things can be seen in a different way, like how the scene of Kei opening the door can be interpreted as a rejection. I mean, I... *try to find words*) is just a bit too much.

I would like to fill in an interesting piece of information though: in the game, if you reach the bad ending in Miyako's chapter by choosing to go to watch Kei's basketball game instead of spending the day with Miyako on bed, Miyako would leave you, and you will end up with Kei as a brother and sister relationship just like before, which means back to square one. You can tell the story is just intended that way, that Kei and Hiro are never meant to be lovers.

Wonder if that's convincing enough.

This might sound "absurd" but I think comparing the game to the anime is not reasonable...the anime should be looked at as what it is not what other information you personally know and not to the general public base on another source. Don't get me wrong though, I agree that Kei and Hiro was not the couple meant to be and nothing more than a sibling relationship.

Just something I want to note down, According to the conversation with Yuko at the rooftop, when he was thinking on what to do and saw the rooftop door open. Part of the conversation was that mentally, Hiro knew what should have been done and knew what he wanted to do with each of the girls....it was never stated what he wanted but he knew...

I also wish there would have been more exposure on Yu and Chihiro's relationship. It was obvious that she remembers him even without her diary and not someone she spent hours and hours with on a daily basis...so Yu must have a significant meaning to her life other than her current guardian.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

And instead she is stuck with a guy that leaves her alone sitting in abandoned train station all day. Definitely a vast improvement if their intentions were "having someone constantly look after her"

I really wish the show had expanded on the reasons she is living with Yuu .. as of now all of it is wild speculation.

Ah yea...that is the downside to the plan

(Otoh yuu could be that stalker dude with the binoculars, behind the bushes, who chihiro has been wondering about but is too afraid to go over and say hi )

[Fweakin]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

And instead she is stuck with a guy that leaves her alone sitting in abandoned train station all day. Definitely a vast improvement if their intentions were "having someone constantly look after her"

I really wish the show had expanded on the reasons she is living with Yuu .. as of now all of it is wild speculation.

My interpretation was that she was living with Yuu to save her family the heartbreak of her memorylessness, sort of the same reasons as why she broke it off with Renji in ep 11.

Chihiro was not in a happy place at the start of the series, and I remember her saying something to the effect of how futile and pointless her life was and how she'd rather she just disappeared.

[guuchan]

Originally Posted by ironbomb

This might sound "absurd" but I think comparing the game to the anime is not reasonable...the anime should be looked at as what it is not what other information you personally know and not to the general public base on another source. Don't get me wrong though, I agree that Kei and Hiro was not the couple meant to be and nothing more than a sibling relationship.

I just brought that up as supplementary information. It's not something I really wanted to resort to, but I believe you should be able to see the reason why. However, it is reasonable. In fact, it's something we do all the time on forums when the anime is adapted from manga/game. They might add in new material or change some of the content in adaptation, but the general idea does not change in almost all the cases. When you want to make a point to go across, it's always useful to quote from the original source.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Sorry >.< I haven't caught up on my Ef thread for a few days ^^. It's a bit long.

Originally Posted by Dop

Well that was fantastic. One of the reasons I loved this series was its symbolism in the style of the animation, and this last episode was no exception. The moment that really did it for me though was when...

Spoiler for final episode in case anyone's not seen it yet:

...Renji turned up at the station for the second time. He'd spent the day chasing down Chihiro's scattered memories. The shot where they showed his clothes were in tatters, showing that he'd really gone all out in trying to find the pages.
Then the chains shattered, and I found my face was unexpectedly wet...

The style, the symbolism, and the interlinked plot threads, and let's not forget the music, made this for me one of the best series of 2007.

You're just a sentimental person ^^. For me I just had pure excitement in my body cause the story was such a touching one. I think the anime will make a great repeatable anime even though I know the story now.

Originally Posted by EFrules

I wish EF will get bunch of awards, because the series deserve such recognition.

I can tell from your user name that you love it just as much as we do here ^_^.

Originally Posted by Cytrus

Expectedly, Chihiro and Renji take the spotlight here.

But I found the very last sequence very interesting.

Spoiler for ep 12:

It was reinforced many times that no miracle happens in ef. Which makes Yuko - a distinctly supernatural character, quite exceptional.

She appears to people in doubt, and in this episode we learn that a great need may give birth to an honest prayer.

If so, we can see Yuko as God's influence or (if you oppose the idea of presenting God as a single being) an angel.

With her obvious connection to the church, I don't think any of this is actually surprising. But how does it affect the way we read the ending?

For some reason connected to his past, Yu loses the will to live. He merely exists, without hope or dreams. But he is a witness to the people around him defying even the greatest misfortunes. As such, his shell is broken.

As a result, he returns to the church and regains his faith in God. Therefore he can now see Yuko, who has always been there, waiting for him, like the love of God who is there for us even during the hardest times - we merely have to accept that.

Following this interpretation, ef, certainly a romance-based anime, does not end with the resolution of a romance theme, but rather with that of faith and love in its broadest possible sense. Very curious, but satisfying.

