Kimi no Iru Machi

Kimi no Iru Machi is an amazing series. Amazingly mediocre.

The show is almost feels like swimming in an ocean of rage and frustration for many reasons. For a romance based series, Kimi no Iru Machi sure likes to play around with the idea but then twists it in all sorts of angles. These angles do not connect well in any way but instead ends up making a shape out of wrong proportions. As a follower of the original manga that began to ran years before the debut of this anime series, I am definitely not satisfied from what I see. It feels like I’m drowning ... in a sea of despair.

Kimi no Iru Machi (A Town Where You Live) is an animated series based off the manga of the same name written by Seo Kouji. The author is previously known for his other work, Suzuka that also received an anime adaptation based off of his manga. So now it’s his time to once again step it up and bring forth a romantic comedy for people to enjoy. Unfortunately, it seems like the series doesn’t step itself up but rather falls even further behind from the OVAs that debuted prior to this.

The series follows main male protagonist Haruto Kirishima as a high school student living on the countryside. As a healthy boy of his age, he falls under the category of the typical high school student with thoughts running through his head. These thoughts includes schoolwork, his future, and the obvious: girls. This is because Haruto has a crush on another female student. Will have the courage to ask her out? What happens if he gets rejected? Will Haruto ever become a man? These might be a few questions for thought for potential anime only viewers at first glance. However, this isn't’ exactly what you might expect.

For whatever reason, the anime decides to skip around and go straight into an arc that is covered later on from the manga. It’s disappointing given the fact that important factors and development in the beginning between Haruto and another main female protagonist are left mostly in unexplored territory. The series does pull out the old trick in the book as in the form of flashbacks. But honestly though, this doesn’t work well in terms of a romance developing series. For our main female protagonist, Eba Yuzuki, this is even more frustrating to watch because the lack character driven concept. It also doesn’t help by the fact that Haruto himself is not exactly one of those characters where we get to know from the beginning.

As for Haruto, the boy clearly has eyes set on a particular someone but not exactly whom you might expect. As mentioned before, this series skips around and omits parts from the manga that clearly accelerates its plot. As for Haruto, the guy seems to lack a personality and often acts reserved around others. He is caring on the outside but often makes rash decisions while observing from the backgrounds. It is not until he sees truly sees reality that he decides to act. Often or not though, this is met with mixed results. However, Haruto does carry responsibilities and follows him through. He is hardworking and cares about the well-being of others so some respect can be handed out to him. Out of the girls that Haruto meets throughout the series, Eba is a magnet for responsibility to be delivered.

The duo of Haruto and Eba is also awkward to watch as they don’t seem very compatible. Haruto seems to be a guy that often keeps thoughts to himself. On the other hand, Eba is a girl with a sociable personality that speaks out her mind and often not afraid to act on her actions. Again though, these lead to mixed results similar to Haruto’s case and leaves both happy and painful scars.

Among other characters in the show includes Eba’s younger sister Rin that seemingly causes mischievous trouble for the duo. It’s also silly to note that she is almost nothing like her sister. At the same time, she seems to be a pivoting factor in order to get Haruto to open his eyes to the truth that lies in front of him. Then, there’s also Nanami Yuzuki, a girl that Haruto has his eyes set on from the beginning. She is depicted as a kind and forgiving girl. At many instances, she offers advise to others but is a bit insecure to herself at times. Other girls in the show also plays their minor roles but mostly stays in the background. For Haruto though, his eyes only focuses on what he thinks is in front of him. What reality show him though is much more painful but again, he keeps it to himself.

One prominent feature of the story in the series also features a main supporting male character that plays a more of a tragic role. In fact, he is more of the influence factor to Eba’s decision as well as Haruto’s. The result of that influence though leads to sorrow but also some hope for Haruto; an unfortunate feeling for hope but nonetheless. But as far as that goes, the series decides to twist around with the aspect of romance again and presents it in way to almost beyond repair. Even if a series is labeled as romance with drama and comedy, it should at least follow a straight forward plot. No, instead it decides to jump all over the place and loses focus to the point where viewers might not be sure who Haruto wants to be with. Coupled with the lackluster of a sociable personality, Haruto is a man that is both hard to be empathetic with or take pity for; emphasis on either.

On the more drama side, the series also tries to make viewers feel sorry for its characters. However, it gets hard to take pity on them because the decisions they make. Sure, decisions often can result in consequences but I find the choices the characters make in this series to be outright abrupt with nonsense. It doesn’t help by the fact that the series rushes its primary plot so there’s little focus on background or character development. Instead, it focuses on Haruto and his daily life with other girls. The guy is responsible but he sure doesn’t take some of his relationships as well as such. This is especially true later on with another girl that some can see as a golden egg. Unfortunately, it's a just another egg wasted by Haruto.

The comedy factor of Kimi no Iru Machi is second rated. It often tries to mix in comedy with drama at the same time but this doesn’t work out. At other times, it tries the typical and cliched misunderstandings with factors of fan service. As a fan though, I don’t feel serviced or satisfied. The dialogues spoken by most of the characters also lacks flavor. Rin is perhaps one of the more curious girls that often treats Haruto’s life as a game so her dialogues tends to add a bit of interest. For the rest of the cast though, the words often a loop of dull expressions.

For a more slice of life style series though, there are some hopes. The feeling of countryside brings forth a feeling of nostalgia through most of the flashbacks played throughout the series. It gives off a sense of feeling in terms of simplicity. After all, living on the countryside is simple rather than in a big crowded city. Furthermore, there is some sense of realism in terms of relationships. Examples of this includes the consequences of a long term relationship, dealing with tragedies, and getting yourself back up afterwards from it. It can be relatable too in a sort of way especially if viewers have been in a relationship in the past or is currently in one. I just hope that you won’t make some horrible decisions as some of the characters do in this series. That’s not a pretty sight to see honestly.

