×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
REVIEW: To Heart DVD 1


Goto page Previous  1, 2

 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article
Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
prime_pm



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 2341
Location: Your Mother's Bedroom
PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:40 pm Reply with quote
I got to see this dvd, and I ended up MSTing the hell out of every episode. It just seems to ask for it on every corner it passes. Especially the third episode with that girl who talks very low. Gold. I couldn't stop laughing on these scenes. And it moved so slow. You know, in light of the second episode's title, for an incident to occur, something has to happen!

Overall, nice art.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Zalis116
Moderator


Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6879
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:15 pm Reply with quote
Viga_of_stars wrote:
the comic party series really made me want to see this just to know what the fuss is about. i really want to see it because i really like restored animation. plus studying older techniques...plus it might just be up my alley in terms of comfort anime that i could just lay back and numb out the world too like genshiken or haruhi.
I also got interested in To Heart after seeing the references in Comic Party, and it holds the (dubious?) distinction of being the first complete fansubbed series I ever downloaded. When I got the DVD, I couldn't help but wonder if re-encoding off the R2 DVDs would've given TRSI better results...I actually felt sad seeing it, because I know how much effort they put into the video restoration, and yet the video quality could almost pass for VHS in a blind test. At least the subtitles are up to RightStuf's usual high standards, and I found the dub to be pretty decent, not cringe-worthy at all.

To Heart helped make me into a fan of this genre of anime, though even as a fan of this type of series, there isn't much I can say to defend it. There's very little action/conflict from a dramatic perspective, and in re-watching the second episode, I found myself Rolling Eyes at all the "hemming and hawing over tickets." But I still like a lot of the characters, including the sweet/devoted Akari, the sly and scheming Shiho, and the malapropism-dropping foreign girl, Lemmy. One can see certain paralells between Lemmy and other similar characters, like Mio Hio in DN Angel and Winner Sinclair in Karin. But that's beside the point.

I can't really claim that "it gets better," since the introduction of iconic character Multi in later episodes is a YMMV situation, and the conclusion is fairly predictable even for those who aren't fans of the genre. At least it's better than its spinoff series, To Heart DMX To Heart 2, which almost caused me to drop it out of boredom. (The direct sequel, To Heart ~Remember my Memories~ is more focused and has more actual plot & action going on, though you have to know the first To Heart beforehand.)

But, one positive side about the game and the anime is that they do come very close to pure slice-of-life / romance, without the emphasis on supernatural tragedy or tearjerking (melo)drama seen in later games/anime like Kanon, Air, Shuffle!, and Kimi ga Nozomu Eien.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:31 am Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
But, one positive side about the game and the anime is that they do come very close to pure slice-of-life / romance, without the emphasis on supernatural tragedy or tearjerking (melo)drama seen in later games/anime like
Kanon, Air, Shuffle!, and Kimi ga Nozomu Eien.


I just got into Diamond Daydreams and found it really amazing as far as non-over the top drama. I'm enjoying this series more than the first volume of To Heart and feels a bit aimed towards an older audience. Takahasi Anthology works as well, all though about half of the stories do have supernatural elements.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group