Myself; Yourself

Okay, first of all, this is one of my first reviews so bare with me and don't hesitate to message me about what i should improve about, anyways lets get started shall we?

Story- When people look at Myself; Yourself's cover, they usually get the automatic reaction that its a typical harem anime with predictable outcomes, which is not true. Of course, if you totally dislike school life - romance animes then you shouldn't bother wasting your time watching a genre you do not like. Back on topic, the story basically revolves around friendship more then relationship between opposite sex, and let me ... make this clear again... THIS IS NOT A HAREM!

Art- I seriously liked the artwork in Myself; Yourself, not because the girl's were fairly pretty designed but the background and the male character as well. I thought Sana's red eyes blended into his characteristic and other things that happen (Not gonna say it, if you wanna know.. you gotta watch it =] ).

Sound- Basically, I loved the OP of the series and the video for it seemed like they were meant for each other so no problem there. The ED wasn't really my style of anime music but the OP makes up for it(to me).

Character- The one thing that Myself; Yourself had that didn't really appeal to me, were some of the characters. Don't get me wrong, some of the characters i really liked. Hinako is defiantly a candidate for the most annoying character. Mainly because of the way she acts and the way she bothers Sana and Syuusuke all the time. Sorry if i offended anyone who likes her character.

Enjoyment- I personally love the genre school-life romance so therefore this a series i really enjoyed. Again this series will differ between people, you may love it or you may hate it, it all depends on what type of anime you like to watch.

Overall- Overall i really enjoyed this series and as i said before, I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys this type of school-life romance anime.

Myself; Yourself is a Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy, Drama about a boy (Sana) who had to leave his home town and his friends, with his parents. Then 5 years later he returns to see that quite a bit has changed.

As this short anime series begins it is obvious that there’s nothing unique about it and that it is just the usual "visual novel" – to – "anime" adaptations that are released every season. The story begins normally enough by introducing the surroundings and the characters with their little quirks. There are also the typical Rom/Com clichéd moments that happen quite a lot (girl trips ... over and lands on guy) however these jokes are executed well enough that it feels refreshing. Apart from the one or two serious moments in every episode there is no real drama in this series, until about halfway into the series. The good thing is that it doesn’t just unload a bunch of drama because a lot of it was just confirmation to previous speculations you may have had whilst watching.

The characters in this anime have the typical personalities that most anime fans are used to seeing. However there is one girl (Aoi) who has a really odd and quirky personality that is really fun to watch but her voice can be both cute and annoying. Even with these pretty normal characters, they all are somewhat mysterious, which will give you the urge to watch the next episode, to find out what occurred in the past.

The quality of the animation is really good with the best of it being in the detailed environments, which make good use of the light and shadows. The characters themselves also look good but there’s nothing special about their designs and they also lack fluid animation. The music is also good, most of the time, but there are times when it feels out of place, just like the OP and ED theme.

Overall Myself; Yourself has proven to be something great to watch, for most Romance anime fans. It has all the basic elements to make a great story and some interesting characters to match. The one thing I can say is that behind all surprises and unexpected developments, this anime series lacks originality to make it stand out. Other than that it is a great show to watch.

^_^

I've had a lot of first impressions when I see an anime. Most of them end up being what I've had predicted while a few changes my perspective.

Myself; Yorself is an example of an illusion. Seeing pictures of anime high school friends in one picture always seem to look like a typical comedy, romance, shoujo or a harem anime. That was what I thought.

Story: 9
To be honest, I was part of the majority who thought "Myself; Yourself" was a harem anime. I've seen Myself; Yourself a number of times in different sites but the only reaction I usually get was "oh another stupid harem anime. ... give me a break". It took me about a year for me to take the initiative to watch this anime only because one of my favorite Seiyuus, Ami Koshimizu, voice acted the main character. I rarely rate a Romantic-Drama "9" because I rarely see one that can execute well. You can say this anime, has more of a dramatic based genre rather than romance because of the friendship link between the characters. Every episode gives you a glimpse of the story of these characters and true enough the story does get more interesting as you go further. It made me want more and more. Soon enough, I was able to finish this anime in just 2 days (It could have been 1 day if I slept at 3 AM). Yes, the story was that interesting.

Art: 9
I can't deny that the art/animation I see nowadays does progress and becomes much more beautiful than the animes that were made in the late 2000s. But seeing the animes made during that year (Code Geass, School Days, ef-a tale of memories), I'm sure that the art was on par with every anime back then.

Sound: 7
I really don't like the Opening "Song" although I love how the Opening "Animation" went (there's a difference). Although, the Ending song is much different. I actually liked the Ending song just because it reminded me of Steins; Gate (same singer) and it felt catchy.

Character: 10
Character development, sure flourished the whole anime series. The characters were explained very well. You can see that their lives were acted on each of the person's lives. Some secrets were revealed during the anime and it did surprise me. I can't say I don't hate a character but then seeing how these characters went by during the anime made me understand how different people can be behind the naked eye.

Enjoyment: 8
Knowing that I watched this 13-episode Anime within just 2 days clearly explains how I had a great time watching this anime. I don't think it's the enjoyment that led me to watch the anime in 2 days. I guess it was because I was curious to know what would be next. The anime was such a thrilling anime to watch that I was seeking for more answers from the upcoming episodes. I could have enjoyed this anime much more if only there was a different ending. To be frank, the ending was kind of laid back for me. For me, there was no spark at the ending.

Overall: 8
Seeing how an anime can create romance in such a serious dramatic anime won me over. This anime is one of those "don't judge a book by its cover" because if you do then you will surely miss out something worth watching.

“Human life is at stake, so you should at least improve your cooking first...”- Hidaka Sana
“I’m going to take a bath now. If you peek while I'm changing, I'm going to kill you, got it?”
– Hinako Mochida

Myself;Yourself is primarily a drama genre anime with little-to-medium romance.


