Hello everyone,
Here we are for another review of a game/anime series that aired not so long named "ef - a fairy tale of the two" that got two anime adaptation respectively called "ef - a tale of memories" and "ef - a tale of melodies".
Let's start with a synopsis :
Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two. consists of two parts with three chapters each. The first part is titled Ef: The First Tale. and primarily consists of the story of Hiro Hirono, Miyako Miyamura, Kyosuke Tsutsumi, Kei Shindo, and Yuko Amamiya. It consists of a prologue and two main chapters with Miyako as the focus for the first chapter, and Kei for the second. This is followed by the second part of the story, Ef: The Latter Tale., which primarily deals with the story of Renji Aso, Chihiro Shindo, Shuichi Kuze, Mizuki Hayama, and Yu Himura. The second part consists of two more main chapters and an ending chapter, with Chihiro as the focus for the third chapter, and Mizuki for the fourth. Bringing the two parts together forms the all-encompassing Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two.. The story is set in the town Otowa.
Yeah, the first thing I thought when reading the synopsis years ago was that this story had a great courage to follow multiple stories at the same time and merging them into a single storyline as the plot continued to run.
The way the anime adaptation was done was marvelous (well, this is another Shaft work after all) and each and every emotional scenes were quite well expressed.
For example, I loved the minutes in which the infamous stalking message flurry happen (in the love triangle arc), it was adapted in a very dramatic way!
One warning I want to issue to anyone is...this series is quite sad and no real happy end for everyone, so if you can't standa drama pouring from everywhere just ignore it.
I, for this reason, had to make several pause to watch it fully as the drama was too heavy for me to bear.
The characters are few, but mostly likable. You'll end up symphatizing for each one of them and it will be hard to see some of them to remain sad at the end of the series.
My favourite character is Kei Shindou, as I love her unrequited love story. All her story makes me want to shout "I want to protect her!!!".
The visual quality is wonderful, this series as usuel by Shaft use some particular artistic touch and end up being quite unique in its genre.
Animation was consistent and I found myself loving each and all the opening and ending animation featured in this series, especially the first opening of the first adaptation.
The sound department is another of big quality, while the seiyuu are not the most famous they do an incredible work portraying our characters emotion and personality.
The seiyuu I most liked is Junko Okada with her Kei's role. I loved how she has been able to reproduce the contrasted emotion of Kei with her voice and acting!
The opening and ending songs were all fantastic (and quite numerous to be honest), I still hear all of them from time to time. My favourite opening is "euphoric field" by Tenmon feat. ELISA (opening of the first adaptation) and my favourite ending is "Kizamu Kisetsu" by Junko Okada (the Kei ending of the first adaptation).
Concluding, , this may well be called one of the best series of the last years. Unfortunately it has a very particulra target and it is not for everyone, please stay away from this if you can't stand tearjerking stories.
There are still some holes in the anime adaptation (some points aren't explained in full detail, probably due time restriction) that I plan to fill by playing the games in the future.
See you soon,
feal87