Ano Natsu de Matteru

This Anime is a major disappointment. First off, when I picked up this Anime I simply expected it to be simply slice of life but in the very first episode you have the added twist that two new girls in the group are an alien and someone else with a big secret. The Anime doesn't really flesh that out. In fact, it really doesn't focus on them making the film but instead focuses on the relationships between the characters. Some of the moments were great and enjoyable but other times it felt like I was hitting my head against a brick wall.

Then there is the ... matter of the art work. In the first few episodes the animation was stiff and not very good. Not to mention the character designs weren't strong either when it came to the main characters. I know the two main characters are supposed to be geeky, but the way they were drawn honestly clashed with the designs of all the other characters who had more details and more realism put into their designs. The sound was all right, but nothing that stood out for me.

The characters are very likable and this is the shows strong point, but it is also why this show is such a major disappointment. We have these wonderful characters with wonderful personalities that just aren't allowed to be themselves. There are times they are stiff and at times the show is over wordy, not to mention painful to watch. Some of the interactions are also just not believable and feel forced. I'll state again, this Anime is a major disappointment for me.

Ano Natsu de Matteru is the follow up work by Tatsuyuki Nagai (myanimelist.net/people/8539), the same director of AnoHana (myanimelist.net/anime/9989). For me, this was reason enough to jump right on it.

[Story & Character]

In short: A bunch of strong characters stuck in a lackluster story.

It's summer vacation and a group of friends decide to shoot a film together. The romances are the focal points here, no pun intended, and the vacation and the film brings all the characters together episode after episode. It's not a plot-driven show. The viewers have to care about the characters and their emotions in order to enjoy watching this. If you're one ... of those people who have trouble watching slice of lifes because 'nothing ever happens,' this show is probably not for you.

That said, the character design is unique, they are well voiced, and there is attention to detail even in the minor characters' gestures and behavior. The characters are definitely the strong point of this show, and they almost carry it to success. We care about the characters because we like who they are, but we can't empathize and really be moved by them because, unlike in AnoHana, we don't understand and see where the characters have come from in the past. Even though the characters' feelings and responses to heartache are well crafted, the drama has no history, is unsupported by story presented to the audience that can make them understand the unique and dizzying weight of love, and therefore lacks depth.

[Art & Sound]

The sound is average -- not so good that you feel particular tracks move you even as you are watching, not so bad that it's intrusive upon the scene. Stock, unoriginal, unobtrusive, average. The anime equivalent of elevator music.

The art is another standout for this show. The animation is fluid, and even when they are cutting corners, they do it with such artistry that it's hardly noticeable.

[Enjoyment & Overall]

No doubt that there are moments of brilliancy in this show. When the characters confront each other or themselves in some way, you get the feeling of a great underlying potential. However, this potential is unrealized or drowned out by an excess of unnecessary scenes, beating around the bush, irrelevant storytelling that tries to pass off as character development.

While well animated and sporting a cast of wonderful characters -- Kanna, in particular, just makes my heart _melt_ -- AnoNatsu fails in creating the same efficacy of storytelling as AnoHana. I understand it is a different story and deserves a different style, but it lacked elegance and tact in its presentation of this new style.

A 6 out of 10. Which I think is generous, and is mostly for Kanna.

