metz.luna - 2015-08-18 20:56:22

One word...BEAUTIFUL!!! I just can't get over the fact that I just finished watching it...I just wish I could find more anime that can give you the same feels as this one!

brody.herzog - 2015-07-28 22:31:30

Wooow Actually i'm shocked i've never seen this kind of anime after Golden Time and Shigatsu wa kimi no uso. Story, Animation; Sound Are just Oustanding! And Each Character Can easily Attract you, By seeing them together, you Know the real meaning of friendship. For them, that film they've made was a memory. And This anime is a memory for me ;).
Subarashii!

cdibbert - 2015-02-24 14:53:56

this anime is Sci-Fi but not soo much... this is the kind of anime with the Romance and feels i like... this anime remind me the Friendship and show you how important are your real friends but anyway lets begin

About The Story
the story begin with a logic this is not nowhere at all everything is logic the story with all the characters is simply beautiful .. if you have real friends you like i think you will understand this story correctly this is very fun to follow this little serie on the Friendships and love with beautiful memories , this story will staying in my mind forever

About The Animation and Soundsno problem with that like always the animation is normal so i like the animation and for the sounds this is normal too and i like the opening this is make me feel good and smile :D

About The Charactersevery characters are loveable in this anime if you hate a character i don't understand what is wrong with you but Kanna can piss you off sometimes..

Kaito Kirishima / far to be stupid he know what he really want and that a great main character he have his place in the anime and the good role
Tetsuro Ishigaki / when i see this guy i just think about my friend i dont know why but he remind me my friend LOOl he is very a nice guy in the anime i like her

Ichika Takatsuki / a cute girl who you become attached after being with her everyday you can't forget her !

Mio Katahara / the very calm girl and a little shy but not too much .. she gonna be here for you if you fall in a burnout this is a very kind girl

Kanna Tanigawa / can piss you off sometimes but you don't very care about this... she is not soo bad she have a important place in the anime and in the group

Remon Yamano / this girl is funny everytime look like to don't understand but she understand everything she think about everything and she look soo suspicious..

Rinon / a cute little creature who gonna make you laugh i like the emotions he have and the reaction he have this is funny to watch and he gonna distract you sometimes xD

About The Enjoymentthe most thing enjoyable in this anime is the Friendship they form a very nice friend group the fun they have and the caring with each other and the love they have.. i think this is the most beautiful enjoyment in this anime for saying more simple the Drama Slice Of Life is very good this is not soo Sci-Fi and you can't hate this anime this is just too beautiful !

soo this is a very beautiful story to watch with good memories who gonna stay in your minds forever and you gonna cry when you gonna rethink about this anime this is just too beautiful ! 

vivian26 - 2014-06-03 12:23:53

"Nobody wants to be forgotten."

For most (normal) people, summer holds many fond memories in peoples hearts, due to the relaxing and fun events they may have held. The beach, shopping with friends, making contraptions with junk around the backyard (our contraption failed so many times and wasn't even that impressive) and other activities are just an example of the summer activities which are now treasures in our memory trove.

Ano Natsu de Matteru, is one such anime which attempts to portray this aspect of summer, with the added bonus of a love pentagon and reused genre tropes.

We follow Kaito Kirishima, a highschooler and video-filming enthusiast. He gathers his group of friends to create a film during the summer break. Over the course of the series, the complex relationships between the characters develop, further amplified by the mysteries of the girl named Ichika Takatsuki.

The story is another basic love pentagon (Ano Hana, Nagi no Asukara, Toradora...err...School Days... >.>) and basically follows our characters as they try to discover their true feelings towards each other. It's almost as if the story was basically taken from previous popular anime (*COUGH COUGH TORADORA*), and the characters were renamed and an extra twist was conceived in order to give the viewer the illusion of "uniqueness". The unoriginality proves to be a lethal dagger in the side of the series, as the viewer gains a sense of knowledge in what is to come.

In addition, the same stereotypes of a romantic comedy are thrown in. Beach episode. Festival. Fireworks. Test of courage. You name it, it's here. Again, when seeing the same tropes being used again and again, the series feels stale and lazy.

