Review: ef - a tale of memories

Ef - a tale of memories-hereby referred to as ef for the sake of my sanity-is a series about memory and being remembered. It’s a drama about finding your path in in life and getting over personal baggage in order to see that path clearly. Ef is a heartfelt story about many characters’ intertwining stories in one high school that sets itself up to be amazing, but at times it struggles to be truly memorable.

I want to start off the actual, pun free, review by talking about my absolute favorite part of ef-the animation. I guess it’s really no surprise, but SHAFT does a fantastic job with making this story really pop. The studio uses a lot of really amazing ideas to increase the tension and especially the beauty of this little series. I’m not sure exactly how much I would have enjoyed ef if SHAFT hadn’t animated it. Many of my favorite parts in the series were either because the animation really enhanced the emotional experience or were animation decisions themselves. It’s for this reason that I’m willing to watch pretty much any series that SHAFT turns out.

That being said, the character designs were pretty annoying, specifically their heads and hair. I mean, what the hell is that weird cowlick thing on Renji’s head anyway? The girls were cute enough, but there were times that I just couldn’t get over the way they were designed. It wasn’t enough to seriously impact my enjoyment of the series, it just would have been nice to see some good character designs to go along with the impeccable animation. The only good part of this aspect was Chihiro’s eyepatch, because who doesn’t love a shy anime gal with an eyepatch?

The story of ef is well done for the most part. All of the character relationships are set up well and they refrained from making the intertwining story lines confusing, which could have very easily been done. All three relationships are identified early on and the writers were very delicate with how the stories were interwoven. The result is an easy-to-follow series that never really gets boring. The relationships are mostly believable, with some minor cringe-worthy details. Ef definitely delivered on the romance, and the story of Renji and Chihiro was especially compelling. 

Unfortunately, the way the writers chose to develop the stories took a turn for the worst around the middle of the series. Some choices are made in the course of the relationships that seemed forced and unrealistic. Many character motivations are unclear or shallow. A lot of the drama seemed to be thrown in simply to have more “twists” that ended up simply being predictable. They continued with this tactic until almost the very end,  at which point it had become tiresome. Even my favorite relationship in the series suffers from this to a certain extent. This kind of series usually makes me cry at least once. I was brought close to tears only once with ef, and I’m convinced it was because of that odd twist gimmick.

All in all, ef was a good series that was predictable, yet still compelling. I really liked most of the characters, but some were just fake and corny. If it wasn’t for the story of Renji and Chihiro, I’m sure this series would have been a lot worse, but luckily the inclusion of their relationship saved it. If different decisions were made in the progress of the stories, ef really could have ended up being a stellar experience, but some unnecessary plot twists made it significantly less enjoyable. That being said, if you like romantic drama series and can fight through some disappointment, I would recommend giving ef a shot. Hell I’ll recommend it on the basis of its animation alone.

Best Episode Part: Chihiro!

Overall Score: 3/5