a.k.a. Pia Carrot e Youkoso! Sayaka no Koi Monogatari
Genre: Romance
Company: F&C Co.; BONES
Format: 1 movie
Dates: 2003
Sayaka is asked to help out at the opening summer of the newest Pia Carrot restaurant on the beach. Reluctant to go due to her secretive crush on her coworker Akihiko, she nevertheless agrees to her manager’s request. Arriving to a sunny paradise, she still cannot find peace and longs for the strength to confess her feelings. Will the summer apart fade her heart or will the longing give her the power to express her feelings?
summary by Mugs
Reviewed: 06/18/2003 by
Grade: 70% 
Highs: Fun; knows what it’s not
Lows: Some of the backgrounds
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a theatrical sequel to a hentai OVA series. Before you go imagining a haven of high quality hentai animation, this one is decidedly not a hentai series. Its ecchi level clocks in at slightly less than Love Hina level, so it’s safe for anyone to watch.
Clocking in at fifty minutes (with time taken up by both musical sequences at the opening/closing and a montage in the middle) doesn’t leave a lot of time for a deep story. In fact, if I was to compare this to anything, I’d say it was an anime version of Baywatch. There are lots of pretty girls in tight bathing suits or waitress outfits bouncing around not doing much of anything in particular, with an unfocused love story thrown in for some kind of a central theme. This idea wouldn’t win any awards for screenwriting, but I doubt anyone would come into this movie expecting such.
The animation is decent but feels far more on a OVA level than that of a movie. CG appears to play a heavy role, however, and many of the backgrounds are static. There was at least one scene with people drawn into the background part of the scenery. Needless to say these characters, which were frozen in the act of walking, looked ridiculous. The score for the film is a selection of J-Pop that complements the feel of the film nicely. If you think of any of the beach episodes from a variety of shows from Hand Maid May to Hanaukyo Maid Tai, you’ll know exactly what to expect from this.
All in all, this anime is a fun, little distraction for just under an hour. If you liked any of the similar shows out there, you’ll probably like this one, as well. If they weren’t your cup of tea, then this anime surely won’t impress you, either.
Anime Academy 