Of course, the story does benefit from its short 12 episode run, as it prevents unnecessary pandering about the main issue. Steady pacing pushes the characters to face their feelings and act on them, preventing the messy and frustrating 'burying my feelings for a good 10 episodes before saying to my crush that they're a good person and patting them on the head' bit. UGH.

What Ano Natsu de Matteru does well throughout the story is capturing the essence of summer time activities experienced during childhood and adolescence. Seeing new places, roaming around and goofing off even when trying to achieve an activity were elements which the anime captured well.

^Prepare for...PLOT

The characters of Ano Natsu de Matteru is one of the stronger aspects of the series, with a bright array of interesting characters

Our main character is unlike the vast amount of spineless male characters which flood the industry (I'm referring to Shinji-a-likes). Kaito is somewhat more assertive in trying to achieve what he wants to do, and this further develops throughout the series as his feelings for others changes.

Our main female protagonist Ichika, doesn't fully fall under the common stereotypes seen in similar anime. Whilst being hard to express her feelings, overtime she gradually becomes more assertive like Kaito.

Our other main characters, serve as lovable individuals, with traits deemed likable to many. Again they don't fully fall under certain stereotypes, and bring to the series their own quirks and funny thoughts.

The interactions between the characters is both a delight and a frustration to watch. The friendship formed between our lovable band of misfits is charming, and is reminiscent of childhood and adolescent friendship groups doing activities together. On the other hand, the romantic aspects feel frustrating, especially when it takes a long time to discover true feelings, and to fully admit to these feelings. Further complicated by a full on love pentagon, the revelation of feelings (seen SO many times before) feels stale after several episodes.

^More PLOT.

Ano Natsu det Matteru is animated by J.C Staff, well known for popular works such as Honey and Clover, Railgun and Toradora. However, J.C Staff is equally known for churning out an equal amount of below average series. From the vast amount of previous works, you can expect to flip a coin to reveal how the animation will turn out.

For the series, the animation is standard, drawing parallels to previous works such as Toradora and Ano Hana. This may be dull as there has been very little attempts to spice up the animation style despite the lapse of time. The lack of movement in the characters prevent the clunky style from showing through. However, at high action sequences, the animation flows well. The backgrounds in particular are well detailed, and help achieve the summer vibe among the beauty of the surrounding region. These glimpses don't appear frequently though, leaving the animation to be fairly standard compared to other works from its time.

^Cannot contain all this PLOT

Like the animation, the soundtrack of Ano Natsu de Matteru feels underwhelming and non-memorable. The music seemingly molds into the background inconspicuously, and it is hardly noticed. This helps bring out the summer aspects of the show, such as the cicadas or the sound of waves crashing softly on the sand. This achieves the feel of summer break quite well. In addition, there are times which the music is accurately able to enhance the emotions of the scene (usually the moments of hardship or heartbreak). Other times, the music is comparable to the music found in a visual novel.

The OP of the series is forgettable, which is unlike Ray, the singer who provides the OP.

The ED of the series, however, is gorgeous. Maybe I'm just a Nagi Yanagi fan, but the song itself is beautifully arranged along the slow steady beat.

The voice acting is just above average, as there is very little diversity available to showcase any extreme emotions. The exception being the final scene where the emotions of the characters were strongly portrayed through the voice acting.

Despite the obvious rehash of previous works with not much change or improvement, Ano Natsu de Matteru is enjoyable and charming to view. The feeling of summer playtime nostalgia is developed to great effect, and helps immerse the viewer into this laid back, easy and cheerful anime. As a fan of the romantic comedy genre, I myself found Ano Natsu de Matteru a pleasant anime to view, despite its shortcomings in most aspects.

^THE PLOT IS WELL DEVELOPED

Ano Natsu de Matteru can be seen as another romantic comedy with the same tropes, plot and stereotypes as many other anime before it. The overlying feeling of the show and the characters were charming aspects which helped bring a pleasant atmosphere.

Should you watch Ano Natsu de Metteru?: You would get more value from viewing other successful stories of the same genre, notably Toradora. But ultimately, yes, if you're a fan of romance (who isn't?).

If you like Ano Natsu de Matteru, you might also like:

-Toradora.

-Ano Hana.

fdooley - 2014-01-22 19:56:24

At a first glance, this show may look like the classic harem anime, with one guy and many girls trying to get a hold of his man marbles, but it is much more than that if you actually watch it. It isn't even a harem in the first place. I don't want to spoil too much, but love triangles exist, and shit happens. The story progresses past boy likes girl, girl likes boy, and the end. There is drama, comedy, and all the in-between to satisfy the viewer.

