Winter Garden

===Foreword=== As you might know, this is a spin-off from Di Gi Charat, which I have never seen or read about in any great detail, so there is some stuff on which I just can't comment or write enough detail about. ===Animation=== Not the strong point. The colours are simple, without any gradients used. The backgrounds are simple as well, but nicely drawn. The character designs are quite simple too, but they are cute. The notable thing is that as soon as there many characters on scene, like crowds, they are just drawn plain white with black lines. Something that doesn't actually ruin the animation in any way, or doesn't annoy the person watching it. Running animation is I think one of the better points. Sometimes there is a chibi scene thrown in, but they are done fairly well and are not annoying in any way. Overall the animation is poor, but I don't think it's a factor that affects the overall rating by much, but I was expecting something more complex than this. ===Sound=== This special features quite a nice OP and ED, and fairly good background music, which is a bit on the simple side. There is also a French song in the second episode, which is quite good as well. ===Story=== Since this is only two episodes long you can't expect anything complicated. It's a simple story about a girl who meets a boy. An unexpected encounter which starts off everything, and a misunderstanding as well to create some drama. It's a rather light and sweet story. Considering the fact that they had only two episodes I think that it was done quite well, with a good conclusion. ===Characters=== This is a section on which I won't be able to comment too much since I don't know what the characters were like in the original Di Gi Charat. Overall they were good. Though this special lacks characters, but what would you expect from a two minute special? We barely get to know the names of four characters, and the rest is there just for comic relief. Overall the characters are good, and some are cute as well, like Puchiko. :) ===Enjoyment=== I enjoyed watching this, since it was nice to take a break from all the other serious anime around which fills my mind with questions and useless answers, and also had a laugh over some light comedy which fits in well. However don't watch this if you want to see something serious. Watch this if you want to take a break and need something light, then you'll see the hidden beauty of this...

Overview: Well, I have seen a fair amount of anime, and I decided to pick up this little special after seeing random videos of it that piqued my interest. Anyway, I'm very glad that I did. If you don't want to read the whole review, the bottom line is this anime is very much worth watching, regardless of its score, and also that you don't need to see the main series to enjoy this special, as I saw this first. I've seen better scored animes which I didn't enjoy quite as much, so take that with a grain of salt, not to mention this review. Story: The story is a typical anime romance scenario, except the beauty of this special is that they manage to fit so much action into two episodes and make it work extremely well and make you wish it were longer (at least in my case). But the story doesn't really leave anything unanswered, so if you're a perfectionist like me that has to have closure on everything, you won't be disappointed. Art: Well, what can I say, really? It's Japanese animation and it's quality. some of the scenes seem to be low detail in the distance but it's the style of the anime and it works well. I didn't find any part of it to be really lacking. The colours are bright and easy on the eyes, and everything looks very nice. Sound: Well, there's not a whole lot of songs to the anime, being short, but what it does have is superb. This is the quality of Winter Garden that made me want to watch it, which is surprising because I tend to go for anime for the story, but that's okay. The sound is very good. Character: Well, there aren't many characters, but they are introduced quickly and everything develops nicely and you never really forget any character's name because they are all important in this anime, there are hardly any "minor" characters. This is another thing I love about this special. Enjoyment: The plot in this anime is very well constructed and keeps you on the edge of your seat till the very end (or at least it did for me). For only 2 episodes, you get plenty of bang for your viewing buck (please excuse the overused idiom, I couldn't find anything much better to use here). But I really did enjoy this anime. It is one of the best ones I have seen despite being short and is worth watching. Overall: If you haven't seen this yet, I would highly recommend doing so sometime. You probably won't feel like you wasted your time, and with only 2 episodes, you're not risking much anyway. I would recommend this anime to anyone who likes romance-driven plot and interesting characters.

What felt like 26 episodes was flattened into 2 I was in the zone when I saw this series. It was like riding a roller coaster during Christmas. Magical... Literally I could not blink because I would miss so much... This series was amazing!

