Jeff is through with ef and his opinion has improved considerably:

All in all, the story (or stories, I suppose) isn’t all that original as far as visual novel adaptations go. There are some unique elements - Chihiro’s illness, for example - and those elements are treated more thoughtfully and carefully than one would expect, but as far as the core story goes, it’s been done before. The direction and production made all the difference in the world, however.

The bloggage gave him the willpower to see past the SHAFTed streetlight and the initial setup.

P.S. Curiously enough, Jeff neglected to mention the Tenmon's score, of which I actually bought a soundtrack, despite rather silly gouging tricks by the producers (splitting it into several CDs).