To Heart ~Remember My Memories~

Title:To Heart ~Remember My Memories~
ToHeart:Remember My Memories
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: HIGUCHI Chieko
HIKAMI Kyoko
HISAKAWA Aya
HORIE Yui
ICHIJOU Kazuya
IIZUKA Mayumi
KASAHARA Rumi
KAWASUMI Ayako
Original Concept - Aquaplus
Akari, Hiroyuki, and the others return for another year of school. Hiroyuki is a bit depressed as this is their 3rd (and final) school year. Multi-chan is gone, but when she returns, she's not the same as she used to be. Her memories of a year ago have been locked and no one can access them. Can her old friends cause her to remember again? How will Akari-san deal with Hiroyuki spending so much time with and devotion to Multi-chan? Will one of the other girls in the class confess to Hiroyuki? Will someone else confess to Akari-san?

[TV series, 2004, 13 episodes, 24 min]
1:29min Series Opening - YouTube Video
[edit] The ↗ToHeart franchise:

To Heart (original TV series): To Heart 2 (same setting, later in time):
Episode Details 
1
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 8 8 7 7 8 7 Dreamer [series:842#2279]
The first series didn't catch my attention so I skipped watching that one. This one on the other hand had a more interesting synopsis so I decided to give it a shot.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
The art was on par with many other anime out there. Nothing really special here. The animation seemed slightly higher than the norm. The character designs, although they were okay for the most part, I had a hard time getting use to some of the female faces. The pointy chin.... very sharp, just didn't do it for me.

Music
The OP wasn't bad. It was an alternative piece with female vocals... and not the child-like voice either. Here and there, there was some piano pieces.... sometimes somewhat sorrowful.

Series and Episode Story
Even though this type of anime has been done a million times over, it was still pretty enjoyable. The story wasn't exceptional but it worked. The plot at times was pretty predictable. I didn't really find this overly exciting but it was enough to keep my mildy entertained.

Overall, it was good but not nearly close to many other similar titles.

Last updated Sunday, May 03 2009. Created Sunday, May 03 2009.
Buy 7 7 9 9 8 9 Devil Doll [series:842#752]
[Score: 84% = Buy-. Other recommended Romance Drama animes with a touch of SciFi: Video Girl Ai, Chobits, Shuffle!]
  • Drama: Med/High (due to the focus on Multi's background and the characters getting more grown-up)
  • Comedy: Low (no SD/slapstick but a number of scenes that will make you smile)
  • Action: None/Med (the girls' extreme fighting episodes get quite violent at times, but that's all)
  • SciFi: Med (more "maid android" stuff, plus several supernatural elements)
  • Ecchi: Low (short school skirts, nude thighs, bloomers)
With Multi returning to the school without her old memory and Hiroyuki spending ever more time with her, this sequel gets a new main subject for the Story, thus significantly changing the type and mood of the anime: While the prequel was closer to Lamune, this time we're playing Chobits, just replacing the strong Ecchi component of this series by romantic triangles and some occult stuff - but it also shares many ingredients with Shuffle!. Compared to the first season the romance element is much stronger, so prepare for confessions and tears.
This series is less episodic than its prequel, and the parallel focus on the potential relation between Hiroyuki and Akari as well as on the robot maids (both of which influence each other quite a bit) works quite well for me. Sadly certain flashback scenes of events from the first series (such as Hiroyuki's first contact with Multi) have been rewritten incompatibly here which I consider quite irritating (causing a downgrade for Series Story).
One special feature of this series is the combination of SciFi and Fantasy elements, something that may require a certain taste by the audience. This combination works quite well in this series because the SciFi parts are mandatory for the story while the Fantasy parts are more like add-ons, not exactly comical relief but definitely less serious than the rest (and using a fantasy element to locate the missing character during episode 12, even more so as being performed by one character I like very much and who has been underused throughout the series, was a true highlight for me).

