Name: To Heart Anime 1-3 (83.89% in 18 votes)
Type: ANIME
Platform: VHS/VCD
Company: KSS-inc
Release date: 1999
Reviewed by: Orochi
Well, the popular game To Heart had finally released it's own anime series out, this time it's not Pink Pineapple, who had been in charge of most H-game based anime, that's doing the production.The anime is a joint effort between Aquaplus and KSS-Inc.
From what I know,the series is based on the non-H Playstation version rather than the PC version (it says so in the opening credits), and last 13 episodes so there's no H elements here. Like the game, the anime is a romantic comedy with some touching parts.
Now, about the story, the plot spans from Autumn to Winter and concerntrate on Hiroyuki and his relationship with all the other characters, mainly Akari as they go about their daily school life.
Episode 1 starts out like the game with Akari waking up Hiroyuki on th first day of school after the summer break and focus on Akari as she ponder about about her relationship with Hiroyuki as the new school term starts. Other characters introduced in this episode include Shiho, Remi and Tomoko.
In episode 2, Hiroyuki, Shiho, Akari and Masashi want to attend a concert but Masashi only mange to get 2 tickets, so Hiroyuki had to break the bad new out to both Akari and Shiho. During this process,Hiroyuki's relation with Shiho is explored.
Episode 3 move on to Hiroyuki befriending Kurusuka when he help her to search for material to use for occult purposes and ended up with Kurusuka asking Hiro to visit her club.
After watching the first 3 episode, here are my ratings.
Story: 8/10
The anime had a very different plot from the game, each nicely woven to include both Akari and Hiroyuki, but some parts of it remain faithful. For example, Kurusuka invites Hiroyuki to visit the occult club in the anime, like in the game.
Artwork: 8/10
Since this anime is the mainstream type done by 2 big companies, the artwork is good. Generally the backgrounds are very detailed, from the school to the arcade to the karaoke. A few charcters had been redrawn and lose those "puppy eyes" they had in the game (Akari, Multi) and given those generic cute anime eyes, I do not know if this fans of those characters who are attracted to them for their sympathetic looks would like it.
Voice Acting: 8/10
The voice is excellent. It manage to bring out some attitude of the characters that game failed to deliver. For example, in the anime you had to turn up the volume to hear what Kurusuka had to say because most of the parts the seiyuu spoke her lines in a minimal montone voice.
Music: 8/10
Music wise, some music from the game had been put into the anime and naturally they are good, like in the game.The theme song "Feeling Heart" is catchy but it's a shame that the producer would not use "Brand New Heart" as the theme song cause it is more touching.
Rewatch Value: 7/10
Rewatch value is a bit low here as the plot is easy to understand. But if you are a fan of the original game, you might consider rewatching the anime for a dozen times more as the characters are developed more here than in the game.
Overall: 8/10
I find that the anime is rather well-drawn and the story is loyal to the original game. But I wish that some characters, like Remi, would had more screen time given to them. Much of the screen time is devoted to Akari and Shiho and this disapoints me.
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