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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Buy | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:416#1552] | |
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This was a decent trip of nostalgia. Summer's Beginning brings back the trio of friends from Kimagure Orange Road (TV) as they are now adults and have moved on with their lives. The character designs are updated with Madoka and Kyosuke looking noticeably more mature and Hikaru's look being quite different since I last seen her from the first movie as it does well to complement the maturity of her character despite the girl still having some feelings for Kyosuke. This movie serves two purposes for the plot line of KOR: to explore Kyosuke and Madoka's relationship reaching a more intimate point and completing the love triangle which I Want to Return to That Day left in somewhat of a bind considering the strain it put on Hikaru's bonds with the title's main pairing. This movie brings back Kyosuke's esper powers that the first movie noticeably removed and they are used as the major driving force for the plot developments in Summer's Beginning. While there is some comedy to be found, this movie still retains much of the drama that the first movie used in driving Kyosuke's decision to choose Madoka over Hikaru. For this movie, the drama is used in driving the conflicts faced by Kyosuke as he finds himself tempted with Hikaru with her return to Japan in the future timeline and Madoka concerned over the well-being of Kyosuke in both timelines. This movie is clearly geared for fans of the original TV series and first movie as it refers to events that occurred from both mediums. Unless you've seen them, it would be best not to watch this movie until you watch the original TV series and first movie or you'll be lost over what is going on. For anyone who watched much of Kimagure Orange Road, this will be a worthwhile movie for you to watch as it explores the now adult lives of the trio of friends from the original series.
Last updated Saturday, January 15 2011. Created Saturday, January 15 2011. | ||||||||
| Buy | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
 AstroNerdBoy
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[series:416#436] | |
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Having loved the first movie, I again skipped the OAV's in favor of this sequel movie. Again, I think this was a good decision as this movie looks back on the first movie and moves from there. It was a good thing that Madoka had been educated on Kyousuke's powers along with the powers of his grandfather and younger sisters. This is because the 19-year old Madoka and the 22-year old Madoka both have to deal with Kyousuke's accident in both times. 22-year old Madoka has to deal with the embodiment of the 19-year old Kyousuke when she finally runs into him. That has some very interesting results. Also in the mix is Hikaru-chan. Her new character design makes her look very beautiful despite still having an annoying laugh and voice. To be fair, her voice isn't as annoying for this movie. The breakup with Kyousuke had caused her to work hard to be an actress in the TV series and that has continued with her working in New York. She's obviously doing fairly well considering the restaurant scene with Kyousuke. All things considered, I felt the writers did a fantastic job with Hikaru-chan this time. She still loves her Kasuga-senpai and most likely always will, but fortunately she's not letting that get in the way of moving ahead with her life. The other great thing about this was how the writers dealt with the love-triangle. Since Hikaru-chan had become so beautiful, I found it more understandable that 19-y/o Kyousuke would be tempted by her. 22-y/o Madoka and Hikaru-chan have a nice heart-to-heart which was great. 22-y/o Kyousuke and 19-y/o Kyousuke also have a nice chat about things which I rather enjoyed. The best part was the advancement in Kyousuke's and Madoka's relationship. I nearly squealed for joy when 19 y/o Madoka switched from "Kasuga-kun" to "Kyousuke" when she learned of his accident. And it was fun when 22 y/o Madoka began refering to the 19-y/o Kyousuke as "Kyousuke-kun." Of course, Kyousuke also had a change when he switched from "Ayukawa" to "Madoka" and that moment was very sweet indeed. There is complete sweetness as we see the 19-y/o couple advance and know where the 22-y/o couple will be. Bottom line: A really great ending to the franchise and a good sequel to the first movie. I ding ADV for their lack of honorific uses, but beyond that, I rate this a "buy" title.Last updated Thursday, March 23 2006. Created Wednesday, March 22 2006. | ||||||||
| Buy |
 Forbin
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[series:416#1573] | ||||||
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Drama : High Comedy : Med Action : None SciFi : High Ecchi : Med I must've skipped over the episodes starring his grandpa. What happened to his dad? He doesn't show his face at all during all of this (And Everyone else does). IMHO The 2nd best of the entire series (The Movie is better). It's the movie with the power brought back, and the comedy too. It's a worthy sequel to the Movie. In fact it's just worth seeing Hikaru with long hair. The new look for everyone took a bit of getting used to and the final resolution was a bit muddled (As they didn't fully animate the whole time travel thing at the end) but I still like it a lot. Last updated Monday, September 19 2005. Created Monday, September 19 2005. | ||||||||
| Rent | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
 Devil Doll
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[series:416#752] | |
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[Score: 76%]
