ef: A Tale of Memories.

I decided to watch this anime after watching some AMVs. I've always despised the art style of this anime (big heads, pentagonal faces and skinny characters don't really appeal me), but the animation was gorgeous, which motivated me.

Story: 5.
The story doesn't pick up until episode 5. I almost dropped watching it because it's boring at first, but it does get better as it goes, and since it's actually a short anime, I recommend watching it all. This anime could be divided in three stories. Sadly, aside from Renji and Chihiro's part, the story is very poor. If you're looking for a more complex, mind blowing ... story, I recomend not watching this. While I love drama and I respect the director's decision to stage it in a unique way, some of the most dramatic parts in this anime are laughable, Like when Chihiro falls at the beach and Renji reaches out for her, or when Renji breaks down in later episodes.

Art: 6.
Here I devide it in two, visual style and animation. For visual style: 3, animation: 9. As I said before, I'm not fond of deformed characters, with extremely huge heads (like Miyamura's), but it's not for me to state my personal preferences in this review. I really like how a lot of the scenes in this anime look like vectors moving, it was really original and it's what I like the most about this anime (the opening itself is a very good example of it).

Sound: 10.
I have nothing to say here. It's really good from the very beginning to the very end. All songs are brilliant and it blends in magically. "Euphoric Field" is something you'll want to put in your iPod right away.

Character: 8.
For a 12-episode anime, the characters develop pretty well, each following their own pace. Most notably are Kei and Chihiro. Miyako also changes a bit at the end, but overall, she's your tipical annoying, childish girl.

Enjoyment: 7.
This anime has a very serious problem: you'll find youserlf glued to the screen at some point while watching it (episode 11 speaks for itself), but at other parts you'll just yawn and think about dropping watching it (like when Miyako calls Hiro in episode 7 and 10).

Overall: 6.
It could've been better written, but it wasn't a waste of time watching it. I'm still in love with it's animation and vector-like style (can I call this 4 wall breakage? I really enjoy that. Google it if you don't know what it means). It's not an anime I'd recommend to others, but if people asked me if it's worth watching it or not, I'd simply say: It's good.

I almost dropped this anime, but since it only had 12 episodes, I kept watching. I'm not saying it's a crappy anime, but I didn't like it. And there are reasons. Lots of them.

Story
The story is pretty easy to follow, even though it's actually more like two stories and not just one. I don't see the idea of having two stories, though. Although they are somehow related, I really don't understand it. That put aside, the story is quite basic with a few things that make it different to your normal anime story, but if you don't think about these few things, ... it kind of seems like you have seen the anime before somewhere. The way I look at it, this story doesn't have a plot worth talking about. It just revolves around some teenagers with some problems, and that's about it. Of course the problems might be a little odd, but that doesn't make me rate it any better.
However, I did like the ending.

Art
The background scenery and the drawings were very well made. There were a lot of colors, and the animation worked very good too. One thing I'm extremely dissatisfied with is the overuse of colors to describe how a person feels. Suddenly a person is drawn entirely in black and white, and on other ocassions the same person is drawn glowing red. I fully understand the use of this, but I just.. hate it. I think it makes it far too antirealistic (not that I hate antirealism, I just don't think it fits to this kind of anime). I also don't like the way some of the scenes function. Example: One of the main persons is talking to another main person. Suddenly the camera switches focus to the lips of that person (It's a girl, that's why), and then to somewhere completely else. A few second later there's another change in scenes, and it continues that way. I get the idea, but I think that changing scenes all the time is, well, annoying. It's not that you can't follow what's happening, it's just that I think it's more or less meaningless (especially when it's used all the time).
A lot of people might say that I simply don't understand real art. And that's true. I do not understand art. Period. I just want everything to be simple, yet useful. And that applies to everything in my world - not just anime. And by "simple", I don't necessarily mean drawings without details. That would be a shame. I mean that there shouldn't be anything that's far out with no meaning in particular. That's what I think...