Another large complaint I would like to shoot down is the supposedly overused character archetypes. You have the clueless airheads, flat-chested tsundere, HOT guy with long hair, nerdy guy that gets the girls somehow, a loli, and a little alien creature, BUT the show embraces the corniness and flips it on its side, by actually going places. The characters are all flushed out thoroughly enough that I felt very attached to them by the end. The show takes the standard rom-com formula, and uses it, but twists it in it's own not-unique-but-still-unique-somehow direction.

Onto the details:

1. Story: 8
   
2. Animation: 10
3. Sound: 8
4. Character: 8
5. Enjoyment: 10

I gave the story an 8/10 because frankly speaking I've c

to be continued

hledner - 2013-09-08 21:41:36

Ano Natsu de Matteru, Waiting in the Summer, is a mixed sci-fi romcom that follows 6 students, one of which from outer space, as they make a movie throughout their summer break. The whole show actually has very little to do with making a movie over summer break, actually, it's only in there for the theme of leaving memories behind prevalent in the end of the show. It's more about the drama and romance, the disastrous love dodecahedron that plagues the cast. It's very obviously shounen as it's jam-packed with lots of fanservice and follows a male protagonist who pulls hoes - two staples to any shounen romcom.

As much as I found Ano Natsu flawed, it's got some appeal. While it does fall into sci-fi, I don't recommend it for anyone looking for sci-fi, as that's not what you'll find. It's not what you'll expect if you're watching it with the idea in mind that it's about six students filming a movie - it really has next to nothing to do with the movie. If you want to see a romance with lots of drama, and don't mind slow-paced slice of life, then you'll probably enjoy it to some extent. The pretty visuals will do you some good to help you get through the slow beginning and middle episodes, and if you end up liking the soundtrack, that'll help you get past it too.

If you enjoy the awkward dynamic of a love triangle/polygon/dodecahedron, then this is your best bet. There's lots of cute scenes and while the romance isn't compelling, I'm sure you'll like it if your standards are half as high as mine. The characters are also pretty interesting (Well, at least half of them are,) so it's fun to watch the first few episodes, even if not much ever happens.

A lot of people talk Ano Natsu up to be worthy of a eight or nine out of ten. I suggest you don't go in with high expectations like I did as it'll leave you sorely disappointed - come in with the low expectations this review will likely set you with, and you'll probably be pleasantly surprised.

I'll do you the favor of marking the major ones. (:

Starting off with its weakest link, Ano Natsu's story area. The entire show is riddled with tropes, unoriginal plot points, and conveniences. It was also highly predictable with no twists and turns along the way.

The first episode suggests this is going to be sci-fi with the space ship crash, but don't be fooled - this is a romcom/drama, with sci-fi elements that are totally irrelevant for the majority of the show. This is my first issue - I don't see any point to the sci-fi parts of the show, they hardly serve a purpose until the ending. The blend of genres is executed very poorly. Something like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has a perfect mix of genres and puts Ano Natsu to shame.

My next issue is the drama that I had a very difficult time taking seriously. I don't know how I'm expected to have my heartstrings pulled when Mio cries about her missing pantsu or when Kanna cries about losing to her rival. It all felt totally forced and like something I'd seen a million times before. If we're going to have another high school romcom, can't it be something unique and interesting for once?

I think the most unfulfilling part of the show was how the romance ended up. I didn't like the relationship Kaito and Ichika had at all, it wasn't even cute in the least bit. Hell, Tetsuro and Mio never got to be a thing and it was still ten times more adorable than Kaito and Ichika. Then in the end, nobody won - they were all back to how they were before Ichika came around.