The Story: 7/10
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The anime starts with our male protagonist, Sana who has come back to his hometown of Sakuranomori, after leaving it 5 years before for the sake of his parents’ business plans. He is surprised to see that most things have not changed, until he meets Yatsushiro Nanaka, one of his best childhood friends when he was ... younger. The story here is rather simple. With new ideas introduced, they do not change much to the story. Basically all they do is reinforce the story to try and make it a little more interesting. Sometimes it is even used to reset character development in the story. The pacing of Myself;Yourself is solid. Did it feel quick? No. Did it feel slow? Sometimes, maybe. Some episodes can be considered to be ‘side quests’, if you will, and have no particular meaning to the main story. Despite this anime being a drama, it is rather comedic once things loosen up, notably at the beginning of the anime. The drama can be a little predictable, but the producers will always throw something at you to keep you on the edge wanting more. Romance is not as much as a major genre as drama, but it was well fleshed out- though it definitely is not as solid as some other series you can find. The ending is satisfying, though some may be disappointed that certain elements were not taken further at the end.

The Art: 9/10
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The art probably has to be one of the best for an anime that aired in 2007. Its scenery and characters are very well done, and they fit the personality very well. One dispute is with the size of Aoi’s breasts. She may be in high school, but hell. They’re bigger than her head. The art style is very fitting for the overall story because it incorporates a lot of ‘emotion shading’. When the characters are happy, the art is as if it’s happy itself. When the characters are sad/depressed, it’s almost as if the art is feeling that way as well. Character movement was smooth, albeit a little ‘blocky’ during some sections and background movement was just as good.

The Sound: 7/10
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The OP and EDs in Myself;Yourself aren’t distinctly memorable. After watching the anime, you probably won’t even think anything of it. OSTs were very appropriate for the mood during a scene and blended in very well. Sometimes it worked so well you can’t even tell when it came in. Voice acting here wasn’t exactly the best, Aoi’s voice seemed to be the most annoying one out of all them because of her constantly high-pitching everything she says. Though it might not have been as good as other anime made this year, the voice acting was bearable.

The Characters: 8/10
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Not many character problems here, but one annoying thing here is how the writers would reset the relationship between characters whenever there was some ‘turning point’ drama in the story. Each of the cast is likable, even Aoi who is the one who brings most of the comedy to the anime. Nanaka appears to be the most mature in the story, and the main heroine. Her past is where most of the main drama comes out of. Sana is the main protagonist and the story mostly revolves around him and his ability to make decisions. Then you have the boy/girl twin, there’s quite a bit of comedy in the two- but that comedy is mostly because of disagreement between the two. Hinako comes in the end of the first ¼ of the anime, and she seems to actually be the most funniest- but can definitely be serious at times.

The Enjoyment: 9/10
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Personally, my enjoyment of Myself;Yourself was very good. The cliff hangers at the end of each episode kept me wanting more. I probably won’t watch this again, since this can be considered a type of ‘one time only’ anime. You probably won’t get much satisfaction watching this again. Myself;Yourself is the first romance/drama genre anime I have watched, a genre that I didn’t really like when I started watching anime. Seeing this changed it for me, and now I really enjoy the romance/drama category of anime.

Overall: 8/10
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Overall I think that Myself ; Yourself really is a great series. If you're going to start watching a teen, romance and drama anime this is definitely a good place to start.

Sadness, depression, times of complete darkness. Most of us have experienced at least one of these in our lives. The solution is finding ways to cope with it, or change it for the better.

Myself;Yourself. I've been planning on watching this for a while now, little did I expect to find such an intriguing anime worthy of being watched in a single day! Despite the few flaws in the show, this is what most dramas should be like. Romance, fights, a look into people's pasts, and a twist ending all make up an excellent drama.

To start off the review, let's go into the story. Sana is ... coming back to his hometown for the first time in years. Things have changed, but at the same time, things haven't. He comes to this town with memories of his past, some in which he's trying to piece together to make it whole again, but one thing he does remember were the good times he spent with his friends as children. He then reunites with all of them in High School, happy, eh? At least most of the time. Throughout the story, there's comedy, hints of romance, scandal, and twists that'll make you either flip out or let your mouth hang in awe as to what just happened. This is why I like watching animes like these, they spice up the story with things people never expect to happen, and in the case of Myself;Yourself, most of the twists never end up being happy.

When it comes to reviewing the artwork in an anime, I never really know what to say, it's either a big blank or a simple "It was good", I am never able to create a long paragraph about it, but Myself;Yourself has flawless art. The scenery was beautiful, the characters were portrayed in kind of a way that suits their personalities, and so on.

Sound isn't one of my strongsuits either, but I can say for the most part that Myself;Yourself had excellent voice acting! Surprisingly though, the oldest character in the group (Aoi, a 3rd year in High School) sounded like a chipmunk with too much helium in it's lungs and apparently seemed to get high very often. In other words, her voice made you want to laugh out loud every time she spoke. For the most part it was funny, but at points it was just plain strange.

Oh good, a strongsuit of mine. Characters. I liked them all, or at least most of them. The main character, Sana, seemed to be cool and collected most of the time, but somehow acted like a normal teenager at the same time (says the giant stack of playboy magazines sitting in a box out of reach from girls). Then there's Nanaka, mature and stern most of the time. Aoi, the drugged chipmunk, seemed to be hyperactive all the time, even in the most depressing of times. The twins, you can totally tell they're siblings, they bring the rough comedy to the anime with constant insults and fights breaking out between the two of them. Out of all the characters in the show, I think the only one that I despised almost as much as Sugou from Sword Art Online was the teacher that was always sucking up to the principal and being a douche-bag. Minor role, but he angered me.

Despite the show having some good comedy and romance to it, along with some good stories, the show was... in a word... depressing for a portion of it. Most of the depression happens to be things that would end up spoiling the show for you, so I won't get into those, but I enjoyed the show a lot. I haven't seen many dramas (or at least I don't think I have), so watching this gave me a pretty good idea about what I should be looking for in dramas. Watch it, you'll enjoy it for the most part, just have a box of tissues, just in case.

Myself;Yourself is a romantic comedy about a boy name Sana and his childhood friend Nanaka.

Story: The story is quite typical; a boy comes back to his hometown after 5 years, to see everything has changed. Although most of the story is predictable, there are some good twists to the plot that will leave you shocked most of the time. The story also goes through a small number of flashbacks to reveal more of the characters. The story loses marks for some of the unnecessary fillers. Although the series is 13 episodes, the producer has made a good job to wrap everything up.

Art: The ... art in Myself;Yourself is pretty good, however since it is aired this year, the art is not outstanding compared to others. However it still provides the viewer a pleasant animation to watch.

