Hitsuji no Uta

A poor attempt at a manga promo. Hitsuji no Uta is a retelling of the story told in its manga counterpart stuffing 7 volumes of well developed plot and characters into 4 episodes of rushed anime with poor animation. I wont be getting into the plot or characters because if you haven't read the manga or don't intend to; you have no reason to know of the existence of this OVA series. Even as a fan of the manga (which has its flaws) this OVA is completely pointless. The story skips so much that you cant really understand all of whats going on, i mean thedeeper elements that actually require thought process while reading the manga. the animation is also poor; i expect more from madhouse and looking at still images of this anime youd think its got proper animation but it doesent. the framerate is choppy, characters can become disproportionate with large heads at times, they take plenty of shortcuts with animation such as dialogue over still images of characters who are supposedly talking or stock animations of trains. all in all this ova series should have never been made. fans of the manga series will find this painful to watch, anyone else wont enjoy it. the manga is only 7 volumes long so just go read it or look it up to see if youd like it. dont base any of your opinions on the story by what you see with this ova.

Story Hitsuji no Uta is an interesting anime, and if it had more time to develop it would have been really good. The anime as it stands at 4 episodes manages to tell a good story, even though it is short. What I found cool about it was that, instead of the low budget taking away from the enjoyment, it actually added to it. The repeated images and switching between black and white and color make the anime a little more stylized, rather than hindering the interest of the story. The way they show Kazuna's attacks also adds quite a bit of tension to the experience. Art Theart style looks good most of the time, but sometimes ends up looking a bit off from the way you see it normally. This only happens in a few scenes, and it doesn't really disturb the presence of the theme. And like I said before, the low-budgetness of the anime actually stylizes it and makes it unique. Sound Really, there's not much here. There's about one song plus the ending theme. The one song in the anime actually fits in most of the situations, so even though there's not a large variety, it adds a familiar atmosphere when certain events are happening. Character The characters weren't that developed, mostly because there wasn't enough time to get to know them all. But by the end, you have a feel for the personality and ideals of most of the important characters. Enjoyment & Overall I enjoyed Hitsuji no Uta quite a bit, and because it's so short, the story doesn't get distorted and twisted around until it's unrecognizable. I would recommend it to anyone; I'm sure anyone could find something to like about it. Even if you don't like it a ton, you're only with it for 2 hours of your life, so you can watch it and add it to your repertoire of anime knowledge without too much effort.

A slow paced, unusual vampire themed OVA. PLOT: A very interesting premise, quite similar to Tsukihime in a number of ways but with the action element stripped away. Hitsuji no Uta is at its core a character study of the two central siblings and the way they cope with the vampiric illness the Takashiro family is cursed with. The pace is extremely slow but tense, with long pauses and meandering dialogue as it tracks Kazuna and Chizuna’s slow degeneration and their attempt to alienate their loved ones to spare them pain. Its quite touching, but the slow pace may be off putting to some – alsothe end felt rushed. Another episode would have been required to gain closure and I also would have liked more character development in order to give the end some more emotional impact. However these are minor faults and in 4 episodes this OVA managed to deliver angst and drama in buckets. ANIMATION: I don’t think there was much of a budget for this OVA, but they’ve really done well with what they had. The colours used are dull, almost monochrome – like all the colour has been leeched out from Kazuna’s world except for blood red – the brightest colour on display and it makes for a striking contract to the other pale colours. There are a lot of long static shots with wordy monologues too. The character designs aren’t the best in the world either as they’re rather plain. MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: The music is very atmospheric enhancing the melancholic feeling, which permeates the entire anime. I also loved the song at the end of each episode and felt it fit perfectly with the feeling this anime leaves you with. The voice acting is great, the seiyuu do a great job of bringing their character’s emotions across. Kazuna’s confusion and despair, Chizuna’s quiet acceptance and tiredness are all clearly felt. Overall a good vampire OVA – it does have faults but an interesting watch nonetheless.

OVERALL PROS; An interesting take on vampires that's more slice of life, not the generic vampires you usually see. Art can be good in some ways. OVERALL CONS; Not much character development, hardly any or none depending how you look at it. The sound design is poor. Uses low quality sounds, but not the worst I've heard in anime.Art is better in the manga. I only read the manga in hopes that the kissing bit would be gone but wasn't. Story could be better, the one thing I disliked the most was the brother and sister kissing and their overall relationship. The kiss shows in both anime and manga. If that part wasn't in this, for me I would give it a higher rating.