Ano Natsu de Matteru is a very strange show. It contains elements that have been done over time again and again. The story seems quite standard: mystery girl from space appears, main character falls in love with space girl leaving behind the short blue haired girl to uselessly follow the main character. You can tell quite a bit about the show from the first episode giving you a clear insight and understanding for this 12 episode series.
It's obvious that even though there is to be a love triangle going on, Kaito will fall in love with the blue haired girl (because the red haired ... girl is from space and will have to leave by the end of the show). The shy hot girl will fall for the hot guy with glasses, and Lemon will be left to wallow in pity for eternity. I already feell like I've known Lemon my entire life and for this I have rated the story a 6.
In terms of art and animation I feel that these are very important aspects to anything. That's why I don't watch anything older than 5 years old because animation quality suffered greatly due to technology being very bad. The very simplistic style of the art helps improve the smoothness of the animation making it seem more realistic. In addition, the opening and ending sequences aren't that good. I am giving the art a 9.
Next is sound. If you have ears this will be an easy show to appreciate. I made sure to turn off my monitor while I watched the first episode (the only episode out) again and it was just a whole new experience for me. I felt like I was there with the characters. But the song for the opening is bad and the ending one is okay. I gave sound a 5.
Now we have come to characters. The main character looks exactly like Jinta from Ano Hana. This makes me believe that this is just a parallel universe from that show. The red haired girl, Ichika, shares a name with the male protagonist from Infinite Stratos. I would like her to make me eat it, if you know what I mean. She also has large breasts which is good for any female character in any kind of show. I don't really like the blue haired girl or Kaito's sister. She seems like a tramp. I give the characters an 8.
I kind of enjoyed watching this show while I did. Especially when I turned my monitor off. So I'm giving it a 10.
Overall I think this is a very good show. They should have picked better songs for the opening and ending sequences though. Some people may think that one episode isn't enough to really go on for reviewing and judging a show (or anything for that matter). But that's all bull poopy. You can easily tell that this show may or may not be the best show of 2012 (or even of all time). So if you enjoy watching anime, I would recommend this show to you for sure. If you don't like watching anime, then you may or may not want to watch this show or read anime reviews.
6 is my favorite number so I am going to give this show an overall rating of 6. Now I feel content with this show in its entirety and don't have to watch the remaining 11 episodes that have yet to air. My duty to my fellow anime watchers is now complete for today!
Oh, and by the way, read the plot synopsis. It's at the top of the page for this show. You don't have to read the synopsis' that other people write in their reviews because people's opinions are like, just their opinions man.

If you have seen Onegai teacher and thought it was great. This anime is for you. You'll love, but.....

If you have seen Onegai teacher and didn't think much of it or thought it was ok, this anime is probably not for you.

It is pretty much a clone of Onegai Teacher, remade for the 2012. Honestly, so far through 4 or so episodes, it's the same ole same and well, in my opinion it just gets boring.

To make a long story short, this anime is probably not worth my time. It may appeal to others who thought Onegai teacher was great, but I thought ... it was average at best and I don't want to bore myself to death so there you have it.

I saw this then a while ago and later by coincidence I watched Onegai Teacher and as I watched Onegai teacher I felt a strong sense of deja vu then I realised I've seen this all before but with subtle differences.

Actually there is a huge amount the same. This I found an insult to the intelligence. Ok Onegai teacher was about 10 years before Ano Natsu de Matteru but even so.......

Instead of listing all the similarities and giving spoilers to both anime's I'm going to give you a challenge. Watch both Ano Natsu de Matteru and Onegai Teacher and make a list of the similarities ... of both anime's in plot, characters etc. I would think you could get at least 20, give yourself extra kudos if you get more. To start you off:

1. The main female protagonists are both red haired aliens.
2. Spaceship hidden in a lake.
3. Both anime's are based in a rural town.
4. Both main male protagonists are wimpy guys with glasses.
5. There is a very perceptive female friend of the male protagonist who has a secret and looks like she hasn't hit puberty yet.

You get the idea!

I should say the the characters are stronger and the romance and artwork is better in Ano Natsu de Matteru than Onegai Teacher but like Onegai Teacher I liked Ano Natsu de Matteru but it just didn't have that X factor that would make me love it.

The poor mark is more for the screenwriter for rehashing an old formula than the anime itself.

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread)

I say this to a lot of people, but I am a big fan of romance. So, I decided to check out Ano Natsu de Matteru, which seemed to have romance as its biggest draw. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised with what was offered and can't wait for more.

STORY

The basic premise behind Ano Natsu is that the four kids of the local high school are looking to make a movie with each other in order to have memories that will last a lifetime. These four kids (Kaito, Kanna, Tetsuro, Mio) become friends with two older students, ... Ichika and Remon, who, now a group of six, set out to make this movie.

Much of the show revolves around a "love polygon" that is somewhat similar to Nagi Asu and Glasslip. "Somewhat" because instead of the usual convoluted mess of affections, it becomes apparent very early on that it is more like a "love line". This worked for the show fine; it provided interesting scenarios in which the characters had to deal with each other while knowing how the others felt about each other. While not as dramatic as other romance shows, I never felt that the show handled the drama poorly but it was never masterful either.

Other than this, there was never really an overall story arc that took precedent over the unrequited love that is prominent. Now, this isn't necessarily bad considering this show seemed more slice-of-life like.
As for the ending, I felt it was definitely appropriate and left me with a good sense of conclusion. However, while saying this, there is apparently a second season in the works. Take this for what you will, but it could definitely stand on its own.

