Disclaimer: This review covers the two 2022 anime films "To Me, The One Who Loved You," and "To Every You I've Loved Before." Minor spoilers are in this review.It's not every day when you see a movie, or any storytelling medium, that tries to do something genuinely different. Such was the case for the dual release of the anime features "To Me, The One Who Loved You," and "To Every You I've Loved Before." These were two films with different perspectives of the same characters in a complex science fiction love story. They released in Japan at exactly the same date, and promised the audience that you'd have a unique experience based on the order you watched them in. Watch "To Every You" first, and you'd see a sweet, "happy," love story. Watch "To Me" first, and you'd see a "poignant," perhaps sadder, love story. To make things even more confusing, Cruncyroll's initial North American Bluray release had a printing error where the disc labels were switched, further confusing you as to what you should watch first.Of course, this is bound to give viewers analysis paralysis as to which one to watch first for the best experience. The clue might be in the poster colours: if you watch "To Every You" (blue) first, you'll get the poignant story, where the second film will give you extra context to the motivations of some of the characters early, and why they might seem tragic in hindsight. If you watch "To Me" (red) first, you'll get the sweet story where you already know the beginning and end, and you're watching the second film fill in extra events in the middle. Personally, I watched "To Me" first, but want to describe the plot in each a little further to help you decide.Both films feature, to different extents, three characters: Koyomi (the male main character), Shiori (a female romantic interest) and Kazune (another female romantic interest). In this fictional story, science suggests a theory of parallel worlds, branching out at important decisions in an individual's life. This field is called "Imaginary Science." A research lab, where the parents of these main characters work, investigates whether these worlds exist, and whether it's possible to travel between them. This possibilty drives the plots in the two stories. In "To Me," Koyomi and Shiori meet as children and date as teenagers, and have a naturally pure relationship. An incident drives them to try an experimental device to travel to a parallel world together, but in the other world, there's an accident, causing Koyomi to return alone. In a desparate attempt to save her, he dedicates the rest of his life to the research lab to find a way to bring her back. Later in Koyomi's life, Kazune joins the lab too, and they confide in each other to this secret cause. In "To Every You," Koyomi hasn't met Shiori, and genreally doesn't have friends at all. In high school, Kazune's natural competitive streak (being only second to Koyomi in sechool) leads her to coldly reach out to him, and it sparks an unlikely relationship, also towards a career in Imaginary Science, with hints that Kazune may be naturally jumping between worlds. Towards the end of "To Me," we see a montage of the events of "To Every You," and the ending of "To Me" is repeated directly in the opening of "To Every You," suggesting a placement in the narrative timeline if that matters to you. The inverse is also true (a montage of "To Me" occurs near the end of "To Every You"), but feels less detailed, and the ending is extended in "To Every You," making further sense for it to be the last thing you see. The final sentiment of "To Every You" is happy, and "To Me" is poignant, and "To Me" also has a brief end-credts scene, while "To Every You" doesn't. 
The science fiction jargon and jumping around complicates the story. You might expect this to have a complexity of a time-travel story, perhaps where seeing both helps understand the full picture of a secret, happy ending, but that's not really the case. Instead, we see alternate realities with In one film, we understand the tragedy that shapes Koyomi, and the power of love that drives him. In the second film, Koyomi is, by and large, happy, even though his life is with a different person, and it's instead Kazune's events later in life that gives her depth. But in the second movie, if Kazune and Koyomi are happy together, does the love in the parallel world matter, and is it fair? That's perhaps what the movies were trying to convey. It's an interesting exercise, and as pure a romance as I've seen outside a Makoto Shinkai film. But because the events aren't all that dependent on each other, watching both movies rather than just one might feel redundant. How you react to the movies will depend how you feel to sentimental romance stories in general. As sweet as it was, I was left satisfied. Not impressed or moved, but satisfied. Regardless, I think the order choice I made was the right one, and I recommend watching "To Me" first, and "To Every You" second, to get a fuller picture and understanding, and for a happier ending. Or you can try the reverse, to appreciate the sacrifice Kazume makes towards the end. The production seems to be done by TMS Entertainment for "To Every You" and Bakken Record (an offshoot of Tatsunoko Productions) for "To Me." For the most part, it's consistent, except perhaps minor details, like the way eyes are drawn. However, it was generally just fine overall, with limited animation that I'd expect from a lower-budget tv production. Character designs were interesting if only because the same characters had to be drawn at different stages of their lives. There's a general lack of ambition to bring beauty through colour or composition, and in a movie where romance is the plot, beauty matters. Crunchyroll's Bluray release is also barebones, with no English dub, and only Japanese trailers as the extra feature (although seeing how these movies were marketed does help). The Japanese dub was fine, although in "To Me"... it felt more grounded and less exaggerated, which was good for normal scenes when characters simply talk, but a notable weakness when grief or desparation needed to be acted. A pop song or two is inserted, another feature comparable to Makoto Shinkai's work.However long and confusing the titles are, "To Me, The One Who Loved You" and "To Every You I've Loved Before" are an interesting curiosity. I can't say it's worth much for fans of animation, and even in the genre, there are better examples of romance in anime. But perhaps for a film studies class, or someone looking for something fresh in a love story across time and space, it's worth watching once.