(L) ef - a tale of memories.

[Skyfall]

Spoiler for episode 9:

Well now, this episode brought me much what i was expecting in some areas. I was expecting some real steps toward in the relationship area in this episode, and i got what i expected. While it might seem the Miyako x Hiro scene went by quickly and they jumped to bedroom in a flash, i don't consider it to be rushed development. It is not like the two met just now - they have been seeing each other for a while now, and the feelings have been developing as well. Miyako is pretty obvious, and Hiro has had fair amount of subtle clues as well, if one manages not to miss it. Given the recent developments it is not surprising that Miyako went in for the kill, and there is no reason for Hiro to reject her. He wasn't even that surprised beyond the initial shock. This is something that both of them, probably, were expecting to happen sooner or later.

I did find the scene sorely lacking of any emotional impact, especially considering i think they could have done much more with it, but in terms of plot and story progression it didn't feel rushed nor out of place.


Chihiro and Renji i felt was very rushed though ...namely one 'development' - Chihiro going from throwing her book (and a tantrum) to how she usually was with seemingly no insights of why it happened. Granted she did overhear the conversation between Renji and Yuu, but i felt this part felt lacking an insight, and i can only hope they are going to return to explain this change.

What made it stupid though was Renji starting to bleed ... i was simply boggling at that scene. Forget symbolism, it shouldn't override the reality. She threw the book softly and it hit his forehead flatly with the cover ... and he starts bleeding from the temple. I mean ...hello ? I could maybe buy this if the book actually hit him with the corner (ignoring the fact it seems to have not exactly a hard cover) in the correct spot, but this was simply ridiculous.

That aside i am interested to see how this is going to develop. A lot of hardships are bound to happen in the future, with Chihiro's fleeting personality and Renji trying to come to terms with it. I can only hope Chihiro doesn't actually end this all in a suicide when the story is written, though i might be jumping the gun with such an ominous guess.

Kei ...i can only say "what goes around comes around" ...even though no one did anything to her. I hope it served as a good wake-up call and she can finally focus on something else than her obsession over Hiro. Seeing that Kyousuke is there and she had grown somewhat closer with him, i think it is reasonable to assume he is going to be there to pick up the pieces. For once i can actually see a happy end for all people in this love triangle, assuming Kei gets over the aftermath of this situation that she had coming to her. I have little doubts she will though. It is going to be interesting to see on what terms she is going to end up with Hiro and especially Miyako after all of this though

If there is a time we are going to see the scenes from the promo, it has got to be the next episode

This episode moved everything a big step forward, and i expect next week to be the same. Looking towards it.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Spoiler for ep9:

I didn't consider this episode rushed. If course it went quickly, but we had everything we needed emotionally to make all those scenes work: Miyako's love for Hiro, Hiro's attraction to her. Chihiro's situation. Renji's and Yuu's feelings. Everything made sense. It didn't have to play itself out boringly slowly -- especially with only a limited number of episodes in which to tell the story. I expect that more troubles are to come. I will savor this patch of smoothness.

What I loved about this ep was precisely the smoothness with which things went, after some little reverses in the first part. The bleeding worked great for me, especially how Renji just paid no attention to it and kept going. It is perfectly possible for the edge of spiral-bound diary to cut your temple and make it bleed like that. But even if it weren't (and as I look at it again, I can see that it didn't hit the right way to cause that), the symbolic and emotional aspects would have made that work for me anyway. This show is not simple realism but complex, symbolic and alive.

What I feel most from this episode, however, is happy for Miyako. She wanted him. He wanted her. Oh, let her not disappear from his heart.

My feelings for Kei are complicated. She had to see what she saw, but I have never disliked her. She may have the deepest emotional pain to heal of all the characters. And I adore her voice (that of Okada Junko). It was great to see the outstanding first ED reappear, especially at that moment, with Okada-san's voice (and words) and Kei's figure, running, running, running.

I wasn't able to understand everything Yuu said, but what I did understand, and the events of the episode, have me in a forgiving mood. He is a fallible human trying to do what's best, in a situation that is so difficult -- as poor Renji is finding out. Chihiro really is god, and gods are unpredictable. For me, Chihiro is a great anime character. I find her even more enthralling than Ayanami Rei. That eyepatch, bizarre as it is, had me from the start. I think she embodies some wounded archetype deep within our souls (or at least within my soul).

As I am watching again, I am wondering: who actually wrote this great stuff? The company minori did the games, and therefore the basic outlines of the story, but the lead writer for the anime is a guy called Takayama Katsuhiko 高山カツヒコ . It turns out that he was lead writer on Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora and series story editor for Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. His credentials for adapting strong romantic stories are impeccable.

Of course, this series has one unfair advantage over any other I can think of: the music by Tenmon. Sublime. He knows how to use silence, as well as sound.

True, like stated on Toua's opening statement, the selling point were Naru Nanao's work with the combination of Tenmon and Shinkai. And this pretty much carried over to the anime too. Takayama Katsuhiko, I don't recgonize the name but I did watch Kimi ga and Hanbun, and they were to say "sad".

