[Eminent]

Review and format by Eminent

ef - A Tale of Memories

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Notes:

I am in construction of a new, better format for my reviews. The initial format was made fairly quickly, without revision. For the next couple of reviews, you may see some format changes, in order for better viewing experience, and easier access of knowledge.

This area is where I will say any important announcements about the series ahead of time, that I feel you need to know before reading the review.

For this specific series, there isn't anything in particular that needs to be put here, but I should have you know, that after over an hour of writing a review for this, my computer died, and I lost all progress. What you read from here on is a remake of it, hopefully as well written as the previous one.

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Summary:

On Christmas Eve, Hiro Hirono's bike is stolen by a girl chasing a thief who stole her purse. He gives chase and finds her unconscious and his bike ruined. The girl, Miyako Miyamura, soon awakes and the two begin to talk. After making sure she is okay, they end up spending Christmas Eve together. Later, Hiro finds out Miyako attends the same school as him and they begin to spend more and more time together, Miyako developing affections for Hiro. Kei Shindou -- Hiro's childhood friend who has long held a crush on him -- begins to become jealous and a love triangle follows.

The series also tells the story of Renji Asou. One day, he meets Chihiro Shindou, the twin sister of Kei Shindou, at an abandoned train station. Even though she's very shy, they get along pretty well and begin meeting at the same spot everyday. However, Renji finds out that Chihiro was in a car accident years ago and as a consequence she suffers from a disability: her memory lasts only 13 hours. Nevertheless, after learning that Chihiro's dream is to write a novel, Renji finally decides to help her fulfill her dream while also trying to make her overcome the difficulties imposed by her condition.

Information:

Episodes: 12
Aired: Oct 6, 2007 to Dec 23, 2007
Genres: Mystery, Drama, Romance, Seinen
Stream: AnimeFreak • AnimeFTW • AnimeUltima • CrunchyRoll
Download: Nyaa.eu

OP/ED:

OP
Spoiler (Click to View)





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Trailer:





Review:

Plot:

The plot to this ef - A Tale of Memories was... well, interesting.

The creators of this series did something bold, and very unique with the plot. They decided to tell two stories at once. Because of them telling two stories, and there being two plots, they split each episode into 2, going between two groups of people. I didn't particularly like that they went back and forth between the two, but the decision did enhance the story.

However, if you look at it deeper, it would even be incorrect to say that there are 2 storylines in this series. The way it was executed was beautiful, too. There was a different plot for every single character in the show.

Now, now, I know that's something that's hard to comprehend. How could there be a unique plot for each person?

Each person has unique beliefs, each character has unique goals, unique dreams, unique relationships, unique experiences. Everything about each person is one of a kind, no two of them are the same. If you think about, wouldn't it make sense that each person has their own battle to fight through? Each character has their own story.

EF did a brilliant job of giving each character their own story.

Now, if you only focused on the two main plots, neither one is dumbfounding, yet neither is bland or terrible. Both are fairly average, but average plots aren't fun. The fact that so many plots were combined is what made this series so interesting. It makes the viewer draw connections throughout the show to other characters' pasts, which further strengthens the bond to that character.

Characters:

I talked a little bit more about characters in the last section than I wanted to, but it was necessary.

The characters in this show were great. I'm not saying they're great because of how awesome each one is, or how funny they are, or how cute the girls are. Nope. Each character is great because of how they were developed.

See, unlike most anime, each character was made to be human. Humans have flaws, humans mess up, humans aren't always the most appealing, humans don't always realize things in time, humans don't always know what to say, or how they are making other people feel. In this series, all of that was in mind, and they decided not to make characters for the sole purpose of being appealing, but rather to make them realistic. That is why the characters are brilliant.

Besides how realistic each character is on their own, many characters have pasts that are directly related to another's. Decisions made in the past are shown to have greatly impacted other people's lives. In fact, if it wasn't for the decisions of a certain character's past, half of the story wouldn't need to be told.

I also think it's important to realize that when looking at the memories of the characters, they don't seem like completely different people. Of course, their minds are simpler due to their age, but they are the same people, and they have a lot of the same characteristics.

It may have been hard to understand some of those things, due to how difficult it is to articulate the characters without spoiling the show. Hopefully everything is understandable.

Thoughts:

Overall, I though the series was great.

After watching it, and thinking about it some more, I came to find a very interesting idea about this anime. The motivating factor to continue watching this series is very different than most, and it's a very bold factor.

This series is not happy. There are a lot of times when extremely sad things happen, and it could even have you in tears a few times. Even when happy things happen, there is a melancholy aura around the whole situation. Although it doesn't leave you feeling bad, it makes you feel as if something is missing. It's as if supposedly good things happen, but you're left unsatisfied with what the series is feeding you.

The motivating factor behind this series, is that hopefully, somehow, things will get better, something great will happen, and you will feel satisfied.

Now, don't get me wrong, that doesn't make this series bad. In fact, I think it may have actually helped the series. However, if you want to feel happy the entire time, this is probably not the show for you.

The graphics and animation of this series was something extremely unique. This series took advantage of the idea that art can manipulate emotion. Rather than just showing a series like it was taken with a video camera, they took advantage of the fact that everything was art. Sometimes scenes would warp, art styles would change, there would be auras around characters. Everything about the art was unique, and it directly influences the emotion surrounding every major scene.

The way the artwork was executed was brilliant.

The same thing can be said for the audio, which always took advantage of mood, in a subliminal way.

One thing I disliked, was that there was one extra character. For the most part, in romance anime the boy gets one girl. That being said, what happens when there are two girls? Well, obviously, one of them has to be dropped somewhere along the line. When both of those girls are extremely appealing as characters, the viewer will always be torn between the two, and when one of them is dropped, there will never be a happy feeling.

If there wasn't an extra character that was doomed from the beginning, it would have been happier. However, as we established from the beginning, happy isn't what the creators were aiming for.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys romance or seinen series. It will keep your attention, and you'll love it.

My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 8.5/10

MAL Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 8.36/10

[Jay‌]

Oh man come on it was at least a solid 9. D:

Dat animation. :I

[Eminent]

Oh man come on it was at least a solid 9. D:

Dat animation. :I

Yeah, it was pretty tough to score tbh.

The review of the second season will probably be more complete, since I'll know the whole story.

[Chubaca]

I always love the reviews you make and you inspire me to make better reviews.

[venusuar]

I gave it a 10/10 when I finished it. Melodies was worse in my opinion. I loved this anime, and also nice review for it. If you people reading the review have second thought on whether or not to watch it, WATCH IT, it was one of my favorite anime of all time.

[Eminent]

I gave it a 10/10 when I finished it. Melodies was worse in my opinion. I loved this anime, and also nice review for it. If you people reading the review have second thought on whether or not to watch it, WATCH IT, it was one of my favorite anime of all time.

Almost everything seemed like it was finished as a solid ending after memories, so I am interested to see what melodies ends up being about.

[Aberrant]

Another excellent review Emi, thank you very much. You always give me new insights on what to watch! :)

[ƒigure]

Great review mate, thanks for the share. I will be sure you check this anime out

[cultivity]

I've never watched the ef series before, but your review is convincing me to watch it... even though I have essays to complete!!

[juniiflow]

Hmm, darkshadowz did a review on this series aswell..

[Nathann22]

Amazing review!
I have to finish this sooner or later. c:

[Levi]

This anime was a solid 10 for me, personally one of my favorites, nice review.

[Aarоn]

Nice review. I personally think this anime was an 9/10 and same thing ef - A Tale of Melodies.
I just think the show was a little over dramatic but I guess that makes the show good.