(L) ef - a tale of melodies

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

Well, having seen some of the discussion from game players on various places of the internet, the indication was that it wasn't a joke. It's... weird.

Originally Posted by Eczema

But anyway, I just took it as Renji making a joke, and that Mizuki was too dense to catch him for it. But now your post has caused me to have doubts. Renji doesn't seem to be the sort of guy to tease a girl like that.

Yeah I don't think it was supposed to be a joke either. For one, Renji is the serious-type guy who doesn't joke around much. Two, it would be flaky and weird for Renji to be making a joke like that in that situation....

[Shiroth]

Renji has a very dry sense of humor, so i can could see him pulling of a joke like that, though as Sorrow-K mentioned, game players have been talking about it so i was wrong.

[Dagger]

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

What does the spoiler policy say?

I'm not really sure, that's the thing. I've seen people get called out for putting spoilers about the source material of an anime behind tags, but it seems to happen kind of haphazardly.

[Skyfall]

Generally we prefer for as little source information to be posted in anime threads as possible If someone wishes to be spoiled we would largely prefer that people send private messages instead of posting game spoilers in the thread.

That said, Renji's line certainly calls for some pondering to be done, does it not ?

[Eczema]

Faced with the prospect of one of 2007's best anime being set in my home country, possibly even home town, I just had to do some more research and get a definitive answer.

Spoiler for ef ~ a tale of memories and episode 1 of melodies:

Points supporting the contention that Renji lives in Australia:

1. In episode 10 of memories, Hirono says "I've gone to all the public telephones in Otowa." So that means that Hirono, Miyako, and Kei live in Otowa. However, is it ever explicitly stated that Hirono and co. live in the same town as Renji and Chihiro? The only link is Chihiro and Kei, and they only speak through text messages. No other characters overlap...except Mizuki. It is revealed in episode 1 of melodies that Mizuki is Renji's cousin. Also, this line said by Renji to Mizuki: "You had free time once you entered university on recommendation, so you came over to play." can be interpreted as Mizuki coming over from Japan to Australia to visit.

2. Another point is that in memories, several instances were shown of Otowa in ruins due to the air raid by American bombers during WW2. However, only the characters in Hirono's arc were shown in this setting. No Australian city has been involved in military conflict, so no towns like Otowa exist in Australia.

3. Looking at Renji's kitchen/living room, it appears to be of a typical Western/Australian layout. Also, the Victorian style houses that Kuze and Renji live in also exist with a significant commonality in central Melbourne.

4. The beachfront houses are typical of Australian residences since all the major cities are located along the coast.

5. Kuze said in a flashback in melodies ep 1: "before I leave Japan." Not "if" he leaves Japan. So it's possible that they are in Australia at the present time.

Here's the big one:

6. In the first ep of memories, Hirono's arc is set during Christmas. A white and snowy Christmas. So we can assume that they live in Otowa. But whenever they cut to Renji's arc, it's very sunny. Australia is located in the southern hemisphere, so Christmas is during the summer here. Is it possible that the two arcs happen at different times of the year and not simultaneously? No. Chihiro and Kei message each other regularly to discuss their relationships, and Renji is explicitly mentioned in one of Chihiro's messages to Kei.

Points that rebut the above arguments:

1. In the very first scene of the very first episode of memories, Renji is seen at school, which has a very Japanese desk arrangement (we don't sit on individual desks in Australia), and he's filling out a career interest survey, which we also don't do here.

2. Renji and Chihiro talk about Junior High and Senior High, however, Australian schools do not distinguish their year levels like that. It's just high school over here. However, this could just be the fansubber's translation to make it easier to understand.

Yeah, it's still inconclusive, so only game players will know for sure. If ef turned out to be set in two different places, and I wouldn't put it past the genius minds behind ef, then that would be pretty epic. I only briefly skimmed through each of the episodes, so I probably missed a lot. Can anyone add anymore points supporting the Australia argument?

