Lamune

Lamune is a Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy, Drama about a boy (Kenji) and girl (Nanami) who grew up together and lately have begun to have feelings for each other, but don’t admit to them. Nothing new about this childhood friend romantic set-up; but unlike similar anime that prefer to bombard us with drama, angst and romance, Lamune is more of a calm, relaxed series to go with the rural setting. Each episode tends to begin with a flashback, of some event in their childhood and then proceeds to relate it in some way to the story's present events. Yet with this being a ... short series, the story happens to move at a snail’s pace, with each episode only managing to cover a small bit of ground. This really takes away some of the enjoyment but still it's easy to end up continuing anyway.

With the story revolving around the characters, they all are fairly important. Being one of the few male characters in the series, Kenji does do a decent job as the protagonist and is really reliable but a lot of the jokes he pulls can be fairly petty. The girls have rather typical personalities for this kind of series plus have one thing in common, they’re all overly cute. Of course Nanami stands out from the rest but at least they all get their moment.

The animation has an equal amount of good and bad points that make it hard to judge. The environments are nice & vibrant and the character designs look good (cute girls of course); however, at a distant, the characters look just plain crap and there are some inconsistencies in the detail of their design.

The music of this series is mostly just a bunch of soft & simple melodies, which can get repetitive after a while. And Seeing how this series is set around the summer, expect to hear the all familiar ambient sounds (cicadas).

Overall Lamune is a tranquil and fairly enjoyable slice of life romance, which is as light-hearted as an anime can get (other than Aria of course). Though due to the issues involved in each episode, being so minor, it’s easy to get bored of this uninspiring anime series. Also with the romance going nowhere most of the time, it can feel like a waste of time. At least this anime is good enough and short enough to finish in one sitting and it has a somewhat fulfilling ending. So if you want to quickly breeze through a laid back anime then this one should do the job.

Story: Well the story is pretty normal. It's the perfect example of what real life in the country side is like. The series starts out pretty slow, basically explaining who the two main characters are, why they're so close, and how they first met. Gradually as you watch each episode you learn a little more about the two and their relationship, while also getting introduced to other friends. To be fair, wile starting this series, don't expect to be drawn in by drama, conflict, or a compelling story because this show has next to none at all. It's a simple story about two kids that ... grow up liking each other and not even realizing it till something happens.

Art: The character design is surprisingly well done. The girl characters are really attractive and the male characters dress more like todays young teens do. The colors used for specific scenes where also great, however the few times they used CG (ie. the alien video game) was really bad and should not ever have been done.

Sound: The music also fit good with the show. Sound effects for the Bikes and storm where also done great.

Character: Character personality's where pretty good, with the exception of a few characters. All seemed to fit well with the show though. As I already stated in the art part, the characters clothes where close to what young teens currently where now and the way the characters interacted seemed realistic as well. It wasn't like most anime shows where people are either a class clown/bully or a class president. Everyone seemed like they where on the same level so to speak.

Enjoyment: At the start of the show it didn't feel all that enjoyable, however once I started to get to know more about each character, I felt compelled to learn more. The ending was a nice dramatic touch to a relatively mellow series.

Overall: If you're looking for a real slice of life series where the male character is only bound to one girl and slowly gets closer to her, then this is for you. Personally before even starting this show, from the look of the cover and the summary, I had originally thought this was going to be another slice of life/harem where the male lead has to choose between several of his fellow attractive classmates that like him. But I was totally wrong. Don't get me wrong though, there are a few girls that seem to like him but as the story progresses they simply realize they wont be able to compete against the bond that he and his childhood friend Nanami share so they give up on him fast. The series was a great time killer!

"Lamune" – an ordinary "slice of life" story without magic, sci-fi or other elements, which usually try to raise various alike animes up in viewers eyes. For the biggest part of audience this anime will always be an average work that сan't express itself as an interesting project, containing something worth to see. However, the lack of individual features don't turn these series into a horrible unwatchable disaster, it's pretty enjoyable if you are a fan of the current genre and you are not scared to face its inherent components: easy to follow story containing a spoonful comedy and a drop of drama, incoherent ... storyline (faintly connected episodes) splited in arcs each one concentrates on relationship between main male char and one of his female friends (the same old song).
Indeed, sometimes chilled fizzy "Lemonade" tastes like a totaly template boredom. There are neither unexpected events nor true-to-life characters – that's why it feels uncomplete as a "slice of life", where the plot shouldn't be thus naive. Though I watched the anime till the final titles and partly liked it. Why? Because of its kindness and purity. Picture Magic studio managed to keep innocent atmosphere, despite the fact that "Lamune" is based on same-titled eroge; fan service was a rare guest.
From the technical point of view, judging without fear or favor, the anime is mean even for times when it was out. Appearence and outfits of characters are feeble. The biggest cos I noticed during watch is indentity looking (except their hair color) of Suzuka and Nanami. Whos mistake is it – the anime scenarists, that described сhars with common words like: "Ughh, she got blue eyes and long light-rose hair in h-game, that's all..Lets draw her now.." or artists, who were trying to etch drawings with an empty ink-pen. Animation isn't great too, mostly action and conversations look like a puppet theatre, but sometimes progress is trying to break through this curtains of sadness.
By the way the characters are absolutely plain. No catch phrases, no original facial characteristics...nothing special. It seems that seiyu also didn't try their best, they just did what they were paid and told.
Sound is quite nice, all the nature sounds are kept well. Honestly, music is not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed ending (can't say it is awesome, but the melody is catchy).
To conclude everything above, "Lamune" is suitable for genre fans only – that's the uncontested truth.