In terms of artwork, Kimi no Iru Machi adapts a simple style with its characters looking natural but at the same time lacking any noticeable features. There’s noting particular standing out with any of the characters. Haruto looks normal and Eba is portrayed as the typical girl with a tip of naiveness. Given the fact that Seo Kouji is involved with the project, there’s also similarity in character designs between this series and his other work, Suzuka. The backgrounds does have a trace of naturalism to it though with the dancing leaves, souring winds, and seasonal weather.

For its soundtrack, Kimi no Iru Machi is amazingly mediocre. There’s almost nothing to praise about any of the VA’s performances. The main male protagonist Haruto (Yoshimasa Hosoya) seems to have tone of a mature character but his actions contradicts this. Most of the girls’ voices are typical with possibly Eba being the most outstanding with her somewhat elegant tone of voice. Music wise, the show does show some melancholy especially in regards to its flashback scenes. The OP song, “Sentimental Love” is presented with a calm tone along with traces of fan service and somewhat of hope for its characters. Its two contrasting ED songs brings forth a feeling of homesickness that seems to also walk down the memory lane.

Overall, Kimi no Iru Machi proves to be a lackluster romance anime that jumped way over itself. Its ineffective writing coupled by its lack of characterization makes its frustrating to watch. If that wasn’t enough, Haruto and Eba isn’t exactly what I would call the best of couple. The message that it tries to get across never seems to reach if there was one at all. Maybe it’s something on the line of ‘the truth hurts’, ‘face the reality’, or ‘love bites’. Whatever it is though doesn’t work out right. However, it does bring forth some sense of realism with relationships that takes on a path of drama. If you decide to choose the path to watch this anime though, just be aware of what’s ahead.

Okay this is a review for those of you have not read the manga and are walking in blindly, such as myself.

Kimi no Iru Machi (A Town Where You Live) is your basic romantic anime about your main character, Kirishima Haruto, and his love interest Eba Yuzuki. They have been childhood friends for a short period of time and they really bonded when Eba came back during the later years of her high school lift to attend school and various events befall them and get in the way of the love they have for each other, the most major being the distance between where the ... two live. Eba initially travels out to the countryside where Haruto lives but then has to go back to Tokyo, and this anime takes over from the OVA series where Haruto travels out to Tokyo to chase after Eba.

Story: 7
I was really disappointed with how quickly they moved this anime along. They were constantly jumping around between past and present and never spent more than about 2 episodes on any particular event or moment. The rate at which the relationships moved along as well was frustrating as you never really got a great grasp of what was going on and how the characters really felt. What was good about it however was the ability for the viewer to be able to relate to the situation at hand. It was a fairly good setup, just rushed.

Characters: 5
The way they rushed through the anime was really bad, and consequently that's how the characters have turned out. I mostly disliked all of the characters, but the one bright spark was the fact that you could relate to them in a way, regardless of the decisions they made. Kirishima Haruto is your fairly common main character, not much personality and just can't seem to let go of the main female interest. Eba Yuzuki is your typical bright, clumsy damsel in distress who needs someone around to help her all the time and to support her. Although I believe she was supposed to be a likeable character, I did not like her. To me she was just to needy and just made me frustrated with her decisions and the way she conducted herself, but I digress. Eba also has a younger sister Rin who comes into the story about halfway through. She has quite the personality as she is constatly pushing Eba and Haruto together, but I won't spoil too much about her and what goes on.

Art and Music: 7
The music for the anime was quite well chosen I believe, although nothing outstanding that would make you want to keep listening to it outside of the anime itself. The artworks are fairly good as well, but would've benefited from a little more time to get that smoother texture and brighter colours in general.

Overall Enjoyment: 7
I did enjoy this anime even with all of its flaws. I do recommend giving it a watch, but at the same time be warned that it will feel really rushed and you will not have a lot of time to be able to appreciate the situations and get to know the characters really well.

Recommendation:
From what other people tell me, they say the Manga is a lot better and ads in elements of comedy, as well as goes more in depth and is a lot more enjoyable overall

Kimi no Iru Machi takes a look at the complex nature of relationships, and human desire by focusing on a childhood romance, and the complications and obstacles that the relationship has to endure. What this anime should be applauded for, is its look at how fragile our desires can be, and the cruelty and selfishness that come as a result of it. Of course, this also means that the characters are often unlikable and frustrating. This isn't an anime where you really like the characters, and if anything at all, it's more of a study on the ups and downs of relationships, and ... the cruelty of love.

This is to say, this isn't the kind of material that is particularly enjoyable. But that doesn't make it bad by default. Even stories that aren't enjoyable, have legitimate merit as art. Afterall, not all romance stories are happy, and often in life relationships have hurdles and don't always end with happiness. These stories certainly should be told. Where Kimi no Iru Machi fails is in the final act and the overall pacing of the story. Because the story moves too quickly, there isn't enough depth given to the the main character's choice at the end, and it leaves the audience feeling frustrated and angry with the main characters. This again, doesn't make it bad. But the Manga tackled this subject a lot more seriously, and showed the consequences for this decision, and the new hurdles that arise when choosing your desires over others happiness.

Essentially, the story just leaves you feeling terrible for the person that gets hurt, and frustrated and angry with the two lead characters. They chose their desires over everything else, despite the consequences of it effecting people beyond them. Which again is fine, but the anime doesn't really give us enough weight to the decisions being made. We don't even get to spend time with the characters after the fact to understand these consequences. And the final blow is that they essentially sweep it all under the rug, and try to pass it off as happiness trumping over everything, despite the consequences. Which again, fine, but we needed to see those consequences to understand the impact our desires can have on others, as well as why these characters are willing to suffer these consequences to fulfill their desires.

