Ranked #3442

Natsuiro Kiseki

Right, so this is my first written review, and I will try to keep it short..., and simple.

Before that, allow me to clarify that upon writing this review, I have watched only the first two episodes so changes may occur in the future.

Natsuiro Kiseki, or Summer-Colored Miracle in english, is an anime about daily lives of four middle schoolgirls : Natsuki, Saki, Yuka, and Rin. The setting of the anime took in summertime (just like the anime title). They are best friends living in a rural town, and mostly this anime is about their daily lives. But the unique aspect that make Natsuiro Kiseki a little bit different from another slice of life was the additional 'spice' of Supernatural element.

When first watching Natsuiro Kiseki, I was skeptical of blending a supernatural element to slice of life genre. But it turns out that Natsuiro Kiseki was able to blend those two elements well and create a better plot. The first two episodes begins well and told the viewers about the unique personalities of each character, and also give a fair introduction to the setting. Music was also pretty well done and supports the atmosphere.

Story : 7
In my opinion, slice of life doesn't need a story of masterpiece lever. It has to be interesting, with many small conflicts, character developments, and some humors. Natsuiro Kiseki offers a decent story of slice of life combined with supernatural element. Even though it's slice of life and I found many boring ones, Natsuiro Kiseki definitely is not the one. It's the kind of story that takes you in, and make you wanted to watch it more.

Art : 8
What can I say? Art is well done, especially the character designs. Rinko's hair reminded me a bit about Ohana from Hanasaku Iroha. The art style is similar to Hanasaku Iroha and if you watched it before, you will get a feeling of de ja vu (well, for me at least).

Character : 9
In slice of life, characters play a vital part of the story. Mediocre character development, and the anime won't be good. In Natsuiro Kiseki, we have a clear distiction between the four main protagonists :
- Natsuki is a leader-type, she's adamant and hot-headed,
- Saki is a little bit tsundere, she's stubborn but sometimes can be a little cute,
- Yuka is the cheerful and energetic type which could net the group into trouble,
- Rinko is quiet, calm, and timid type which completes the group of four.
Each of the personalities blend well and four of them make good friends.

Enjoyment : 8
It's a little bit boring at the beginning, but as I watched the show, it takes me into the setting and makes me want to watch more and more. The atmosphere is similar to Hanasaku Iroha, and I really liked it. As I have finished watching, I wanted to watch the next episode asap and it rarely happened to me when watching slice of life animes.

OVERALL : 8
For slice of life viewers, this is one of the series that you don't want to miss. Try watching the first episode and see if you got hooked.

I hope you enjoyed my review.
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It's almost summer time! In this newest installment of a slice of life genre, four childhood friends (aka. the members of "Sphere" , the Japanese band) plan to make this a meaningful and memorable summer. These four friends heavily reinforce the stereotypical personalities which an anime group seemingly cannot live without - the hot headed leader, quite and serious, naive and overly energetic, and last but not least, let's not forget that one friend whose sole hobby is to stare aimlessly into space. I, like many others, was diving into the anime with no clue whatsoever. The show didn't even bother to have a meaningful synopsis. After all, it's not everyday that a Japanese band (and all 4 of them) decide to star in an anime.

Start scene: Natsumi wakes up and goes to school. Pretty generic so far right? Right. We are quickly introduced to the main characters - the show wastes no time to move the anime along in a nice steady pace. While not even 5 minutes into the anime, tension builds between Natsumi and Saki. This serves as the main driver for the plot for the first episode. Dramatic irony sets in as we viewers are given semi-subtle but distinguishing clues as to why Saki is being so cold and unwelcoming. As the truth is discovered, the group is eager to settle the tension between Saki and Natsumi. How you may ask? By flying above a rock. Believe it or not, that's how it plays out.

The overall encompassing plot? I wish I knew. But with how the episode finished, the current story-line definitely left it very open ended - from hereon in, anything may be possible. In some cases it may be good but equally possible is a disastrous outcome. The cliff-hanger begs for a second watch as far too many question marks went off in my head as I watched the screen fade to black. Animation-wise, it is smooth and pretty for the most part; the atmosphere is very bright and cheerful: a happy-go-lucky tone is set at the beginning but slowly but surely transitions into something more suspenseful towards the end - all while still maintaining a calm aura throughout.

If you've never liked slice of life genres before then this won't win you over. If you like the genre then you should definitely give this one a chance. Like many others, I'm really sitting on the fence for this one. What's to come in coming episodes are as mysterious and intriguing as one of Sherlock's mystery cases. There is so much that can go right in this anime as there are things that can go wrong. I will have my hopes up and pray that a logical plot without too much reliance on supernatural occurrences will follow - one that just might touch the hearts of anime fans worldwide like only a handful of other slice of life genres have done. read more