Sound
There's not really much to say about the sound. It works. I don't think it's bad, and I don't think it's amazing. It's just plain good. A thing that bothers me is, however, that this anime, like a lot of other animes, used some English lyrics. In my opinion, the English/Japanese mix wasn't good.

Character
The characters were (mostly) types I had seen before, but I honestly don't care about that. There were different personalities, some of them being complete contractions of one of the other characters, while some of them were more similar to each other. All of the characters were well thought up.

Enjoyment
As stated earlier, I almost dropped this show. I did enjoy some parts of the anime, but then again, a lot of the time I was just bored. Because this wasn't a comedy, I thought I would have a nice time watching some drama, but I never really liked it. It missed an exciting plot that would've made me watch it with enjoyment. Sure, I did cry a little sometimes, but that's not uncommon for me.

***
If you think your way of thinking is similar to how I think of thinking (hmm..), I wouldn't recommend this anime.
On the other hand, if you like going to art museums or something like that (to me museums equal hell x 1000), there's a chance you'll like this.

But I didn't.

Are people merely a collection of their memories, or is a personality innately part of one's self? Ef: A Tale of Memories attempts to explore interesting questions like these, and while its heart is often in the right place, its execution ends up being problematic for numerous reasons.

Ef could really be thought of as two tales combined into one, as it follows two different sets of protagonists in their struggles to overcome their life problems. Hirono, an unmotivated high school student and fledgling manga artist, often has to have his longtime best friend Kei pick up the slack for him and make sure he keeps ... up with his education. One day however, Hirono encounters a girl named Miyako who frequently attempts to drag him away from his studies, which not only angers Kei for distracting him, but also starts to fuel her jealousy, as Miyako and Hirono increasingly become more attached to each other over time. The other tale focuses on Kei's sister Chihiro, who had suffered from a serious accident early in her life causing her to only retain the last 13 hours of her memory along with the memories she had prior to the accident. As a result, she continually has to relive the pain and realization that she will no longer be able to accumulate memories for the rest of her life. Through a chance meeting with a boy named Renji however, she is presented with a glimmer of hope that the remainder of her existence may not be so miserable as predicted. And that more or less sets the stage for the majority of the plot to come.

I really liked the idea of having two different plotlines essentially running parallel to each other with a completely different cast of characters placed in each thread. It's an interesting way of presenting the narrative that is rarely explored in anime or most any medium for that matter. Unfortunately though, it missed a huge opportunity to explore this concept to its fullest potential by eventually having the two plotlines intersect, which would open up interesting possibilities for the two sets of characters to share insights with each other. For example, Renji struggles with his future not knowing what he wants to do with his life. In contrast, Hirono is already living out his passions as a manga artist. Having the two characters eventually cross paths would have allowed Hirono to offer up some advice for Renji in helping him discover his passion, and likewise Renji--being the more sensitive-minded protagonist of the series--could have helped Hirono understand Kei's feelings better, but none of these possibilities are ever explored. Instead, we are only given a handful of situations where Kei and Chihiro occasionally exchange text messages on their cell phones. Consequently, this leaves the whole dual-plotline aspect of the narrative feeling mostly superfluous, and it just left me wondering why they didn't simply tell the two stories as completely separate anime. Since there was so little attempt at linking the two plotlines together, there wasn't much point in presenting them together when they have no real impact on each other. It merely breaks up the flow of the story unnecessarily. This problem is especially exemplified in the first episode. Because it has to spend time setting the stage for two sets of main characters instead of one, the introductory episode just ends up feeling like a series of jumbled random events that fail to hook you into the story and don't even find enough time to establish that Chihiro has a disability yet.

