http://www.internationalsaimoe.com/voting/
Vote Yuuko.

And if you’re not convinced, read to the end of this post. It’s not even 800 words. It’s short, and filled with passion, and if you aren’t filled with enthusiasm too by the end of this, you can have your money back.

I think, if I can take part in one miracle before in International Saimoe League, I can help form another – but this one isn’t for me.

Don’t get me wrong – Yuuko is undoubtedly a fine choice as a moe character. A beautiful character design, an elegant and kindly demeanor, and above all, true characterization. Yuuko, like all ef girls, symbolizes a sort of transcending of the standard moeblob personality of a visual novel girl, to someone who can truly move one’s heart.

Well, maybe I overdramatize a little bit, but I like Yuuko. And I love ef. Absolutely adore it, every little bit of it, from its pretentious-esque art style to its emotion-wreaking characters to the way that it just ties everything together in a grand way in the end.

It’s just something that I feel that you won’t experience very often if ever again – maybe it’s just me but that unique style of ef really made it rise above and beyond. It invoked a passion in me (one that I need to get working on a review post sometime), and I want you to pass on that passion as well.

Sure, maybe a stage like ISML is a small stage, maybe it’s not the stage you were imagining of, but as I was telling my friend, it’s the little victories that count.

ef has been fairly strongly-represented in the preliminaries in ISML, but none of its girls have really fared well in the competition. This might be because often times, fans of ef split their votes between the three girls present – and quite understandably.

But in this last round, a time of desperation for the ef hardcore, I ask you to unite not under the name a girl but under the banner of an anime. Time after time again, if the ef fans had banded behind one girl instead of dividing amongst the three, the vote totals would have easily been enough to push Yuuko, Chihiro, or Miyako through.

Now, I ask for your hand and your vote too. Maybe you’re a Chihiro fan first, or a Miyako supporter – I understand you. I voted Chihiro in previous rounds as well.

But with just one spot left, and at least a dozen companions already allied behind Yuuko, to me, what’s more important than which girl it is, is the support for an outstanding anime full of outstanding characters – and more than that, for the burning passion each and every one of you feels in your hearts.

I swore to myself to push for Yuuko this round, as hard as I did for Shiori, not just out of an attraction to her or ef, but also because my friend was afflicted with a sort of pessimism, that convinced him that the matter was hopeless.

He didn’t want to try campaigning for Yuuko, too afraid of giving it all for a passion, only to fall short. He’s worried about being hurt.

I say to hell with that. I want to prove that you can change the world.

Maybe some say that that is an ambition too grand, that that is too much optimism. But on a small stage like this, where battles are decided by mere dozens of votes, I think that one man – no, one group – can change everything.

This vote isn’t just for Yuuko or for ef, but for the mindset of Manabi Straight and Gurren Lagann. The going straight ahead and piercing the heavens, the kicking reason to the curb. The unbridled enthusiasm and positive energy that, you believe me or not, makes it sunnier outside.

Yuuko says it best herself:
“Because someday you’ll make it.

If something happens, it’s all right.

If you hold out your hands, someone will be there for you.

We will be able to share our warmth.

Just don’t ever give up. On the end of that long road, happiness will be waiting for you.

And then one day, I hope you’ll notice, that on that path you’ve walked, there is a lot of happiness.

Don’t forget, you’re not alone.”

We are not alone either. We hold our hands out to you, asking for just a minute of your time to click a simple checkbox next to “Yuuko Amamiya”. You submit a vote, but more than that, a message. That we together can reach the end of that road.

That Yuuko can make it. That we can make it.

That it’s not worth the effort to give up and distance yourself from feeling. That it’s OK to let passion run away with your life, because then, you’re living.

I’m living right now. Are you?

http://www.internationalsaimoe.com/voting/

-CCY
(Leave a comment to show your support, even if it’s just a few words. Thanks for your time!)

Why make sense when you could make awesome?

i Can try to explain why ef is probably disproportionally HIgh on the list of sHows that I consider completely and utterly soul-ROcking and world-shaking, but I‘ll probably Sound like a Maniacal, idiOtic pÉrson.

For really, the reason why ef makes me so, so happy inside – aside from the story – is the reason it will turn so many people off.

Somehow the one thing in anime that
entertains me more than I really believe that it should is
named
pretentiousness
and
i’m not ashamed at all
Ef features a lot of other
notable things that make it stand out as well that
effectively make it a well-
rounded package full of so much awesomeness that a
grain (or rather a truck full of) of eccentricity only makes
you (or at least me) love it more

Well, anyway, I stare down the barrel of the eleventh episode of the second season, with the impending closure of the story growing closer every day (and I’m just about in Aniblog Lockdown as a result), and I can think of nothing but praise for ef as a whole.

Granted, it’s praise with strings attached – I fully understand that ef is a hit or miss show. Sometimes it jumps into the deep end
jumps into the deep end
jumps into the deep, deep end
jumps into the deep, deep, deep end
jumps into the deep, deep, deep, deep end
jumps into the deep, deep, deep, deep, deep end
jumps into the deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep end of unintelligability, pretentiousness, insanity, of repetitiveness and overly long camera shots and really strange directive choices all those deep choices which have meaning but sometimes you see a wall of text in German and you just have to ask

WHY

and in the end it’s just a visual novel adaptation. No amount of good story can save it in the eyes of some. But why focus on the negative?