Sound: The music is great, the OP and ED is just filled with happiness and joy. Also Nanaka's violin playing is beautiful as well. The music works well with the anime, providing tension in awkward moments and bringing joy into happy times.

Character: Each character has a unique personality, through the cute Aoi, to the mysterious Nanaka. The character develops fairly fluent through the 13 episodes. Nanaka and Sana's past leaves the viewer in mysteries, which is great because it really makes the audience guess/predict what had happen during the 5 years.

Enjoyment: Yeah, I enjoyed it. Although it is a short anime, I really liked seeing each character develop slowly in the anime. Combined with beautifully drawn art, and nicely composed music, Myself;Yourself did a great job entertaining me.

Overall: Myself;Yourself may not be the best anime out there, but it is really something you should pick up and watch. And no, it is NOT like school days. So don't expect anything gruesome. ^^

Myself; Yourself is the prime example of wasted potential. It opened strong and gave me high hopes for a good series, but it soon became apparent that it was going to go down fast.

The story was my biggest disappointment. It really felt like a series based on a visual novel, there was a lot of story, but nothing to really hold it together. The pacing of the series felt sluggish, a lot of the conflicts could have been resolved faster. It felt as though half of the series was dedicated to Hinako, the little girl, even though she had nothing to do ... with the main plot of the series. Another thing that i found troublesome was how melodramatic the story became. By the end I couldn't bother to take anything seriously anymore.

The characters, while mostly falling into cliches, did have some interesting points, the twins especially. Everyone fit in, and felt believable, despite their obvious repetitions, but Aoi's voice really got on my nerves.

The art and animation was bad. Not as bad as something like Ramune, but really lacking in polish. There's not really much more I can say about it, other than it was kind of blah.

The music and sound was fairly decent. Despite the stories faults, the music would fit in with what was going on, but it never really moved me, or made me want to just listen to it.

I guess by now you could guess that I didn't really enjoy this series. While it started strong, it quickly fell, and never recovered.

Warning before reading, keep in mind there is a degree of spoiling...although its not worth watching ;P

If your looking for an anime that is nice to look at...this is for u...if ur lookin for some romance...turn around and run...dont bother with this anime.

The Begining showed so much promise after the first episode I thought this anime was going to blow all other romance animes out of the water but as the episodes went by my expectations dropped time and time again...hoping that around the bend the two leads would actually develop their relationship as LOVERS.

The ending provided closure in the worst kind of ... way
(SPOILER----they do the "10 years later" thing...and not once in the show is there a kiss...or really any serious romantic vibe----SPOILER).
To say that its a romance between the two leads is deceiving...it is more of a close friendship that struggles through hard times...closest thing to romance is between the brother and sister...incest isnt my cup of tea.

i may sound a little harsh but its only because i had expectations for the show that were not met countless times and was overall extremely disppointed.

Contrary to your average series, Myself;Yourself is unlike any other game to anime adaptations. First of all, the visual novel for the series wasn't released when the TV series had been approved, thus making impossible to compare it to a previous work.
I don't know what kind of visual novel M;Y will be, but if it's anything like the TV series, then it must be a great one. Sure, the settings and motifs are not unique, but, seriously, what is unique nowadays? The way the plot is developed is outstanding, save the number of episodes (I personally think 16 would have been perfect), as things may ... seem a tad rush in the final episode, and some side-stories weren't exactly resolved (while are hints that indicate they are, it'd been great to see them actually happen, and also, a story for Aoi-chan would've been great too).
As far as the animation goes, Doga Kobo made a great job on this series, which is a very good thing in these times when anime budgets are not exactly high, and dropouts in quality ocurr more often; but you won't see any inconsistencies in the animation in Myself;Yourself, every episode has the same amount of quality as the one before!
The music on this series, both OP/ED themes and OST, are excellent, even though the OP has that genki-genki happy-happy feeling that doesn't fit well with the plot, it fits the whole series very well, as it reminisces the happy moments that were present.
The characters, well, may seem like typical, but trust me, they're NOT typical, and their personal issues flow episode by episode, making you eager to know what's next and to find out their past experiences. Each and everyone of them have their own importance, and you'll manage to like them all.
Overall, I think Myself;Yourself deserves a 9 out of 10 for being a nice surprise and sticking with a great quality from its beggining to its closure, and I'd recommend it to any anime fan who appreciates a nice romance drama series.

Friendships, reuniting, departure, all of these 3 make the theme of the story. This isn't a dating anime despite Sana being surrounded by girls because he never took the initiative or had interest in any of them other than Nanaka. Aside from that Myself;Yourself revolves around the importance of friendships and why they should be valued.

Story: The moment I saw the first episode I knew this would be a great anime. Story wise I liked it every aspect of it, but I do feel like Sana's background regarding his past was presented too late. Still every character made the story very good. The twins ... with their hilarious comedy, Aoi and her child like voice, Hinako and her pretend to be mature self. Every character added their own qualities and characteristics to make the story strong.

Art: Not much to say here except for the amazing background and character designs. I'm not a fan of red eyes, but Sana's red eyes fit his personality and show his past that he keeps for himself. Aoi on the other hand grew a lot up there, short hair, and still kept that child like voice. Aoi's characteristics sure suit her voice.


Character: My least disliked character was Hoshino not because of what she did, but because of her actions with Sana I didn't really like. The characters I hated the most was that lazy employee always next to the principal because he never stated adequate reasons when a student was in trouble, he always took the principals' side because it was convenient. The other character I hated was Sana's father because of his actions he took. I will never forgive him for that. Nanaka is one of my favorite characters despite being reserved she is a sweet, caring, and also pretty. One thing I will never forget is that pout face she showed.

Did I enjoy Myself;Yourself? Absolutely. Why? 3 reasons, story had my full attention, always wanted to know what the next episode was about, and Nanaka captivated my heart. I hope there's a second season or at least an OVA episode where Sana and the others reunite because the ending was a bit rushed. We can imply what happened, but as viewers we want to see what happens after, not imply what happens.Still I haven't had a good cry since the first anime I watched last year, and Myself;Yourself executed that perfectly, enough to make me cry again. 10/10

Myself; Yourself is the story of Sana and his four childhood friends, whom he gets separated with after having to move away. He comes back after about five years, finding some of his friends remaining the same, and others very much different. Though it might come across as a stereotypical harem, at a closer look much more is unfolded in the story. It’s a romance, but often steers towards friendship as well.

