I have noticed that both animenano and animeblogger antenna isn't picking up my previous post. Probably it was due to this blog inactivity. I'll see what I can do about it later if it still doesn't work.Right now in this update I plan to introduce an anime I am watching as of right now. I don't really like the titles of this anime as they are quite long and redundant. ef -a tale of memories- and ef -a tale of melodies- are two anime series based on the visual novel ef -a tale of the two-. Wow, what a long name >_<; Nah, I'll be referring to the two animes as -memories- and -melodies- from here onwards.This anime reminds me a lot of Kanon. I can't help but think of Ayu of Kanon when I saw that Miyako girl in ef - both were big fat liars. Then there's the name "Hiro Hiro" and "Miya Miya" which reminded me of "Ayu Ayu". Chihiro, a girl with the eyepatch, reminds me of Misaka Shiori.The opening themes and ending themes of the anime series were superb I'd easily give them five stars. "Euphoric Field" and "Ebullient future" were the title of the two OP and they were originally sung in English. I especially like the the OP video, too.-memories- and -melodies- tells the story of five different couples who met, quarreled and helped each other. There were probably too many characters introduced into the story and it made the anime series rather complexed. In spite of that, I had enjoyed the anime series quite a lot due to the strong impression each and every main character were able to leave on me. Each and every character had their own role to play, and most of them had an ability that made them outstanding against each other. Like for example, mangas play an important role in the plot of the anime as one of the main characters, Hirono Hiro, is an established mangaka (manga artist) even though he's still a high school student and has to rush his mangas in before deadlines. Another main character, Shindou Kei, plays the basketball while Shuichi Kuze, a major character in -melodies-, plays the violin. Those are to point a few of these special abilities.-memories- and -melodies- takes place in a fictional setting of two places simultaneously, one in the past and one in the present; one in Otowa, Japan, one in Otowa, Australia. -memories- took place mostly during the present time while -melodies- would take its viewer further to the past to complete the story which would be left incomplete if not taken. The first episode of -memories- introduces the viewers to Hiro and Miyako, the first couple. The two had surnames that rhyme with their given name, i.e. Hirono Hiro and Miyamura Miyako, which was one of the topics they had despite having met only for the first time at that night of the Christmas eve. Then the story goes on with the introduction of the Shindou twins Kei and Chihiro who live separately (one in Japan, the another in Aussie) and contacts each other through text messages. They will only meet each other in episode 6 of -melodies- when Kei had traveled all the way to the south to visit her younger sister. Apparently Kei didn't have the courage to meet Chihiro because she was the one that caused her accident where Chihiro lost an eye and her long-term memory, thus the -memories- title. The accident, though not directly, was caused by Kei due to her jealousy towards Chihiro's relationship with Hiro (whom the twins had feelings towards), therefore causing Kei to blame herself for the accident. In spite of that, at the end, neither of the two ended up having a relationship with Hiro and got involved with another guy."My memory doesn't last longer than thirteen hours."Like I have mentioned before, "-memories-" most probably was referring to Chihiro's inability to have a stable memory - she will lose her memories that she had gained in 13 hours. This means that she would have lost all of the memory of what she had done in the past 13 hours and beyond. Chihiro was sent to Australia and was put under the care of Himura at a church. Here, Chihiro's story starts with the meeting of Renji one day at an abandoned train station. Renji is a typical everyday high schooler who likes to read novels and the two of them eventually developed a relationship. However, Chihiro had struggled with her memories of Renji and had to reread her diary everyday. She would update her diary everyday to remind herself of her encounter and events with Renji.As for Kei, at the start of -memories- she can be seen competing with Miyako for the attention of Hiro. Kei tried to erase the existence of Miyako in Hiro's life. However later, she had given up. Kei was then introduced by Hiro to Kyosuke who had wanted to make a film on Kei whom he was mesmerized by the first time he had noticed her in episode one of -memories-. Kei had refused initially but later agreed to be filmed by Kyosuke. Their relationship only became apparent in -melodies- when the two spend a lot of time together making the film.Next is the story of Shuichi Kuze, a violin player who's also the neighbor of Renji. The first impression Kuze had gavin me wasn't that nice as he was a womanizer. He was first introduced in -memories-, but only became main character in -melodies-. -melodies- here probably referred to the melodies he would have played through his violin. Mizuki, a girl with long, silky yellow hair, was Renji's cousin and she was introduced to Kuze as she became interested in him once she was told that he plays the violin. Kuze had treated Mizuki coldly just like he had treated everyone else because he had only a short time to live left.Last but not least was the story of Himura and Yuuko. Himura was sent to an orphanage at a church after he lost his family in a fire. There, he met Yuuko, another orphan who would always follow him around looking at him draw. Yuuko was adopted by a family and the two was supposed to never meet each other again but as fate toys with them, they meet again as they enroll in the same high school. That was in the "past" as in the present, Himura is an adult. I haven't finish watching this part yet so I am not pretty sure what is going to happen to the two.Basically, ef -memories- and -melodies- are two series with very complex plot and character development. It took me a while to identify the characters and their role but once I got to know them, the series are pretty enjoyable nonetheless. I'll be writing more about ef in the coming posts, so be sure to look foward to them. :D
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