“The command of the old despotisms was Thou shalt not. The command of the totalitarians was Thou shalt. Our command is Thou art.”

ef is something I treasure for many the same reason as Higurashi. It hides within the cozy, familiar genre of visual novel adaptations (here, more of a romance story – stories, rather – than a harem show), a core that is far different than that of many of its brethren.

006 [the]
007 [pretentiousness]
003 [don't]
002 [I]
005 [just]
004 [mean]
008 [either.]
001 [And]

Rather, what impresses me a lot about ef is that it’s not just a story about some generic no-face guy coddling with and sucking up to (and then later, sucking off or whatever euphemism applies) a bunch of screwed-up girls … rather, everyone in ef is … well, screwed up, in their own way.

And while this may not be the style for everyone, I rather enjoy the sort of balance that this lends ef.

Like in Kodomo no Jikan, the question of belivability comes into play, and while ef stretches it a bit, especially if you come at it from a ‘plausability and realism’ standpoint.

But I think that the above point in addition to how ef plays itself across, makes it work very well as a ‘dramatic’ type of story, closer to the Higurashi or sola end of the scale than, say, KimiKiss or (maybe) true tears.

It’s a story where everyone has a story to tell, a work with a lot of incredible coincidences – the Shiori-esque may say ‘miracles’ – which all build together to make a brilliant emotional climax to it all. By removing the limiter of real life, probably even going past Owen’s concept of ‘hyperrealism’, ef can charge at full speed. It can will into existence, in the hearts of the viewers, characters like Chihiro and Yuuko.

For even if they do have astoundingly weird, almost supernatural, problems … in the end, a lot of what their troubles boil down to can be surprisingly down-to-earth. Maybe not the bluntness of a Five Centimeters Per Second, no, but as they say, the language of love is universal, even if it is obscured by strange memory defects and funny black-and-white camera shots.

(Part of a 12-day series fondly remembering some of the best moments in anime this year. Participants include: lolikitsune, lelangir, FuyuMaiden, Zeroblade, Nazarielle, ghostlightning, TheBigN, ETERNAL, Mike, A Day Without Me, digitalboy, Josh, otou-san, Culchann and Pontifus, IcyStorm, Cokematic,
koneko-chan, and miz, and you’re welcome to join too!)

Maybe you don’t know people who have experienced the exact same hardships as those in ef (whose hardships often read like a checklist of things to get screwed over by), but whose heart doesn’t ache when there is someone you want to help but can’t, someone you could have helped but couldn’t, something you could do but won’t …

Perhaps it’s a complement to Five Centimeters Per Second, hammering home that pang of regret. Equally so with that underlying message of being true to oneself, what with all the people hiding their true feelings / thoughts / faces / etc.

And despite all the stuff ef tries to heap on top of it, somehow, it ironically boils down to something that simple. The Power of Love, almost.

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”

Like you see with so many hardened people. They swear not to love again. They push people away because of their own pain. Take your pick of excuses: they don’t want to hurt others, or they don’t want to be hurt.

But inevitably that’s not really what they truly desire, is it?

Just like every slice-of-life show tells you, there is a little bit of love inside of everyone (world is wonderful in the eyes of wonderful people, etc), and that shell cracks. All it takes is the right person.

In the end – or at least, the feeling I get from the 11th episode of the second season – ef really is, somehow, that optomistic. It just arrives at that conclusion after a much, much more emotionally painful ride than the normal visual novel.

I really appreciate both sides of the coin. I like an anime that can make me feel strong emotion (I won’t say ‘cry’).

And ef can affect me. I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone else out there but even when I’m hating it (hi melodies episode 10) it’s still hitting a nerve somewhere. Maybe, it’s the power of the first season rolling over, combined with hype, to almost subconsciously will me to feel something, but damn. I think they could overlay ‘ebullient future’ on a montage of Hitler dying and I would get that feeling in my stomach.

Yet, somehow, ef can uplift you too. Somehow, I just don’t think it chooses too. I mean, take the 11th episode of melodies. It’s almost unreal in how upbeat the tone stays throughout the whole thing. Or what of the last episode of memories? It’s because there has been so much suffering that the happiness becomes that much sweeter.

Am I going to pick a moment from ef? Maybe. It really depends on what you’re looking for.

As said, for the happiness, there is Melodies 11 and Memories 12.
For the emotion, Memories 10-11, maybe Melodies in the middle half.
For the insanity, it’s around every corner.

I think by this point ef has transcended the boundaries of anything I can rationally talk about, evidenced by the fact that my ramblings on it are diverging off to positive infinity rather than converging on something sensible.

I don’t feel as instantly compelled to watch it immediately on download as do I with One Outs or Toradora, but this is probably just an effect of the emotional preparation I almost have to do to watch something like ef. It’s not something to be taken lightly.

Doesn’t everyone have a series like this, though? Reason can only carry you so far, at least when you enjoy being charged with emotion and passion as much as I do… which is probably why I love ef.

