To Heart
New Feelings
by Pedro Rodriguez
The camera fades in on a bundle of soaked school supplies; we hear the sound of rain as a kindergartener sobs. Then we see the source of the crying; a young girl with pink hair no older than five, named Akari, clenching her fists over her eyes. Beside her is a schoolmate that we will know as Hiroyuki, holding an umbrella over the both of them. As the other kids pass her by ridiculing her, Hiroyuki nonchalantly tells her to stop crying, with the sense of "There's no point crying over spilled milk". But as she continues to blub, he begins to pick up her things and tells her to swap his supplies, which are still good, with hers. This is how the series "To Heart" begins, an anime series that was based on a visual novel (a.k.a. dating sim) from back in 1997. Published two years after the game, the show follows main male protagonist, on his almost average life in high school.
Each of the episodes is a stand alone, and you can almost watch each one at random and have everything still makes sense. As a daily life drama, none of the plots are earth shattering. The general plot for an episode begins with Hiroyuki walking down the street with Akari in his "meh" attitude, and somewhere along his daily routine he comes across a girl whom the story will revolve around. In the first episode the biggest issue is when the students have to change the seating arrangement. As the class president stands alone in making the ballots, Hiroyuki steps in to break up the drama that she is receiving from the girls around her. When all is said and done, Hiroyuki and his inner circle go out for some Karaoke. The End. Girls getting their hand bitten by a psychotic feline? Zero. 11 year old geniuses teaching 10th graders? Zip. A 16 year old martial artist who changes that is in an arranged marriage and changes into a girl with cold water? Nada.
Despite this lack of chaos, it does slowly begin to feature unique characters. For example, in the third episode Hiroyuki crosses paths with Serikawa Kurusawa, whose family is the head of a rich conglomerate. Her story like the previous two is very cut and dry, except for the fact that she is the head (and only member) of the school's Occult Club. There is also a character named Multi who will come out later in the series (Aww...). There isn't much to say about her without giving too much away, let's just say there's someone in the cast of "Pani Poni Dash" that does a spoof on her. Piko Piko. In a way, this show is more about girls with strange quirks who live very normal lives.
Most of the cast members have a very flat personality, and while you get a general idea of each character's M.O., you really don't see what makes them tick. In fact, aside from Hiroyuki who goes from frown to grin, the only other person who shows any other kind of development is Shiho. Still, it's nothing that the show loses marks over. It is a little difficult to place Hiroyuki into the usual categories. He's not a geek suffering from low self esteem; he's not a pretty boy who loves to hang around with other pretty boys that talk about - well you get the idea. Initially he tries to keep everything low key, avoiding extra curricular actives and such; it's almost to the point of being apathetic. Despite his hard shell, the young man does have a tendency to stick his head out when people around him are in need of help. Fans of the show "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", may find his attitude similar to Kyon. Bear in mind, Hiroyuki did make his "appearance" ten years before the anime series.
The animation is probably one of the best of its time. Having been produced right before studios stopped using transparent cells, the show has a gritty look to it. Regardless, the detail in the faces and body language is comparable if not better to anything we see today, especially when you look at them close up. The animation team also did on heck of a job in how shadows affected a characters appearance. In a way, it feels a lot like pulling out a vinyl record and hearing that old warm sound. Speaking of which, the sound has also been well restored, showing little to no sign of wear from age to the average ear. Most of the music consists of warm string instruments that are accompanied by woodwinds.
The English cast does a modest job in portraying the characters personality, and no, the English voice talent that briefly appeared in "Comic Party" does not come back to play their original roles. The writing department did a really good job in keeping the original ideas in tact, and there isn't much that feels out of place. Most of the voice acting does fall into place; one of the better jobs sounds like its coming from Zoe Fries (Ohba Eimi, Excel). There are moments in the show where the acting does feel a bit flat, for example when Akari is writing in her diary or when Hiroyuki sounds mellow. While that last statement might not look well upon the voice actor himself, this reviewer would also like to add that when Hiroyuki does sound upbeat, Rich McNanna does slide it in the pocket. The extras also feature a decent amount of information regarding the people and places used in the show, and it also features the original line art from almost ten years ago. I wasn't too far impressed by the reversible over, which only main difference is the words "To Heart" is in a rainbow font and it's also written in Katakana. Aside from that, it was published fairly well.
For a show that has to compete against current titles such as "Pani Poni Dash", and the upcoming "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", it does a solid job entertaining the same, if not older audience. It's a title that many have been pondering whether or not it would ever be released here, and watching it should help clear some of the gags that are present in some of today's titles, as its influence is still felt to this day. The show was also a stepping stone for some of the present day voice talent, including Yui Horie. That's right, before we all fell in love with her as Narusegawa Naru; she was credited in this show as a humble extra.
| To Gallery |
