Before I start the review, there are a few things I should clear up involving the biggest stumbling block which many people will have with the series -- its format.
In 'Kimi ga Nozomu Eien', what you get is a single story, involving a small and believable cast of characters, facing circumstances which can only change them. (In other words, not a soap opera.) If you're US raised and approach this series thinking "it's a cartoon", you'll tune in expecting something comparable with other cartoons you've seen. But Disney, The Simpsons, and Saturday morning fare have nothing to do with this. That's assuming that you don't outright dismiss the series before you can fairly judge it.
And if you approach the series thinking "it's Japanese", you might wrongly go in expecting to see plenty of shouted lines, giant robots fighting, and unfamiliar customs. Again, that's not what the series is about.
So why is the series animated in the first place? I don't have an official answer, but my guess is that it's due to the main story already being popular in Japan through the PC game, which already featured characters drawn in an anime (Japanese animation) style. And the people behind the TV series, by my guess, wished to keep the identity of the characters as recognizable as possible.
The series covers 14 half hour episodes, told over a single story arc. Most of the first two episodes may wrongly lead people to believe that the story is a harem series (several cute girls competing for the same guy), but what happens at the end of the second episode is the curve ball which sets the tone of the series. The spoilers I'll include will only cover the events before this curve ball hits.
The main character is Narumi, who at the start of the series is a high school student and is generally a nice guy, slightly irresponsible, and a procrastinator. When his good friend Mizuki introduces him to her friend, the shy but head-over-heels Haruka, it's the start of a new relationship which becomes the crux of the series. As the characters age, they mature over time. They face situations that are sometimes as extreme as they are realistic. They'll show changes which can be extremely marked, but at the same time 100% believable in how they play out. Those who've played the game know that the choices which Narumi makes not only determine which girl he'll end up with, but the impact on the other characters. (In the game, the wrong series of choices can lead to a triple suicide, for example.) When a character hits bottom, it's believable, and understandable. As in real life, not everything is spelled out. Characters sometimes succeed in picking up on cues, and sometimes fail, and their response can determine how others act and react.
In short, I don't watch soaps, and I don't care for most dramas. But this series is so well done that it's one of exactly two Japanese series which not only has me wishing for a US release, but has encouraged me to obtain the Japanese DVDs, despite my not speaking Japanese. If you can track down the fansubs and don't mind subtitles, and have an open mind about anime if you don't already, this is definitely one of the better series out there.
In 'Kimi ga Nozomu Eien', what you get is a single story, involving a small and believable cast of characters, facing circumstances which can only change them. (In other words, not a soap opera.) If you're US raised and approach this series thinking "it's a cartoon", you'll tune in expecting something comparable with other cartoons you've seen. But Disney, The Simpsons, and Saturday morning fare have nothing to do with this. That's assuming that you don't outright dismiss the series before you can fairly judge it.
And if you approach the series thinking "it's Japanese", you might wrongly go in expecting to see plenty of shouted lines, giant robots fighting, and unfamiliar customs. Again, that's not what the series is about.
So why is the series animated in the first place? I don't have an official answer, but my guess is that it's due to the main story already being popular in Japan through the PC game, which already featured characters drawn in an anime (Japanese animation) style. And the people behind the TV series, by my guess, wished to keep the identity of the characters as recognizable as possible.
The series covers 14 half hour episodes, told over a single story arc. Most of the first two episodes may wrongly lead people to believe that the story is a harem series (several cute girls competing for the same guy), but what happens at the end of the second episode is the curve ball which sets the tone of the series. The spoilers I'll include will only cover the events before this curve ball hits.
The main character is Narumi, who at the start of the series is a high school student and is generally a nice guy, slightly irresponsible, and a procrastinator. When his good friend Mizuki introduces him to her friend, the shy but head-over-heels Haruka, it's the start of a new relationship which becomes the crux of the series. As the characters age, they mature over time. They face situations that are sometimes as extreme as they are realistic. They'll show changes which can be extremely marked, but at the same time 100% believable in how they play out. Those who've played the game know that the choices which Narumi makes not only determine which girl he'll end up with, but the impact on the other characters. (In the game, the wrong series of choices can lead to a triple suicide, for example.) When a character hits bottom, it's believable, and understandable. As in real life, not everything is spelled out. Characters sometimes succeed in picking up on cues, and sometimes fail, and their response can determine how others act and react.
In short, I don't watch soaps, and I don't care for most dramas. But this series is so well done that it's one of exactly two Japanese series which not only has me wishing for a US release, but has encouraged me to obtain the Japanese DVDs, despite my not speaking Japanese. If you can track down the fansubs and don't mind subtitles, and have an open mind about anime if you don't already, this is definitely one of the better series out there.