Anime Review Ef - a Tale of Memories

Perhaps one of the best anime series I have ever seen, is one by the name of Ef - A Tale of Memories. Let me be the first to admit that the name sounds just a little bit odd, however this anime has a story that may change your impression of similar anime genres. Ef - A Tale of Memories, features animation produced by a company called Shaft, and began airing on television in late 2007.

This amazing anime dances on the lines of the psychological, supernatural, dramatic, romance genres. One of the things you will first notice while watching, is the number of "camera angles" that are used throughout the show to play with your mind, or to simply make things more dramatic and innovative. Keep in mind that the story has two protagonists, so things can get pretty interesting as the story goes on.

It all starts out with a boy named Asou Renji, a normal everyday school boy that walks to the local train station after his academic duties to simply enjoy his favorite book. Only today, he meets a young girl by the name of Shindou Chihiro, she is by all means a very shy girl, and for some strange reason always wears an eye patch on her left eye.

Of course he is startled by the beautiful girl (Shindou Chihiro), and leaves, he keeps his encounter on his mind for the time being. Eventually, he meets her again and they introduce themselves to one another and Renji finds out the girl suffers from a type of amnesia in which her memory span lasts for only 13 hours. Although that may sound strange, it makes things very interesting.

Throughout the series the two grow closer, and fall in love with one another. Your probably asking yourself how this can happen if she can only remember 13 hours at a time, however Chihiro remembers simply by writing in her diary every night and reading it in the morning. Chihiro also believes that the world may be better off without her, can the couple stay together even though the odds are stacked against them?

On the other hand we have the protagonist by the name of Hirono Hiro. His story starts out on Christmas Eve of all times, he spots a female chasing down a purse snatcher, and lends in a hand. Hiro is somewhat different compared to the other protagonist of the story, but there are two females in his side of the story, let me explain.

The girl Hiro spotted on Christmas Eve was Miyamura Miyako, turns out she is a very outgoing girl that goes to his school although she likes to skip a lot it seems.
Hiro and Miyako fall in love over time, however Hiro's childhood friend Shindou Kei has a crush on him and in an instant a love triangle is formed. Of course as the story goes on, many plot twists and bends are there to keep things interesting.

Final Score- Five out of five stars (five being the best, one being the worst)

Ef - A Tale of Memories is one of those special anime series that rarely come around, it will keep you guessing till the end and probably leave you wanting more, in fact I actually wish there was a sequel. I recommend Ef - A Tale of Memories to pretty much every fan of anime, it holds enough psychological elements that just might keep you interested the whole time.

Remember to keep around tissues for this one folks, towards the end it becomes a real tear jerker. It's great stuff, highly recommended!