Kono Yo no Hate de Koi o Utau Shoujo YU-NO is an anime that adapts a classic visual novel. I read the VN before I watched the anime, but I will avoid spoilers beyond the first episode, aside from talking about the tone and such.

For a little background, the VN first came out in 1996. At the time, it was extremely innovative. Many other famous VNs could be said to have been deeply inspired by it. An English fan translation patch came out in 2011, and that's the one I played. The rights were eventually transferred to 5pb (now called Mages) which went on to publish a graphically updated remake in 2017, which just had an English localization released on Steam today (yes, they timed it with the last episode!). This anime is an adaptation of the modern remake, but reportedly both the 1996 version and the 2017 version have the exact same script and system, it's just the audiovisual elements that differ.

Now, to talk about what the story is like. I'll put it this way: if you're a major fan of Steins;Gate, this is a must-watch anime (or alternatively, must-play VN). The basic premise of YU-NO, evident from the first episode, is that the protagonist's consciousness travels through time. A lot. And that has various interesting implications. In VN terms, it's a "multi-route mystery" in which the protagonist makes difference choices that let him see more of the truth, until the bigger picture finally becomes clear. The plot is extremely intricate, focusing on the same places and the same cast, who adopt different roles and show different sides of themselves in each arc. It's a tight and intricate time leap-based plot.

The first episode crams in too many events, but after that they're well-paced. The animation is not especially impressive; it's just average. The music, on the other hand, is wonderful, and helps add impact to many scenes; it's borrowed from the VN. What made the anime especially enjoyable is how they fixed one of the VN's major flaws. In the VN, the protagonist doesn't remember what happened in previous time leaps. This was surely the case due to technical limitations inherent in having the protagonist react differently to all the little details. But since the anime cuts out or speeds past repeated content, and tells the story in the most efficient way possible without the protagonist wandering around trying to find clues, it can afford to tweak the protagonist's reactions and provide him with character development.

The bottom line is that watching the anime felt like a completely fresh take on the story, in which the protagonist acts rationally and pieces together the truth himself without wasting time. Furthermore, around halfway into the anime, they added an episode or two of filler content oriented around one of the heroines that also builds up the relationship between some of the central characters. I thought this was awesome, because she didn't have enough development in the original story, and the characters didn't interact with one another as much. It felt very satisfying to see this kind of character development.

Anyway, what I've talked about so far is the initial style of YU-NO's story. But after a number of such arcs, the story experiences a genre shift. I won't say exactly which episode, but it's about 2/3 of the way through the anime. The first few post-shift episodes are fairly true to the VN, and while unconventional and full of revelations, they still feel very grounded, and are even emotionally moving. But later on in the anime, especially the last half dozen or so episodes, the anime has a heavy amount of filler, and significantly changed some events. The anime staff clearly wanted to try to bring in more of the side characters and incorporate more action elements, in order to spice up the VN's more "direct" conclusion. However, the additions fell a bit flat, coming off as a series of cliches. And I'll be blunt: there are too many plot holes to count. (I'm not the kind of person who uses the term "plot hole" lightly.) I respect the anime staff's ambition, though. In any case, the overall structure of the story stays true to the VN, and the end is the same. But even in the case of the VN, people typically think the final arc was weaker than the earlier parts of the story... with the addition of these anime original developments, the contrast was even starker. Still, most viewers ought to be entertained and want to see how the story concludes.

Wondering if you should watch the anime or read the VN? They each have their strengths and weaknesses. The VN is a classic point-and-click adventure game, in which you can click on everything in the background and receive amusing little comments in response. When I played the VN, I wasted so much time clicking on stuff without making progress, and felt bored and frustrated. On the other hand, I know that many people loved having the ability to interact with the world personally to figure out how to solve the setting's mysteries. If you're in doubt, my recommendation is to watch the first arc of the anime -> play some of the VN -> decide if you want to continue the VN with its extra detail and personal involvement, or switch back to the anime. As for the big differences in later events between the anime and VN... well, from a literary perspective the VN is far superior, but the anime's changes were at least ambitious, so I don't feel like dismissing them completely.

YU-NO is far from a perfect anime adaptation, but it's properly paced and adapts a classic VN that has many worthwhile aspects. It deserves to be a lot more popular than it is.