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ファイト／ステイナイト 
In general, I think the series ended well. However, I can't say that I really enjoyed it for many reasons. To begin with I find most of the characters to be extremely annoying. Rika and some of Yuuichi's classmates are probably the only exception to this for me. I especially find Yuuichi to be one of the most boring characters in anime series and Natsume is just unbelievably schizophrenic without good reason. The story is also quite slow and feels stretched out more than is necessary. Problems and conflicts pop out of nowhere without any good grounding and end as quickly as they appear. The thing is, there were so many opportunities to explore this conflict over a longer period but instead the writers decided to focus on several unnecessary scenes that ended up causing the series to be uneven in general. In the end, the only thing I think I will remember from this series is the pleasant opening song by Nobuko.
February 10, 2006 | 
6 Comments
These two episodes are a lot better than the one that preceeds them. I think this has mostly to do with the dialogues and references that come from Night of the Galactic Railroad. It's also nice to see Rika's true character being brought forward a bit more in both episode. It makes it easier for viewers to sympathise with her plight. Animation-wise, these episodes maintain the quality from the first two episodes. Although that also means that it's not out of the ordinary and the character design is still not as good as the light novel version. Anyway, with only 2 more episodes 2 go, I only hope that the writers can wrap the storyline in an interesting manner. As a side note, I've re-uploaded the opening theme. So if you want to download it, this is your chance.
Opening theme: 「青い幸福」 - Aoi Koufuku by Nobuko (Widescreen, 9.16MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
Okay, it's two episodes in and I still don't like any of the main characters. I find this to be rather problematic since I don't like watching series where I can't feel anything for any of the protagonists. I can see that the two protagonists in this series, Yuuichi and Rika, have their problems. But strangely their problem don't seem that compelling to me even though when one thinks about it, they are facing serious situation. I just feel that the situations presented thus far fail to make me care about them and I think I need to care about their fate in order for the series to be interesting. The series obviously wants to head towards a budding romance and a tragic end story. Unfortunately, the writing is not strong enough to the point that it makes the series feel mediocre.
January 12, 2006 | 22 Comments
Opening theme: 「青い幸福」 - Aoi Koufuku by Nobuko (Widescreen, 9.16MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
Ending theme: 「記憶のカケラ」 - Kioku no Kakera by Nobuko
Alternate title: Looking up at the half-moon. I actually like this episode but I have some reservation about the animation style, which I think looks rather bland except for the opening and closing theme. I've actually seen the cover of the light novel from which this series was based upon and I think they look really good. It's a shame that the anime doesn't follow that style. If the rest of the episode had employed similar style as the novel cover or the opening, I think the series as a whole would look a lot better. As it is now, however, I think it was a good first episode mostly due to its story, which has a rather melancholic feel to it. Music-wise, I really like the opening and ending theme. The background music are also the kind of music that I love so I have no complains about them. Anyway, the next episode won't be until two weeks later so don't be surprise if there is no review for the series next week.