ANIMATION

I found the character designs themselves to be fine. Other than the final few episodes, I was never overly impressed by the locales and backdrops. However, the character movements were nicely done and I never felt as if the show used any cheap tricks in order to cut down on costs or what not.

One thing of note that I found nicely done was the use of the "old camera" effect. This made it seem as if I was watching through the characters point of view at that specific moment, and made the show much more enjoyable to watch when it was occurring. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I guess it just made the show seem more real than it actually was.

CHARACTERS

For the most part, the characters themselves never see too much growth. While they personally have to deal with the feelings that they have for one another, the show never delves into more complex issues.

During the show, Remon basically acts as the facilitator by having everyone do the things that need to be done. This was probably one of this show's strongest points; the characters are never constrained to huge misunderstandings for too long. They all generally confront the things that need to be done in a timely manner, and don't waste time beating around the bush. I liked this a lot, and wish more shows would take this kind of step.

For me, the strongest character from the show was Tetsuro. He had to deal with a lot more pressure than the other characters while concurrently helping those around him.

As for the character interactions, I found them to be enjoyable. There are funny moments, sad moments, conflicting moments; the show does a nice job of putting them through different situations that best bring out their qualities. Furthermore, I never felt that the characters were too trope-y, but these types of romances have been done before, so it should be expected to see similar characters elsewhere.

SOUND

After hearing the OP so many times, it gradually grew on me. I don't like it but I don't hate it either. I think contrary to popular opinion, I actually did not like the ED, despite the visuals having a pretty cool effect. Furthermore, I found the rest of the soundtrack to be forgettable which tends to happen with most shows.

Besides the music, the voice acting was nicely done by all characters.

ENJOYMENT

As I stated previously, I am a sucker for romance. Therefore, I enjoyed this show quite a lot actually. Any time there is even a hint of feelings between characters, I get pretty giddy, especially when they start acting in a way that shows they truly care about each other. I am a bit biased, but I think that if you enjoy the romance genre, then you would definitely enjoy this show.

SUMMARY

Story: Fine, nothing super dramatic, just a fun romance ride

Animation: Fine, character designs and backgrounds felt right

Characters: Fine, nothing too complex, but enough character background to actually care what happens to them

Sound: Bad, OP was fine but the rest of the soundtrack was not to my liking

Enjoyment: Good, romance is always nice in my book, and the show did a good job in this department

Final Score: 5/10

Well, this is not AnoHanna.

There's not enough story for twelve episodes. Things start out ok but they get boring after the characters and setting are presented. The two beach episodes could easily be dropped and the only two events that seem to happen in them would fit elsewere. There's even a festival with yukatas and impossible-to-catch fishes which do not add very much to all.

Things can get a bit tiring as you see that there are a number of scenes which are telling you the same continuously. Something was told to me four times at the beginning of episode eleven.

Characters are pretty plain appart from ... their love affairs. It seems their only hobby is being in love and not doing anything. One of them seems to build models, but he could have been watching TV and nothing would have changed. Particulary the female protagonist seems preety dull for an extraterrestrial being capable of space travel. And... why is she wearing glasses? Duh.

Even the mascot is pretty average.

Probably the best character is the less visible: Yamano Remon. Seems to be the only one hiding something and has the most personality of them all, even if it is for being somewhat evil.

On the other hand, the last two episodes are slightly enjoyable.

Also, having some love stories, the resolution for most of them is... mostly void.

Ano Natsu de Matteru - A Mediocre Blend of Romance and Sci-Fi

Rating: 5/10

Ano Natsu de Matteru is an anime series that attempts to intertwine elements of romance and science fiction, but unfortunately falls short of creating a truly engaging and memorable experience. While it has its moments, the overall execution leaves much to be desired, resulting in a mediocre offering.

The story follows a group of high school students who come together during their summer break to create a film. However, their plans take an unexpected turn when they encounter an extraterrestrial being, leading to a series of events that challenge their friendships and complicate their ... budding romances.

One of the shortcomings of Ano Natsu de Matteru lies in its narrative structure. The series struggles to find a cohesive balance between its romantic storyline and the sci-fi elements. The plot often feels disjointed, and the pacing can be uneven, making it difficult for viewers to fully invest in the characters and their relationships. Additionally, the resolution of certain conflicts and plot points feels rushed or contrived, leading to a lack of satisfaction in the overall storytelling.

