Shin Kimagure Orange☆Road: Soshite, Ano Natsu no Hajimari

I re-watched Shin Kimagure Orange Road just a while ago. This is my second time watching it.

Have to admit that the experience wasn't as good as the first time. Shin KOR gives you a semi-old feel, so as a person exposed to post-AD2000 animations, it doesn't really give you a full retro feel or a new feel. Once you get used to HD quality anime, you'll need to take some time to get accustomed to Shin KOR artwork. Nevertheless, I kinda liked the artwork. It has lost a bit of the original appeal, but the change in artwork makes it easier for later generations to ... appreciate Orange Road.

Before I start, just a warning that I may reveal some spoilers subtlely, but I try not to (as for all my other reviews soon to come).

My ratings (y'know like 9 for story, 7 for art, etc) are kinda biased for Shin KOR because I simply love KOR too much lol. But pretty much this was the kind of rating I'd give when I watched it 5 years ago, or perhaps better. I'd highly recommend this to everyone who watched and liked Kimagure Orange Road (TV/OVA) because it is sort of an ending to the story. One reason I liked Shin KOR was because I could relate with the characters and I know what happened in the TV/OVA/MOVIE.

The story was pretty well-made. It followed the KOR series chronologically and it put a stop to the story itself. The feel and direction was very different from the original though. The kind of experience you'd get is different from KOR, and the climaxing points are emphasised on different areas.

Shin KOR is slightly aimed at a more mature audience I rkn, with many suggestive sexual content. Pretty mild but enough to feel that, hey the characters are already adults. I didn't quite like the mature direction it was heading to, but it was still alright. I loved the idea about time travel though, and how it was pieced together. It kinda came to me that "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki o kakera Shoujo?sp)" was inspired by orange road. The romance was awesome and refreshing, which is what I love about KOR.

The artwork is similar to 1990+ animations. Colours used give you a warm feeling, and brings out the landscape really well.

The OST is really nice. I was shocked that it's by Yuki Kajiura because it's not her usual kind of 'opera-sensation' music. I think this was one of her earliest works in Anime. The music brought life to the movie. In fact my favourite part of the movie was the piano pieces played in the movie.

Character development wasn't very much present, because the foundations were still based on the TV series. But really, the characters have grown much in this movie. It was really fun to see how they become like. The change was rather great (inclusive of the character design). Quite a lot of dialogue between characters, but the feelings of the characters were well portrayed. It touched me.

Overall it's an enjoyable movie for me on Christmas Day. I'm starting to miss KOR. Maybe I'll continue with the manga. KOR really made me enjoy my memories so much.

This movie ties up the loose ends left by the previous one. Unfortunately, there's no Ushiko-Umao reference in this one. The story's pretty interesting since it's got time travel and inevitable time paradoxes, though. We get a little info on the lives of the main characters after the events of the first movie, then we also learn about how things are for them three years later. I think this stuff would be particularly appreciated by fans of the series since it gives you that sense of closure.
One character from the OVAs appears in the movie, so you may want to watch the OVAs first ... to learn who the hell the guy is. I thought he seemed out of character, though; he was hitting on Madoka as if he never came to his big realization.

The plot feels kinda aimless once Kyosuke gets sent to the future. He's confused, he doesn't know what to do or where to go... All he can do is give us a tour of the future to show us the after story. Once the solution is presented... Well, he didn't have to work for it at all. It gets you feeling like there won't even be a climax, but then there's sort of one shortly after.

The details in the art and animation made it look more like a movie than the first movie. It was still pretty average, not like it was so incredibly smooth that it stands out. I guess you could say it was about as good as any other anime movie based on a series. Y'know, stuff like Spirited Away is on another level.
The characters have smaller eyes than before and generally look older and a little more modern. One point I found odd was the size difference between Kyosuke age 19 and 22. It was like comparing a teen to an adult... but they were both adults. It would be sort of unusual for a person to still be growing at that age...

Yusaku is still missing in action. I don't remember what happened to him in the series at all... like he just faded away at some point. Would Hikaru accept him if he managed to directly tell her how he feels? This feels like one loose end that could possibly end that love triangle once and for all.

Anyhow, it was a pretty decent movie. It wasn't very exciting or whatever and it didn't really have me guessing what would happen next since they introduced the solution to the problem pretty early in the movie. Despite that, I still found it interesting, though.

This second movie continues where the last left off and is based on the first book of a three part novel series written by Kenji Tereda who was the main scenario writer for the TV series (he also wrote the scenarios for JRPGs Final Fantasy I - III too apparently). So again, this isn't based off Izumi Matsumoto's original work.

It continues to show how he envisioned the characters from the original Manga, now nineteen, would have moved on with their lives through university. If you watched the first movie, you might feel better for the characters after watching this. Maybe it was Tereda's way of ... trying to redeem himself after the poor reception of the first movie. I guess you could also consider this movie fan service for those who wanted a more complete closure to the relationships.

However, it gets quite weird with the supernatural powers back in and the way they're used just feels silly as usual.