It just speaks to me like that, and I'm not even a practising Christian. (Then again, the writer of ef probably isn't, either.)

Very well said and thought out. Though I am iffy to agree with you on some of these matters, I would say that can explain some part of the anime that needed some good interpretations. Since you said it in a fashion in which I would agree and support on, it's no longer needed for me to press this matter further ^^

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

hmm...? I'm not quite sure where you guys are getting this from. Although I can get on board with Hiro having little or no prior romantic inclination towards Kei before he got together with Miyako, I'd also contend that Hiro had little or no romantic inclination towards Miyako until she 'made her move', per se, such that she 'got' him only by virtue of being first. But that's still debatable.

Agreed with what Skyfall said. While Hiro did have some kind of relationship with Kei, you never really see any kind of emotional attachment he had toward Kei, other than a older brother thing. Kei was for me, nothing more than a support for Hiro with no special connection other than a childhood relationship, in which Miyako and Hiro has similarities in which they can relate with. Thus their difference balanced out with Hiro's dream and Miyako's emptiness.

Originally Posted by ElementSun

Dang... I wonder if anyone knows where I can get the music sheet for the song in the prologue (the instrumental of the finale ending song =D)

Originally Posted by porchoky

Actually, all of miyato's voice messages and the 100 second thing started to really get on my nerves about halfway through each one. Not as in I didn't like it, my brain just couldn't physically take any more of it (something to do with how phones multilate your voices, and the picture of the phone booth - 90 seconds, beep - phone booth - 89 seconds, beep - etc). It was physically painful. I'm messed up like that.

And yeah, I f*cking want the sheet music for the piano part. It would be so awesome to play that. I might just put it on my mp3 player and go over and try to play it by ear.

I'll be out soon, don't worry.

Originally Posted by Fweakin

I

That said, I LOVED everything about the 100 seconds cut.

Same, that one a dramatic part of the episode. That 100 time card conversion was a nice 4 and a half minute well spent time ^_^.

Originally Posted by gaguri

Well, given how much korean melos there are out there, chances are, there are going to be few great ones. My comment is based on some of the most popular melos I've watched, such as Winter Sonata, Full House, First love of a Royal Prince, Something Happened in Bali, Stairway to Heaven and so on. They're all few years old, and I can't recall anything in great details, but that was my general impression of that time (when I used to enjoy melos for its cheesy and dramatic charms and tolerant to its cheap plots and shallow characters).
And I didn't mind the fox magic in Kanon at all because the whole thing appeared to me more as a dreamy vision, rather than half-surreal and half-real world of shows such as, well, Honey and Clover. If Hagu in HC turned into a fox and her friends cried because of it...well, then I'd have something to raise my eyebrow at.


That's the thing, plenty of people (like you have stated) saw Hirohiro developing by choosing one or the other. There has been arguments made before that this is not the case, but that's what many people saw it as. And I've gone into way too much details to explain why I didn't like it so meh.

Korean melodramas has a different approach to their works, it more like American Soap operas more than anything else.

Originally Posted by Kaoru

It also is an argument in favor of one-season (12-13 episode) shows. Done well, they can be much tighter than longer series.

Don't forget what I said ^^ "It's better left undone for which we do not know how well the sequel will be".

Originally Posted by EFrules

Me too! That's how I feel if someone is posting with different ideas.... because I really love this show.

In which you have to defend them in a democratic way. ^_^

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Heh now even my own feelings and opinion are open to interpretation? I'm not particularly bitter about Kei, my reaction to how Kei handled her relationship with Hiro in episode 10 was actually just what you mentioned, happiness for her newfound sense of self. If you're getting that impression of me, you're mixing something up; those standards of 'slutty' were what I came to the show with, and the basis for my initial judgements of the characters and the viability of their relationships.

It could be that she may have found her in a state of shock that no matter what she may do, her feelings aren't going to be received and expressed back in a way should would've thought. Only you're opinion can be open for interpretation, not you're feelings, no one can change that.

Originally Posted by Generic Asian Guy

I was more intrigued by Renji/Chihiro's arcs; so much that I feel that this series could have done (better) without Kei/Hiro/Kyousuke.

This series was unbalanced in this sense.

That's only because the anime was focused on this couple, which seem to have created this large fan base for these two.

[Ottocycle]

Originally Posted by Aoie_Emesai

That's only because the anime was focused on this couple, which seem to have created this large fan base for these two.

I thought they gave the edgier scenes to Hiro's story rather than Renji's, but that said, I kind of like a little fluff sometimes, so Renji's story was still far more endearing for me. The text message scene was intense as hell and the 100s countdown was well done, but IMHO there wasn't any good fluff to balance the serious out at all. That and it's just a rather well-woven love triangle, that's all.

*prepares extinguisher*

[ironbomb]

Originally Posted by guuchan

I just brought that up as supplementary information. It's not something I really wanted to resort to, but I believe you should be able to see the reason why. However, it is reasonable. In fact, it's something we do all the time on forums when the anime is adapted from manga/game. They might add in new material or change some of the content in adaptation, but the general idea does not change in almost all the cases. When you want to make a point to go across, it's always useful to quote from the original source.

