Ajimu: Kaigan Monogatari

Ajimu ~ Beach Story~ is a Romance, Comedy, Drama that can be described in one word “tacky”. Like those horrid pickup lines no uses anymore, this is just a shabby attempt at some serious romance.

It’s about Nakaido Hirosuke, some guy who’s become infatuated over a girl who takes the same train to school as him but he’s too indecisive to do anything about it. Then after some typical misunderstandings, Nakaido soon grows some balls to do something about this ambiguous situation he has with her. I could go on about what this anime is about but that would just about spoil the only interesting thing ... about it, which is the romance. Sure the romance in this follows a typical pattern; making it highly predictable for the average romance watcher nonetheless it’s still interesting. Although it would have been much better without the random comedy and thoughtless characters that ruin whatever decent mood that is being set up.

The characters here are fairly ordinary for your average high school themed romance anime and some are more interesting than others. Like the main heroine Ajimu and the other one Suzue, who are pretty much the only characters that make this worth watching. I don’t know why time was wasted on that fat chick but at least she doesn’t get in the way of the adequately written story.

The animation is another aspect that’s just about passable, since there are factors like the date of its release (2001) and it being an ONA (Original Net Anime) to keep in mind. So even though the inconsistent animation and unappealing art style did bother me somewhat, at least the settings and scenery were nicely done. As for the sound department, the voice acting is nothing special but the music’s interesting, which is mostly due to the Hawaiian theme. This results in some great insert songs but there’s a particular song that will become repetitive, fast.

Overall Ajimu is certainly not a bad anime but all the clichés, pointless comedy and stale characters don’t make it a great anime. Even though it was only 4 episodes long the story developed surprisingly slowly, leaving the final episode to throw in the “all so predictable” twist. At least I wasn’t disappointed but it’s not as if I expected much from it. Let’s just say it’s a romance anime good enough for romance lovers who are bored and have nothing decent to watch.

Ajimu Kaigan Monogatari.. Ahh. Natsukashii.

This anime was a dated one and yet, i had the luxury to watch it only last month (January). That is how i am deprived of anime time. huhu

Seriously, I have inhibitions in watching 4,5,6,7,8 parter anime. That is mainly because I might not enjoy the story or there might be no story at all. But this anime proved me wrong.

This series is an attempt to picture a teenage love, heartache and romance. It was compressed into 4 episodes at the cost of smooth story progression. The story isn't original at all but hey, isn't Ajimu cute? That's all that matters ... right?

Kidding and cuteness aside, the soundtrack of this anime is quite GOOD. The hawaiian themed music is a little uplifting. I remember myself googling for the soundtrack after watching the series but failed miserably. If anyone here has it, you know how to contact me *wink wink*

Ukelele (is it?) playing girl is a major plus. Singing girls are a major plus too. And that credit goes to the seiyuu. Her voice is very consistent throughout the series. You can notice that everytime she sings, the recording isn't a recycled version if you know what I mean. This is highly evident in the scene where Ajimu started crying in the stage.

Some recommendations. This anime could have been better if no ecchi scenes were incorporated (or am i just sensitive?). It just ruins the wholesome image of the main character. And yes, something is wrong with the love story. It should have been ME. haha.

To give a hint on the major plot, it is your ordinary love story, one you can see in soap operas. Boy meets girl, boy wants girl, girl hates boy, girl loves ex, girl falls in love, and so on. I can't find anything special in this anime. But still, a worthwhile watch if you're into love stories. 7.5/10. I am so generous. -_-

I wasn't too sure about this 4 parter when I started watching it, in fact the dated look of the artwork put me off quite a bit and I was in two minds whether to drop it or not.
The story revolves around a boy, Hirosuke, who sees a girl on the train on her way to school. Ajimu is pretty and one of those girls who you can only admire from a distance and who is seemingly unattainable. A series of events throws the pair of them together and the rest of the story revolves around their hesitant relationship and those around the couple.
Its ... not a great story, in fact there really isnt much of a story at all. The music has its moments and the feel of the surroundings is of a seaside resort that is experiencing a quiet season. What kept me watching was Ajimu who is not the usual pink haired moe anime girl, but rather an almost level headed person who is suffering the pangs of a lost love. In fact most of the characters had a sensible feel about them that was a refreshing change.
By the end of episode 3 I was considering that this was an anime that lost out. There is so much latent potential in it that could have been explored had there been more episodes, characters could have been fleshed out more and the story could have been given more substance. By the end of the series I was wishing it had been because I was actually enjoying it.
It is worth a watch, but dont take it too seriously because its just a light and fluffy 4 episodes and you wont be crying or rooting for the characters. But, do consider what could have been done here with a bit more work.
One of my favourite voice artists Chiba Saeko was responsible for voicing Ajimu and singing the OP and ED and that was an added attraction.
I do feel that there is merit here and in spite of its low rankings this is one of those animes that left me thinking, "this is one of those that needs to be redone."