-CCY
(was tempted to pretentious it up more, but really lacked the time and the sanity, and somehow I feel you all will thank me for it)

12 Moments of Anime 2008
#02: ef ~the two tales~

ef rocked my soul. (Wait…)

As you may have surmised by the slightly-more-than-late review, it’s taken me a long time to collect my thoughts on this show, which has been acclaimed by the majority to be nothing short of stunning.

Originally when I first watched the show I had that feeling of “this could be something,” but was off-put by the dual storyline, the typically SHAFT (i.e. form over function) art style, and my overall sense of confusion with ef. I put it on the shelf after three episodes.

Later on, I awoke to the sounds of bloggers singing the praise of this show from the top of the highest hills, and decided to get back into watching the show. After seven episodes, I was, to put it one way, nonplussed. I had had it up to here with all the visual novel cliches and concepts, the romance was tacky (Chihiro) or annoying (Kei vs. Miyako) and they spent all of ten dollars animating one of the supposed ‘most powerful moments of 2007′.

Five episodes and one rewatch later, I think I’ve done about as great an about-face of opinion as Kanon did an about-face of animation from 2002 to 2006. Quite simply, ef is top tier.

If I wanted to wax poetic about things, I would say that on the scale of romance, I truly ‘loved’ this show.

Kanon is a show I would ‘worship’, that I would deny any flaws in.
Cardcaptor Sakura is a ‘first love’, blind admiration of something with a feeling that can never be matched.
School Days is a ‘handsome devil’, the kind of show that I know I hate and I know will kill me, but I can’t stay away from it anyway.

But ef really is the full package. It has the moments that charm you and it has the moments that repulse you. It’s handsome yet fashion-challenged, smart yet sappy, serious yet silly. It is a show that sweeps you off your feet, whether you like it or not. And you accept its flaws with its strengths, and really see it as real, instead of something idolized, which can never be touched.

Perhaps, with the extend I’m going on to rave about ef, it’s a bit of a lie that I’m not idolizing it. But the fact of the matter is, that, despite this nagging feeling in the back of my head that ef really should suck, that it really does mess up at times, I can’t help but be absolutely smitten with this show, the characters it has, the storyline it tells, and the messages it conveys. It’s very different from many of the moe-smitten visual novel adaptations out there, yet it still maintains a connection to its roots. Quite simply, it is a brilliant example of what this genre can do.

(Series spoilers ahead, so either be forewarned, or make plans to forget them within 13 hours…)

The art style is probably one of the things that a lot of people will notice first upon watching ef, as is true of most SHAFT shows. It’s been described as anywhere from ‘artistic’ to ‘pretentious’, with off-kilter camera shots, strange framing, and many, many shots of the sky. It is likely that it will be disorientating for a lot of viewers, and perhaps detrimental to the experience, as in my case initally, when it took me a while to realize that Hirono and Renji were two different people.

Still, as a whole, the unique artistic direction of ef adds quite a bit to the show. It’s not a deal-maker by any means, but the symbolism of a lot of the seemingly random shots allows for extended ‘replay value’ of the show, as viewers begin to put the imagery of the show together, piece by piece. The black and white of Miyako’s view, the ruins at Chihiro’s deserted train station, the significance of Kei’s basketball (which, admittedly, I have not fully grasped), it all makes for a great “Aha!” moment late in the show’s span, when it all clicks and one figures out why they’ve been doing that all along.

Some may call it being a bit too heavy-handed with the symbolism, given how something SHAFT likes to shove funny shots in the viewer’s face and scream “HEY THIS IS SYMBOLIC,” but I enjoy this style in that it really provides things to think about while watching and analyzing an episode, and gives it a little more emphasis, rather than just leaving it in the background and saying “Oh, you know that one character that appeared for two seconds ten episodes ago? Well he’s been the bad guy all along and you didn’t know it, ha ha!” like other shows might be apt to do.

One thing I would have to criticize, though, is the references to other parts of anime culture in the show itself, most prominent in the early episodes. While I feel very proud for catching digs at School Days’s “Nice Boat”, Zetsubou Sensei, Lucky Star, Touhou, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Clannad, I can’t help but feel some of these interludes take away a bit from the world that ef works so hard to immerse us in. The best example is when Miyako whips out a dango phone card, which for most viewers will lead to a short tangent on “What is that doing there?” instead of focusing on the fact that Miyako has suddenly reappeared after a lengthy absence from Hirono’s story.

But the world that ef does put us in is an incredibly engrossing one, if only because of the characters in this story and the ideals they represent. They are, bar none, some of the most interesting characters I’ve seen around, perhaps because none of them would make my ‘moe list’ of characters I melt into a little puddle over.

Chihiro’s quote of “If the girl is interpreted to be cute, that means she isn’t described correctly” fits incredibly well in a fourth-wall-breaking perspective applied to characters like herself. None of the characters really slot in predefined ‘black’ or ‘white’ stereotypes or, even, moralities, instead all being different shades of a gray.

Chihiro is the shy girl with a memory defect that doesn’t want to be forgotten. She lives to fulfill her dream from her twelve-year-old self of writing a novel, which mixes with perhaps more adult emotions of falling in love. But, once her dream is complete, what will she have to live for? She resorts to ‘quitting while on top’ in order to leave her mark on Renji, in a tearful way. Her life is filled with questionable logic and a search for answers; stuck as her twelve-year-self, how can she move on? How can she make others – and herself – see Chihiro Shindou as a person who really existed? Her tale is full of disturbingly cold logic, a very by-the-numbers approach to her life, forced upon her by her reliance on her diary. She can only be told by her past self that she is not twelve years old, that she is writing a novel, and that she is in love with Renji.