I could see that. However, I agree that we have a tendecy to to compare the original source with the adaptations but shouldnt take the event that occurred in the anime in a different perspective which the original source at times do when the anime differs from the manga or the game....I havent played the game or read the manga(Probably will start when more scans are availabe...only see chapter 1 =/)....

[Proto]

I have only read some of the latest post so I'm not sure if this has been already mentioned, (probablu someone does, but I'll just do it again )

When the lyrics "Be alive take it", there were signficant changes in the OP sequences, being the most significant that the characters were no longer disintegrated and destroyed by the chains, but they were breaking free from them... breaking free from their painful memories instead of losing to them?

[physics223]

The anime is decent.

I don't know the game, so ...

[grey_moon]

I think it isn't quite right to say that Hiro and Kei are back to their sibling relationship. The reason is because in my mind they never considered it to be that type. From Kei's point of view she just used the word onichan to get close to him, but stumbled over his issues in moving forward. It is heavily highlighted that Hiro didn't know what Kei was to him until he had to make a choice and then at that point they decided that they were brother and sister.

So I think it is more apt to say that they started their brother sister relationship during the same time as Hiro and Miyako started their romantic relationship.

Here is my take on the final relationships...

Hiro x Miyako - Hiro overcomes his issues with no need for a relationship as such, they are by products of his moving forward. Miyako is very much dependant on hers, hence me always going on about one crutch for another, but if Hiro sticks to being the guy he wants to be then all is good.

Hiro x Kei - Hiro as above, but Kei really shines here, as she overcomes hers with no real dependency on a relationship, instead she has been given a clean plate and hopefully can choose hers with no baggage involved.

Kei x Kyosuke - I think they might make a nice couple for ef 2

Renji x Chihiro - Renji's personal issue is really really subtle in my mind as it isn't in your face like the others are. Part of it was choosing his future (kinda petty in the big scheme of things...), there was how to deal with Chihiro's illness and so on. But the thing is he didn't need the relationship to get over anything, instead he wanted the relationship because he loves Chihiro, I guess he just had to work out that it wasn't a snapshot of Chihiro from the past he loves, but Chihiro here now and in the future. Very beautiful sentiment imho.

Chihio's problems I think can be overshadowed by her 13 hour memory, but as we see in the last episode that isn't such an issue when she loves someone so much. Instead her issue is the chains binding her, and they in my mind are not chains of 13 hours, but chains she eventually displayed in her diary entry after doing the deed. It was fear for hurting herself and fear for hurting the person she loved. The amount of pain and desperation she must of been going through when she told Renji does she know him must have been horrible. For her their relationship is slightly bound to her solving her issues, but I think more so, it was just Renji's manly and non-stalker persistence.

[Ascaloth]

For the final review I will ever give on ef ~a tale of memories~, I will focus on a number of points, some of which may be divided into subpoints. These points are as follows;

Atmosphere

• Background Music (Tenmon)
• Art Direction (Katou Megumi)
• Animation (SHAFT)

The Cast

Main Characters

• Miyamura Miyako (Taguchi Hiroko)
• Hirono Hiro (Shimono Hiro)
• Shindou Kei (Okada Junko)
• Shindou Chihiro (Yanase Natsumi)
• Asou Renji (Takagi Motoki)

Side Characters

• Tsutsumi Kyousuke (Tai Yuuki)
• Himura Yuu (Toochika Kouichi)
• Amamiya Yuuko (Nakajima Yumiko)

Script

• Storyline Quality
• Pacing
• Internal Consistency

So there we have it, the basis by which I shall give my review on ef ~a tale of memories~. Ikuzo!
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________



This is the Animesuki Forums chapter of the Triple Critique for ef ~a tale of memories~. The Triple Critique is a system of three reviews on the same series, composed in differing formats for varying needs.
For a short summary, the NHRV chapter offers a 5-minute quick read through the merits of the series.
For a full-picture, unrated review, the RIUVA chapter offers a blog-based discourse.

__________________________________________________ _______________

Atmosphere

A good anime series draws its viewing audience into its own world; to achieve that, it has to set a general mood. To create a certain mood, two things must be achieved; firstly, animation of at least decent quality animation must be present in order not to make the whole thing look too jarring to the viewer's eyes, and secondly, the appropriate set of background music must be selected, in order to convey the general emotions of any particular scene. With the most unlikely of animation studios in charge of the adaptation, how did ef ~a tale of memories~ fare on both accounts?

Background Music (Tenmon)

Spoiler for length:

For a VN adaptation, ef is surprisingly not as saturated with one of the defining characteristics of an anime in its genre as others; the “mood music”. Much of that is due to it being a SHAFT production with all its attendant experimental visuals; the bells and whistles that accompanies said experimental visuals take up much of the time which BGMs would usually occupy in a more conventional VN adaptation. However, what few instances of music that does play in the series are composed by Tenmon, the person responsible for the soaring pieces in the works of Shinkai Makoto; accordingly, ef’s musical pieces are of the top-class quality expected of such a talented composer. It certainly doesn’t hurt that while the bells and whistles do their job at the appropriate moments, these highly-evocative pieces are saved for the moments when they contribute mostly strongly to the melodramatic effect.

