Yes it is true, on the outside, Ef - A Tale of Memories looks like any normal romance animes, two persons meet, character development, fall in love, the end. Well yes, Ef does follow that kind of storyline (actually they all do), but that's not the point here. Frankly, this serie has been under-rated, and it was by chance that I fell on it, and I must say, I was really lucky that day.Now what makes Ef - A Tale of Memories so different from other romance animes such as Love Hina, Ichigo 100%, To-Love-Ru, Tora Dora? They all follow the simple road of romance animes, right? It's not even that double story telling that makes it unique (it handles it very well by the way), what makes it so unique, is its cast of characters. Every single character in Ef has this feeling where you can hate them and love them at the same time. Either to the light-hearted Renji, the child-like Chihiro, the tsundere-kind Kei, the hardworking Hiro or the confused Miyako.But really, what made me watch Ef until the end? Clearly not because of the kind of story, but that huge shock they give you right from the start about Chihiro, it only takes a girl, back to the camera and some awesome looking background, and one line to make you watch this, until the very end. But that's not all, since Ef has this two stories at the same time system, you just can't wait for the other story development making you feel that the waiting is torture. Animation : 9/10The animation in Ef was done by Shaft, and Shaft is recognized as a color animation group, which means adding alot of colours and effects. Sometimes that technique doesn't work at all, but strangely, in Ef, that kind of animation worked perfectly for this one. Clearly Ef has made some major improvement in the animation work, in the background scneries such as the final scene (that scene was freaking awesome by the way). Each setting for each scenes are pefectly done and fit perfectly the kind of dialogue said. Clearly this one is a masterpiece in animation. The only downpoint in this, are the characters, they look just normal compared to the sceneries and backgrounds, which is a shame really.
I mean look at that O_o
Characters : 8/10The characters are what made Ef awesome. The character development in this one is not even comparable to other ones, considering this one was more psychological based than emotional based. But there was something in the characters that made me rate this down, is the lack of introduction for characters. You have to figure each character out by the hints given in the dialogue (strangely all the characters are somehow related), but what makes this go up, is really the leading characters, either Miyako and Hiro or Chihiro and Renji, but the last two really steal the show for this one.
Sound : 10/10The soundtracks, the dialogue, the voice actors, all were more than awesome, they were simply remakable. The soundtrack was perfectly used in every scene, it fitted perfectly the scene where it was used. The voice actors, not the ones with the most credits, but clearly have put all they got when they did Ef. And the dialogue was simply brilliant, every single words hitted you. Now who could have thought only five minutes of dialogues and words scrolling on the screen could have been so intense? Really the sounds in this one are unbelievable.Overall: 9/10I know some of you think that I'm just a fanboy writing a lame review, but this one really deserves the score it has, it's not the perfect romance/drama anime out there, but it really is worth the time, a little bit short though, 12 episodes, but I think that it was the perfect size (you don't want to make these kinds of animes too long). I really think that Ef - A Tale of Memories should be set as an example for future animes not just romance, but every kind, you have to take the viewers right from the start and never let them go. Even if you're not into these kinds of romance/drama animes, you should give this one a try, because I guarantee you that you will not only love it, you will adore it. And if you don't shed just a tear at the end, then you don't have a heart or you just don't have emotions.The Good:
- top notch arts
- great story, smart character development
- awesome soundtrackThe Bad
- Not much to say, except that one of the stories get a tad bit boring compared to the other
