Do you have any memories you don’t want to forget?

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?)