REC

Title:REC
レック
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: INADA Toru
KOYAMA Kimiko
ONO Daisuke
SAKAI Kanako
TOYOGUCHI Megumi
YASUMURA Makoto
Matsumaru Fumihiko was stood up by a female workmate whom he had asked to go out with him. When he was about to throw away the movie tickets, a girl blamed him for wasting the tickets. So, he gave her a ticket, and she dragged him along to that movie - where she surprised him by reading all the subtitles aloud...

Later near his house, he sees a fire. He goes to see it and the girl from earlier is on a swing crying. Her place is the one on fire. She lost everything. Feeling sorry for her, he takes her to his place. One thing leads to another..... The next day, she is gone with a note.

Adaption of Q-taro Hanamizawa's manga into an anime series. Every episode is titled after a famous Audrey Hepburn movie (Check out the OP, it's from ↗Breakfast at Tiffany's)


[TV series, 2006, 9 episodes + 1 additional OVA episode in the DVD release (where it is episode 8 of 10), 12 min; six different English fansubs plus translations to French, German, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Brazilian, Polish and Lithuanian while the series was still running...]

Read the translated manga online at MangaFox.

1:30min Series Opening - YouTube Video
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 8 8 6 8 7 Dreamer [series:1292#2279]
Here's a decent romantic drama... light on the drama, that could satisfy you until the next big anime series comes around.

Art, Animation and Graphic Designs
Art and animation was okay. Nothing out of the ordinary. The animation seemed smoother than average however. It was pretty good. The character designs..... nothing special there. I really didn't care for Aka's voice. For some reason, it didn't feel like it fit her. She was cute though in appearance. I have a thing about red-heads.... even if they "are" anime characters.... hehehe!

Music
Okay, the OP was really annoying. I didn't like it at all. I think it was the actual vocalist that really did it for me. Just too "squeeky" or little girl-like.

Series and Episode Story
The plot was actually interesting. I didn't think of it turning out like it did. There were definitely elements of "adult" situations... rather, as Xenoknight mentioned below, it gave off a "mature" feel. It was believable how they met and their circumstances in living together. A bit a humor here and there but not a lot.

Overall, it's a nice anime to watch for the romance. Not a lot in ways of a complex plot but the episodes for the most part were "not" fillers.

Last updated Sunday, February 22 2009. Created Sunday, February 22 2009.
Buy 8 8 9 6 9 9 Xenoknight [series:1292#2967]
An incredible love story with real world experiences...

This series is nothing short of ASTONISHING! Given its length, it was brilliantly put together and I sincerly enjoyed watching it. I thought to myself that since it was only 10 episodes that it would get to the best parts quickly and I could put another title under my belt but it wasn't that simple. I learned real quick that this one wasn't a quick watch and dismiss. I was "hypnotized" after watching the first episode and couldn't think of anything else until I finished it. In fact, I think astonishing is an understatement for this anime.

The elements of "real world experiences" made it even more enjoyable to watch. Here we have an anime where the female lead Aka is a voice actress for animes and OVAs. That was extremely interesting and realistic. The whole anime gave off an adult and mature feel and I thought it was a shame it was only 10 episodes. Encore... Encore...

Episode 4 and 5 really hit it big with me. I laughed the entire time watching them both due to the excellent subject matter and it was all real world stuff. That made the story believable and confortable to watch. I felt "right at home".

The dramatic stuff all came with episode 6 onward. The story thereafter featured pain, tears, and regret but with the help of a certain side character, the lead couple gets back on track only to fall into more pain and confusion later on. By the end of the series "ANYONE CAN EASILY SEE THE WRITERS HAD TO SPICE UP THE STORY TO GIVE IT ONE LAST PUSH AND THEY MADE THE MAIN LEAD SAY ALL THAT CRAP TO EXCITE (HURT) THE STORY". Why would he tell her about moving out? It’s so forced its unbelievable. You can see him arguing with himself. Inside is the rational self and on the outside is the writers forcing the story and the couple apart. I didn't like seeing that at all.

The special episode inserts a little harem fun into the mix and thats alright with me as I love harems. Aka and the woman that started this in the first place fight a little bit over the main lead. Aka was especially funny during some scences. At the end I couldn't believe HE ACTUALLY WENT DRINKING WITH HER AGAIN AND THEN BROUGHT HER TO HIS HOUSE. Aka should have killed him after that stunt. LOL

All in all, a beautiful anime that proves length is a trivial matter (though it is extremely recommended for titles of this caliber). I loved every moment. A must see for any anime fan.

Check out my award list to see some of the best anime titles in the world!

Never forget Xenosaga.