Instead of looking at the impact of the main characters actions, the character that is impacted by this the most says that her love is so strong, she'll wait for the main character if he ever breaks up with the girl that was chosen over her. This on some level, looks at the idea that we can't always choose or control our desires, even if they will never be fulfilled or reciprocated. It's the cruelty of love. But the rushed pacing makes it feel like a cheap ploy to release the main character from his actions and set up an ending that is more digestible. However, this has the opposite effect, as it makes it feel like the subject matter isn't being taken seriously enough.

Overall this anime has an interesting subject matter, but it doesn't take the time needed to properly study it. This ultimately leaves us with a bunch of a unlikable characters, and a story that isn't particularly enjoyable. However, the story is brave in its subject matter, I just wish it was more brave in going further with it (even if it makes for an uncomfortable experience), because these stories are worth telling. I would have preferred the Anime to have pushed the uncomfortable aspects of love, and left us with an ending that makes us question our own desires. Instead it comes off like a story between two people that make bad decisions, and ultimately burn everyone down around them for the sake of their love.

Please read through this before u skip on this story just for its not so positive reviews and rating.

(I am not an active social media person and this might actually be my one and only public comment/review ever. so please bear thru with this. Also please try to feel through the review rather than going by a word by word meaning because thats what this show is also about)

FEEL. The best word to decribe this show. It makes you feel so many emotions during its showtime and keeps you glued to watch the next scene. I am going to say this here and now, ... you might or might not(probably the later) like this show, but it will definetily be a worthy watch, atleast it was for me.
The characters aint perfect, they lie to both themselves and others, they cheat and they dont act as MC, Villain or SideKicks. The hearbreaks and rejection is raw, not all the time is remedy shown for the one who is suffering. Characters get hurt, just for falling in love. And you feels all those emotions with them. The story aint perfect, actually its neither good nor bad, its just there for you to watch it. But is it worth a watch? Definetily. Somehow this show feels so real that it might just take place in real life. The love depicted in the show just feels so true: slowly growing closer towards eachother, realising your true feelings but still being unable to show them, unable to move on after being rejected and re ignition of it after couple years when you go through a memorial incident that happened in the past. I might forget the character names, the place names, hell even the anime itself(tbh this is why wrote this review so i might rememeber to rewatch it later in life by finding this review in my mal history), but i m pretty sure i am going to remember this story in this way "there was this guy , he met her, she loved him, then this happened and then that...".

I am going to say this again, you need to first watch it to grow to hate it and even then you wont regret watching it, its that kind of show.

First of all, let me start this review off with a question: Do you hate indecisive characters who have trouble choosing which person they love much like the characters of “School Days” and “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien?” If the answer is ‘yes,’ then I recommend staying away from Kimi no Iru Machi. If ‘no’ or if you’re unsure, then you can decide for yourself whether you want to watch this or not.

“A Town Where You Live” is a romantic drama that differs from the norm when it comes to adapting manga into anime. Most anime start right from the beginning of the manga and proceed ... from there. I have not read the manga so I don’t know exactly where it starts relative to the rest of the story, but this anime starts from a later arc and instead uses many flashbacks to fill in the important details that happened prior to present events. This makes for some confusing switches in time periods and also results in a lack of connection to characters, especially the ones that mostly only appear in flashbacks.

The story of the anime begins with Kirishima Haruto, a country boy who is moving to Tokyo as he chases after the girl he loves, Eba Yuzuki. He leaves behind his friends and one of his other former crushes as he ventures alone into the big city to start his new life and his search for Eba. With him, he has brought a necklace which he hopes to give to her. Eba is a girl who is originally from Tokyo but due to family problems, bonded with Haruto on the few occasions she visited his hometown (one time was fairly short when they were young and another time she actually lived at his house for an extended period of time). Haruto starts living with his older sister, Aoi, and soon meets several other friends who go to his new high school, like his new female neighbor Mishima Asuka and the upbeat motorcycle-riding Kazama Kyousuke. Haruto begins his new everyday high school life while continuing to be an amazing cook and, most importantly, searching for Eba.

Aside from the inconsistent rhythm of the plot due to the many flashbacks which sometimes encompass entire episodes, I felt the plot also suffered from the characters' personalities. Haruto (as I mentioned at the beginning) is your typical indecisive male protagonist. Because of his indecisiveness, he ends up hurting not only the girls he is involved with, but himself and a few other people connected to the girls. Eba isn’t much better. She is also very indecisive and constantly tries to push Haruto away despite it still being blatantly obvious that she still has at least some feelings. These problems accumulate throughout the course of the show and end (in my opinion) with a rather unsatisfying and unrealistic ending.

As for the art, it’s unimpressive to say the least. The character designs are maybe the worst part of it as every single character’s face is just copied and pasted with a different hair style and color as well as different eye colors. Because all of their facial structures are exactly the same, every character has the same stupid looking smile (I think this is the first time I’ve genuinely disliked any anime characters’ smiles). As for the backgrounds, they are very colorful and add a lot of effect to the scenes which sometimes helps them but sometimes is overused and ends up making some scenes laughably overdramatic. By that I mean that there are only so many times when gusts of wind, lightning bugs, and sakura blossoms can show up at the perfect time before it seems to be more than a coincidence. The scenery around Tokyo and Haruto’s hometown however are much better and during the regular scenes, the scenery is much nicer and more realistic (as far as anime goes anyway).

The soundtrack consists of mostly instrumental pieces that sound generic in a romantic drama. None of the tracks stand out and the OP and ED are just average as well. The voice acting is impressive though as there are several different accents which (I assume since I don’t understand Japanese) the voice actors do well. It’s definitely clear even to a westerner like me that these accents are about as different as American and British ones.