The problems worsen for the series when we examine Hirono's story arc, which mostly rehashes typical love triangle tropes and doesn't do anything particularly interesting with them. Further adding insult to injury, neither of Hirono's love interests are very likeable characters, nor is Hirono himself for that matter. Miyako mostly comes off as selfish and clingy, with very few if any redeeming qualities at all. She has no real hobbies or personal interests that make her unique, and she shows no genuine concern for Hirono and his problems beyond any that pertain to herself, which really makes me wonder why Hirono finds any interest in her at all. Kei is at least a slightly more palatable character, being that she has a talent for basketball and she makes an effort to look out for Hirono, but when her jealous side starts to kick in, she can be almost as cruel and selfish as Miyako. On top of all this, Hirono is painfully bad at recognizing Kei's feelings, and his inconsiderateness similarly makes him unlikeable. The one good aspect to this story arc however was the revelation that Kei had where she realized that she waited far too long to express her true feelings for Hirono. It's something that I could relate to in my own life and it is well-handled in that it shows how people continually delay saying things that need to be said thinking that there will always be a more appropriate time in the future to do so, but in reality that ideal future will never come and there is no better time than the present. All things considered though, this story arc was mostly underwhelming in its execution.

Thankfully Chihiro's story is significantly more worthwhile, offering up more relatable characters and a satisfying conclusion, along with its much more in-depth exploration of the anime's key theme: memories. Watching Chihiro struggle with her memory problems was heart-wrenching and engaging, and Renji, unlike Hirono, actually gives a damn about the things he does and the people he affects; making the characters on this side of the plot a hell of a lot more sympathetic.

Even in spite of Chihiro's tale offering a better story though, both sides of the plot suffer from still more narrative problems. Very little actually happens from episode-to-episode, with many of the characters often trailing off into long bouts of small talk, monologues, and introspections that aren't particularly enthralling or justifiable in wasting your time, and considering that this anime is only 12 episodes long as it is, there really shouldn't be any excuse for such slow pacing. These tedious moments are often further exacerbated by the animation, which seems like it's trying to pass itself off as being "artsy" with experimental abstract techniques, but what it's really doing is just allowing the animators to be lazy and take a break. For instance, at one point in the plot Miyako has an emotional breakdown on the phone when she realizes she can't reach Hirono, so she proceeds to leave a very long series of messages repeatedly begging him to answer. Not only is the dialogue lengthy and monotonous here, but it's all set to an entirely static backdrop with nothing else but text appearing on-screen. We never actually get to see Miyako's facial expressions the whole time, which would have added much more dramatic effect, aside from being more interesting in general than having us stare at a static background for an uncomfortably prolonged period of time. As for the art and animation overall, it seems merely passable when it's doing its job and feels like it's trying to take shortcuts when it ventures into the experimental like the example above. The color palette has a sort of "washed out" effect to it which creates a melancholic atmosphere that was likely done as a stylistic choice to differentiate the anime, but as an unintended side effect it makes the visuals look more dated than they actually are.

As I have only seen the dub, I cannot make a comparison between the two audio tracks, but I will give a brief overview on the quality of the voice acting. If you're a frequent dub watcher, you'll probably recognize that most of the voice cast from Clannad is present in this series, with experienced actresses like Brittney Karbowski as Kei, Monica Rial as Chihiro, and Luci Christian as Miyako. On the whole though, the quality of the dub doesn't quite stack up to Clannad's; in part because Greg Ayres feels miscast as Hirono, who sounds less mature than he looks as a result. Monica Rial also tends to be cast in a lot of moe roles when her voice is far from moe, and unfortunately this is another one of those cases. She is a talented actress, but much like Greg Ayres, she is frequently misused. Regardless, even if Ef had a better dub, it would have done little to alleviate the bigger problems with this anime.

Ef: A Tale of Memories attempts to explore many interesting and relatable themes dealing with love, jealousy, memories, and loneliness. Though sometimes it succeeds, the pointless use of dual plotlines and the often uneventful pacing take a severe toll on the narrative, aside from Hirono's story arc being mostly disappointing to begin with. I can only recommend this series to enthusiasts of the genre, as Chihiro's tale may be just enough to satisfy, but for a more casual romance viewer like myself, it's difficult to justify the time spent.

