Natsuyuki Rendezvous

Love. The four letter forbidden word. What is it really? Is it an idea? Is it an expression? Is it a feeling? Perhaps it's something that all of us feel like it must be part of us because it's the central theme of human life. No but, seriously, think about it.

In a nutshell, Natsuyuki Rendezvous is a rare romantic josei series presented by Noitamina. In fact, Noitamina is known to present all sorts of unique and strange series that expands beyond the typical male audience such as the original [C], the musical Nodame Cantabile, the horror Shiki, and the ghostly story of Anohana. Ah ... yes, speaking of ghost stories, that brings us to Natsuyuki Rendezvous.

The series has three main characters. First, there's a delicate flower named Rokka Shimao who owns a flower shop. She is the manager but more importantly, the widow of the deceased husband of Atsushi Shimao. Then, there's Ryousuke Hazuki who has poor eye sight but knows a delicate flower when he sees one. As one might expect from the pilot episode, he is in love with the flower manager. Last but certainly not least is Atsushi Shimao. He is a ghost who has been haunting the flower shop, or more specifically his wife for the past three years. Talk about stalking on a whole new level.

Three main characters, two of them guys and one of them a gentle flower. What do we get? Well, by common anime logic, a love triangle obviously. It's quite a peculiar love triangle too especially with the given circumstances. Rokka still grieves for the ghostly husband that have continued to haunt her for the past three years without her knowledge. Shimao is there but unable to cope with his former wife either mentally or physically. Hazuki-kun is trying to get the attention of his dream girl but can't seem to do so with his conflicted ideology.

Now, pause and stop reading this review. Do you still want to continue watching the series? That's a tough question to ask especially in the beginning since there's already conflict and animosity between the two main male characters. Ah, love is so damn complicated.

At any rate, this series is lighthearted and presents romance in a more realistic as well as naturalistic way despite the supernatural theme added in. But the real challenge is, can Hazuki-kun flower the pot? It's hard to say especially with interference from a certain ghostly someone. That being, the troll husband Shimao. But more than that, this series seems to have a rather slow pace especially in some of the later episodes. A slow paced romance series is never good especially fans into more intense drama. Bring on the intensity? No. It's more like bring on the slice-of-life feel. So, anyone looking forward to some intense drama in this series might be disappointed.

Despite this though, I do find some aspects of the series to be well executed. The rivalry between Hazuki-kun and ghost Shimao is a dynamic focus in the series. They are like eternal rivals, like cat and mouse, like mongoose and cobra, like ying and yang. Without them, this series would probably make you fall asleep. But with them, realism and amusing twists in the form of supernatural romance comedy is bought forth into the eyes of the viewers presented courtesy of Noitamina.

As being a josei anime, Natsuyuki Rendezvous is crafted out of simple artwork that is expressive and naturalistic like the plants of the flower shop. Life is natural and so is love, so why shouldn't the artwork be of the same? The beautiful flora backgrounds and some of the key visuals maintains that josei and lighthearted feeling that defines the rhythm of the series.

Speaking of rhythm, the music seems to continue with that in the form of a lighthearted soundtrack. The opening song, "See You" by Yuya Matsushita is sung softly but with empathy and with feeling. It presents some of the characters and their ways of struggle in not only life but also in death. The title of the song serves as a form of symbolism as Shimao sees Rokka every day but seems so far away. He's dead but still can't seem to move on to the afterlife to enjoy his days.

In the end, we should look ourselves and treasure every day we breathe in and out. Losing a loved one is never ever easy, more so in this series as the person you once knew still continues to stand besides you but seems so far away. People views it in different ways. Some shed endless tears. Some tries to move on like in Rokka but continues to struggle every day. And some just moves on flawlessly. What binds this emotion is once again the four letter forbidden word, “love”. It might seem normal but not in the case of Natsuyuki Rendezvous as love binds the ghost of tomorrow in the form of Shimao. Love here, love there, but will a viewer love this series?

To me, this series can be enjoyable at a realistic level. It has the soft rhythm and slow pace that can be relaxing to watch. And of course, being dual tagged as supernatural and josei is quite a rare case in today's anime series. Most cases you see these days are series tagged “action, romance”, “ecchi, romance”, “horror, romance”, “school, romance”, dot dot dot. Along with that, lighthearted soundtrack and the simple yet realistic artwork defines Natsuyuki Rendezvous at its finest form. Despite this though, there are flaws in this series. The pacing, conclusion, and focus are a few to name. Along with that, it's painful to watch Hazuki-kun struggle on in the subsequent episodes that may make us facepalm ourselves a few times. But, I hope you don't facepalm yourself and enjoy this series.