Rating for Background Music: 9.6/10

Art Direction (Katou Megumi)

Spoiler for length:

The original OP movie of the game was a visual masterpiece produced by one of Japan’s newest animation talents, Shinkai Makoto. On top of that, the original ef ~a fairytale of the two~ visual novel had its own distinctive atmosphere cherished by the veterans of the game, so when it was announced that SHAFT was handling the anime adaptation, there were reservations about how it would turn out. And not without reason, for the track record of Shinbou’s SHAFT wasn’t something that looked like it could be compatible with a visual novel adaptation. With a studio known more for “experimental” visuals rather than what most people would agree upon as beautiful artwork, what was the ef universe going to turn out to be like in their hands?

Whatever one would think, most would agree that the art direction in the anime adaptation was, if anything, different; it has to be said that SHAFT’s version of the world looked like being in perpetual dusk compared with the brightly-lit original world in the minori game. It didn’t have a lot of scenes which looked anywhere close to Shinkai’s sweeping vistas either, and the colour palette of the anime was also subtly different from that of the game too. Overall, it is not something calculated to please veterans of the game, most of whom would probably be hoping for a Shinkai remake in the interests of faithfulness to the original game. That said, I would have to say that, judged on its own merit, the artwork in Oonuma’s adaptation was actually very decent. Though it wasn’t quite the same world as in the game itself, it was in no way butt-ugly, and while it didn’t have Shinkai’s sweeping vistas, it does have some scenery which is beautiful in its own right; some of which displays such utter visual beauty, they might even earn the “kami-sakuga” label regularly won by only a select few in the animation industry.
SHAFT’s ef world may be a subtly different world than game veterans are used to, but it comes with its own style of beauty that should give newcomers little to complain about. Yet, because it is so different from the original VN’s world, it is inevitable that the whole package would be something of a hit/miss affair for everyone in general. IMHO, the world presented by Oonuma, with the assistance of Katou, has been more hit than miss for me.

Rating for Art Direction: 8.3/10

Animation (SHAFT)

Spoiler for length:

The name of SHAFT is inevitably associated with the mad genius of anime, Shinbou Akiyuki, as well as his madcap experimental visuals; quirky works like Negima?! and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei come to mind whenever either he or his studio is mentioned. What is not associated with the man or his studio, however, is animation consistency; this unfortunate, but characteristic flaw in the studio’s works pop up once again in ef, and only to its detriment. In fact, such flaws happen far too often and too obviously to be overlooked; whether it be a jaw-droppingly bad running sequence, a WTF-class static-person-on-moving-bike sequence, or a simply horrendously-done mouth-flapping sequence, the anime adaptation of ef can be identified as a SHAFT work as much by these flaws as by its most well-done “experimental” sequences.

Which brings us to the other side of the coin; when Oonuma gets his act together, he really does so with a sense of style. While his first two episodes are liable to give the uninitiated a headache as much as any typical work done by his mentor Shinbou, Oonuma does rein in the experimental visuals afterwards, and actually manages to get it to work effectively in setting the mood for the story. They are at their most effective in the Renji-Chihiro storyline, where against all odds, the avant-garde visual style actually served as an asset, by painting a very nice otherworldly feeling on the fictional world of Chihiro’s story. Apart from that, the experimental visuals generally served to magnify the melodramatic effect which was the strength of the series, and proved that the signature SHAFT style could be effectively used to complement the execution of a visual novel adaptation just as well as more conventional techniques could.

So how does one rate a general animation effort that can range from jaw-droppingly stunning to jaw-droppingly horrific? Not an easy thing to do, but as far as I’m concerned, while the flaws of the SHAFT style leave a deep mark on the series as a whole, the best parts of the style makes up for it. Quite unfortunately though, it hasn’t managed to make me forget about Shinkai’s game OP; not that the latter would have been easy to beat, in any case.

Rating for Animation: 7.9/10

By proving that their signature visual style can be an asset rather than a hindrance in a visual novel adaptation, Oonuma has set the stage for SHAFT to take on absolutely anything under the sun. With a world different from the original game world’s that is still beautiful in its own right, and with the original Tenmon music along with one of his newest pieces composed especially for this adaptation, SHAFT has given us proof that, even though their visual style can be an acquired taste, it can be utilized to create the correct kind of atmosphere for a visual novel adaptation; as they have all but proven, with ef ~a tale of memories~.

Overall Rating for Atmosphere: 8.6/10

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

The Cast (previously Character Handling)

A good setting lays the foundation of the world that the story takes place in, but it is the characters themselves who sets the foundation of the story itself; indeed, the storyline of the entire series rises and falls based on how well each and every character is handled; it's a fine line between making an individual character, or indeed the entire cast, look either dull and uninteresting, or over-the-top and lacking the ability to suspend the disbelief of the audience. So how did ef ~a tale of memories~ fare on this account?

As per usual, I will be rating the performance of the seiyuus as part of the competency in the execution of each individual character.

