Tokimeki Memorial - Only Love

Title:Tokimeki Memorial - Only Love
Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~
ときめきメモリアル OnlyLove
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - AIC Spirits
FUJITA Saki
MAKISHIMA Yuki
YOSHIKAWA Yukako
This anime opens with Riku running around a high school with Cat Ears on (NekoMimi). All the boys appear to be chasing him. Some are wearing special ears and some aren't. Flashback to the past. Riku has just transfered into a new high school and gets partnered up with the local beauty Saiyuri Amamiya. Later in the library he helps out a young girl Mina with finding a book. Much later he passes another girl, Tsukasa, who is quite impressed by his physical stamina. Finally, he ends up outside feeding a baby chicken that seems to be EXTREMELY pissed off.

And that's only one day in the life of Riku.

25 TV Episodes
Animation from AIC
Based on a dating-sim game from Konami


Also see Tokimeki Memorial - Only Love OVA and the vaguely related title Tokimeki Memorial OVA.
Episode Details 
00, 01
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 9 8 8 8 7 6 Dreamer [series:1449#2279]
Ahh, another wonderful harem... being slightly sarcastic. Actually, this wasn't too bad really. It had some interesting characters, some strange teachers and silly sempais.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
Artwork is just gorgeous! The colors are extremely vibrant, details are bar none and the lighting effects is just breathtaking! I haven't see such excellent and amazing lighting, such as cascading sun rays, shadows and luminosity, since "Ef - Tale of melodies. Animation as almost equally as good. The character designs were slightly above average with kawaii girls.

Music
The OP was a moderately ok pop piece with female vocals. Not too bad but still not of my flavor. The soundtrack had some nice paino pieces and similar. At times it was a light and sorrowful piece that almost begs for you to shed tears. Other ties, have uplifting pieces with pianos, light rhythmic drum beat and violins. The ED wasn't too impressive. It was a light pop piece... almost a lullaby.

Series and Episode Story
I didn't like Riku at all. I normally don't care for the main character in most cases but here, he was my least favorite. He was too much of a push over, whiny, gutless and more. It was just too overdone. As mentioned, this just screams Harem but nevertheless, it's intersting for the most part... slightly. All the girls were kawaii. But my favorite was "Mina" (Yayoi), the swimmer. Some of the other characters were memorable too, both male and female.

For the most part, the plot has no substance, but instead, the episodes is what make this series just barely enjoyable to watch. There were some humorous moments, some silly scenes and plenty of cheesy, melodramatic moments. The end wasn't too bad but pretty obvious and sorta leaves you feeling cheated out of 24 episodes when It could have been done with in about.... six.

Overall, it was just an ok series with not a whole lot happening in terms of plot. The artwork was great, the music not bad and the episodes themselves enjoyable... but the plot suffered a bit.

Last updated Wednesday, March 17 2010. Created Wednesday, March 17 2010.
Watch T.Starz [series:1449#3064]
TokiMemo series is a love sim with no any kissing scene,even yes there is peeping scene he

the 1st 2 episode was ok but the rest of it is shit

they drag out the storyline to long

Last updated Tuesday, December 23 2008. Created Tuesday, December 23 2008.
Watch 6 6 6 4 7 6 Xenoknight [series:1449#2967]
Final review soon...

The anime as a whole:

A simple yet not so generic story of love that will leave you feeling ripped off…

If I were to pay for this title, I would immediately want my money back. The biggest problem I had was the length. For 25 episodes, I felt like pulling my hair out due to the strain of having to finish what I started (damn my completionist soul). Each episode until ep. 14, was dragged out and only offered a little bit of story in terms of the main lead and the girls. Yet you can’t really afford to skip them as you will easily lose track of all the characters and what their personalities are like which will give you insight on their actions later on when the time comes. Basically, you just have to stomach the first 13 episodes and after that you’ll be rewarded with the good stuff. That is why I say it didn’t have to be 25 episodes long, but whatever.

When it came to comedy, it was down to two people. 1) Ryuichi (the G status doctor) was the biggest outlet for laughs for me through the entire anime. Whenever he appeared on the screen, I would start cracking up even if he didn’t say anything as I knew he would say or do something funny regardless. That’s the kind of presence he had on the show. As long as he was there, it would be comic relief. And 2) The teacher who was always on the verge of death. They should’ve used him more often. He was funny as hell. He was always coughing and saying stuff like, “I have to teach the students one last lesson with the remaining shred of life I have left.” If only they used him more, the show would’ve been a REAL comedy. Without those two, it’s up to the viewer’s tastes as to what is funny and when to laugh as they try to give comic relief even during the dramatic scenes where it is not funny at all and it ruins the general flow of what they intended in the first place! It was just plain sloppy!!

The rest of the teachers/higher-ups (with the exception of two) were all psychos. There was a she-male drama teacher, a “confused” (and I use that term loosely) track runner, and a hyper-active super testosterone rich kendo sword wielding freak that loves giving and causing pain just to name some of the weirdoes. There are two normal teachers though, one normal guy and one insecure female teacher. The vice principle who gets no attention and a principle who’s bust is so large, it makes watermelons look small!

In terms of fan-service, I guess they think the principle and the swimming instructor would be enough because there is no other source of fan-service throughout the rest of the show. You can toss that element of this anime out the window as it is too weak in that department. Why bother at all is what I would like to know?