Eight years after the beginning of the TV series its original audience has sure grown up. With the series' fans as likely primary target of this movie (as to make this sequel a safe bet) the story is much more adult now than in the Kimagure Orange Road (TV) series, while it preserves the series' spirit more than Kimagure Orange Road: Ano hi ni Kaeritai did. The change of animation techniques and drawing styles is the most apparent difference - it takes some time to get used to the new look of the characters. Kyosuke has become more of a man, Madoka is even more beautiful, but Hikaru has made the most drastic change (due to her job and her development in America). The music is still soft and subdued with a slight touch of jazz. There's no silly stuff in there (but there are some refreshingly funny scenes, such as Kyosuke talking to his "younger" sisters...), and almost no fan-service (well - o-ji-san, of course ;-). Instead there's a lot of talk about mature relations, which involve sex; these characters aren't kids any more. This is the conclusion of an adult love story, albeit no ecchi or even hentai scenes are shown, and the one nudity scene doesn't visualize details. Many side characters from the series get their cameos, with Kyosuke's grandfather acting as reference point for the "power" application; I was particularly pleased to see Jingoro still being around. The effects of the "power" are significant for this movie (including Madoka's curious question at the end ;-) while actually not driving the events as much as they ought to IMHO. Halfway through the show Kyosuke is losing his spine and falling back to a level of his character even before the first movie - and that's disappointing. And what a pity that Madoka didn't get the idea about the phone call! So actually Hikaru is the star of this film - she has made the biggest development, but still takes her chances as long as she believes to have any. Watching it as a fan of the series, just to learn what would happen in the future of the characters we know for so long now and to observe all those charming references to the earlier character's traits, this movie meets the claim it raised - but not a lot more, I guess. Even though the movie provides enough information about the prior events so that you can reasonably watch it without knowing the series, I am not sure whether it would be interesting enough in this case. This movie had significantly less impact on me than its predecessor (which I rewatched several times soon), and it didn't add a lot to the KOR universe, maybe except for restoring one character's reputation. Last updated Friday, August 26 2005. Created Friday, August 26 2005. | ||||||||
| Buy | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
 Rolonzos
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[series:416#310] | |
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Kasuga is a 22 year-old photo journalist in a war zone, but is caught in the cross fire and ends up missing in action. When Kasuga was 19 years-old, he was hit by a car. Somehow, his 19 year-old body ends up three years in the future. He's not really sure how it happened, or what's going on. His 22 year-old body is missing. Kasuga must find a way back to the past and a way to bring his 22 year-old body back to reality. Because this anime is a movie, which comes after a long TV series, another movie, and an OVA series, the characters are expected to be well known when watching the film. I'd never seen any of the series or movies, and had no idea it was part of a series until after I had watched it. Amazingly, a background, the current situations, and the characters are all given with enough detail that I understood where the story was coming from. It wasn't until months later that I found out it was the ending of a series. None of the art or animation is taken from the earlier series or movie, it's all new. The style is even different than the series and movie. I think anyone who's watched the series before this would like the way the style changed and find the characters are the same as they grew to love in the series. The story is more mature, as are the characters, although they still seem a little innocent. I found the music was placed in the story just as well as the character design and animation. I bought the sound track, mostly because of Ayukawa's piano pieces. The dubbing was done well, but the subtitles were really close to the dub. This makes me wonder if the subtitles could have been a closer translation, or if the dub was just a really close translation. There is a little profanity appearing in the anime, but I would call it minimal. A few sexual situations appear in the film, although only one of the film is serious. This one scene with brief nudity is used in the story to explain when Kasuga and Ayukawa's relationship became a physical bond. One of the themes presented is, "How can time change a person's feelings?" Kasuga finds out what Ayukawa really thinks about him after she thinks he's disappeared, and Hikaru, an old friend, appears after three years to complete the complex love triangle that formed the series. I was able to watch some of the series after watching the movie, and was surprised to find that Kasuga has mental powers. He doesn't really use them in this movie. His grandfather does though, which may seem strange to viewers who haven't seen any of the series. I'd have to give this series a rating of 5 stars, and recommend buying it to add to your collection. If you're looking for explosions, mosters, aliens, or robots, look somewhere else because this series is strictly a romantic comedy, with a tiny bit of sci-fi added in of course. I should mention here, this is my favorite anime! Last updated Sunday, July 07 2002. Created Sunday, May 19 2002. | ||||||||