All in all, Natsuyuki Rendezvous is an anime that is difficult to be loved. Yet, it has its moments that are enjoyable. Being a ghost is never easy but love is just so damn complicated.

"I always wondered who was the one who suffered the most. The one who departed...or the one who was left behind"

//Before giving me a non-helpful tag please read the review. //

After finishing Sakamichi no Apollon, I wondered if there was another josei anime who would make the same impact on me...and I know now for sure I found it. If else, it had made a hole different one.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous is a beautiful work. The story, the art, the characters, the music, the production and direction...every thing is balanced prefectly.

There´s so many things that are remarkable about this show:a grieving couple that shares everything ... not knowing it, the loneliness of being together and appart at the same time, the fear of moving on, the untasteful way of living everyday without a purpose, the pain that comes when you don´t know if to leave or to stay.

The characters: "as long as there is love, someone´s going to be hurt". We´ve seen that along the way God-know-how-many-billion-hundred-times on different series. Yet, this is one of the few times it felt it so real. Their actions, their selfishness and the way they behave arround each other is so full of mistakes that it makes you want to scream at them. Yes, it is, and it keeps being that way during the hole thing (I mean it). BUT, even if they do things at a brand-new level of wrong, it´s clear that if it were you who were there, you wouldn´t know either, because when it comes to love there´s no right nor correct answers. That´s one of the things which makes us humans, and that is, for sure, one of the major lessons (if you want to name it that way) of this anime.

Another plus of this series is the music. The OP and the ED are so full of messages and blend so well with the story. Each one gives us the side of the story of each part: the OP reflexes Shimao (Rokka´s late husband) and Hazuki´s feelings,while the ending gives you the feelings and thoughts of Rokka.

If you´ve reached this point on the review I know you´ve wondered if I liked it or not.Answer: yes, I do. But, I won´t tell you to watch it if you´re looking for something, ´cuz, as we all know, surprises on life come when you´re not looking for them.

So, shall we move on to the first episode?

The more I think about this series, the more I'm inclined to believe that Natsuyuki Rendezvous is not a romance.

Sure, it may say romance in the tags. It may be a josei. It may even be billed by the creators themselves as a romantic story. But the way I see it, this series is simply not meant to be a traditional romance, regardless of how it's being sold.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous, simply put, is a story about life and death. Love is used as a theme in order to make the story more understandable and easy to relate to, but at its core this anime focuses on ... the aspects of living and dying and loving while living and dying more than anything else.

Although it's easy to interpret this series as the love story between two characters, Hazuki and Rokka, I tend to believe that it is actually more about Shimao and Rokka and their relationship before and after Shimao's death. After all, there are probably more flashbacks shown of Shimao and Rokka's life together than of Hazuki trying to woo Rokka, or even of Hazuki and Rokka spending any time together. When you see this anime as Hazuki's story; told from Hazuki's perspective, it becomes very confusing and at times, uninspired. But it's when you see this as being told from Shimao's point of view that everything begins to make sense. Hazuki is simply the catalyst; Shimao is the one this series really revolves around.

Which brings me to the main point of my review.

At first glance, Shimao is an easy character to dislike, or even hate. He seems selfish and spiteful, only hell-bent on keeping Rokka to himself even after he has died. However, if one looks deeper, Shimao becomes quite complex. No one could possibly know what it feels like to be dead, yet able to watch over the one you love. "Out of sight, out of mind" would probably be the concept one would fear most in a situation like this, yet Shimao refuses to give up on Rokka. This determination comes not out of selfishness, but deep, unconditional, perhaps even irrational love. It's love that made Shimao a little selfish, a little crazy, and a little possessive. But it's also love that made Shimao able to set Rokka free in the end.

Rokka is innocent and naive, not like a child, but in the way that only a young woman who has already gone through so much pain can possibly be. In many ways, the world of love is completely foreign to her. Shimao was like her other half, and they fit together so perfectly and naturally that Rokka wasn't even aware of what they had was half the time. When Hazuki enters her life, Rokka is so unaccustomed to being sought after that she continues to reject his advances, even after she knows she has fallen for him.