The animation quality of the series is decent, with pleasant visuals and character designs. However, it lacks the visual flair or standout moments that could elevate it to a higher level. The sci-fi elements, while present, are not particularly impressive, and the focus on the romantic relationships often takes precedence over the exploration of the sci-fi aspects, leaving them underdeveloped.

The characters in Ano Natsu de Matteru struggle to make a lasting impact. While they possess some endearing qualities, they often fall into predictable archetypes and lack significant depth or growth. The romantic relationships portrayed in the series can feel contrived and lacking in genuine chemistry, hindering the emotional investment from viewers.

Despite its flaws, Ano Natsu de Matteru does have its redeeming qualities. The nostalgic atmosphere and themes of friendship and summer memories may resonate with some viewers. The series also delivers a few heartfelt and emotional moments that add some depth to the overall narrative. However, these moments are not enough to salvage the shortcomings of the series.

In conclusion, Ano Natsu de Matteru falls short of delivering a compelling blend of romance and science fiction. While it has its occasional moments of charm and emotion, the overall execution feels lacking. Its disjointed storytelling, underdeveloped characters, and uneven pacing hinder its potential for a more engaging and memorable experience. Therefore, it receives a modest 5/10 rating on my anime list.

Although I enjoyed Toradora and Anohana, Ano Natsu de Matteru was quite a disappointment.

This show is loaded with romance. It was too much and way too forced. The steps for falling in love for the two main characters mostly involve blushing, stuttering, and getting intimate while having cheesy wet dreams of each other, which became extremely aggravating after a few episodes.

Everyone also seems to like someone else for no apparent reason and are willing to do incredibly stupid and selfless things for them seemingly only for the sake of moving the story along. This detracts from the believability of the situation, so I never ... felt for any of the characters. While I can sympathize with a weeping, heartbroken youngster, in this case, I just roll my eyes because: 1. Romance feels extremely forced. 2. The characters grate on my nerves. 3. I'm not a believer in undying, unconditional love at first sight :D.

The only positives for this show would be art and the supporting characters (Lemon ftw!). Art and animation for the show is well done and easy on the eyes. If most other shows looked like this I wouldn't mind at all.
Because I dislike how the romance is done in the anime, the least romantically involved characters were the ones I liked most. Lemon is an amusing troll, and Rinon is just too cuddlicious

The plot of an alien coming to Earth, integrating into a school setting, falling in love…we all know it. Tenchi Muyo exemplifies this plot but Ano Natsu de Matteru refines it to a sharp point. Don’t get me wrong, Ano Natsu has its faults, but it is an overall heart-felt and well executed experience. There are a lot of parts that are kind of stupid or are a bit too much, but if you can block out all of the crap happening on the side and all of the rather stupid plot twists (especially toward the end) and focus more so on the romance between ... Ichika and Kaito, then you’ll probably enjoy yourself.

Ichika is an alien from some unnamed planet who crashes into Earth, more specifically, Japan. Her crash severely injures Kaito, who is filming a movie at the time. Kaito is saved by her kissing him and putting healing nanomachines inside of him through the kiss. And after that she integrates into school life, she lives with Kaito, and she joins in on a summer of movie making magic.

The movie making part of the plot is integral, but it is pushed to the side usually to make room for the romance. This is a romance and drama heavy series, and romance and drama comes aplenty. There are two love triangles going on, one of which becomes a love rhombus at one point. The love rhombus has a single guy at the apex, Kaito. The girl who is closest to him and you probably can figure out he’s going to get with is Ichika. The other characters, especially Kanna, you just don’t care about. There’s so much crying going on and loves being admitted, yet you just don’t care about anything but the developing romance between Kaito and Ichika because it’s the only cute romance, and they are the only two characters with any substance, albeit not a lot.

There are three phases to Ano Natsu. The explanatory, unexciting first phase is the school phase. In this Ichika and Kaito live together, go to school, decide to make a movie with their friends. The second phase is the start of summer, where they make the movie and the puppy love starts to come out. The third, and dumbest, phase is the space phase, where Ichika’s sister comes to save her because the Federation has a search party and wants to take her back. I’m going to get a little deeper into this last phase because it’s a very weak set up to a decent finale.

