I didn’t really know what to expect when I first heard about Ef. Then, I heard Chihiro say, “Thirteen hours is a long time,” and suddenly I knew I’d found a winner.
I encountered this recently, when I was looking for more productions in the romance genre that had some substance to them. Too often I find myself directed to half-baked romantic comedies with far too much slapstick humor to really catch my attention. Among these, Ef was a breath of fresh air. Or rather, at least half of it was – it is, after all, two unrelated stories told in parallel. The parallel plots have led me to provide two ratings for plot and characters; the art and audio were clearly drawn from the same staff, so their ratings are identical for both stories.
As a caveat, Ef is the first anime on here that has come from an Adult Dating Simulation game. I figured that this was a good time to add in a rating system to my website, as very few anime I’ve watched have any sort of suggested rating for American viewers. It’s not a big deal in my opinion, but if you’re wondering if these are the kinds of shows you can watch with friends or family, or can recommend to your kids, these ratings can hopefully give you some guidelines. Note: these ratings are generated solely from my own perception, and therefore should be taken as guidelines at best; I will try to rate conservatively, rather than liberally, so you aren’t ever unpleasantly surprised.
Synopsis
Ef: Miyako Miyamura
Side A (Hiro Arc): Hiro Hirono is a high school student that is also employed as a manga (Japanese comic book) artist. Because of this dual commitment, he often misses school and just barely manages to make his deadlines at work. On Christmas, he meets Miyako Miyamura – an energetic, mischievous young girl that drags Hiro on an adventure for the evening. As Miyako’s presence in Hiro’s life increases, Hiro’s academic-minded friend Kei Shindou finds herself in a losing battle to keep her friend from failing out of school.
Side B (Renji Arc): Renji Asou is also a high school student, trying to figure out his future. He usually goes to an abandoned train station to think about his future, and one day meets a young girl – Chihiro Shindou. While both Renji and Chihiro are exceptionally shy around one another, their shared interest in the train station’s solitude, as well as the future, keep them coming back to meet one another.
Genre
A pair of romance stories woven back to back, despite having almost nothing in common with one another; there are many dramatic elements, with surprisingly few comical moments for an anime of this genre.
Age Rating
Conservatively, R. There are many adult themes throughout the anime, both tragic and romantic. There is nothing explicit, but there is partial nudity.
Review
Plot Quality: 4 | 6
Hiro Arc: 4
This story is almost, almost skippable. It sets itself up as a standard love triangle, and plods steadily through executing a mediocre back-and-forth between the two girls until its conclusion. There are no huge surprises, not amazing plot twists, and little else to redeem this plot from being a standard-issue romance story. This doesn’t make it bad, but it’s not like there aren’t dozens of other romance tales that are better crafted, containing more intrigue or comedy or something that actually captures the audience’s attention.
Why do I say to not skip this, then? It’s not for the ties to the other story – I’m dead serious when I say the stories are unrelated. The two stories follow the adventures of the twins, Kei and Chihiro, but aside from occasional text messages to one another, the two are completely isolated from one another. The stories are likewise isolated, so whatever good or bad happens in Renji’s arc does nothing to impact Hiro’s arc.
Ef: Kyosuke Tsutsumi
No, the reason to keep with Hiro’s Arc is twofold. First, the use of phone conversations. The conversations over the phone in this story are amazingly performed, compared to the otherwise mediocre plot, and they add a depth that actually sets this story apart from the other mediocrity in the genre. Second, the side plot involving Kyosuke Tsutsumi’s journey for the “perfect shot.” It falters late in the series, but the initial motivations behind Kyosuke are a refreshing way to perceive the world, as well as objectives in life. Had Kyosuke had the focus of this arc, rather than Hiro, I believe there may have actually been a far more engaging (if less romantic) story to be told.
