Yotsunoha

Information of Anime

Three years ago, Nono Nekomiya, Makoto Yuki, Iori Yuzuki, & Matsuri Amachi had buried a time capsule at the school yard's tree.  The reason for it is due to the school being closed down soon.  They agreed to meet again in exactly three years as they will all attend different schools.  However, Matsuri spoils the moment by running off in anger.

Three years have past now & all four friends meet back at the school.  However, the time capsule that they had buried was dug up by their light music club teacher.  He placed their time capsule items around the school & turns it into a treasure hunt game for the four students.

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.

During the hunting game, each of the four friends recall some past memories that they had with each other during their school years.  A majority of it involves Makoto.  However, Matsuri doesn't seem happy about coming back as she hoped to destroy all their memories from the time capsule.  The reason for her bitterness is, from the other three's point of view, how they didn't go to the same school as her even though they all tried hard in studying for it.  The result was everyone going to different schools.  But the bitterness would soon slowly go away when Matsuri opens up a bit with the other three trying to cheer her up; especially Makoto by apologizing to her about his harsh comment to her about her ponytail at the last day of school together.  When Makoto resolves this problem with Matsuri, Nono mistaken them as lovers & runs away in shock.

More flashbacks are shown about Nono & Makoto in the final episode of the OVA about how Nono is moving out of the city.  Viewers are shown about the two's past life in the school together as they look for their time capsule.  When the two find it, Makoto finally remembers what he put in there & why.  It was a piece of paper from a borrowing race during their school sports festival where he had to get the person who he loves which was Nono at the time.  From there, he confesses his love to her & she accepts them.  Apparently, it was Matsuri that actually re-located the time capsule.

The story ends when the four friends leave the school the next day after staying there for two nights.  The only difference is now that Nono & Makoto are now lovers.

My Personal Review

Yotsunoha was something I decided to pick up as I thought it was something else.  Mistaken it for another popular series that has the letter "Y" in front.  Nevertheless, I went ahead & watched it since it was already occupying my HD space.

Animation

The character designs are nice & cute.  Although similar, they do have some of their own distinctive features; mainly with the faces & hairstyle.  Makoto is a bit plain though.  Also, his face seems to be different at times on how he's drawn.  It almost looks like a different person at times.  As for body proportions in terms of height, it's not too consistent as well.  The height difference between Makoto & Iori is 8cm according to the story.  You can see it when they measure each other.  However in some later scenes, the difference gap is shorten.  It almost looks like 3cm instead or less at times.  I know I'm being picky on it, but the visual height should at least be done properly.  In many cases, it looks like the two are at the same height.

The colours are mainly dull with some bright colours.  There are times where it's hard to see the characters on screen with a dark background.  I had some troubles watching the night scenes when the characters were walking in the school building.  Even the background objects were difficult to see at certain angles on my LCD monitor.

The backgrounds are okay.  Not much details in them as it seems to be like brush work.

In terms of the animation movement, it's a mixture of real & silly.  The movement is smooth & fluid like natural.  Choppy/missing frames are hardly noticeable in this OVA.

Sound

The sound effects are pretty nice.  It's got the mixture of real & comic.  The volume level is set well & the timing is pretty much on cue.

The seiyuus here are ok.  The cast lineup is pretty good & yet average.  They play their roles well, but I can't seem to like any of them or get attach to them.  It's almost feels like it's dry.

The music is on the pop & ballad side.  I liked the ending theme song of the show as Chata seems to be growing on me.  As for the other tracks, they fit the mood well.  But they don't stick to my head.

Story

A good chuck of the OVA is flashbacks.  They come a bit too sudden that I somewhat lose track on the timeline.  I had to look at the clothing the characters wore a bit to understand it was a flashback from three years ago.  Although the characters did mention about not seeing or contacting each other for three years, it was very hard for me to adjust to the timeline as their appearance & character is almost the same as their current selves.  Matsuri was easy to spot due to her past character having a ponytail.  Although the flashbacks kind of kill the OVA a bit, it sets up a good understanding of the characters background; especially to people that haven't played the game.

The story itself is slow & barely moves a bit due to the number of flashbacks.  Although we do see Matsuri opening up, nothing else moves.  The characters are still the same from what they are three years ago according to the story & the hunting game doesn't progress much in the first episode.  It was only in the last episode that we see something move.  What moved was the relationship between Nono & Makoto.  It was easy to see how the relationship moves with all the flashbacks. As a result, the ending is complete & easy to follow despite the fact that the group stayed at the school for two days.

Overall Conclusion

Yotsunoha is an average OVA.  With its slow pace & two episodes, it can be dry to follow.  Not recommended on your to watch list really.  I would watch it if you are a fan of the series or want something to kill time on.

Yotsunoha gets a six out of ten.  The story doesn't move & there's hardly any character development.  There is a lot of flashbacks & it can really shift the story too much in terms of losing viewers on where the timeline is set.  Also, the story is a bit dry as it seems to go heavily on a realistic approach.  It's only in the second episode that we see what the OVA is trying to approach.

Last updated on May 13, 2008