Stand My Heroes: Warmth of Memories

Stand My Heroes boils down to being nothing more than advertisement for the mobile game. (a game which isn't even available in English). Piece of Truth was bad in so many ways, I'm honestly surprised it even got greenlit considering how bland it was. Not to mention the lackluster cast of characters and a plot that may as well be non-existent. Then comes Warmth of Memories. It was somewhat better than Piece of Truth but it still has the same issues.

For the most part, the plot is straightforward as it's primary focus is to introduce the Seo lab group and who they are as characters. ... Which wouldn't be a problem except they only got an hour of screen time and somehow I still don't have a good grasp on who they are as individuals. One of the characters is strict and insults the MC and you would think there would be a reason why he's like that. Nope. It's not explained at all and the only way to know why he's like that is to play the game... a game which, as I mentioned earlier, isn't available in English. There is a subplot but it was rushed near the end and the story seems to have even forgotten it. Not to mention it felt redundant to the overall story but I guess the writers had to include something to keep our attention, no matter how boring it was.

The main issue is that Warmth of Memories suffers from the same mistakes as Piece of Truth: Shallow plot and little to no characterization. But I will say that Warmth of Memories is more watchable than Piece of Truth. I am more forgiving because this is a one-shot OVA and I knew I wasn't going to get much out of the plot and characters. But it still doesn't excuse the shallowness of it all.

As someone who is in the otome community, we are a niche audience and we as an audience know that otome anime adaptations range from somewhat watchable to, "what is this dumpster fire garbage adaptation???" What's more is that some of these adaptations are from games that have never gotten an official English release so unless we're playing a fan-translation or using a translating app, us fans in the West are stuck with the anime. It's the case with both Piece of Truth and Warmth of Memories, they're not good enough. Of course even if the game did have an English release the adaptations are mediocre.

Warmth of Memories is just OK. Was it better than Piece of Truth? Kind of. But honestly you're not missing out if you skip it.

As one of the few who enjoyed the series and actually rewatched it for a second time , I really enjoyed this and I think I liked it more than the series, it still had its issues and I’m still annoyed at how you are left with many questions at the end, like how they still don’t let us know if Izumi already met Ikuto in the past and just lots of other little bits of information that would just fill in gap’s here and there. So is it perfect no but it’s not bad either and I enjoyed it and would tune ... into another series or more ONA/OVA/specials. It’s just a shame that the game still isn’t globally available or subbed because I feel like that could give you what the anime lacks so you can understand and enjoy it more.