I want to say it did something right, but it really didn't. The entire thing was very uninteresting and failed to captivate me, the romance was very unnatural and forced, and just felt like no effort was put into it. I'm giving it an extra point just because it could've been worse.

major spoiler The worst part was the ending, which felt very lame, but they'd honestly set themselves up for failure on this show and it's not like it could've been done any better - whatever they chose to do the ending was bound for failure. They decided to all of a sudden make the irrelveant sci-fi elements important, the aliens wanted Ichika back, and all of a sudden it's a race against time to prove that aliens and earthlings have made contact in the past so that it's legal for Ichika to stay on earth. It was all very convoluted and the last two episodes consisted of lots of CG alien ships chasing the different characters as Ichika and Kaito tried to find the place in Ichika's memories. It just felt like a way to get rid of the other characters while Ichika and Kaito had their time to shine...or something like that, whatever. But Ichika ended up getting taken away, then it showed the film they made with a new scene that suggested Ichika returned to earth later on. How absolutely lazy: It didn't conclude our love polygon period. 2/10

Ano Natsu de Matteru was animated by J.C. Staff - you know, the guys who make shitty romcoms with that one diamond-in-the-rough called Toradora!. I didn't know who animated it before I started it, but I got it right on my first guess - I could tell the second I saw those perfectly animated boobs. Seriously though, you see those things? It was really obvious in the first episode and I don't know if they just did that to draw in attention while it aired or it continued throughout the show and I just got used to it, but every slight move Ichika made sent them titties flying. Not like anybody minds though, right?

Ano Natsu has some pretty high quality visuals, everything is very detailed and the colors are very saturated and out there - it fits for that summer theme. The overall style is similar to Anohana, and is more mature than Henneko, but still a tad bubbly. We get a lot of landscape porn what with all the pretty scenery, which is nice on the eyes. It makes the setting feel more rural than suburban. I found the common pastel-like lighting very pretty.

Character designs are actually nice for the most part - lots of glasses here. Tetsuro, Mio, Remon, and Kanna (<< sort of, not really - it's pretty basic, but she is a generic character, so I guess that works) are well designed and look, for the most part, more unique than what I'm used to, I like the style. However, there's a big flop on our hero and heroine. Kaito and Ichika definitely are unique, but it's hardly appealing. Kaito and Ichika are also two characters with annoying personalities, and their annoying personalities are brought out in their annoying character designs - that nerdy look Kaito has, and the funky hair style Ichika has - just the way that half of it sticks out...it bothered me the entire show. Kaito just looks like a straight bum. Looking at either of their faces made me angry.

One interesting thing about the character designs is that just by looking at their faces you can tell their personalities - seriously, give it a try. If you've never watched Ano Natsu, see if you can get it right. Try and match up the descriptions on the right with the characters on the left.

Ready? Made your guesses? All set? Okay! Here are the answers:

You had to have at least gotten half of them right, if not all of them. See, they nailed it with character designs matching the personalities, but naturally, the worst personalities get the worst character designs. That annoying, typical good-guy protagonist? Absolutely reflected in Kaito. That annoyingly polite and awkward heroine? Nailed it with Ichika. Props to the character designer, sort of? 6/10

The soundtrack here was quite mediocre. Some pieces I found very annoying - if I ever have to hear that piano when Kaito goes into his "deep" thoughts ever again, I think I'll cry. But on the other end, some pieces I liked a lot, and were executed well - I think my favorite was the atmosphere the music gave in the beginning of episode nine. This left me feeling a little bit conflicted, but the good pieces outweigh the bad a little bit, I like the variety and diversity of the soundtrack, but I wasn't a fan of much of the piano pieces.

The thing about the tracks that I did like was that they were stellar, they gave this great fantasy vibe, but it felt like I was hearing the shitty ones over and over, and the real excellent tracks I hardly heard. This is why the score isn't quite as high.

The voice acting varies character to character. Most of them nailed their characters - just like the character designs match up to each character, I bet I could play you all of their voices and you'd be able to match up which character has which voice without any prior knowledge. I thought Remon had the best voice acting, and she nailed the character, but I may be just a tad biased because I love Yukari Tamura to death. They all nailed their characters, and I wouldn't have picked anyone else for the roles. Once again, though, I didn't like Kaito or Ichika's VAs, I thought they were annoying, but they're the most annoying characters so they fit it well.

The OP and ED are really lame and feel really weak, what a shame. They're not memorable at all. I'll probably forget them both by the time I finish this review. Not much to say on those. 5/10

While most the characters have unique designs and seem pretty likable from the start, the cast proves to be entirely one-dimensional. Let's take Kanna for example. What is there to Kanna aside from her crush on the protagonist and friendship with Tetsuro? Absolutely nothing. That's all there is to her. No depth to her period, and I challenge you to find something more than her being there for the sake of there being a love triangle.

