Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
yenbarn
The idea of this whole Audrey Hepburn quotes is just pure genius and thoughtful. But the best part is, this has a total different approach to Romance, because of that I could understand from different perspectives and take cautions in every detail in this fast-paced story. I'm not embarrassed to say (as if) I cried with the pair. The pacing is absolutely well plotted, they did not overdo any emotions, I also adore how the whole story was focused on the presentation instead of leaving plot holes. There weren't any unnecessary scenes at all, it's as imperfect as it should stay that way. I also have to praise the soundtracks in this anime, cuz it's also very well done despite the fact that they mainly focus on the presentation of reality when you face Love. I literally never cried in any roma…
Read at the sourceAvinash1999
I don’t recommend this anime, even though I gave it a 7/10 and watched all the episodes without skipping much.
It’s supposed to be a romcom — I can see the “rom” for romance, but I didn’t find the “com” for comedy. It’s not a comedy if there are only 2 or 3 jokes.
Also, the anime contains some mid-level drama, even though the genre section didn’t mention “Drama” at all.
Themes : Adult Cast, Showbiz. For me it's more Workplace than showbiz
I gave it a 9/10 for the romance part,
1/10 for the comedy, and 5/10 for the drama. One good thing is that this anime doesn’t have too many episodes — if it had more, I would have rated it only 6/10.
Read at the sourceanizawa89
This is how you make a real romance anime.
Rec is a show that's always been on my radar but somehow I never got around watching it until now, 17 years after it originally aired. It's a SHAFT show from before it was well-known for SZS, Monogatari and Madoka.
Story's as follows, Fumihiko Matsumaru's an down in his luck salaryman that just got dumped by his crush on a movie date. He's about to give up and go home but then he meets a girl that insists to go with him. A few hours later and her house burned down and now she moves in with Matsumaru. Her name? Aka Onda.
The premise sounds flimsy but trust me it's anything but... this series is a down to earth look at both Matsumaru's and Onda's work and personal lives. But then what happens next? The show ends. God, it's criminal how this show…
Read at the sourceSgtSalamander
*No spoilers for the anime, but I do hint at events in the manga, even if I don't explicitly state them here.*
Rec is a cute, heartwarming, funny, and emotionally mature romantic comedy which is a pleasure to watch, and continually surprised me with how uncharacteristically realistic it is in its portrayal of a relationship's ups and downs. By all means it should be at least a 7, and indeed, there is nothing about the anime itself which deserves anything less. So why have I rated it a 5? The problem lies with what is simultaneously this anime's greatest strength and most glaring weakness: the story. It is a charming little tale about random circumstances bringing together two strangers who have to navigate their feelings for each other. Despite its sheer brevity at 9 13 minute episodes pl…
Read at the sourcedoma1n_
Grade: 8
I'll make it short so it won't bore you.
You may find the story silly from how they met and end up living together on the same roof, but it was kind of interesting and questions you what will you do in those scenarios where your dreams are getting hollow while your partner or coworker is one step closer to their goals and how will you be able to catch to other's expectations.
Just so you know, this really shows how adult life and corporate life works in real life. You might receive multiple blows of rejections or luckily, your work might also be accepted. The question is how will you be able to make up for it or improve it. It displays a great responsibility in those cases and btw, the characters did not act stupidly in love like in typical romance anime. It was like really a rea…
Read at the sourceOrochi_Kyocr
I need to be honest about REC, this is going to be a VERY, very subjective opinion on my part, just because I love this anime.
I'm forty years old, and pretty much I have watched and rewatched REC since I'm 28 years old.
Every time I watched it, it pushes me to be a better person, a better husband, why?
Rec touches many adult themes in many ways, despite it only has 9-10 minutes of content each chapter and it does way better than many animes of 25+ episodes with 22 minutes episodes.
The way the main characters meet each other is kinda silly, let alone the part how they ended living together is way sillier.
From then, the anime turns out to be more serious than it may be intended to be, giving some space for comedy.
1- What happens to a couple when one of them is becoming successful whi…
Read at the sourceSlavicIndo
What a shame this was 15 years ago, huh, if you tried looking for anime like this a couple of years ago you wouldn't have found any. For the time when it was released, this was probably a very unique anime. The art definitely isn't good, but for it's time it's very much watchable. Today, they don't really make these kind of animes, with obvious exceptions like Tonikaku Kawaii and I shaved. Then I brought a runaway home.
