Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
curt86_
"ef: a tale of memories" is a breathtaking anime that left me utterly captivated from start to finish. This emotionally charged series weaves a complex narrative filled with love, tragedy, and the enduring power of human connections. The unique storytelling style, with parallel and intertwining narratives, keeps you on the edge of your seat as you become deeply invested in the lives of the main characters. The beautifully animated visuals and the hauntingly evocative soundtrack add a layer of artistic elegance to the already compelling plot. The character development in "ef: a tale of memories" is nothing short of remarkable, as each character grapples with their own past and present, making their journeys feel relatable and deeply moving. This anime is a true gem, a masterpiece that showc…
Read at the sourceLuis-Eduardo
Very good anime. one of his plots is almost an Adam Sandler movie (50 first dates) that will definitely make you sad and happy.
It has good characters and during the episodes it always kind of focuses on the characters of Otowa in Japan, and Otowa in Australia that There are also links between them.
I feel that the anime starts in a simple way without much pretension, after a few episodes the plot deepens it will stick to you mainly to see the relationship between Chihiro and Renji and its possible outcome,
the OST is excellent what you expect from anime based on visual novels
Read at the sourceyoloswagger95
The show consists of 'atmospheric' scenes with long, empty dialogues. the pseudo deep, artsy symbolism is never once explained. This concept could work if the characters weren't so bland and generic (then it could might be something like Bakemonogatari). I read a lot of comments that people found the characters unlikable. but I don't really understand why. they're written so soulless and stereotypical (the girl next door, the childhood friend, the blonde best friend guy) without even commenting on those tropes that you don't care about their interactions at all. the characters are like a toasted bread - they can't be unlikable because they don't even remind you of living human beings. it's truly interesting to me how there is (obviously) an audience who can identify with characters with no…
Read at the sourceCyranical
[This review contains minor spoilers, read at your own risk, also I highly recommend you watch the anime first before you read the review.]
Have you ever wanted to read or watch a piece of media that is so sentimal, so emotional that you just can't help but bawl your eyes out? Well I did, but unlike you who's a freaking crybaby wuss I didn't cry a single time, ha man up loser. In all seriousness tho, have you ever watched something so sentimental, so different, so emotional, yet has really strong characters and a good story foundation. But Cyranical that type of media doesn't exist, we only have generic shows of various genres. Shut up kid and listen to me, I have found a piece of media, specifically an anime that is very emotional, different, sentimental and has a really good story, plu…
Read at the sourcecryyptt_
ef: A Tale of Memories was certainly an interesting anime, several love stories all told beautifully.
Love, tragedy, and sadness are all the ingredients for an anime to make you cry however some shows have the same ingredients but they don't always have the same impact. So why is this show different from the others, you ask? Well, lemme break it down and explain my personal views on this anime.
Story - 9/10
The story of this anime was truly something I have never experienced before, with several love stories being told from different angles and at different points. Some of these stories combined together and some had no connection with others.
Let's first start with Chihiro and Renji-Kun;
This beautiful story of romance was certainly a tear-jerker for me, the fact that Chihiro can't reme…
Read at the sourcePinkOni
ef: A Tale of Memories. Honestly I cannot remember how I stumbled upon this anime. The only thing that motivated me to watch it was catching the fact that shaft was behind the animation of the project. Having seen all of the monogatri series to date I wanted to give it a chance.
---Story---
This anime intrigued me from the get go. The very first thing that struck me was that the series handled two very different stories extremely well within a 12 episode length; I could not have asked for them to flesh out each direction more than they did. Bravo! Though these two stories ran parallel to each other, though they were only connected by a very thin thread (being that Chihiro and Keisters were sisters). This is where my first issue with the series begins: the individual paths that we find o…
Read at the sourceAstral_Blaze
Ef is everything that Evangelion failed to depict(at least imo, the way they write it is more deep but easy to understand for viewers)
The writing is fantastic, they create deep and meaningful backstory and structure for the show and guides viewers throughout the show,
they let the audience connect the dots by planting seeds right through the plot and settings.
Evangelion's writing is all over the place, it was so confusing that I don't even know what the sh*t they trying to convey
But it feels like since the settings of the story keep switching between characters, the screen time for each character is not long
enough to let viewers fully form emotional connections with them to grief with them unlike e.g. Clannad.
