Kimargure Orange Road Ova

Rating:
Summary: Final episodes, movie, for classic romatic triangle series.
Review: I'm going to approach this differently than most of my reviews, because there's a lot to like about this box set. Saying that, I have to admit that there was not much of a compelling reason story wise to create it. The set consists of three DVDs; the first two each contain four OAV (direct to video) episodes, of Kimagure Orange Road made after the TV series. The third DVD is a series-ending movie. While my overall rating for the set is four stars, the movie rates five stars, therefore, episodes are only fair to good.

What's good about the episodes is the music and animation. Japanese OAV releases generally have a higher standard than the TV series episodes. The quality of the animation lives up to that, and they feature many good songs. Unfortunately, beyond that these are simply fan episodes. Someone determined there was still a market for KOR stuff, and cranked out a very derivative set of episodes. The OAV episodes place the KOR principal characters in mostly rehashed situations, created before in the TV series. They exceeded some of the limits of the Manga, as I would call it, going "too real" without just cause. What I mean is things like adding gunplay to a series that was essentially tame.

The gem of the box set is the movie. It exceeds the limited reality of the TV series as well, but "in a good way". Since it was to be the ending of the KOR series, it ended the key storyline abruptly. The entire KOR series was about the romantic triangle between Kyosuke, and two girls he was involved with, Madoka and Hikaru. The triangle, kept alive, because Kyosuke, was one of "those" anime characters, which cannot make a decision. The series became stale, because most people knew that Madoka was his true love, even though he went with Hikaru, as boyfriend and girlfriend. The movie has a very changed, more adult Kyosuke, making the decision, right or wrong, and then sticking with it. Rarely have more genuine emotions been on display in an anime of this type.

Reasons to buy the box set:

1. Excellent music, a cut above your usual anime music songs.
2. Fine animation quality, OAV releases are high quality in Japan.
3. Great series ending movie, if it has to end this was the way to do it.

Reasons not to buy the box set:

1. Derivative episodes, if you've seen the TV series there's not much new here.
2. Some OAV episodes overstep the "reality" limits the series was based on.
3. The movie (and OVA episodes) is going to be released separately.

Rating:
Summary: Final episodes, movie, for classic romatic triangle series.
Review: I'm going to approach this differently than most of my reviews, because there's a lot to like about this box set. Saying that, I have to admit that there was not much of a compelling reason story wise to create it. The set consists of three DVDs; the first two each contain four OAV (direct to video) episodes, of Kimagure Orange Road made after the TV series. The third DVD is a series-ending movie. While my overall rating for the set is four stars, the movie rates five stars, therefore, episodes are only fair to good.

What's good about the episodes is the music and animation. Japanese OAV releases generally have a higher standard than the TV series episodes. The quality of the animation lives up to that, and they feature many good songs. Unfortunately, beyond that these are simply fan episodes. Someone determined there was still a market for KOR stuff, and cranked out a very derivative set of episodes. The OAV episodes place the KOR principal characters in mostly rehashed situations, created before in the TV series. They exceeded some of the limits of the Manga, as I would call it, going "too real" without just cause. What I mean is things like adding gunplay to a series that was essentially tame.

The gem of the box set is the movie. It exceeds the limited reality of the TV series as well, but "in a good way". Since it was to be the ending of the KOR series, it ended the key storyline abruptly. The entire KOR series was about the romantic triangle between Kyosuke, and two girls he was involved with, Madoka and Hikaru. The triangle, kept alive, because Kyosuke, was one of "those" anime characters, which cannot make a decision. The series became stale, because most people knew that Madoka was his true love, even though he went with Hikaru, as boyfriend and girlfriend. The movie has a very changed, more adult Kyosuke, making the decision, right or wrong, and then sticking with it. Rarely have more genuine emotions been on display in an anime of this type.

Reasons to buy the box set:

1.Excellent music, a cut above your usual anime music songs.
2.Fine animation quality, OAV releases are high quality in Japan.
3.Great series ending movie, if it has to end this was the way to do it.

Reasons not to buy the box set:

1.Derivative episodes, if you've seen the TV series there's not much new here.
2.Some OAV episodes overstep the "reality" limits the series was based on.
3.The movie (and OVA episodes) is going to be released separately.