Her novel reflects this same creepily practical rationale, detailing the story of a girl that is alone in the world, and has to learn everything in life through a library. Her only encounter with people is through images and portraits, some which she creates herself, which she is never satisfied with. They only cause her anguish, only teach her the meaning of the word ‘loneliness’, and as the girl’s situation becomes increasingly despairing, one can’t help but feel that sense of being on the wrong end of a psychological horror movie, as the girl burns down her castle before throwing herself off a cliff.

Chihiro, by all means, should be a character that is pitied. She has a broken memory, a shy personality, and an eyepatch over one’s eye. Yet, at the same time, the way she thinks and acts is almost scary at times (the sheep analogy gives me chills), really letting us sympathize with Renji and his thoughts of “It shouldn’t be like this!”, in scenes like where Chihiro offers to let Renji kiss her, because “apaprently she was in love with him.” It’s a strange sense of disconnection from the real world, a card that has been played many times in visual novels, and one that will probably be played again, but still one that comes up aces here. Chihiro’s story is a mix of despair and hope, a mix of progress and regression, a really touching battle of the struggle against fate, and the power of two people coming together to overcome.

And if Chihiro’s story is the one of two people coming together, Miyako and Kei’s is that of two people clashing. Although, to call them one story is a bit of a lie, as Kei and Miyako each have vastly different characters, morals, and drives, solely coming together in agreement on one issue: their love of Hirono.

Kei is the childhood friend, and for those keeping track in the crowd, the non-blood-related girl who calls Hirono “onii-chan” regardless. By that reasoning alone, her win of Hirono should be a lock; she could kick back and cruise to victory. And so she does, and she pays the price. Kei’s story is that of grappling for a closing door of opportunity, that sense of losing control in something one was so resolute in. Kei said that she had always dreamed of being with Hirono forever, of being his friend, his lover, his wife, eternally. Even Hirono admitted that he thought the same way, for a time.

But as a result, Kei became overly confident. She bided her time, being friendly, and occasionally flirty, with Hirono. Even when Miyako came along, she waited to make a move, making a empty promise to confess to him if she won a basketball game. She ended up breaking her leg, and Hirono came to her aid. Certainly now would be the time – but again, she kicks back and enjoys her meager spoils as he carries her home. She wages an attack on Miyako, rather than on Hirono, when the love rivalry clearly comes into play. And so, when she finally finds the door closing shut on her, she can only run fruitlessly, with her damaged leg, towards it and cry after it.

Kei’s story is one of reliance. She does everything in her life for someone else; she lived her life for Hirono, getting him into shoujo manga to bond with him, playing basketball to impress him, going to his house to be with him. This made her a possessive character in the end, similar to Kaede Fuyou in demeanor. You wonder whether to be sad for her or to hate her when she clings to Hirono, you wonder whether her attacks on Miyako are heartfelt or merely out of desperation. It’s a questionable morality that can swing either way, but any way it is, you can feel the raw emotion that Kei is charged with, with her sense of inferiority at times.

Miyako is the other end of the spectrum. She has nothing. No parents. No color in her life. She has to start from the bottom up, and has to work for Hirono instead of just holding on to him. She would probably be the character that is more likable than Kei as a result, being the one that really strives for Hirono, the one that can really laugh and be unrestricted with him instead of the sort of nervous tension that Kei began to feel near the end.

But, Miyako’s character does a 180 when faced with adversity. When things are going her way, Miyako is an utterly unstoppable character; she is strong, she is devoted, she is likable, but when the chips are down, Miyako goes into a shell. She runs away. Kei threatents to “erase Miyako from Hirono’s life”. This shakes Miyako more than it should for the girl in control, leading to the famous 99 Missed Calls incident. It, again, gives the viewer that feeling that is a mix of being scared and feeling pity. It’s obvious that Miyako is not in a right state of mind when calling Hirono, but as her cries grow increasingly urging, one can’t decide whether to fault her for being so reliant, or to feel for her for being so outcasted.

If Kei was the character that relies on others, Miyako is the character that builds off others. They are both the same; without Hirono, without warmth in their life, they cannot stand. But Miyako, her approach still feels different than Kei’s, in that while Kei does things for someone else, Miyako does things because of someone else. It’s a subtle, yet readily apparent, difference in the way that the two approach the world, and the ultimate reason why Miyako won over the quickly stagnating Kei.

All three of the heroines are characters with both obvious strengths and obvious flaws, and as such can be appreciated much more as a real character than most visual novel heroines. This even applies to the guys as well; the naive and knightly nature of Renji, or the devoted yet indecisive nature of Hirono make them stand out as motivated characters that are much more than your standard harem hero; one might say that this story plays out as more of a romance than a harem, even if there is a love triangle going for Hirono.

