ef – a tale of melodies
Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are the side-characters from ef.
Highlights: Perhaps the foreshadowing was a bit too shallow, but gorgeous visuals and solid storytelling.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
I liked ef, but I agree with the big criticism against it: its “I love you-now let’s have sex”-mentality. It’s a bit unrealistic, considering how well-written the rest of the series was. This episode too had such a moment, where a girl drew herself in the nude, in the middle of an empty classroom. I mean, perhaps she could do that because ef’s world is totally empty apart from its important characters, but it does take away a bit of the believability. Nevertheless, this episode was very solid, and a good contender for the best teenaged romance this season, along with Clannad. It’s very good to see that the creators spent a lot of time on their dialogue and visuals, and it’s good to see another Shaft-series without Shinbo behind the director’s seat. No offence, but I’m beginning to get a bit tired of his style.
One Outs
Short Synopsis: Our lead characters lives on the bad side of humanity.
Highlights: Whoa, intense.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
I haven’t looked at the staff list for this show or anything, but something really tells me that the staff of Akagi and Kaiji is behind this one, or at least it’s a bunch of people who are trying to go for the same style: the character-designs are kept ugly for a reason, a lot of emphasis is put on gambling, (this is not, I repeat NOT a regular baseball-series), there are mind games a plenty, there are a few guys who stand miles above the others in terms of skills, and the pacing is sloooooooooooooooow. This series could go down the same path as Kaiji, so there’s no way I’m going to blog this, but nevertheless this episode was very intense. And: it’s a story about adults. Always good in this season of teenagers.
Edit: well, what do you know, I was right. The entire staff of Akagi and Kaiji seems to be behind this. Prepare for lots of adrenaline and dragged on dialogues!
Mouryou no Hako
Short Synopsis: Our lead characters gets befriended with a mysterious girl.
Highlights: Shoujo ai and Horror. What could possibly get better than that?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,75/10
Omg! Omg! What an awesome first episode! After Jigoku Shoujo, this ranks as the best of the past season, and I’m really glad to see some more good horror back this season. This episode was in itself a standalone story, and it really showed that the people behind this series know what it takes to come with a good short story: the characters are fleshed out first, there’s a bit of very tense drama here and there, and the end ends with hitting character-development. There also were a number of artistic moments here and there, for example when the girls danced around in the field of flowers, but I found that it contributed really well to the overall atmosphere. Obviously, this is not a series for everyone: if you need overly cute girls, fanservice or comedy in your anime, you’ll be disappointed here. But personally, I LOVE this series so far!
If Mouryou no Hako has generic lesbians blushing every 5 seconds I’m out. If its deeper than that I’m in definitely tuning in for the second episode, those character designs are way too fantastic to be wasted on such a show.
Glad that Mouryou no Hako turned great it’s the show I am most looking forward to watch ^_^
And are you actually planing to watch One Outs ? never thought you’d like it.
yay! Mouryou no hako finally 🙂 Thanks for the review
Oh Mouryou no Hako, how I love thee. Madhouse. CLAMP. MYSTERY NOVEL. If this turns out to be crap, I seriously will lose faith in humanity. (But right now it’s every bit as awesome as I had hoped)
We seem to disagree on romantic shows quite often. (: Not that we entirely disagree on ef (I love ef!), but I 100% disagree with criticizing it for its characters having sex once they realized they were in love. On the contrary, I actually found the “sex scenes” in the original ef to be extremely powerful and emotionally intense, and I’m constantly lauding the writers and directors for not falling into the same traps as most ero-game adaptions (that being the omission of sex scenes). Sex scenes, if done tastefully, can be EXTREMELY beautiful, and I’m very much of the opinion that ef’s sex scenes are some of the best I’ve ever seen.
I suppose part of your own criticisms might be due to cultural differences, though. I’m actually not sure where you’re from, but I can tell you that in Japan, being in love pretty much DOES equate to sex. Sex is actually far less taboo in Japanese culture than it is most anywhere else, and if two people are in love, it’s pretty much assumed that they’re sexually active. The concept of “I love you, now let’s have sex” is not very far removed from reality, and the way those scenes played out in ef didn’t strike me as even remotely misplaced or fanciful – they were realistic, appropriate, and perfectly presented.