And finally, Hazuki, the catalyst. In many ways, Hazuki is not the idealized character we've come to expect in romances. But then again, as I mentioned, this really wasn't a romance in the first place. Hazuki represents a symbol of new found hope in Rokka's life. He's rough and unpolished, but he's enough to make her happy again. In my opinion, Hazuki would never replace Shimao completely in Rokka's heart. Yes, Rokka loves him and cares for him deeply, but he will forever be the reason Rokka was finally able to move past the pain of losing her true love. Hazuki is the catalyst to repairing and concluding the relationship between Rokka and Shimao, and in many ways he "saves" Rokka from despairing for the rest of her life. But he isn't the one who was able to set Rokka "free". Only Shimao had that power, and when he finally uses it, Hazuki is able to support Rokka and get her back on her feet.

What happens after we die? Do we simply close our eyes for the last time and slumber dreamlessly for eternity? Or will we come back to watch over the ones we love? What if the ones we love cannot move past our death? And what if we're the ones who cannot move past our own death?

At the end of the day, those are the questions Natsuyuki Rendezvous tries to answer. It doesn't do this perfectly, nor is it without some flaws. But I'll affirm wholeheartedly that this series made me cry. It made me rethink the meaning of life and death, and life after death.

And perhaps, it also made me wonder about *love* after death.

Now I think this anime is fairly unknown to people- but that is part of the reason i'm writing this to raise it's profile even by just a little.

I won't reveal any spoilers but it is one of the most heart-warming and tear jerking romances I have seen in a long time. And to be honest i'm surprised I enjoyed it as much I did because romance animes aren't really my favourites.

Anyway the story focuses on the relationship between a flower shop owner and her new part-time employee that has been admiring her from afar. If it was just this I myself would ... be a little disappointed but then they throw in the fact that the owners late husband is haunting her and her admirer is the only one that can see him, the ghost husband tries everything in his power to keep his wife. (I won't reveal anymore as it will reveal to much about the stories major plot points) .

the music and art work are also extremely beautiful and you are just taken away into a new world. I don't really have any negatives about it but some episodes suffered from a lack of pace which did not bring the story forward. Nut it all pays off in the end of the conclusion leaves no questions unanswered and is one of the most romantically moving endings I have ever seen since I have been watching anime.

Trust me you will need tissues at more than one point during the series.

Anyway just please go and check it out it's one of those amazing underappreciated animes that are the best to watch.

2012 summer season's series seem to deal with light drama lovestories, among which this one seems to be worth the effort: not being too deep or too dramatic in dealing with actually gloom themes like death and lost love, it makes the perfect choice for a lazy summer evening watch, granted the fact that it has a strong lead male character and very good visuals.

While the plot/summary seemed to put you through some exhausting story about a love triangle including the ghost of a dead husband, the first episode depicted a show fresh and invigorating like the soft summer rain. From the color palette, with ... brushy textures, fresh spingtime greens and friendly yellows to the entire relaxed athmosphere. Too soon to place any bets yet, considering first impressions this looks like a happy ending kind of show, but one that will definitely walk around the usual boring love story routine. Because....

The male lead, Hazuki, looks like the average "loser", falling in love with the pretty short black haired widdow to whom he is too shy to confess. He is composed, he looks like he doesn't give a damn about anything, and he looks like he's the type to quit before really trying. Or maybe not: what makes this character particular is the fact that he proves not to be that easy to anticipate and he overcomes the "danger" of becoming that kind of annoying guy who can't take the challenges. Hazuki is the kind of character that grows to be loved by the viewers, being bitter but realistic, bored but passionate, limited but resourceful.

It seems the creators managed to avoid the clichee of the love being confessed only in the end, and that this show will actually focus on the "war" between Hazuki and the ghost husband. Far from being a comedy tho, it does have some intelligently hilarious moments in the scenes that contain the both determined guys, one dead and one pretty much alive.

Sadly, Rokka, the female lead, didn't make a too big impression. She's playing the sad kind widdow, but at least without being annoying, didn't look like anything too deep. But then again, for an 11 episode summer show I think anything else would have been too much and unnecessary.

Another strong point of this show would be the animation and the art. The character's gestures and poses is something that hits you from the first few minutes as they emanate grace where needed and they express the character's attitude very good - talking about body language. I can't say if that's something you often see in josei shows, but here in particular shows that a lot of attention has been put into these kind of details.

If this will be a good story or not - we will see. But either way, it looks promising and flowlessly executed.

