Fuyu no Semi

Fuyu no Semi is presented as yaoi. It is not so simple.
Fuyu no Semi is somehow like Romeo and Juliet in Japan, just before and at the beginning of Meiji period. It is a love story that succeeded to make me cry, no matter the time, no matter the people, no matter the sex.

Forget yaoi. Fuyu no Semi talks about male feelings, honor, convictions, modernity... and love.

Moreover, Fuyu no Semi is very interesting for his historical aspects. But history courses never succeeded in making me cry...

Fuyu no Semi is a wonderful, bittersweet love story. What I liked the most about the show was, without a doubt, the characters! Cliche'd characters like Shuuichi and Eiri from Gravitation have their appeals as well, but Fuyu no Semi was the first yaoi show that I have ever watched where I thought to myself, "Wow, these people are 'real'.". I could really empathize with Akizuki and Kusaka through both the highs and lows of their relationship and their experiences together led me to reflect about aspects of life and love that I otherwise wouldn't have given much thought to in my ... day to day life. Not to mention, the tearjerking parts were the first of their kind in my experiences to leave me with an almost happy feeling as opposed to a "depressed and in need to watch a super comedy show like Hayate no Gotoku to pick me up again" feeling XD

All in all, Fuyu no Semi was an absolutely Beautiful show that is a must watch for all yaoi fans.

Fuyu no Semi is a wonderful love story.It is definetly a yaoi anime, and very touching one. After searching for good yaoi and shounen-ai animes, I finally end up in appreciating Fuyu no Semi, besides gakuen heaven.

STORY:
What is good about this anime is that it can be placed into various categories such as drama, action, historical, romance etc.
Its story plot is dammed good for 3 OVA containing all these categories. The story is a very touching one. The emotional aspects both the main characters, Akizuki and Kusaka, can really be felt through out the anime, (The emotions experienced by both Akizuki and Kusaka ... especially regarding separation caused due to different clans.) This anime really shows various aspects of life, be it emotionally or practically.
What is the most interesting part of Fuyu no Semi is the love and appreciation that is present between the main pairing, especially the last part of the anime (very touching moment).

ART:
The art is very good... except that these types of art styles goes well with male characters only. I believe that the female characters should have drawn in other style. So, this aspect did not cause any effect to the anime because the main leads were male only.

SOUND:
For a hystorical anime, with lots of saddeness, separation and war, the sound well suited to the plot.

CHARACTER:
The characters were marvellous, especially the main pairing. Both leads were great. The appreciation and love between the main characters were great...No bad comments from my part for the main characters.

ENJOYMENT:
Well I end up enjoying the anime throughout... except for the ending which left me speechless. But the ending did left an impact on me, in terms that, love is extremely beautiful though it can bring trajedy, sadness, loneliness and... sacrifice.

OVERALL:
This anime is definetly a great experience. I, personally, was not a fan of shounen-ai in the past but after watching anime like gakuen heaven (for example) I realised that there is really something special with that kind of gay or lesbien love that many societies, in various parts of world still rejects. Yaoi and shounen-ai animes really makes one realised that love is beyong physical...

Fuyu no Semi is about two people of opposite factions falling in love for each other. A love that is never meant to be because of the circumstances they find themselves in. Sounds familiar? Well. It basically sounds like a classic tragic love story and in its essence, it is. What’s fascinating for the western viewer is its setting around the Boshin war which led to the Meiji period and their implications to the story. The historic facts were embedded pretty well in the story, both being referenced by the characters and having huge impact on their lives. The at the beginning seemingly shallow characters ... were fleshed out well when the conflicts and decisions led us see deeper into who they really are, ultimately cumulating in a tragic climax. One can even think that the work comments on how their naïve, even romantic view of the political situation and their escapism of that reality helped leading them into their downfall.

The music and production quality are reasonable. Although there was nothing standing out, the director knew how to use the available resources well which led to a quite enjoyable experience. We could easily follow the struggles of the characters and while some of their decisions were questionable, it makes them quite human and can led us reflect on their fate and what it means to love. Especially the title-giving comparison with the cicada let us think of the what-ifs, giving the story a melancholic feeling and one can even see a twisted irony in its tale. Would they have been able to be happy when they were patient and waited one more year? Would they have been happy if they just made different decisions? Or was the tragic fate sealed alone by the fact of living at that time and place?

In the end these OVAs presented us with a classic drama with its own unique spin and a lot of interesting themes that can be interpreted into them. Definitely a worthwhile watch for people who can live with Yaoi and like a tragic love story in a historic setting.

Disclaimer: Sorry for this mediocre review, I - I- I'm not doing this because I want to, you know >.

One of the most amazing things I've watched in a long time. It was a surprisingly realistic story about the struggles of two men. It wasn't all smut, which was a nice change. It made me cry like a baby, let me tell you. Gosh, it was so great, I can't even describe it.

I'll start by saying that I bawled my eyes out in the end of this anime. If you don't want to watch something that'll draw that sort of reaction out of you, don't watch this. Wait, scratch that, if you don't want to watch something that'll draw that sort of reaction out of you, watch this anyway and go to your happy place in the end. If you skip this, you will never know what you missed out on.

The story was beautiful and incredibly believable. It was everything a yaoi lover such as myself could've asked for, and it wasn't purely smut like some OVAs ... from the genre.
The art really wasn't bad, and I'm giving it a 7.
The soundtrack really didn't stand out to me, but that's probably a good thing. Some older anime have the habit of continuously playing annoying background music, but this one didn't, thank goodness. Nonetheless, it's a 6.
The characters were amazing, and probably a huge part of the reason why I liked Fuyu no Semi so much. 9.

Anyway, this is truly a masterpiece of the yaoi genre, and I recommend this to everyone, even those who aren't big on it. This is nothing like the plotless porn we find in so many yaoi anime these days.

the story is brilliant and will bring a tear to even the coldest of hearts. when one watches this masterpiece they are pulled into a world of beauty and hate.

This is the third yaoi anime I watched, and the second one with strong sexual content within it. I really enjoyed this anime not only because of samurai which that is my second favorite genre of anime to watch and I seen quite a bit of samurai related anime up thus far, but up to this point, I have never experiened homosexual anime before. Even as a straight male. I felt drawn to the two characters who were both on opposing factions politcally during the meji era. The major part which I felt drawn to with this anime and what to me, made it really ... special, was the absolutely heart warming love story that was what this entire anime was about. This anime was absolutely amazing. And bitter sweet. There was a time, especially towards certain parts especially towards the ending that I felt myself about to shed tears, because I thought it was so very beautiful, how two people, especially in this case two men could love each other so much and be willing to risk their own lives to stay together. To me, there's no love stronger then that. Nothing even comes close. I am beginning to really love yaoi anime. I think I am getting more and more hooked with each "yaoi" anime that I watch. I highly reccomend this anime.

I stumbled upon this randomly and got lucky because....hear me out, this is such a masterpiece considering this genre's evident flaws with recurring portrayal of non consentual themes. This is ROMANCE. You will forget this is BL for a moment and fall in love with the two MCs

For 2007, the makers really got into this. Amazing story by Nitta Youka, and ED track from Morikawa Toshiyuki just hit the mark.

I just hope this gets more attention and more people discover this hidden gem of a period BL thriller.
PS: This will leave an emotional imprint on you for a long time so stay strong!