True Love Story: Summer days, and yet... - Reviews

Story
Say this with me: "Done before!" .. and one more time for good measure: Done before!!!! Yes folks, that's right. Yet another plodding and totally unoriginal dating-sim game transition to the big screen. I'd like to talk about features of True Love Story that other dating-sim converts don't have, such as an interesting plot, good animation, likeable characters, etc. Unfortunately, I can't. True Love Story easily succeeds at seeming like a total ripoff of every other dating-sim anime out there, down to the detail.

First of all, we have the same kind of unrealistic love story between high schoolers who barely know each other. Then there's the fact that every single human being with a vagina happens to like the main character, for who knows what reason. And of course, to top it off, there has to be something about how several of the main characters made a promise years ago, which they just now remembered. Seriously, what's with the making promises/memory loss thing? Why is it that at least 40% of all dating-sim/h-game to anime transitions have to put something like that in there? Is it something that everyone fantasizes about in Japan or something? Or maybe a common occurance? Regardless, True Love Story has it, so if you are one of those people who is addicted to the same generic story, go for it!

In fact, it even contains elements of other dating-sim/h-game transitions right down to the actual plot elements, such as everyone going to see a fireworks show, and a legend that you should be there with a sig other, etc. (Pia Carrot movie, anyone?) The bottom line is, the plot is absolutely generic on every level. Any time a character is introduced, you know they are going to want the main guy somehow.
Animation
While the animation wasn't totally horrible, it did still have some fairly major shortcomings. Namely, the character designs. Most of the characters suffered from square-head syndrome, which made them look odd. In addition, many of the females have wider shoulders than the males! In general, all the females looked fairly manly with their haircuts and facial structure, except a few.

In general, there was just something about the animation that didn't sit right with me. I think it was the thickness of the lines. The backgrounds were sometimes very simple, with only a few solid colors. This against very thick black outlines of the characters made it seem almost simple and crude. At times, too, the characters' faces seem deformed because the eyes become horizontal oval from far away shots. The general strangeness of the thick lines and such reminded me of Magical Chocolate, sort of... but obviously not as bad.

In any event, it wasn't that fantastic, thus the lower score.
Sound
While the intro was relatively catchy, the rest of the music failed to deliver. Generic and in the background, there's not much to speak of about the music.
Characters
I just can't give high scores in the character category if all the characters are the ultimate stereotypes for the genre. As mentioned in the story section, every single character was uninteresting and non-unique. All the girls fit their own roles (the whiny clumsy one, the glasses-wearing bookworm, the old tomboy turned beauty acquaintance, etc), and all want the main character, as usual. The characters don't really develop at all. In fact, besides the main male character, so many people are introduced that there isn't even really time to develop any other character. Nothing really more to say here, except the characters were shallow and stereotypical.
Overall
Nothing about True Love Story is unique, in any way. Not with its genre, its animation, or characters. Everything about it gives you the impression that it was just ripped off from yet another series, and doesn't convince you to watch it again. From the average animation, to the stock characters, to the bland music, this isn't a very entertaining or memorable watch for anyone.

As far as rewatchability, I have absolutely no desire to see this again, and I can't see why you would either. Even people who like dating-sim transitions to death probably wouldn't want to watch it again.. there's nothing about it which makes it unusual enough to want to. Two thumbs down from me.

-Story-

The story of True Love Story centers around a regular guy named Yuuta, and a girl who has a crush on him. The overall story is really weak, with no redeeming qualities. The dialogue was terrible, the story was not that original, and everything just seems like the story was half-assed. Most of the story is driven by Yuuta's sister dragging him places to meet girls that she knows, and even that is boring. It is not something that is pleasurable to watch. There was nothing that made me interested in the story at all. This show tries to be a harem show without having the proper time requirements to develop all of the love interests to the point where the audience cares. Most of the "love interests" are just left off on the edge with the audience having only a faint clue as to who they are.

-Animation-

This series has got to be the worst offender so far of my problem with stills. Most shows use them for backgrounds and establiching shots, but in True Love Story, even the main characters appear in stills, while in the foreground. Also the characters looked terrible and they were not able to emote a single feeling. The backgrounds were also generic beyond belief.

-Characters-

I found most of the characters to be unnecessary. Outside of Yuuta, his sister Ruri, the main love interest Hina and the secondary love interest, Yako, there are no other necessary characters. These four character are the only ones needed to tell the story effectively, and even then they all seemed flat and boring.

-Overall-

I would not recommend this to anybody who I did not have a personal vendetta against. Just leave this one alone and watch something that actually might entertain you.

I have watched a good deal of anime. Not a colossal amount, mind you, but I've seen a series or two. There are shows I dislike, and there are shows that irritate me. Very rarely will a show make me outright angry. But by the time I had reached the end, True Love Story: Summer Days had infuriated me more than almost any anime has in a long time. 

Story:

To call what this show possesses a "story" is, in my opinion, incredibly generous. At best, it is a sequence of events that has a beginning and an end.

Our protagonist is named Yuuta Morisaki- your typical teenager and high school student. Through various plot contrivances, he meets various members of the female gender, who all fall in love with him instantly. The story focuses on one of these girls, named Hina Kuronose. Although Yuuta doesn't remember her, the two were actually childhood friends. Hina has been pining for him ever since they were little, but can never get up the courage to confess her feelings. Will anybody in the cast capture Yuuta's heart? With the Ocean Festival quickly approaching, will Hina be able to gather up the strength in time to bring the two of them together? And will Yuuta remember the promise that Hina had made to him so very long ago?

