Akane Maniax

Story: The overall story is pretty good. I really liked all the obstacles the main character had to overcome just to get accepted. However, the ending was a little disappointing but at the same time reasonable as well as weird and funny. Also, this OVA is really funny at times especially all of the mecha parodies introduced into the story line. Animation: Not much to say here, but clean, crisp animation expected out of an OVA. Especially, the comedic scenes. Sound: There's not much of a soundtrack to this OVA, just your typical instrumental background music. You don't really notice it at all. It really doesn't make much of animpact during the more serious scenes. Character: By far the main character Jouji Gouda is one of my favourite anime characters. You can't help but admire his determination even when faced with many difficult obstacles. Although, he still shows his human side of getting down every now and then, but sure enough his strong determination picks hims up out of the gutters. If anything, Jouji is the reason to watch this OVA just to experience his character. However, my one pet peeve is that his imagination is so random that it kind of gets annoying at times and I feel it interferes with the story. In addition, Akane Suzumiya's character is done pretty good as well. This OVA gives you a better understanding of Akane's character. However, the secondary characters don't make much of an appearance and are there just to solemnly interact with the two main characters. Enjoyment: This series is really funny and gives you a light-hearted view of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien's character Akane Suzumiya. But again, the star of this OVA is definitely Jouji Gouda. I had a really good time of witnessing Jouji's efforts in convincing Akane of his love. Overall: Overall the series is very good. It's especially great if you're looking for something light-hearted and funny. It also does a fairly good job (although slightly) of epiloguing Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. The only thing I would change is to provide more screen time for the secondary characters since some of them appear to be very interesting and having less time for Jouji's flamboyant imagination scenes.

OK this will be my first review so please spare me. First of all I'll have to say that this review is extremely biased in a way. This anime makes countless references to Muv-Luv, a Visual Novel by Àge. Having played that game, this anime brings back memories, so like I said biased... Story: 6 The story-line was not the best out there. Overused scenarios everywhere. The story about a guy who gets transferred and meets the girl of his dreams, and so on. Overused, but well brought and expanded, for a short three episode OVA show. It was good enough to prevent loss of interest,which is good enough for a 6/10. ART: 8 ART was pretty good. Everything was relatively well drawn. I wont be much of a critic here, having watched it streamed, so I don't know if there were any errors in the art. All the characters were well drawn, the eyes being made to resemble the original. Sound: 8 I said this was biased didn't I? Sound was good. The OP and ED were both good and didn't get on my nerves. The most enjoyable part was obviously the final ED for me, as much as the insert they put sometimes in the mother show (Kimi ga Nozomu Eien) was. Soundtrack didn't contain any annoying noises. Character: 4 Character development... poor. The only person involved is Akane. Thats the only person that evolves throughout the show. The rest are basically considered NPCs in my opinion. Enjoyment: 10 Now this is where this show shines. The comedy is pretty good overall. The constant reference to Muv-Luv helps in my case. Just seeing Marimo-chan with her devil suit made the day. Even though they are not developed, seeing all the people from class 3B is an enjoyment for gamers like me. Overall: 7 Anime is great overall if you knew the origins and watched it accordingly BUT if you watch this as standalone, it is very subpar. Its almost impossible to understand this show unless you watched Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. Recommended you play Muv-Luv (if your of age) before for even better enjoyment.

