ef ~a tale of memories~ 10
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“It’s impossible to have a fair ending.”
The ending to the Hirono storyline was pretty much what I expected, yet, I can’t help be disappointed. Everything felt too clean, too workmanlike, too direct. Hirono cleaned up all his faults, realizes his wrongs, and sets to right them in a span of 10 minutes while the previous 9 episodes, we haven’t seen him do much besides draw manga, carry Kei around, and bang Miya-Miya. He didn’t emo or angst over his decision between Miya-Miya and Kei let alone the decisions about himself; he just went about his business and did what he had to do to get the best ending. What bothered me about Hirono’s actions was that he wasn’t doing anything right, and then, suddenly, he could do no wrong. He was like Kobe getting four points first three quarters and then single handedly winning the game with a 20 point fourth quarter. I can believe it with Simon and a few others, but Hirono?
There were also levels of complexity that were begging to be brought out to life. Kyosuke could easily have complicated the situation, angled for revenge sex, and made things more interesting, but instead, he ends up telling Hirono exactly what Hirono needed to hear. He was a great friend and did what I expected… but not what I wanted.
Kei could have just gone bat shit crazy loco at the sight of Miya-Miya nakkid next to Hirono. But she didn’t. Instead, we got a direct, open, conductive conversation between her and Hirono that ties up that loose end. Sadly, that’s what Kei became: a loose end. I thought it was a great and rational conversation and well done, and it was what I expected… but not what I wanted.
At least at the end, we have Miya-Miya acting crazy one last time and breaking down and running away. I did enjoy their conversation at the end because there was a little spiral energy in Hirono’s convictions. We’ve seen countless spineless harem male leads mince works, and Hirono convincing Miya-Miya to stay was almost as good as Jerry McGuire’s “You complete me,” and, well, it was the end I expected… and nothing more.
This episode was marred by Shaft’s decision to show footage of a countdown and a phone booth for a solid six minutes. 1995 Gainax is impressed with this money saving technique. Shaft really brings the best and the worst out of ef. I love them for all the Chihiro scenes, but for a straight up love triangle, I’d settle for just solid animation. Honestly, I’d settle for anything that is actually animated. I’m just perplexed. Did Shaft run out of money? Or time? What happened? The animation quality since the 99 messages episode just went down hill. It’s a pity. ef should have been one of the greats. Hirono’s story alone is already better than pretty much every harem anime this year, and Renji’s story was even better than Hirono’s. By putting the two together, ef had something that very few harem anime has: an extremely brisk and well-paced plot. ef also had no filler characters (i.e. extraneous haremettes). Everyone has a purpose, and everyone has an important part in a main story up to the end. It’s just a shame that the animation quality became a distracting factor. Nonetheless, I think it’s just going to settle in the B+/A- range depending on how Renji’s story ends and whether or not Shaft sinks even lower than Evangelion 25 and 26.
I think I have flip-flopped more about ef and Shaft the past four weeks than any anime I have ever watched.
(Sigh. I’m just glad Shaft didn’t work on Haruhi Suzumiya.)
12 Responses to “ef ~a tale of memories~ 10”
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And see, I have to disagree with you here: I actually liked the neat little wrap-up. I mean, with 2 episodes to go, this could have been drawn out further for another episode and ended halfway through ep 11. A clean “You’ve been cut” ending is an actual novelty in the morass of harem animes out there. As for the countdown scene, I thought it was a stroke of genius. While yes it was a money-saver, consider the scene: Miya had little time left on her card and was phoning to say goodbye. If they hadn’t shown the timer, her being cut-off would have felt like a poorly contrived plot device. By showing the countdown, it created tension as the audience watches the amount of time Hiro has to get back Miya disappears. Then the Hiro’s bold words come flying through as the bgm soars with less than 40 time units (those were not seconds) left. The audience’s attention is tightly wound as they wait for Hiro’s declaration of love and it gets all the more tense when you know that he’s nearing those words. And then we watch as countdown hits 00 and his words are cut-off at the last moment. Afterwards was also well-done as well and I felt they used a money-saving trick to create solid dramatic tension that worked in their favour.
I also thought the countdown scene was a cheap trick and while it did not ruin the scene it certainly did not help it any. The conversation was the important part of the scene but they could have spent a few more dollars showing the character’s facial expressions.
Rest of the episode was superb, especially the Miyako parts. With her out of the story my interest in this show goes way down. Now the whole story gets to focus on the anime version of 50 First Dates (yawn).