Sign, now that this 11 episode anime has ended, so, what can I say, it is "OUTSTANDING," this anime can be compared to a soap opera where the genre supernatural, romance and drama really did well. The title itself is not misleading, this is one quality anime that doesn't follow your typical run of the mill entertainment, though it still has the usual restless spirit thing that come with this anime and so as someone who can let go. It may have some similarities with "AnoHana" and Tasogare Otome, it cannot be compared with it, one, is that unlike "AnoHana" this one is more ... of seinen, as for "Tasogare Otome" well it does had a bit of a dark side but only in a subtle note where Shimao is having some thoughts of bringing Rokka to the afterlife, good thing he didn't or o else he'll end up in hell and Hazuki get's to go to jail. Then again "Tasogare Otome" is more of a dark comedy side than with this one. Also, since there is competition between Shimao and Hazuki to be with Rokka this anime minus well have a reverse harem in it. So for the story I'll give it an "OUTSTANDING" number 10, co'z the story is more of soap opera standards than an anime.

Art: Mediocre 5.

I'm not an art critic, but.....I would have prefer that Rokka has long locks that short hair, kind makes her look like a man, a very beautiful man that is.

Sound: Good 7.

Since I like the opening theme.

Characters: OUTSTANDING 10.

Ok, so far for the roles of the characters really did play up, I really like that there is this sotacon arc that exist between Rokka and Hazuki since Rokka is 8 years Hazuki's senior, but it is kind disappointing that in the fast forward scene of the final episode where Hazuki has to die ahead of Rokka who is now a grandma. But It kinda pissed me off that after so many years she still hasn't got rid off Shimao's stuff and we see Shimao still wondering around only this time he just paid a visit to the shop and it was Rokka's grandson who sees him. Also, the moment that Hazuki lead his body to Shimao was for me to ask as to WTF was going on his mind, then again at the end he got his body back and was able to keep Rokka as his wife. So a very beautiful ending.


Enjoyment & Overall: OUTSTANDING 10.

Ok, I really did enjoy this anime very much and I like that this anime has that soap opera standard that would really make one feel this thing as if you felt sorry for Shimao for having to go ahead of Rokka to the afterlife where both are expecting to live happily. Also there is that thing where I felt sorry for Rokka for not letting go of Shimao which would have been the reason why he can't go to the other side, overall Hazuki is very much the happy ending waiting to fill Rokka's void and reminding Shimao that her life has to go on, Hazuki really does serves as the overall filler of Rokka and Shimao's void, indeed such high rating is what this anime deserves.

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Story
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While watching Natsuyuki Rendezvous I can’t help but remember my close encounters with love. I can see Pearl running through the hallways like a whirlwind rushing to class. I only hope to catch her attention for a second just to exchange ‘Hi’s. Stephanie is crying at a train station because of an argument we just had. All I can do is watched through the foggy glass of the train doors. Jayce is sending me a text telling me that she’s willing to go on a second date.

Hope, failure and success, are the three memories I feel love leaves us with.

I don’t know if I am ... just naive or young, maybe both, but the story hit all these notes within its short one cour run. The emotional journey that Hazuki, Shimao and Rokka undertake is a roller coaster, twisting and curving as their fates become intertwined with one another. As the car comes back into the station, my notion of love wasn’t changed, but reinforced by those serpentine tracks.

Sometimes a story doesn’t needs to tell something new. The premise of the series isn’t exciting on paper. Hazuki is a young man that happens to fall in love with the owner of a small flower shop, Rokka. He eventually begins to work there as a means to get close to her. As he tries to muster the courage to confess, he meets the spirit of her dead husband, Shimao, who is bent on stopping him.

The prospect of a ghost in love is charted territory. The same stands for love triangles and unrequited feelings. But the universality of these themes and their ability to evoke relatable experiences within the audience is what makes them important. These are the hooks that pulled me in and made me much more receptive to the characters and the events that unfolded.

It isn’t what the story is telling, but how it’s being told. Fantastic writing is the foundation for an engrossing tale. The seamless dialogue flowed from one scene to the next. Monologues weren’t overbearing and acted as signposts in the direction the plot was moving. The pacing was slow but it gave the ideas of the series enough breathing room to simmer, resonate, and turn it into something memorable.

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Characters
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The series focuses on the lives of three characters: Hazuki, Rokka and Shimao. There aren’t many others that play a substantial supporting role but considering the brevity of this series, they would serve as distractions. By limiting the size of the cast, Natsuyuki Rendezvous is able to build complex characters that are very believable.

