Summary: >

A first love can leave a mark on a heart for many years to come. These are the stories of twelve different girls in twelve different cities.

Thoughts: >

Sentimental Journey is based off the popular date sim game Sentimental Graffiti. Instead of having one of those typical school romance titles with a large cast, this title divides up the cast and gives each girl her own story - twelve total. While I'd like to tell you that it was sweet and cute, I couldn't describe this any way but long and plodding. Honestly I might be a bit gracious even rating this as weak, but it doesn't have anything that is deliberately distasteful.

I've heard some parallels drawn between Sentimental Journey and Seraphim Call, which is one title I fondly remember as very misunderstood. Seraphim Call didn't have anything other than a vague plan, but took daring approaches to many of the stories that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. Sentimental Journey on the other hand, plays it so safe that it lacks vitality. Each episode features a girl who doesn't seem to have much of a personality, nor is she particularly likable. The lack of engaging stories only makes it worse. For example, one episode features a girl who believes a terminal illness will soon kill her, so she's driven to complete book of poetry she's writing before her death. Even under circumstances like this, the story isn't gripping. How that can not be dramatic is almost an accomplishment.

Were there any good episodes? Well if you can stay awake through the first five episodes (which will take determination, trust me), episode six does have some charm to it. A girl turns to a Buddhist monk for insight into her troubled heart, and he becomes her friend and mentor. The kinship they develop creates a great chemistry between the two. It's not what I would call exciting, but it is highly philosophical from a Zen perspective. The philosophy aspect also may make your head explode if you're not interested in thinking that much while watching anime.

I wish I had better things to say about this title, but it just drags too much. The unremarkable soundtrack didn't help. My advice is to avoid this one all together, but the aforementioned episode may be of interest to some.