Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Jastereich
I want to share how great this series is that I've been watching for the past few days and it's called Melodies. It has been around for about 16 years now, and I can assure you, it is a real gem.
Now, if you know another series, The World God Only Knows, you are probably thinking that they have some points in common, but still, they are very different from each other. Initially, both shows may come off as a bit rough around the edges, but by the final season, they really take off.
The narrative is what I find to be the most appealing aspect about Melodies. It is so vast, allowing us to visit different places and times. The central character is a guy called Yuu, who has been through hell recently, and the series deals with his problems and hardships. Not only that, I think Yuu deserves a…
Read at the sourceyoloswagger95
I give this show an even lower rating than ef - a tale of memories and here is why:
In ef - a tale of melodies trauma and abuse are thrown around to spice up the drama in a really distasteful & misogynistic way. so one of the female characters traumatic abuse is presented - just to be 'saved' by one of the male main characters. I wonder why so many people 1) like this series in general 2) are able to identify or connect with those characters. they literally have no personality and abysmal communication skills. I feel like most of these "conflicts" between our protagonists could be avoided if the characters had a level of communication skill that would be normal for their age. The Yuuko arc panders to a pathological savior complex and -even if there is no effort to write her as a multiface…
Read at the sourcePinkOni
Instead of the underlying theme behind romance being memories, ef: A Tale of Melodies is true to its name. It the romance of this season is bolstered by the musical score or melodies. In this review I'll give my impression of this season as a serrate entity and end with commentary on how I think it stacks up as a sequel to ef: memories.
---Story---
I believe that this is where my opinion will dissent from most viewers. I have never watched a more manufactured and contrived story in my life (other than WW1984). The way in which this show utilizes the topics of love, heartbreak, forgiveness, lies, and overall pain aren't impactful in any sort of way. It feels like characters suffer for the sole point of pushing a narrative forward when it should be the other way around; narrative should m…
Read at the sourceRohirim91
Spoilers regarding the general feel of endings included - beware!
ef: A Tale of Melodies, which I will refer to as Melodies in this review, manages to pull out a demanding, parallel past and present, storytelling style which follows two seamingly separate, yet ultimately connected storylines of Yuu and Kuze. Before going into more details I feel obliged to note that Melodies was the first part of the ef series that I have watched, which has in no way made watching the show harder or more confusing - which is a quality of it's own.
Story - 8:
The story of Melodies was truly intriguing, yet with ultimately predictable and cliché twists and predictable endings of both storylines. However, the endings were satisfying enough for Melodies to be forgiven for these fallacies.
Of the two endings…
Read at the sourceREC3
ef: A Tale of Memories and Melodies. This will be for the first and second seasons of ef or pronounced f. Both ef and Baccano I'd rate the same about a 8.0 to 8.5. They're both very good anime series but fall short of true greatness. I'll tell you why plus why ef is a must watch like Baccano.
ef is a classic anime from a stand out studio Shaft, also known for Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Each story Memories and Melodies is a separate story with connected characters. My major complaint about the series is the story and characters were not in depth enough. They delve into backstories a little bit, but is it enough as main characters are swapped in the 2nd Season. On the flip side, all of the characters had challenges and it was good seeing their progress and laughter. It was also nice seeing…
Read at the sourceRyanSpring
You shouldn't be watching this unless you've completed season 1 or a lot of things simply will not make sense and I can say very safely, since by and large the shows are very similar, if you enjoyed season 1 you'll enjoy season 2 and if you didn't you won't. I didn't particularly care for season 1 and as such, while this show isn't horrible and I liked it slightly better than its predecessor, I didn't particularly care for this either.
Most of the praises and complaints from my season 1 review are still applicable here. Like the previous season, you could easily skip the first four or five episodes here and miss little to nothing- it's a very slow, boring start. The visual presentation scores high marks for originality and artistic beauty and it's even better this time around. The story,…
Read at the sourceKrav40
Note: This is a review of both ef a tale of memories and melodies.
What makes an anime stand out? Could it be the studio which the anime is made? Could it be the source which the anime has come from? Could it just be because of the characters or plot? One of these anime that stand out for me is the Ef series, a fulfilling and beautifully executed romance visual novel adaptation done by studio Shaft, the same peeps who made Monogatari. And in this show, they do almost everything differently than other anime within those two genres.