Anime as a story:

Never forget Xenosaga.

Last updated Thursday, October 09 2008. Created Friday, August 29 2008.
Watch 7 7 8 7 8 7 chibi [series:1449#2380]
A dating sim series set in a more progressive school where the teachers are strange and the students are given more "freedom," which they seem to put to use bullying the hero into all sorts of uncomfortable situations. The art's not bad and the girls are cute, but I would have liked more depth to the characters. The joke about Riku being chased/shanghaied/coerced/etc. was funny the first 6 or 7 times, but gets irritating after a while -- I really wish he'd tell somebody just once to sit on it. It runs a bit slow in some parts, but the ending was sweet and nicely done. It's definitely worth a watch, and, if you like the genre, probably a rent.

Last updated Saturday, September 08 2007. Created Sunday, January 28 2007.
Watch Stretch [series:1449#628]
(All episodes watched):

"Why are all the teachers weird?" transfer student Aoba Riku asks himself after arriving at his new school. I think it's a good thing that not only the teachers, but numerous fellow students (and the school pet) are weird, otherwise this might have been a completely unremarkable dating sim/harem show. It's not hilarious, but it is mildly amusing and charming somehow; some effort was definitely put into making this show. Aoba seems to be acting as the straight man in a school full of bizarre characters; we know little about him, except that he only wants to live an ordinary life at school. No cheap gags like tripping and falling on top of girls in embarassing ways. Fanservice is restrained--not much more than you really would see at school (assuming you attended a school in which practically every girl was cute-as-a-button). Episode twelve, "Heart Throbbing Night", was crazy, and I loved it. All sorts of bizarre plot threads (a rumor of a ghost, suspicious announcements, a mysterious, strangely dressed woman, trouble cleaning up trash, etc) come together in a hilarious and unexpected way--if only every episode were this good! I think I recognized the strange woman's voice, but I'll keep it to myself so as not to spoil anything. Unfortunately, most episodes aren't this good, and I tend to be left feeling that watching them wasn't the best use I could have made of my precious free time. After 13 episodes there's still no clue as to which girl (if any) Aoba will go with, and the comedy is generally modest. Maybe if I was familiar with the Dating Sim games this series is based on I'd be recognizing subtle jokes, but since I'm not it often seems repetitive and even boring. I do really like this show's ED song though, which is sort of a combination of J-pop and elevator music (which is a greatly underated musical genre). In short, this series is modestly funny because it doesn't take itself too seriously.

I last edited the above on March 18, 2007 (which was about when the series was completing it's run in Japan), and I finally watched the final episode on September 28, which might give a hint of the not too high priority it held for me (the fansubs took awhile to arrive, also). But the fact that I did watch all 26 is also indicative that Tokimeki Memorial is far from a complete loss (I think what's-his-name, the burly school delinquent, was my favorite character--well, my favorite human character, that is) . The final episode was fun, and we finally got our first hint (yes, in the final episode) which girlfriend Riku would choose. Was that a Death Note parody? The conclusion left me with a smile on my face and a feeling that watching the show as a whole hadn't been a bad idea after all.

P.S: There a couple of special episodes, which could presumably be inserted into the original run in case anyone's not getting enough. Episode 17.5 involves a minor character getting the limelight for once. Episode 25.5 is basically a refresher consisting of clips from previous episodes to make certain that you are completely up to speed before the final one. I noticed that when I watched it in February '08, I had already forgotten pretty much everything!

My favorite line: "I've never tasted paint before, but I'm sure it'd taste like this" --Tsukasa

Last updated Thursday, February 28 2008. Created Thursday, October 26 2006.
Unevaluated Forbin [series:1449#1573]
Analysis : 15 Fansubs watched
  • Drama : Low
  • Action : Med
  • Comedy : Med
  • SciFi : None
  • Ecchi : Low (Some underwear shots).
Well it's a harem, and it's funny.

You know I will be watching this. And so far the Animation is pretty good too!
After 3 episodes I am getting REALLY annoyed at Tsukasa. She is a pushy woman. Mina's story arc is starting and even though Ayu is the main character I like Mina more so far.

Edit : 8 Episodes watched! I like this little sweet harem comedy. We have the Aloof, the Pushy, and the hidden loves. It's animated well and the story line is good.
9th : And of course we have the required Beach Episode. The harem is now aware of each other and the little bombs are ticking over Tsukasa's head. (For those of you who don't know, TM the game features bombs that go off if you don't pay enough attention to each of your girls. If a bomb goes off, then ALL the girls are gone.)
  • 02.05 - Now that I am up to 12, I love this show too. I agree with Chibi that Riku getting Kidnapped is getting old , but the situations that happen because of it are good. I'm a MMM fan all the way (For those of you who know Shuffle!
5/6 : Fansubs has ceased as of a month ago. So I guess I'll never finish this.

Last updated Monday, May 07 2007. Created Tuesday, October 17 2006.

Other Sites
NameURL
Official Japanese Konami Web Site http://www.konami.jp/visual/tokimemo-anime/
Animesuki Torrent Site http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/893.html
Bit-torrent site for anime series NOT yet licensed for R1/USA release.

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