There’s all this space stuff going on. There’s a Federation and these stupid bio-organic spaceship things (that look like futuristic Pokemon) that come to take Ichika back to her planet. And nobody wants her to go, especially not Kaito because he loves her and wants to be with her forever and all that cute crap. Her sister comes and they figure out that they might be able to find some proof an alien has been to the planet and that would show the Federation that Earth is not a grade F planet which means it’d be okay for Ichika to live there. There’s a long, drawn out part where the friends all branch off and try to take some of the heat off Ichika and Kaito as they find this random place in her memory where her ancestor was at. The friendship bullshit train rides for a whole episode, and is only broken up by one of the friends, the tiny and likeable Remon, using her pedo-van’s missiles and grappler arms.

This part goes pretty fast and it’s not a particularly well done section until the end. There’s a lot of stuff being thrown at you, and the idea of Earth being an F rated planet and Ichika needing to leave it because it has never had alien contact makes no sense…She’s an alien. Alien…contact! She’s made the contact! Boom! Earth is a D rated planet! We’ve gone up in the universe! Thanks Ichika, now let Kaito bang you and start populating the world with half human, half human-looking-alien babies!

Now to the very ending. This means spoilers, though that should be a given for my reviews.

The ending genuinely surprised me. Now, this had nothing to do with the idiotic Men in Black bullshit. That went beyond stupid. I mean, I’m okay with aliens and all that, but the Men in Black? Rocket launchers? Using sniper rifles to shoot at an alien thingy from two feet away? It was funny in that unexpected way, but it was pretty stupid nonetheless. Ichika gets captured and goes to space and loses out on being with her love, which is a really ballsy move for the writer. That made me genuinely care about the epilogue. Usually an anime would come up with some stupid way of getting out of that bad ending, but Ano Natsu enjoys it and might actually get some tears out of it. When the cast gets together to watch the movie that they have produced (courtesy of Remon), it is a pretty good tear-jerker. It puts the stupid stuff in and the emotional stuff in and that blend really brings the anime together. But the very, very end is where I want to commend this anime the most.

It’s not a lot, but it does have an impact, especially on me, and does work so much better because of this. Now, you have this niggling sensation for the six or seven minutes of the last episode that someway, somehow, Ichika is going to appear in some fashion and a happy ending will be achieved. But the final few seconds of the show, when it’s a future class at the high school watching Kaito’s movie, is amazingly effective in closing the anime. You hear the old footage, you get sad, but then that new clip shows up with Ichika back from space. And the series ends.

HALLELUJAH!

This is a perfect example of ending an anime on a good note, but not being too overt about it. It’s a lesson that some writers could take to heart. Ending a series like this, a series that has something bad happen that pulls the lovers apart, and then having a long-ass epilogue where they get back together and you feel good is not as effective as that final few seconds.

The sense of helplessness and sadness that takes place over the seven minutes between Ichika’s going back to space and that clip in the movie makes that single clip, maybe four seconds long, just that much more effective. It leaves you, the viewer, to fill in the blanks. It makes you so much more happy because you can interpret the ending however you want to and say that Ichika and Kaito are happily together, or maybe she just came back on vacation. Having a bit of a concrete answer to our questions about if she comes back is good, and allowing the viewer to fill in the rest is even better.

So anyway, let’s talk a bit about the characters. Kaito is a likeable male lead. There’s not a lot to say about him because he’s kind of your generic lead where he has very little personality beside his love of a hobby (filming) and his love for a heroine (Ichika). And Ichika is kind of the same, she’s not got a lot of character to her, but she’s got enough that you can feel good about the romance that she develops with Kaito.

Kanna is the annoying bitch who loves Kaito but Kaito doesn’t love her and she cries a lot because of that. I hated her. She wasn’t a character. She was an angsty waterfall.

Mio is moe and useless. Her love for Tetsurou is cute, I guess, but the fact she is a nudist is weird and doesn’t really provide any laughs. Especially because we see her naked with a panda bear plush before she reveals herself as a nudist. This is something that can come across as a little bit weird…I assumed she liked banging panda plushes.

Remon is badass. She’s screwing with everyone, keeping a chart of the romances so that she can manipulate them, takes over as director of the film, and is a Man in Black. Now, this last one is kind of dumb, but it still cements the fact she’s amazing. While Ichika is the alien, not a lot of mystery surrounds her. Remon is the opposite, even at the end you don’t really understand what the hell her intentions are. They’re good, but they aren’t defined at all. She’s my favorite character.