It’s not a bad watch, but I certainly can’t say I loved it. The plot was a little hard to grasp on what it really was. Through the first half of the series ... before it started going anywhere it was more like a weak thread of events. Some episodes were dramatic and interesting, but not all of the emotion seemed very real.

Character development was okay, but I really disliked the main character, Sana. That’s not very good when you’re watching a series: you don’t even like the protagonist. I suppose those type of leads I never really like, he just annoys me. Nanaka, too, the main girl, was a little irritating. She acted depressed and moody, and it doesn’t come clear until late into the show as to what her problem is. Mostly it just seemed like she was on her time of the month throughout the show, considering her emotions, which were all over the place. However, I did like some of the other characters, like the twins, Shuusuke and Shuri. They were very sweet towards one another… I was wishing they weren’t even brother and sister as I watched episode ten, but I won’t tell you what went on: you have to see for yourself! Generally the majority of characters seem stereotypical, except for Aoi, her character was pretty unique. She was very amusing. There is also Asami, a classmate of our characters’, who appears normal and helpful. However, it is not all what it seems with her, and I much changed my opinion of Asami later on. That was very surprising, and added a twist to the story. Lastly there’s Hinako, a young girl desperate to be referred to as mature, who gets infatuated with Shuusuke after he helps her out against some bullies.

The animation was fairly nice, and I liked the way the faces and characters were generally drawn. However, inconsistency often was portrayed in the animation movements, and it lacked fluidity. Some of the poses or stances they were put in, too, were awkward. The colors however, were pretty, and though it was definitely not outstanding it was all in all pleasing to the eye.

The sound was really nice, and I liked the opening and ending themes, enough to get both the mp3s, they're both very good and fit the anime nicely. Background music was standard, nothing that stands out, anyway. As for seiyuu, everyone did a fairly good job, with the right amount of feeling put into their voice. Sana’s voice fit him, as did the others. Aoi’s voice might be the most annoying, but I actually liked it, even though it’d be a bit hard to listen to, ahaha.. ha.

Myself; Yourself is nothing of great value, but it’s a nice show to watch. I wouldn’t exactly heartily recommend it, but try it out and see what you think. Obviously there’s mixed reviews, if you check out the reviews written prior to mine (and that’s a lot!).

Friendship. Jealousy. Deception. Myself ; Yourself proves that you can present good elements for a drama and still be a failure. The show is misleading as it introduces characters facing solid dilemma but depends on dissatisfying deus ex machina to solve their problems or leave events incomplete altogether. The characters are weak and majorly lack development. It wastes screentime on irrelevant characters and scenes, causing it to rush and throw in last-minute sob stories. Basically, Myself ; Yourself is just another VN gone wrong.

Myself ; Yourself had interesting themes suitable for slice-of-life. It replaced cliché results one would likely expect from romance drama with unpredictable ... outcomes. This is when Myself ; Yourself looks to be promising until it decides to do the worst thing imaginable. An episode ends intensely, causing you to look forward to a continuation in the next episode. Disappointingly, you have to wait another 2-3 episodes of either fillers or an additional situation they could’ve introduced a lot sooner. Additionally, there are these constant annoying cliché accidents where a girl “accidentally” trips, resulting in an awkward situation with a guy. Just when you think it couldn’t possibly get any worse, Myself ; Yourself decides to leave certain characters in a distressful situation and ends the show with no knowledge of what happened whatsoever.

The weak characters are a major problem. Some emotions are heartfelt, but characters sometimes did not react appropriately to a situation. For example, a character simply says they’re sad without expressing it at all. A prime example of Myself ; Yourself’s habit of skipping events is the introduction of a demanding little girl named Hinako, who can do the show a big favor if she was nonexistent. Myself ; Yourself decides to give Hinako her own two episodes and screen time to intrude on the friends' lives that could’ve been used to develop them instead. The show reveals some characters' past, inner emotions, or close relationships with each other, but others receive no exposure. Relationships are left incomplete, since Myself ; Yourself abruptly ends or distracts the viewer away from them with a different scene. You're left in the dark and never hear from those characters again. Once the show decides to pay attention to a character, it introduces a very important factor about characters at the very last moment with a quick self-narration that gives you no time to sympathize with them.

The art was a major turn-off. It looks like an older type animation from the '90s instead of 2000s. Bland colors make the show even more disinteresting. When a character bleeds black blood, it is hard to take that scene seriously. The background designs were good but not too detailed. With a simple big-eyed character designs comes identical characters that makes the show hard to follow. The different hairstyles made it tolerable, but it caused complications when one character decides to change it or let their hair down. There were still scenes and times when characters talked without their mouths moving. I thought it was simply their thoughts until the other character responded.

The OP and ED are both good but misleading. Truthfully, the lyrics relate to the show’s motive in terms of the characters looking forward to a better tomorrow. On the other hand, the OP presented the friends as a band when only two of the five have any musical talent. The ED only featured three girls, replacing one of the MC with a supporting character. It is likely to expect some close connection with those three girls, but there’s nothing important about their relationship. Too bad this does not have an English dub version, because Aoi has an annoying, squeaky voice in Japanese. The other seiyuu were okay. They fit the characters’ personalities, but there were times when their voices didn’t match their emotions. The sound effects were natural, especially with the bird chirps in outdoor settings.

Myself ; Yourself had opportunities to be promising, but it is sheer disappointment, especially with its “take it or leave it” ending. You learn nearly nothing about the characters or how a dramatic situation magically resolves itself. Relationships are unfinished or unseen, and it leaves not a single hint for the imagination. If Myself ; Yourself completed itself, I would ignore the dull colors, Hinako’s existence, and Aoi's ear-bleeding voice, and suggest any romance drama fan to give this a try. In actuality, Myself ; Yourself can be bypassed with no regrets.

Watching Myself:Yourself is akin to meeting an awesome girlfriend at college, who's brilliant and reliable and reliable and made your first year a blast. Then, when you finally decide to bite the bullet and pay for a Holiday for two to Australia, she doesn't show up the plane. The anime is utterly brilliant for the majority of the season, but completely falls flat on the final two episodes where audiences expect the most.