This OVA completely stripped away everything unique and interesting about Di Gi Charat. Dejiko is no longer the cute, temperamental, sassy protagonist everyone grew to love. This series portrayed her as a cookie-cutter anime girl: Complacent, shy, easily embarrassed, who spends her days doing little more than hoping the guy she likes will notice her...nothing like her original personality at all. The plot was dull and uneventful. The art was lackluster compared the the original; even the colors were a lot duller. I really don't understand why this was created, and I kind of wish it hadn't been.

Di Gi Charat - Winter Garden is a warm and lovely title where you don\'t need to be familiar with Di Gi Charat series to enjoy it and/or understand it. Its not a direct sequel so anyone can randomly pick it up and enjoy it. Basicaly the story evolves around Digiko and her love with Takurou Senba. Their love is not considered "love at first sight" but it\'s seen as more of a developing relationship from a first sight encounter. With some dramtic and comedy moments, this love story isn\'t easily forgotten even though it span through 2 episodes. In conclusion, recommended for anyone into the romance genre. Its a very cute and romantic title where it could have easily extended in a 12 episodes series if they remade it again.

Winter garden is a romance /slice of life spin off of the Di Gi Charat series. Unlike its parent story though, it holds very little similarities to it and could be viewed completely on its own.   The only shared traits among Winter Garden and Di Gi Charat are the character designs, names and a few references that reveal the link between them. From the setting and tone of the original series to the personalities of the characters, everything is changed. An instance of this change is Dejiko's personality; from a hot tempered and sassy alien princess, she turned into a normal shy human who's also a bit of an airhead. But this is not necessarily a bad thing.    Winter Garden is an enjoyable and calming series. It is nicely paced as there are many events taking place in these two episodes without feeling rushed. The way the characters acted was pretty natural; a nice change of pace from the usual exaggerated manners found in anime. There were also some funny and cute scenes here and there, centered mostly around Puchico teasing Dejiko.   Moving on to technical details, the animation was good but not anything extraordinary, given that this is a sol and the most extreme movements that were shown was running. The character designs, while resembling the originals, were changed to fit a normal, everyday setting, but still managed to look cute. Regarding its soundtrack, it was mellow and fitting; it greatly enhanced the slow paced, atmospheric, winter setting of the story.   All in all, I believe this is a relaxing and sweet watch. Nothing revolutionary or deep will be found in it, but for its short duration it can be worth someone's time. Fans of the traditional Di Gi Charat series might be put off from how different this one is, but it can still be enjoyable, not only as a separate story of its own, but also for the alternate designs and references to the og series that it offers. (This is the first ever preview that I'm writing, I hope someone finds it helpful. If there are any issues or mistakes in it, please let me know.)

I have absolutely no idea why does this even exist. It has barely anything to do with Di Gi Charat universe. It's not bad, but I think this should have been own anime in itself. But I guess nobody would care about it in that case. The story is incredibly average at best and very predictable. Yet, the pace is really good and it's pretty interesting how many things they were able to squeeze into two 24 minutes long episodes. And while I knew how the story would end, I will admit that I was at the edge of my seat at the end, which definitely delivered. When it comes to the characters - Dejiko was stripped of any personality she previously had and became a very flat character. It's hard to imagine that such a temperamental, assertive and over all not-to-be-screwed-with girl would turn into such a shy girl that only hopes that senpai will notice her. I am glad that at least Puchiko kept her sarcastic and sassy personality, which I loved. There is also a Rabi~en~Rose in few scenes, but she doesn't talk or interact with main characters in any way, but it was nice to see her. The art style is pretty cute, but veeery simple. It can't match the art style used in Di Gi Charat Nyo. Colors were not so vibrant and some things reminded me of original Di Gi Charat - especially the use of simple sketches in crowded scenes. So, nothing that special, really, I'm afraid. I am giving an extra point for absolutely amazing and catchy music, as is always the case with Di Gi Charat. And another extra point because I am currently in love, so it had a slightly bigger impact on me - reviews are subjective after all.