Reviews

If you're not much of a shoujo anime fan, it's better to just stay away. It's basically a chick who had feelings for a guy when they were in middle school then he left and when he came back, she fell again. If you are a shoujo fan, it's not as ridiculous as Special A, it's a little more realistic. But it's not as heavy as Bokura ga Ita, it's definitely more innocent when it comes to love. Although, the characters back stories are definitely korean/japanese drama worthy, (can't tell you why, you'll have to watch it.) What really sets it apart from other anime is its pacing. No one appreciates good pacing more than me. If it's too slow, you get bored; too fast, you get unattached or confused. They do a good job of introducing elements just enough to keep you watching the next episode.

Story is very typical, but on a shoujo scale it'd be a solid 9 atleast. A shoujo 9 because it can make your heart flutter. A bunch of loner girls becoming friends then very subtly and quietly their love lives unfolds, it's very innocent and lovely and straightforward. If you like shoujo on the innocent side this is for you. Just watch the first episode and immediately you will root for them and find out there is more to the story, that people change and so does their feelings... or does it?! Ah the suspense. *swoon*

Art is pretty, up to date, and clean. It didn't try to be too unique which I appreciated, but the downfall would be is that if I saw a particular screen shot of this anime on a random site, the chances are slim I'd figure out it's Ao Haru Ride right away. But that doesn't matter at all.

Sound, tbh, I didn't pay attention to bgm or if it even had any but I rarely skipped the opening song, I reckon it adds to the overall feel of the anime, "the joy and innocence of young love." But I will say this, EVERY TIME there is a serious moment between the mains, there is this ONE song that always always plays. You will know which one I'm talking about, trust me.

Characters: Oh that main girl's hair, I could not get over how feral she looked, but I realized that she's trying to be as unladylike as possible. I was genuinely hoping she would slowly find her old self again and allow herself to be pretty. Why does it matter? Am I just shallow? No it's because in the anime, it really seemed like she was living a lie just so people would like her. Although it's nice she made friends whatever version of herself she is now, which is what counts and made it heartwarming because she moves forward(not backwards despite this anime being heavy with flashbacks) It would be an exciting development.

The main guy is really interesting, smart, very kind, good looking and cool because he keeps things to himself. But that's the mystery, we feel like we need to know what's in his heart, he immediately admitted he loved her in the first episode, but as he said, that guy is long dead and that she should give up. But deep in our hearts, we really don't want her to give up. We see glimmers of hope and we clench onto it harder than a handbag in a bad neighborhood.
The support characters are not annoying and are actually very supportive, loyal people.

Enjoyment: I already covered most of it in the characters section. But yeah, what really set it apart from other anime is that it had great pacing, we get her back story and even the guy's back story in the second half, and the relationships and developments of them and everybody else are evenly spread throughout the whole thing. There are always things in each episode that made you go, "woah yup that happened, let's go watch the next one." This is all in just 12 episodes, no time for boring stuff.

Overall: I think it's a very decent anime. It's not outrageous so it'd be perfect for a Japanese drama(maybe even a Korean drama if they gave it an antagonist, the anime in 12 episodes did not introduce one. In their defence, why try stop nothing? The guy doesn't wanna love yet, what's the antagonist gonna do at this point? So yeah I think it was a good move for the anime.)

Complete disclaimer: I didn't read the manga, so whether or not it did it justice, I wouldn't be able to tell you, but I can honestly say that if someone like me(who-stayed-away-from-shoujo-anime-for-a-couple-of-years-because-seeing-fictional-people-having-a-better-love-life-than-me-really-sucked) finished it, then it's completely watchable. I'll be honest I stopped watching at episode 6 then picked up again after a couple of months then finished it in ONE DAY! See that's something!

I'm giving it an 8.5/10. I admit it is pretty high for an anime like this but it was exactly what I felt I was looking for in a shoujo anime and it didn't completely let me down. Good looking, dependable characters that develops throughout the anime. They didn't make me tear my hair out. And trust me, even popular anime like Tokyo Ghoul and Deadman Wonderland had characters that made me want to tear it out. (Remembering those other characters are actually making me want to give Ao Haru Ride a 10/10 instead, but I think an 8.5 would be fair enough for now.)