But it's not just Kanna. Now look at Ichika. She is flatter than a pancake, even if her chest certainly isn't. See, at least Kanna is a tsundere, so that's a guaranteed interesting personality to some people, but Ichika is so painfully boring. She's just nice and friendly, and like Kanna, the only thing she has to her name is her crush on Kaito. You could argue that her deal with coming to Earth to find the place she's looking for gives her some character, but remember, that whole sci-fi element is entirely irrelevant until the last three episodes of the show, and has no complexity to boot.

Having Mio be a nudist may have just been for fanservice - when I remember that this show is aimed at fourteen/fifteen-year-old boys I like to think that a characteristic like this totally checks out - but that they try and take that and work it in as part of the drama in the story is ridiculous. When she breaks down about being a nudist in front of Tetsuro, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to cry and feel sympathy for Mio or not, because I was laughing at it for its stupidity - I think a solid comparison would be when everyone starts dropping like flies in the finale of Another, and you're not really sure if you're supposed to be horrified or rolling on the floor laughing.

Really, the only character that isn't below mediocre would be Tetsuro, for his interesting personality and great role in the drama of the show, and while he is not quite as flat as the rest of the cast there is still little to him. Him and Remon (who is far more useless in the story) serve as instigators, and that he first tries to give Kaito a love interest to have Kanna to himself, he then changes his mind and tries to support them and forget about his feelings so that Kanna is happy, which leads to a lot of trouble for him and the base of all the drama in the show, as predicted by Mio when she told him that it was a bad idea to play with people's love lives. A somewhat interesting role he has. Really, most of this is just a bunch of baseless melodrama, but, that's surprisingly accurate to high school relationships, isn't it? But he also has a cool personality, while it's really nothing special, you put it in line with Ichika and Kaito and it makes him look ten times more interesting.

Speaking of Kaito, let's finish off with our analysis of the protagonist...but wait, what is there to analyze? Yup, Kaito is another completely generic protagonist, this time with less balls and more nerdy film directing. He falls for the heroine immediately after seeing her making for a completely baseless love, and then while he has the balls that many protagonists don't to go for the kiss early on, he does it when there's not a shred of development on their relationship, which makes it that much worse.

I will admit that a couple of the characters do develop as the series goes on - not so much Ichika or Kaito, but Tetsuro and Mio get some development towards the end of the show, and we see Tetsuro learn to rely on others some, and Mio come out of her shell. The rest of the cast is the same start to end however, especially Remon, who gets no development period, just the minor twist on her background in the end, but still manages to be one of the better characters for a highly interesting personality. Ufufufufufufu. 3/10

I'll start off with the highlights: the most enjoyable part of the show was the interesting dynamic of a love polygon established in the first few episodes: Mio likes Tetsuro, who likes Kanna, who likes Kaito, who likes Ichika. They didn't explore this dynamic nearly as much as I wish they would've, but it was still pleasing.

major spoiler The next best part (well, the only other enjoyable part) would be the captivating scenes. A few scenes nailed it for me, like when Mio came behind Tetsuro after he confessed and hugged him, which even made me squeal - really, after reading this review, does it sound like I'd squeal at anything in this show? Another great scene was when Kanna rushed back after yelling at Ichika to realize her feelings for Kaito, and Tetsuro held her as she cried. Funny huh, the Tetsuro/Mio/Kanna scenes are so much more captivating than any of the many Ichika and Kaito scenes. I almost want to say they should've made Tetsuro and Mio the main couple, but I'd probably find it all equally shitty, to be brutally honest.

There's not much to enjoy beyond this, except maybe Lemon-senpai (ufufufufufufu). For the first half of the show and some, the show progresses extremely slow. I would imagine that the people watching while it was airing must've hated it. It was supposed to be building up for romance and drama, but it was all so poorly done I felt like I was watching a poorly-made slice-of-life, when it was really just a poorly-made romcom.