M:Y is a high school romance/drama/comedy, with a tinge of mystery. The main character (Sana) leaves his group of best buddied on a five year hike, a returns to find that the girl ... he cared about the most has turned into a complete emo. Thus, Sana must unravel the heck has happened, lest he end up like stabbed to death in a fit of jealous rage like Makoto in School Days.

The strength of M:Y lies with its side characters. Sana's best mate and his twin sister, an adorable and crazy bookworm, and a 10 year girl who wants to prove she's an adult, and all characters noteworthy for how much they make you laugh.

The, unfortunately also becomes the show's major weakness, since the anime falters completely once these side characters are removed for the grand finale. The final two episodes had to supporting cast, and consequently became completely flat and lifeless.

Up to Episode 11, the show would get a 9, the two final episodes by themselves, deserve no more than a 6.

Is the show worth watching? Certainly. Just as long as you know that your reliable girlfriend is gonna flake, and don't bother expecting a grand finale of happy times in Australia.

This anime is my all time favorite romance anime at this time and probably will still be my favorite for a long time. The overall package that Myself; Yourself has to offer is what makes this anime great. After watching the series through TWICE, I'm ready to evaluate it thoroughly.

Story.

*slight spoilers about the plot*

Myself; Yourself starts off with a boy named Sana who decides to return to his home town from when he a young child in middle school. The story is heartwarming and sweet yet as the series progresses it turns very serious. I like this story because unlike other romance/harem animes, there aren't ... tons of girls in love with the same guy who is indifferent about all of them. Instead, the story focuses mainly on friendship and family problems. I think this anime portrays what it feels like to have a real high school group of friends and at the same time it mixes it up well with family problems, trust issues, and more. The story is original and I think that makes it very unique. Also, there are a lot of little hints and foreshadowing. The way the story spins a web that eventually connects all the characters and their lives together is unparalleled.

Art.

I never have a lot to say about the art in reviews for anime but for some reason this anime has an amazing feel about it. The character designs are great. The scenery is beautiful, especially at dawn. The colors they use really bring out certain things you wouldn't really notice and after watching this anime in 720p all I gotta say is it pays to watch this anime in HD. Beautiful. However, I've seen prettier art in anime. I really enjoyed Clannad's art style for example. While this anime's animation isn't perfect, it is top tier and I'll give it a 9. (9.5 If I could).

Sound.

Ahh.. here we go. Easily the second best part of the anime. The opening and ending themes are pretty catchy Japanese pop songs. I even have them on my iPod I liked them so much. But the opening/ending themes really aren't the true magic here. The music made the sad scenes much more intense. At the same time the music made a cheerful, happy scene with all the friends together just that much more enjoyable. It cut out at the right times, and came back in noticeably. The second time watching through, I payed heavy attention to the music/sound effects and it deserves a 10 if not more.

Characters.

All the characters have a certain charismatic nature to them. I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed every single character's personality and voice acting for that matter (Aoi-chan can get annoying though!). The characters are also very believable which I think is very important to a slice of life anime. I already mentioned they were well drawn too. Since characters are intertwined emotionally and got separated while young then reunited later in life, character development plays a HUGE role in making the anime great. Definitely a 10.

Enjoyment.

10. You'll enjoy it if you like romance anime's with drama. All that needs to be said.

Overall.

10. This anime did everything it needed to do right. A few things could have been changed for the better but either way it's a great watch and still my second favorite anime after seeing over 100+ series

“So you see….I AM the murderer.”

- Azumanga Daioh


This is a strange little anime. There’s nothing inherently wrong with strange; Osaka is strange and weird and wonderful. The people of Myself Yourself are strange and creepy and painful.

On the day that Sana is to move away from his friends, we are given snapshots of each of them as they were once upon a time. Cheerful and soft-hearted Aoi bakes a cake, and smudges the icing with her tears. Shuri knits a mitten, a single one, offering it to Sana in the midst of an affectionate altercation with her twin brother, Shuu. Shuu gives Sana a ... hand-made fishing lure, and later runs after the train that Sana rides out of town, yelling a farewell message that is drowned out by the sound of the moving train. Nanaka ties up her hair with her favorite hair-tie (because it was given to her by Sana), and plays a simple violin piece, stopping in the middle with a plea that they wait patiently until she can complete it.

When Sana returns, he is a high schooler; though he remains mild-mannered on the surface, he has issues that made it impossible to remain at his previous school. His friends have changed, too, and the story is told by flipping each of them over in turn, revealing their creepy or painful underbellies. No one is exempt, not even Asami or the senile grandmother that everyone visits at the senior center.

Call it the Agatha Christie syndrome. But ever since the judge in And Then There Were None turned things upside down on fateful stormy Indian Island, writers have tried to capture that legendary element of psychological suspense by this flipping hat-trick. Oh, you think you know Asami? Flip! Nanaka of the stern visage, complete with a black crow cawing and shedding black feathers over her head? Flip!

The payoff should be a thrilling and fascinated shiver at the strangeness of it all. When Sana opens the mailbox and finds those letters within, filled with silent screams for help (knowing the reason why Nanaka is an orphan), I did shiver. But the biggest flip of all is the ending, where everyone is gathered together for a moment of feel-good closure. That was…fascinating.


Three obligatory remarks:

First, the animation is excellent. Even when the story becomes insufferably oppressive, little Sana and Nanaka are drawn to charming effect. The red mailbox on a road just outside of town, next to green fields and dark woods; the golden sunset over the sea as the twins visit their mother’s grave; the city streets that are both familiar and foreign; the cool nightscapes with the light-house flickering at the convergence of sky, mountain and sea – they are a pleasure.

Second, the music. Serious dialogues are accompanied by solo guitar, with single violin added during Nanaka’s monologues, there’s a cello with a heart-beat percussion accompaniment during the fire scene, and an awesome trumpet theme for the Animenger episode. It’s well done.

Third, the voice characterizations. What was the problem with this anime again? Right, the story. The seiyuu were excellent, too. Fujimura sensei playfully voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi steals every scene.