Last updated Thursday, February 12 2009. Created Sunday, September 07 2008.
Rent 8 7 8 7 8 7 Ggultra2764 [series:1292#1552]
A touching romantic comedy-drama. Sure episode length was a bit short. But the events in each episode were developed well enough to follow from Matsumaru's struggles to create a marketing plan for his company and Aka's rise to fame as a seiyuu. Both have their successes and their pitfalls, but are there for each other throughout their struggles which helps develop their relationship and allow both to come to terms with their feelings for each other. It was also a treat seeing the Audrey Hepburn quotes and movie titles mentioned by Aka as each one had to do with the mood or events that took place in each episode. With the short length of the series, Rec is easy to quickly take in and conclude if you are looking for a quick watch anime title.

The real life comedy bits were fun to watch such as Aka's attempts to try watching an ecchi movie to know how to voice for an H-game. The only comedy bits that turned me off were Matsumaru's few attempts to coerce Aka into sex only to be turned down as they seemed typical of shounen romantic comedies. Fortunately, Rec doesn't overuse those bits throughout the series.

Rec is a fun and touching anime title as you watch it. I give it a strong Rent recommendation.

Last updated Sunday, June 15 2008. Created Sunday, June 15 2008.
Rent Stretch [series:1292#628]
(All episodes watched--twice):

This is a fun, heartwarming romantic series which is over almost before it begins. I watched it once when it first came out, but nothing particularly intelligent to say about it came to mind. Perhaps the fact that I have watched it yet again is indicative of just how enjoyable it is. I think my favorite episode was the one in which Aka finds herself doing voices for an H-game. The way she and Matsumaru made up after their quarrel at the end was good, too--it really could happen that way. Thus, a balanced mix of comedy and drama--neither one of absolutely stellar quality, but this show seems to have accomplished what it set out to do quite handily, so I can't fault it. Nine short episodes doesn't demand a major committment of time and concentration, and REC doesn't overstay it's welcome. The sum total of the lengths of all the episodes would be approximately that of a movie, and it just might work in that format as well. The OP song would probably get on your nerves after awhile, though...

Last updated Friday, March 23 2007. Created Friday, March 23 2007.
Rent 8 8 9 7 9 8 chibi [series:1292#2380]
This is a nice "little" series about a grown-up romance. Nothing very complicated in the story, mostly about balancing a relationship and a career, but the two main characters are very appealing, and the few supporting characters do exactly that: support the story. It's short, nicely produced, and well worth an evening or two to watch. I find myself going back and pulling up one episode or another to re-experience when there's nothing new to watch.

Last updated Monday, December 18 2006. Created Monday, December 18 2006.
Rent 8 9 8 7 8 9 Devil Doll [series:1292#752]
[Score: 80% = Rent+. Other recommended Romantic Comedy animes: Love Hina, Ai Yori Aoshi, Aa! Megami-sama! TV]

9 episodes of a net length of 10 minutes (plus OP & ED) each equals an OVA of 4 standard sized episodes - so there is time enough for story and character development. Both leads are introduced and linked together in episode 1; each episode has enough content to deal with another stage of their relationship. And the fact that this relationship is the one important element of this show allows for meaningful slices of 12 minutes length - this is exactly the right form to present this story. They just left out a lot of the usual filler elements, such as silly-funny stuff or fan-service. This super kawaii Aka girl compensates for most of this anyway...

Art is today's standard (and as such quite my taste); Animation has some nice special effects during Fumihiko's dream. Not a lot of Music (instead there are movie sounds, rain, sirens...), mostly annoying to me but appropriate for its setting (advertisement jingles etc.), thus I shouldn't rate it too low.

Characters: Matsumaro Fumihiko is a passive but kind guy who tends to get himself into embarrassing situations, Onda Aka is a kind of weird young woman but that's appropriate for her job as forthcoming seiyuu (and her seiyuu has an interesting job of letting her use ever changing voices when this girl voice-acts other persons).