Akane Maniax, almost to be considered a "sort of " sequel to the Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (Rumbling Hearts) anime. Of course, this is only for recognition and this OVA is to be treated as an OVA and nothing else - it is only a spinoff. I'd be happy to consider if I'm being biased towards my opinion on this show, since I have afterall watched Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien earlier and grown accustomed to the characters; coincidentally, in particular Akane Suzumiya. With that said, it should not come in the way of judging this anime objectively, since it is rather hard not to treat itas a stand-alone anime. Why do I say this? Afterall, it does include references to Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, and some of these references cannot even be fully understood without watching said anime, particularly references about previous relationship(/-issues) - but having said that, Akane Maniax doesn't incorporate these references to their fullest making the story a quite bit awkward mix of "OVA"/"spinoff". To me, it was however quite difficult to treat it completely as an OVA, and at times Akane Maniax even assumes that the audience hasn't seen Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien to begin with. Having treated it as a stand-alone anime, judging its story was not difficult at all, since it is quite horrendous.. Judging it firmly based on its own soil, its own attempt to be a story - conclusion is obvious. No, the story isn't anything to write home about, but maybe that wasn't what the directors were aiming for either. No matter if you see it as a "sort of sequel", following Gouda's attempts at getting Akane's heart, or as a stand-alone anime where a certain unknown character is attempting at getting a certain known character's heart - you really never get to the point that you care or wish that you cared. Not even having a slight bias for Akane, a character which I dearly took fancy to in Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, do I ever begin to wish that I cared for her life or love-life. Again, you ask yourself whether or not the directors were really trying to aim to achieve a love-story of the century with a very lovable character. I think not, and I think you won't either, if you're about to watch the show. With this said, the story is indeed poor and it does not get better - but remember that it is only an OVA, and should maybe only be considered viewing after watching Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien-- for that little extra Akane screen-time, not forgetting the extra touch of fanservice that is oh so typical, but perhaps nothing that should be complained about in this case. Getting to the art, it is not bad at all. If you watched Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien you will notice that the art is not different enough to warrant any complaints. Of course, having said this it is nothing 'special' or out of the ordinary. This, is nothing to complain about. The music, was forgettable. Both intro and extro, gosh, I don't remember it even now. But I remembered not having any arguments with it and so it was enjoyable in a slight degree. Sadly, it is all too hard to judge something you don't remember too well. Forgettable but enjoyable. The characters were not bad at all, although all too odd. And now I'm not even talking about Gouda. Whilst red hair and blue hair isn't impossible to get (I'm talking about Akane and Mits(z?)uki in particular) and was seen in Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien - the appearances of some of the characters in Akane Maniax is wildly out of tune. It does afterall happen in the same 'world' as Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien so not judging it based on that would be unfair, even if the story can be judged as a stand-alone. So, going to the wildly out of tune characters I suddenly see a girl in pink hair with nekoneko (I mean cat, excuse me) appearances. It felt odd, like she didn't belong there. She was pleasant to watch, and although she of course didn't have much lines in a 3-episode OVA, you can still forgive her. But in the world of Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, it did feel somewhat wrong. Akane I've already covered, she is pleasant, although not the breath of fresh air she wasn't a character trying to be someone she wasn't from the beginning, so this is all in tune - and indeed the Akane Suzumiya we know from Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien. The protagonist (or, really?) in the show, Gouda, who we follow - is however crazy, and as stated in other places I felt too that he was oddly placed. His humour and wild imagination is however the only "great" thing about this OVA, and is perhaps the only reason besides Akane screen-time (if you like it) to watch this anime as it is quite amusing sometimes, bordering on insane (still, funny). Thus, the anime's enjoyment is raised a notch, and whilst the anime isn't great you probably still won't hate it enough. It's enjoyable to a certain degree, owing to the director's wish to make it a comedy. Love-story? No. Comedy? Kinda. And still pleasant enough not to hate. Still pleasant enough not to hate? That sounds harsh, but I really felt that way. My own personal recommendation however would be that, if you are going to watch this show, at least watch Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien first (if you haven't yet you really need to anyway) and only consider this OVA as a little bit of extra cream on the cake.

Spoilers for Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, beware. I found this to be an interesting and likable OVA to one of my favorite anime drama series. There is a huge shift in the tone of the series, which explains the polarizing views of this mini-series. While the original Kimi ga Nozomu Eien was a very tragic affair, Akane Maniax turns into a parody of old big robot series from the past few decades, complete with a slapstick new character serving as the primary focus. I can't say much for this OVA in terms of its technical aspects. It was fairly hard for me to track down adecent quality version of it, and one with dvd quality was nigh impossible. If I were to compare, the animation about as good as the original KGNE series but not as good as the ~Next Season~ ova. There are some differences, but this is more attributable to the change in art style to reflect the comedic nature of the mini-series rather than worse animation. For sound, all of the voice actors did a good job. As this is a three episode epilogue rather than a full blown story arc, there isn't as wide a range of material to work with, but the voice actors put in the necessary emotions. The opening song was cute and similar to a lot of high school comedy animes, as was the ending. The background music was not at the same level as KGNE or ~Next Season~, but they also had much more dramatic material to score. Coming into this series, I had read a lot of reviews calling it stupid, strange or pointless and wasn't really sure what to expect. For a time, I wasn't even sure if I was going to watch it. Ultimately, I decided to have a go for completionist's sake. I'm glad I watched. I'm not new to tragedy in fiction. I've seen a fair share of depressing films and series, and read numerous works of literature with stories far darker than the relationship drama presented in Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. Yet, for some reason this series affected me very deeply, particularly the last episode where Takuyumi and Haruka decide to never see each other again. In the last few minutes of the show, we see that Takuyumi and Mitsuki are living together while Akane and Haruka have moved on to pursue their dreams. It was nice, but I questioned if any of these four people were truly happy. It bothered me for a long time. The people in this epilogue had experienced a great tragedy that led to them parting ways forever, and it upset me. The ~Next Season~ ova did not provide me the closure I wanted. While it was nice, it ultimately felt like a sweet dream that was never meant to be. Just thinking about KGNE was enough to make to upset. That is when I finally saw Akane Maniax. While it is a slapstick comedy, this ova was exactly what I was looking for. This is the tale of Akane dealing with the aftermath of Takayuki leaving her family forever. This is the story of Akane told from Gouda's perspective. Every scene with Akane, you are shown how she is understanding but ultimately hurt by what happened in KGNE. You can't help but think Haruka feels similarly despite her absence for most of the show. While you can dismiss a lot of the mecha battles in the series as childish and over-the-top, there was actually a lot of meaning to them. What Gouda sees in those battles is what is happening in Akane's heart. The enemy pilots are quite familiar... and while Gouda doesn't know who these people are, he can appreciate the scars that they've left Akane and, in the process of trying to court her, he decides to heal those scars. There really isn't a whole lot of plot in this series to spoil, so I'll leave it at that. What I've meant to say during this review is: KGNE left Haruka and Akane completely broken, and then showed a future where they had moved on in life, but not necessarily in spirit. At the end of this OVA, I finally felt that Akane had really overcome her sadness and doubts. With that, Haruka could as well. I see now that at the end of KGNE, rather than doing the best they can in the wake of their unfortunate lives, they truly are happy. So, I thank this ova, which in the strangest and most unusual way, put my heart at ease.

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