Anime: Tokimeki Memorial f5q37

Tokimeki Memorial is probably one of the most famous imported Japanese games that has never seen the light of day in the west at the time of writing this review. The fact that it has spawned numerous sequels and spin-off games is a testament to it's popularity and there has been numerous merchandise released from it.

Being a huge fan of the game I was livid when I learned there was an OVA and was really looking forward to watching all my favorite characters from the game in full animated glory.

Animation
This is without a doubt one of the anime's highlights. The animation is crisp, clear and of a very high standard. The characters never go off-model (though considering this was only 2 OVA episodes it wasn't very likely for that to happen anyway). I should mention though that the characters do look more mature than their game counterparts.

Sound
This is the anime's other highlight. All the seiyuu from the game return to play the characters and they all fit the characters perfectly. The famous opening theme to the game "Motto! Motto! Tokimeki" is also used as the opening to the OVA (though it has been remixed somewhat and sounds more modernised). Fans of the game will also recognize a lot of the background music in the anime since it uses music from the game (though again the music has been arranged differently to suit the anime though essentially they are the same tunes).

There are some new insert and ending songs recorded for the OVA. My favorite new song is the insert song for the first OVA titled "Ame" (Rain) sung by Miharu's seiyuu, Shiho Kikuchi. It is a very calm and emotional song. I also like the ending song "Maybe Love" sung by Mami Kingestu (Shiori's seiyuu).

Story
Unfortunately this is where the anime starts to fall flat. Being only two OVAs there isn't much room for a story. The storyline concentrates on the characters of Shiori (the heroine from the game who is your childhood friend) and Miharu (the hidden character in the game who is to shy to express her feelings to you). There isn't any real depth to the story since it is expected the viewers are already familiar with the main jist of the storyline from the game.

Characters
Again the anime falls flat on this point. If your favorite characters from the game are either Shiori and/or Miharu then you will love this anime. Unfortunately if any of the other characters are your favorites then chances are you probably won't like it as much.

Though Shiori is the main focus of the OVA fans of Miharu will be glad to see she does get some screen time though most of it is usually just as a voice on the telephone. It is in the second OVA when Miharu's story mainly comes into the equation and I found her story quite sad (as I am more of a fan of Miharu than I am of Shiori).

However the other characters are treated very poorly in the anime. Some are treated better than others. There is a nice little side story involving Nozomi, Ayako and Saki but this is very minor. All of the other character's appearances vary. One reason I gave this such a low vote is because my favorite character from the game, Yukari, only gets about two sentences of dialogue in the whole of the anime. In this respect some of the character's appearances feel like they are just added for completists sake to show that they have made their appearance from the game. Aside from the three characters mentioned above only Megumi really seems to contribute something to the story. The rest of the characters really are only there for show. It's a shame really as if the OVA was longer the other characters could have been focused on as well.

Before I found out how long the anime was I was hoping it might have an episode for each girl in the game (something along the lines of what the Sentimental Journey anime did). I personally think this would have worked a lot better though this is just my opinion.

Value
This anime is a nice gentle anime that mainly deals with expressing emotions. Unfortunately though it does not have much repeat viewing unless you are a huge fan of the game and really enjoy seeing all your favorite characters from the game animated.

Enjoyment
I did like the OVA but since most of my favorite characters were treated very poorly I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked to.

On a side note I am especially grateful to this anime for a particular reason. At one point in the anime Shiori plays some of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" which I have always loved and wanted to get on a CD but I never knew the name to it so I loved the anime for telling me that.

Also on another note if you are able to watch the VKLL fansub for both OVAs as the group also subtitled the extras on both videos as well. You can actually get both OVAs with the extras fansubbed on DVD from VKLL's site. For the first OVA the extra is a 3D CG Model of Shiori guiding the viewer around the Production Company's office with interviews with some of the staff. For the second OVA there are messages from the cast mainly thanking you for watching the OVA (though we only hear them whilst we see animation from the OVA for each of the seiyuu's corresponding character when they speak). The other extra on the second OVA is the opening to the Tokimeki Memorial 2 game (with a new rendition of the famous "Motto! Motto! Tokimeki" opening theme performed by Junko Noda who plays Hikari (the main heroine in the second game). It isn't the complete opening though as although you do get animation from the opening it also shows you the gameplay and CG from the second game. Essentially it is an ment for the second game. The sad thing was I found this more interesting than the actual anime itself.

Overall though to sum up I can only really recommend this to fans of the series as I believe they will get the most enjoyment out of it. However if you like nice simple and relaxing animes you could give this a try.