Hitohira

Category: Shoujo, Coming of age, Com-dram.
Warning: do not attempt to view when dehydrated as it may lead to dry sobbing.
Episodes: 12
Year: 2007


While the anime as a whole isn't very impressive, it shines in rare moments and manages to evoke a certain sense of nostalgia. This is an anime about growing up and coming to terms with the changes that are consistent with that.

The synopsis is as follows:
Asai Mugi is a Freshman high school student who is a complete introvert. Whenever someone talks to her, she freezes up and is unable to communicate. Due to serendipitous events, she ends up being a member of the Drama Research club and is forced to act. Can she overcome her stage fright and put on a great performance to save the drama research club?

The first 8 episodes or so felt a little boring, but they were necessary to set up the conclusion in the final 4. Overall, this anime made me laugh a little, cry a little and made me reflect on my own changes and growth over the past 10 years. Although this isn't the best anime that I've ever seen, I would reccomend it as something to watch to pass the time.

That being said, the story is pretty good, but the animation is a little lacking from what I would expect in 2007. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but never terrible. The character models were interesting, but nothing really 'new' was done with them. I was tempted to reduce my grade to a 7 because they included a blonde girl with pig-tails and I'm reaaaallly getting sick of that character model, but I let it go.

I'd give it a C+

Here's the breakdown

Animation: 6
Story: 8
Music: 7
Char. Models: 8
X Factor: 2

Score: 7.75