IMHO. Eureka 7 ~ how one realises their age

If only I were 10 years younger... I'd probably say 'Eureka' is the best anime in the world. This colourful futuristic world with different laws of physics, global catastrophe caused by an evil genius approaching, rainbow-like explosion that marks the renewal of the world, important moments emphasised with emotional music, but the best part being the charismatic characters of course... But in fact, nothing new and nothing I've never seen somewhere else.

Flow's usual 'heeeey here we go!!!' kind of opening song, optimistic rap or rock'n'roll, girls and boys whining to a guitar for opening and ending themes... Soundtrack that combines electronic and symphonic pieces... One impressive insert theme turns out to be a famous song I already know, and the other - the only listenable piece in the discography of a since disbanded group.

Young boys who find love and become brave to save the world by sheer willpower. Mysterious girls who will only smile to them. Adults who entrust these hero-boys with the fate of the world and are ready to sacrifice themselves to protect the young generation...

These things could only impress me 10 years ago when I knew much less of what anime can be like.

I mean, when you watch mecha, you don't ask why streets in all cities and even natural caves are wide enough for the giant robots to pass. You also never ask why there's a Japanese-style common bath in an aerial battleship. But you probably retain the right to ask why every new development looks like a convenient way out rather than a natural conclusion. And even all these wonderful colourful things can't hide just how much the creators were swaying between different versions of the ending, thrusting in one major event after another just because they'd changed their mind. In the end, they didn't even have enough screen time to show the future lives of the characters who were in fact the main attraction of the show. I'm sure many fans wanted to see what became of their favourite characters, not just the main couple, but what a disappointment for them.

If I were 10 years younger, I'd probably overlook all these things and give 'Eureka' 10 out of 10 in my exaltation, but 'Eureka' will have to be content with my less rapturous rating of 7. And the biggest part of it is because of these characters, and of course, their brilliant voice actors.

'kimi ni todoke' ~ rainbow colours [make me feel sick]

If you like rainbow-coloured stories and never seek too much meaning from a shoujo series, then 'kimi ni todoke' is for you.

Now try to guess if I consider myself a person like I've just described...

...

...

...

No.

BINGO!

story and characters

I must warn you, this is not a love story. This is not even a story about budding romance. This story has as little romance as it is ever possible for it to be considered 'shoujo', which is esssentially almost none.

This is actually a story about how two people couldn't understand each other for whole 38 episodes. What was I waiting for, I wonder, when the name explains it all. 'I want my feelings to reach you', the title says. And so, most part of the time alloted for the main couple, those couldn't reach the partner. The other half of the time alloted to the main Heroine was filled with her sighs and comments like this

Apart from the main couple, however, the pace of the story was much better, and the characters were extremely likeable. She had nice friends,

caring teacher,

who were all cheering for her and giving her some very useful advice

I mean, if not for those around Sawako, I don't know if there was anything to enjoy at all. I can say I was extremely glad to see some characters I could relate to. Because they were enjoying teasing both the 'maiden in love', and the 'beautiful prince'

and because they expressed what they felt straightforward.

On the other hand, there was enough for me to laugh at, as a spectator. I mean, such characters are brilliant!

voice acting

At first I thought I could kill the seiyuu of the heroine, Noto Mamiko. Her lightweighted, soft voice was PISSING ME OFF. I gradually got used to it, but it never failed to make me shiver with a sense of audial discomfort. In general, of course, if I am to admit that it was the original image of the heroine, then it's ok.

The other seiyuus were good, I guess. At least they were all in their right places.

I couldn't possibly fail to recognise Sawashiro Miyuki, and her voicing a cute stylish but calm and calculating girl was a 'shinsen' - new impression to me.

If I had to list names, I'd list them all - Namikawa Daisuke, Nakamura Yuuichi, Sanper Yuuko, Ono Yuuki, I'd also stress the unique voice of Yurin, and of course, Hirano Aya. Her experience in anime voicing field stands out greatly.
Oh and of course that 'annoying mode' of Miyano. Oh you can't let it stay unnoticed when it rings in your ears.

graphics

If there is something to admire in this anime, then it's nature, and especially sky.

The characters in their crucial moments were also portrayed as if to tell us - hey, look, she's so cute right now!

It made me feel the same as when I see pictures by Shinkai Makoto. I couldn't really appreciate that kind of beauty. I couldn't see where this kind of face is supposed to be attractive.

Everything in this anime is so kind and tender that even skirts feel too guilty to show a girl's underwear and fold themselves up between her knees when she squats.

Apart from that, I'm probably grateful to the animators they didn't make every other characters with the same face and didn't make anyone exceedingly beautiful. Looking at faces of them, I felt I could almost certainly tell how they would look in reality.

music

This is probably the first time when I hate OPEDs of a shoujo anime so much. The voice of Chara I'd call idiosyncratic. And that's very kind of me, because my personal impression was 'how can anyone tolerate this kind of song'. Songs by Tanizawa Tomofumi and MAY'S were extremely boring. The latter was just your average 'slow love song', and the OP themes were just uninspiring. That's my humble opinion again, but I couldn't get rid of my impression of such songs, not only by Tanizawa - 'a song that tries to sound good, and a singer that tries to sound like a very kind guy'. That's all.

The background melodies were probably better, and I would even praise some of them if it didn't require effort to search for their titles.

conclusion

The whole story was extremely neatly explained by one shrewd girl from the class.