Maybe if the characters were somewhat relatable, the story felt purposeful, or they'd stop using every trope in the book, and resolved the romance. Seriously. That unresolved romance gave me a serious case of blue balls. 3/10

Ano Natsu feels really weak in all areas, and I'm absolutely perplexed as to why people use words like "original" or "unique" to describe it, as it hits all the pitfalls other poor shows hit. It's totally forgettable, and I'm pretty sure that the only reason I still have it so fresh in my head after one night is because I've been working on this review for hours all weekend.

It's definitely highly overrated, I'll give you that much.

It has a few areas that I really want to pat the creators on the back for, like those unique character designs that perfectly match the character and the voice actors that perfectly match the character - it makes every character feel natural - but unfortunately that doesn't make them any deeper than the minimal development they all get.

Outside of those pat-on-the-back moments, the entire thing is horribly mediocre, but still has its good parts - so put it on the back burner, but don't give up on it just yet, as a lot of people seem to enjoy it a lot more than me. 4/10

Interested in something horror? Try Cunt's review for Corpse Party: Tortured Souls!

mtreutel - 2013-06-30 05:49:28

So after finishing Ano Hana (the flower we saw that day) I began my great search, finding the next anime that was just as good, or even better to fill that little void I had sustained. Upon recommendations among recommendations, I stumbled across Ano Natsu de Matteru. It did seem fairly interesting and the art style was kinda similar to Ano Hana, heck, even both these shows were from the same guy! Hence my marathon began..

So now that I’ve just finished this series, is it as good as ano hana? Unfortunately, No. Is it even good then?! Well absolutely!

Ano Natsu may not be as good as Ano hana (which is based on my opinion) but it is definitely awesome in its own way, and would probably rank just below Ano Hana if I were to say so myself.

Here’s the breakdown on not the best, but definitely one of my favourite, Sci-fi Rom com of that season; Ano Natsu de Matteru.

Animation: 7/10

One of the things that resembled Ano Natsu with ano hana is its beautiful yet similar art style used in the anime.

The animation is fluid at times and the colour pallets are gorgeous. While there were a number of CGI integrated throughout the course of the show, I didn't really mind them as much since they weren't really as jarring as some anime tend to have~

Character designs are nicely done and fitted with their respective personas.

Story: 7/10

The story is fairly simple, but executed pretty well. And I know a number of you may criticize the show for being ‘too similar’ or a ‘rip off’ of Onegai teacher. Now I've not seen Onegai teacher so I can't say or add anything significant to the comparison. However, from what I've gathered, it did hint that the story takes place in the same world as Onegai Teacher (timeline not specified). So there you have it, a somewhat semi-sequel that took place years after the events of Onegai Teacher :P.

Now back to the point.

Another thing this anime is successful is how well it manages to pull (or nudge) your strings, from having you Laugh out loud to getting you all teary eyed and even bringing you to the edge of your seat. Which is still kinda impressive considering how simple the story is~

Sound: 6.5/10

The Opening of Ano Natsu de Matteru is good, but the highlight is the ending theme. Its simplicity and sweetness is just relaxing to the ears. Plus I just love how the ending theme tends to kick in even before the credits start rolling for the dramatic effect (something of which I really liked from Ano Hana) XD

Other OSTs though can be deemed forgettable but plays when it’s needed to, and does it well to fit the mood.

Characters: 8/10

The characters of Ano Natsu is the highest point for the anime as every characters (the mains) are lovable. This may be kind of a bad thing (not really) as you would get conflicted on who to root for throughout the series:3

Though not fully explored, the anime also does well at telling the stories of individual characters, making them more developed rather than choosing a route of having a typical 2D character with cliched tropes there just for the sake of the “plot”

Enjoyment: 9/10

Ano Natsu de Matteru is an enjoyable anime to watch. However, what’s robbing this anime for a close to perfect score for me is its ending. I’m not going to spoil anything for you guys so don’t worry:)

It is more of a personal preference. But to me, the ending didn’t have much closure like Ano Hana had with theirs, so I was just sitting there feeling unsatisfied despite the after credits scene (which I’m glad it’s there since it answered my question (no spoiling!) as I would hate it to end with an opened interpretation.)

The span of the series with 12 episodes is close to perfect where it feels an episode short due to the lack of time it has for a proper closure.

Will I recommend it? DUH! Especially for those who loves a light Sci Fi Rom com or even fans of Onegai Teacher. This is definitely the anime any said fans should check out!

Overall: 7.5/10