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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Buy | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 10 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:1065#1552] | |
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Strip away all the comedy, ecchi, and psychic craziness of the TV series and you have Kimagure Orange Road at its core: the indecisiveness of Kyosuke's feelings between Hikaru and Madoka. This movie creates a painful resolution to the series where Kyosuke finally makes a decision where he must put the happiness of one of the girls aside to make the other one happy. The emotions felt by the three as they make their intentions felt and respond to the decisions each make were very believable and painful to see take place. Pacing in the movie was slow at some points, but I felt this was necessary to give enough time for me to get inside the minds of the characters as they respond to each other's decisions. The character designs and artwork were quite similar in detail to the TV series so don't expect any big changes in that department. However, this movie features a powerful music soundtrack effectively used in the dramatic situations taking place in the love triangle. With a big change in mood compared to the TV series, KOR: I Want to Return to That Day makes for a powerful conclusion to the TV series and is the best that the series has to offer. Last updated Sunday, June 08 2008. Created Sunday, June 08 2008. | ||||||||
| Buy | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
 KBanger1
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[series:1065#1694] |
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This is where the entire series truly ends. To me, I'm not really thrilled with the outcome, even though it brings a closure to the series (before KOR: Summer's Beginning). I'll try not to spoil it, but it just might not work if I don't go into some detail. In this movie, Kyosuke's relationship with Hikaru take a much different approach. With that in mind, Madoka finally realized her true feelings and finally admits it to Kyosuke. Now the problem is that Kyosuke now must make a difficult choice. It's either Madoka or Hikaru. I'll leave the rest for those who didn't see it to give them an opportunity to watch it. Now, the entire series which was based off of a lot of comedy and pure (what I like to call) 'hit and miss romance'. That just means that someone is trying to get the other person's love or attention and ends up either screwing up or pissing the other off. Sometimes, it's a combination of both. Back to my point...the movie now takes a more serious approach because I believe that the intention was to bring a final close to the series. Where I get skeptical is between the series ending and the ending of this movie. The series ended on a rather high note even though it wasn't a complete close. The ending to this or rather the entire movie I have to disagree with. Some parts of the movie seems rather forced on trying to end the series rather than expanding it any further. If you watch the first few minutes, you'll understand what I mean. The flow of the movie was fine up to the point where Kyosuke's attitude changes. I'm not saying that it shouldn't have happened, but at least show it in a way that doesn't put the character in a completely different light. If that was the intention of the movie, then I probably went a little too deep but it just makes me feel that the real Kyosuke comes out and just ruins the entire light-heartedness of the series. That's just me though. In the end, it still ended up being a great movie and a decent close on the series. I'd rather stick with the original series ending and left it alone. Still, it's a good idea to get this title because it gives a hint on what happens in the final movie. Last updated Tuesday, September 19 2006. Created Tuesday, September 19 2006. | ||||||||
| Buy | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 9 |
 AstroNerdBoy
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[series:1065#436] | |
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Having completed the TV series, I decided I didn't want to waste time on the OAV's just yet and went straight for the movie. Since the OAV's are mostly filler taking place within the TV series, those can wait; this movie could not. If you've seen the TV series, you already know whom Kasuga loves and you know Madoka and Hikaru's feelings for Kasuga. Heck, you know who Kasuga ends up with based on the opening of the movie (which is done in black-and-white for effect) as the movie is essentially a giant flashback sequence. The theme of the movie is simple -- love hurts at times. While Madoka has always accepted Hikaru-chan clinging to Kasuga, events happen which cause her pain and makes this no longer acceptable. Hikaru-chan has always known that Kasuga loved Madoka and accepted this, events happen which cause her pain and make this no longer acceptable. Kasuga has to break break a heart, and in the end cause a friendship between Hikaru-chan and Madoka-san to come to an end (apparently). Besides seeing Kasuga "grow a pair," I was glad to get some answers. I finally understand why Madoka put up with things so long. She could have just written Kasuga off long ago, but didn't. I finally think I understand why Kasuga was afraid to break things off with Hikaru-chan when clearly he could have if he wanted too. The questions he was asked about why he was dating her were very powerful. It was nice seeing that Hikaru-chan acknowledge certain things, meaning she clearly knew what she was getting into and the risks associated with it. It wasn't that she'd believe any "BS" excuse given to her, she had just decided to accept the BS answer as truth in live with the hope that somehow Madoka would leave the picture. So in a sense, Madoka and Hikaru are very similar characters with the delusions they'd built to protect themselves and their friendship. One complaint I had with the movie was the pacing was just a tad slow. This was further seen in a couple of musical scenes. I understand the idea of playing a balad to confir an idea, and it has always seemed like a cool idea to me, even to this day. However I found myself fast-forwarding through the one musical interlude because it was too long. I understood Kasuga's pain and the music didn't make