Renji Arc: 6
In a sense, this story is almost more clichéd than Hiro’s. Renji and Chihiro meet, and he quickly learns that Chihiro is sick. The subsequent emotional journey that the two characters take together is fairly predictable, yet it’s executed brilliantly. The writing is amazing, the presentation of the plot’s twists and turns is powerful, and the characters’ emotions feel consistent and real throughout the story.
Unlike so many other romance stories, Renji’s arc feels as if it has been stripped of every possible diversion or filler story – there’s only the faintest skeleton of a background. There are no best friends for long, aimless journeys through town. There’s little family shown – only what’s necessary to convince the audience that Renji and Chihiro aren’t living in a complete vacuum. Once the audience knows that, these external elements are virtually ignored in favor of the two protagonists. What’s left, therefore, is a remarkably poignant and remarkably focused examination of the emotions of and interactions between two characters. While many anime introduce you to characters and let you meet them at a distance, Renji’s arc places the audience directly in the middle of things – everything that Renji and Chihiro feel, the audience feels with them.
Additionally, I am a storyteller (as my banner hints). The incorporation of storytelling and writing alongside this plot was bonus points in my book. By using this tool in the story, Renji and Chihiro are given moments when they aren’t directly under the spotlight. At the same time, though, the stories are things that they create, so the feelings and hopes of the characters are still at the forefront of the plot; only the medium by which those feelings and hopes are presented has changed. The storytelling works as a wonderful companion piece to the interactions between Renji and Chihiro.
Character Quality: 4 | 6.5
Hiro Arc: 4
These characters are almost uniformly as lackluster as the plot itself. As I’ve said, the characters make or break the experience for me, and these characters really have a lot of ground left to cover to live up to my expectations.
Miyako is perhaps the brightest star in this dim constellation, and rightfully so. Miyako has a back story that steps outside of traditional “childhood friend” motivations, and she’s stronger for it. Her mischievous personality takes some warming up to, but she generally grows to be more and more likeable as the story continues. She is still too cowardly and insufficient as a character, though, and only sometimes felt like a believable character rather than a caricature. Still, she makes a valiant effort to break the clichéd mold that her story is stuck in.
Kei, meanwhile, followed a virtual downward spiral over the course of the arc. She begins as a fairly respectable, energetic character trying to be a role model for Hiro. But then her emotions take over and drive her to do one reckless, irresponsible thing after another. Her perception throughout the story is far too binary, too black and white to let her approve of anything that isn’t within her extremely narrow perception of “acceptable.” As a consequence for this naive, awkward world view, she does very poorly at garnering sympathy for the losses she suffers – her increasingly desperate and disrespectful behavior damages her character more than anyone or anything else.
Hiro, between these two girls, is uniformly unimpressive. He’s as undecided about women as he is about everything, and that indecision is supposed to be a serious, important aspect of his compelling character. Problem is, indecision that drags on for weeks of the plot is ridiculous hyperbole; the character loses all believability. His indecision is rather a plot tool used to extend the story, and essentially give both girls the opportunity to impress him. He’s artistic, which is kinda cool, but it doesn’t actually do anything to enhance the story or his character. No attribute can forgive his spinelessness throughout his story.
The support characters here are okay, though minimal. Again, Kyosuke is the highlight. If he had been given a more meaningful role, he could have done a lot of good to keep this story compelling. So unlike the other characters, his searching feels rational. It also doesn’t stymie his life in indecision like Hiro, but rather motivates him to look harder for that “perfect scene.”
Renji Arc: 6.5
As stated before, this plot is almost uniformly a character sketch. We don’t have any big action scenes, or comedic diversions to carry us along. The survival of this story rests almost entirely on the characters. I’m happy to report, therefore, that these characters do everything in their power to live up to that expectation, and exceed it time and again.