Main Characters
Miyamura Miyako (Taguchi Hiroko)
”At last, I’ve found a world with sound. I’ve found a home with colour.”

Spoiler for length:

A quirky free spirit from the onset, the character of Miyako is one of those character types that can’t really be pinned down as a character archetype; completely spontaneous and quite shameless in the liberties she takes with others, she is very much her own person, and that for a character is almost always a good thing. There’s just something about a character who would steal a stranger’s bike to chase a thief, only to give up halfway and shrug off the theft afterwards.

However, the main part of the strength in her character development really comes at the latter half of the series, when the causes of her motivations are made clear. This is where Miyako becomes a real person, with her character flaws and the past which led to these flaws. However, look deeper, and one would realize that there really isn’t very much depth to Miyako’s story at all. Although it may sound unfair, but really, Miyako’s story is one which an increasing number of people in the world have experienced before. In other words, there’s nothing new about it.
It would require some serious emoting to get the audience to really understand how she felt; and this is where I cannot stress enough the contribution of Taguchi Hiroko, who was the seiyuu brought over from the game to voice Miyako. For someone whose voice acting experience lies mainly in eroges with limited anime experience, Taguchi gives an outstanding performance as Miyako, at one point holding up half an episode alone with her own skill. It cannot be denied that much of what makes Miyako such an empathic character is down to Taguchi’s sheer skill as a seiyuu, and the latter’s input masks the fact that by herself, the character outline of Miyako isn’t a particularly unique one. A character like her could all too easily be brushed off as forgettable; Taguchi is what makes her unforgettable as a female lead.

Rating for Miyamura Miyako: 8.2/10
Rating for Taguchi Hiroko: 9.7/10

Hirono Hiro (Shimono Hiro)
”I feel like…I’ve seen the colour I’ve been looking for.”

Spoiler for length:

I’ll be completely honest on this point; Hiro didn’t leave much of an impression on me at all. That’s not even the same as a character who leaves a bad impression, which is an understatement for the likes of nice boat…but as for Hiro, he is just a plain vanilla-flavoured character. Nice enough to the taste to be sure, but there’s more tempting flavours out there.

As it is, apart from his somewhat unique position as a professional mangaka, there’s not really a lot to differentiate Hiro from the typical male-in-the-love-triangle, and quite unfortunately, he shows all the typical traits of a guy caught in a typical love triangle; indecisive, unwilling to hurt either party, and as Kyousuke puts it, “half-assed” in everything he does. Guy even needs a final kick up the backside by a deus ex machina to come to a final decision and resolve everything – I mean, gosh. It’s not like I don’t know that there’s really only so many ways a love-triangle yarn could be resolved, but a good character should at least be able to do it with his own style. Hiro doesn’t even manage to come to his final decision by himself, and it is such high irony that this same indecisiveness is probably the only reason why we get the drama between Miyako and Kei in the first place.

In short, Hiro is so typical as a male lead caught in a love triangle, that it’s just painful to watch. He is what one would call a “reaction-based character”; one whose actions are almost solely as a result of being influenced by the actions of other people, and hardly takes his own initiative if at all. Such a character is necessarily limited in his potential, and while Hiro could be much better had he had some unique character traits of his own, this was unfortunately not the case. Shimono does his job in portraying Hiro, and is at his best in the few instances during the second half of the series where Hiro shows any emotions beyond his usual passive self, but there’s only so much he can do with the ultimately uninteresting male lead.

Rating for Hirono Hiro: 7.2/10
Rating for Shimono Hiro: 8.0/10

Shindou Kei (Okada Junko)
”Beyond here is the place where I fight.”

Spoiler for length:

The other of the two girls in the love-triangle portion of ef’s storyline, Kei unfortunately suffers as much from the relatively shallow character development as the other two players in the love triangle, if to a somewhat lesser extent. Playing the closest thing to the antagonist in her respective portion of her story, she was probably the most well-developed character of the three, with sufficient insight afforded to her past and how it shaped her to be the person she is. Even so, she hardly stands out as her own person amongst her fellows in her character archetype, and just like Miyako, needs to rely on empathic emoting to enable her to connect with the viewers.

Which is why Kei, just like Miyako, needed to rely as much upon the ability of her seiyuu to make any connection to the viewers; and in this aspect, Okada doesn’t disappoint either, even if she didn’t quite match Taguchi’s stellar performance in Episode 7. Much of what strength is present in the character of Kei is due to the dramatic execution of her voice by Okada, and while Kei’s motivations are pretty much a been-there-before proposition, at least there was no doubt that Kei sounded like she was truly sincere about her feelings at any given point in time.

Much props have to be given to Okada for taking a character who could all too easily have been forgettable, and giving a voice performance which at least renders her watchable. In the hands of a less experienced seiyuu, the character of Kei could have been little more than a wreck; with Okada, she was empathic as the spurned, heartbroken corner of the love triangle.

Rating for Shindou Kei: 7.7/10
Rating for Okada Junko: 8.4/10

Shindou Chihiro (Yanase Natsumi)
”I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to return to those empty days anymore.”