What really makes the ef series stands out is that no one is talking about or hyping it up. It's a shining diamond that is so obvious to see yet no one notices or even makes the attempt to look at it. I mean, this anime has some of the most dazzling, creative a…
Read at the sourceraisin-kun
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CAN CONTAIN SPOILERS
ef: a tale of melodies (all lower cases; and from henceforth I shall refer to it as Melodies) is a very nice and welcome improvement over it's prequel - ef: a tale of memories (which shall be shortened to Memories from this point). Memories wasn't a bad show at all but it had a lot of annoying and boring parts due to the fact that it was an incredibly heavy melodrama where characters often did silly things seemingly for no reason just to further the storyline. It also felt somewhat generic and insubstantial. However, I loved the narrative and took a liking to the characters and the way the anime explored its themes through them and overall felt it was a well-executed show. Melodies offers a complete look into the world of ef and explores many of…
Read at the sourcewhi
I often see people making the comparison of this anime to Clannad. But in my opinion, that is a little misleading. Unlike the focus on family with a general tone of warmth. ef is more like finding that dwindling bit of fire in the cold world and live on with an iron will.
Otowa, the place where the story takes place in, is spelled as 音羽 in kanji. "音" means "sound", referring to the Suuichi's violin, and how the music will stop when the bow stop. "羽" refers to the eternal feather of Yukko and the continuation of hope.
In fact, the theme that carries throughout both season of ef is the decision of eternal and temporality. Like 13 hours of memory that Chihiro has and Renji's untiring pursuit of her. Or the conversation between Hiro and Mihako on the telephone. Unlike other shows that ask r…
Read at the sourceSoloSeparatist
A IMP Review of Ef: A Tale of Melodies (Dubbed edition)
(IMP stands for “In My Prospective”, meaning if someone attempts to correct the way i see the show i have no intention of reading any “corrections”)
2nd Season/second half review-
Story: I’d rate the story an 8/10 because of the way most of the events in the show were handled. It doesn’t get a higher rating because the beginning was confusing and uninteresting and there were smaller story arcs that didn’t need to be a part of the show to make everything work out. But overall I believe where the show shined was its symbolism and its middle arc. To not give spoilers let’s just say the middle is where truths are revealed, a coward are brought out to the light of day, and art is seen as a second chance to make a choice.
Characters: I’…
Read at the sourceFatimaaweeb
After watching the two seasons, I can say that this Anime is one of the best Anime in its genre yet extremely underrated. I can understand it being not everyone's cup of tea anyway.
The story is very complicated, it's hard to explain it. It doesn't make chronological sense which can be really confusing to some. The events are random that have nothing to do with one another, but I still love it. In fact, I find these kind of stories super interesting.
So to sum it all up: if you like complex and confusing love stories with a huge amount of drama, I highly recommend this, you'll love it.
Over all I'll rate it a 9/10, it was really interesting. I've always preferred dark romance anime and this was really good for its genre.
*this review has been adopted from my twitter account*
Read at the sourceSailorchibirose
This anime is one of the most spellbinding. I was hooked from the first series and first episode. This series did not disappoint.
As a follow on from last series this series focuses on two different romances, a musician and a student and the friends that should have been.
The art style is amazing but does drop a once in a while, the sound track is fantastic and over all I cried enough to fill a bathtub. This story will take you to hell and back. I had to pause it a few times before I could carry on watching.
You'll carry on watching this because its just so compelling.
Read at the sourceYuiFireDragneel
I personally love the series ef, the characters are all well planned out. All of them are different in their own ways, they all have good hearts something you don't find common anymore. Ef. really plays a number on your emotions and feeling. They give you this cold hearted story that seems so tragic that you start to doubt there really is no god on this earth. They repeat a certain line through the series "Miracles don't exist in this world. There are only inevitabilities and accidents" which is true in a way, they also speak about there is no god for life won't be the way it is if there was. But as they climax the characters are forced to deal with their problem before escaping their own nightmare. The series has a really great drama effect to it, you get to see them dealing with their ow…
Read at the sourceBiogundam
Warning this review may contain spoilers.
First impressions, so after watching tale of memories,
I decided to check out this out to see if it was as good or enjoyable as it,
And over all I wasn't that disappointed.
Because it still manage to keep to its quality up to a point.
Story, 7/10
So Ef tale of melodies tells the story of two romances, one of them is in the past and the other is in present day,
It's basically a prequel/ sequel to its predecessor Ef tale of memories,
So I am going to brake both of them up and talk about one at a time.
