I finally got my hands on ef - a tale of memories, which everyone has been talking about. SHAFT produced this series too, and I was hoping for the same cool mix of comedy and absurdness thrown in together to make a wonderful mix. However, it seemed like they were taking this abstract art thing a bit far this time.
Being an eroge adaptation, I thought SHAFT would put more emphasis on a girl's body in their art now. Instead, they chose to emphasize the objects and actions of the characters more than the characters themselves.
In Negima!? the girls were drawn really well and actually emitted some sex appeal even when they were fully dressed. The shadows and visuals highlighted their body contours as well conveying the mood of the scene using various background settings like one shadow on orange for loneliness.
In ef however, I can't help but notice that they weren't interested in the girls anymore, but rather more on how lucky this boy is to meet a girl who just so happened to have lost her keys and is stuck in the snow on Christmas, and how lucky the other boy is to meet a one-eyed girl who is so lonely she can't remember what happened yesterday.
I like the part where they drew the characters in black and white when they were on the beach talking in the snow, although I think it had nothing to do with what was going on, I just felt it looked pretty. Then again, I guess art is sometimes pointless except to look pretty.
Like I said, the series has a lot of abstract content with it that instead of really emphasizing the subject matter, it becomes more distracting than not for the viewer, who struggles to understand the story.
But some pictures are simply too beautiful. If SHAFT had a different director who wasn't so obsessed with abstractness I think they would actually be able to compete with KyoAni in terms of style.
In the end, after watching the first episode of this show, I was left with nothing to fap to, and the real story still eludes me. I do know though, that there are lots of girl characters and a few boys who are gonna get damn lucky. I was wondering though, at the very end of the episode I noticed the presence of a possibly naked girl at the back of the room where the boy sits in front of the computer. Reminds me of myself. This story may just be an interesting one.