ef ~ A Tale of Memories

Warning this review may contain spoilers.

First impressions, so another romance anime based of the v.n.
I should really stop watching these thing.
But who cares I am here to see some romantic shit and I hope I get it.

Story, 6/10

Now this is going to probably sound pretty generic but I going to tell why this isn't the problem.

So tale of memories is basically about these 2/half romances that are going on
In parallel with one another.
So I am going to brake and talk about a romances one at a time
Because both of them are somewhat different and handle things differently.

So the first one I am going to talk about.

Is about are main character for this part of the story at lest.
Renji who doesn't know what he wants to do in life and is kind of at a crossroad.
One day while going to his favorite place to read he meets
A mysterious girls named chihiro who he starts to befriend after seeing her again a few more times in the exact same place he meet her.
After awhile of them hangout she reveals to him that because of an accident she had when she was 12 that
she only has 13 hours worth of memory a day.
And the only way she would actually remember renji
Is because she writes in a diary about what has been going on.
so after he hiars bout this he decides to still say buy her side anyway
So basically after that they start developing a bond which one another.
While he helps her with her dream of writing a novel and helps her see more of the world around her.
And over time you can see this bond starts to grow stronger even though he forgets those moments.
Like for example there this one sene where she says to the renji "oh we should kiss and he like oh why and she says well we known each over for a while now" and I am like oh how sweet and endearing.
Now there was a few parts with some of drama that felt like it was shoe horned in just the reason being we need some drama for this.
for example her forgetting all about him and her memory re setting back to when she first had the accident because she tried to remember more than she Can handle with her trying to remembering more of the moments she has had with hiro.
with in turn causing lots of psychological pain.
Which was interesting even though it was kind of mellow dramatic
and also the fact that she also ripped out all the pages from her diary.
But in retrospect I can kind of see where it was coming from and it was coming from but this seems quite forced.

Now the second one I am going to talk about
Are main character for this part hiro Who is a professional mangaka who kind of dose things half assed in life.
So One day while on his way to attend a Christmas party.
He comes across a girl named miyako who has been robbed and after a series of events ends up hanging out with her for the entire night and forgets the party that he was going to.
That a childhood friend named kei who was also attending this party who he shares a kind of bother and sister bond with.
So after that he goes back to school its the usual shit.
Him working on his manga and Kai wakening him up in the morning.
After he goes to school The girl he had encountered on That night goes to his school and actually finds him and they start hanging out together.
But of course them hanging out together is starting to make hiro childhood friend kei
Jealous.
So basically this becomes a love triangle story with all the usual shit you would find in story's like this.
You know the back and forth between girls as the fight over him.
And a lot mallow drama which could have been solved a lot quicker if the main character hiro had actually done something and not just waste time.
Even though no one came up with the brilliant idea that they could both have him together but no never mind you can't have two girls friends.

And The other half that I was also talking about is pretty much just a background thing between this guy named kyosuke who likes to record things with a camera and is kind of into kei for reasons.
It's not that important in retrospect.
Because it background noise.
Used to give Kai a some what happier ending.

Now when I compare the romances together
I probably like the first one I mentioned between Renji and chihiro compared to hiro and miyako and Kai thing.
And when I think about it
It's quite funny is that the people who have this more
Fantastical romance where the ones that had there relationship handled in a vary mature way.
Because the main character renji like ok I got to take this slowly she doesn't remember and they have there relationship build it self up over time.
And in the other-one one girl is a complete psycho going like no he's mine and I will eased you from his heart. Even though out of the two relationships.
that was the one that was the most realistic even though it was kind of was handed in a very juvenile way.
But at the same time and I don't like using this as an excuse.
but they are kind of teenagers so in a way it's some what justified.

Now one thing which is quite good about both of the relationships is that actually go somewhere and also the main characters also get to home base home run so yah props to them for doing that.

A few negatives that I have with story in perticlar
Is that I wish that the pacing was a bit better because it some parts they did really rush it.
I think they could have fixed that if they had a few more episodes.
Another problem I kind of had is that's even though this show has some pretty interesting psychological elements.
But they never go into depth about it.
It's like shit happens and then after two episodes they get over the problem.
I can see where they where coming from but for It feels very one note.
But when I think about and compare it to most rom-coms story's I have seen
It was nice to see them try to go the extra mile even though they didn't explore it properly.
well properly wouldn't be the word I would use it more lack of deepth I guess is the more accurate word I am looking for.

Characters, 6/10

The two main protagonists renji and hiro
Are well interesting even though there personality are kind of generic.
And I think what makes both of them quite interesting is that they have some psychological issues which are brought up quite a few times.

But in retrospect it kind of looses its steam when your realize that the problem that they are face are very one note by nature and it seems like the kind of problems that lots of people kind of face in there lives when there around the teenage years.

So there problems are very relatable to quite a few people.

But when I also think about it the main girl characters at lest for this part.
Kei and chihiro and miyako had a more interesting psychological issues.

Which probably weren't the most relatable but where probably the more interesting out of the two.

The side characters at lest for this part.

Where ok most of them where pretty generic.
And some of them had hints of we also have some issues to it just we not going to show it yet.

But I must give credit to the fact that they use the normal stereotypes you would find in any show like this and adding something to them to make them more complex.

Art, 7/10

The animation looks very nice.
It feels very clear and crip.
The back ground look pretty nice as well.
There also quite a nice color scheme.

The art style is very generic especially for v.n standards.
Now one thing I noticed and I will give it credit for is that they would change the look of the show in some scenes and they also add a lot visual symbolism which adds some personally to the scenes.
For example we may all the color gone in the show for about 5 sec in one scenes
Or we have something that looks very trippy and artsy as all hell.

The character design where pretty generic.
It a v.n novel there nothing much to talk about.

Sound, 6/10

The op song for me was quite nice to listen to it
It has this relaxing feeling to it. At lest for me

The ending song didn't really stand out to me that much.
It was just kind of there.

The ost in general is pretty forgetble.
But it dose add a bit of atmosphere.
So it kind of doing it job.
It nothing special like there was never I time where I was like wow that sounds nice.
I want to listen to the full version of this.

Enjoyment, 6/10

A few things which I quite liked about the show are.
Well for one it takes its self with the right amount of seriousness and the relationships where quite interesting to watch.
Like for what this did and when I compare it was to other v.n anime.
It probably one of the better v.n anime out there.
Because There was nothing really wrong with this show in a general sense.
Like there are a few things that really hindered my enjoyment.
Like some of the drama that comes up and I would have liked pacing to be better.
It mostly nit picks.

Overall. 7/10

Now if your a fan of v.n anime or romance story's in general.
Then check this out.
Because for what it is it dose a pretty ok job.

Now if your not into v.n anime or romance anime in general.
Then this will probably not convince you to change your mind and starts watching them.
because it still follow the very same formula that you find very boring Rey quickly especially if your an experienced anime fan.