Renji is, more or less, exactly who I want to be when I grow up. Occasional immaturity moments aside, his character is as inherently virtuous and motivated as the very best of protagonists. He’s at once determined, dedicated, and decisive. As soon he knows what he wants, he does everything in his power to make it happen. He is also imperfect, fallible: he screws up, and his inexperience causes him a fair few problems. He also isn’t omniscient, either, and the ruminations on his future provide a feeling of incompleteness in his personality. These failures and incompletions are perfectly at home in Renji, however – they don’t feel pasted on or forced, but rather completely natural hesitations and mistakes that anyone growing up and falling in love for the first time is bound to make. They’re endearing, if anything, and really help to paint Renji as a dynamic, human character rather than an idealized protagonist.
Ef: Chihiro Shindou
Chihiro takes the sick girl cliché and gives it a sound beating. She’s definitely timid, with an aversion to people and a politeness that feels generic at first. However, once she opens herself up to Renji, we finally get to see that she is, in fact, a real girl who wears a mask to protect others as much as herself. She laughs, she cries, and she sympathizes with everyone around her in a way that demonstrates her thoroughly selfless nature. She also demonstrates some remarkable intelligence and resilience, as she has found ways to live a normal life in spite of being sick. She claims the audience’s attention at once, and this is hardly a product of sympathy for her sickness. Instead, they feel a genuine empathy for this girl trying to take care of everyone else, at the cost of her own feelings. Chihiro wins the hearts of her acquaintances in spite of her sickness, rather than because of it, and her audience is likewise won.
The side characters in this story are exceptionally minimal, with hardly more than a name and a face. Yuu the church-keeper is perhaps the one exception, as he provides advice for Renji and Chihiro, often against his will. His own character is hardly explained, though, so it’s hard to think of him as little more than an advisory sounding board. He holds the role well, but there’s not much more to say for him (or the rest of the cast, for that matter). But, again, these characters are minimal for a reason – Renji and Chihiro are the focus of the story, and this unprecedented minimalist approach to background elements is an exceptional tool for enhancing that focus.
Visual Quality: 6.5
The art of both arcs is similar, and thus both are well-deserving of the score. For a series that doesn’t play too heavily on the chords of action or suspense, the art didn’t need to be anywhere near top-notch; plain character images and interactions would have been sufficient in theory. But then, Ef does try to break out of being merely sufficient on a lot of fronts and, with the artistic vision, succeeds quite excellently.
Ef: Otowa School
The first key here is the variation in style. From traditional character images to intricately detailed environmental images to stark, black-and-white cuts of scenery, there’s an exceptional range of art to be seen throughout the story. These varied images sometimes allow the stories to convey messages that the characters cannot fathom putting into words, and other times give the audience the exact emotional punctuation that a voice alone cannot convey. There are several exceptional scenes that stand out above the rest, and surprisingly the very best are found in Hiro’s Arc. Renji’s Arc is right behind, however, with artistry that only gets more powerful and emotionally charged as the plot proceeds.
The second element is the character styles themselves. With so few characters, each is given very distinct, and very detailed attention. This particular strength is fairly common among dating simulations that are converted over, but is nonetheless a great asset to such character-driven stories. The girls are all very cute without being overstated or oversexualized (as many might fear from a dating simulation). The boys are quite strong artistically, too, though Renji’s hairstyle (while fine and strangely endearing on him) is one aspect of him I don’t want to emulate.
As for the adult art elements, they’re really subdued. Sure, the girl underneath that blanket is technically not wearing anything, but she’s not showing it off to anyone either. sex always takes place off camera, so I really mean that there’s just hints of adult themes – they’re never at the forefront as they might have been in the game. So, in this sense, the show is relatively “all-ages” friendly, but I’ll leave my conservative rating in place to let you draw your own conclusions.
Audio Quality: 5
Again, the music style for both stories is fairly uniform. The opening theme actually doesn’t appear until the third episode (for plot reasons), but it’s amazing once it does. It inspires a Kingdom Hearts aesthetic, which felt surprisingly appropriate for Renji’s Arc in particular. The imagery associated with the opening is also excellent, and its minor variations over the course of the anime speak volumes. Definitely the highlight of the show’s audio.