Ajimu: Beach Story is a weird case where a series is completely average and does not leave you with much to say about it yet it’s worth talking about. It also happens to begin in a most alienating way yet if you stick with it, it ends in a somewhat satisfactory manner.

The premise and overall story is as generic and predictable as it can get, it’s nothing you haven’t seen in another hundred romance stories, even by the time it came out. It’s this basic and overused premise of a guy immediately falling in love with a beautiful girl and then he gets to know ... her through misunderstandings, he gets rejected, later on he gets accepted but other characters blend in the situation, and a love polygon unfolds, you know the deal.

It even begins in a horrible way since the first episode is unbearably bad, every event that happens in it feels very forced to make Hirosuke get to know Ajimu and even more make him looks bad in her eyes, by being accused of molesting her in public due to a misunderstanding and then forcefully kiss her by accidentally falling over her.

The bad points don’t stop there since the episode follows with dried clichés and repetitive jokes until he meets her again by coincidence in several places and tries to apology to her every single time, he is so timid he can’t talk to her and thus it makes her believe he’s stalking her. I tell you, the first episode couldn’t possibly feel more forced in giving him a bad image. His attitude makes things even worse since he certainly follows her around and instead of apologizing properly, he remains silent, of course a girl would think such a guy is stalking her.

The visual department only makes things worse because it is terribly bad too. This is just a generic romance that normally wouldn’t require much effort to be presented with an acceptable visual department, yet Ajimu: Beach Story fails horribly even in that. The artwork looks horrible most of the time, the characters figures constantly go off-model, the movements are jerky, the backgrounds are clearly unfinished most of the time, and there are no remarkable special effects or directing tricks to make up even just a bit for such visual disaster. I understand that this was made in the early 2000’s and it was released through internet at that time, but come on, this level of quality is unacceptable.

Thankfully, there are a few times where the series looks good, sometimes the characters looks good in main frames, sometimes the illumination adds in delivering a certain emotion during a scene, sometimes the backgrounds look finished, sometimes. Also, although the character figures are bad, their designs are great, I mean, they are not particularly elaborate or memorable, in fact they look pretty simple and kind of generic, but for once here you have teenagers about to graduate from high school that look like young adults instead of kids from kindergarten. They even pass as university students in the first episode because of that.

Even better, the characters don’t have over exaggerated proportions and aren’t sexualized for the sake of fanservice. Ok, the series is not completely free of this, there is a panties shot and another boobs shot in two different episodes, there, two shots in the whole series. The girls also appear in swimsuits because, well, the events happen in a beach during summertime so what do you expect? Even then, the series never show these characters as walking fetishes, even when it could. You can show respect to these people.

So, the awful visuals improve a little but what about the story? Well, the misunderstandings are cleared and more interesting characters appear towards the end of the first episode, from then, there are both good and bad things to say about the plot. There are clichés and conveniences to justify why everyone know each other from the past and why everyone is attracted to a certain person within the same group.

There is also a dramatic event which came out of nowhere in the last episode, which happened just to spice things up and make the viewer believe there’s going to be a tragic ending, and there isn’t one. Normally I would shit all over a series for trolling its audience like that, but in this case it was a good thing because otherwise it would be a very lazy cop-out that came out of nowhere, tragedy for the sake of tragedy just for giving cheap feels to its audience.

There are two other things that bother me regarding the story, one is a fat chick who is a walking deus or diabolus ex machina that appears just to force misunderstandings, add silly comedy or help a certain character near the end, thankfully she doesn’t appear much. The other is that a seemingly very young girl is attracted to a 17 year old guy and a teenage girl has the hots for an old man. Thankfully either the guys know their places or the series never focus on such pairings, because nothing happens with them beyond that.

