#ef a tale of memories

[doyouknowthisanime]

Do You Know This Anime?

[fudayo]

[obscureanimeoftheday]

Obscure Anime of The Day:

Ef: a Tale of Memories.

Aired: 2007

Genres: Drama, Mystery, Psychological, Romance, School

[mihonroll]

Quiero cortar contigo mientras todavía pueda decirte que te amo.

-Chihiro Shindou_ef a tale of memories

[imiteeshon]

[saint-miroir]

Fave Anime OPs (1/?)— Euphoric Field by Tenmon feat. ELISA

(From ef: A Tale of Memories)

[good-anime-food]

[mangacultes80]

Ef a Tale of Memories - Recollections

Si vous Désirez encore plus de Wallpapers je vous conseiller de aller Visiter le Blog La Malle Au Manga-culte et bien d'autre section serons ajoutée tous le long de cette été avant la Rentrée…

[ladyloveandjustice]

Mental Illness in Anime

I saw someone say Komi Can't Communicate is the only anime they've ever seen that talks about mental illness and that's kinda sad, so for you to not end in the same boat, I've decided to put together an overview of mental illness in anime, what I'd recommend, what comes with caveats, and so on.

It's a little nebulous what "talks about mental illness" means as lots of anime depict characters who are very obviously depressed, traumatized and even suicidal (suicide will be mentioned a lot in this list, so watch out for that), but don't directly name mental illness. It is very stigmatized in Japan, even moreso than many other countries, you don't see much talk about therapy and so on.

However, naturally there are many Japanese people who are mental health advocates, and I found an interview with Makoto Kageyama, a mental health awareness advocate who volunteered at Aokigahara forest. He points out anime he feels deal with mental illness. One we'll cover fully, many of them I haven't watched:

I think the most accurate and positive portrayals I got were actually from Kiriyama Rei (March Comes in Like a Lion), Naruse Jun (The Anthem of the Heart), Miyamura Miyako (ef: A Tale of Memories), Takeya Yuki (School-Live!) and Smile (Ping Pong: The Animation)

I'm super open to suggestions for additions, and might be adding them as reblogs and under the cut.

I'll also be making a post on mental illness in manga if this post does well, which I will link here when I post it.

So I'll start:

Anime that directly discusses mental illness:

March Comes in Like a Lion- not only is the main character one of the most accurate depictions of depression I've ever seen, it's the rare anime that actually talks about counseling, showing a traumatized character attending counseling and slowly getting back on her feet.

Orange--it...certainly is about mental illness, but it's a pretty mixed/problematic one because it seems to be confused by how mental illness works at times. It centers around a character who's suicidally depressed and his friend's efforts to save him after receiving a time travel message about his future suicide. It also does mention offhand that this character was supposed to go to therapy and is skipping out at one point. But yeah, how it handles it is...not always great. It kind of gives an impression that if you try hard enough you can "fix" someone's suicidal depression. With friendship. I guess. You have been warned.

I haven't watched it in a really long time, so it might even be worse than I remember. But I'm including it bc I definitely cried and felt parts of it were very relatable when I saw it way back when. so there's some resonant stuff there.

Monster: Kind of mixed, but it's definitely notable as an anime that not only has a psychiatrist as a major character, but also shows prominent characters going to therapy and getting better. Characters go to him for alcoholism, depression, PTSD (PTSD is not named but yeah it's definitely PTSD). At one point he helps a main character recover some repressed traumatic memories.

What makes it mixed is that while several heroes definitely are mentally ill in some way, the (complex) antagonist of the series also has some sort of mental health condition , and the story is often weirdly muddled about it. At one point they make it out like he has Dissociative Identity Disorder (calling it "split personality") but then he never shows any symptoms of that and it's kind of dropped and not bought up again. He does definitely have repressed traumatic memories though, so maybe that's all they were getting at but said it very badly.

A heroic character that actually seems to have Dissociative Identity Disorder and YMMV in how it's handled and how accurate it is. It's a "the other personality is violent" one, but rather than the other personality being evil, it's. a defense mechanism, and the violence is always in self defense or defense of others..

