Ranked #776

Natsu no Arashi!

An unprecedented full-time summer job, a pretty, older, mysterious girl, an old café with estranged customers and even stranger staff, ghosts, time travellers, explosive fruit, and World War II... it is not going to be a typical vacation for Yasaka Hajime.

Natsu no Arashi! is one of those anime that ends being a truly unique viewing experience. It, at moments, reads a little like one of those special memoirs of someone's life, in which an important event is narrated and reflected upon with fond, sometimes exuberant recollection. For Hajime, that time is the summer of his thirteenth year in which he passes his vacation at his grandfather's house. For those precious months, he has possibly the greatest adventures (and several misadventures) of his young life. Most of this anime takes place at the Ark café, which is the one place that has remained the same since World War II in this town Hajime visits.

The first episode is actually not the first episode, and it generally is meant to misguide, inform and confuse the viewer into what to expect from the rest of the series. It presents an anime that appears to be about goofball antics and time-travelling hijinks. Then it throws us all off when in the following episodes, it becomes an anime with a melancholy undertone, depicting a truly dark time in history. What to constantly expect is offbeat humour and an intriguing storyline, though its delivery is not what one would usually expect. If you want a round-the-clock comedy fest, then turn back now.

Natsu no Arashi! does not necessarily follow the traditions of a SHAFT comedy; it mixes together elements of a historical drama with the expected satire and parodies, and there are healthy dollops of fantasy as well. Its mesh of genres may put a lot of viewers off, however, the blend (like a strange new drink you want to try instead of your usual) has the potential to be actually rather refreshing as opposed to the same old, same old.

Much like trying to understand some of the time travelling explanations, there is an almost dizzying effect in watching this anime. The backgrounds sometimes are spliced and are in contrasting motion with the rapid-fire character movements; it makes you feel as though you're moving along with it. It is a style of cutting and moving the scenery in several different directions. The result is artwork and animation that creates life and movement in what could have been several static scenes.

The background art and artistic direction are astounding though the character design leaves much to be desired. The characters look downright awful at points. Some might appreciate the "old school" appeal of them. Most will not. Despite the scrappy look of the characters, this is a colourful, beautiful anime. Interesting art style, unusual and unqiue camera angles and point of view always give a certain energy to the anime. The colour schemes are all deliberate and create an artsy atmosphere throughout the anime from the intricate details in the colouring to the abstract use of colours to heighten the intensity of a scene. Another noticeable and lovely aspect of the art is the lighting. The skies look utterly gorgeous, and the careful lighting creates warm scenes of comfort or bright scenes of vibrance. It is almost as though you are looking at some scenes through a camera with the effect of the lighting.

Sound aspect is incredibly well done. The series has amazing background music whether it be spaghetti western or serious ballads. The brassy elements, percussion, plucked kick-bass, cymbals being tapped all contribute to create a magnificent score and diverse soundtrack for this anime. Even the sound effects influence the wonderful sound of this anime. For example, the tolling of bells is turned into a melody used as the theme while time jumping.

Natsu no Arashi! even pays attention to little aspects of the sound that might escape a viewer. For example, inside the Ark when the characters are at work, there is the light sound of music being played from a sound system. It makes sense, since it is a café and a radio or a stereo system would be on to provide some entertainment for the customers and workers. The point is, so many other anime would have totally not taken that into consideration and left the scenes to be filled with only the characters' dialogues or the set BGM of the OST. But no, inside the Ark sounds like the inside of an actual café.

The OP theme is a memorable and unusual one, with lots of trumpets, bongo-like drumming and lap steel guitar work. Another initially unnoticeable thing is that the lyrics sung for the OP change for each episode. "Kirari Futari" is a nice ED theme song, which is a little like heavier pop.

The seiyuu are utterly spectacular, from the extremely experienced Nabatame Hitomi (who lends her voice to Kobayashi Jin's beloved School Rumble franchise as Suou Mikoto) to newcomers such as Omigawa Chiaki (whose only other role so far includes Maka Albarn of Soul Eater). Sanpei Yuko does an amazing job as Hajime, giving him a rough but playful voice (this seiyuu also voiced characters such as Renton Thurston of Eureka 7 and Nakiami of Xam'd: Lost Memories).

As for the characters of Natsu no Arashi! they provide much for potential but are not completely developed or explored. In fact, none of them can be said to be truly original, but they certainly are likeable and they make following the anime an enjoyable experience. What probably stands out the most is not the characters individually, but how they function as a group. Arashi and Hajime have undeniably excellent rapport as a duo. Some of their antics reveal a sense of closeness to one another, whether it be random improvisational acts or just playing games and spending time together.

The cast is rather small and centralised. The supporting characters include an old friend of Arashi's, a tough guy in sunglasses, the rather shady and extremely flaky owner of the café, Jun (possibly the only "normal" character in the bunch who really is not that normal in the first place) and a mysterious duo who are the anime's main antagonists.

One commendable thing about the characters in this anime is that despite it being a comedy, their personalities are rarely compromised (even when they are the butt of jokes) and they stay in character throughout their scenes. Hajime's immaturity and confidence, Arashi's playfulness and righteousness, Jun's rationality and exasperation, Kaja's neuroses and shyness, Kanako's overprotective nature and bitter viciousness, Yayoi's unwavering and naive sweetness, Hideo's brashness, and Sayaka's slyness all are clear attributes for each character which are focussed upon as their defining personality traits that affects their behaviour.

Natsu no Arashi! is one of those anime you instantly like or dislike, love or hate. If you're expecting a comedy, do not, as there is too much heavy content in this to make it not entirely a comedy. The weird sense of humour it has, whether it be slapstick or subtle is however one of its strong points.