So let's start this story with
yuu himura an orphan high schooler who trying to persure his dreams.
One day while leaving school a paper plane hits him on the head form the school roof, after investing he encounters a girl who seems to know him,
Bu…
Read at the sourceTripleAces
Like the first series, I don't see how mystery and romance mix, nope, they don't mix at all.
Story :
The story was quite surprising in which the characters are switched to different places which makes a different story. Like some minor characters didn't showed up that much gets more air time. But still, I found this quite stressful to watch until I watch this whilst playing game so that I don't feel boring too much. But still, in the end I survived again watching this and thank God they have a good ending. But I didn't really expect a word of advice from all the characters at the end of the series. I give this a 7 since it's still good despite how stressful it is but having a good ending. I was like "Eh, why not right?"
Art, Sound, Character, Enjoyment :
I purposely put all these 4 toget…
Read at the sourceCkaos_Inkarnate
First off I am not one for hate reviews. But I have never wanted to rid of a character's existence before, not even in School Days, until now.
Okay, so this is a sequel to Ef: a tale of memories. Which I found pleasant; sure it was a bit forceful with the emotions at times, but all in all at the end of the emotional roller coaster I felt satisfied. But Ef: a tale of melodies was way too pushy and on top of that had one character in particular who wouldn't just shut his mouth. It's like they want me to feel bad for some arrogant, deprived, indecisive, (I can't think of another word) ass-HOLE. He's constantly whining and talking about how "everyone is wearing a mask". Good grief, it's like he's an over dramatic 15 year old girl. Oh wait, he's in his twenties....And because of him being so u…
Read at the sourceMALHI
Very infrequently one comes across an exquisitely presented work of art that mesmerises, thrills and captivates. With every passing glimpse, the spectator is left with a plethora of emotions and a stream of portentous thoughts reverberating around their mind like a pulsating ocean. “Ef: A Tale of Melodies” is a tour de force of this calibre that elicits the full range of emotions from the astonished viewer who is left with a fuller perception of the triumphs and hardships of life. Struggles, achievement and benevolent bonds between individuals encompass life, a reality that is elegantly portrayed by “Ef: A Tale of Melodies” as a cast of remarkably believable characters coalesces with a gracefully crafted storyline of immense distinctiveness. This series is the sequel to the exceptional “Ef…
Read at the sourceZaku88
In my mind, the Ef series defined what great animation was in its time; and the animation style paved the way for some of the techniques that Shaft is now famous for. It is a great relationship show with actual meanings, something that many shows these days seem to lack. Thus without further ado, let us proceed with the review.
Ef- A Tale of Melodies is more of a continuation than a sequel to A Tale of Memories. It tells the tale of the older generation (Kuze, Yuko, and Himura) that seemed to show up randomly but at key moments in the first series to give the young couples words of advice. This series greatly deepens the meaning of the relationships in Memories and puts the whole "two cities" and other ideas in perspective. The story very nicely generalizes to the main story behind Himura…
Read at the sourceEagleshadow
PSA: There are two versions of episode 10, they are the same except one has color and other is sepia. I recommend watching the colored version.
I felt second season stayed true to the themes and ideas from first season, while expanding upon them and examining some new ones. Plot logic around the time of ending could potentially be annoying, but I figured it's something that can be taken symbolically, and in that case it works as an artistic expression. There is some non chronological storytelling, and even though it's confusing, it's confusing in a cool Inception kinda way.
The emotional impact even goes beyond the first season, though it's a bit different, as expected. The writing, at least to me, seems to be so good that until the very end I couldn't really predict in which way the s…
Read at the sourceSaruwatari-san
I'll be honest . Ef: A Tale of Melodies does have a lot of improvement than Memories but not much . Although , Ef series does made onto my Memorable anime .
Story:8
This time , the story is a bit different . It tell us about how Yuuko Amamiya meet up with Yuu Himura and how Mizuki Hayama knows Yuuko Amamiya . I'll be honest that Melodies made me cry a bit more than Memories . Won't say much because i'm just gonna spoil it for you
Art:9
The arts and animation is improved a bit on this one . More 3D animations and it does have some beautiful arts that capture my interest .
Sound:8
Same voice characters from Memories . Love Chihiro voice actress by the way . The OP and ED is good . Not enough to made me listen many many times but it's okay i guess . I just love the violin part . It's was r…
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