The only thing I wouldn't really like about this anime (plus the third one I mentioned), is that unlike Tonikaku Kawaii, they aren't dating while living in the same space. I think they should do a season 2 or a whole redo of the series in a modern way. Much better art, sounds, etc. If they were indeed to make a season 2, they should make it to be something like Tonikawa. A…
Read at the sourcestillalivesomew
What do you call a lady with a dream and a gentleman with a dream in Japan despite metaphorical obstacles would make them stressful? You get this short anime, Rec.
The very few instances comic relief would not disappoint anyone who likes romance anime. Like there are only 9 episodes that is packed with slightly growing "baby-step" hope for the two main characters' hearts.
I like how the emotional atmosphere of the overall series is very mellow but becoming gradually warm enough to feel to warm my already cold heart at that time. This anime was a blessing on a personal level long time ago.
For the people with broken heart, it may not be a masterpiece, but good enough to find ways to amend their hearts.
Read at the sourcebrandoncb515
The entire story and relationship dynamic is peak male fantasy garbage. The main character is incredibly unlikable and was clearly a self-insert. Like yeah let me write a story about my boring ass self in my boring ass life and then suddenly a super cute anime girl has sex with me and we fall deeply in love for no reason at all even though i spent the entire time being a huge dick and she still loves me for some reason. It's not believable, it's not entertaining, it's so bad that it's almost offensive. The MC has next to no personality and i was nearly pulling my hair out at the end.
Trash lmao. Fuck this show
Read at the sourcedexsting
Don't think of this like a series, think of it as a movie. It's just over 1 1/2 hours if you include the special and don't watch all the intro/outro for every "episode".
But the episodes do break it up if you want to watch one episode at a time when you have a short break.
I don't know if you'd consider it a spoiler because it happened in the first episode, but I was glad to see a more "adult, without being echii/hentai" take on the relationship. Sure they slept together, but it happens in real life. The story takes off from there. There are other "adult" situations, but completely reasonable ones; like a voice actress voicing an H-game while she's still an unknown.
I love how they went back and forth between their relationships and their jobs and how a person's job can affect a relati…
Read at the sourceCuriouswanderer
Thanks to Mangareader from their article "15 Romance Anime Series Featuring Adult Relationships" on the Sotaku website, I would never have come across this anime whatsoever.
I thought the whole thing was cute with Matsumaru and Aka getting to know one another, especially with both of them having different careers (voice actress & salesman). As well, we see the challenges that the pair of them face in regards to their work schedules and it is understandable to juggle your double life in order to suit the other persons needs. That seems to be the hardest that the couple have to face.
It's too bad that this anime didn't expand each episodes length or make it out to be a OVA\movie. I felt it could've offered more but it didn't bother me that much to thoroughly enjoy it.
Definitely romanti…
Read at the sourceKnicePerson
Rec is a short series that captivates the heart despite its nine 12-minute episodes. It does this by being centered on the conflict between our two protagonists. This conflict being whether or not they can continue living together since their professions are closely tied and foul rumors may spread among employees. I won't into too much depth about their conflict since it is what kept me interested in the series and what I highly recommend you pay close attention to should you watch this.
Story: 9
The story can best be described as a rom-com without the com but that isn't to say that the story isn't funny. What I hope to convey through this metaphor is that the series focuses on the two central characters and their interactions.
If you are unsure about watching this show, watch the first…
Read at the sourceSNR_17
First off i'd like to point out your opinion may differ vastly from mine; reason being i'm not a fan of 'Tsundere' characters. In my opinion, this anime starts off really well. It follows the story of an insufferable prick(my own opinion) of a person: Fumihiko Matsumaru. After being stood up by his date, he's cheered up by an aspiring voice actress Aka Onda. The story starts off fairly decently, the first few episodes show good character development, but then it starts to go down hill.
Due to circumstances they start living together, this is when our protagonist starts pestering Aka for sex. Now if this was done for comedic purposes, it's outright bad, it just doesn't work. Trinity seven would be a good example of where characters are set up for sexual humour, this anime fails at that mis…
Read at the sourceMowse98
[SPOILER FREE/SHORT REVIEW]
I enjoyed Rec way more than I originally thought I would. A romantic comedy where the characters actually hook up in the first episode? This is a story where the characters feel real. Its like this is a story that you could actually believe would happen in real life, and that is part of its core appeal.
The setting is what really lifted this show up and above the typical rom-com/drama. This is not a high school show, and the characters are actual adults that behave like human beings. I cannot stress this enough, the characters, for the most part, act like real people with real life struggles and responsibilities.