Tetsurou is…well, he’s not bad. He’s just kind of there.

Ano Natsu de Matteru is a good romance and does a lot of things right, but there are some silly portions and a lot of side story that takes away from everything. A lot of the characters are lame and uninteresting, while a few are good and maybe memorable. The romance is cute and might stick with you for a bit. It is the kind of show that you’ll wish could focus on what’s good, and give up on all the side stuff that doesn’t matter. Because you don’t care about that, you care about seeing Ichika and Kaito develop.

*Well if you are ignorant of what the term "Convenient" means then maybe a 10 for you*
Ano Natsu de Matteru is a story about friends who decide to make a movie.Well suddenly through that movie ,they will become more matured and their relation will become more complex.
Story is kinda common, with an unimportant and unrealistic plot. . . Its so fake and convenient even China won't admit it made it...but as it unravels it makes good uses of every detail it presented which results in a semi good progress which makes up for its majority of flaws. In other words, ITS WELL WRITTEN!
The comedy is ... pretty high in there, you can call it classic, but classic ain't bad. The romance is there and its fulfilling but way too childish and convenient that you can really predict it from ep1. Another thing concerning the "romantic" aspect, this show contained a love Pentagram.It also contains a decent amount of "Fan service" for those who like it "Hot"! Most of the service is used in order to produce comedy which is something excusable and not so bad at all!
Characters are realistic and perfectly normal in doing what they were supposed to do. Each has their personality and all match together and make a great group.The thing is that for a Slice of Life anime, their reactions in romantic topics and others are way too childish and there is no emotion and while there is a serious vibe in the air,not only nothing really happeneds but it like it never happened. Meaning like there was no pain after a ball hits ur face.
Animation and art style was beautiful. The only thing i personally didn't like its the hair animation style. It makes me think that instead of gel or w/e they used Jizz. Like literally. Its like . . . See for yourself ...~(???~) and another one... The characters almost had the "perma blush" syndrome. You know when from only looking each other they went blood red!
Music in general wasn't bad.Both OP and ED was decent not something memorable tho.There was some piano and classic guitar which made the tick. Overall, i would say satisfying.
-------------------Personal thoughts and weaknesses--------------------
I mentioned most of the weaknesses above. Let's sum them up pretty quick.Illogical interactions in the romantic scenes.Way too convenient. Perma blush syndrome.Bad/nonsense plot.In addition to those,there development of the was so obvious one could see it from ep 5, but no everyone.Moreover,personally the main romantic story wasn't as important and enjoyable as the side one.
The ending was disappointing,enjoyable and fulfilling at the same time...The truth is that the ending it was masterful to be honest,but it was so convoluted to gather all the pieces that it seemed disappointing !
In conclusion, it was an enjoyable "ride" with "Well written" story and somewhat good Com-rom. Everything else was terrible. Forced drama and nonexistent slice of life and convenience levels 1000/10 . . .
I would recommend it only to the Com-rom fans but be prepared to get really frustrated while watching it.
Reasons to watch it:
-Lemon is the best girl. Just repeat "LEMON DA BEST GIRL"
-Satisfying romance (ﾉ?ヮ?)ﾉ*:･ﾟ? ?ﾟ･: *ヽ(?ヮ?ヽ) ACTUALLY, the side story was better!!
-Cliche Romance and Love pentagon. A loves B--> A is loved by C ---> C is loved by D --> D is loved by E and who knows about B? :D

This was my Shameless critic.
I am leaving without remorse!

I've only watched the first half of the episode list. I have made it a point to tell myself that if by half of the season this anime still hasn't peaked my interest then I will drop it.

I thought Ano Natsu de Matteru would not disappoint. Unfortunately, it did.
Unlike Hyuoka, Oregairu, AnoHana and Kokoro Connect, the first few episodes of this Slice-Of-Life anime fails to hook the viewer half into the story.

I don't even know what the plot is about. It apparently is about alien girls trying to fit in. I understand the premise and how people can relate to the idea of being ... different and trying to fit in. But the characters are not well developed, they lack luster and are boring overall.

The only redeeming factor are the internal thoughts of the main character. But that was about it. It became a chore for me to watch until the middle of the season.