Sort of names the problem:

My New Boss is Goofy: One of the main characters is recovering from an abusive boss, and definitely has anxiety attacks and flashbacks as a result. This is directly named as "trauma" (though much like in the West where the loan word came from, anime characters use the words to refer to minor things that aren't mental illness too. But in this case it's treated very seriously). At any rate, the entire anime is about others helping the MC slowly recover with his new boss and friends showing immense compassion for his anxiety and other problems. Here's a good article going into it!

Anime that focuses on social anxiety:

I think what stands out about Komi is that it directly says she has a communication disorder, but tons of anime focus on characters with social anxiety, and even state what the problem is directly.

Bocchi the Rock- The girl with the social anxiety is the main character and not the bland self insert guy who has a crush on her?, amazing. it lets her be a mess too? whaaat. Yeah, Bocchi does say directly she has severe social anxiety, and the series is very relatable in how it explores that. There are a lot of gags about it, but in a knowing, sympathetic way. Her recovery is realistically slow, and sometimes she backslides. She talks directly about her social anxiety, using the term.

Tsuritama: MC's social anxiety is so bad he can have panic attacks when people talk to him...the attacks are also represented in this really interesting way where they have water come in to drown him.

My Roommate is a Cat: Man dealing with social anxiety slowly recovers with the help of his cat. It's cute. Here's an article going into it!

Anime that don't namedrop mental illness directly, but really resonates:

Natsume's Book of Friends: I wrote an entire article about how relatable it is to me and my mental illness, how it uses the characters seeing yokai as metaphor for mental ilness at times (Natsume was textually mistreated by so-called guardians who thought he "wasn't right in the head" and his grandmother was often called that too) but also Natsume shows a lot of textual symptoms of trauma (possibly PTSD), depression and so on, and they're explored very poignantly. Here is my article: “The Courage to Speak”: Mental illness and recovery in Natsume’s Book of Friends

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Probably one of the most poignant explorations of what it means to be depressed and traumatized as a teenage girl. Several moments with Utena herself resonate, starting with when she was a child and declares she doesn't want to go on living, Anthy is also...dealing with a lot, and it's powerful how the show goes into it.

Neon Genesis Evangelion-- Many characters in it show symptoms of mental illness. Though it isn't named as depression directly (i think?), but Shinji shows every symptom you can think of, and the director Anno has said that he was extremely depressed while making it and channeled a lot of that into the characters, and we definitely see his mental journey for the better very strongly reflected in the reboot.

Kyousougiga: One of the main characters is suicidally depressed (this one is graphic, because he commits suicide on screen...only it turns out he can't die), and his journey towards becoming okay with living is a focus and was very resonant to me.

She and Her Cat: A short anime about a girl who definitely has depression and how her cat helps her. Rather simplistic ending but it's good otherwise. CW animal death too, but in a very gentle way.

Haibane Renmei: It deals with suicidal depression and other mental health struggles in a pretty intense way, it's touching, but if you have triggers consider looking into it.

Fruits Basket: Truly a cocktail of mental illnesses among the cast. YMMV on how it's handled but some parts really resonate. These articles go into it:

The Always Smiling Girl: How Tohru critiques toxic positivity

“A Man Who Can Experience His Feelings”: Fruits Basket, toxic masculinity, and mental health

Colorful: This is a submission from Nickyenchilada from the notes of this post: "I would also recommend the movie/novel Colorful. I think YMMV on how it handles the central issue of suicide but I think it does portray how even kids can be thrust into very complex situations without necessary outlets for coping with them."

Vinland Saga: This was an addition I got from a discord conversation, the entire second season explore the main character's PTSD

Yuri on Ice- A conversation on discord reminded me that a lot of people read Yuri as having an anxiety disorder, which I can totally see!

A Silent Voice- a submission from @boku-no-anime-phase who says: "I think it deserves its own shout out! This movie is nuanced, gentle, beautifully told and brimming with hope. I love the fact that just like in real life, things don't resolve particularly easily; but the characters make important progress that's rewarding to watch. TW for suicide discussion, ideation and attempt".

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - From boku-no-anime-phase who says: "YMMV but there's an arc that deals with bullying and memory loss where a character who deals with those things is supported and encouraged through it".

