This is part of the “an effing post” series being done by ABC. Other, most likely more insightful, posts on ef are being done by The BigN, JRoxas, DS,
Moogy, Owen S, J.Valdez, and Martin.
There seems to be a variety of mixed opinions on ef ~ A Tale of Memories ~ in the blogosphere: some saying it’s a brilliant piece of art and others it’s a bad story with nonsensical visuals. In my opinion it’s a decent romance with excellent animation. It’s the best of SHAFT’s unique directorial flair; just enough to make the show unique and interesting to watch without the visuals making everything incromprehensible. Lest us forget how the crack addict animation of Negima!? dragged that show into the ground. An eroge adaption with normal animation, let alone QUALITY animation, is barely tolerable at best, so I’m glad ef got the most artsy adaption of them all.
The whole conversation at the beginning of episode 6 over the train tracks was just brilliant to me. Perfectly amping up the tension between the two while foreshadowing events to come. Certain other effects, like the glow around the girls that mirrors the game CG and the stain glass circle used to portray Chihiro’s imprisonment, I also enjoy. I love the background visuals just as much as anything else. SHAFT has really captured the beauty of Makoto Shinkai’s work on the original ef OP. The location of ef, a town that is neither past or future, also adds to the whole fantastical element of the show.
Right now the story is enjoyable enough that I can look forward to new episodes. Honestly, the first few episodes were a drag to get through. I blame this mostly on following Chihiro’s story too much from the get go. Chihiro doesn’t get interesting until after her memory secret is out, until then she’s more annoying. So I can see why they put her at the beginning in order to make her more enjoyable later on, but it’s still putting the most annoying part at the beginning. It doesn’t help that any viewer with half an IQ can guess her problem from the get go. Still looks cute in a police uniform, though.
The real star of the story is obviously the harem showdown between Kei and Miyako. Miyako obviously has a few screws loose, as if the disappearing into nothing visual isn’t clue enough, but Kei’s hardly mentally sound either. Personally, I don’t trust any non-blood related girl who still uses Onii-chan in high school. Yes, I’m just like Sasahara; can’t stand little sister characters. Anyways, Kei also has the mental baggage of Chihiro’s injury to deal with it. At this point Kei will probably end up with Kyosuke, because this is still an eroge and things end up cleanly like that, but I’m really interested in seeing how she gets over Hiro. Miyako could end up with Hiro, but I really don’t want her too. That girl’s too unstable for anyone. Or they could all kill each other, but I’ve never heard of ef having a Nice Boat ending. Also interested in the secrets behind Yuko and Yu aka. mysterious church people. If this was KEY I would say they’re ghosts with their bodies in a coma, but Minori may be more creative.
No matter the pros and cons of ef’s soap opera story, its visuals have definately set a bar for eroge adaptions to come, one which I think it will be hard for them to reach. I’ll save final judgments on ef till after the final episode, things can still go the way of the train wreck after all. One thing’s for sure, though: Euphoric Field effing ROCKS!