If you are now here you sure aren't a completely new weeblet, I bet you have at least already heard of Anohana, Darling in the Franxx and Kiznaiver, you probably have watched one of them and maybe you even enjoyed it, now, if you have watched more of them you may have noticed they are the literal same, mc with family problems falls in love with strange girl (ghost, dinosaur, just a strange girl) and then affairs of the heart come in the group of friends and ruin everything, drama, saddness and many tears flow.
Before watching Ano Natsu de Matteru you better know the creators ... are the same of those shows I previously mentioned, and the plot is basically the same, and this is the matter indeed: you can tell more or less everything about how the show will go after just one episode, it's so predictable it's embarassing, it wouldn't even be that big deal if the anime didn't try to make you cry and say "oh no, poor *childood friend* I can't believe *mc* chose the alien girl instead of you". If you want to make me cry you have to surprise me. So told, this is a defect only if you watched those anime before this one, Ano Natsu de Matteru is from 2012 so it came out even before Anohana, it's not his fault, now let's try to analyze the show faking to have previous knowledge of what will happen, as I should have actually done from the beginning.

The art here is the best thing, costintent and beautiful, the animation is good as you would expect from J.C. Staff, the characters designs are nice too

I'm not sure I can talk about the sound part since my knowledge about music is near 0, all I can say is I didn't like neither the opening and the ending, but some soundtracks were ok, take that like a mere personal opinion, you could love the op and ed

The character development could seem good at first sight but no, it sucks, their actions are not always understandable and they just accept some strange facts like they were normal "oh so *strange girl* is *the reason why she's strange*... ok no problem*, it seems like the creators prefer to show character development using love triangles, squares and pentagons instead of things that should actually be the fulcrum of the whole thing and that should actually put their friendship in danger. WHAT IS THE POINT OF MAKING A GIRL STRANGE IF YOU DON'T USE HER STRANGENESS IN THE STORY ARGH, the *strange girl* could also be a normal girl like anyone else at this point

The show is still enjoyable it can be just seen as an unpretentious slice of life, the problem is it IS pretentious.

Watch Ano Natsu only if you have nothing better to do, just like I did

I don't have anything else to say, this was my first review, I hope I'll get better with the time, wish me good luck

Average.
Idk how people rewatched this or was saying how emotional it was, but for me it was pure cheesy and over-emotional lines with annoying characterization.
The only thing i thoroughly enjoyed in this anime was the story ( a love pentagon) and that also sometimes made me regret watching this since suddenly a character repeats the same line and screams it louder, the other person enlightens and starts crying and makes a decision.
Some characters were annoying on a ground level(llike remon) but even that's fine, but you can't enjoy an anime when the main characters themselves are sometimes annoying.

Everyone's too kind to others, they blame themselves ... for a mistake they never made,and literally i was fastforwarding the last 2-3 episodes

if i had to clearly say how bad the characters were, i'll cite an example from this anime- a girl cuts her hair short, and then gets a so-called character development- what's funny is literally no one considered it a development except the characters in the anime ,kanna, tetsurou goes "wow mio,you've changed a lot"

art- 7/10 , pretty good ig,i realized kaito was a guy after starting the anime only, cuz in posters he looked like a girl with that hair style
story- 8/10 ,something different and refreshing
character- 1/10
music- 5/10,op and ed was good, i'll give you that- but still not so good to mention separately.
enjoyment- 4/10 (romantic scenes were good, out of 12 episodes, i probably enjoyed 1-2 comedy scenes,especailly the condom one)

OVERAL -5/10,this anime is more like "while watching it was enjoyable, but after finishing the show,it felt empty and dumb"
lmao no way i'm gonna waste another 26 minutes watching an ova

In short this is a coming of age anime. The usual school kids dealing with emotions of love etc. The protagonist has a love for film and the anime starts with him testing a new camera at night outside... where a blue flash in the sky changes everything. A mysterious girl appears and the anime explores relationship and .... aliens.

I really struggled to get into this. Firstly the start was intriguing a slice of life starting with a literal bang! But it failed to deliver.

If your put of by love triangles.... get ready for LOVE OCTAGON 2000....Because hes in love with her.... but ... she loves him ... but he loves her ....

The film aspect was nice and was probably the only ongoing plot line that they made sense with.

The anime is all over the place. The addition of aliens made it really difficult for me to view this as a slice of life. generally slice of life is just that ... cute guy / girl doing life stuff.