My Happy Marriage - From boku-no-anime-phase who says: "also YMMV but I think there were some lovely moments in this where you can see Miyo beginning to heal from her trauma and abuse, and learn to trust."

Anime Feminist has a whole host of articles on mental health in anime and they're all here. It covers a lot of different anime I don't know about or didn't mention and offers a lot of cool perspectives, so check 'em out! Here's a few that stuck out to me:

Finding Inner Magic: Depression in The Ancient Magus’ Bride

(I don't like this anime's narrative due to the issue with the ending pointed out in this article, but it did have resonant moments of exploring depression).

How Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun compassionately handles mental illness

The Sound of Depression: Liminal spaces, sound design, and Super Cub

From Yandere Girlfriends to Social Anxiety: Handling mental illness in The Future Diary and A Silent Voice

Footnote on Hikikomori in anime:

Any anime that focuses on Hikikomori characters are dealing with characters that are mentally ill, as being so depressed/traumatized/agoraphobic/anxious you can't even leave your room or house is obviously not mentally healthy. But what really matters is how that’s handled and if these issues are explained, as Makoto Kageyama notes:

Usually, the most common issues I’ve seen covered is the “hikikomori phenomena” and light eating disorders. Basically, a bullied character that becomes a recluse out of social anxiety, but… The characters don’t usually get shown correctly, since their issues are not explained properly and basically it ends up with a “Hey, see? People are not that bad, we are your friends!” and “Yay, I have friends, I am cured and I can trust others again!” Which is not the case, because real hikikomori can take a lot of talk and patience to get them out and when they get back to normal society (if they do), they become very wary of others. And ironically, “hikikomori” has also been used as a “moe trait” in anime even though it’s a mental health issue.

One I saw a lot of people namedrop as handling it well when I googled around was Welcome to the NHK, though I haven't seen it. But, if you look at Nickyenchilada's take in the comments to this post, it's mentioned as being resonant and it's noted that the recovery is not an easy fix, and it's also noted that several characters in the story are mentally ill.

Bonus list:

Neurodiversity in Anime- (that don't namedrop mental illness directly, but really resonate)

I initially didn't include a neurodiversity section in this post because I honestly could not think of any anime that directly talks about neurodiversity or has a textually neurodivergent character.

(However, there are manga that actually do! I pointed some out in my Mental Illness and Neurodiversity in Manga post I did to complement this one!)

You can also read some articles about neurodiversity in anime here

And the list of characters that can simply be read as neurodivergent is huge, and if I tried to list every popular read it would be endless, plus I don't feel comfortable "diagnosing" any characters with developmental disorders I don't personally have. However, I am willing to take suggestions from others on this one, so here are a few!

Mob Psycho 100 - submitted by boku-no-anime-phase, who says " Mob is autistic and I will die on this hill; the trouble he has with fitting in, relating to others and knowing the right things to do imo stems directly from that."

Princess Jellyfish - submitted by boku-no-anime-phase, who says "I'd be willing to bet that all the women who live in that apartment are neurodivergent. They all have their special interests and they live together in mutual neurodivergent infodumping bliss and it's wonderful. (Unrelated but TW for sexual assault and some transphobia)"

Chihayafuru- submission by @noisepartythumpingmusic who says "It's never noted explicitly, but I firmly believe the main character of Chihayafuru has ADHD, which is perfect for a main character of a sports" josei. As someone who does have ADHD, I personally can totally see that read of Chihaya (the main character)!

Anti-recommendations (as in seems potentially resonant but then drop the ball hard, because if I listed all the anime that's blatantly gross about mental illness from the second the subject comes up we'd be here all day) (Dead Dove Do Not Eat)

Wonder Egg Priority: Starts out like it's going to be a nuanced exploration of recovering from abuse, suicidal depression, and so on, only to end up incredibly stupid and offensive. The writer also believes some stupid and misogynist things about "reasons" girls commit suicide. This article goes into it a little.

Your Lie In April: Depiction of depression and trauma is completely undermined by how all the characters tell the MC he needs to get over it because his talent for piano is more important, and the clumsy, gross take on forgiving your abuser, and so many other things. This article goes into it.

---

And that's it for now! Again. I might be updating this with new stuff based on feedback or me remembering something I missed, through both updates and adding stuff under the cut.