Kimi no Iru Machi tries a little too hard to be a dramatic romance story. Whether it comes to the indecisive characters or the strange art style, the show just falls flat in almost every possible way and is nothing more than forgettable. I recommend skipping this or maybe trying the manga instead (I know I’m recommending something I have not read, but I would recommend starting at the beginning of the story instead of dealing with flashbacks as that seems to me like it would work a little better). Still as I said in the beginning, do not watch this if the thing you hate most in the world is indecisive characters in romance stories, because this will annoy you to no end if that is the case.

Has it ever happened to you? Sitting down to write something but you can't really seem to organize your thoughts? I have no clue whatsoever as to how to approach this one.. This anime to me is as strange as the vast universe we live in and i certainly don't mean that in a good way, as you may have gathered by my rating.

At first i thought there was something wrong with my neuron system, maybe my brain's wiring wasn't allowing me to enjoy this piece of art in a way that would.....Touch my soul or me strings or some other slang romance enthusiasts like ... to use every other sentence. So i went to the hospital and had a doctor check me...The results were terrifying...I was in the terminal stages of bullshit intolerance and i've been told that this is an incurable disease but it won't affect my day to day interactions with people or animals for that matter.

I left the hospital devastated, i had no fags, no money to buy some and i had parked my car 2 blocks away from the damn hospital. So as i was walking i tried to come in terms with this new disease of mine, tried to embrace it..So i thought to myself that all is not lost, i shall beat this fucker in the ass and be a normal kid again..I came back home, poured a drink and went to google, my old pal who knows everything about everyone, and suggested i should try a shock therapy..That sounded dangerous and to be honest i like a bit of danger. I'm not what you'd call and andrenaline junkie but i quite fancy the idea of chemicals causing my reptilian brain to go berserk.

Of course this being a shock therapy wasn't a piece of cake..More like a piece of concrete falling from a 3 story building and hitting you on the head leaving you for absolutely dead.

And this is where A Town Where You Live comes in...From the very first episode it attacks your senses like aids attacks your immune system and if you don't know what aids does to you, why don't ya ask Freddie Mercury how that went? Well you can't cause he's dead but anyway.

And the first wave of attack comes in the form of animation..From the very first seconds the animation was like a night out at Vegas with a tablet full of acid. You are still able to see things but you see in waves of blurriness and with no sense of real focus...And of course hallucinations are a nice touch as well. What i want to say is that the animation is close to atrocious and weirdly colored and blurry and it gave me eyes herpes. The characters themselves are well drawn don't get me wrong but everything else is not good, at the very best it's basic. I'm not sure if it was a copy issue or anything of that sort but it seemed wayward to me.

The second wave comes in the form of the characters and the story hitting you in turns for maximum impact, maximum amounts of vomit and massive internal injuries. The story goes like this, once upon a time there was a boy named Haruto and lived with his parents in the countryside..One fateful day a girl named Yuzuki came to live with them..No it's not like that you idiots get your mind out of the gutter..She was the daughter of a friend of Haruto's father or something like that..Anyway Haruto is plain and simple an annoying twat. He treats her like crap and for no obvious reason other than him being an asshole. Sure one can make the case that Yuzu is a klutz and a helpless case who can't do anything on her own, from walking in a straight line to breathing without the help of a special committee. So Haru has to help her with everything..Keyword here being "help"...Simply put he is one of those guys who go after broken people so he can fix them in the hopes of them not leaving him.....So one thing leads to another and they ended up together? I'm still not sure on the details but that's what happens..She then leaves for Tokyo and after some time of long distance relationshiping she found someone else.

Is anyone here surprised? Nope? Well hear this and be amazed at the idiocy that this anime has to offer...Haru being a creep and a stalker among other things decided to MOVE TO TOKYO to find her...Got that?

From that point on some insanily stupid stuff happen and Haru jumps from girl to girl while always being in love with Yuzu and still being an obnoxious fuck with no moral restriction whatsoever.......Other characters you say? Well yeah silly there are other characters..His hot sister being one and Yuzu's redhead hot sister as well..Oh yeah there was another one who went by the name of Kazama and he, He was a damn likable character. He was an aquaintance of Haru's sister and they became friends..And guess what? They killed him off...But before they did that they had to make him the 3rd wheel and the one Yuzu dated while in Tokyo.

So animation that can kill life organisms 2 galaxies away, a story made possible by an angry teenager on drugs and characters that are as believable and relatable as Spongebob..Music and VA was....There..

Now i know this review wasn't as long or as full of details as you'd expect but i simply cannot put every single thing that is wrong with this anime cause the servers of the internet would explode..Do you want that? But then again i'll give this anime the pro of being at least a bit realistic..I mean people are shit and they do shitty things and they use each other to get what they want and they fuck you in the proccess..That's an unwritten rule of human relations. On that front it did well, mind you that's not saying much since most times it ditches realism for downright idiocy but at least it tried and i'm a nice guy!

I can't and won't reccomend this to anyone, even to people that i hate with a burning passion. But then again there are people out there with little to no sense so don't blame me, blame the world we live in and the society like everyone seems to do these days.

Ive watched this anime far back when it aired but today I decided to unleash my thoughts in this review here firstly the anime was a pile of trash and I am going to explain why:

The way they portrayed everything was so negative and sappy that I didnt know wether to cry or laugh, it was like watching those soap operas on TV .. It felt so rushed and half assed.. In one moment you have Haruto giving up and going home with his ass between his legs and then he has this sudden realization and starts running towards , guess who, EBA to spout ... some random shit from her house door, only to see in the window a peeking Eba with a regretfull face.. This repeated imense times troughout the anime and the Manga too.

