Synopsis:
Masuo Fuguno is a 24-year old salaryman who has never had a girlfriend in his life. He gets so shy around girls that the mere thought of approaching them has his tongue in knots. One rainy day, Masuo meets a pretty girl whose name he fails to catch. As it turns out, she's Nagisa, a kindergarten teacher... and coincidentally her best friend Isobe works in the same company as Masuo. Like Masuo, Nagisa has never been in a romantic relationship. Will Masuo and Nagisa find happiness in each other?

Review:
To describe If I See You in My Dreams as a typical anime romance would be an understatement. It's only three episodes long but it's so formulaic and predictable that it's not even the least bit amusing.

Two people who've never known love are finally brought together by fate. As soon as that happens however, people who want to get in on the action suddenly appear. One of Masuo's female officemates promptly start pursuing him, and two other guys pop up in order to chase Nagisa. As you can imagine, this causes numerous misunderstandings for Masuo and Nagisa. I could only wonder where these people were during the 20+ years that Masuo and Nagisa had been loveless. The plot seemed to revolve around how to keep the two protagonists apart, and the fact that Masuo and Nagisa both keep making wrong assumptions and stupid decisions nearly drove me up the wall.

Everything about this series is unoriginal and clichéd. Masuo is the stereotypical anime "nerd" who wears glasses and is awkward with women. I found the events where various third parties were constantly trying to steal Masuo and Nagisa away from each other tired, overused, and just plain exasperating. On many occasions I wanted to get a hammer and knock some sense into Masuo's and Nagisa's heads. Surprisingly though, If I See You in My Dreams' ending was done very well -- providing sufficient closure and assuring viewers of good things that are bound to continue to happen. You can actually watch just this OAV series, skip the TV series altogether, and remain completely satisfied.

While I wasn't too pleased with If I See You in My Dreams in terms of story, I was quite impressed by the art and animation. The character designs are very attractive, and even Masuo looked cute... although his kind of cute is the "pet creature" kind of cute. Scenes came off as nicely composed and rendered. Perhaps the only flaw would be the pale and somewhat washed-out overall look of the visuals. The theme songs were delightful and fitting as well.

Overall, If I See You in My Dreams is an uninspired piece wherein a lot of what happens would probably remind you of another anime. A general lack of creativity and imagination characterizes the series, although as a whole it's still above average fare.

Miscellanies:
This OAV spans three episodes. There is also a follow-up TV series with the same title.

Screenshots:

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