[earlycuntsets]

"Hot music

By Alejandro Garita

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

Following their 2 million-selling 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge', the boys are now presenting their third album. The main character of the new album, which they recorded in 2006 with producer Rob Cavallo (Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morissette), is someone called 'The Patient', vocalist Gerard Way's strongest memory of his childhood. It's about the day his dad took him to a parade, hence the name of their first single, "Welcome to the Black Parade." This material is the group's most commercial, with a punk style similar to Green Day's. However, in songs like "The Sharpest Lives" and "House of Wolves" they retain the dark style that characterizes them. Good!

City: New Jersey

Influences: Besides the fact that they like watching horror movies, they listen to Queen, The Smiths/Morrissey, The Cure, Iron Maiden and The Misfits.

The group's name comes from a book written by Irvine Welsh, titled 'Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance'.

The band was formed when Gerard Way called his high school friend Matt Pelissier in 2002 to form a new musical group.

The black parade"

fact bubbles:

✰Their first song is "Skylines and Turnstiles", written by Gerard while living in New York and inspired by the attack on the Twin Towers.

✰Mikey Way, Gerard's younger brother, dropped out of school to learn to play bass.

✰En 2002 editaron su CD de- but 'I Brought you my Bullets, you Brought me your Love'.

Photos: EFE/ZumaPress and courtesy of the record labels.

✰They have been the opening act for Green Day.

03/2007 bravissima - spain

[inventors-fair]

The Joy of Creation Entries

~

@bergdg — Preliminary Sketch @bread-into-toast — Deepening Dread @corporalotherbear — Starbirth @cthulhusaurusrex — Shadow of the Woods @curiooftheheart — Endless Drafts @dimestoretajic — Second Draft @feyd-rautha-apologist — Hardtack Bakery @hanavesinauttija — The Riptide Project @helloijustreadyourpost — Gulistan's Opus @izzet-always-r-versus-u — Stellar Cradle @khyrberos — Heart of Platinum @melancholia-ennui — Galant of the Great Work @misterstingyjack — Foundry//Forgery @nine-effing-hells — Tales of Strange Sightings @real-aspen-hours — Memorialize @sparkyyoungupstart — Write What You Know @stareyedesper — Zhalfirin Disciple @tanknspank — Spell Fusion @walker-of-the-yellow-path — Tower of the Heavens @wildcardgamez — Theorist's Blackboard @xenobladexfan — Diggy Diggy Hole @yd12k — Ghirapur Arbortect @yourrightfulking — Fickle Divinity

Thank you for all your entries!

[srbachchan]

DAY 5558

Jalsa, Mumbai              May 5,  2023              Fri 11:02 PM

Is this the mind symptom of the average over aged human  .. with due respect to the concept of overage .. most do not consider or accept that , but there are examples of it that abound ..

the symptom be that any matter that trickles through the gates of the cerebrum, tend to remain there and to connect immediately with the related events of the past and connecting it to the present ..

It never does make sense or any legible reason to be in such state but it happens regularly .. and at times overtakes all other thought ..

I cannot fathom whether this is good or not, but there it is ... 

Wanderings of the body to the various memories of decades gone by prevail more than those that occurred just a few moments back .. its a brain matter .. either good or terribly bad .. but there .. 

Its like the displacement of objects that have been placed according to your habits and pieces - 🤣 - haBITS and PIECES .. pretty inventive .. 

any way stop this self aggrandisement Mr B .. there is more to the thinking in the World than your stupid insipid putrid amateurish writings on this page of governance .. except the concept of the Ef .. which lives on and on and on .. 

and I get remembered in the cerebrum of that wonderful tale of the film ‘AAN’ made by Mehboob Khan and stared Dilip Kumar .. of which some other day ..

there is an incline for work that racks the body .. and each time there is an expression of it in the sharing to the Ef it finds its way to the content box of the ones that give out information .. the paucity is somewhat surprising , for in the days gone by the opposite was the order  .. communication technology has taken a sharp turn on the road to that informative regime .. and the powers that be have now in the rely of them that now work in a 7 billion mind strata ..

accept the vagaries of invention .. be about it or like some from the addressage of shr GooghlÈ leave it after serving for it , they find the alternative too discomforting in the months to come .. its months now .. was several years earlier .. because what was predicted for the next generational time lapse is now becoming the present .. within days .. the old gets overtaken even before it has drawn its first grey hair .. 

mine included .. several of them ..

