Today We Start Our Love

Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu is a very short romantic story about two young high school students sharing the same name. After a terrible first meeting, the girl fell in love with the guy sometime later but was rejected by him. What follows is a story on how the two eventually becomes closer to each other. The story is quite simple and cliche, but being a short 2 episode long, the OVA manage to flesh out enough story details to make the story convincing and watchable at least. The main highlights of these OVA are the still animation scenes which are rather breathtaking, artistic andbeautifully rendered but this are quite few. The same thing cannot be said on the animation with movements though as it lacks fluidity, the environment is somewhat bland and poor in details. The character designs are passable and likeable as it features narrow faces, pointy chins and hair lines that are too many which clearly indicates that this is a shoujo anime. In general, the production values are quite low. The OVA is kind enough to provide an Ending theme song which is quite good to listen and a couple of well orchestrated soundtracks which fits fairly well for overall mood of the story. In the character side of things, nothing much is revealed other than the fact that main characters are of good standing being honor students. Voice acting is fairly well done as it features well known voice actors such as Itou Kanae as the female lead Hibino Tsubaki, and Namikawa Daisuke as the male lead Tsubaki Kyouta. Overall, my impression of this short OVA is quite positive since I have a natural inclination on romance stories that are fun to watch and not overly dramatic. "Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu" is quite difficult to recommend to other viewers because after a quick look around the origin of this OVA, I found out that this is actually just a bonus item for a shoujo manga bearing the same title so its target audience are the manga readers who have a good understanding of the overall story. So if the viewer is a manga reader then this is a highly recommended OVA, but for other viewers like me who haven't read the manga or have no intention of reading the manga, it is still watchable, just don't expect great things.

I would not recommend anyone who has not read the manga to watch the anime. It skipped a lot from the manga and as a reason, it was all over the place. I felt like the anime was moving at a pace I could not follow even though I have read the manga. They tried to give it a Kimi ni Todoke type of feeling where for example, if Kyouta and Tsubaki were smiling, it'd be just paper art rather movement. This I liked. Overall, it was sweet to watch but it could have been much better if they moved at a slower pace.

OK, I have been a fan of this manga for a long time, even so much so that I had help in the translation of the manga when it first came out, so I was excited to see the OVA. I remember when I first watched Honey x Honey Drops as an OVA (before reading the manga) and it was just smut, but after reading the manga I realized that's how it played out at first lol. Anyway, when I watched the first episode I was not happy that the first couple of minutes kind of just badly summarizes the first part of the manga. Itdoesn't even explain Tsubaki's talents as a hair stylist, old fashioned feelings, or the challenge going on between her and Kyouta, but it skips right to the first real climax of the series. Alright...I want to complain, but the anime at least held true to the actual manga regardless of what is skipped. Even the second episode is fairly consistent with the manga and done fairly well. I loved the manga. This OVA is OK in my book compared to the other one I just watched. I don't love it, but if you've read the manga, it may be worth looking at, but overall, it's not a must see. It's a shame they don't do a proper anime for this manga. It would be a very sweet shoujo series, especially since this manga by Minami Kanan is strangely the least smutty LOL

ano ne.. i like the manga of kyou, koi wo hajimemasu.. because of curiosity, i watched its ova.. it's like the continuation of the manga chapters.. then still the characters are adoring.. (specially kyouta-kun^^) and im happy when he confess to tsubaki.. tsubaki is sure lucky .. though we have the same characteristics.. she get a cool, hardworking boyfriend.. and i dont have one.. since birth... xD sore dake.. if i say more.. this review will be a spoiler.. xD hope you watch it^^