I'm a sucker for good drama/romance shows and I can promise I don't usually cry for watching drama, romance animes/shows/movies with good/sad endings but this one almost made me do it.
Ef stands out as an anime for expertly depicting the relationships between characters following a strong story line, oddly mysterious yet intriguing. The characters are so well portrayed that you end up feeling what the character would feel in certain situations, either happy or sad. Maybe even cry when they actually do. The show makes you learn more about the characters episode after episode that you might end up predicting what might happen next or what he/she might do next but may fail. Maybe it's just a feeling of wanting something to happen or wanting him/her to do something. But I think that's what makes this anime stand out.
I'd give art a 9. It's not too different or unique but it's consistent which is hard to find in animes.
Music is outstanding. The goosebumps you get for situations would be mainly caused by the good music which would suit that situation.
All I can say is, if you're into this genre, this is something you can't miss out on.
