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There isn’t a whole lot of music from Kimagure Orange Road that stuck out for me, so this post will be rather short, and you probably shouldn’t expect another orchestral remake project like I did for Maison Ikkoku (heh). With that being said…..

Note: If you looking for a spoiler-free review of the series from my perspective, find my review of the TV series. This post contains spoilers, and my thoughts on the contents of this film. As the only people who would/should watch this are those who have completed the TV series, and because those who have completed the TV series should already know (or have a very strong inkling) how the “triangle” will resolve, I don’t feel it’s necessary to avoid spoilers.

The Kimagure Orange Road TV series concluded with an optimistic and quite well-done moment that nevertheless did not really conclude the story because it left the issue of the “romantic triangle” up in the air. It was something of an idealized ending – providing the viewers with a happy moment without having to actually resolve the romantic triangle, which of course, would yield plenty of depressing moments.

A lot of reviews for this film are exceedingly positive, applauding it for being realistic, mature, serious, etc……I’m not really sure what my opinion of this film, to be honest. I was ready for the lack of comedy and serious nature, and I was looking forward to seeing the plotline be dealt with seriously, yet still, something doesn’t sit right with me. The first thing I should mention is that this film is very different from the series. As mentioned……

There are no spoilers in this review, since it’s intended for those who are interested in picking up this series. For my thoughts on the ending, check my “impressions” threads. This review covers the TV series and the OVA packages, and is written before I begin the final movies, so I am reviewing these solely on their own merit.

Kimagure Orange Road is often touted as one of the “classic romance duo”, the other being Maison Ikkoku. My other blog posts should indicate that Maison Ikkoku, despite having several flaws which were highly visible at times, became one of my favourite anime, and that was due mostly to a strong attachment to the characters, causing a very deep investment in their growth and development. That is one of the most important factors which …..

I’ll go over my thoughts on the final third of this series in this post – but a full review will be written soon. Like all my “impressions” posts, this contains spoilers for the episodes I list above (in this case, until the ending), but my review will have a non-spoiler section. So rather than looking back over the series as a whole, I’ll simply focus on the episodes which are fresh in my ……

Here is an mp3 of “Madoka’s Theme” from Kimagure Orange Road. This is from the OST, not by me, so I did not mark it with the site URL. It is carried by a saxophone solo, but after a few phrases, it is joined by strings which gently provide harmony in the background. The saxophone is an instrument I don’t hear much of (especially as a classical music fan), but it provides a certain touch to this piece of music that isn’t comparable to any other. I instantly fell in love with this piece when I first heard it, it has such a wistful quality to it. The KOR music and score don’t have as many gems as Maison Ikkoku or Honey and Clover, but the ones that are there shouldn’t be overlooked.

Madoka’s Theme

In my “first impressions” post, I mentioned that there are essentially two directions that a “love triangle” can take. The first is a shallow, soap-opera-ish melodramatic path, which is the most common one. The second one is the path of “Honey and Clover” took with Takemoto, Morita and Hagu. I feel almost “embarrassed” to call it a love triangle because that makes it seem so much less interesting than it actually was. In H&C, it wasn’t anyone’s fault that the triangle existed, nor was it due to indecisiveness or overt jealousy. It simply is the way that it turned out, for better or for worse, and there is a strange sort of wistfulness to how it plays out.

In a lot of reviews, people say that Kimagure Orange Road’s “triangle” is due to the indecisiveness of the main character. Yet I think that trivializes it into ……

Although I am still very much in a slightly obsessed mode (with Maison Ikkoku), I’ve decided to begin watching Kimagure Orange Road. This series is not nearly as long as Maison Ikkoku, which means it will be slightly better for my schedule, but compared to modern anime series it is still double the length of most longer series nowadays. Regardless, Maison Ikkoku’s length, in my opinion, helped make it as unique an experiences as it was. KOR seemed like a natural series to continue onto because I have always heard that Maison Ikkoku and Kimagure Orange Road are the two “classic” ….