I just have ust finished watching this anime and i found that it is not as much good as i expected it to be. The story is kind of confusing especially the Chihiro x Renji part. I get pretty annoyed to see Chihiro keep on saying the same thing again and again. The story is kind of confusing too. For example: In some parts there is unknown girl appearing suddenly and giving advice to the character.
Even though it is said to have a "touching" story, I don't feel the emotions, I just stare at the screen as the movie went on. I feel kinda disappointed ... of this series..

Uhm, this one is a bit tough to review. The problem is, that this anime is composed by two stories, and while one of them is good, the other one is... well, somewhat bad. That's why I tought it was better to review each one on it's own merits. However, first I ought to say that the art and sound are great, animation is kind of artistical, the music fits perfectly with the story and the seyuu excell at their jobs.

Now, I will begin with the "good part" of the story: Chihiro/Renji.

This is the story that Ef tells better. It's the story of a ... complication standing in the way of the relationship between the two main characters, Asou Renji and Shindou Chihiro. It's a bittersweet story filled with symbolism, and I was pleasantly surprised. Even if I saw the ending coming from miles away, it was really well executed. I should say that the amount of symbolism in the story fitted the animation style much better then the "bad part of the story" (I will get to it).
Chihiro and Renji are both extremely likeable characters, and the supporting cast does it's job in the right measure, without interfering too much in the main character's relationship. The story it's not without it's good share of flaws tho. The pace dragged out a bit, some of the emotional scenes were a bit off and, as I said before, the ending was predictable. Even with it's flaws, however, the last two episodes of the series, who focused exclusive on this storyline were by far the best ones in the show.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, to the "bad part": Kei/Miyamura/Hirono

My main problem with this part is that it uses a extremely common trope in anime (SPOILER...........)
.
.
.
.
.
the childhood friend missing the oportunity to get the guy because she didn't confess
.
.
.
.
.
(/SPOILER)
and it does not execute it better than most other series. In fact, I would call it's execution absolutely poor. I mean, why would I find this interesting even if I have dozens other shows doing the exact same thing, and doing it better?

Also, the character building here didn't made me feel sorry for none of the characters at the end. I actually hated the two main heroines to death. And Miyako's behavior at the last episode wasn't reallistic AT ALL. (you would know that if you ever got involved with an obsessive woman). It just felt tremendously poorly writen, and a "shipping bait" to people who are into this kind of thing, I particularlly wouldn't be able to ship between two obsessive crazy girls who would probably make the male main character's life a living hell in a relationship. I said that this anime didn't made me feel sorry for any character, well, I changed my mind, I feel very sorry for Hirono, none of the main heroines deserved him, altough he wasn't particularly well writen as well.
The only thing this storyline did better than Chihiro/Reiji's one was the pacing, wich was actually very good, but even that didn't stop me to have an enourmous will to just jump it due to the lack of enjoyment.
Honestly, it feels like a waste to give such a lousy storyline and crappy characters this splendid art and music.

Overall, if you want to watch this, watch it expecting one good story, altough flawed, and one bad. Well, to be honest, if you manage to get emotionally invest in either Kei or Miyamura it would still be a crappy, poorly written story, but you may get more enjoyment from it than I did. I somewhat recommend this show, but if the Miyamura/Kei/Hirono thing starts to bother you, pass it without fear, as it won't get better.

Chihiro/Reiji - 7/10
Miyamura/Kei/Hirono - 4/10
Overall - 5,5. Turned to 6 as a bonus for the art and sound.

I don't recommend it.

One of the upsides to this show is that you have a few storylines going on simultaneously, which is convenient when one of the storylines is eye-rolling and intelligence-insulting.

The romance storyline between Renji and Chihiro is what really drags down this show. Her "ephemeral memory" was obnoxious, his personality was practically nonexistent (so why care about him?), and the pseudo-intellectual waxing combined with the overly ambitious art made the whole arc come off as pretentious. The writer pollutes the dialogue in this arc with painfully-obvious metaphors and symbolism, seemingly with the intent to prevent any viewer from having the chance to ... figure out anything for themselves. Supporting characters in this storyline aren't very helpful either as they needlessly spew deepities and other faux-wisdom. Was the writer channeling their belief or message trhough those side characters, or did the writer intentionally write said characters to be useless and unhelpful? I'm not willing to watch the show a second time to find out.