All the characters of ef really manage to connect on a deeper emotional level, with their different views on romance, and in life. Who doesn’t want to be forgotten? Who doesn’t want to be the knight, there for the girl in the fantasy tale? Who doesn’t want to let go of their dreams? It’s more than an emotional ploy, personally. It’s something that shakes your core, not just in a heartwarming way, but in a way that makes you think, that makes you question yourself, and that, is the sign of a truly good anime.

The thematic elements of ef also help to reinforce this perception of the characters. While I feel the show was hurt a bit by a lack of true intertwining of the stories, thematically, the characters overlapped in many ways.

Unsurprisingly, the theme of ‘memories’, being titular and all, was the most prominent theme of this anime. Chihiro wanted to be remembered in someone’s memory, and, to a lesser extent, wanted to make her own memories last. Miyako didn’t want to dissapear from someone’s memory again. And Kei, one could say, was stuck holding on to memories of the past with Hirono, as well as to imaginary memories of a future with him.

One could also say that a theme is ‘time’. With Chihiro, it’s obvious: she lives the same 13 hours of her life over and over, again and again. Miyako, in a flashback to her past, implies her time has stopped, that her life has stopped, when the color dissapeared from her world. And again, Kei is grasping on to the past and the future, any time but the present, only thinking of her time with Hirono. In a sense, with the resolution to each story, the time of each girl started again; Chihiro metaphorically broke free of her bonds and regained hope, Miyako’s life started again, with Hirono, and Kei began to live in her own time, for herself.

And what of the scattered imagery and elements left all over the setting of ef? Chihiro and Renji’s walks on the beach, where the sand washes away progress, time after time. Miyako and Hirono’s time spent on the roof of the school, a place to run to escape the work and anguish of the world. Kei’s crutch as a physical representation of her dependence. You could go on and discover more – one person I showed this anime to aptly noted, after Renji’s mom’s speech about how “love is an uphill slope, and passion is a downhill slope”, that Renji and Chihiro always walked downhill, for the longest time.

Of course, there’s the converse argument, that a series like this filled with imagery, is bound to be overanalyzed. Maybe it’s true. Maybe Renji and Chihiro walk downhill because the train station is uphill from their houses. (Incidentally, we never really did see them go uphill explicitly, so another refutation.) But still, I think ef’s invitation to take it apart into pieces, beyond what is obviously stated, is more than worth the possible issue of going too deep. I’d rather create something out of nothing, than to find nothing in something. (Although, it must be noted, IKnight argues the opposite, that ef is trying too hard.)

I suppose I should taint this review with the so-called ’sucking’ that I alluded to many, many KB ago in this text document, although I feel like I have blended in a lot of criticism with the praise so far. One thing that I really wish would have been done better is the ending to ef. It’s not a show-killer like Code-E, but it’s definitely too clean and cut for a show like this. After all, the characters essentially stand at the end and say “this is what we learned.” I think the viewers, if they got through a show like this, are more than smart enough to figure that out.

The ending to the show itself was passable enough – there was more than a hint of deux ex machina around with random pages of the diary getting trapped in thermal currents (or something), but overall Chihiro’s resolution was heartwarming and sensible; I had expected a ‘do it all over again’, but having the force lie with Chihiro and her inability to forget really worked for me. Likewise, the appearance of Yuuko (the mystical girl painted on the stained glass in the church) all over the place was a bit supernatural and strange, but I liked her involvement, as more of an catalyst to the other characters’s actions, rather than solving their problems for them.

I do wish, though, that Himura and Yuuko had been explained a bit more; Himura’s involvement for the whole story was basically “I’ve been there before and it sucks”, and I was hoping for some extrapolation on that near the end, but it never happened. Ditto with Yuuko, who I can only assume is some representation of a heaven-like deity.

Still, ef stands out as a visual novel conversion and as an anime to me mainly because of how it embraces and breaks the rules at the same time. The characters don’t appeal on a base level, but rather on an emotional level, and thrill as morally muddled and conflicted characters. The dual storylines offer two plots similar in theme but highly different in execution, and, as Jason of AoMM puts it, each story, or each heroine, is never at the same emotional state. One might be on top of the world, while another is cruising in first gear, and the other is fighting to maintain sanity; it’s a formula that allows a show like this to keep momentum and emotional charge. The graphical style is unique, and, if you can handle it, innovative (although, I do wish it didn’t keep reminding me I was watching a TV show). The music, although I haven’t mentioned it, is quite fitting, and has some exceptionally strong pieces that set the mood without smashing too many emotional triggers – and I especially enjoyed the OP, Euphoric Field, and Chihiro’s ED, Sora no Yume.

And the show just has that touch of extra quality to it, that little something that makes you smile. Maybe it’s the way the first letters of the episode titles spell “euphoric field”. Maybe it’s the fact that they had 3 and a half different EDs, one for each heroine. Maybe it’s how they changed the OP to the Japanese version, with different, more uplifting animation for the last episode. Or the little extra scenes at the end of each episode, to keep you watching. It just has that good feel to it.

I seriously doubt ef is a show for everyone. It’s gotten a relatively small viewership, and quite a bit of that viewership will dislike either the art style or the plot direction of this show. It is, at its roots, a visual novel, and you can tell. It’s not tacky, per se, but some people will not enjoy the level of emotional drama this show provides, or view it as pretentious. But for those looking for that something just a little different, that little spark in the visual novel genre, with compelling characters, storylines, and an overall immersive and engrossing experience, I can’t help but recommend ef. It’s a visual novel anime, for those who want an anime that’s heavy on the visual novel storytelling, and light on the visual novel moe.

