Tokimeki Memorial is a franchise that started as a dating sim game. It was then made into a 2 episode OAV under the same name and now a 25 episode TV series subtitled ~Only Love~. I have not yet watched the OAV nor have I played the game(s), so my knowledge only comes from the TV series.
~Only Love~ follows young Riku Aoba as he begins the school year at a relatively new, alternative high school. What's alternative about it, even though they don't really show it, it just seems like a normal Japanese high school with eccentric teachers, is that the curriculum is supposed to be free and open, with the students choosing their own education path. The school is defiantly odd, down right bizarre, your first exposure to this is when Riku is meeting with the alcoholic vice-principle and his buxom, scantly clad assistant, who is actually controlling the decision making and conversation. Riku is welcomed to school from the student council by setting him up with his first 'contest'. All through out school the kids sport flare that represents special achievement, merits and contests, most are in the form of odd headwear. The student council plays a prank on him by giving him a rare bit of flare, cat ears, and tells him to never take it off. Meanwhile they message the entire student body and tell them that they can get the most sought after female students, Sayuri Amamiya, cell phone email address if they get the cat ears from Riku. Now Riku has the entire male population of the school chasing him down to get Sayuri's email address. Riku survives, but Sayuri denies him her address.
~Only Love~ follows young Riku Aoba as he begins the school year at a relatively new, alternative high school. What's alternative about it, even though they don't really show it, it just seems like a normal Japanese high school with eccentric teachers, is that the curriculum is supposed to be free and open, with the students choosing their own education path. The school is defiantly odd, down right bizarre, your first exposure to this is when Riku is meeting with the alcoholic vice-principle and his buxom, scantly clad assistant, who is actually controlling the decision making and conversation. Riku is welcomed to school from the student council by setting him up with his first 'contest'. All through out school the kids sport flare that represents special achievement, merits and contests, most are in the form of odd headwear. The student council plays a prank on him by giving him a rare bit of flare, cat ears, and tells him to never take it off. Meanwhile they message the entire student body and tell them that they can get the most sought after female students, Sayuri Amamiya, cell phone email address if they get the cat ears from Riku. Now Riku has the entire male population of the school chasing him down to get Sayuri's email address. Riku survives, but Sayuri denies him her address.
During the contest Riku gains his most powerful ally in school, Hiyoko-kun. Hiyoko-kun and the contests are the real reason why I watched this show, because both are incredibly hilarious. Hiyoko-kun is a small, round, bright yellow chick…an adolescent chicken. He only talks like a chick, piyo piyo, yet imparts amazing wisdom to Riku and others, as well as using his incredible strength and fighting abilities to protect him in dire situations. This chick is insane. In the first episode Hiyoko-kun utterly decimates the biggest baddest delinquent in school, Dojima, who is in Riku's class. Dojima feels it is his duty to protect Sayuri's innocence. Therefore he tracks Riku down and confronts him for her honor, only to be completely decimated by Hiyoko-kun. This initial contact makes Dojima become friends with Riku and ingrain a primal fear of the small yellow demon…who ends up kicking his ass a couple more times during the series. Riku also gains two classmates as allies who inform him, and the viewers, on the finer points of life at their school. The two things they do best is get in trouble while trying to help Riku and expand the mythology of Sayuri, through colorful videos about epic past deeds.
The backbone of this story is Riku and some of the girls who fall for him. He actually dates a fellow classmate who is on the volleyball team, has an underclassman in the swim club completely obsessed with him and near the end begins to show an interest in Sayuri. Ultimately the idea of the show is to see if he will get Sayuri, the crown jewel of the school. Sayuri is the best looking, most accomplished and most respected member of the student body. She is calm, composed and generally good natured. Riku as well, is generally good natured and does whatever to help anyone who comes to him. This leads to mild jealousy on Sayuri's part, but nothing like, say, Akane from Ranma ½. In the end he has three girls, two who confessed there love, one of which he is actually kind of dating, and the Sayuri, who he is mildly yearning for and who is mildly interested in him.