I enjoyed it, the soundtrack throughout the entire episode was very fitting as well. I went through a few ways the Miya Miya arc could’ve gone after the end of ep 9 and this was not one of the ones I was thinking of. I enjoyed it but I figure the only problem I had at the end was, I feel that Hirono has ended up in the same position at the end of 10 as he was at the end of 9 right before Kei was into them sleeping together. Two more eps left maybe they are gonna throw another curve ball out there for a more dramatic drastic finale.
26 eps please god damnit.
Like talam, I think the counter actually added to the scene because it raised the tension as the scene progressed and prevented the phone card running out from coming across as an “instant twist”. I do agree that the scene could have used more variety in visuals, although I was actually too “in the grove” while watching this show to notice it, or most of the flaws you pointed out, really.
Unsurprisingly, shows that I can really get caught up in like that are my favourite type to watch.
I think the countdown was appropriate, but they could have spaced out the countdown and used some animation in between. I really like ef, but I dislike Shaft in the extreme.
Well I can tell you Jason, its the story that was more captivating than the actual animation itself. It might be just at par, but remember the actual story taking place. Some people don’t even think about how the quality is but how the stories strength is portraited. How SHAFT added the music in the end really got me going after 040 on the card. It’s all about how you mix music in with the setting that makes this show amazing really. Quality wise I haven’t been much picky with it but still some backgrounds are gorgeous. IMO I really didn’t see much of a change in between the 99 message episode with Miyako. This show’s close to a masterpiece though how it goes up and down it makes things interesting to watch :P.
I liked what SHAFT did there, for pretty much the same reasons already mentioned by other commenters. Cutting repeatedly between a countdown and the same static image does sound iffy on paper, but they way they combined it with the conversation and music really set the mood in my opinion. The contrast between the timer and the shot of the phone booth steadily increased the tension through the standard dichotomy of the audience knowing something is about to happen (represented by the timer) that the characters are oblivious towards (represented by the static phone booth image). Additionally, the timer vs. phone booth is both a continuation of and a reference to Kei’s soliloquy about the conflict between assuming the current situation will continue indefinitely and the inevitable changing of that situation by the inevitable passage of time, while extending it to blah blah blah imagine more wordy art critic over-analyzations type thingies here.
tldr: A traditionally animated Hiro-Kei-Miyako arc would pretty much be Kimikiss. And we already have one of those, don’t need any more. (Well… I think Kimikiss has sister-like childhood friend vs. new girlfriend drama, but it’s kind of hard to tell with the complete absence of plot advancement.)
I think I may be jaded. I really enjoy the games SHAFT plays with the medium. SHAFT has showed us that they can do people in distress — both in the scene with Kei preceding Miyako’s phone call, and in many Chihiro scenes.
By alternating the countdown with the long-distance view of Miyako in the phone-booth, they focused all the audience’s attention on the words being said — which is what was significant at that point. I thought it was wonderful.
In a way, I think it’s a pity that this SHAFT team didn’t get do the Key adaptations — they seem to know what makes a good story. Kanon, especially, could have used the deftness of touch on display here in ef (read: they’d hopefully know enough to give Nayuki her due). I’d like to see their Lucky Star, too (I guess it might be called Pani poni dash).
unrelated note: is that the dango daikazoku on her phone card?
SHAFT has done a great job with this show. This is definately A, maybe A+
The countdown scene was the perfect way to do that. Very gripping and emotional.
I hate to see this end so so soon.
Countdown’s been discussed to death.
>>is that the dango daikazoku on her phone card?
It continues to be so, yes.
Jason, it’s all a matter of expecting too much of something that has blasted people’s minds for the last 10 weeks. Experimental visuals amazes people, but for some reason that leads to too much expectations. The resolution wraps up very nicely, as we don’t want it to drag on for too long or have it wrapped in a messier way. It sounds like you want something from the last third of Mai-Hime, and I’m certain that 99.99% of ef watchers don’t want a NICE BOAT on our soon-to-be masterpiece.
Nice boat appeared in the first episode — as Hirono was standing up Kei via text-message, having just met Miyako (she stole his bike), a piece of paper blows past the screen. On it is written “nice boat”.
The only thing more I ask of this anime is an explanation for who or what Yuko is. We may have gotten some of it in her conversation with Miyako in this episode, but I’d like a few more details (though not necessarily a full-up arc and resolution of her story, just hints like we got in the conversations in episode ten).