Created alongside the Yume De Aetara OVA series, Yume De Aetara, or If I See You In My Dream, has almost the exact same story as the OVA. Don't let the number of episodes fool you, the whole series is about as long as the three OVAs. Each of the sixteen episodes is almost exactly six minutes and thirty seconds long. Fortunately, each episode begins right where the last episode left off, and no episodes are self-contained. It's one of those rare romance stories where you have to see every episode in the correct order, otherwise nothing will make any sense. Also, be warned: I'm going to be making a lot of comparisons to the two series in this review because they have almost the same story (and were made at the same time).

Speaking of romance, I found the romance story in Yume De Aetara to be quite enjoyable. Unfortunately, though it shares the same basic story as the OVA series, much of the innocence and charm is lost when we see a shower scene in every single episode, sometimes there are even two or three in one episode. A good 1/3 of the time spent watching Yume De Aetara is filled with shower scenes and bath scenes (or Masuo fantasizing some sort of sex scene), and that's a lot of time that could have been better spent on developing the story. Luckily, there's still a lot more development between the characters than in the OVA series.

That's really the only aspect of Yume De Aetara that beats out its OVA sibling: the relationship development. Everything went so much further than I saw before, and it was really a nice treat to see things progress so far. Not only that, but a REAL love triangle was formed between the three main characters, not just a cruddy, makeshift one like in the OVA. Hamaoka seemed to be in the OVA just to take up space and provide a miniscule amount of romantic tension, but she is given a lot more time in the TV series.

Unfortunately, there really isn't much background information given to us at all. When the first episode starts, the relationship between Nagisa and Masuo has already begun. We never even find out how they met! A lot of information for the characters and how everything gets started is given to us in the OVA series, which I liked a lot. Alright, I think that's enough comparisons to the OVA series in one review, don't you agree? Time for a little more originality!

What is it about anime men that always makes them go for the women that are really pissed off all the time? Why not just go for the one that really likes you (and says it!)? Well, I suppose the reason for Yume De Aetara is that it's just another one of those misunderstanding-romance stories. Lead male does something that could easily be taken the wrong way, lead lady gets REALLY pissed off and doesn't forgive him until a week later or something when she learns what really happens from a friend. That's pretty much how Love Hina, Maison Ikkoku, the Yume De Aetara OVA, Ranma 1/2... oh I could just list them on and on. Yume De Aetara joins the fray with such ease that it's almost eerie.

Personally, I was rooting for Hamaoka all the way, though I knew from the bottom of my gut that it just wasn't going to happen. I haven't been this disappointed since watching Tsukasa from Pia Carrot 2 DX (yet another misunderstanding-romance story). The way the story ended left a lot to be desired, and it really felt rushed. Had there been an epilogue that took place a year or so later, I would have definitely given the series a higher rating on the ol' scale. Too bad that wasn't the case here.

There were a few parts in Yume De Aetara where I was actually laughing (it really tried hard to make me laugh, I could tell), but in the end it really wasn't funny. The only parts that were really meant to be funny were the times when Masuo gets dumped by Nagisa (approximately twice per episode), but watching them over and over quickly lost its entertainment value. By the last couple of episodes, it really just became a game to see how Masuo would react to getting dumped. Would he A) Crumble into a million pieces, B)Blast off like a rocket, or C) Melt into a giant mess? I was actually serious about that last part, the creators actually did decide to put such a game into one of the episodes.