Grade: C

This is my very first review, so bare with me. :)

When I saw the cover of Myself; Yourself, I thought it looked like it would be a very cute anime with a lot of romance and good artwork. But it ended up being a lot more than that. It dealt with a lot of life issues, and although some of them seemed a little far-fetched, the way the characters interacted and helped eachother through the trials was very uplifting. But I do think it was a little too dramatic at times, like a japanese soap-opera.

Story: The first couple episodes had a cute story but I ... felt as though there wasn't much substance to the story. Sure, it made me laugh a lot but there just wasn't much in the area of a real plot. Towards the end I even felt, "How are they going to possibly end this anime with a good ending?" But the last episode really tied the entire series together very nicely. There were a couple cute twists and the relationships between all of the characters was very well thought-out.

Art: As I said, the cover is what attracted me to this anime from the start. I really loved all of the artwork and the way the characters were drawn. (except I hated how all the blood appears... black?) The backgrounds and settings are drawn beautifully and the colors are wonderful, especially the sakura trees and the sunrises.

Sound: The OP was very cute but it did start to get annoying by the end. I personally loved the ED and it's one of the few ending themes that I actually listened to after every single episode.

Character: The main characters were all designed very nicely and drawn nicely. Personally, the big boobs... is just so unrealistic but I know they do that a lot in these shows. I hate to say it, but most of the voices of the girl characters were very annoying. Especially Aoi. But the way the characters interacted throughout the series was incredible!

Enjoyment: I have to say that I did laugh a lot while watching this anime, and at one point I actually almost began to cry. There were some very cute scenes, romantic scenes, and depressing scenes. This anime has the ability to cause all of your emotions to react in the same episode, which I thought was one of the things that made it so terrific!

I personally really do recommend this anime to everyone! :)

When someone dares to show his face in his hometown after five long years of absence, it is okay to slap the guy as hard as you can in the face. And with that, the intensity of the story is set.

Myself ; Yourself follows our hero Hidaka Sana who is a teenage boy with no extraordinary skills. He actually wears fashionable clothes, has one of the sweetest male voices on the planet and is caring for all of his friends. But that’s it, he’s just a guy in a T-shirt who pretty much is your average student sitting in the same classroom as you are, ... but you never really know him that well.

As the anime begins, we see a group of young children having tea together and celebrating an event. Or rather, trying to soften up the wounds that are about to be opened. Sana will be leaving town because of his parents and has to leave everything behind that he has grown up with, including the bonds that he has with his best friends. After this quite cheerful piece of animation, we jump five years ahead and see the same Sana returning to the same town he left. This time, he is completely alone, with no parents, with no one by his side to accompany his journey. After going through the dramatic trip of nostalgia (or just walking through the hometown), he finds a couple of pretty interesting facts after his return. We get to know that, in a way, all of his old friends will be common things he will encounter on his path that is called ‘’daily life’’. Some of them will be in his class and even live nearby his newly acquired house. All’s well, end’s well, we shall say. But if it wasn’t for a very teensy-tiny little problem raised by this group of friends, this anime would be at its end in one episode.

We get to see a hand that victimizes Sana’s face by slapping it in what may be the most intense slapping sequence in anime history. What the animators probably realized by this point (and most likely you too, reading this review) is what we have seen until now is one of the most clichéd beginnings any storyline possibly can start of with. For this anime to stand out, the animators have got to try something completely new, or do something truly amazing. The animators started to think big. They realized that this kind of story has been done over and over again. Nobody is willing to watch the same story covered with some kind of fake chocolate cake over it to attract viewers, only to realize later that the chocolate cake was tasty for the first five minutes and the rest was actually something else that’s brown. No, what this studio has done is raising the bar for cliché storylines altogether.

We see that the hand is the beautiful girl Yatsushiro Nanaka’s hand. Of all the childhood friends Sana had (he had four of them), Nanaka is the most special one to him. Even when they were little kids and they had no idea what the word ‘’romance’’ even meant, Sana just took Nanaka’s hand without thinking and always protected her of all peril and threats the world threw at them. But now, Nanaka just looks gloomy and has distanced herself from almost all social contacts, including the other childhood friends and the returning Sana. She doesn’t even return the greeting when Sana says ‘’Good morning!’’ with a handsome smile. The reason why she slapped Sana in the face? He could not recognize the beauty that Nanaka has become after all those years. He even introduced himself to her assuming she was someone he didn’t know. A slap for Sana, joy for us.

Character design. The word of choice if you had to describe the graphics Myself ; Yourself has to offer. It’s safe to say that this anime has one of the best character designers working in the industry. Every one of the characters looks so natural and clean but different enough to tell that each character has some depth in it. If you can do that as an artist, you have done your job well. Moreover, the artists responsible for the environments and backgrounds deserve applause. Never was the desire so big to be able to watch this anime in High Definition and lose yourself in that incredible world the artists created.

However, we were talking about how the studio of Myself ; Yourself managed to set the bar for these kinds of clichéd storylines. We have quality character designs. We have top-notch background creators. And we have compelling characters that hold story and depth in them. Ingredients for a nice skin for this anime are available but what really makes or breaks an anime is the body.
It’s there. The body is there and it’s amazing.

This body can be broken down to two segments. First we have the scenario. The story of Myself ; Yourself is written in a classical way of storyline development in drama/romance stories. The first half of the series is to set the tone of the series. To explain all the things that are important, to let you meet all the characters and to get familiar with the world of the story. The second half is the traditional ‘’problems’’ half, or hell-half, if you will. Everything that has been explained to you will be important here. The characters will face problems and difficulties and it’s up to them to solve it. You follow those characters and get involved with the dramatic story, not being able to stop until you watch the last episode. This is the route Myself ; Yourself has taken in terms of storytelling which isn’t bad but nothing groundbreaking either.

What is groundbreaking however, or rather wave breaking, is the music. Anime music is underrated nowadays and there is this belief that music doesn’t add as much to the enjoyment as people believe. The story of Myself ; Yourself which backs you up, tears you apart, lets you cry waterfalls and shows a light of hope breaks this belief. Never has music been this much of an impact as in this series. Especially the heartbreaking scenes have been able to shed tears to people who claim to have a heart of stone. It would be a lie that the music wasn’t a part of this.