... the mind made this from nothing .. 

Amitabh Bachchan

[1960z]

turnabout time traveler is definitely a case designed to facilitate a story that gets a bunch of legacy characters in the same room again to capitalise on original trilogy nostalgia BUT what I think really elevates it above a typical fanservice case is the way nostalgia and living in the past is baked in its themes.

the core message this case is trying to send is that while nostalgia can be nice, if you only live in the past and refuse to move forward, it will be your downfall. we see this primarily with pierce who is obsessed with making the people around him relive his own trauma and grief surrounding his fiancee's death which leads him to causing more pain and tragedy. and to a lesser extent with sorin who, while he can't help that he has ef a tale of memories syndrome (sorry idk what else to call it lmao) still burdens himself with secrets and guilt barely even allowing him to focus on the new memories he's writing down. they're both referred to as "time travelers" for this reason because, time has simply moved on without them.

and as much we might want them to, our main characters can't stay static either. they're moving on too. there are so many moments in this case where maya, just by virtue of being herself, reminds phoenix of mia which makes sense, because she's literally now in the same age range mia was when she died. them working together like this for the first time in who knows how long really forces phoenix to grapple with that she really isn't 17-20 anymore. sure, she may still have a similar outward facing weirdgirl personality but she has also truly matured in a lot of ways and gained a lot of wisdom from all her experiences over the years that she didn't have previously. which yes, has made her a lot like her sister in a lot of ways. and it's an emotional, beautiful experience to see a close friend go through that. even if your friendship isn't the same as it once was, it's evolving for the better.

there are also just little elements of this case's story which make you reminisce about cases previous which really hammers home the feeling of nostalgia for a time past. the whole sibling car accident then subsequent surgery plot line is extremely turnabout reunion. the murder plot planned by a person other than the guy who was supposed to carry it out felt very turnabout goodbyes-esque.

and of course, the murder weapon is a weird novelty clock that you wouldn't even believe is a clock just by looking at it.

it's a case that's both really fun and has a surprising amount of depth. it made me emotional in a lot of ways I wasn't expecting. it was a lovely little end bonus

[re1my0n]

2010 11/28 ラグナロク 1st story

1.Rumbling hearts / 栗林みな実 (君が望む永遠) 2.Future Stream / スフィア (初恋限定。) 3.From silent sky / tiaraway (D→A:WHITE) 4.Take a shot / 水樹奈々 (魔法少女リリカルなのは) 5.二人の約束 / エクリップス (バスカッシュ) 6.Love Destiny / 堀江由衣 (シスタープリンセス) 7.オレンジ / 逢坂大河 (釘宮理恵), 櫛枝実乃梨 (堀江由衣), 川嶋亜美 (喜多村英梨) (とらドラ！) 8.Give a reason / 林原めぐみ (スレイヤーズNEXT) 9.suddenly～巡り合えて～ / 水樹奈々 (声優・一般曲) 10.悠久の翼07'Mix / 雨宮優子(中島裕美子) (ef a tale of memories) 11.Try again / 堀江由衣 (声優・一般曲) 12.Shiny＋ / 寿美菜子 (声優・一般曲) 13.キラリフタリ / 白石涼子 (夏のあらし) 14.Sparky☆Start / 片手☆SIZE（家長カナ（平野綾）、雪女（堀江由衣）、花開院ゆら（前田愛））(ぬらりひょんの孫) 15.詩人の旅 / 茅原実里 (声優・一般曲) 16.ハートの確率 / blue drops(吉田仁美・イカロス(早見沙織)) (そらのおとしものｆ) 17.アイスキャンディー / MAKO (かみちゅ！) 18.君へとつなぐココロ / 中町かな（声：豊崎愛生）、天野咲紀（声：水原薫）、久地院美華（声：釘宮理恵） (かなめも) 19.Treasure / 碧陽学園生徒会【桜野くりむ（本多真梨子）、紅葉知弦（斉藤佑圭）、椎名深夏（富樫美鈴）、椎名真冬（堀中優希）】(生徒会の一存) 20.Silly-Go-Round / FictionJunction YUUKA (.hack//Roots) 21.sugar sweet nightmare / 羽川翼(堀江由衣)(化物語) 22.PARTY PLAY / 野川さくら(アラド戦記) 23.17 jewels -プリキュアメドレー2010- / 池田彩&工藤真由、コーラス：ヤング・フレッシュ (プリキュアオールスターズDX2 希望の光☆レインボージュエルを守れ!)

