| Episodes: | 12 |
|---|---|
| Genre: | Drama |
| Aired: | 10/6/08 – 12/22/08 |
| Director: | Shin Oonuma |
| Production: | SHAFT |
| Licensee: | N/A |
|---|---|
| Distributor: | N/A |
| Story: | ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| Animation: | ★★★★★ |
| Music: | ★★★★★ |
| Dub: | N/A |
| Overall: | ★★★★★ |
ef – a tale of melodies is the 2nd part of the ef series – part sequel, part prequel, part spinoff – which focuses on two new stories, both of which can stand own their own, and yet are also intertwined with the stories of the first series.
The first story is set several years in the past between the mysterious girl Yuuko Amamiya and Chihiro’s caretaker Yu Himura. Suddenly Yuuko tries to befriend Himura while they’re in high school. However, Himura realizes that Yuuko is the same girl he knew when he was growing up in the local orphanage. However, he resisted to befriend Yuuko because she reminded him too much of his little sister whom he lost in a major earthquake which had rocked the town. Himura similarly tries giving Yuuko the cold shoulder when they meet again in high school for much of the same reasons. However, Yuuko’s insistence and evidence that Yuuko is being bullied by the other girls at school starts to pull Himura closer to her, only to reveal Yuuko’s terrible past.
The second story is set in what we end up learning to be a duplicate town of Otowa in Australia, which is actually where Chihiro lives with Himura and Renji, away from her sister Kei, who lives in the “real” Otowa with Hiro and Miyako in Japan. Kei’s friend Mizuki is visiting this 2nd Otowa and staying with Renji, who is her cousin, over the break. She soon runs into Renji’s neighbor Kuze and immediately starts to fall for him because of his beautiful violin playing. However, while initially playing along with Mizuki, Kuze starts pushing her away because he has an apparently fatal and incurable illness. However, Mizuki still insists on getting closer to him.
One of the best things about a tale of melodies as opposed to a tale of memories is that it seems more jointed. What I mean is that a tale of memories could have pretty easily been two separate shows just because they were, seemingly, so unrelated. However, the two stories in a tale of melodies are linked, at least in some ways, as well as giving a little back story to the two stories from memories as well. I think in part because of this a tale of melodies does what I would have thought to be unthinkable before: top it’s predecessor, a tale of memories.
I think the Yuuko/Himura arc is the best arc out of the 4 covered in the two series, and while I think the Mizuki/Kuze arc is probably the weakest of the four, it’s still good enough to keep the show going. Also, just like memories, melodies excels in keeping the stories going despite splitting time between the two of them in the bulk of the episodes. Also, the fantastic technical aspect of the first series also remain in this series.
If you liked ef – a tale of memories, you’ll probably love ef – a tale of melodies. If you haven’t watched either and you don’t mind some drama-heavy shows, go ahead and check this out.
Name: True Tears
This is just a note saying that I’ve re-scored my review for The Place Promised in Our Early Days as part of my project to switch my scoring system from the old percentage system to the new 5-point system.
Anime Review – Shuffle!
Shuffle! initially appears to be your standard harem anime series, though with a little twist. You have the main male character, Rin Tsuchimi, which is actually an above-average male lead for a harem series due to the fact that, despite still being indecisive, he appears to be normal and otherwise someone you could actually see the female characters falling for normally.
Rin is surrounded by 4 girls(well, technically 5, but effectively his choice is between 4 of them): 2 from the human world, 1 from the world of the gods, and 1 from the world of the demons. The two human girls are his close childhood friend Kaede and his tomboyish sempai Asa. Then there is Sia, a goddess princess, and Nerine, a demon princess. They all compete, at some level, and in different ways, for Rin’s attention throughout the series.
The first thing I should warn possible viewers about is that this series is very fan-service laden. So much so that Funimation has decided to give it a TV-MA rating.
The first 11 episodes or so of the series is very much like a slice of life series. Most of the show’s entertainment is being driven by the comedy caused from the girls all trying to get Rin’s attention and spend more time with him. Some of this comedy is also derived from the fact that most of the other boys in the school are angry that Rin is spending too much time with either Kaede, Sia, or Nerine, and are routinely disrupting his life because of it.
Once the series enters it’s second half, it starts getting into the main character’s backgrounds, resulting in a darker and more serious turn in the series. I find this half of the show to be the more interesting half, since we start dealing with actual issues and problems with the characters instead of just happily going around flashing panties, which is what mostly happens in the first half of the series. The girl that Rin starts leaning towards becomes increasingly obvious as the 2nd half progresses, though the end result is still at least relatively in doubt until the end.
Overall, I thought the humorous first half of the show had enough humor to at least make it a decent watch, though if that was all that made up the show, the excessive fan service might have been too much for me. As I noted before, what I think really carried the show was the darker, more dramatic second half. Sure, there was still some comedy thrown in, but no where near as much as the first half of the series.
To some extent, once you’ve seen one harem show you’ve seen them all, but that’s true of many sub-genre’s as well. I think there were several aspects that made Shuffle! unique, especially in it’s second half. Again, I would rate Rin as an above-average male lead for a typical harem show because he seems like your average joe, and not necessarily a loser or a jerk, which is often the case of male lead in similar shows. Also, while the characters are, just by the nature of the show, probably going to be a bit excessively enthusiastic about the male lead, I don’t think it was overdone.
The one big minus I have for this show is, once again, the fan service. There is a good reason it was rated TV-MA, and much of the fan-service is pretty much needless and gratuitous. I’m not sure what reason there was for it, other than to cater for a specific audiences. Other shows have been made from ero-games without stooping to the level of fan-service that appears in Shuffle!.
On the technical aspects of the show, the animation is excellently done, I thought. The music is good, though isn’t anything really to call home about. One of the pleasant surprises in Funimatin’s release of the show, however, is the dub, with everyone’s dub (except perhaps Primula’s) being very well done. I actually thought it was one of the better dubbed shows out there.
Overall, if you just don’t like harem shows, I’m not sure there is enough in Shuffle! to really make this show be an exception for you. However, if you like harems, or at least don’t mind them, I think Shuffle! presents itself as one of the better examples out of that sub-genre, and it might be worth giving it a watch. You might want to give it some time, though, since the better stuff is in the second half of the series. I think I’ll give this show an overall rating of 4 stars. The “story” rating is probably more like 3 1/2 stars, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and round up to 4 stars.