To Heart

I have been watching anime since around 2020 or so, when the pandemic hit hard and forced everyone inside their homes. At first, I didn't really knew what type of anime I was into, however, little by little, an apreciation for easy to digest, easy to follow slice-of-life shows with a tad-bit of comedy and other strorytelling elements sprinkled here and there, with a charming and unique ambience and a lovable set of characters began to form. I searched far and wide for these (admitedly very specific) set of qualities in the many animes I watched. There were some who came close to what I ... was looking for, others who deviated completely from what I was searching, others that fell just in middle or along the way, but none that left me completely satisfied at what I was looking in screen.

That was, until I stumbled with To Heart, who I can confidently assure, has not only left me completely mesmerized at the prospects of what this show has to offer, but it has quickly spiraled into becoming one of my favorite and most dearly held pieces of media precisely for that.

To Heart is, to put it bluntly, a very unique anime. It is the animated adaptation of a very early visual novel game hailing from an era were these kind of charming slice-of-life shows that went light on the heart were only getting started and as such, sort of were in an "experimental stage" of what they were capable to do and what they wanted to deliver with it. This is sort of palpable as you make your way through this show as it takes a very unique and somewhat ecletic approach to storytelling that can go from perfectly normal situations in one episode to jumping straight into the realm of black magic and pscychic powers in anothers and then introduce very sci-fi elements such as lifelike androids whose resemblance to human beigns rivals even the most complex machineries of series such as Star Wars and Star Trek (I am of course talking about Multi here, best girl by the way, you should watch the series just for her). Rather than making this show convoluted or "all over the place" like some members of the audience would assume, I would say that those strange elements in the plot are what make To Heart, To Heart. Essentially what makes this anime gain its unique identity, if you will. To Heart, the relaxed and laid-back show about the daily lives of high-school boys and girls in late '90s Japan that makes an amazing watch when you want to put yourself at ease and its easy to diggest for the general audience but where somethimes strange and esoteric things happen. It has a certain ring to it, don't you think?

"Charm" might be the most repeated word on this review this far, and by this point, you might aswell be wondering, what is this whole "charm" thing this weird guy keeps talking about? And to that I respond to you: the team behind this anime did an AMAZING job at setting an incredibly inmersive and unique atmosphere that sorta makes you wish you were inside the show moments at a time. Legit some of the best production quality I have seen in any anime this far and that is saying much, which is an impressive feat considering this anime came out 26 years ago, actually. Everything, from the character and backround design to the music and sound effects is pretty, no exceptions in between. And oh God, is the music good, the best soundtrack I have ever heard from an anime and I am not even making this up. I completely fell in love with the old synthesizer electronic elements of its songs and the perfect balance it strikes between that and the more traditional orchestral pieces that make up its repertoire. All of those pieces are going in my "Anime Sountrack" folder and playlist, all of them, without expection.

Also, this anime includes a pan flute in many of its sountracks, which I found especially charming and unique. Many old animes included this instruments among its many songs, yet today, one can hardly find a show that barely does so, if at all. What happened? In which moment did the pan flute go out of favor with the anime industry? Goddammit, can't the producers see that including the Andean instrument in their properties makes their songs inmediatly better and more memorable? I really hope that in some future production companies see their mistake and start reincorporating the pan flute into their IPs. Altough I doubt so, since we are moving into an era where animes are more preocupied making their intros and sountracks trendy and "with the times" rather than memorable and charming for the audience to hear, sadly.

When it comes to the visual aspect this series doesn't dissapoint either. Another reviewer already pointed at so, but the way late '90s/early 2000s animes did their animation really makes their characters feel alive, and I can atest to that having finishing this show. To Heart presents a level of quality on its animations that is vastly supperior to that of shows that are coming out today, 26 years later, shame on them for that. Another aspect I would like to state adds to the experience is the old VHS/Digitilization effect this series has overlaying them. Altough that is something that evades the producers's control and likely something they didn't even wanted present in their property to begin with, it adds a mystical aura to the show and establishes it as an IP from another era that is all but gone now. To you, older millenials that might be reading this review this might not mean much to you, since you grew up with similar defects in your shows and are more than likely familiar and used to seeign those, but to me, a dirty Zoomer who never experienced such a thing its truly unique and almost magical to witness such a thing. So I ask you to bear with me on this one.

I would like to point out that, this show is not for everybody. It's slow, relatively uninteresting and lacks an overarching plot more history-driven audience could get hooked on, not to mention some of the situations the characters might find themselves in are kinda boring and uninspired (episode 2 beign especially guilty of that). I ask you to remember that this anime was made primordially to promote the visual novel it is adapted from. It is structured in a way that introduces a new girl you can romance on the game in (almost) every episode and gets you interested in them so you later go and buy a copy of the game to learn more. Kind of a marketing strategy, you see, and one that does it job pretty well, lol. It actually got me interested in playing its source material even tough it probably it was never translated to any lenguage other than Japanese and is incapable to be played in most major gaming outlets due to its age and archaicness, haha.

In conclusion: this anime is a gem, it has its flaws, obviously, but no anime is free of them. It serves as sort of a time capsule to late '90s student life in Japan and is a perfect go-to whenever you are feeling down and just want an experience who will get your humors high again while not taking you in an emotional rollercoster along the way.

Either that, or you just have very similar tastes to those I have, which would be kinda weird, but who am I to judge? Haha.

Go give it a try, chances are, you will enjoy it, I can surely guarantee you that.

Sorry for the mistakes, I'm terrible at english :c
Here is the URL to my point of view in Portuguese (my native language): https://jpst.it/3IWtB

For me, watching this anime was like wrapping myself under the blankets on cold days.

It's a simple and pleasant novel, but it lets me want to see much more of the characters. Maybe for that, I need to play the visual novel. I can't imagine how much the adaptation is different from the original, but I believe that the word "presentation" is more viable, because it makes us interested in the original work. I would like to play, but my lack of knowledge ... of japanese language and the lack of translation prevents me.

Visual art was something that caught my attention. The animation is beautiful and fluid, part of the last glorious days of cell art from the last century.

Those songs are great!I never get tired of listening to the openings and ending songs.

I am going to honest here. First story is lame and very slow, its based on a harem game but in some stories the MC doesn't seem to make any romantic advancement to any of the girls. In one story he helps a girl that was bully him and his main squeeze helps her. She thanks them for the help the whole episode is them getting their classroom ready for a cafe boring. Talking about boring watch this in 1.2 or high speed because it's slow and they talk slow. One episode is them studying for a test and talking ... about when they were young no flashbacks(i guess not in their budget) just talking and staring not each other but blank staring. Are the characters any good, one is very good. She is too good i didn't want her to start liking the MC but in the end she does. The male best friend is a basically a back ground character it look like he would good but no after 4 episode you dont realize he exist. Score decent(4) lol