[rustbeltjessie]

Poetry’s Dead (Undead Undead Undead)

Poetry & Halloween go together like candy corn & carved pumpkins because poetry is, at its heart, a haunted thing. All poems are about ghosts, even if they’re not about ghosts. They’re all haunted by the traces of memory (the poet’s own memory, but also the ghosts of history that each word carries with it). Writing a poem is a way to summon ghosts, but it can also be a way to exorcise your ghosts & demons, or at least expel them from your mind and bind them with paper & ink. (As Sandra Cisneros wrote: I put it down on paper and then the ghost does not ache so much.) Poems are also a bit like spells. Spells to conjure the past or shape the future. Spells to heal the writer/reader, or get revenge on what has harmed them. Or creation spells which bring forth something beautiful that wasn’t there before. I suppose any form of writing could be considered a spell, but poetry feels even more tied to spell-work because of its rhythm and sound. There is something inherently incantatory about it.

So, yes, all poetry fits into the Halloween season, at least in some small way. But one can make the connection even more obvious, depending on what is being written about. And that is exactly what I’m doing with both my current works-in-progress. All writers write about their obsessions. I am a giant nerd who is kinda goth, so some of my obsessions are very Halloween-y. If all poems are implicitly about ghosts, many of my poems are explicitly about ghosts. Ghosts are the overarching theme in my in-progress full length collection. Some of its other themes and inspirations include: murder ballads, urban legends, fairy and folk tales, witchcraft, monsters, and horror films. I recently completed a poem for that manuscript titled “Planet of the Monster Girls.” It’s about a group of girls obsessed with classic horror films and their stars: Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, and Lon Chaney, Jr. Writing that poem rekindled my own obsession with those actors. I splurged on Etsy items relating to them, and built a sort of altar/shrine in my workspace. I rewatched their films, and did internet and library searches for more information about those monstrous leading men. And then the poems came. I found myself scribbling epistolary prosepoems to Peter Lorre. (It started with him because I have a long-running obsession with Mr. Lorre that would require an entire separate essay to explain). Soon after, I began writing missives to the rest of them, too.

I have so many other things I’m working on right now that I tried to resist it at first. No way am I starting another effing book, I told myself. But the epistolary poems kept coming, and then I started doing some erasures as well, from the books and articles I’ve been reading about those men. (Because how often does one find a source text full of choice words like quirky, deviant, venom, mesmeric, dread, and menace?) After a couple weeks, I had to admit to myself that I am, indeed, working on a new book. I don’t yet know what the final form or structure will be, or whether it will be a chapbook or a full-length. But right now I don’t care, because I am enjoying the process. This project is giving me a way to discuss serious topics while paying tribute to some of my favorite actors and films. It is giving me a fun way to juxtapose the ‘high art’ of poetry with the ‘low art’ of vintage horror, noir, and b-movies. (And it gave me an excuse to decorate a special notebook in which to write the poems.)

Yes, poetry & Halloween go together like ghosts and crumbling old mansions. Yes, all poems are spells and summonings. And this year, I’m spending my Halloween season writing spells which summon the ghosts of my muses: Boris, Bela, Peter, Vincent, & Lon.

—Jessie Lynn McMains (originally published in The Poetry Question, October 2019)

[studentofetherium]

are there any pieces of visual art (movies, tv shows, video games, anime, comics and paintings etc.) that give you wanderlust?

00s anime, but specifically for the backgrounds

1-2: Negima!?

2-3: Simoun

5-8: .hack//Sign

9-12: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

13-14: Tsukihime

15-18: ef: A Tale of Memories