Spoiler for length:

While the characters involved in the love-triangle half of the plot were about as generic as the plot itself, Chihiro was something else altogether, and something quite special at that. The thing about amnesiac characters, is that they can be a tricky enough character archetype to execute in a comedy setting like 50 First Dates, to which her story has often been compared to. However, to execute such a character as her in a melodramatic setting requires a lot more effort and imagination, so I am particularly glad that in this respect, Chihiro doesn’t disappoint.

Of the entire cast, Chihiro probably received the most character development, and it shows in almost every scene that she is in. Her story is probably the one which benefited the most from SHAFT’s experimental visual style; any way one looks at it, it cannot be denied that the avant-garde visuals complement Chihiro’s fictional world, and her philosophical musings, so perfectly that one would be hard pressed to imagine any other visual style better suited to them. But that is not all there is to Chihiro, she is a multifaceted character, showing so many different sides to herself at different points in the story due to her condition, and through her writings and her philosophical musings, the viewers are given an intimate view like no other into the way a character in a story sees the world from her perspective. There simply aren’t many characters in the medium who are as intimately involved with the viewer as Chihiro is, and for that, she scores exceptionally highly as a character, much more than most of her fellow castmates.


There is but one flaw in the otherwise well-assembled package that is the character of Chihiro, however; that would be her voice. I have no idea what Yanase was aiming for with her usage of a voice so drippy and grating on the mind it made Ichinose Kotomi’s violin-playing sound as musical as Etude pour les petites supercordes, but quite simply put, I don’t like it for the most part. The one thing that I can appreciate Miyako and Kei, even if they weren’t the best developed of characters, were that they didn’t try to hard to pander to moe stereotypes for VN bishoujo leads, and that is a philosophy that Taguchi and Okada followed respectively. However, Yanase seemed to be trying to make Chihiro as moe a character as humanly possible with her effort, and the end result sounds like it went one step too far if even I couldn’t stand it. Thankfully, her voice isn’t so grating all of the time, and she compensates with stunning emotional outbursts that can rival the stellar efforts of any of the other heroines’ seiyuus.

Rating for Shindou Chihiro: 9.2/10
Rating for Yanase Natsumi: 7.6/10

Asou Renji (Takagi Motoki)
”I won’t let you forget, no matter what happens.”

Spoiler for length:

The male lead in the second story thread of the entire series, he starts off as being an idealistic boy, naively dreaming about being the prince who would save a damsel in distress, setting up the foundation for the journey of growth that he would soon undertake. And what a journey that is; through his interaction with Chihiro, we get to see him learn and grow as he slowly comes to terms with the reality of Chihiro’s condition.

One just cannot help but want to cheer on the earnest Renji as he grapples with the implications in their strange relationship, and with what being the prince who saves the girl actually entails. And with the same kind of inner monologue that affords the audience a view into Chihiro’s thoughts, the audience also gets to see the other side of the story; how Renji feels about his increasing involvement with Chihiro, his worries about Chihiro’s strange reactions to their supposed relationship, and his despair at his realization that, in the end, he can only do so much for her. One can’t help but, in Yuu’s words, watch to see if he succeeds in the end. And that is the mark of the truly sympathetic character, isn’t it?

Takagi puts in a great performance as Renji too, convincingly portraying Renji with the earnest tone that sets the tone of the entire character that Renji is supposed to be. As a male lead, Renji is a class above Kyousuke and even Hiro, and perhaps is one of the best male protagonists in the genre I have seen this year. You just gotta like someone who decides to, tortures himself over, but goes ahead anyway with involving himself with a girl who has a real need for his assistance to live happily like she deserves. That’s the real meaning of being a man, instead of just flexing one’s muscles, going “rawr rawr fight the powah”, and generally getting into pissing contests with everyone else.

Rating for Asou Renji: 9.2/10
Rating for Takagi Motoki: 8.3 /10


Side Characters
Although there are a large number of supporting characters in addition to the main cast in ef ~a tale of memories~, only several were instrumental in moving the plot along; accordingly, I shall rate only those of the supporting characters who were important to the story.

Tsutsumi Kyousuke (Tai Yuuki)
”Whether it’s just one scene or one cut, I want to make a film that shakes the souls of those who see it. For that sake, it won’t work if that moment doesn’t shake my own soul.”

Spoiler for length:

Although he is indicated by the OP as the second of the three male leads in the anime, I honestly find it hard to credit him as one, since he doesn’t do nearly enough to warrant being rated as such. Really, if I were to actually rate him as one, he’ll most likely only end up as a “crash and burn”. The reason for this is because there so much focus on the love triangle, the possible Kyousuke-Kei development got laid by the wayside indeed. As a result, what little there is ends up looking like detritus from the aftermath of the love triangle, instead of being a story thread all of its own.