Considering this is a show from 2006, I can say that the art isn't really my thing and the animation is pretty lacking; its average at best for a…
Read at the sourceImPops
Rec is only 9 episodes long, unless you are including the special, it was short and sweet.
Rec has a sort of element that goes straight to the point that continues to have that flow without sudden moments on purpose. It all felt natural, but short, and doing this technique is what most shows fail to accomplish, but this still manages to do so with just 9 episodes.
Sometimes you enter a scene with your main character, Matsumaru, and you can tell by the mood how he felt. When all seems down, you get this white, shaddy, background that expresses the emotions. One episode, ---(SPOILERS)---- Matsumaru was at a state of depressed thoughts, and his color was gray, shady, and depressing, while around him it was colorful, even with Ako sitting beside him being colorful as she is, you can tell ho…
Read at the sourceTrashDax
Audrey Hepburn would turn around in her grave if she knew what work her name was attached to.
Story:
On the surface, Rec leads us to believe that we bear witness to the blooming of a young love and a boy and a girl overcoming the many obstacles in their way to be together. In reality, what we get to see is the formation of an abusive relationship that is presented as the ideal romance. I’m at loss for words how disgusting this is. Apparently, the author is either an utterly broken victim of this in real life, or (more likely) a terrible human being that you should stay as far away from as possible. In their sick, twisted mind, it is heartwarming to guilt-trip somebody into a relationship and take advantage of a helpless individual. This is wrong on so many levels, that I would like to era…
Read at the sourceFalseShepherd13
Talk about one hell of a breath of fresh air! Rec is a surprisingly good romance anime between TWO ACTUAL ADULTS!
Rec is a really short, but sweet adaptation of a manga by the same name. At a measly 9 half-length episodes, Rec was able to firmly stand next to the likes of Toradora by being so different then whatns typical of anime romance.
Now when it comes to those differences, they are actually rather simple. Instead of teenagers in highschool whose entire lives seem to somehow revolve around their romantic relationship, we have two adults leading adult lives working two adult jobs. Did I mention they were adults??
The story of Rec is about the two characters, Aka Onda and Fumiko Matsumaru realizing their feelings for eachother as their two careers become intertwined. However the roma…
Read at the sourceeldoudy
If you like a predictable anime neatly packaged and also neatly tied with no loose endings to swoop through in one sitting, then definitely give REC a try.
[Story] 7/10
The story revolves around both of our MC's, depicting their daily routines, hardships in both work and interhuman relationships, and their subsequent conclusions/resolvings. It starts out with fair amount of comedy, which later is surpressed by more serious topics.
[Art and Sound] 7/10
The artstyle, having a retro feeling to it wasn't my cup of tea although I didn't hate it. In the end it managed to execute and depict everything on a plausible level (that includes not only characters themselves but also surroundings). Sounds were, well they were there, nothing which gets stuck in your memory or get in the way.
[Character…
Read at the sourceInactive_Andy
In spite of this series being fairly short, with length and episode duration, it manages to tell a better story than a lot of full length series. With Rec you really are not expecting anything amazing when you first notice it, but your voice of the series changes astonishingly fast. Really the series itself manages to grab you and keep you from the first episode right to the final scene.
I want to talk about the Art and Animation first off. It's incredible, strictly speaking from a low budget series. The animation is fluid, it flows together very well. The art work is simple, almost lazy in some parts. But with that said the art work itself was unique and part of what grabs you into the series. Beauty in the simplicity. Overall I'd rank the art at around an 8.2/10. Now to focus on what a…
Read at the sourceiamKetranLang
Rec is short and good! A true gem. God I feel like I'm one of the lucky bunch that is SCREENING anime not yet aired while watching this anime !!! Each episode is like 10 minutes, but packed with so MUCH GOODNESS!
This is romance in a seiyuu setting, not school setting! I assure you it is a lot more interesting and tougher. The premise is a bit sexual which is EVEN BETTER !!! HELL YEAH AKA <333 Even so, Aka, our main girl who is 20 years old and so cute brought light to a failing 26 years old man (like an angel with the Audrey Hepburn quotes) and the man, named Matsumaru, helped Aka when she lost her home and succeed her dream to be a popular seiyuu. How they manage romance and work is so cute and romantic, and so cuddly.
The art is fantastic, it may look old, but that does not stop me f…
Read at the source