But I guess its just Seo Kouji godly writing making the highlights again.. In case you dont know this men was the one who created Suzuka wich guess what its like Kimi no iru Machi all over again, only the characters are slightly different.. Apparently Suzuka and KNIM are even from the same freaking story line.. Fucking amazing.. Its like Seo is making fun of its audience wiggling his troll dick around like a madman

But in this case its not entirely Seo´s fault.. The studio who adapted KNIM was GONZO .. One of the worst studios out there right next to Deen and Pierrot (Imo) .. And has I said above the anime was very rushed and you want to know why!? Because shrinking a 270 chapter Manga into a 12 episode anime (NOTE: EACH EPISODE HAS HARDLY 18 MIN) is fucking stupid.. An anime that had the potential to have atleast 26 episodes and then they could release 2 OVA with the aftermath to close it in a soothing way, but its Gonzo so we shouldn´t expect much.

Even so its not like the Source material was good.. The story of KNIM is very infamous for its twists and forced drama.. The characters arent necessary bland and motivationless, actually quite opposite however they are so hateable for their stupid ass decisions and "the power of bad writting" behind that you end up like Umm what the hell? .. Midway trough Haruto forms a rivalry with a guy in the verge of dying only to accomplish his goals leaving the viewers thinking .. WOW what an asshole..

Like seriously the way that this anime takes itself is so laughable on the insight that anyone with a brain would bash it.. And despite all this I was definitely surprised that I managed to end the series, more so that I was actually entertained and fell in love with it in a weird way.. It was non-sensical and just teen drama at its best.. #BLAME SEO

Kimi No Iru Machi

When i first time watched the first episode, i felt like i'm going to watch a real romance anime, but then everything started to go a little wrong for me. Actually the beggining is making you to continue watching as long as you'll recognize every single character.

Story.
This anime has one of the most wonderful love stories ever. It shows how strong can be loving personality. And shows that love is stronger than any type of friendship. When friend challenges ill friend for his former girlfriend, that's really unbelievable. Actually if it was me, i would let him to die thinking that he ... has won. The end of the storyline was wonderful, but i was hoping they would show Asuka in the end with someone handsome and made for her.

Art.
Can't say anything good or bad about art, i think it was ok. Because in some animes because of bad art you star to hate that anime.

Sound.
Everything was beautiful, and sound is not an exepction.

Characters.
Lead characters
I don't think they were made for each other. Even though when they were together they were making the cutest scenes of the whole anime, but they were really not made for each other. I don't know. I feel like Haruto and Asuka would be wonderful couple if Haruto loved her.
About Supporting characters. None of them had his/her own storyline here. Some animes also show stories and loves of supporting characters, but here no one actually deserved it, because i think everything was based on lead ones.

Overall.
I'm really happy i've watched this anime because i've had 1000s of feelings watching this.
9/10

This is a review for Kimi no Iru Machi, the TV series that ran in 2013. Before that, 2 episodes called Tasogare Kousaten (Twilight Intersection) were released. Two OVA came after this in 2014. If you want to watch all of them, I suggest starting with Tasogare Kousaten, then this, then the 2 OVAs. Tasogare Kousanten comes a bit before this in the story, and the 2 OVAs adapt chapters that were released later on.

Before I start, I would like to mention that this is another review of Kimi no Iru Machi from a manga reader. Actually, I wonder if anyone DIDN'T read the manga ... before the anime. It feels like a lot of people read the manga, heard about the anime and told their friends not to watch it afterwards.

It is by far my lowest rated anime on MAL, and there is a reason for that. This anime feels lackluster. It fails in all categories to deliver a minimum of what is expected from an anime to make in enjoyable.

Let's start with the story, for which I gave it a 5. The only redeeming thing about the story is that it stays the same as the source material. What is wrong about it? First, we skip all of Hiroshima to skip straight to Tokyo. You heard right, we skip a third of the manga and 90% of character development and go straight to the second part of the manga. Some of the chapters from Hiroshima were shown as flashback, but not nearly enough to understand why the events in this series are unfolding. There's also the fact that this anime wanted to cover the most chapters possible, so makes for a very rushed story with essential scenes left behind. The ending also felt incomplete, as there are a lot of things that are left unresolved in the manga at this point.

The art is a 6. It was actually an 8 until Episode 12. The characters looks from the manga are well adapted, but the animation is weird. The opening is one of the parts where it looks the weirdest, and it's the only part you have to watch 12 times. The center part of the animation is usually nice, but anything that's a bit peripheral to it or in the background looks horribly rushed. The still frames are beautiful, and the ending does a nice job of blending in the author's drawings with some photography in the background. One of the finer points that bothered me were when the characters' mouths stopped moving for some unexplained reason during random scenes, and black and white still frames that started showing up during the last few episodes, a lot of them in episode 12.

The sound deserves a measly 3. The music felt really out of place in this. The OP and ED are terrible and fail to set the right mood, if any, for the anime. The voice acting for Haruto was nice, with a thick accent and an unpolished vocabulary, it gave a vibe similar to an "redneck" only a bit softer. The other VA had nothing special, and were lacking a lot of emotion during key scenes. It felt like watching two animated dolls talk to each other.

As for the characters, I won't drag on it. It gets a 4 mostly because of the shortcomings of the story. The fact that they skip straight to Tokyo does not allow for any development that would have been necessary to understand the characters' decision and motivations. Some of the characters, like Asukara, are briefly introduced then swept aside. Same goes for Akari and Kanzaki, that were more present during Hiroshima. Also, a certain key character that has a key role in the anime has not appeared, and it's a shame because it explains a lot of things between Haruto and Asuka. Introducing it would probably not have given it enough time to make it to a conclusion within 12 episodes, so I can understand its absence.

The last criteria is enjoyment, which got a 3. I feel like this is really brought down by the fact that I expected an anime that would be as enjoyable as its source material, which it was not. It is not the first time that I watched an anime based on a manga I already read, but it's the first time I am so disappointed with it. I usually like romantic stuff, both comedy and drama, but what I got here was useless drama and akward scenes.