It’s not a show that you will forget.

-CCY

Path to the Post:
Most works, and then some, have been cited above, but for a complete repository on ef posts, check out what Author has here at Ani-Nouto.

(Additionally, this show is just so incredibly quotable. “The girl was the only one in the world.” “If the girl is seen as cute, it means she isn’t described properly.” “Do you have any memories you don’t want to forget?” “If the length of the chain is 12 years, and the length of the hand I can stretch out is 13 hours…” “From yesterday’s me to today’s me…” Ah, I feel like it should be more…)
(And somehow, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface as well, going back and flipping through the show. Kyousuke, the cameraman, got no coverage. All the life lessons I wanted to cover from the middle-end parts. The scenes like the back-to-back at the door, and the phone booth in episode 10, or the final part of the story in 11, the chains breaking in 12… Maybe I need a second rewatch.)
(I believe this is what you call a paean. Longest post in the history of Eternity / M3, and the 200th as well. Hopefully it did not drag, but rather uplift. I really can’t find a way to end this conclusively now, after such a charged writing session. How about, hell yes, Renji has a typically anime green-haired meganekko mom? Or, what about Kyousuke’s green-haired meganekko girlfriend? Ah, visual novels.

In Chihiro’s positive sense of both words…

I wish tommorow would never come. // Couldn’t tommorow possibly be a better day than today?)

It’s got what seems to be it all: a unique animation style, characters ripped straight from a storyline I dreamed up, parallel plots that look to tie together smoothly, and personalities that are appealing without being overly moe. Not to mention, a green-haired meganekko.

I’ve spent a lot of my time with my hands plugged in my ears not just because I’m trying to get the earwax out, but to avoid the spoiler-tastic raving that everybody has been going on about for ef. It encouraged me to catch up with the show over the last few days of vacation as part of the “My God, it’s Winter 2007/8 season already!?” watching panic.

So I was quite surprised when ef turned out not to be the gripping, awe-inspiring wonder that it’s been made out to be, but merely a show that’s good. Funnily enough, popular recommendations as to shows in off-center genres such as magical girl (Shugo Chara!) and GARmbling (Kaiji) have worked wonders for me, and I can’t say enough superlatives about those, but for a visual novel show that’s pretty much straight up my alley, it’s not working out quite the same.

I could attest this to any number of things. First off would probably be that I’ve just seen too many of these damn shows. I love the visual-novel-slash-harem genre to death but in terms of bringing new concepts to the table it takes a lot to impress me. Perhaps because I’m an ‘expert’ in this genre I expect more, and it’s quite easy for shows in this genre to fall into a cliche pattern.

It’s a bit amusing, in that I try to avoid blatant escapism in my harem shows, which is kind of like trying to avoid the cream filling in an Oreo. It’s there and it’s going to be there, because that’s a core part to a lot of shows in this genre.

ef has stayed out of this trap pretty well, but there are parts where it stumbles a bit; Chihiro’s spontaneous lapsing into uber-dere-dere mode with the “you can kiss me if you want” for one, and the quick transitioning of the Kei – Hirono – Miyako plot into a sort of love triangle of the jealous regard.

This bugs me, probably the most because it was doing pretty well while giving the romance part a backseat, while making the story a tale of character discovery, and when the love-love part gets center stage it’s just sort of flat and been-there compared to the rest.

It’s a bit early to be refuting my argument but I suppose the counter is that this kind of stuff could just be working to develop the characters; yeah, Miyako’s just working herself into either the lonely girl or yandere corner, where things will get interesting, and Chihiro’s “kiss me nao plz” thing is kind of tacky but it sets Renji on a hardcore monologue.

Maybe this post as a whole is kind of ironic, in that it does mirror Renji’s thoughts a lot. That feeling of “gee, I should be loving this, but something’s wrong” is very prevalent in my viewing of ef so far.

The predictability factor is beginning to rise in the show as well, continuing on with the ’story is looking kind of weak’ worry. Soon enough, if it hasn’t already, it will hit Renji that Chihiro’s story, like most, is a quite un-subtle narrative reflecting on her own tragic life, and their story will continue on their heartwarming if not kind of straightforward style of “someone reaching out to the lonely person”. Eventually it will hit Kei that she’s being a Class-A Jealous “Friend” and being entirely unfair to Miyako. At that point, they’ll have a My Story Is Sadder Than Yours duel and Miyako will probably claim Hirono, while Kei either gives up on her feelings or puts out to that photographer guy.

It’s all entirely speculation of course, and most of you who have actually already finished ef (which, I suppose, is all of you reading this) are laughing in that evil-villain-with-a-monocle way at my foolishness, but that’s the way the story is feeling to me. It just seems like ef has played most of its cards already.

We have Chihiro’s backstory, have most of her inner feelings exposed. We’ve seen Kei’s light and dark side, seen her relation to her sister and her guilt, her true relation to “onii-chan” Hirono. Miyako, we now know her past, and her desperation to be recgonized, to be loved by someone again.

