Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Say, "I Love You." Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 21, 2013

There’s a widely held belief that Japanese culture is inordinately polite and civil, and that things like bullying must not exist there. Say “I Love You”, a frankly pretty inconsequential but nonetheless enjoyable romance anime culled from a manga by Kanae Hazuki. The heroine of this piece is a shy, withdrawn and pretty forlorn teenaged girl named Mei Tachibana, a social pariah whose isolation stems from what probably will seem to most outsiders like a pretty lame reason (which won’t be mentioned here, since some would consider it a spoiler). Mei has no friends, and indeed if she dressed a little more in black, Westerners might be prone to calling her a “goth” due to her dour demeanor. That begins to change when a literal kick in the pants brings Mei together with her school’s most popular boy, Yamamoto Kurosawa. A rather unlikely romance blossoms, fostered by a kind of weirdly dark plot conceit that puts Mei temporarily in danger and allows Kanae to come to her rescue.

Say “I Love You” is a sweet but slight outing that mixes slice of life, shōnen and shōjo relatively artfully, though from a dramatic standpoint, there’s not a whole lot to latch onto here. Instead, this is a quiet, and at times quite effective, character piece that details what an unlikely relationship between two people can do for both of them. Those who yearn for an anime that isn’t completely hyperkinetic may find this to be a decent if not earth shaking entertainment. (Note: This is one of several Sentai anime releases that has at least a tangential reference to cats, which seems to be a trend of late. In this case it's Mei's sweet little kitty Marshmallow.)

Say, "I Love You." Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Say "I Love You" is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is actually a fairly surprisingly varied looking anime. This ZEXCS production has some rather interesting techniques, especially when Mei flashes back on various moments from her childhood. There's an almost surreal montage aspect at times, usually in soft focus, and with various elements stretching and morphing in an almost dreamlike way. Even contemporary, "real" life moments are sometimes overlaid with a kind of diffused whitish light (see the first screenshot), which can keep things looking kind of soft some of the time. Character designs feature good, solid line detail, and aside from some minor banding issues, this is a solid looking high definition presentation.

Say, "I Love You." Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Say "I Love You" features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mixes in both English and Japanese. These two options sound virtually identical other than the voice work, although to my ears, the English mix is perhaps slightly more vivid in the midrange. This is not a bombastic series by any stretch, and these 2.0 mixes suffice perfectly well for a small scale outing like this. There is actually some rather nice (and wide) stereo separation at times, with foley effects like doors opening and closing clearly placed in the right or left channel.

Say, "I Love You." Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Mei and Marshmallow Meow includes: Episode 1 (1080p; 00:46), Episode 2 (1080p; 1:54), Episode 3 (1080p; 1:17), Episode 4 (1080p; 1:38), Episode 5 (1080p; 2:10) and Episode 6 (1080p; 3:01).


• Japanese Promos (1080p; 3:49)


• Clean Opening Animation (1080p; 1:32)


• Clean Closing Animation (1080p; 1:32)

Say, "I Love You." Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Say "I Love You" is a gentle and heartfelt anime that will appeal to the same sorts of people that opt for romantic comedies on long (lonely?) nights at home. While some attempt is given to dress up this basic story with various memories and the like, this is really a pretty standard boy meets girl outing, nothing more, nothing less. The animation style here is rather winning, however, and for those who like this kind of thing, Say "I Love You" comes Recommended.