[Ascaloth]

Originally Posted by Eczema

Spoiler for ef ~ a tale of memories and episode 1 of melodies:

Points that rebut the above arguments:

1. In the very first scene of the very first episode of memories, Renji is seen at school, which has a very Japanese desk arrangement (we don't sit on individual desks in Australia), and he's filling out a career interest survey, which we also don't do here.

2. Renji and Chihiro talk about Junior High and Senior High, however, Australian schools do not distinguish their year levels like that. It's just high school over here. However, this could just be the fansubber's translation to make it easier to understand.

Spoiler for reply to Eczema:

Is there any possibility that the school Renji attends is actually a Japanese overseas school which caters to the children of Japanese expatriates, and uses the Japanese education system because of this; thus Renji doing the things above? I have no idea whether they exist in Australia, but here in Singapore there are at least 2 such schools catering to different levels.

[Eczema]

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

Spoiler for reply to Eczema:

Is there any possibility that the school Renji attends is actually a Japanese overseas school which caters to the children of Japanese expatriates, and uses the Japanese education system because of this; thus Renji doing the things above? I have no idea whether they exist in Australia, but here in Singapore there are at least 2 such schools catering to different levels.

Spoiler for Ascaloth:

I suppose it's possible, but I personally have never encountered such a thing. Many students from Asian countries come here to finish their high schooling and enter an Australian university. When they do this, they simply join a normal Australian school with local kids. They may take an English-Second-Language class along with normal subjects like maths and science, but no other form of segregation occurs. I think Western countries are pretty sensitive to stuff like that. The International Baccalaureate is recognized here, but not really popular. It's probably easier to just finish Australian High Schooling, since a lot of people have told me how easy it is compared to back home.

Another point I noticed is that Renji and Hirono wear the same school uniform. Coincidence? Australian private school uniforms do look something like that, but the uniform is pretty bland, so not sure if this is conclusive evidence supporting one way or the other.

[gaguri]

Also, many Asians I know (those who came to Australia near the end of high schooling) spent about a year in Language schools in Australia before entering high school. I too haven't heard of Australian schools teaching similar curriculum that are specifically designed for people from a foreign country, certainly not a Japanese one in Sydney since the number of Japanese here are relatively fewer than say, Brisbane.

Anyway, I am surprised at the possibility of them being located at Melbourne, since the setting didn't remind me anything of my last visit. Although admittedly, they didn't show much other than few households.

[Eczema]

Not specifically Melbourne. It could be any Aussie city. I just said that the Victorian-style houses that Renji and Kuze live in can be found in the heart of Melbourne, albeit they are quite old and in a shambles now. Not sure if similar housing exists in other Australian cities.

[gaguri]

I would definitely say the houses look Western. I don't see anything particular that screams Australian though.

[Sorrow-K]

Originally Posted by gaguri

Also, many Asians I know (those who came to Australia near the end of high schooling) spent about a year in Language schools in Australia before entering high school. I too haven't heard of Australian schools teaching similar curriculum that are specifically designed for people from a foreign country, certainly not a Japanese one in Sydney since the number of Japanese here are relatively fewer than say, Brisbane.

Not an enormous Japanese population here. Massive Chinese and Vietnamese populations, particularly in some areas, but not so Japanese. If we're going by significant Japanese demographic, then the Gold Coast is the obvious place (I didn't want to bring this up earlier because it could be misconstrued as slightly racist). But I don't think it's the Gold Coast. Did you see the beach? It's so drab and depressing, not like Surfers.

Spoiler for speculation:

But the opening line of the first episode is interesting. "There are two cities called Otawa. The real city that is built on top of the burnt rubble, and the peaceful, fake city that's a mirror image of it in a beautiful land." That could mean something. Maybe the real city is the Japanese one, while the fake city is the Australian one. Hmm....

Edit:

Spoiler for more speculation:

While we're on the topic of Otawa, according to Wiki, the town is tiny. We're talking just over 8000. Certainly not a big city. We might be way off trying to pin this on a big city.