However, as a supporting character for the love triangle storyline, Kyousuke serves as a very good foil for both Hiro and Kei, especially the latter. Being particularly responsible for drawing out and developing the emotions of Kei, Kyousuke also strongly influenced the wrap-up of the love triangle storyline, and develop himself as a character in the process. That said, there wasn’t actually a lot of Kyousuke’s backstory presented, and often it felt like unnecessary filler that took time away from the main stories; which is why I have him here as a side character, not a main one. With just a bit more development afforded to him, he could have been a proper male lead in a properly-developed story thread with Kei; otherwise, he really should have had less, so as not to take too much time away from the main love triangle story thread. Tai Yuuki chips in with a good performance as well, with a laidback tone that expressed Kyousuke’s shiftless personality well, until the point when he gets really good at Episode 10, with Kyousuke beating sense into Hiro.

Rating for Tsutsumi Kyousuke: 7.8/10
Rating for Tai Yuuki: 8.2/10

Himura Yuu (Toochika Kouichi)
”Miracles don’t exist. There are only inevitabilities and accidents, and what you’re going to do.”

Spoiler for length:

Mainly, or even solely involved with the Chihiro-Renji storyline, Himura occupies an important position as the guardian of Chihiro, and as such with a stake in the budding relationship between her and Renji. Not really an antagonist or an assistant figure to Renji per se, Himura serves as a relatively-detached viewpoint into their part of the story, stating the harsh facts and giving advice only when needed and asked for. As a result, he becomes an integral figure in pushing forward the momentum of the story, while allowing it to run its natural course. For a supporting character, one can’t ask much more than that.

That said though, one has to ask; what is the motivation behind Himura’s actions? From what experience in his past does he base his advice to Renji from? How did he get involved with Chihiro in the first place? There are so many unanswered questions about Himura’s background, that it looks like a unnecessary gaping plot hole. However, I cannot help but get the feeling that perhaps Himura’s unspoken past may not be so much of a plot hole as it is a shrewd marketing strategy; with “ef ~the latter tale~” coming out in stores soon, the mystery surround Himura may be intended to spark curiosity amongst veterans and newcomers, and thus encourage them to purchase the sequel to “ef ~the first tale~”.

Nevertheless, taken by himself as presented in the anime, Himura is a useful pushing force on the Chihiro-Renji storyline with unfortunately sparse development. Toochika, at least, gives a satisfactory performance, giving the vibe the adult overseeing the relationships of the “children”, in a sense.

Rating for Himura Yuu: 7.2/10
Rating for Toochika Kouichi: 7.6/10

Amamiya Yuuko (Nakajima Yumiko)
”As long as you live, you can’t run away from pain.”

Spoiler for length:

Mainly, or even solely involved with the love triangle storyline, Yuuko suffers from the same kind of flaws as a character that Himura does, except to an even more extreme extent. Unlike the former, Yuuko appears not to have any connection to any of the main characters at all, and seems to have the sole purpose of popping up to resolve conflicts when the main characters seem to have problems untangling them; in short, she is best described as a deus ex machina.

On the other hand, the gap in her background seems to be there for the same reasons as Himura; which is to spark curiosity about herself and thus boost sales of the upcoming sequel to the game; this seems to be reinforced by her sharing the final scene with Himura at the very last moments of the series, and acting as if they knew each other for a long time. Nakajima does a satisfactory job with a character that doesn’t offer much in the way of potential emoting in any case, and while there might be indeed a deeper story to her yet to be revealed in the game sequel itself, Amamiya is a black hole in the sole context of the anime adaptation.

Rating for Amamiya Yuuko: 6.2/10
Rating for Nakajima Yumiko: 7.0/10

With the possible exception of Chihiro and Renji, a deeper analysis of the cast in the anime adaptation of ef would reveal a relative lack of depth in the personalities of the cast as a whole. However, what gives the individuals of the cast such strength is the raw emoting done to a nicety by the voice actors of the cast; theatrical and melodramatic in their performance they may be, but one cannot deny their ability to breath life into the characters through their skill in their voice alone. The voice actors are the main pillar which holds up the strength of the cast in this anime, so all kudos to them for a wonderful overall performance.

Overall Rating for The Cast: 8.3/10

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Script

A good story; that is what an audience expects, regardless of whether the medium is a book, TV, a movie, or even in this case, an anime. And to get a good story, you need a promising premise, a logical yet appetizing plot, and most importantly of all, inspired direction to make the story really shine amongst its peers. In the current trend of a visual novel adaptation flood in the anime market, how does ef ~a tale of memories~ stand out amongst its peers?

Storyline Quality

Spoiler for length:

The one advantage that this visual novel adaptation have that others doesn’t, is the fact that the story as a whole doesn’t revolve around a single male protagonist; this leads to a natural cohesiveness in the plotline, instead of the necessity of most VN adaptations to adapt several separate stories into a singular thread, something which many does and few truly succeeds at. On the other hand, the presence of several storylines in the first place means that ef ~a tale of memories~ still retain a common problem with its peers; differing standards of quality between different storylines can make a fairly decent individual storyline look mediocre next to an outstanding one. And this happens here as well.