Hazuki is a young man who doesn’t seem to have much going for him. His only driving force in life seems to be his feelings for Rokka. As the show progresses we find a man that is deeply in touch with his emotions, with an astonishing lucidity when it comes to understanding others.

Rokka on the other hand seems to be a secure and independent middle aged woman that runs her own flower shop. Soon enough her insecurities about her past and her inability to come to terms with her husbands death come to bear. She always seems to be at odds with catching up to the present as her memories threaten to hold her back.

Shimao comes off as a selfish ghost that can’t let go of his wife. Every action he takes solidifies this idea of him. But he is just an individual that is struggling between letting go of a world that is constantly trying to pull him back. As with all ghost’s he wants closure, but at the cost of ruining the lives of those that still have it.

Each character has their own personal dilemmas to overcome of the course of the story. They not only deal with the ramifications of their actions but are clearly conscious of the reasoning behind them as well. Careful attention to cause and effect is a powerful tool for developing strong characters that learn, grow and ultimately evolve.

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Production
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To be quite frank the art production in the first half of the series isn’t amazing. The bright palette and attention to foreground detail does redeem it slightly, but it is otherwise only serviceable. The second half of the series takes a stark upturn in creativity. The introduction of the storybook world of Shimao creates an interesting collage effect that contrasts the sketches of his realm with the solid colors of the real world. Little details in both settings are highlighted by the differences and give life and vibrancy to each.

The opening theme ”See You” by Yuya Matsushita is simple, accented by a piano melody. Matsushita has a strong vocal performance that drives this song. “Anata ni Deawanakereba” by Aimer, is a fitting closing theme that evokes an atmosphere of melancholy. It’s one of my favorite songs in recent memory. I could feel the heartbreak in her voice. Her delivery combined with the fantastic lyrics served as a proper punctuation to each episode.

The excellent audio production continues with the great voice acting. Yuuichi Nakamura (Hazuki), Sayaka Ohara (Rokka) and Jun Fukuyama (Shimao) all give great performances that actualizes the well written script. Nakamura is a clear standout as his acting gives a sense of progression as Hazuki develops as a character.

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Overall
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Natsuyuki Rendezvous doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel but gives a story that is easy to relate to. The elements of its tale evoke the summer and all its brightness and warmth. It proves that well written characters and dialogue are sometimes all it takes for a show to succeed. For fans of the Josei or romance, this one rendezvous you don’t want to miss.

For more reviews, previews, and anime discussion, check out www.sushigokart.net !

Simply put, Natsuyukki Rendezvous is a splendid anime that deserves to get picked up by anyone looking for a romantic comedy, drama-based anime.

Hi, Future Architect Here. I am an architect from the future who has seen basically all the anime airing this summer season. Out of the best, Natsuyukki Rendezvous is the one I must write a review for before I meet up with my peer, JohnTitor.

Now, the story of Natsuyuki seems very typical with a supernatural twist. However, it is much more genius than one can expect. How far is the director willing to take the comedy aspects while examining a serious topic. Well, ... the directing does take the liberty in making fun of ghosts, and putting up traditional Japanese culture jokes. However, this one is special. While being able to manage a some-what serious drama, Natsuyuki actually explores further than just family values, it goes even to the extent of using symbolic meaningfuls such as flowers, and the imagery of death, rather than say, a pastoral imagery, which it actually also includes, to eradicate the details and justices of this cruel world.

I am very touched by the story personally, and I can guarantee that it will to...as long as you don`t mind ghosts getting in your way.

The typical developments of characters, ah. What a pleasant way this anime is heading. This is basically a reverse-harem, without the harem part. Two men fighting for women...yet one of them is a ghost, that is what it seems on the surface, yes. However, as stated above, the treasure which subsides in a complex drama as this one deserves not to be spoiled. To put it in a nutshell, though, the characters have matured already when they are introduced. Utilizing a traditional aspect of the shows of the same genres, however, Natusuyuki reveals secrets about each of the characters, bits by bits, by showing flash-backs. And, the suspense which partakes each bits is considerably great.

The art, as stated, is josie. Meaning, it is meant for the demographics of women between adolescence and adulthood. But, I claim that tag is bullcrap. This tag has appeared in many shows like Eden of the East, and I can tell you that is more or less a shounen show than anything. Ergo, watch this anime regardless of your age group, sexuality, etc, as long as this anime`s genres, or plot, interests you. Music is fine, and powerful during the correct times.

