Anime: With You: Mitsumeteitai

With You Mitsumeteitai OVA

Abstract: There are forgotten little OVAs out there that are hidden gems of awesomeness. WYM is not one of them. A convoluted plot, wooden acting and pedestrian characters make a wholly uninspired and forgettable 2 part OVA. Final Grade: D+

Genre: Romance/Drama
Content: Nothing objectionable.

Reasons to Watch: None
Reasons not to Watch: Confusing, convoluted plots; Wooden voice acting

Plot: 3
In my continuing quest to watch every obscure OVA made, I have turned to With You Mitsumeteitai (WYM). Unlike a lot of short OVAs, having a plot is not a problem with WYM. The problem is having too much of plot. There is so much going on that there is no unified plot for the OVA. There is the standard love triangle plot, the supernatural ghost girl plot, the mysterious teacher plot, the stolen jewel plot and the whole track meet plot. There are so many plots that none are advanced properly, each playing like a damaged CD, constantly skipping ahead. And it not these plot are bad – some of them are quite interesting – but we never really get a good feel of them, since everything is so crowded together and things no longer make sense and are never explained. Grade: D

Art: 6
Now the fansubs I watched this with weren't the best quality, but there really wasn't much to see anyway. The scenes in Burma looked rather nice I thought, but there was nothing in the main part that was of an interest. Oh look, another generic school with generic uninspired uniforms. The character designs are forgettable; Masaki, with his boring face and black spiked hair, looks exactly like every single generic Japanese male in every anime ever. And the only really difference between the females is their hair styles and colors, although Manami does rock the stereotypical giant round glasses. However, there is some good. The character design of the ghost girl is pretty cool, and the characters do wear things other than their school uniforms. But the animators took little risk with their art, and most of the animation is relatively simple. Grade: B-

Sound: 5
When a team of C-list voice actors work together, you can expect a C-List project. WYM is no exception. The voice acting is wooden and unemotional. We never really get a feel for any of the characters, as it sounds as if the actors are simply reciting lines from cue cards. Now some this might be the director's fault, but only one of the voice actors ever did much with his career, so I'm thinking that most of the blame falls on the actors. Tobita Nobuo, the only good actor gives the only good performance, but his lines are so limited asking him to carry the show is like asking a five ounce bird to carry a one pound coconut. There is no OP, and the ED is, in technical jargon, “meh”. Grade: C

Characters: 3
When creating a love triangle, it is common to make characters diametrically opposed to one another, to highlight their differences. Often, we have a shy and demure girl and a brash and extroverted girl for the hero to choose from. If you have a good writer, the characters will transcend these stereotypes. If not, then you get something like WYM. Its not that WYM didn't try to develop their characters, its just that they didn't have room, with all the awkward plot jumping they were doing. And it not a problem of format, I have seen good character development in short OVAs before. And the characters never really solve the love triangle problem, the one girl goes back to Burma to help her dad support a oppressive dictatorship, and the other never confesses her feelings, the boy never makes a choice, and everyone is left in a worst state than when we started. Grade: D

Value: 3
Watchability: I found WYM surprisingly easy to watch, mostly because I spent most of the run time trying to decipher the plots. Plus at first you really think the story is going somewhere. It's only the second episode that really falls off the wagon. Grade: B
Re-watchability: I believed every show has something worthwhile to see again, even if it is just an OP (To Love Ru) or a half of single episode (Pita Ten, second episode). WYM disillusioned me. There is nothing in here worth a second viewing. The character designs are boring, the voice actors are mediocre, the plot is pointlessly contrived. And there is no crowning moment of anything in either episode. Simply put there is nothing even to rewatch. Grade: F
Historical Value: Nobody watched, nobody knows about it, and nobody cares. And with good reason. WYM is best left in the scrap heap of history. Grade: F

Enjoyment: 3
Well, I wasn't bored, angry or irritated. The best way to describe my emotions is perplexed. Why was this made? I do kinda feel bad about it, since there are elements that could have been good – to bad they couldn't just pick one of them to concentrate the plot on. Too much clutter, lame voice acting and generic characters is not how to make an anime. Grade: D

Errata:
Not much to say on this one. Watched with animeforce subs. All reviews are done independent of the original format or other adaptions.

Final Grade: D+