The good part has to do with the drama and the tone, as I said, there are no perversions here, the comedy does not really land but is never thrown when something sad is happening, the drama is presented in a satisfactory way because there aren’t exaggerated situations (well, at least not that much) and the presentation is not melodramatic. The conflicts the characters go through have to do with the people they like being in love with someone else or dealing with getting over a past love, and they don’t make a big fuss over those things nor they drag the situations, they are honest about their feelings and confront the people they love, they accept the response, and move on.

That is another plus of this series, the pacing. It is fast, no event is dragged more than it needs to because the characters face the other person and deal with their problems when they have to. That leads to another good aspect of the series, the characters, when you watch a romance anime aimed at young audiences you expect generic people with generic presence and generic personalities, girls with high pitched voices that either make you love them or get to your nerves, and guys who are complete jerks towards them.

This is not the case with this series, the characters here are pretty likeable, they are not that memorable nor they have any deep and complicating personalities, but they act in a very mature and sensible manner for their ages to the most part, which is really rare for this genre.

They have backdrops that explain their behavior and interactions with others, and they do get some development and catharsis as they get over what is affecting them. No one is an asshole, they are very friendly even with their love rivals and even help them sometimes in one way or another, they are also very honest and open with their feelings and not in an overblown way, which, again, is really rare for this genre, especially nowadays.

As for the ending, well, is somewhat satisfactory, it ends in a predictable and kind of open way, but every character got happiness in one way or another, that’s all I’m going to say, I’m not spoiling stuff, even if there is not much to spoil.

As for the sound, the voice acting is well done albeit nothing special, the songs are good yet not particularly memorable and they can get a bit repetitive, and the sound effects are serviceable. This department is good, nothing amazing, but good, it almost makes up for the awful visuals.

So down to it Ajimu: Kaigan Monogatari is nothing special or amazing, is not very famous nor is particularly memorable and it sure as hell is not rewatchable because of how generic and predictable it is. Yet, it hits the mark where it needs to, is not insulting in any particular way, it doesn’t last much to annoy you or bore you, is messy but not horribly written or presented and it has likeable characters.
It’s awful to look at and hard to get into, but if you stick with it, it somewhat rewards you for that, almost to the end, in other words, is the exact contrary to the vast majority of anime that comes out today, and that is another plus.

Ajimu Kaigan Monogatari Review
April 15, 2019

Overall: 6.6

Plot: 7

The series consist of only four episodes about a beginning of romance with an average guy and a musician girl. There is nothing really new on the story itself. A kind of love story where someone is waiting, someone is dumb enough to notice the others feelings, where there are pain in the past. Watching this kind of story sometimes is fine, in an ordinary and peaceful day while resting in the bed. Even if it is only four episodes, it does not look like it has been rushed. Every scenarios, every emotions, was presented naturally. It ... feels like watching a commercial anime break. Just a light and fast pace story that will let you rest on your ongoing plan to watch list of animes.

Characters: 6

The two characters I set my eyes on is the supporting ones. There's nothing really unique and eye catching on the lead of the series. A timid guy falling for a beatiful girl, that is not my type at all. What's more cool to see is a guy, confident on himself, but silently watching the girl he loves love someone else until he can't take it anymore. And the girl trying to move forward with him because he is not martyr enough to bear the pain. I think, that is the reason why the story keeps going. Because yeah, not all love story is about being chummy all over and falling for it.

Sound and Animation: 6

Since this is an old anime, you don't want to expect any gorgeous animation on it. If I were to say, the way the characters are drawn, from their looks and gestures, it really looks like I'm watching an ecchi or hentai anime. Apart from the two characters that was well created, all of the characters lack distinction. What I mean is that it feels like there is no aura on them to stand for. Their just there to fulfill the role given to them and thats it. But music wise, I really love it. It is mellow, kind of sad but still good to hear.

Enjoyment: 7

I download this anime when I first saw the train scenario on facebook. My impression was it was a funny anime. Yes, some of it is really funny. Most are typical. The only thing that keeps me going is the part where I want to know how the story ends. I can't really tell it was worth a shot but if you are totally bored and want a change of pace once in a while, you can try this one.

Ending: 7

It was unexpectedly expected. Well, how the protagonists of the story come to decide ln what she really felt because of something happen is a common way to end a love story. I did not just expect that the author will use it as an escape to finish it. Maybe I expected another thing, more unique than any other existing ending of love stories. Maybe that is just how the series should end.