The Hiro-Miyako-Kei storyline was, on a closer look, really a pretty typical love-triangle story. That is not something that can be denied with any amount of credibility. Think about it; clueless male protagonist check, osana-najimi with secret crush check, main girl who lights up the male protagonist’s life check, bitch-off between the girls check, indecisiveness of the male lead hurts both girls check, and to round it all off, final epiphany and decision by the male lead, check. Add in sorrowful pasts and a recurring deus ex machina to push the plot along as dressing, and one has got a love triangle that is standard, yet bland on its own and relatively light on true dramatic content. It takes a special seasoning to make this dish palatable, and for this particular one, that special seasoning comes in the form of the stark imagery of SHAFT and the raw emoting of the voice actors that brings the melodrama to a high. The stark imagery gives the audience an intimate view into the thought processes of the personalities involved, and the performance by the seiyuus leave no doubt as to the respective emotional states of the characters. Because of these elements, the Hiro-Miyako-Kei storyline is a much more emotionally involving love triangle than so many other similar triangles, and standard though it is, the execution of the plot works, simply put.
But once we get into the Chihiro-Renji storyline….now THAT is something quite special indeed. This particular storyline didn’t need to rely on emotional theatrics or romantic epiphanies to make up the content; it is a true Korean romance tragedy worthy of the name. Chihiro’s premise is a seemingly impossible obstacle that both she and Renji could only try to skirt around for most of their time together, and there was just something so heart-wrenching about the both of them slowly learning the cruel fact that real pain stems from the knowledge of true happiness. The spices of stark imagery and raw emoting which raised the Hiro-Miyako-Kei love triangle a level above its peers, makes this romance tragedy truly shine indeed. For a story of its genre, this hits all the right notes at the right time, and is quite simply one of the best I’ve ever seen.

Taken together, the combined story of ef is generally a work of art. Although the true dramatic content is relatively limited and mostly concentrated in one half of the overall story, the strength of the overall storyline lies in the execution of its melodrama, and what a masterpiece of melodrama it is.

Rating for Storyline Quality: 8.4/10

Pacing

Spoiler for length:

By choosing to run the two separate story threads concurrently, there is a need for careful storyboarding in order to maintain audience interest in both stories at once, especially when they are so different and linked by only the smallest of relationships. However, the brisk yet unhurried pacing of the series ensured that attention to the melodrama being portrayed never flagged once throughout the entire series, while at the same time telling the story in measured doses that was just right every time. The concurrent pacing of the entire story also provided the feeling of the two stories moving forward at similar points in time, making everything feel smooth and natural instead of the disjointed pacing that VN adaptations are all too prone to display.

If there is anything about the pacing that isn’t entirely satisfactory, it is the tendency to drag out certain scenes in an attempt to wring out the maximum melodramatic effect; most of the time it works, but sometimes it stretches the emotions out a bit too thin. Otherwise, there is nothing to complain about the pacing of this series, and that is great praise all in itself.

Rating for Pacing: 8.9/10

Internal Consistency

Spoiler for length:

Once you have a character in the cast whose sole apparent role in the whole shebang is to act as the deus ex machina that triggers the necessary epiphanies from the cast, it goes without mentioning that internal consistency is going to take a nosedive. Such a character usage is an archaic plot device that really should not have any place in modern-day storylines, and it can be frustrating at times to see Hiro, Miyako and Kei look like being unable to think for themselves. It would not have been so bad had Yuuko remains so mysterious she could have passed off as merely being the personification of the love triangle’s respective trains of thought, but surely that excuse could not hold when Himura can actually see her as a real person. Who is Yuuko, what is she, and what the hell are her motivations?

It’s quite apparent though that, if anything, ef ~a tale of memories~ was never really meant to be a self-contained story; the open ends caused by the presence of Yuuko, and to a lesser extent Himura, are ends that would be tied up in the game sequel. And apart from these two, the main stories are actually pretty well tied up in themselves; there aren’t any really big plotholes to be found, even if the development of the main cast’s individual backgrounds aren’t as extensive as one would have liked. Therefore, this series for the most part is fairly consistent, and what plot holes there are can be overlooked, to a certain extent.

Rating for Internal Consistency: 8.2/10

“ef ~a tale of memories~” is in spirit, if not in name, a well-executed Korean melodrama; it may not have some of the great depth of dramatic content that separates the truly great from the good, but brisk pacing and a largely consistent storyline makes sure that interest on the part of the audience never flags. And the presentation of raw emotion has never felt more real or raw than it does here, so despite the relatively lightweight plot, there was never any danger of this series being anything less than good in the storyboarding. And really, the Chihiro-Renji storyline, if taken on its own, would really have been something special indeed.

Overall Rating for Script: 8.5/10

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Overall Execution

Overall, “ef ~a tale of memories” has been a stellar example of how melodrama really should be done. Oonuma Shin has proven that the stark visuals of the signature SHAFT style can indeed be used to great effect in a visual novel adaptation, and I’m eager to see what else he is capable of. With a serviceable set of storylines and the rawest presentation of emotionality I have ever seen in memory, “ef ~a tale of memories~” is a solid, yet underrated work that deserves a chance despite the Shinbou visual style.

Final Rating for ef ~a tale of memories~: 8.4/10.