I caught up on ef-Melo belatedly (as usual) but with a curious and interesting sense of closure. I don’t think it’s on par with the first season but that I think isn’t the point: I can see where Omo was coming from in thinking about how the two seasons were pretty much complimentary as opposed to be being simply series and sequel and judged on those terms alone. While a sequel can rarely stand alone separate from its predecessor, this one seemed to add more weight and significance to what went before and giving it fresh meaning restrospectively, in addition to merely continuing the story chronologically. It worked better for me because I marathoned the last few episodes in one sitting too.

Listen to his song!

I’m guessing the title refers to Kuze’s occupation and how his work brought certain characters together but it’s as much of a tale of memories as the first season was when you think about how much time it spent in flashback mode, connecting events of the past with those of the present. In both story threads the male lead is stuck in a no-man’s-land with memories holding him back from appreciating what the present holds; the idea of music being a muse or redemption is of secondary importance next to the importance of memories one cannot, or does not wish to, forget. Because of this I think arguing that ef-Melo is somehow inferior to its predecessor is purely academic when they are two parts of the same damn thing.

Even more so than its first season, the second part of the ef -Tales franchise demands a lot of investment in terms of time and patience. The formal, almost awkward, dialogue and the unusual imagery don’t exactly make it the most accessible of shows and for all my admiration of SHAFT and the Shinbo-isms I was beginning to wonder if Oonuma and co had missed the mark on this one. I was having trouble keeping track of the relationships, I wasn’t sure what the visual filters was trying to tell me; I was finding it difficult to get into it as a whole and felt like some half-witted peasant.

A role reversal for these two, for a change

In the same way as Kitano’s Dolls, which was very stylised and reliant on symbolism, I don’t think the events of …A Tale of Melodies should be taken literally or at face value but this reliance on symbolism makes it feel stilted and artificial at times; I was having a problem with connecting, or feeling emotionally involved, with what was going on. ef has always been like that of course, but the first time around for whatever reason the characters were quirkier and more engaging. I had to wait for the sixth episode of the second to feel any sense of connection – but that moment where my train of thought fell in sync with the narrative made up for, well, pretty much everything really.