I don't understand Japanese, so I'll have to wait till Conclave and Mendoi finishes subbing their ^^

[Azure22]

Spoiler:

Meh, I liked episode 9... Plot wise, it felt fine to me. Didn't feel too rushed - Yes, it was fast paced, but that doesn't equate to "rushed," by necessity. And I don't really understand why some people are complaining about Renji bleeding from getting hit on the head by the book. Yeah, it seems to have hit him square in the forehead, and it seems to be soft cover, but doesn't it have a small metal lock-strap thing? I can picture that scratching his temple as it went down. It's not necessarily that the corner hit his head. And if not, I'm just willing to chalk it up as subpar animation. Yeah, that's my one complaint about this episode- Some of it just didn't seem as well animated as scenes have been in this show before. I'm really hoping that the people making this are saving up for a big, really well animated finale.

Now, granted, this is my first time posting in this topic, and I haven't read all 49 pages of it, but I've been keeping up for the last ten or so. So please excuse me if this has been debated already, but what are people's opinions on the metaphors in this series? There's obviously a lot of symbolism, but I for one feel that I'm only brushing the surface... I'm thinking that red might represent memories, that the beach is somehow representative of romance, that the train station is representative of picking up the pieces of a broken life or something like that, maybe the streets that we often have scenes with Kei on mean something about a fast moving life, I dunno. But I feel like A) I could be severely wrong and B) I'm only scratching the surface. Anyone got any other ideas worth discussing?

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

As I am watching again, I am wondering: who actually wrote this great stuff?

If you're asking for the scenario writer behind ef - a fairy tale of the two, that's Mikage.

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Spoiler for episode 9:

If there is a time we are going to see the scenes from the promo, it has got to be the next episode

Spoiler for Episode 10?:

Yeah, watching that scene again now from the promo, and it's the perfect after scene for what we just witnessed in episode 10. The question is where abouts in episode 10? I was thinking at the start of the episode, though that's pretty much copying the train track show down.

Ah well, wait and see.

[deffusse]

actualy, Ef is one the best stuff of this year.... [also with higurashi nNKnK] There could be pieces like clannad and the other ones, which are being expected.... but discreet gizmo named Ef a tale of memories kick their asses

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

If you're asking for the scenario writer behind ef - a fairy tale of the two, that's Mikage.

Thank you. That's exactly what I wanted to know. For those who can read Japanese, here are his home page ("In the Cold Light of Day") and his Japanese Wikipedia page.

From the link you provided, I see that Mikage (御影 "mikage" means "honorable image" and refers to a picture of someone or to the spirit of a dead person) was the main writer, or one of them, behind the original D.C. ~Da Capo~ game. And he did the Haru no Ashioto and Suika games. He also has a light novel out, called "Dream Knocker" (ドリームノッカー).

It appears that there was also another main writer on the ef games, Kagami Yu 鏡遊 ("mirror-journey"). He also worked on Haru no Ashioto. There's a short story in Japanese on his site.

So we have Mikage and Kagami's basic story, adapted for anime by Takayama Katsuhiko, and animated by Oonuma Shin (with Akiyuki Shinbou's guidance).

Spoiler for ep9:

In considering why they took things as quickly as they did, it occurred to me that the point was not that Chihiro came back, but Renji's reaction to it. She came back surprisingly quickly (by screen time) but there is the haunting feeling that her recovery is too easy, and not reliable. By making the recovery seem quick, we can feel its unreality or insubstantiality. Renji certainly does.

As for MiyaxHiro, that flowed pretty naturally for me, considering what their feelings were already. But in any case, I love to see something happen so quickly, after watching enough anime in which couples agonize for months over whether to hold hands.

Spoiler for one of my favorite images from ep9:

Chihiro in her completely reset state peeking at Renji and Yuu, as Renji refuses to disappear while she still doesn't know him. The slight malevolence in her face is excellent. She's like some dangerous animal...or brutal god.

[rg4619]

From the link you provided, I see that Mikage (御影 "mikage" means "honorable image" and refers to a picture of someone or to the spirit of a dead person) was the main writer, or one of them, behind the original D.C. ~Da Capo~ game. And he did the Haru no Ashioto and Suika games. He also has a light novel out, called "Dream Knocker" (ドリームノッカー).

Just to clarify one thing, mikage's work on Haru no Ashioto was mainly limited to the System Demo, which is an advertisement piece that has the characters joking around while demonstrating the engine's features. On the actual project, his role was more supervisory (I don't think his name even appears in the main credits).

After Haru no Ashioto, he took over as minori's chief director, scenarist, and project planner (Haru no Ashioto fandisk, ef -a fairy tale of the two-).

[masama]

Kyosuke is probably regretting not having the camera at the end of ep9, how can he not film it?!

getting a bit tired of Renji x Chihiro, quite frankly I don't really care about them anymore, though I did like them in the first few episodes

probably a bit spoilerish

Spoiler for ep9:

Miyako BANZAI!
Yes I'm all Miyako x Hiro, so in your face Kei!!

