Customer Ratings & Reviews

Genre: Mystery (Hard to really put a label on this one) Length: 12 episodes "Narumi Fujishima isn't your typical high school student; he's never really fit in and has been becoming increasingly more isolated from his fellow classmates. But he's not alone, and when Ayaka, the sole member of the Gardening Club, introduces him to the reclusive girl who lives above the ramen shop, Narumi enters a whole new secret world. Alice is a NEET, someone who is Not Employed, being Educated or in Training, but as Narumi quickly discovers, that doesn't mean that she does nothing all day. In between tending to her small army of stuffed bears, Alice is an expert hacker and very exclusive, private detective. To his surprise, Narumi finds himself drafted as one of the strange, but elite team of associates that Alice has assembled from her NEET acquaintances. Together they'll battle gangs, thieves, murderers and drug lords. And in the middle of it all, Narumi will find his life changing forever in Heaven's Memo Pad!" I thought this series looked interesting when it came out over a year ago, but I kept it on my wish list and never bought it. With the sale last month for only $27.99, I finally pulled the trigger. Took a little longer than normal to arrive since it had gone on backorder due to all the purchases, but I still got it within 2 weeks. Heaven's Memo Pad is a bit of an odd-ball story. It's one of those anime series that is really good to watch but doesn't have a lot of staying power once you're done with it. I enjoyed watching it, but I'll admit that I was going back and forth playing Solitaire for the first 2 episodes and just listening to the show. The main character, Narumi, just isn't that noticeable of a guy. And they let you know it throughout the show as almost every other character comments on it. However, by the end of the series, he's become a pretty cool guy. The series does lack from not having a general plot to it. You can divide it up into 3 or 4 arcs. None of them really tie into each other, though. It's basically the everyday life of a NEET detective and the trouble that ensues. HMP turns a bit dark for the last few episodes and tries to end on a positive note but whether it succeeds is debatable. Good graphics and a good audio mix built into here. I didn't notice any animation screw-ups or rush jobs with any of the character's faces. The amount of backgrounds is fairly limited as the number of environments doesn't change much. Very little fanservice except when it comes to Min, the ramen shop owner. There is a bit of blood being spilled as gangs do play a big part in the series. Nothing gruesome, though. The opening and closing songs are catchy but not my favorites. I really enjoyed the real soft song that plays for Alice a lot. Overall, I enjoyed the series. Otherwise I wouldn't have watched it in 2 days. I wasn't too thrilled at the ending, but I didn't hate it, either. I still recommend this to everyone to watch at least once.