Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~

Information of Anime

Aoba Riku transferred into a new high school due to his father's new job.  However, his new school is quite strange.  The headmaster's secretary believes in academic freedom & seems to have more power than the headmaster in controlling the school.  Plus, the student council uses Riku in a number of events which troubles him as he runs for dear life.

Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ is based on the Konami online version of Tokimeki Memorial.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

Because of his character & gentle & kind behaviour, Riku stands out too much in the crowd.  Aside from events that has him almost getting killed, his luck with girls is quite good.  The three heroines, Mina Yayoi, Tsukasa Kasuga, & Sayuri Amamiya, have taken a liking of him that's almost love in first sight.  Although he cares for the girls, he doesn't seem to want create a love relationship with them.  Even if he looks like it, it's purely accidental.  His friends, including the school's pet chick Hiyokoko, help him with his difficult school life on the sidelines even though it's not much help.  Crazy school events by the student council, girl obsessed friends, etc.

As the show moves on Yayoi, Kasuga, & Amamiya's affection for Riku grows & later becomes a love battle between the three girls.  They have even met with one another in many occasions such as visiting Riku's house on New Year's Day.  As Yayoi & Kasuga battle it out, Amamiya watches from the sidelines as she doesn't have the courage to approach Riku properly.  Even when she made some chocolates for him on Valentine's Day, she hesitates.  It would create problems for her as Riku is about to transfer to another school again after settling down for a year.

Everyone in the school is sad to hear that Riku is transferring to another school because of his father's job.  Thus, they decide to throw a farewell party for him.  His departure date is the same day as the school graduation ceremony.  Meanwhile, Riku has his mind set about Amamiya & the school council president Haru Sakurai being a couple.  Sakurai would later clear up this misunderstanding to him.  Before his departure date, Riku is approached & confessed by Yayoi & Kasuga.  Each girl asks him to meet with them at the places where first met & wait for his answer.  On his departure date, Riku visits each location & rejects their love.  Before he leaves the school, Sakurai holds one final event for Riku.  This planned event was for Amamiya to ask Riku not to leave & confess her feelings to him.  When they meet at the school's Legendary Tree, she confesses to him & exposes all of her sides to him.  With everyone watching from the sides, Riku accepts her as she is & asks for her email address; making Amamiya happy.

The story ends with Riku in his new school.  He overhears about the school's Legendary Tree.  The tree makes wishes come true for couples when one of them confesses their love to another on the day of graduation.  The scene shifts to Amamiya in the other school as she narrates about the school's Legendary Tree being able for couples to stay connected with one another regardless on how far away they are.

In the DVD volumes, an extra episode (#17.5) was added which focused on a depressed Koayu Utsumi with her huge breast problem & meeting a soccer player named Ken Syuto.  Meeting him helped regained her strength in aiming for Japan Athlete University.  Another extra (#25.5) is basically a recap of the three main girls before Riku meets them on the final day to give his answer.

My Personal Review

Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ is a funny show.  However, the impression I had from the games is different from this anime show.  I was expecting some light realistic type of humour, but instead it's over the top mayhem.  I don't know if the games are actually like this.  But if you are looking for some crazy humour with a small harem on the side, give this show a go.

Animation

The character designs surprisingly plain.  All the facial features of the girls are the same with very little differences.  The males characters a bit better, but they still look alike with others.  It's only a couple of male characters that look different: Koya Inukai & Kyohei Dojima.  For the older people like the teachers, they are a wide distinction between them to make them look different.  Since these are side characters, they don't do much.  The school uniforms aren't too bad, especially the male ones as it looks different from traditional ones.

The backgrounds are pretty good as it has more of a CG art appeal to it.  I found the backgrounds to be a bit better to look at.

The colours are pretty bold & bright.  Almost to the point that it's like an OVA.  They may look a bit dull at times, but they are still bright.  But, the use of shadowing & toning on the characters is very minimal to the point that it's almost simple 2D drawings. 

In terms of the animation movement, it's a mixture.  Sometimes the movements are realistic & sometimes the movements are not normal due to the silly jokes.  But they are quite smooth with some choppy frames found.  But the show likes to use the crazy movements a lot due to the insane humour.

Sound

The sound effects have a mixture of realistic & silliness.  Most of the time, it would be on the silly side.  I don't know if it's from the source I'm watching from, but the sounds tend to be fuzzy & crackling at times.  This occurs quite a bit in the loud sounds.  Sometimes, "normal" volume levels like talking have that effect.  I'm guessing it's from the source I got it from.

The seiyuus here are okay for some & so-so for the rest.  They fit their characters ok & don't give a big impression of them.

The music mainly catchy ballads with some silly songs on the side for those funny situations.  They make the show overly funny a bit with the silly background music to hype up the scenarios.

Story

Most of the time, it's about Riku adapting his new school life & he has improved quite fast.  He gets use to the student council's events & the punishment he gets.  But his relationship with the three heroines is a bit rocky.  Two of the girls can't confess their love to Riku & one already proclaims him to be her boyfriend when they first met.  Because Riku's relationship to these girls, the boys have a grudge against him.  But as the show progresses, it gets a bit serious as Riku's relationship with these girls has some ups & downs.

A lot of the show is about Riku's relationship with the three girls.  It gets to the point where it's almost just going to a circle with no direction.  It was only until the arc where Riku is transferring.  Although the main characters developed themselves, it wasn't very strong.  They found their weakness & managed to thank Riku for support them.  Although it ties up nicely, it wasn't a strong build.  As for the end, it was satisfying.  It did leave me on the edge of my seat a bit even though I knew who Riku would end up with.

Overall Conclusion

Tokimeki Memorial ~ Only Love ~ is bit than I expected based on my impressions I had on the game & watching the old OVA.  Although it's a bit wacky, it's an enjoyable show.  I recommend watching this if you don't have a big list to watch for the Fall 06 season.

Tokimeki Memorial ~ Only Love ~ receives a seven out of ten on its report card.  The main storyline takes a long time to build as the love battle goes all over the place, but the enjoyment factor is there.  The show did have good potential & somewhat matched what I was looking for.  Overall, the show wrapped up nicely despite the long path it took to get there.