[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

ef -a tale of memories 10-12: End

Posted by Martin  [Tags: ef -a Tale of Memories]

It would have been hard for me to believe back when I started watching ef -a tale of memories that I would find it to be so profound, moving and extraordinary. During these twelve episodes I was baffled by the imagery and symbolism, only to gradually understand at least part of what the creators were trying to say; turning a dating sim/visual novel into one of the most powerful pieces of drama of 2007 amounts to the metaphorical act of making a diamond out of broken glass. At the end of the day I guess, origins and inspiration don’t matter in storytelling: people’s lives and feelings matter. If you’re able to take the age-old subjects of first love, rejection, reconciliation, deciding on your future and following your dreams in the most inventive and striking way possible, so much the better. ef -a tale of memories did just that.

The story is an ordinary one for the most part but the presentation, or more specifically, the way in which the presentation enhances the way in which the ideas and feelings are conveyed, makes it special. I wasn’t too keen on the character designs, the seiyuu’s voices were occasionally grating and there were one or two contrived moments that didn’t quite work; one the whole though it took very and well-trodden subject matter and made it feel fresh, cinematic and, dare I say it, sophisticated too.

[2 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

2007 in 12 day 5: ef -a tale of memories

Posted by Martin  [Tags: ABC, ef -a Tale of Memories, Twelve days of Christmas]

This post is a bit shorter than I hoped, maily because I’ve been preoccupied with getting my RSS link to redirect to my new Feedburner feed (no luck so far, which hacks me off no end) and trying to work out why Bit Tornado isn’t working any more (the status light is green but no downloading or uploading is taking place…no luck on that either). Apologies for my feed url redirect not working, because I’m all out of ideas on that front; unless something miraculous happens I’ll also exhaust my backlog and run out of new stuff to write about, period. In addition, my server died for several minutes during the writing of this post so the last couple of paragraphs were typed from memory (pun intended). It’s not shaping up to be a good week.

So, ef -a tale of memories. What’s to say that I haven’t said already? It’s possibly the oddest title of the season, in that its subject matter is pretty common in shows these days (hell, it’s even one of those that’s based off one of those bishoujo games, for crying out loud) while its execution is very unusual indeed. Whether or not it would feel as generic as similarly themed fare without SHAFT’s innovative presentation I don’t know, but the fact remains that the striking visual effects convey the story’s themes and ideas in a refreshingly new way. Love it or hate it, ef IS different; I’d respect it’s creators’ efforts purely on that alone. There’s still a lot to say in terms of its progress at this point though.

[3 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

ef -a Tale of Memories 7-9

Posted by Martin  [Tags: ef -a Tale of Memories]

When I dropped in a comment in an earlier post about how SHAFT are the new Gainax I didn’t realise what a strong feeling that was. The breakdown scene in which Miyako is desparately trying to reach Hirono on her cellphone is just the sort of thing that Anno excelled at in terms of portraying extreme emotions in a radical way. Never mind the distinctive imagery, it was powerful stuff that gave me a feeling of unease; I can only describe it as painful to watch. The tension and anxiety is drawn out to the point at which I was feeling the impatience and panic along with her - after Miyako came across as a loudmouth and really quite annoying in earlier episodes, having her background explained made me feel really sorry for her instead. For all the minor criticisms I can level at His and Her 5cm ef -a tale of memories, it has an almost overwhelming capacity to hammer the ideas home.

The way in which Miyako’s traumatic childhood is portrayed in restful pencil/watercolour that’s pleasant to the eye but at the same time gives it a simplistic ‘child’s eye view’ of very serious events puts her current demeanour into context and shows her carefree persona as the façade that it is. Obviously everyone keeps things in their past at the back of their minds like this but in the case of characters such as Miyako this is much more of a contrast; as a result her obsessive phoning and texting are the actions of a desparate individual trying to stay in the heart and mind of someone close to her, as opposed to a creepy stalker type of personality.

