Story: Anime – 7/10, Manga- 10/10
To start things off, the way the story is written is like your typical romance anime. They met, their feelings develops throughout the series, they hold hands. Like I said, typical but here’s the catch. There is that boundary when a romance is about a boy and a girl. But when’s its shoujo ai the heroines can freely cross that boundary without any consequences. But what is that “boundary” I’m talking about here? It’s their ability to go to each other’s places without raising any suspicions, their ability to hold hands, their ability to be playful around other people. It’s those simple yet charming and cute things that boosts the story to be entertaining and add a bit of spice to the overall experience. But when you set aside these cute things the story is honestly a melodramatic and a serious one. It’s an emotional rollercoaster between the cute scenarios and when the serious tone starts to kick in. Throughout the series, the story dives deeper and raises questions regarding self-discovery, the building up of one’s façade, how love shackles people and how a single action can hurt another. The story is not that complex from the surface, but when you unravel the mysteries behind certain characters it adds emotional depth and overall impact. The pacing of the story is something that may bother other people because it can feel slow sometimes. Personally, it didn’t bother me at all. I like the pacing, I like how they take their time on certain shots and how they don’t rush each scenes. It’s a slow burner and it was just right up on my alley and the so-called slow pacing is needed to elevate the viewer’s experience. On the other hand, on the manga the pacing issues is non-existent because you can read the story at your own pace. Additionally, the anime only adapted the first half of the manga and kinda made its own ending. In this aspect, I can rightfully say that the manga is better than the anime, well story wise. The ending that the anime chose felt empty and forced. It didn’t reached a climax, it ended as soon as it was about to hit the climax making the anime feel incomplete.
Characters: Anime 10/10, Manga 10/10
The characters are what drives the series, they are the powerhouse and what gives life to it. Without its well written characters the story can’t stand on its own. The main duo Koito Yuu and Nanami Touko are the cutest couple I’ve ever laid my eyes upon on. Their interactions are what made this series for me a thousand times better. Their motivations and interactions with the other characters made them feel real and further drew me in on its world. For the side characters, what side characters?! They don’t even feel like side characters! They are the most flesh out side characters in recent memory. They have motivations, they have their own reasons for reacting on certain ways. What I’m trying to say is they all felt like real life people.
Animation/Art: Anime - 10/10, Manga – 9/10
The animation was superb, those panning shots, slow-motion shots and ambient lightings were amazing. The animation the panning shots and lighting of certain scenes were one of the best ones I’ve seen in an anime. They really used a ton of budget perfecting it. The character designs stayed on par with the manga and the facial animations of characters were great as well, it was very “animey”.
Now, for the manga’s art. Can you tell, it was the writer’s first work? No, I couldn’t. Her character design has a certain charm to it, the panels were arranged neatly and each frame was drawn beautifully and the colored and cover pages were amazing as well. I really can’t say much about it other than it was beautiful both the animation and the manga art.
Music and Original Soundtrack: 10/10
The OST’s and insert songs were elegant. The sweet, soothing, eerie and calm sound design elevated certain scenes to perfection. The slow-motion shots combined with the amazing OST really took my breath away. It was truly something to remember. The two insert songs were both amazing on how it was used on the show and how you can repeat the songs and relive the scene it was in. The OP was also great visually and sound wise. Now, the ED. WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I have that shit on repeat for two whole months! It was a banger, it was like I was born just to hear that masterpiece.
Overall: Anime - 9.25/10, Manga – 9.6/10
In conclusion, the story was great combined with amazing characters and an amazing art and animation with an amazing musical score. It is the defining anime for what “Shoujo Ai” could be if given the budget and attention it needs.