Overall it deserves a 4. It is an anime adaptation, but it's most certainly not a good one. It does have some novelty elements but it is far outhweighed by the overall lack of quality. If you read the manga, you don't need to watch this, and you'll be happier if you don't. If you haven't but like seinen, romance and drama, pick up the manga instead.

I'm not sure why, but here I am, writing a review for an anime I really hate. Lets go through it one by one, mybe some ppl out there like it...i don't.


Story:
The story is way to rushed. There are huge timeskips, with character-ralations changing quite drastically without any explanation, so that in and of itself is a huge minus in my book.

A strange undying love is used to justify toxic relationships....big minus

Character conflict isn't resolved, the opposing character either gets killed of, or just magically changes for the better (looking at you little sister)

... THERE IS NO KATHARSIS.
Like, that's not necesarily bad, but... with show's like this it's the only redeeming feature. Imagine school-days but the MC survives....f*ckin BS.


Art:
Good Lord...what happened in Episode 2 at the End? I have NEVER seen an anime with a voice-acting performance so out of sync with the animatin. NEVER. The rest is ok, but nothing spectacular.

Sound:
As we call it in german: Schnulzig. It's cheesy af. Opening and Ending are catchy af thou, so that is nice. Also it's a lovy-dovy series, so it does what it should. Props.

Characters:
Bland, no development, rushed.
I like that they included (some) dialects, which was nice. Though that point could have been stressed a lot more.
Apart from that nothing sticks out, except the toxicity of Eva and her little Sister. As well as the weird mix of decisiveness (moves to tokyo for his love) and indecisiveness (just gives up on her for half the show) of the MC.

Enjoyment:
I literally suffered through this. The story dragged on, the art wasn't good enough to be enjoyed...I was really bored.

Overall:
Don't watch it. Just watch school days, it's better.
Or watch 5cm a second, if you want a "realistic depiction of love".

This show is hot sh*t, fight me

I know a lot of people say to read the manga because it's "better", but it's for good reason.

People who haven't read the manga may see us as some original source elitists, but you will never be able to experience everything the mangaka had to offer and his style of writing drama, through an the anime that plows through entire arcs within episodes.

The manga was like a roller coaster of feels that spanned through years of years of Haruto's life. However, the anime is just like a compiled highlight reel of all of that, and because of it, the effect is not as great.

Kimi no ... iru machi is a manga that a lot of other "romance" and "harem series don't really like to go through. It goes through relationships and breakups until he finds the one who he really feels that completes his life. This is shown through spanning arcs in the manga and you can really feel the sense of living his life as he goes through highschool, moving, graduating, and then living on his own.

Sadly, the anime only has 12 episodes and it becomes difficult to capture that sense of time passing by.

Finally, I'm not saying NOT to watch the anime, but it would be great if you all gave the manga a chance. I've read the manga twice and it made go through a variety of emotions and sometimes making me flip tables literally xD. I feel like it would be fun to share that same experience, so that's why I took the time to write this up!

Happy reading everyone!

Thanks,
-morekawaiipls

Disclaimer: I am not reviewing the manga, nor will I be basing this review on the accuracy of this story when compared to the source material, I am simply writing a review for the anime.

Now obviously, the very nature of reviews are anecdotal, but I hope that you will bypass all the other reviews that rate this show low, because to be frank people are f**king idiots and incredibly biased, don't listen to them, listen to me, the smart one. Okay, now that we have that out of the way, lets begin the review.

Reasons You Should Watch This Show: The realism of ... the relationships and situations portrayed in this series consisting of only 12 episodes and 4 OVA's are relatable and thought provoking. If you're anything like me you try to find as much meaning in a story as possible, and in my opinion the best selling point of this anime is in the way the story is told, and the ability to sway your emotions throughout the anime, as well as make you question the actions taken by the characters and whether or not they are the wrong or right ones; the ones you would take had it been you in their situation.

Story: The story isn't perfect, but it's far from bad. The story consists of the MC trying to figure out his heart and the lengths he's willing to go for the girl he loves. I really enjoyed the concept of the story and the amount of meaning that can be found within the plot. One issue some people had is that the story was a bit rushed compared to the manga, and to a certain extent I agree that at times it did feel rushed, but nothing too bad. 7/10

Characters: One of the best parts of this show is the characters, as the story goes on all of the major characters are developed. As they get older they act different towards each other and show their feelings differently. Just like most anime's though, the MC makes a lot of stupid decisions that could have easily been avoided, and although the characters are great, due to the 12 episode run time you miss out on a lot of potential character development. Imo though, I think this anime did the best job it could do on developing characters within such a short period. In addition you have 4 OVA's focused on tying up loose ends and providing extra backstory. 9/10

Sound/Music: The soundtrack written by Keiichi Oku fits the atmosphere nicely and there are plenty of great songs that stand out in their own right. The OP and ED are bomb as well. As far as voice acting goes, the Japanese actors did a phenomenal job portraying their characters. 8/10

Visuals/Animation: The art is very unique and is very pretty at times, though I noticed that the animation can be lazy. For example, they won't animate the characters talking if it's at the end of a sentence and the camera pans back to them. If you are familiar with the Monogatari series, the animation is very similar but not as "edgy". 8/10

Enjoyment: Overall I related a lot with the main character and the decisions he ended up making. I really enjoyed the way the story was told, it was predictable at times but it also had a lot of unpredictable moments that had me eager to watch the next episode to find out what would happen. If you're into romance and are looking for something to relate to, this anime is for you.

