Kelvets

At the time I'm writing this, 366 people have taken the time to rate this anime, but none have written a review. So I might as well be the first. First, I'd like to point out that this is a short animation, lasting only 30 minutes. As such, it's fair to say you can completely ignore the review and just watch this OVA yourself, as no reviewer can be a better judge of what pleases you than yourself! As at worst you'll only have "wasted" half an hour of your life. However, if for some obscure reason you still prefer to read the review first, carryon. I'll begin with what impressed me most, the art. It's reminiscent of the works of my favorite anime director, Makoto Shinkai. The backgrounds are drawn with much more detail than the characters, creating a sort of contrast. While the backgrounds in Taifuu no Noruda don't quite have the absurd level of detail found in Shinkai's works, they are still impressive. Other than that, I was also impressed by the feeling of impending doom the incoming typhoon managed to convey. The art direction here is definitely great. Sadly, the story is not up to par. It involves a mysterious girl that appears during the typhoon and is rescued by the main character. At the end of the show, her origins are still not explained, and we know just as much about who is she is as when the story began (that is, nothing). The story also involves a conflict between the main character and his best friend, which is resolved at the end in a rather clichéd way. Also cliché is the impossibly ridiculous way in which the protagonist saves the mystery girl from her impending doom. But oh well, this is anime, and concessions have to be made. One could argue that the 30-minute duration puts heavy constraints on the way the story can be told. While I agree, there are also other anime who managed to tell a good story in the same timespan (the excellent Harmonie (also referred to as Anime Mirai 2014) comes to mind). I feel like this one, however, would need two or three times its current length to be told in a satisfactory manner. The characters are likeable and have potential, but again, there was not enough time to flesh them out and cause me to get attached to them. If you don't care about having a fully realized story, then by all means watch this OVA. The art alone should be worth the half hour you invest into it. Besides, I can think of far worse ways to spend half an hour.

hellofrnd

Taifuu no Noruda is the result of attempting to squeeze a movie into half an hour. A lot of things are poorly explained if at all. The storyline is incredibly predictable, mostly because the characters are flat and cliche. The art was decent, nothing special, especially when compared to modern standards. The background music wasn't bad, but the voice actors sounded flat and boring. This is especially noticeable during exclamations; the characters do not sound scared or excited at all. The characters as stated before are incredibly cliche. The main character for the sake of wanting to make his own decisions decides to risk hislife to save a girl, Noruda. He fights with his friend because he thinks it is lame to follow him. Characters are not the strongest point in this movie. In fact, Noruda's name is pretty much the only piece of information we learn about her. Nothing is explained about what she is, where she came from, and why she's causing the end of the world. I personally didn't enjoy it at all and would not recommend it.