This saccharine tale of the young lives of pure hearted girls continues in the latest volume of To Heart. First up is the Sports Festival. Hiroyuki’s friends are all for it but he seems detached. Can he find the heart and the fun behind his friends’ fervor? Then a cute and often ignored girl named Rio keeps bumping into Hiroyuki. Could this be destiny? And last, the shy girl Kotone has no friends, but when a hurt stray cat comes into her life, so too perhaps, her first friends.

This anime is very innocent and sentimental. That atmosphere is heightened by the lackadaisical way in which the episodic anime progresses. There’s some angst but not a huge amount of melodrama, just a wee bit of soap opera. It would be easy to play this series off like a harem comedy, but instead To Heart goes for the innocent romance and nostalgia of youth and lazy school days out in the bright sunshine.

As the series progresses, the episodes are remaining self contained. Each one usually introduces a new girl. The main ones this time are Rio and Kotone. Rio is so young looking and cheerful in a shy way that you would think she was younger than Hiroyuki, but actually she’s the same age. She also has a terrible phobia of dogs and needs Hiroyuki’s help with something. His assistance, when seen and misunderstood by gossiping Shiho, could have lead to a blow-out between him and Akari. Instead it lends itself to a quiet and touching moment between the two and further cements Akari as his only potential love interest despite the myriad of girls around him.

Kotone was my own personal favorite out of the stories in this volume. She’s psychic and can only foresee the misfortune of others. This has led her to leading an isolated and lonely school life. Friendless, she ends up helping a stray kitten that’s hurt. This endears her to Akari and the others and they deal with her ability with an acceptance that warms the heart. In fact, rather than Hiroyuki being the main male fixture, Kotone seems to have her eye on someone else, a male friend very close to Hiroyuki. Her unspoken feelings towards the young man end up creating a wonderful heartwarming moment for her when she may finally realize her curse can also be a gift.

EXTRAS:
Bonus features include a reversible cover, trailers of other Right Stuf titles, translation notes, line art gallery, character bios, and two bonus mini-episodes.

IN SUMMARY:
To Heart is a lovely sentimental anime that beats to its own drummer.

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