The rest of the show is good and seems surprisingly normal. Not amazing, but watchable. It's just the Renji-Chihiro side story that really killed the experience for me.

Being a huge Slice of Life fan and a sucker for romantic plots, on paper this show should have been right up my alley but upon actually watching it it just wasn't. I do not understand the 9 and 10 reviews I've seen so many of here. I see many, many flaws in this show.

The first half of it was unbelievably slow and boring and it was hard to stay focused and awake. It doesn't get remotely interesting until episode 8 or so and even then it's merely passable, not anything special. There is zero combat, zero mystery/thriller elements, zero suspense. The plot as a ... whole is extremely linear.

The character development and base premise are shallow and generic- just your standard Slice of Life fare that you've seen many times elsewhere.

There are ridiculously cheesy and non-believable conveniences such as a character showing up at EXACTLY the right time at the end of a phone conversation after "searching every pay phone in the city" or another character recovering many thrown away pieces of a journal that would be literally impossible to retrieve, such as pieces underwater or hanging out in completely inaccessible locations such as on the side of a very tall building.

The music and voice acting were both fine but neither were standouts.

This anime opts for constant camera cuts and shots from different angles. Whether this is good or bad is a personal preference thing I guess but I felt it was way overdone, sometimes to the point where it felt like the anime was trying to give me a seizure.

Overall this felt like a very mediocre, forgettable Slice of Life to me and not something I'd particular recommend or care to watch again. At the end of the day, this show is simply boring.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 6.5
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 6-6.5

Short and sweet review:

*Please note that I am heavily biased since I saw Dusk Maiden of Amnesia first.*

The plot wasn't amazing, though I didn't waste my time and I would watch it again. (Not going to though, unless hubby or friend wants to) The characters were very watered down to me.. a bunch of the story lines for the characters felt kinda slapped together.. Be warned that it takes until the 5th episode or so for the story to actually get rolling so if you're more into fast paced anime like kore wa zombe desu ka (Is this a zombie?!) for example, I don't recommend ... this series as it is a slow start.

Final analysis: I dunno. I've watched far worse anime than this. 50/100 It's not awful but not amazing.

I Hope this helps anyone. I'm sure I'll get hated on for scoring it so low. xD ONTO THE SECOND SEASON!

im almost done with this series but i thought i'd write on it before i forget. i also did check other reviews, some said the characters were so incredibly bland and others said it was sad,

in contrast, i found myself laughing so hard at some sad situations (seriously whats wrong with me), situations i would normally cry to.
first of all. WHY DID I THINK THAT THE TWO MAIN BOYS WERE THE SAME PERSON.... yes, for the first 4 episodes i confused two characters. so that was part of the reason i laughed so much
while the two mcs dont know both of the twins, ... just individuallyy one. i thought it was one person that was just really dumb. also, i did not like how i kinda predicted chihiros condition while her main love interest freakind didnt. i must also add that i hate her sister. what she did to miyako(i wont forgive her). it left me sleepless. i did not fall asleep after it. i was in a awake state at 5 am. PAIN.

another point i should say, while it may be very very bland and not original, i think thats ok. it just shows that love is often not something that special. ill expln why i think this i one question: What makes a love story special?
obviously the connection(at least thats my opinion). so then actions around the connection can totally be bland, but i want to see how it strenghtens. yes it was bland, but i could feel that they actually liked eachother, and thats more important than the plot.

ill sum this review to a few words. i give this a 6 (fair), because its just that. its fair. theres no pazzaz, but its not bad. im really enjoying it but its missing a small something. if i were to try and place the missing flavor i think it might be the relation it has to the viewer. i dont relate with any of the characters. my enjoyment/investment is therefore a bit lessened. so thats what i think makes it so low. while the blandplot makes it more belivable/^;ausible, i lack being able to relate. it would have been a 10 if i could see myself biking to the phonebooths or going to the trainstation to meet someone.