Now, the last couple paragraphs may sound like a functional plot. However, the show itself doesn't attempt to give the proceedings any sort of structure or narrative flow. One event just leads to another, with no attempt to inject any sort of drama or intrigue. We know that Hina will end up with Yuuta at the end, because Hina is the only girl who the story focuses on at all.

Almost none of the other girls (with the exception of Love Interest With Glasses) actually try to capture his affections, let alone confess their own feelings. There are one or two instances where it seems like they are trying to create romantic tension with Tomboy Childhood Friend, but it never really leads to anything and sort of fizzles out.  

Characters are introduced randomly throughout the series, and then just suddenly disappear from the story in an equally random fashion. To make matters worse, Yuuta manages to remain completely oblivious throughout the story that most of these girls are interested in him. It could actually have been interesting if he had realized that these people he considers friends view him as something more. What will he do? Will this damage their relationship? Because the story doesn't even bother going in that direction, we will never know.

Why does Yuuta not remember Hina? The anime never bothers to try to give us any sort of explanation. It's not the result of amnesia; he is able to remember another childhood friend almost instantly. Yet, somehow his memories of Hina have been completely erased, and only cone back to him bit by bit in an utterly trite fashion. This is made even more contrived when we learn the nature of Hina's promise. I won't bother spoiling it, but anybody who has watched a harem/romance-centric anime will be able to figure it out almost instantly.

And that's the problem: literally the show's entire plot is just all the tropes and clichés used in romance and harem anime awkwardly spliced together. That's it. The writers have taken great pains to both shamelessly steal plot points from other shows, but make sure to remove the elements that made those shows fun in the first place.

The conclusion is as banal and predictable as you can get. When Yuuta and Hina get together, every single girl that we have met that seems to have an interest in Yuuta is perfectly fine with it. The completely wasted potential for drama or conflict in those last few scenes sums up the anime as a whole.

Animation:

The character designs are just bad. Yuuta looks as generic as humanly possible I've seen dozens of anime protagonists with the same body structure and appearance. The designs of the female characters all have this homogenous feel to them. They aren't identical, but they do look like they were all taken from the same basic template.

All the characters have extremely blocky heads, and the female characters have the unnaturally large and wide eyes and extremely small mouths that I've come to hate. Given how childlike the facial designs make the characters appear, the emphasis on certain aspects of the female anatomy just feels disturbing.

For the first two episodes, the animation is relatively choppy. The scenery is nice and colorful, but none of it feels real. All the backgrounds and objects that the characters interact with just appear incredibly two-dimensional and artificial to my eye; it just feels like the town simply couldn't exist in real life.

In the third episode the backgrounds do become much more vivid, the animation is much more fluid, and the competence of the show's direction spikes upward. However, this just causes the first two episodes to feel even more lazy: if they could afford to put this much effort into the climax of their little tale, why did the animation of the first two episodes feel so weak and artificial?

Sound:

Aside from the opening theme, I can't remember a single track from the show. The music is utterly generic and lifeless, adding absolutely nothing to the proceedings. The ending theme, while a mild step up, just reminds me of better songs from a dozen other anime of the same genre. The song that opens the show truly is the anime's saving grace. It's catchy, lively, and unique.

The voice acting is just dry. Most of the voice actors don't even feel like they're trying particularly hard-particularly Yuuta's-, and even when the VAs do sound energetic, it still feels like they don't really want to be there. 

Characters:

You may have noticed that when I was discussing the plot earlier, I used titles like "Love Interest With Glasses" and "Tomboy Childhood Friend" instead of names. That's because every single person in True Love Story isn't a person. They're an archetype. They're characters that you have seen dozens of times before, only done better every single time. I would list the entire cast and note which stereotype they fill, but I have seriously forgotten almost every single one of them.

The characters simply don't leave any sort of impression on you, because they are thoroughly one-dimensional. There is nothing to Tomboy Childhood Friend, for example, except her interest in athletics. There is nothing to Love Interest With Glasses, except her interest in books and tendency to be overdramatic. You don't get why they are interested in Yuuta, because none of them have any chemistry with him. You never get a feel as to where this love comes from, because the story decides to not bother giving them any sort of depth. You have to assume that it is the generic “love at first sight” lust that love interests typically have in bad harem anime.

Yuuta himself is your typical harem anime protagonist- average, flat, and boring. There is not a single drop of personality in his veins, and he is clearly merely a proxy for the viewer. The reasons to care about whether or not he finds love are nonexistent.

Hina is just as bland. she has no character traits aside from being clumsy, naïve, and her love for Yuuta. There are some bizarre scenes where she plays with one of her dolls and interacts with them as if they were a person, but nothing ever becomes of it. Is it just childlike innocence, or is there some sort of psychological problem at work? Well, of course it's the former; the latter would be too interesting. You don't understand why she was interested in Yuuta as a child, and you don't understand why she is interested in him now.

Conclusion: 

True Love Story is worse than merely generic: it's boring. It's cynical. It's everything that an anime should not be, and the fact is that no matter what kind of show you're looking for, you need to look elsewhere. There are better options.