The show is pretty good at bringing out the feelings of tragic and despa…
Read at the sourceRyanSpring
Being a huge Slice of Life fan and a sucker for romantic plots, on paper this show should have been right up my alley but upon actually watching it it just wasn't. I do not understand the 9 and 10 reviews I've seen so many of here. I see many, many flaws in this show.
The first half of it was unbelievably slow and boring and it was hard to stay focused and awake. It doesn't get remotely interesting until episode 8 or so and even then it's merely passable, not anything special. There is zero combat, zero mystery/thriller elements, zero suspense. The plot as a whole is extremely linear.
The character development and base premise are shallow and generic- just your standard Slice of Life fare that you've seen many times elsewhere.
There are ridiculously cheesy and non-believable convenience…
Read at the sourcerayondeclaire
Short and sweet review:
*Please note that I am heavily biased since I saw Dusk Maiden of Amnesia first.*
The plot wasn't amazing, though I didn't waste my time and I would watch it again. (Not going to though, unless hubby or friend wants to) The characters were very watered down to me.. a bunch of the story lines for the characters felt kinda slapped together.. Be warned that it takes until the 5th episode or so for the story to actually get rolling so if you're more into fast paced anime like kore wa zombe desu ka (Is this a zombie?!) for example, I don't recommend this series as it is a slow start.
Final analysis: I dunno. I've watched far worse anime than this. 50/100 It's not awful but not amazing.
I Hope this helps anyone. I'm sure I'll get hated on for scoring it so low. xD ONTO…
Read at the sourceearl_of_sandvich
"There are no miracles in this world. There are only coincidences, inevitabilities, and our own actions."
I feel that this show is the prototype for later productions. Directed in such a way as to make key animators run screaming in terror, and yet when it comes together it is a visual and dramatic tour de force.
Personally, the character designs felt like they were from an early 90s anime, somewhat distorted, but at least the animation QC kept them consistent from beginning to sequel's end. Additionally, there were a number of scenes in which the voices were directed to over-act, almost to the point of kabuki. The central cast (Renji/Chihiro, Hiro/Miyako, and Kei) are otherwise well-directed. I liked the chemistry between Renji and Chihiro, despite the unique nature of their relationshi…
Read at the sourceavivio
What can I say, that is one of the best productions I've ever seen. My private rating is 11/10, It's better than the best. I creid many times while watching this anime, I experienced every moment with the characters. Happiness, sadness, hope, thinking about what has continued to accompany me all the time. I liked, the non-linearity of history, what the events took place in the same city, and the heroes were aware of their existence, it was possible to feel a different kind of dimension of each of the stories depicted in this anime. 10/10
I can not stick to the line because I liked it and it suited the world in which it was played. 7/10
Music, as same as art, really good, 7/10
Characters and here the fun begins, each character had something that was wrong, that I wanted to talk to, or so…
Read at the sourceSuperX7
Artsy, Creative, Sad, Happy. All in the same boat.
With three different characters storylines that have nothing to do with each other. You might think that the pacing or story is bad. Well, you are in luck my friend!
[Story] 9/10 - Well paced and very well written, some dialogue was a bit sub par but it really didn't diverge from the message it was trying to push. Some scenes are so beautifully written, without spoiling anything I will give an example. There is one scene of a clock, ticking down slowly, with two characters talking over a phone. Choice of dialogue and the amazing use of visuals make the scene intense and wonderfully bittersweet. (I would love to see other shows do something creative like this in the future) If you are learning how to pace films or shows, this is a very goo…
Read at the sourceAstar_
Ef - A Tale of Memories is most likely a show that you won't forget for a long while. The plot is cliche and it's common, but the way the show presents it is very unique. The show follows two stories-- Chihiro, a girl with a memory defect, and Hirono, a manga artist who finally needs to make important choices in his life.
However, the anime isn't some happy-go-lucky show, but if you peel back the layers, it is actually very dark. The plot is simple, but the characters aren't. They have internal conflict, trauma, doubt, which is why it makes the anime so interesting. It has great character development throughout the show and touches on many issues that other slice-of-life or romance anime don't. The anime has an eerie sort of atmosphere to it and along with the art, it captures the seriou…
Read at the sourceJersie
Do you have memories you don't want to forget?
*AHEM* Well, I have certain parts of this anime I want to forget, but what has been seen cannot be unseen.
Ef is just an anime (at least for me) that you can only half-enjoy. Half of the anime is UNEEDED per say.