Story: 7/10
Characters: 9/10
Sound/Music: 8/10
Visuals/Animation: 8/10
Enjoyment: 10/10

Final Rating: 8/10

#6

This anime has made me angry is so many ways. Its like the most depressing thing ever, and there is absolutely no sympathy towards the main character. There was not a single instance where the main character didn’t feel like a complete dick. Just because you want or miss something, doesn’t mean that you need it. I can’t help but feel bad for a certain character. The ending and decisions made throughout the show are so disappointing and inhuman to be honest. The story is poopoo, and the characters are all whiny babies. Boo hoo that things didn’t go the way they seemed like they ... should’ve. Everything about this anime just reeks. Even my internet didn’t want me to watch it.

Horrible decisions masked by depressing outcomes makes this anime close to unbearable.
2/10

Spoilers at the end. I'll make this short and straight to the point. I despise this anime. I only like two characters in it and one of them was supporting. The ending was beyond the realm of dreadful. They should just rename this to "School Days 2." Yes, the ending was that bad. The MC is about as interesting and as smart as the many craps I took while watching this. Oh, also, about 3 episodes are SOLELY flashbacks. I found myself skipping over them too, because they held no relevance to the plot. While they gave an idea as to the relationship between the ... MC and his female dog of a crush, they also served no purpose and could easily have been cut out without confusing the watcher. It has good art, but that's all. It's a waste of time to even fully review this garbage. Save yourself a few hours and don't watch this wreck of an anime.

(SPOILERS) [+Large Your Lie In April spoiler]

Oh, by the way. Did I mention how the MC's new best friend stole the MC's girlfriend from him unknowingly, and that the MC challenged said best friend to get her back? Yeah, also, best friend is dying and has surgery so that they can try to have an "even" playing field, but guess what? They pull a your lie in April and the surgery fails. You know what they do after that? Timeskip. Oh, and he suddenly forgot his original crush and dates the MUCH more likeable character, only for original crush to come back and ruin everything. Long story short, he breaks up with the perfect girl he had for Ms. "I broke up with you for a guy after hearing he was dying but now that he's dead i love you again"
(END OF SPOILERS)

Seriously. I despise this. I'm not even going to give each category a rating, you can just look at these and assume what i would say.

Story: 2
Art: 7
Sound: 4
Character: 1
Enjoyment: 2 (For Asuka.)
Overall: 2

Kimi no Iru Machi has a pretty cliché plot, the one that had been used many times before, and still, this anime manages to make it look even worse. The MAL information is missing two very important things the genre Ecchi and the theme Harem, so just to warn you it is full of that.

There is only one thing that I personally, in a completely subjective way, is Asuka, She was cute and nothing else. Now talking about the dislikes there are in abundance starting with the plot. It was a pretty basic guy running after a girl that he loved in childhood, nothing new ... there. The progression of the plot was slow and the characters were shallow. The story had many turns from a love story to a harem and then going ntr at some points not only that but it manages to add a time jump too. The things that I hated the most were unnecessary thigh and panty shots that pop up after each minute and made no contribution to the situation at all.

The anime made the worst plot turn into a downright abomination by making it not only a very basic love triangle but also kept adding new girls as the story progressed. The whole writing that went into the anime was pretty cheap, like they didn't even try to make an average story but just wrote whatever popped up first in their mind. Character development was laughable and whatever little development they made was heavily dependent on them going out with a new character and coming back to the old memories and it repeated a lot.

The guy is shown as a nice guy so he doesn't want to hurt any of the girls and starts his ntr harem that is the point where many of the watchers feel compelled to drop it. The story had no constant theme it fluctuated a lot from love story to love triangle then to a harem and lastly to ntr. The camera angles were absolutely unnecessary, showing panties while the characters are talking about a serious topic is not something that adds any value, and showing the thighs of each girl more than twenty times is also just to keep the audience only for ecchi and not for the plot of the anime.

Also, the anime follows all the basic Romance arcs like boring fireworks just to make memories and repeatedly uses them for bad character development. The rain when there is a sad scene gives the audience a bad cinematic and finally the breakup and they made it even worse in this anime. I still am baffled why the anime is rated this high while being nothing but a mixture of the worst thing.

This is the worst piece of art I have watched to date. It is an absolute abomination on planet Earth, I would never recommend such badly written and directed anime to anyone.

Kimi No Iru Machi or A Town Where You Live in English is a 13-episode anime series adapted from a manga. Our main protagonist something year old Haruto Kirishima transfers to Tokyo in pursuit of childhood friend and girlfriend Eba Yuzuki. Eba unexpectedly leaves Haruto’s home town Hiroshima and after a short while broke up with Haruto for unknown reasons, Haruto eventually tracks down Eba and demands an explanation for breaking up.

That’s about as much of the story I can give away without spoiling it. A Town Where You Live was released back in the summer of 2013 and was the last series of the ... summer line up that I wanted to watch. I only read the story briefly and I just assumed it would be a complicated love triangle, turns out I was right. So let’s go in to some detail.

When watching the first episode I was drawn in entirely by the character designs and animation, it was very shiny and a visual treat for the eyes. I thought that regardless of the story the visuals would make up for it. I was wrong. The story is clichéd and soap oriented which made it hard to watch at times. (A soap is a weekly television drama for those who don't know)

Then comes the god-awful characters that mess up the show entirely for me (with the exception of a few) I will start off with the biggest and main problem of the series which is Eba Yuzuki, she is undoubtedly the worst female character I have ever had the displeasure of watching for over 4 hours. Not only is she the dullest, most mind numbingly boring females leads I have ever seen, she is also one of the biggest bitches in this show! (Granted it was only her and her step-sister)

We also have our main protagonist Haruto, who needs a slap to help him get over his simplistic and shitty ex-girlfriend. Haruto has a common personality; he just seems like your common everyday nice guy, who is also lucky enough to get the attention of a few female characters in the show, but never acts on it. He has good cooking skills and his friends encourage him to become a chef, though he see’s cooking as more of a hobby. (Essentially, he's a boring twat)

Other mentionable characters include Kyouske Kazama a very cheerful guy who dreams of becoming a motorbike racer. His dreams are unlikely to happen because of his illness. (Anaemia) Kazama became friends with Haruto after giving Haruto some words of inspiration and encouragement not to give up on the woman he loves. Haruto finds out later that Kazama is dating Eba and the two begin a rivalry to win over Eba, the two are still very good friends though.