Flaws haven’t been spared in this anime though. The animators forgot that in the episodes with a lot of heart shredding scenes, they let the opening just play the way it was. The opening, which on a side note is a very good song and well animated, is a cheerful one with the message of hope. It collides with the sadness displayed in the anime and takes you away of that sympathy, of that ‘’I can feel this character’s pain’’ vibe.
Another flaw that’s quite larger is the differences between serious scenes and normal scenes. The serious scenes are well executed, with perfectly timed music and above average animation. Clearly directed by a professional director.
Normal scenes however are slow, dull, don’t have much energy and are not animated well enough. It’s easy to see that they did this to not go over budget and to maintain the relaxed flow Myself ; Yourself has in the beginning. Generally, this would not disturb you given the fact that you get used to it throughout a series. But the borders between serious and normal scenes are so clear in this series; it does make you wonder why the animators did not choose for a more consistent approach of animating.

Despite all this, Myself ; Yourself manages to distinguish itself from all other anime with similar storylines and have its own face. It is a tale about returning to one’s long lost comfortable zone, only to realize that this comfort zone turned into a field of problems one must solve. Hidaka Sana encounters these problems, realizing that he cannot just return and assume that he can just sit there and live his life. He has people caring about him, needing for help and they’re desperately trying to solve their own problems. Sana understands this and is willing to reach a hand to every friend, even if it hurts himself. Physically or in his heart.

‘Myself; Yourself’ is a slice of life romantic drama that centres around a group of friends. Hidaka Sana had moved to Tokyo as a kid, leaving behind his pals and the hometown where he grew up. Five years later, he chooses to return to his hometown. Upon his arrival he notices that the places and things he was familiar with have changed but not to the extent he expected them to, and he feels nostalgic. He is soon united with his childhood buddies—the enthusiastic albeit clumsy Aoi-chan, the quarrelling Wakatsuki twins and Yatsushiro Nanaka from whom he expected anything but a slap on the face! ... Hidaka is disheartened when he realizes that Nanaka is no more the cheerful girl she used to be as a kid. She has turned distant, cold and gloomy.

M;Y is one of those anime that I picked on an absolute whim and then felt glad that I did. For a short series with thirteen episodes, it was a fairly entertaining watch, and if not the best, it is certainly a good romantic drama with a speck of comedy and fan-service that stays within its limit.

After stealing a glance at M;Y, many would think it is a typical harem with an average high school student for a male protagonist orbited by infatuated girls. If you’re one of them with the harem radar up, uproot that radar NOW! It offers a story of friendship, perseverance, dilemma and relationships, and it gives away all that quite realistically on the screen which is what makes M;Y something more than just an average romantic drama. Though the main plot is nothing unique or revolutionary, the sub-plots and the interactions between the characters are a plus point of this anime. The initial episodes are all about taking trips to the riverside, partying, eating, fooling around and making new friends, and all that are quite fun to watch. As the story progresses, gradually the anime begins to develop on the dramatic side though occasional humour still prevails here and there.
The ending lacked depth though. I expected so much to happen in the end but nothing happened. It was kind of abrupt and rushed, and hence not satisfactory overall. A sudden transition to the adulthood of the characters was probably not a good idea in the first place I guess but still, they pulled it off somehow. I can elaborate more but I’m afraid I’ll be giving away spoilers so let’s bring this to a close, ne?

As of the characters, they are quite amusing. Each one has an interesting personality. I fell in love with all of them, especially the Wakatsuki twins— Suusuke and Shuri. It was really fun seeing this brother-sister duo. However, the character that I liked the least was Hoshino Asami. For some reason, I didn’t like her from the very beginning, and I could not relate to her like I did to the other characters. Aoi-chan was one character that I looked forward to because of her amalgamated nature of enthusiasm and clumsiness. After I was done with the anime, I realized that every character had their own story but Aoi-chan had none so I wish she had one too.

There is nothing much to say about the art and the animation except that they are done quite well.
The OST is good. The OP ‘Tears Infection’ by Kaori and the ED ‘Kimi to Yozora to Sakamichi to’ by Itou Kanako are catchy, and so are the background tracks. I fell in love with Nanaka’s theme the moment it played for the first time.

So, will I recommend ‘Myself; Yourself’? Yes, I will. If you’re a fan of the romance genre, this anime is for you. This somewhat underrated series deserves to be discovered and watched!

Eh... I expected worse.

This show is not generic. It may seem like one, but you can tell that when you watch it that they're really trying to do something else with the whole high school romance thing. It is however very forgettable.

Let me just address the art first. I see a lot of people in the reviews praising how well the backgrounds are and how well the characters are animated. In my personal opinion, the backgrounds were fairly good, but nothing special. I barely paid attention to it. The characters are not animated in any special way. It's just typical anime animation. I did not ... find anything special in the show's art. It was good I bet, but none of it had any lasting effect on me for me to be able to even remember an example right now (and I just finished the show a few minutes ago). And this is coming from someone who regulars Sakugabooru. I usually pay a lot of attention to these. (Or maybe it's because that I visit Sakugabooru often since I might've been overexposed to so much stellar animation).

I also saw some people praising the voice acting. I don't typically pay attention to voice acting and I don't really know what qualifies as good voice acting or not, so I won't say anything about it here. However, I just want to say that the senpai of the group whose name I forgot because she really was only a side character has the most annoying voice ever. It's like someone fused a frog and a cat and told the resulting monstrosity to sound cute. And being the first character to be introduced after the protagonist, Sana, I suddenly got massive premonitions of how bad this show might be when she first started speaking. (Fortunately, those premonitions weren't met in entirety.) I got used to her voice eventually, but I wouldn't call that good voice-acting in the slightest.

