There is no doubt that the biggest cash cow of the gaming industry in 1997, was the dating simulation SENTIMENTAL GRAFFITI. Of course, the game itself, when they finally got around to releasing it, was an overhyped product fortunate to be labeled as mediocre, but the pre-release merchandising and associated events succeeded beyond anybody's wildest dreams. People refused to work SENTIMENTAL GRAFFITI booths at events because there was a very real chance of getting injured by the crowd that would mob the tables. Toys, phone cards, paraphernalia, CDs... You name it, they probably sold it.
With that in mind, was it any surprise that they would come out with a SENTIMENTAL GRAFFITI-based anime? Well, maybe the real surprise is that this twelve part anime, which is incidentally called SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, is actually a really good series. It has been too long since I have enjoyed a show as much as I did SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY.
The original premise of the game was that you played a high school boy who one day receives a letter in the mail from an anonymous girl. It is a love letter, and your objective is to find out which one of your previous high school loves it is from. The tricky part is that you have been transferred twelve times in the past, so you have to go to twelve cities all over Japan to meet the twelve girls who had fallen for you! I'll leave the actual mechanics of the system up to the game review, suffice to say the real draw, like TOKIMEKI MEMORIAL, was the pure innocent characters of the girls.
I'm glad to say the anime has nothing to do with the game except that it features the same female characters, one per episode. What makes SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY unusual is that each episode is completed unrelated to any of the others; instead, each episode focuses solely on one girl and tells a short romantic story. The only common element tying the stories together is the presence of a boy (and not even the same boy) in each girl's past, a boy who used to be puppy love, or an old crush, or a best friend, or just a short acquaintance. And this boy would have an influence over some part of that girl's present life. The stories ranged widely from straightforward girl-gets-boy romance to supernatural drama, and the actual storytelling and animation quality also tended to fluctuate noticeably, but on the whole SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY is an anime that is unlike anything else out there.
It is getting harder and harder to make a hit anime that doesn't follow the formula "one big story dragged out over 26 episodes" style. A TV anime makes money only if it can keep viewers hooked from one week to the week. It is pretty much impossible to get something with absolutely no continuity to be approved for production, no matter how good the concept.
That's why SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY is a real godsend. When was the last time you saw a complete, concise story told within 23 minutes with excellent pacing and planning? You can see that the storyboard writers and production studio relished this opportunity to exercise their talents. The girls are based on the game characters, but luckily the anime assumes you have no knowledge of the game, and works to flesh out each girl's distinct personality. You will have no problems seeing exactly what type of person they are, what their worries and hopes are, and what they are looking for. Of course they are far from realistic, and yet at the same time you can empathize with them while feeling a twinge of nostalgia for that sort of long-gone purity and innocence that they symbolize. Little wonder that the male gamers in Japan loved this game.
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY is short, sweet, and sometimes sad, but always uplifting. Although there are a couple average ones, most of the stories are well told, and always different. Add a wonderful opening theme and an equally good closing song, and you have an anime that everyone should at least give a try. If you are a romantic, I'm sure you will enjoy SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY as much as I did. And I'm not even a romantic...