Winter Garden

===Foreword===
As you might know, this is a spin-off from Di Gi Charat, which I have never seen or read about in any great detail, so there is some stuff on which I just can't comment or write enough detail about.

===Animation===
Not the strong point. The colours are simple, without any gradients used. The backgrounds are simple as well, but nicely drawn. The character designs are quite simple too, but they are cute. The notable thing is that as soon as there many characters on scene, like crowds, they are just drawn plain white with black lines. Something that doesn't actually ruin the animation in any way, ... or doesn't annoy the person watching it. Running animation is I think one of the better points. Sometimes there is a chibi scene thrown in, but they are done fairly well and are not annoying in any way. Overall the animation is poor, but I don't think it's a factor that affects the overall rating by much, but I was expecting something more complex than this.

===Sound===
This special features quite a nice OP and ED, and fairly good background music, which is a bit on the simple side. There is also a French song in the second episode, which is quite good as well.

===Story===
Since this is only two episodes long you can't expect anything complicated. It's a simple story about a girl who meets a boy. An unexpected encounter which starts off everything, and a misunderstanding as well to create some drama. It's a rather light and sweet story. Considering the fact that they had only two episodes I think that it was done quite well, with a good conclusion.

===Characters===
This is a section on which I won't be able to comment too much since I don't know what the characters were like in the original Di Gi Charat. Overall they were good. Though this special lacks characters, but what would you expect from a two minute special? We barely get to know the names of four characters, and the rest is there just for comic relief. Overall the characters are good, and some are cute as well, like Puchiko. :)

===Enjoyment===
I enjoyed watching this, since it was nice to take a break from all the other serious anime around which fills my mind with questions and useless answers, and also had a laugh over some light comedy which fits in well. However don't watch this if you want to see something serious. Watch this if you want to take a break and need something light, then you'll see the hidden beauty of this...

Winter garden is a romance /slice of life spin off of the Di Gi Charat series. Unlike its parent story though, it holds very little similarities to it and could be viewed completely on its own.
  The only shared traits among Winter Garden and Di Gi Charat are the character designs, names and a few references that reveal the link between them. From the setting and tone of the original series to the personalities of the characters, everything is changed. An instance of this change is Dejiko's personality; from a hot tempered and sassy alien princess, she turned into a normal ... shy human who's also a bit of an airhead. But this is not necessarily a bad thing.
   Winter Garden is an enjoyable and calming series. It is nicely paced as there are many events taking place in these two episodes without feeling rushed. The way the characters acted was pretty natural; a nice change of pace from the usual exaggerated manners found in anime. There were also some funny and cute scenes here and there, centered mostly around Puchico teasing Dejiko.
  Moving on to technical details, the animation was good but not anything extraordinary, given that this is a sol and the most extreme movements that were shown was running. The character designs, while resembling the originals, were changed to fit a normal, everyday setting, but still managed to look cute. Regarding its soundtrack, it was mellow and fitting; it greatly enhanced the slow paced, atmospheric, winter setting of the story.
  All in all, I believe this is a relaxing and sweet watch. Nothing revolutionary or deep will be found in it, but for its short duration it can be worth someone's time. Fans of the traditional Di Gi Charat series might be put off from how different this one is, but it can still be enjoyable, not only as a separate story of its own, but also for the alternate designs and references to the og series that it offers.
(This is the first ever preview that I'm writing, I hope someone finds it helpful. If there are any issues or mistakes in it, please let me know.)

This OVA completely stripped away everything unique and interesting about Di Gi Charat. Dejiko is no longer the cute, temperamental, sassy protagonist everyone grew to love. This series portrayed her as a cookie-cutter anime girl: Complacent, shy, easily embarrassed, who spends her days doing little more than hoping the guy she likes will notice her...nothing like her original personality at all.

The plot was dull and uneventful. The art was lackluster compared the the original; even the colors were a lot duller. I really don't understand why this was created, and I kind of wish it hadn't been.