"Ano Natsu de Matteru" Series Talkback

[ChibiGoku]

Ano Natsu de Matteru

So... Apparently no one started a thread on this series. A little surprised.

Anyways, the series is about Kaito Kirishima, who one day witnesses an alien craft crash landing onto earth, only to be severely injured... only to wake up the next day at his house, perfectly fine. Not only that, he does not have any memory of what has happened. At school, a new transfer student, Ichika Takatsuki, appears. She, with the rest of Kaito's friends, decide to work on a movie together as their summer break nears. While everything seems to be normal enough, Ichika seems to... strange. And by a twist of fate, Ichika ends up coming to Kaito's house to stay the night.. Only to reveal who she really is when Kaito collapses...

For anyone who doesn't know, this series reunites the script writer and character designer from the Onegai (Please!) series, or Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twins.

The first episode, which I just saw a couple hours ago, is very strongly like Onegai Teacher. Infact, there is a character, Remon, who has the same VA as Ichigo from Onegai Teacher, who is almost an identical character in both appearance, personality, and voice. I could not stop comparing the two as I watched it. However, this is not a bad thing, in a long run. In fact, I'm quite happy with this. It's been awhile since I saw a series like this, especially with the Onegai staff. I plan on following this until the end and honestly cannot wait to see the next episode.

For those who live in North America (and I think South America), the series is available to stream on Crunchyroll, which you can see the show page here.

[GingaDaiuchuu]

Definitely a weaker first episode than other Nagai stuff, but it's really not so much a Nagai show as the others anyway, and it still has a sufficient amount of his signature elements. Pretty good, anyway. Sure to be one of the better shows this season. Maybe I'll give Teacher and/or Twins another shot after it's over.

[Karl Olson]

I would say the opening episode is about as strong as Onegai Teacher's (excellent opening monologue,) and while there are a crazy number of similarities, the little differences seem built to push this down a radically different path. It does seem odd that they didn't explicitly set this up in the same universe or as an AU, though maybe that's a later revelation.

I really look forward to the next episode, that's for sure. I will watch this through unless it really trainwrecks out. Can't be any more mediocre than Onegai Twins.

[Funkatron]

Ugh: Crunchyroll released episode 2 without subs

[GingaDaiuchuu]

Another thing I love that Nagai seems to do almost all the time: starting the ED song and credits during the episode and then eventually leading into the actual ED at an appropriate time. Sure, plenty of anime does that, but it seems so frequent and perfectly executed with his stuff.

Oh, still fun.

[GingaDaiuchuu]

I don't know why I ever thought this would be more like Toradora! or AnoHana and less like Please Teacher and Twins, but now that it's obvious what it's going to be like, I can appreciate it for what it is. Not looking to be a favorite of mine, not really great yet, not even my favorite new series in a season where nothing is looking to be a favorite of mine or really great yet, but it's still plenty enjoyable. Hopefully the quality will increase over the course of the series so at least it can be the last of that list (my favorite of the season), but at least I don't see it getting to the point where I won't be enjoying each episode of it to the end, so I'm happy about that.

I liked the way the whole episode showed us the anxiety of all the characters and their comically inaccurate assumptions about the thoughts and actions of everyone else, leading up to the interaction that showed how wrong all of them were, making for a nice way to end the episode.

[Karl Olson]

Just watched the 3rd episode, and if anything, I feel like they've managed to up their game with each episode. The characters' hilarious daydream cutaways have a vaguely Scrubs-esque surreality that's incredibly refreshing in an anime, but that is especially welcome here. It really sets it apart from Onegai Teacher's pacing, feeling much more brisk and lively. The tension between the various characters is expertly played as well. In episode 3 for example, very, very subtle direction and storyboarding takes what would be interesting but no means uncommon moments between characters, and infuses them with a unexpected, cinematic vibrance, and it pulls off these subtle moments in between the characters' daydreams. They capture the ennui and awkwardness of young love in an idealized, yet human way.

For something that absolutely could have fallen into a rut, it's really managed to carve out it's own lane. It shouldn't at all seem fresh given the pedigree and given the borrowed story and style elements, but some how, it's fused into a very lovable show. Something that can be described as having the film nostalgia of Super 8 combined with the general plot line from Onegai Teacher with a mix of cutaway-style and Railgun-style direction shouldn't work. It should be an organizational mess, but the fit and finish makes it one of the best romance anime in years, especially in the shonen genre. At least so far. I would hate to see them miss a step now, because unlike most anime, they're off to a really, really good start.

[Soul]

So I just marathoned this last night and fell in love with it.
It really captures adolescent romance to a T, almost to a frustrating point.
But now we've come to the point where Kai and Ichika have accepted each others feelings and are dating? The unfortunate thing is, we all kinda know that she will leave, though I'm just setting myself up for if she does.

Now frustrating? Tetsuro's long drawn out wait to confess to Kanna just felt annoying because it just took so long for him to even really admit it to the audience. Though man, I love Mio, hopefully now things will kinda settle and Tetsuro will fully embrace her feelings.

Also: Remon pretty much owns the show; you love her yet absolutely hate her for ruining the moment..almost everytime.

[Karl Olson]

Watching episode 9 right now. The second they were on the train platform, I was hoping for a Galaxy Express parody, and I got it. Freakin' awesome!

I am buying this show the second it gets a US release.

-Edit: and I just finished watching that episode. This show is streets ahead of pretty much every other shonen romance released in the past 5 years or more.

[Soul]

Watching episode 9 right now. The second they were on the train platform, I was hoping for a Galaxy Express parody, and I got it. Freakin' awesome!

I am buying this show the second it gets a US release.

-Edit: and I just finished watching that episode. This show is streets ahead of pretty much every other shonen romance released in the past 5 years or more.

Straight up! Also I'd like to comment on Kanna a bit again, at first she seems very much a tsundere, but I'm glad they kinda did away with that.

[GingaDaiuchuu]

Time for all that science fiction stuff to take center stage! Actually, for all there was of that, there was plenty of important development on the romance side. Along with the feelings of the main characters ruling their actions and therefore the plot, Tetsuro accepts Mio and Kanna ends up left out. Now everyone is working together as friends should, and even with advanced alien civilizations after them, some strong friendship, romance, and Remon is far more powerful than all that. Let's see what the finale does with all this.

[Karl Olson]

Yeah, episode 11 finally let all the drama come in, and amazing, it's sticking all of it. It could've been pretty weak, and it wouldn't have been a big surprise because more than a few shonen romances come unglued at this point. The perfect bit of calm before a real storm, some smart blocks to upset some of the other tricks that would've made this all too easy to resolve. It's perhaps contrived if you really start to pull it apart, but the onegai series were too, and just like them, you kind of don't care at all. If there were any question about buying it when it drops, I think that's over. I want to own this on Blu-Ray.

[Karl Olson]

Finally watched the finale. I'll definitely be reviewing this one for toonzone. It's a real gem, and the finale while perhaps entirely expected, is so artfully executed that it's stunning. My jaw literally dropped at the last scene. It's wonderful.