It’s just sort of at a ‘what now?’ point. Maybe there’s something good to be said about this, how ef is up-front with its characters and doesn’t take the entire time beating around the bush saving up for a shock that should have been obvious. But I’m just kind of lost with what this show is planning to do; it was moving so solidly earlier and is now kind of bogging down a bit, with sequences which are moving, yes, but damn long.

You know what I mean, with Miyako’s now-famous 99 Missed Calls (take that, American movies). It was a touching moment, one that isn’t easily forgettable, but the little Mystery Science Theater voice in the back of the head spoiled everything. “They used like 4 frames over 15 minutes, you know,” it says. “They didn’t have to drag it on so long, we know that she’s desperate.” it says. “Why couldn’t it have spent more time on her backstory instead of throwing it out there and going straight to the voice mails?”

This is my problem with ef as a whole, as as much good as it is on paper, it’s just not clicking, not getting that connection with the viewer for me. I see Miyako rant on and on for 5 minutes to Hirono’s phone, and I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to feel sorry for her or scared of her. I see Renji struggle with whether he should Just Kiss Her Already, and I’m not sure whether he’s doing what any person would do or is just being a standard romantic coward.

It’s this unease about the story that gets to me, that it’s very ambiguous in terms of characters and morality. This is probably what a lot of people love about this show, in that it’s different from every moe-fest visual novel; like Chihiro says, “if the characters are thought to be cute, that means they aren’t described properly.”

And don’t get me wrong; I don’t hate anything more than a story that is very black and white, good vs. evil. But the characters of ef just aren’t hitting any special shade of grey; they don’t really inspire, at least not yet, a lot of discussion about their actions and thoughts. They’re just, there, to me. And that hurts.

Undoubtedly, the judgment is not final yet. I’ve still got five episodes to go and that could make all the difference for this show; even though I cannot see how yet, ef might pull an ace out of its sleeves. There might be an intriguing twist, or more revelations on a character’s train of thought. But right now, it’s just kind of a dissapointment.

Like Chihiro’s “you can kiss me” scene, what it says and how it looks are two different things. It’s on paper, visual novel gold, a show with the dual plotlines of a KimiKiss, the balanced characters of a sola, the character discovery of a Myself;Yourself, but in reality, it just doesn’t have the feel that it should. It’s just not lining up, and that’s something that worries me.

Clearly, the intent to like ef is there, by the tone of those words and the references to the show itself. In the end, although it really sounds like I dislike the show, maybe the underlying meanings of this rant tell more – I try to hate the show so that when it turns out good, it’s all the better. We shall see.

-CCY

Any show with Cardcaptor Sakura, Touhou, and Lucky Star has to be good, right?

(Incidentally, I don’t have much to say about the SHAFT-itude of it all.)
(One more random thought: all the red-flash-heart-beating parts of episode 7 were a real throwback to Tsukihime the visual novel. Hehehe.)
(Finally, Chihiro’s analogizing of her own problems to the sheep math problem, with the “if the chain is 13 years long” and all, was much more chill-inducing than Miyako’s 99 Missed Calls.)

Adaptation season may be closer to the truth, as pretty much every show I’ve followed so far is based on an eroge or ren’ai.

This probably says something about the creativity of harem shows nowadays, with probably one completely new romance (Code-E) and one completely new visual novel adaptation (sola) in recent memory, but the content is all fresh to me anyway.

Not to mention, the logistical challenges of adapting premade content still are fairly high, especially with the branching nature of harem-types.

The point still remains that there are a lot of the same shows out there this fall season, and while the moe-bishoujo-hater is probably off cursing somewhere, lovers of either harem, romance, or just general fanservice/moe are having a busy time.

As such it’s time for another triple take, taking looks at three more first episodes, bringing the total to six fall anime so far…

ef – a tale of memories is perhaps the most and least traditional of the harem shows so far. The concept is almost blindingly average; there may not be many ways to introduce the male and female “leads” to each other other than a chance meeting, but when you get two pairs of utter strangers united in the first episode, one starts to wonder just how many times you’ve seen this before, and the mind instead turns to wondering just how are they going to make the established (i.e. osananajimi) characters lose this time.

On the flip side, being a Shaft show the art style of ef was spectacularly nonstandard, with plenty of innovative camera angles, cut-out shots (i.e. black background with the sky background filling in a girl’s profile), and more. It was refreshing as always, and yet was sane enough that it didn’t really kill the mood of the show at all.

The show features what appears to be a parallel story as well, with two male leads (which took a long time for me to figure out with their similar designs, I must admit) befriending two different girls, with the connection seeming to be through a six-degrees-type relation between some sisters. It certainly seems promising, as more and more shows are moving away from the one-strong (or weak)-male-lead syndrome that gets a bit ridiculous at times.

Overall, ef does a great job at proving that the first episode really doesn’t tell much about the series, as it could really go either way at the moment.

The two lead female characters are adorable, especially the eyepatch-girl, but they tread the line between believable and just overly weak, whether it be being ridiculously friendly or emotional around their respective “partners.” The male leads don’t seem too bad, and I enjoyed their little speech about “wanting to be the knight in shining armor,” but really, they’re just so nondescript at this point I can’t say much about them.