Series Story: After the opening part (bringing the couple-to-be together, including them having sex in order to soothe the desperate girl) I was disappointed by Episode 2 because it contained too many embarrassing scenes of stupid behaviour by Matsumaru - it was too much of a silly comedy for my taste. Later episodes use this element of embarrassment more sparingly - I appreciate that a lot and it made me give Episode Story a very high value. Then again, Aka's behavior in this episode was quite mature, providing hope for her character to develop further. Episodes 3 and 4 keep showing Aka as a cute but serious young woman and Matsumaro as a shy and insecure but honest man. Cliché - but it works. Episodes 5 and 6 push the relation forward, with episode 5 providing a bit of fan-service but handling the ecchi subject tastefully as well as funny (using one of those rare cases of an embarrassing situation not annoying me as it is used reasonably and in the proper context). Episode 6 rings the bell for the finale - it's about time for the leads to make up their mind. As of Episode 7 the drama has fully emerged... but how surprised was I to see the roles reversed in episode 8! The final episode provides the ending we all expected but how things end up this way was a nice surprise for me.
The conflict we're shown is between the frustrated man (who has seen his dreams crumbling at the age of 26 already) and the cheerful girl who's about to chase her dreams (facing the harsh reality at times - that's when her manager has to help her out) but not yet able to clearly identify them. Aka getting ever more successful throughout the series and Matsumaru becoming ever more frustrated about his own job is an important part of the scenario (probably even more so in a Japanese story with traditional expectations of the role of genders). There's daily life comedy as well as some romance - but this character combination is what attracts me most to this nice series. Somehow it feels a little like Koi Kaze - just with a much less complicated relation between the leads.
Perhaps the best aspect is how the side characters mostly remain irrelevant but don't feel underused so that the show can completely focus on the couple-to-be, making full use of what little amount of airing time this short series has. The only exception is Aka's manager (as she insists being referred to...) whose influence as reasonable counselor is growing throughout the series; Matsumaru's co-worker has his best scenes during the final episode but basically remains the comical relief element of the show.
I'm not a fan of Audrey Hepburn but those who are might find a lot of references to her movies in this anime, including all episode titles and a number of quotes by Aka. Some of the fansubbing groups did a wonderful job in explaining many of these references.

All in all, a nice little romance with sufficient doses of both comedy and character drama, with the drama influence growing as the story develops. A serious story with a jaunty presentation, in a combination that works very well for me: This anime just narrowly missed a "Buy" rating in the end.

The DVD special episode "7.5" features Tanaka-san (the woman Matsumaru-kun was about to date in episode 1) and adds some jealousy to the mix as Matsumaru-kun is so awfully nice even at the wrong moments...

Last updated Friday, June 06 2008. Created Monday, February 13 2006.
Rent Forbin [series:1292#1573]
Anime TypesNotes
DramaMed/HighLots of Real Life Issues
ComedyLow/MedSome Comedy but it's not the norm
ActionNoneUnless you count Matsumaro getting slapped
EcchiLowThe first episode was pretty much it, but heck, the eyecatch of Shuffle! had more fanservice.

Rec is really about a guy and a girl and how they deal with living together. The fact that he creates snack foods and she is a VA is just the background. It is really about them. Also the fact that she is obsessed with Audrey Hepburn movies is also just background.

When I saw the first episode I was thinking 'What a Stupid Sex Scene!' but without that exact scene there isn't an anime. That one scene both brought forward and halted these 2 relationships. If they just saw the movie, then that would be it. If there was just the fire, that would be it. But because of the fire and the movie they saw earlier, this leads up to that scene and the underlying issues of this anime.

This was very good. It would earn a BUY rating except that it is really a single OVA broken up into 9 episodes. This should've been an OVA but then I probably would not have watched it. (Episodes are easy to digest). If you like people relationships, then this is the anime for you. It's not as deep as KGNE but it could've been.

Things I liked about it:
  • The changing OP. It's subtle but every OP uses Aka in different scenes of an Audrey Hepburn movie.
  • The music. It just grew on me.
  • The annoying guy (his coworker). He surprised me at the end.
Things I wondered about it:
  • The girl who started the whole darn thing (she ditched Matasumaro). She's in the OP and episode 1 and 2 and that's the last you see of her. I understand she is in the manga but this anime doesn't continue past Volume 1. Heck you get go see his boss a lot and he isn't in the OP.
  • The fire. I wonder if later volumes of the manga address it.
All in all, a wonderful show. Too bad it wasn't comedy heavy. Magikano completely blew this out of the water for me, but I still grabbed each release as soon as I saw it ready.

Episodes Review:
  • 1 : A bit slow, ending with what was thought to be a pointless sex scene.
  • 2 : Episode 1 is explained and all the characters are in place.
  • 3 : I didn't care for watching him do day to day stuff.
  • 4 : How snack companies promote their product.
  • 5 : Aka has to do a Ero-Game!
  • 6 : Oh my, Aka pantsu!
  • 7 : Good but obligatory hot spring episode.
  • 8 : Wow this time Fumihiko is down. What a depressing but good episode.
  • 9 : Wrapping it up.


Last updated Sunday, April 09 2006. Created Monday, February 13 2006.

Other Sites
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Official Japanese Series Web Site http://www.tbs.co.jp/rec-aka/

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