Some of the parodies may be obvious (such as the cameos made by anime characters from Maria†Holic, K-ON! and Saki; not to mention, the Ark has a framed picture of Hinako from Isshoni Training) and others are much harder to get, such as the strange OP sequence. Though random dancing and posing may seem odd, it is all part of the traditional "Japanese pop culture reference overload" for which SHAFT is renowned. In fact, the entire opening segment consists of poses from famous Japanese posters and album covers which (unless you scour image boards regularly) most Western viewers will not notice. So while some of the humour might be lost in translation, it is still a marvellously entertaining and odd OP even if you do not "get" it.

Plus, there are the curiously humorous interludes involving a storyteller and a listener at the beginning or end of most episodes. These vignettes provide a lot of references to media, including anime (such as a particular one about a teacher who is constantly in despair) and popular novels (such as Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment). And there are recurring gags, and recurring background characters, such as a poor fellow who just wants some salt for his food. There are discussions examining the space time continuum which take place due to conversations about expired milk; the characters take it very seriously and we can only sit back, grin and enjoy.

Pranks, recurring jokes, puns, repartee between characters and deadpan comedy are all utilised for this anime making it truly engaging and amusing, though interestingly enough, not a laugh riot save for a few crowning moments. What Natsu no Arashi! is in the end is an interesting show that takes its comic elements and dramatic elements and creates a damn good time with it. This anime is not only meant to make you fry your brain over the paradoxes of time travel, be moved by the spirit of supernaturalness, become intrigued by Japan's history, or even make you bust your gut at general hilarity.

It also, in such an underscored but contemplative manner, means for you to at least ponder the quality of a boy's vacation and its impact on him. A summer in which he meets a girl who changes his life and several other lives in the past, present and the unforeseeable and unchanging future. A truly special summer that took them all by storm. read more

It’s a crime that this series seems to be so unappreciated and under viewed when clichéd garbage such as Maria Holic gets overhyped and legions of fanboys. I only bring up Maria Holic because it was made by the same studio, SHAFT, and I feel both have a kind of niche quality to them. However where Maria falls on its face, Natsu no Arashi! emerges as one of the best shows of 2009.

To sum up the storyline in a word it would be; quirky. From the beginning of the first episode and from just looking at the promotional art you might think this is just yet another school comedy romance. That wouldn’t be a big surprise since the author of the source material is Jin Kobayashi who is probably best known for creating School Rumble. However this notion of it being just a romance-comedy is quickly turned on its head as it takes a turn for the bizarre and supernatural. Ghosts, time travel, comedy, and romance put together makes for one of the most unusual and original shows I’ve seen.

Everything about Natsu no Arashi! feels fresh and new. I have seen quite a few series now and that is not a feeling I get all that often anymore either. Natsu is very funny, and that is one thing Jin Kobayashi understands well. Though I am not a huge fan of his work, even though I find a lot of it funny it always eventually seems to annoy me. It’s rare that I watch a comedy and don’t feel like I am watching the same joke told over and over. It is even rarer still that a comedy manages to use echii humor and for it to come across as completely tasteful and non perverted. I don't recall seeing any ones boobs or panties even once yet this series oozes sex appeal.

Time travel is the most important element of the plot. Many of the familiar paradoxes are brought up along with the consequences and ramifications of altering the past in regards to the future. Some of the technobabble gobblygook is likely to give you a headache but several of the shows more funny gags are made possible with time travelling. In particular Sayaka's believe that taking expired milk into the past before its expiration date will make it good to drink.

The only real negative in terms of the plot is that it is a bit confusing and strange at time. By the end it all makes sense but for the first half of the series your likely to be scratching your head a lot and wondering what on earth is going on. Some people aren’t going to like this and the way the series is structured, starting at the end and then flashbacking to the beginning can be a bit hit or miss. That’s the only thing I can really complain about. That and it was too short! Good news is that a second season is in the works!

Hajime and Arashi are without a doubt one of my favorite lead character duos. My first impression of Hajime was he looks just like Luffy from One Piece! Beyond the physical resemblance there is nothing else in common with him. He’s a likeable lead and makes a great narrator for the story. There isn’t a lot of back story on him but see him grow up over the course of the series. Arashi herself is just a great character. Most of the shows sex appeal is because of her. It goes to show that you can have sexy characters without gravity defying breasts and skirts so short they barely cover the hips. We learn a lot about her past and she remains and interesting character until the very end.

The rest of the supporting cast is also very good. As Arashi's best friend, Kaya is basically the complete opposite of Arashi in personality. She is very important to the main story and we get about as much character development from her as any of the other leads. Jun is the one character I would have liked to have seen more screen time and back story for. Perhaps I will get my wish in the next season. Sayaka is quite funny as the con artist owner of the Ark in which most of the cast works. The best of the shows running gags flows through her. I could go on and on about the entire cast but I can’t find one that I didn’t really love, right down to the cafe customer who futilely asks for the salt during the entire series.

The art and animation is absolutely gorgeous. SHAFT always does a fine job in this area but in Natsu I think they really outdid themselves. The backgrounds and settings are beautiful but it’s the character models which I really fell in love with. As I mentioned the show has just this sexy and a bit erotic feel to it despite not feeling like its being exploitive. I thought everything was just very tastefully done. Especially when compared to the tacky way most anime series do things.

Sound, music, acting is all tremendous. Natsu has a great cast including some personal favorites such as Yui Horie. The OP theme is really tremendous both musically and artistically with the animation. It’s one of the sexiest OPs I think I have ever seen. The incidental music and EN songs are all great as well.

Natsu no Arashi! is truly a work of art and genius. If you haven’t seen this yet then I have to ask, what are you waiting for? I’m not sure where I would rank it in regards to everything else I have seen but it’s one of the few series I can find almost no major faults with. I give it my highest possible recommendation.
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