me want to stay and "suffer" with him. As one might expect, the art/animation are improved over the TV series. The character designs are somewhat improved as well. The music was rather unremarkable. I'm going to hit AnimEigo here on the DVD release. I gave them some credit on the TV series with the use of "senpai," "oniichan," and other such terms, even if they didn't use "-san", "-sama", "-chan", "-kun", etc. However for this DVD release, we get a more domestication in the subtitles with even the stuff they'd used before now trashed. Even terms like "Mama" and "Papa" which are not uncommon in English-speaking society had to be translated. I suppose they had the idea that this would help them gain market-share, but if that was the case, they were dead wrong. Bottom line: This was a really good movie, which expands on the choice made in the final two episodes of the TV series, but resolves the love-triangle.Last updated Saturday, March 18 2006. Created Saturday, March 18 2006. | ||||||||
| Buy | 7 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 9 |
 Devil Doll
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[series:1065#752] | |
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[Score: 88%]
This movie will make you aware what kind of audience you are, and why you watched the series so far (which you must have done before, or else watching this one will be almost pointless). Remember episode 42 with the reference to "Gone With The Wind"? Forget everything that happened after this point in the series - this will be the movie we're watching tonight. I was on the verge of adding "tragedy" to the category list. The tediously long Kimagure Orange Road (TV) series offered everything at the same time: Comedy, romance, ecchi, silly-funny, action/suspense, and supernatural. Now forget about all of this - the movie is what the series was seriously lacking: A serious drama, and almost nothing else. This movie completes the Story of KOR: Gone are the days of childhood, gone the option of happily playing around, gone the possibility to hold up the facade any longer: The relation between Hikaru and Kyosuke sanctioned by their best friend Madoka who secretly meets Kyosuke on occasion finally proves to be an interim solution, almost a farce - and now one of girls cannot stand it any longer. But by being able to speak her mind, to finally reveal the true state of her heart, she sets into motion what turns out to be a painful process for all three, filled with hope as well as despair. The obvious has been ignored too long, all three had cherished the illusion of the "ceasefire" lasting forever - which isn't going to happen. So while technically speaking this movie is a sequel to the series, it is almost the opposite as for its mood and message. The Art is at least on par with the series and the OVAs; I didn't particularly like the faces - but maybe I was just too used to seeing the characters laughing before. A few parts of the Animation shine, such as the dance scene for Hikaru's forthcoming theater appearance. I was surprised about the use of stills in many scenes which I consider unusual for a higher budget movie. The subdued Music didn't catch my attention at first, but during a second pass of viewing I became aware of a number of great melancholic themes, most notably the piano patterns illustrating Madoka's doubts and fears, and the ending song; perhaps the sudden absence of music during the crucial phone call impressed me most. As for the Directing I remember several great scene cuts, such as the use of the dirigible to switch locations between the two girls. All these elements have to contribute to the overall impression, but eventually this movie stands and falls with its Characters and Story. None of the comical relief Characters get more than a minute of screen time, and none of the "power"-ful relatives play any role at all. For those who wanted character development in this show so badly (like me), they finally get it. We already got a hint about the forthcoming battle in the "Cat & Fish" episode of Kimagure Orange Road OVA 1, but this is the real deal now: Both girls reveal their motives and attitudes, and they're acting accordingly. And it takes one girl's heart being broken to make Kyosuke finally understand that he has to break the other girl's heart thoroughly and painfully as to put an end to the stalemate, and thus grow beyond his most restricting trait - his indecisiveness. We can see the boy's heart bleeding when he has to observe the pain he is causing, but his mind is aware that there has to be a solution here and now, and that he has to pay a long overdue bill. And there's no "winner takes all" feeling in the end: The wounds are still bleeding. Only time will tell whether they can be healed. Yes, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien seems to be a good reference for a more recent variation on this theme, and like there, this drama offers just one little scene of relief in the end - a finger pointing into the future, at the very end of the movie ("bang!"). Then again, I rather recommend another old (but shorter) anime to those who love to dive into emotions: Video Girl Ai. You'll get a similar mix of elements as in KOR (including this movie), just condensed into no more than 6 episodes. Last updated Saturday, March 18 2006. Created Thursday, August 25 2005. | ||||||||
| Buy |
 Forbin
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[series:1065#1573] | ||||||
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Drama : High Comedy : None Action : None SciFi : None (Yes this is set to None, no paranormal items occur) Ecchi : Low I was in Hollywood video last night and saw this on the shelf, I went, oh I know most of the series (Having seen about 20+ episodes) lets give this a try. IMHO it's the best of the series. Well drawn characters for an anime from the 80's (It even tries to do 360deg camera and this is the 80's!) Take out the comedy, take out the 'Power', take out almost everything you would normally watch KoR for. Leave in the characters but except for the main 3 give them all 30 second roles. Even knowing how this plot is going it just sad watching Kyosuke making the hardest decision in his life. This is on par with  KGNE (Well except no one has to die). It was very sad after watching such an upbeat series.
Last updated Monday, May 23 2005. Created Monday, May 23 2005. | ||||||||
