Reviews

what I love about this series the most is that it's a masterfully written romance series that cuts right to the bone. It's not your typical romantic hijinks show where there are 3 or 4 characters that are there just to get in the way of whatever ship you're supporting. The examples could go on for days, just about anything takaschi wrote, ai yori aoshi past episode 5...which looked to be one of the best animes I'd ever watched right up until the other characters started showing up. Or the infamous love hina. This isn't a romantic comedy: it's serious. now mind you that doesn't mean there's a complete lack of comedic relief to soften the blow (namely the characters tatuyuki works with) but it does mean that it isn't so heavy it distracts from the central purpose of the anime without actually making anyone laugh. Seriously. the hijinks in ANY of those romantic comedies are NOT funny and they're repeated ad nausem. I would recondmend you pace your viewing of this series just to get a feel for what WE did when we viewed it as it aired in japan. I picked it up RIGHT after the main event (Ep 3) and had to wait a week for EACH new episode, nerves shot every single night after watching it. It was a slow torture, and yet a slow torture that one enoys.
if you want the full effect of this series, you really have to pace yourslef.