[guuchan]

So all those debates about Yu and his slap are pretty much resolved in this episode. Well, maybe not resolved, but we have a much better look at Yu's character. The two conversations he had with Renji really give the audience a much better idea what kind of person he is. I'm not sure who mentioned it here, and I'm too lazy to dig the post up , but as that someone said...

Spoiler:

Yu thinks Renji resembles him, so he would like to see him succeed, even if it's not realistic (to him).

The one remains the most mysterious is still Yuko. She appeared quite some in the first tale (game), but to be honest, other than we know a very little bit about her past that... ah, I'm not going to spoil it.

Spoiler for a simple comment about this episode for now:

A very beautiful episode. Some people might think the kiss scene and stuff are a little rushed, but personally I think they spent enough time to build up the atmosphere to that scene. They met, they found out the importance of each other, they got someone to interfere, they separated, they had each other on their thoughts, and they reunited. What's more there to give?

As usual, I will hold further discussion till the sub is out.

[Shana]

I haven't watched episode 9, just read some spoilers...

Spoiler for Maybe spoiler:

The big "I'm gonna disappear. Ooh I'm gonna disappear" thing made me wanna slap Miyako. It's like if she used all the "Oh darn God, I'm gonna disappear" to get Hiro.

Just that, that's all.

[Skyfall]

^ What you just said hardly relates to the episode at all.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Shana

I haven't watched episode 9, just read some spoilers...

Spoiler for Maybe spoiler:

The big "I'm gonna disappear. Ooh I'm gonna disappear" thing made me wanna slap Miyako. It's like if she used all the "Oh darn God, I'm gonna disappear" to get Hiro.

Just that, that's all.

actually she didn't use that to grapple him.
She kept her lively and playful behaviour despite her distress. She only reveals her empty side AFTER.

So no, she didn't "use" that at all.

[Shana]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

^ What you just said hardly relates to the episode at all.

I didn't say it was about the episode

Originally Posted by Klashikari

actually she didn't use that to grapple him.
She kept her lively and playful behaviour despite her distress. She only reveals her empty side AFTER.

So no, she didn't "use" that at all.

Umm... okay...

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Shana

I didn't say it was about the episode

Actually, you did.

Originally Posted by Shana

I haven't watched episode 9, just read some spoilers...

I think this certainly implies you were talking about episode 9

Hence my response to you - that nothing of what you mentioned happens in the episode. (Or has never really happened at all, going by the way you present it).

[Kaoru Chujo]

It didn't feel to me as if Miya was trying to hook Hiro with pity...

Spoiler for ep9:

...until after she had already hooked him, when she said that she never wanted to disappear from anyone's heart again. She really did seem to start by trying to be falsely genki and to minimize her troubles to him.

In any case, she had much better ways to hook him: by being the one to initiate a kiss, and then by saying she wanted him to take her to his place. I feel such sympathy for her. But then I feel sympathy even for Kei, so that's a given.

The only time she was so far gone as to be playing the pity card was in the string of phone calls that he never saw, and then her despair had just put her beyond control.

None of these three guys are invincible princes, but they are all there to rescue their respective heroines from despair. The guys are not so much despairing as somewhat emotionally empty. Will the girls be able to fill them? Or will they just bring them despair?

As guuchan wrote, my concerns about Yuu are pretty well cleared up. He's just a human being trying to deal with an impossible situation. I still hate the slap, but I'll put it down to personal frustration and cultural differences.

[Kona-Kona]

I wonder whats the meaning of this image

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Kona-Kona

I wonder whats the meaning of this image

I'm going to go with "Notice that Miyako looks really hot in this white one-piece" primarily. (Other than that, I suppose it may be an allusion to episode 8 where Yuuko is giving Miyako advice/support to free her from the bondage of her abandonment issues?)

[HeeroX]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

It didn't feel to me as if Miya was trying to hook Hiro with pity...

Spoiler for ep9:

...until after she had already hooked him, when she said that she never wanted to disappear from anyone's heart again. She really did seem to start by trying to be falsely genki and to minimize her troubles to him.

In any case, she had much better ways to hook him: by being the one to initiate a kiss, and then by saying she wanted him to take her to his place. I feel such sympathy for her. But then I feel sympathy even for Kei, so that's a given.

The only time she was so far gone as to be playing the pity card was in the string of phone calls that he never saw, and then her despair had just put her beyond control.

None of these three guys are invincible princes, but they are all there to rescue their respective heroines from despair. The guys are not so much despairing as somewhat emotionally empty. Will the girls be able to fill them? Or will they just bring them despair?

As guuchan wrote, my concerns about Yuu are pretty well cleared up. He's just a human being trying to deal with an impossible situation. I still hate the slap, but I'll put it down to personal frustration and cultural differences.

Good point, I never thought that way, that they are the princes to save the respective girl. Each one have your anguish.

[CrowKenobi]

Conclave-Mendoi have just released episode 9 in the h264 goodness!!



Get it while it's hot!

[tripperazn]

Originally Posted by Kona-Kona

I wonder whats the meaning of this image

I'm pretty sure the captions reads something like "embrace your fate". I wonder what that has to do with Miyako in bondage...

Any one got ideas?