To Heart Volume 1

To Heart Volume 1

Hawkeye

Akari and Hiroyuki have been friends since the moment they first met when they were little kids and ever since that moment they’ve been inseparable. To Heart follows these high school kids and their two friends on their every day adventures.

Hiroyuki is a kind hearted guy with a gruff exterior. He tries to act like he doesn’t care about anything but his true colors always shine through. Akari is the classic sweet girl who never gets really angry and of course has the biggest crush in Hiro. In volume one we watch the group go to concerts, to karaoke, they even explore the occult and a martial arts club! Their lives are a surprise and variety of fun.

There wasn’t a whole lot of plot. But there were some interesting character dynamics between the supporting and main cast. I’m hoping for an over arching story plot at some point in the series or at least the characters growing and progressing. However I wouldn’t be surprised if this just stays as one of those sweet pointless animes.

The art style was pretty good. Through a lot of the characters did have a fairly generic look they still had their own quirks like special colored hair or unique facial expressions. I did have one solid problem with the animation quality though. The picture was slightly grainy. It kind of looked like VHS’s used to. When I pop in a DVD I just expect a crystal clear picture.

The voice acting was very good in my opinion. The voice of Hiroyuki was especially well done, the actor managed to pull off the different aspects and depths of the character. I also enjoyed how they didn’t give the female lead an overly sweet voice. She’s a very nice character but I really can’t stand when the girl’s voices are too timid or high pitched. As far as extras went there wasn’t anything over the top, but there were a few very nice things such as translation notes and character bios.

To Heart is a little sugar sweet. It might give you cavities if you watch too much at once, but at the same time it’s endearing. In depth plot isn’t what this shows about instead it covers everyday life and sweet stories that kind of make you warm and fuzzy inside when they’re over. Shoujo fans are sure to enjoy this one.

Entertainment: 8
Okay so it’s a fluff anime, no real substance as of yet, but it was still very cute and amusing.

Technical: 7.5
Decent extras and good sound, I just wish the animation hadn’t been a bit grainy.

Overall: 7.5

DVD Features: Episodes 1-4, English, Japanese with English Subtitles

DVD Extras: Reversible Cover, Translation Notes, Line Art Gallery, Trailers, Character Bios