Yes, this is a romance based upon a dating sim; we have a number of specialized female characters who are all potential girl friends for the main character, if this were the game you would be the one to choose who you would end up with. The scenarios pan out like a video game too and it has some mild harem action. What kept me drawn into this series was the insane humor. A friend started watching it with me in the beginning but bowed out half way due to the romance stuff. In the beginning it is quite funny but in the last third it becomes quite emotional and romance related as everyone is trying and get Riku's attention. It's nothing new in that aspect, but the ending is a bit different from the norm, which was nice and the humor is pretty entertaining. From the ever present student council sponsored Riku assaulting contests, to the insane character teachers. The science teacher looks like a crazy mad doctor from some bad hentai like Angle of Darkness who continuously makes toxic chemicals and dangerous contraptions. My favorite is the Japanese literature teacher who is always dressed in a kimono and is always 'dying' during class. Then there is the okama cross dressing drama teacher. The best, although short lived, is one teacher who doesn't really show up until the final episode. I'm not sure what he teaches but he reminds me of a beefed up, violent version of the shop keeper, Uruhara, from Bleach. A taste of some of the craziness is when Riku's classmate friends are helping him escape the student body in the final student council contest. Dojima and the other two, along with Hiyoko-kun, are clothed in demon winged skin suits wielding multi chamber grenade launchers…a little crazy, not to mention Hiyoko-kun's insane fighting abilities. It was nice to see the last episode continuing the insanity from the first episode, especially after a 5 or 6 episode run of nothing but drama. All in all the series isn't that bad, near the middle it starts to get tiring. There isn't a lot of originality in the plot devices or outcomes, but the ending is nice and the comedy is fun. So, if you like high school romances that are not overly saturated with the drama and spiced up with eccentric characters and insane humor, you will enjoy this series. If you like harem titles you will also enjoy this show.
Yes, this is a romance based upon a dating sim; we have a number of specialized female characters who are all potential girl friends for the main character, if this were the game you would be the one to choose who you would end up with. The scenarios pan out like a video game too and it has some mild harem action. What kept me drawn into this series was the insane humor. A friend started watching it with me in the beginning but bowed out half way due to the romance stuff. In the beginning it is quite funny but in the last third it becomes quite emotional and romance related as everyone is trying and get Riku's attention. It's nothing new in that aspect, but the ending is a bit different from the norm, which was nice and the humor is pretty entertaining. From the ever present student council sponsored Riku assaulting contests, to the insane character teachers. The science teacher looks like a crazy mad doctor from some bad hentai like Angle of Darkness who continuously makes toxic chemicals and dangerous contraptions. My favorite is the Japanese literature teacher who is always dressed in a kimono and is always 'dying' during class. Then there is the okama cross dressing drama teacher. The best, although short lived, is one teacher who doesn't really show up until the final episode. I'm not sure what he teaches but he reminds me of a beefed up, violent version of the shop keeper, Uruhara, from Bleach. A taste of some of the craziness is when Riku's classmate friends are helping him escape the student body in the final student council contest. Dojima and the other two, along with Hiyoko-kun, are clothed in demon winged skin suits wielding multi chamber grenade launchers…a little crazy, not to mention Hiyoko-kun's insane fighting abilities. It was nice to see the last episode continuing the insanity from the first episode, especially after a 5 or 6 episode run of nothing but drama. All in all the series isn't that bad, near the middle it starts to get tiring. There isn't a lot of originality in the plot devices or outcomes, but the ending is nice and the comedy is fun. So, if you like high school romances that are not overly saturated with the drama and spiced up with eccentric characters and insane humor, you will enjoy this series. If you like harem titles you will also enjoy this show.
UPDATE: As of October 2013 this series has not been licensed outside of Japan and will probably never be.
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