Finally we have Asuka Mishima who is Haruto’s neighbor when he moves to Tokyo to live with his sister. She and Haruto first met when a misunderstood Asuka thought he was a thief and attacked him with a baseball bat. The two eventually became friends and later began to date one another.

I don’t know whether the creator does it intentionally to make the two main characters so unlike-able. The main character is incredibly plain and generic. The supporting cast does a much better job; they are much more easy to relate to and have at least some desirable character traits.

Probably the greatest thing about this show was the animation. I mean Wow! When looking back at Gonzo’s previous work like Saikano or Full Metal Panic you can just see the drastic change in beauty. The one thing you cant fault about this series is the animation.

The sound of this anime was good I was content with the plate of music put in front of me, the opening theme is very good and I didn’t feel compelled to skip it after so many episodes. The ending theme was also likeable but I skipped it every now and then.

The reasons why I felt that this series was bad because of its mundane characters, overuse of a love-triangle storyline and the flawed execution. This series was not trying to attempt anything new, the pacing of the series was not to the right standard which can annoy the viewer and the only redeeming quality of this anime was the animation. This series was likeable at times with moments such as: the relationship between Haruto and Asuka plus the rivalry/friendship between Haruto and Kazama. Sadly those moments were insignificant on the train wreck that was ‘A Town Where You Live’.

Overall I did not like this anime it has one redeemable feature (animation style) that is not worth watching for this shitty, overused and stereotypical love triangle/love dilemma that occurs within this show. I would not recommend this to anyone unless they are fans of drama/romance genres. This show deserves a score of 5/10.

Thanks for reading guys

I honestly love the Author of the manga it all started when i watched Suzuka when it got to the end i decided to read the manga to you know get a feel of how it really ends and it was amazing I read Fuuka the squeal it was great. Then i saw this and instead of reading the manga i decided to watch the anime i was extremely disipointed i was bored, confused and discontented from the character. Why BECAUSE THEY START THE ANIME OVER 100 CHAPTERS IN TO THE STORY! Why would you think that it was a good idea to skip the ... most important development to your characters that sets up the part you adapted and i dont care that it has an OVA you shouldn't have to watch the OVA to get a little more clarification to what the hell is going i have never been so insulted by an adaptation that i didn't even frigging read. I can enjoy Tokyo Ghoul root A I like Chunnibyo demo ga shita season 2 but this just pisses me of i will probally hate this less when i read the manga but that shouldn't be a necessity

Trust me this is going to be the best anime you WILL ever watch. Ignore the other review they are just bots. After watching this anime my eyes have opened, there was not one episode that I was disappointed with. I'm pretty sure this anime will be considered one of the best of the decade, no best of the entire history of anime. Trust me, with this anime you will be able to find your true goals in life. I want to and I will become exactly like the protagonist in this amazing anime. You will love this, you must love this.

NOTE: If there’s source material I am unfamiliar with it and cannot be bothered to check.When I read the synopsis, I was expecting something with a little more mystery or dynamic. What I got was my third most loathed thing in anime, inexplicable poor decision making. So I’m into the idea of a guy and a girl falling in love and she vanishes on him as swiftly as she came into his life, and him following her to Tokyo. But…
Long story short my issue with this series is it doesn't explore the psychology of the characters. Why are they making these decisions that sane people ... wouldn't? Not once is a satisfactory answer given for their behavior. “Well the power of love conquers all.” Actually it's depicted here as selfish and​ mean. I could forgive that if they explained why.
[spoiler]
Haruto and Yuzuki love each other and there's an obstacle. But once the obstacle is gone they don't get together. And then, 1 - 2 years later the second they see each other again their feelings are rekindled. So, which is it Haruto? Drop everything and chase the girl you love or understand the reasons you two can't be together? The same goes for Yuzuki just in reverse. When they can be together, they're not. And they only pursue each other when they shouldn't. And they do this with no regard for any other person's feelings when they’re involved. It's just tedious to watch.
[/spoiler]
The art, music and voice acting are par for the genre and era. Honestly I can recommend it for those who love melodrama and tales of unrequited love. But I would recommend any other romance anime I've seen over this one.

This is easily one of the worst series(both anime and manga) I've ever partaken in.

It basically just fawns over the idea of recklessly chasing after something that you know is wrong and hurts everyone around you. It hints an idea that the moral of the story is about maturing past poor decisions and making the right choice in life... only for the story to fall into contrivances just to keep the god-chosen girl as the winner no matter the circumstances.

The manga is not just double as guilty of this as the anime, but it's 3-4 times as guilty. It's an absolute dumpster fire of plot ... contrivances.

You'd think that this was based on a bad visual novel because of how bad the story is. But in fact there are objectively many "bad" visual novels with much better adaptions. I'd go so far as to say there are bad visual novels better than the manga in general simply from their basic idea and the ability to enjoy how cheesy or bad they are.

This series is just... a dumpster fire about the childish fantasy that "Everything works out in the end". Even "Moe" anime's can get the basic premise of how life works and people grow as individuals, but this anime refuses that concept and tries to give an instance where being a complete jackass works out through bad writing.

Don't touch it. Just... don't. Not even the manga because it's much worse in every aspect except character development, which exponentially makes everything else worse as a result.