Now, let's discuss the story. It's a very simple storyline to be frank. Bad things happen after a period of good things and they keep happening until they stop happening and everyone's changed because of it. It's not a bad storyline. This actually applies to every story out there. It's probably not a story if this doesn't apply to it. However, what makes this show different from superior stories is that this show's story lacks both nuance and anything worth remembering. At this point of writing (which, as said earlier, is only a few minutes after finishing the show), I can't really remember anything more than what I just said earlier. Bad things just happened to the characters. Now there's nothing bad about having a simple story as long as it's memorable. However, this story is not memorable. None of anything that happens in the story has anything intelligent or meaningful to say. As examples, two of the characters which I will not name due to potential spoilers (even if I believe that you'll just forget them anyway as soon as you finish the show, I'll still abide by my code of honor) have terrible family lives. It does not discuss at all anything deep about this at all or attempt to examine closely why things happen this way. One could say that this show is trying to tell us that parents are people too, except the parents are never depicted as actual people. The parents are all very two-dimensional characters who only appear to give the main characters something to react to. They're all just mean because if they weren't, there would be no story for the characters to experience. What I'm trying to say is that the story is unmemorable. It exists only to serve the characters. This makes sense though. This is a character-driven show, not story-driven. It doesn't require an amazing plotline to justify itself. It just needs one that provides the most amount of rounding for its characters. What it wants to make memorable is its characters, not its narrative. So, how are the characters?

Well, they were likable but not really anything beyond that. They all follow a logical path of actions and thinking, but nothing else. They're characters can all be analyzable, but only down a level or too. None of them really fit right into stereotypes (except maybe Sana, our typical slightly dull-minded protagonist), but none of them were particularly realistic either. They all experience a good amount of character development, but it was a very step-by-step type of character development (this happens so she becomes this, then this happens so he becomes this). As an example, let's bring up Nanaka's character arc (no spoilers, I promise). Nanaka starts off as closed-off and distant. Angry, but a shy kind of angry. This is explained by her backstory that was pretty bad (as I said, no spoilers). She was angry at Sana for not being there for him even if she knows he couldn't. That's a pretty typical sentiment and not very illogical even if it seems so. Then, she starts opening up to Sana after several events where they got to talk alone. She however opens up in a very clear-cut way in, I'd say, a set of levels. Event 1, she gets closer to Sana but still somewhat distant. Event 2, she gets closer to Sana and now showing visible joy. Event 3, she's angry at Sana because of the classic anime misunderstanding. Event 4, she reveals feelings and is now really close to Sana. It's a very logically simple character development. It's character development, but not the most realistic. Nanaka is still a likable character, but not the most nuanced one. And this applies to all the main characters in the series. All of them are interesting to watch, but not interesting to analyze.

Now, I'll use this penultimate paragraph just to note some other gripes I had with the show I didn't get to say. The plot twist in Nanaka's backstory barely matters at all. It could've been taken out and the show would still be the same. (Doing so might actually improve the show because it would add a bit more conflict). Her entire backstory itself felt lacking in buildup. Sana's backstory was the opposite. Sana's had lots of buildup over the entire series, however it ended up being very underwhelming, told over a minute, had no importance, and did nothing to change our perception of his character. The eleven year-old kid who was important in the first half completely loses all relevance in the second half. This would be fine if she didn't lose relevance so abruptly (even if they ended her relevance with something that managed to surprise even me at the end of episode six, that doesn't stop how quickly she lost her relevance). In the end, she could've even have been taken out of the entire show. Her existence adds nothing to the other main characters, their developments, and the overall plot. She may have rounded out some of Sana's character but that's it. It's also said that Shu is in love with someone, but we never get to see this be important (of course, he may have just said that as an excuse to the eleven year-old). Asami's entire character arc is also completely out of the blue and very random. It just started as "I'm kind of important and may become very relevant soon", then to "I'm actually not what you think I am" with no buildup whatsoever, and then to "I'm not relevant anymore". The twins' arc were okay, but it ended up feeling like it abruptly ended. It feels like there were some loose ends they didn't tie up. I'd say their arc was the strongest part of this series, but it still felt kind of lacking.

Now that's all I have to say about this show. If I wrote this review any later, I probably would've forgotten many more things. If I forgot to mention any aspect of the show, it's because it's forgettable. The fact that all the characters were just forgotten after their arcs were done stuck with me though. I mean, it's just like this show.

My score is 5/10. Very forgettable.

Yeah, another great romance anime. Wohhoo!: Oh crap their missing the romance seen again

Story:9/10
Myself Yourself has one of the best stories i have ever seen in an anime and i was impressed at how it caught my attention through out the episodes. They had a hard boiled plot that added an theme of mystery and child hood trauma. I would always feel for each character anytime they would go through a problem and that was one of the key things that got me hooked to this anime. I did read some reviews that pointed this anime out as one of average but i highly disagree. ... This anime portrays a unique style of Show don't tell and it would constantly cause me to ask questions. The simple fact that I asked questions at proves that it was not average. An average anime would be predictable and easily compared. What i disliked about the story however were some of the themes. The drama was done perfectly but when it came to romance it was lacking in a few areas. I will discuss the characters part in it later but the overall view of romance in the anime was a bit dull and boring. There were times were you could see the connection but i never really saw any development of the romance theme. Another thing that hinted this out was the kiss scene which was not there. A key factor of development in an anime is the kiss and if you don't have a kiss then you kind of just shat in the face of romance anime lovers.

Art: 8/10
Art in this anime was done fabulously. I won't go as far as to say that the art made me want to cry, but it does have some great views at times. Their were scenes that would be beautiful and i loved it but it was nothing i haven't seen before.

Sound: 7/8 Subbed
The sound track in this anime was done alright to the point that it added to the atmosphere of the anime but it still lacked in a few areas. The sound track wasn't anything superb but the voice actors did a great job in portraying feelings to each character. I also would give Ami, the voice actor of Nanaka an award because she did a great job in portraying pain to her character. Trust me, these kinds of people make the subbed better than the dubbed anime.

Character: 8/10
The character development was done great in this anime. They developed on the main characters in a way that it actually made sense, unlike some anime that try to drop back stories and expect points for character development{Lamune}. Although they had great development, their were still some areas that were lacking again. Earlier I mentioned that the romance in this anime was done poorly and the characters were a big problem here. Two main love connection in this anime were invisible to my eye until they did an impact scene. I saw how their friendship grew but i didn't really sew any love between any characters. This hurt the anime a bit because at the end the show the how the characters ended up together but we didn't really get romance so it came off a bit forced. another thing I found disturbing was the lack of development with the character of Aoi. She was listed as a main but we never really got to know how important she was in the group. She was just there to be there that also made the understanding of the characters to be difficult.

Enjoyment and Overall: 8/10

Overall, i loved this anime and it is certainly a must watch for drama anime lovers. Although I wouldn't really call this anime romance i would recommend it to romance anime lovers as well.