The art is ok its nothing amazing. The sound is ok its nothing amazing. The characters are a little one dimensional ...and at times I found myself getting irritated with them.
I adored one couple who did eventually make progress... but I cant rate an anime high because two supports maybe got together. An anime for me to invest in has to have at least one interesting lead... but I the two leads fell short.
Alien chan is too wishy washy... and I feel like we needed more backstory to her for me to actually at least understand her a bit more. And Film senpai.... well he falls in love with a random stranger after one day... not really one for love at first sight... so maybe I am bias. But things felt convenient.
And drama felt obligatory.

In short this anime tries to do to much and becomes jumbled in the process. The end got me a little. The message it wants to convey is be brave and go for it. Don't waste your time. But it gets buried under Aliens where it may of just been believable to actually have her as a study abroad student whose time was up. The alien plot line detracted from the heart of the anime. And it didn't in the long term add anything. I think the story could of been told without it and filled out the characters more instead of adding in the alien chase scenes.

I think there are some amazing animes out there which cover these themes better. If your bored and need a time filler you could check this out. But don't expect anime of the year.

I really don't like this anime very much, the first is the science fiction component. In itself the incipit of the alien that lands on Earth and enjoys the joys of adolescence together with fresh friends of fresh knowledge is not evil: obviously it is anything but original, but it is one of those bases that does not mind having to see used with such high frequency. Of course, for the first half of the series one wonders why this choice turned to sci-fi, given that, except for some occasional reference, the female protagonist is an alien does not have who knows what great influences ... and interests in the unfolding of the narrated events. Then, abruptly violent and bombastic, the sci-fi is the master in the last episodes, in a whirlwind of sentinel robots, spaceships, MIBs, interplanetary travels, galactic alliances and spatial norms. In short, that this component is considered in the series there may also be, but that its presence has such a downturn, and returns to be used so heavily after some time in which it was almost completely silenced, well, in my opinion turns out to be a poor choice, which I don't agree with and which I really don't like.
The second is the vicious circle of romantic relationships between the characters. Now, accustomed to the usual love triangle, at most quadrilateral, used to exhaustion in every scholastic-sentimental comedy, dealing with something different can also be there. A touch of originality and refinement, if well balanced, is always welcome. I find, however, that with this sort of pentagon "she loves him who loves her who loves him who loves her" has put too much in the fire. Certainly one has the opportunity to study with greater ease the array of feelings of each individual character and to impersonate oneself now in that now in that other, but personally I think it turns out to be a somewhat exaggerated and exasperated choice, which sometimes knows a little about forced and cumbersome. Something more slender, less demanding, perhaps less original, I admit but equally acceptable, it would have been a less burdensome and burdensome choice, but it could still have led to something good without necessarily losing out.

I was kind of disappointed by other series (Golden time, Kokoro connect) and looking for some comedy, so after the first episode I was sold. I'm not usually into sci-fi series, but this one seemed to be fun.

Comedy: check. Some awkward interaction between characters, but the plot was simple, and left little space for drama, which I found good.

Romance: check. it was not the usual "one step forward, two steps back". The main plot was going in the right direction, and leaving some door open for possible side developments or afterthoughts, but I expected that everything would be solved at some point.

First 10 episodes, quite ... good. It just bothered me that some side character popped up as soon as something was going to happen between the 2/3 main characters. Like: I want to go there with you alone, but then, surprisingly, when we get to that place, everybody is already there waiting for us. Reminded me of Bokuben season 2 (the first time I watched a whole series hoping that something would happen because "it can't get worse than this in the next episode" and then it did every single time). But otherwise, quite fun and wholesome.

Spoilers start here.

Episode 11 was the first red flag. Anything could happen, and then somebody will save them. Forget the plot, the interactions get completely messed up, but at least there is hope, next episode will bring them together again.

Episode 12 is the total disappointment, Toradora-style final, where everything happens and nothing is really happened. The cake is a lie. She is going away, "never to return again but always in my heart.", he is not giving up anyway (well if he did at this point it would be unfair, to be honest). The other guy who seemed to be interested in the other girl has completely lost interest. The mystery girl is going away for the same reason she appeared at the beginning (i.e. no reason at all). Sister comes back, nobody will tell her what really happened (because of course, nobody has seen UFOs or heard explosions, or anything like that). And at the end... there she goes again. WTF? Why? No, sorry, this could have been a good show, maybe not great, but this final really ruins everything.