At any rate, I’m glad to see ef returning, and getting your seal of approval (overall). Along with 5-2, Clannad, and Higurashi, ef was one of my most anticipated shows of this season. As I grow older, yet remain alone, good romance stories – especially melodramatic ones – tend to really resonate with me. 😉
-Tom
… What happened to my comment? It seems to have gotten lost in the ether, or something…
-Tom
Nice to see you liked Mouryou no Hako’s first ep, it’s one of the few shows that I had high expectations for given the premise…
I nominated it on your survey for a show to blog but only if you weren’t gonna blog Tytania and Michiko to Hacchin…how did that turn out btw?
*premise and production team
I went into Mouryou no Hako as a huge fan of the novel, really worried about how shojoing it up would work.
Now I’m wondering how I ever thought any other style was possible. They really captured it perfectly.
Looking forward to seeing how they capture the main cast when the story proper begins next week.
Wyrdwad: apologies. Sometimes, when someone posts a long insightful comment, blogsome sometimes gets a bit paranoid and holds the comment up for moderation. You’ve made a great point, though, and it’s good to see the other side of the argument. 😉
LifeCarrier: Tytania won that poll, so I’m going to end up blogging that.
MiracleGirl: well, with the staff of Akagi and Kaiji, it’s always fun to watch where One Outs will be going, provided that it doesn’t drag on for too much.
I think romantic interests having sex is way more realistic than not. Just because the conventional way is to save it for marriage or until near the very end, I don’t think it’s such a big deal especially if it’s romantically involved people going at it.
Also, ef’s storytelling is basically made to push all sorts of buttons and what other shocking way to do it than with sex appeal? And really, going through sexual experimentation is not too shocking IMO. I know some people were doing crazy things even back in middle school.
looking forward to hearing your thoughts on kurozuka too 🙂
I’m absolutely in love with Mouryou no Hako! I’m begging you, Psgels: please blog this awesome anime!
I’m also looking forward for your first impressions about “Kurozuka”: I’m sure you will enjoy it ^^
Are there any chances you will blog One Outs?
Oh yeah, One Outs definitely looks very interesting.
A lot of bloggers are totally hating on it because of Akagi/Kaiji comparisons, but why is that a bad thing again? I don’t think it is.
Definitely interested in someone blogging without trying to bash overblown theatrics for what they are.
Mu: there’s a pretty good chance that I’m going to blog Mouryou no Hako, becuase I love the concept so far. One Outs is a series that I’m definitely NOT going to blog. It’s a nice series and all, but it’s a series you just need to shut up and watch. I found that out while blogging Kaiji, last year.
It’s a shame we won’t read your opinion about One Outs 🙁 Well, it’s your blog after all ^^
I’m really happy about Mouryo no Hako! 😀
I totally adore one outs after having the chance to watch it. I surprisingly did not catch those two other shows because I felt that the graphics in Akagi and Kaiji are way too ugly for me to accept *yes I am superficial*. This, coupled with my huge interest in baseball, makes it almost certain for me to watch it.
Thanks for giving a push to Mouryou no Hako. Ep1 really impressed me, too.
I found One Outs utterly boring and stupid, but there you go. I normally hate the word “emo,” but I’m tempted to use it as a criticism of that episode. I couldn’t take the characters seriously.
On ef, I agree and disagree. Like you, I am generally opposed to the meme that people spend months getting to “I like you” and then have sex immediately thereafter. But I didn’t get that vibe from the first series at all. The sex was quite beautiful, and was almost realistic for the world I know. I found the nude drawing scene in ef2 a bit weird, but it was very strong, communicated something about the two of them, and helped create the magical world of ef anew. A bold stroke.
Mouryou no Hako is really the best series of this season with the 3rd Jigoku shoujo!!!!
I thought parts of Mouryou no Hako got a bit melodramatic with them dancing in the moonlight and it threw me off, but the general premise seems interesting.