The closing themes are all pretty enjoyable, ranging from poignant to almost cute and comforting. They are good for closing up each sequence, transitioning the audience out of the show. Insert music is nowhere near as strong as the visuals they accompany, but they are still good. Forgettable, too, though – you won’t be scanning back through the anime to listen to the music again.
The voice acting is solid, but nothing exceptional. Renji and Chihiro’s seiyuu both go through quite a variety of emotions, and they tackle all of those extremes well. Mikayo’s seiyuu actually earns the highest marks in my book, as there are a few scenes that are carried by her voice alone. So counter to the general mediocrity of Hiro’s Arc, Miyako fully succeeds in bringing those scenes to heights that far exceed expectations.
Bottom Line: 5.5
Ef: Renji Asou
It’s hard to know how to weight this diverse anime with a single score. On the one hand, there’s an exceptionally strong plot, art, and reasonable audio to support it. On the other hand, there’s a stale and generic plot and some characters that actually disappoint the audience the longer they’re on screen. Also, there’s virtually nothing here for action enthusiasts, comedy fans, or mystery lovers. This is a romance story, start to finish, and has to stand on that attribute alone.
But then, Renji and Chihiro are above and beyond just about every romantic couple you will ever encounter. Their story is one that cannot be missed by any fans of romantic adventures. Miyako also offers a heartfelt, emotionally touching performance that slowly grasps the audience and only gets stronger as Hiro’s Arc reaches its climactic resolution. These are things that could really define the genre, insofar as pure romance is concerned.
Ef is not for everyone, and its narrow genre should highlight that on its own. However, among the genre there are few other anime that can boast the strength of character and the artistic mastery evident throughout Renji’s Arc. Hiro’s Arc is something of a letdown when compared so closely (as this anime inevitably does by playing both stories in parallel), but is also a far cry from being garbage. Taken as a whole, Ef is definitely worth the attention of every romance fan on the market, and may well have the power to touch the icy heart of the most hard-core action fan.
Coming Soon
Darker Than Black is coming up next, with plans for Kanon (2006), sola, and (if I decide to tackle anime movies, rather than just TV series) Princess Mononoke in the batter’s box.
Aside – Chihiro’s Sickness Explained (Minor Spoiler):
Chihiro reveals the exact nature of her illness by the end of the second episode, so it’s not exactly a game-changing revelation, but I wanted to place a proper alert here for people who really don’t want to know specifics before experiencing the story.
However, I studied neuroscience in college, so Chihiro’s sickness caught my attention at once. Chihiro suffers from a form of anterograde amnesia, a disability that incapacitates her long-term memory since the time of the accident at age twelve.
This is a real disability, and is actually by far the more common form of amnesia when looking at amnesia patients. The other form of amnesia – where the person remembers nothing prior to the accident – is known as retrograde amnesia and (outside of very temporary cases from severe trauma) is far more rare. Retrograde amnesia is also heavily overplayed in romantic stories, offering characters freebie “second chances” when they otherwise wouldn’t deserve them. Chihiro’s anterograde amnesia, meanwhile, doesn’t ever offer these second chances. It feels like a genuine disability instead, and she remains fully cognizant of the trouble she can cause for others as a consequence.
Also, consistent with real world cases, Chihiro has solid recollections of her life prior to that accident. All of those long-term memories are already stored, and can be recalled at will. Only those events since the accident are lost when they pass from her short-term memory.
Chihiro’s particular malady is a mild case of anterograde amnesia, as short-term memory is generally far shorter than the thirteen hours she has before her memories fade. I take this as artistic licence, and I don’t think it cheapens her disability at all. In fact, that long duration often causes her as much suffering as it does solace. For those hoping for Chihiro’s safe recovery, anterograde amnesia caused by injury do not (as far as current case studies have shown) recover over time. Darling and resilient through she is, her happiness in life will never come from a victory over her amnesia.