As all main Characters are in their final year at school now, the scenario is getting more serious: Everyone makes plans about their future, slice-of-life is being replaced by coming-of-age. I like the way all characters from the first season get significant development and grow more mature over time (even though some changes of attitude are surprising, if only in a positive way), basically by Hiroyuki having been a catalyst for them to grow; Kotone's development is the only one that confused me, I didn't really get what she was up to when she made her decision.
There are a few additional characters during the robot arc but they serve as story devices (Yuusuke, for example, making Hiroyuki aware of some equivalence of events between the past and the present) and don't need too much depth compared to the leads. Like AstroNerdBoy said, several of these characters can't just do anything in certain situations, and some of the dialogs may not be that literary ("Akari! - "Hiroyuki-chan!") but people are at a loss of words in certain situations as some problems can't just be solved in an instant (which has to be accepted by humans as well as androids). But even so, these characters don't give up and do their best working towards a solution, combining a number of very special skills (such as Serika and Serio, to name only two characters that will become important when you'll least expect it).

The Music of this sequel is way better than the one or the original series, with much better vocals for both songs (the OP is a sure candidate for my personal "Best of" collection) and a number of nice tunes, sometimes refreshing, sometimes slightly melancholic, all very suitable to the story. I particularly like how the OP song starts playing again right at the climax point close to the end of every episode, emphasizing the emotions of this moment very well.
Then again, the Art disappointed me, with the faces looking oddly shaped now (angular chins & cheeks) and several hair colors having been changed since the prequel - I didn't even recognize Kotone-chan at all during the first episode as she looks like Tomosaka Suzuka now. So the better music only compensates for other technical deficits, which is a pity considering that this sequel has been produced 5 years after the first season.

All in all a serious school romance with harem and SciFi elements and without any unnecessary overhead (no slapstick, fanservice or filler episodes), and as such worth a "Buy" from me; I like this series better than its prequel for being more emotional, more focused and more grown-up.

Last updated Saturday, April 28 2012. Created Thursday, March 06 2008.
Rent 9 7 8 7 7 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:842#436]

To Heart: Remember My Memories is more of the same that we saw in To Heart, but that's not a bad thing. The entire cast from the original series returns for more little adventures. As before, Hiroyuki is the male lead and works with the various female cast members as they all progress in their lives. However, there are two main plot-threads for this tale. The first is how the android Multi-chan has to learn to deal with her various emotions and feelings for Hiroyuki. Even though she is only an android, she is very perceptive of how Akari is feeling when Multi takes up so much of Hiroyuki's time and thoughts. It is through Multi that Hiroyuki makes a decision on how to spend his future.

The second plot thread revolves around Hiroyuki's relationship with Akari. Akari has stood in Hiroyuki's shadow (as seen in the 1st series) but now that high school is drawing to an end and it is time to go on with the 2nd phase of their lives, Akari finds herself in a possision she's not used to. She's been in love with Hiroyuki for years, but there's a strong chance that his dream will take him away from her. So what does she do? I enjoyed exploring this part of Akari's character because I felt she grew without becoming something different.

Because all of the cast returned, there really are too many characters. So one whatever little story is done with a sub-character, they don't have anything to do. The writers did come up with a way for them all to come together in the final episode, but again they have little to do. Sadly, some of the characters end up being all but forgotten, unlike the previous series where they were a bit more memorable.

Finally, the pacing in this, like its predecessor, is extremely slow. It didn't bother me as much in the first series because it was new and the characters were new. However, for the sequel, it was more harmful because we already know the characters. I kept wanting to fast-forward just to speed things up. Too much of the dialog was stuff like, "Multi...", "Multi-chan!", "Hiroyuki-chan", "Akari-san!", "Akari!", etc. Too often, Hiroyuki's character would just have the same emotions and the same types of things to say in troubled situations. That's boring and an unfortunate weakness of this anime.

Bottom line: worth renting ONLY if you saw To Heart.

Last updated Sunday, October 30 2005. Created Sunday, October 17 2004.


Other Sites
NameURL
To Heart~Remember My Memories~ Official Site http://www.toheart-r.net/
The official Japanese website.

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