[Eczema]

Originally Posted by gaguri

I would definitely say the houses look Western. I don't see anything particular that screams Australian though.

They look distinctly British. And Australia is a former British colony so a lot of the older houses share the same architecture. It's not a definitive point on which to say that ef is set in Australia, but it should be considered.

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

Not an enormous Japanese population here. Massive Chinese and Vietnamese populations, particularly in some areas, but not so Japanese. If we're going by significant Japanese demographic, then the Gold Coast is the obvious place (I didn't want to bring this up earlier because it could be misconstrued as slightly racist). But I don't think it's the Gold Coast. Did you see the beach? It's so drab and depressing, not like Surfers.

Spoiler for speculation:

But the opening line of the first episode is interesting. "There are two cities called Otawa. The real city that is built on top of the burnt rubble, and the peaceful, fake city that's a mirror image of it in a beautiful land." That could mean something. Maybe the real city is the Japanese one, while the fake city is the Australian one. Hmm....

I did some research and Otowa is incorporated into the city of Toyokawa, which is part of a prefecture in which the capital is Nagoya. One of Nagoya's sister cities is, you guessed it, Sydney, Australia.

On the topic of the beaches, St. Kilda beach in Melbourne has a similarly thin strip of open, unrestricted beach with houses overlooking it.

[gaguri]

My bad. My experience in Brisbane is interlinked with Gold Coast so :/

[Eczema]

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

Edit:

Spoiler for more speculation:

While we're on the topic of Otawa, according to Wiki, the town is tiny. We're talking just over 8000. Certainly not a big city. We might be way off trying to pin this on a big city.

The problem there is that there's way too many small Australian coastal towns that it could be. We'd be here all night. But what the hell. If Otowa has Nagoya, then what is Sydney's equivalent?

On the topic of Japanese population distribution in Australia, I can say that there are relatively few here in Melbourne. Most Asians here are Chinese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Hong Kong, and Indian. Japanese and Koreans are pretty rare.

[cheesie]

How many years has it been since the events transpired in Tales of Memories? This episode mentioned something about everyone being in Australia, and Kuze just returned from his trip? The timeline is pretty confusing, so anyone who knows would be a great help!

[NaweG]

Given the traffic, I gather this isn't likely to get a section of it's own with image and other threads. So, instead of adding spoilers here (although I personally like such things), could someone give us a link to the Game thread on AS (assuming there is one), and then those of us who WANT to know can go find out?

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by crisis

How many years has it been since the events transpired in Tales of Memories?

It was not mentioned in the first episode of melodies, so as of now it is impossible for we anime watchers to know the answer. You're gonna have to ask to be spoiled.

[Natsuki Hyuga]

Originally Posted by NaweG

Given the traffic, I gather this isn't likely to get a section of it's own with image and other threads. So, instead of adding spoilers here (although I personally like such things), could someone give us a link to the Game thread on AS (assuming there is one), and then those of us who WANT to know can go find out?

I checked the game thread, but as far as I know, there is no thread for ef~A Fairy Tale of The Two. The only way to get the spoiler is through asking those who have played the game to PM or with spoiler tags.

[NaweG]

In that case, please PM and spoil me rotten

If it's easier, and there's a good synopsis of the story somewhere, that would be fine too.

[sirn]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Last time i checked, pedophilia is a sexual preference towards pre-pubescent children. And last time i checked, Mizuki should be around 18 years old, considering she is entering university (and she isn't remotely loli by any sensible standards).

Spoiler for Mizuki's age and a bit of [Chihiro]'s mistranslation:

Except she's only about 15 years old and is entering high school, not university. She's actually younger than Kei. She calls Kei "senpai" in the first season, Kei calls Hiro "oniichan," and Hiro was a second-year student (based off Kei dialogue in episode 5 of memories: "If he studies and comes to classes regularly, he can become a third-year student.") thus making Mizuki a junior high entering high school.

Mizuki also said she wanted to enter Otowa (which is the same school as Kei) in the second part of melodies first episode.