[3 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

ef -a Tale of Memories 4-6: memories are made of this

Posted by Martin  [Tags: ABC, ef -a Tale of Memories, Over-analysis]

ef -a tale of memories is already at its halfway point, which means that the premise is well and truly set in place so (I think) I have a pretty clear idea now as to where it’s heading. In my previous two appraisals of the show I never really paid much attention to the events and characters, instead trying to get a general overview of the concepts and ideas. This post is part of an informal mini joint-blogging exercise though, so if my views coincide with those of TheBigN, Demian, Moogy, J.Valdez, JRoxas, DS (in a roundabout way) and Owen S it’s merely a case of great minds thinking alike, ok? ^_^

The story is not taking the ‘intertwining arcs’ approach that I expected, at least not yet. Rather, the three situations are running parallel so while they’re connected in the sense that the characters are in a vaguely-defined social circle, they’re linked in more of an abstract and thematic kind of way. Maybe I’m just glad it didn’t turn out to be a harem show…at any rate, the respective ‘scenarios’ are all different angles on the same core themes.

Chihiro and Renji’s arc seemed a bit contrived to me at first but the tragic explanation as to why Chihiro is the way she is gives an interesting set-up to her relationship with him. It makes perfect sense, really, that he should suggest that she writes a novel to while away her free time; after all, she’s already doing the same thing in order to maintain a grasp of what’s going on in her own life. It’s the most obvious analogy to the idea of memories that permeates the whole show - whenever I’m a bit stuck with understanding a series, I turn to the title for inspiration; in this case I don’t really think it’s primarily a romance per se. Instead, I’m beginning to see it as an observation on, well, memories. Chihiro is trying to keep hold of pleasant memories of the time spent with Renji, as Kyousuke is trying to do in carrying his camera around everywhere in an effort to capture and hold onto a transient moment for posterity. As an aside, I thought naming Renji’s mother Sumire was a nice touch*.

[12 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

ef -a tale of memories 2 and 3

Posted by Martin  [Tags: ef -a Tale of Memories]

For a show that was on my to-watch list so early on, I’ve taken my time over actually continuing to watch ef. It’s a show that has divided opinion (and dropped off quickly in popularity, judging by the BT download speeds and stats) but the very reasons that have earned it so much derision are part of what make it so intriguing - not to mention creating one or two minor causes for criticism.

A hardcore manga-ka

I was originally planning a quick review because I expected it to be a show where I could sit back and enjoy some light entertainment - to the contrary, it’s beginning to feel like a show where I need to actively seek out what various bits mean. I enjoy stuff that requires active thinking, although not everyone feels the same way; this explains part of why it isn’t particularly popular. It also has that really distinctive visual style - I loved the look but questioned my own judgement in deciding that its eccentricities actually meant something. Fortunately Michael and Owen must have been thinking along similar lines and posted some immensely helpful pointers that suggest that ef is a bit special after all.

[2 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Autumn season first impressions part 2

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Clannad, ef -a Tale of Memories, First Impressions and Retrospectives]

Ah, upgrades…I can now throw myself into the viewing backlog but since Genshiken 2 and who knows what else is on the horizon, I’m going to be whittling it down quite a lot. So far the only two shows I’m intending to watch are Gundam 00 (it’s all about the shiny mecha) and Mokke (Mushishi-lite, but still…), so on with the run-down.

ef-A Tale of Memories

[6 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Mission Statement: Autumn 07

Posted by Martin  [Tags: ef -a Tale of Memories, Ghost Hound]

I’m not going to do a full preview because I don’t have my finger as on the pulse as so many others have. There’s not a great deal of new stuff that’s caught my eye anyway, but here’s the shortlist (i.e. it’s a list that’s very short) of what you can expect me to start blogging fansub-wise over the coming weeks as and when they’re available subbed in the usual places.

ef-A Tale of Memories

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