First episode, a little slow, second, you have something, and then little by little as it gets interesting a certain half of the story falls to sh*t.
Well if you don't know already, Ef has two stories running by it side by side, the anime says they're "linked" but not really. The better half of the story gets really introduced at episode 2, and keeps our interests, but what this anime likes to do is switch off a lot. When one part of the story is interesting, then it switches to the next one, and vice versa. It....was really annoy…
Read at the sourceCrusader_8
I don't recommend it.
One of the upsides to this show is that you have a few storylines going on simultaneously, which is convenient when one of the storylines is eye-rolling and intelligence-insulting.
The romance storyline between Renji and Chihiro is what really drags down this show. Her "ephemeral memory" was obnoxious, his personality was practically nonexistent (so why care about him?), and the pseudo-intellectual waxing combined with the overly ambitious art made the whole arc come off as pretentious. The writer pollutes the dialogue in this arc with painfully-obvious metaphors and symbolism, seemingly with the intent to prevent any viewer from having the chance to figure out anything for themselves. Supporting characters in this storyline aren't very helpful either as they needl…
Read at the sourceUselessLeo
I got this recommended to me as I had enjoyed other Works from shaft. And desided to watch it some time ago.
Story
The best thing about this anime was the story. It was a heartwarming and heartbreaking story with a lot of great points. The story isn’t really that original when you think about it, but it did the job with pulling me in. It gave us two different stories, that didn’t resemble each other as much as I thought it would. This is where the story slightly failed me. Even though it did great with both stories, one of them struck me as slightly over dramatic. Both stories had their over dramatic points, but one of the stories especially annoyed me, as things could get a little over the top. As much as the story annoyed me at times, it was still worth everything.
Characters
This…
Read at the sourceHedgie
Ef: A Tale of Memories. I’m baffled by this anime score of an eight and above. It’s cliché, generic, unoriginal, it doesn’t do anything to differentiate itself from other romance anime. It does the exact opposite while trying to be more profound and deep, I’m all for that, but it was in my opinion horribly executed. It’s if half of Myanimelist was watching this during their teenager years or was one their first few romance anime. It was a hardship to get through and I love romance anime.
Story: 3
There are two main stories ongoing at the same time while correlating with one another. An angel appears, well not exactly a mysterious girl known Yuuko, narrating our stories. The more favorable story beginning with Renji Asou and Chihiro Shindou. It starts off with Renji always catching a glim…
Read at the sourceVivavideoUser2x
Ef a tale of memories was a show that I thought I would never finish. Watching this show was like riding the Rock 'n Rollercoaster at Disneyworld.
After waiting in a line that moves as fast as the sun, you are launched into a tunnel of darkness and a nanosecond passes, and you wonder why it ended so soon.After Ef was over, I couldn't believe how much of the series I watched without noticing and like that rollercoaster, while it was going, i did not want it to stop.
Ef a tale of memories is... well a tale of memories. It's like three different stories combined into one and each is involved more or less with one another. The one central story,starring Chihiro , is were the memories part sets in . After an accident, Chihiro Shindou suffers from a disorder that erases her memories every 13…
Read at the sourceSandSilos
"ef: A Tale of Memories" not an anime, but a visual essay. It is animated using sporadic drawings of various artistic methods to convey either emotion (e.g. faded watercolor, world of red) or a specific message (e.g. railroads, clocks). Bogged down in all of this visual imagery, ef struggles in the first 5-6 episodes to connect with the viewer - I kept asking myself, why keep watching this melodrama when I barely know anything about the characters? The answer lies in the second half, which is very rewarding and addresses all of the show's earlier issues.
Overall, if drama/romance is your genre of choice, I would recommend seeing ef to the end! Although the style comes off as pretentious and the story basically lacks a first act, it explores interesting themes and ties up everything into a…
Read at the sourceTripleAces
To be honest, I don't see how mystery can mix with romance but still I've survived this till the end. I'm not really a fan of mystery, but since a lot has said in Youtube that this anime was good so I still give it a try.
Story :
The story is good, although I already feel bored in the first few episodes there has. But still, I still get up and watching this. Turns out, the story was way better than I thought it would be. Just if this anime wasn't a mystery anime, I might have give 8 or 10 for the story. To think that I have to understand two different stories in two different times. If I didn't focused watching this, I might be ending up didn't understand the whole stories. It's funny if you should asked, anime is actually for an entertainment not for stressing me out but this anime right…
Read at the source
