Summary: Ao Haru Ride takes place in your typical Japanese high school like many other animes of its genre. Overall it centers over main character Futaba who is in her second year of high school. It begins with immediate flashbacks to middle school where she meets the sweet Kou Tanaka. The two begin to get close making it obvious that a romantic relationship could start. But because of her classmates' rude comments regarding how appealing Futaba is to guys, she begins to feel insecure. They say that because she is so appealing to the boys in school, girls don't want to be her friend. So in attempt to shed the image of being the "cute girl" she makes the loud statement that she doesn't like guys, AT ALL. Of course Kou overhears this without ever knowing her true feelings. Fast forward to Futaba's second year of high school and she is now popular with more female friends even though they may be fake at times. She achieves this through trying to act more masculine. Meanwhile, Kou has moved away and lives elsewhere in Japan. When he moves back Futaba has to deal with the drama that surrounds his return.
I give the plot of this show a 7/10 because it tends to be generic and follows a lot of the typical anime tropes. There's a lot of back and forth and wishy-washyness throughout which can get a bit annoying at times. The reason I give this a higher score is because the emotional aspects of it make you want to stay with the plot and root for the main characters. The worst thing about this anime in my opinion is that it ends way too abruptly. Being only 12 episodes long, you can expect them to have a hard time telling the whole story in great detail without skipping a lot of things. Having read the manga, this anime ends before the real meat and potatoes of the story even begins. There's a couple of characters that we don't even meet in the anime. It's the kind of anime that leaves you wanting to read the manga. If you like the anime I definitely recommend reading the manga to get even more of this sweet story.
Characters 7/10
I would give the characters a 10/10 if it wasn't for some of the annoyingness of the 2 main characters. Futaba is really sweet and means well but she can tend to be the typical shoujo ditz at times. Kou can also get super indecisive and lies about his true feelings which can get on your nerves at times. But at the end of the day all of the characters are pretty likeable. I also feel that they did an excellent job with characterization despite the short time frame. You really feel connected to all of the major characters and get into their story. There's always the wish to get into more backstories with certain people, but not even the manga delivers that.
Music 9/10
Music doesn't really play a huge part in this anime. But when it does, it really brings out the emotion. I wouldn't say it brought me to tears at any point, but it definitely ties together the scenes when it's used. The theme song is also nice and catchy. It will get stuck in your head!
Animation 9/10
The animation in this in my opinion is pretty strong. It has a lot of lighter colors and smooth edges. For such a short anime they took the time to make it look pretty darn good. It also sticks very close to the style of the manga. Like any anime it has it's moments where the animation looks a little wonky, but overall a job well done.
Overall 8/10
I give this anime and 8/10 because even with its generally generic plot and characters that can get a little tiresome at times, the anime brings emotion and a truly moving story. The animation is pretty spot on and if you enjoy the musical aspects of a show you will enjoy that as well. In addition if you like a good dramatic romance with a *SPOILER) happy ending, this anime is for you. And again, if you watch this a like it, I strongly recommend that you read the manga which is already finished. It will leave you wanting more.
