Meiji Tokyo Renka

Episodes: 12

Disclaimer: This review is my opinion just on the anime. The visual novel is going to come out this year and I do plan on playing it. I just want to make it clear that how I feel about this series is just the anime not the game.

Summary: 

On the night of a crimson full moon, high school girl Ayazuki Mei enters into a box. When she awakens, she’s in Tokyo during the Meiji Period!

The lost and confused Mei is taken to the Rokumeikan, a lavish ballroom full of powerful high officials.

In this world, during the “Misty Hour” between sundown and sunup, “mononoke” appear. Those who can see them are called “Tamayori,” and Mei herself possesses this power. As she navigates an unfamiliar life, romance begins to bloom between Mei and these men — and the power of the tamayori will only strengthen their bonds.

Review: 

Meiji Touka Renka is an anime based on a visual novel by the same name and as a visual novel fan I decided to check it out. The plot is pretty simple, Mei has been ostracized by her classmates after she was seen talking to “ghosts” at her birthday party. Mei can see spirits and hates that it ruined her life so much that she wears earphones constantly to not hear the ghosts talking to her. One day, on the night of the crimson full moon, she is convinced to help a magician at a festival. She gets into a box and is supposed to disappear. However, when she awakens she finds that she has been transported to the Meiji Period. Through a series of events she meets the characters that are probably the routes of the visual novel. This anime does fall into the plot fall of other visual novel animes, they try to shove each character’s path into the anime and because of that there is no actual plot. I will give them that instead of having no real romance in the anime, they do choose one character to be Mei’s love. It just is not well developed.

The characters are pretty basic, I’m sure in the game they are more interesting, but since the anime just glosses over the plot I feel the characters aren’t developed well. Mei, our heroine, is a sweet girl that loves roast beef. She is confused about the world she finds herself in, but works hard to survive and help the people around her. Then there are the love interests. Ogai, the man who takes Mei in after he finds her. Shunso, the famous painter who also lives with Ogai. Otojiro, the actor and part time cross-dressing geisha. Kyoka, the playwright, Goro, the policeman and Charlie, the magician that sent her to this time. I didn’t feel that any of the guys are fleshed out, they’re just kind of there.

The art from this anime is what you’d expect from a visual novel. The character designs are great, with each love interest being attractive and the backgrounds are well drawn. This art wouldn’t stand out against other animes like this, but there’s nothing bad about it. 

Overall Thoughts:

Meiji Tokyo Renka is an extremely simple romance series. The development of the characters is really lacking as well as the plot overall. I wish they had made it more detailed or just animated one route. It would have made the characters more interesting. However, the biggest problem with this anime is the ending. Without going into spoilers, I’ll just say that the end of the anime made me angry. It is stupid and makes the rest of the anime pointless. I can’t stress enough how infuriating it is. Not sure why this is the ending they choose for the anime.

I would have originally recommended this anime for fans of visual novels or romance, but after the ending I can’t recommend this anime to anyone. It’s not worth your time, there are better visual novels and romance anime out there that are more fun to watch. This is just garbage and lazy writing.  

Story: 2/10

Art: 5/10

Characters: 3/10

Ending: 0/10

Overall: 2/10