Ef - A tale of melodies Plot:

The anime once again tells two stories.

The first story takes place in the past. Himura Yuu meets a girl, Amamiya Yuuko who seems to know him, but he doesn't know her. However, he soon remembers that she was a girl whom he knew from long ago. Yuuko then tells him something which he never knew. He was her first love since then, and her first love has not ended yet.

The second story takes place in the present, just after the events of Ef - A Tale of Memories.. Kuze Shuuichi meets the cousin of Asou Renji, Hayama Mizuki and spends a lot of time with her. Unknown to Mizuki, Kuze had contracted a fatal illness and has little time left to live. Kuze had decided to break all romantic ties, but things go bad when Mizuki tells him that she loves him.

Alternative Titles
English: ef - a tale of melodies
Synonyms: ef - a tale of memories second season
Japanese: エフ ア テイル オブ メロディーズ

Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 12
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Oct 6, 2008 to Dec 22, 2008
Producers: Shaft
Genres: Mystery, Drama, Romance, Seinen
Duration: 24 min. per episode
Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Ef - A tale of melodies review

Story 10/10
For a drama/romance I was surprised how well they linked the first and second season. Really it left me quite speechless but I think this was because the actual novel was written well and meant for it to be connected in this way. However the case the plot flows quite well and coherently. I think the only downside of both seasons was that every story always ended happy. They would always led up to very unfortunate and painful events but somehow make it happy again. I guess in a sense it was also the magic of the story, but if I had to compare this to real life I couldn't kid myself and think that any of this would actually happen.



Art 10/10
The art of this series is so rich and detailed, I would expect nothing less from the "ef" series, in fact just watching the opening scene with the paper airplane gliding along the sunset sky, is truly appealing for the eyes, as is the entire series. The character design (while nothing particularly new) is well distinct. I especially liked the eyes of the characters. The water effects that come from the ocean will seem to just glide across your screen so fluently. And the character animation and backgrounds are truly superb!


Characters 9/10
I really liked each and everyone of the characters, nobody ever came off as annoying, or would make you feel that they tossed one in just for the sake of doing so. I was especially captivated with the character "Kuze, " he is a musician with a quite interesting past, and the turmoil he goes through is quite sad--yet exciting at times. The character chemistry was a bit rushed for one of the couples, but seemed to be pulled off appropriately at the end. Since half of this title is all about back story, you get a pretty in depth look into the character’s lives and can really connect with just who they are, and will feel what they feel!



Sound 10/10
The first season featured some top notch Ost and theme songs and fortunately this season followed suit. The only thing I can say is the opening song was really similar to the original one and that didn't appeal to me as much. Other then that the music definitely kept me going. Throughout the series you hear this one specific violin tune that stands and it really sticks in your head. Its not very complicated but it definitely captured my heart and pulled me into the anime. The voices and sound effects were also just as good if not better then the first season. All the voices were kept the same and it was well done.


Value and Enjoyment 10/10
The complete anime together came as a package and watching the entire thing does give you a nice message. it really tries show the watchers that hope can be found no matter how bad a situation can get and push the watcher to continue to struggle for what they dream of no matter what. I think that it is an important thing and from watching the series it does leave some impact. I will probably consider rewatching this in the future to see if I have still find the story and characters so unbelievable. With all that being said I did enjoy this series. It was a really refreshing watch since I've been mainly watching love comedies and action animes lately. I really needed a serious one to change up my mood. I would recommend this to fans who like serious romance and dramas. So if you watch it hope you enjoy it as much as I did.