This seems to sum up my opinion of the whole show so far, in that it feels awfully…done before and forgettable. I remember watching this episode, liking it a lot – and forgetting about it. Maybe it’s the fault of watching so many shows, maybe it’s the passage of time – but ef hasn’t made an imprint yet. This isn’t to be confused though with a lack of promise; I hope that the second episode will bring back the good memories of…3 days ago, and prove that Shaft can do romance as well as they did despair.

On a final note, any show that features a combined Lucky Star / Touhou reference (and, yes, a Nice Boat) deserves at least a double eyebrow raise.

Next up on the list is KimiKiss Pure Rouge, which gives off the feel that it’s more of a romance aimed at girls, or at least at both genders. I say this because of the impressive gender-neutral feel of the show. Again, there are two equally balanced male leads, and the female cast is varied without pandering to any particular stereotype.

It’s a different type of show than the other ones airing so far which certainly seem more fantasy-based in either setting or characters; KimiKiss gives off the feel that you’re entering a show that has been going for quite a while now. The characters are established, whether it be the three guys, the quiet girl that Kouichi likes, or even the returning childhood friend, Mao. Even the chance encounters between Mao and Rebel Guy, or Kazuki and Delinquent Genius, don’t feel overly forced.

As such, KimiKiss is an anime that’s a bit harder to grasp onto, especially with a slow opening like the first episode provided. Mao’s return and the first half as a whole was admittedly on the bread and butter side but once the school day started the episode picked up in pace, introducing many of the characters above, and probably some more. The sheer complexity of the possible relationships certainly has a girls’-show feel to it (a la Marmalade Boy) compared to most harem show “triangles”, where you take all the girls and draw lines to one guy in the center.

All this means though is that KimiKiss will be a noteworthy show if only because it will sort out those who like more ‘real’ romance than those who just enjoy the simplistic harem romances. I can’t claim to swear allegiance to either side yet but KimiKiss will be a test as to how much concentrated relationship-spaghetti one can handle.

It certainly leaves a lot of interesting ends open at the first episode anyway, with the “secondary” male Kazuki getting his first kiss already, the issue of the relationship between Kouichi and that quiet girl he always blushes at, and the reason for Mao’s return among others being interesting discussion topics. At which point though this ceases to be interesting and instead becomes confusing, though, is an excellent question.

Shakugan no Shana II is the odd one out here, being of the supernatural action-romance crossbreed variety. The Shana series is a strong one with a wide fanbase and something along the line of 17 light novels, a couple games, a manga, a movie, and two anime series, and I’m beginning to see why.

As mentioned extensively in my review of the movie, Shana isn’t a series that’s designed to randomly mindrape you, and instead is more of a show that surprises you with the path from point A to point B. It lays out most of the cornerstones for you – time loop enemy, increasingly-complex Shana/Yuuji/Kazumi/Ike love square-type, action happens, but how everything is going to get resolved is the interesting point.

Time loops or repetition in general are always a somewhat controversial topic for me in anime; on one side, it’s kind of cool to see what you’ve seen before; on the other, you’re seeing what you’re seen before. Still, the logical fallacies and the inner desires/conflicts of characters which can be seen in the dream-like sequences in Shana can still generate some interest (case 1: Yuuji jumping off the ladder yet still floating to the top), although, as in the case of the Torch theory, I may be giving Shana more credit than it desires.

A lot of my enjoyment from Shana, and confusion as well, may stem from my relative newness to the series as well; what’s old to some people is still new to me. This applies to both canned-ish footage from the first series, and, more crucially, to terminology and characters as well. As such, anyone outside of the core love triangle and (the soon-to-be-defunct, I imagine) Friange are completely new.

Hopefully figuring out just what role the obscurely named villians, Maid De Arimasu and Minami Nagato Green-Hair Girl play in the scheme of things won’t be a huge trial by fire. It seems that they’re trying to keep things relatively straightforward so far, at least in the romance section, with the apparent recap of Shana’s non-confession, Kazumi’s obsession, and Ike’s challenger entry.

Shana seems like the series that could work relatively well, at least with me, as long as it doesn’t devolve too hard into a monster-of-the-week show; there seems to be an overarching plot or conspiracy at least, but we’ll find out. It certainly can occupy the status of ‘light watching’ for now, anyway, compared to all the budding drama/tear-fests that we know visual novel adaptations are. The best way to put it is; I like what I see so far, but I don’t know how much of it I’ve seen.

And, with one more off-hand comment, the Shana OP rocks almost as hard as the M;Y OP. Literally.

So far the fall season has been quite pleasant so far on the adaptation side as a whole. A lot of series have shown a lot of possibility to become great shows; instead of being a huge, breakout show, there’s a bunch of solid shows. Clannad and Myself;Yourself are top picks from the old school of harem shows with strong and way moe characters. KimiKiss looks good for the more traditional romance crowd. ef’s the Shaft title which could go any way. Shana II is Shana, which I understand means a lot.

D.C. II is the one show that’s really dissapointed me so far; the second episode failed to continue with any of the interesting “progress” from episode 1, and the characters aren’t anything spectacular. But even with this show, I expect to make it to the end, if only to prove myself that there was nothing there.

With any luck though, this could be a very thrilling fall season…if you can keep your characters straight.

-CCY