Enjoyable as a romantic comedy can be.

Please, I have already written a full version of the review. Do look forward to it when this heart warming anime finishes airing during your time period! Now be a man, and do the right thing! (Watch Natsuyuki Rendezvous)

Keep in mind that this review is going to be pretty spoiler heavy.

Info
This is a prime example of when a great idea and concept is made but then the show just falls flat on its face as it doesn’t fully understand how to utilize the great premise.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous is a 2012 anime of only 11 episodes, backed by Doga Kobo it’s a supernatural, romance drama based off the manga of the same name, and it’s so fucking boring!

Story
So what is the premise of Natsuyuki rendezvous I hear you ask, well it’s basically ghost cucking. Our protagonist Hazuki has fallen in love with a much older ... lady - Rokka - who owns a flower shop. Due to his love for her he stops by the shop daily and buys small potted plants despite owning a very small apartment, because of this his apartment is filled with tiny plants.

The point is that eventually Hazuki decides to take up a job at the flower shop in order to be closer to Rokka, however Hazuki eventually encounters Shimao, Rokkas dead husband. He is bound to her apartment which is above the flower shop so he can also be there however no one has ever been able to see him before Hazuki.

What follows is Shimao using his ghostly-ness to try and stop Hazuki’s advances on Rokka, eventually he even pulls off some poltergeist and is able to throw objects or make a room shake and the whole time he’s really only able to effect Hazuki as he doesn't want to hurt or upset Rokka and she can’t see or hear him anyway.

Now the show starts off pretty interesting, Hazuki tries his best to develope a relationship with Rokka and to his credit he does a great job, the two become close rather quickly and he gets very close to kissing her and at one point possible sex with her however Shimao is always able to at least stop anything big from happening.

So this is a pretty neat concept right, Hazuki and Rokka have a budding and interesting romance and there’s this constant Ghost who has entertaining banter with Hazuki and the situation is always weird as we the audience can also always see this ghost. The romance is good, the banter is good and the situations are interesting and there's tons of possibilities. What could possibly go wrong?

Episode 4 is what. So the show is going along strong and episodes 1-3 I loved and watch in a single sitting and I bet I would of the got the whole show done in one sitting if it hadn't hit such a hard wall. Episode 4 itself isn’t that bad but the things that happen in this episode set up the downfall and it's because of this episode that I take issue with the show.

Throughout the show Shimao (the dead guy) is constantly asking Hazuki to lend him his body, Shimao says he can posses people but only if he has there consent, it's weird how he would know this since he claims up to this point no one has been able to see him so I don't know how he got someone to consent, so I can only assume there's some kind of ghost handbook you get if you die with unfinished business, cause there's really no way for him to know he can do this.

Shimao wants Hazuki’s body so he can talk to Rokka and if he's able to do this then he will be able to move on, or so he tells Hazuki at least. His true intentions are a lot more malicious, he plans to permanently take over Hazuki and then continue on with Rokka where he left off, it's pretty fucked up, trying to just move on to a new body.

At the end of episode 4 Hazuki, in a drunken state, submits and consents to letting Shimao taking his body and then we get greeted to a scene of Shimao (in Hazuki's body) getting emotional and seeing Rokka and actually being able to make contact with her, this is a good scene and at this point I still had no issues with the show, this is just the thing it needed to spice things up and help the plot more fuel so it wouldn’t slow down however this very thing is what causes all the problem I have with the show later down the line.

While Shimao is in Hazuki's body we still get scenes of Hazuki doing stuff and his in some weird alternate world that’s the book world from a book that Shimao was writing but never ended before he died and overall it’s really weird and poorly explained. Overall these scenes are really boring because nothing happens and he also keeps running into different girls that are all just Rokka but she's a fairy or a mermaid of something and doesn't go by that name or know who he is, since they’re just characters in the story that Shimao obviously modeled off his wife.

Every time we cut to Hazuki is this world is the worst fucking experience of my life, they go on for way too long have no purpose and don’t forward anything, they’re extremely boring and I can’t find a way that this show was made and people thought it was okay for these scenes to play out the way they do. It’s like Hazuki tries to move a giant pot but gives up because it’s heavy and then Rokka as a mermaid shows up and then Hazuki realises that he loves Rokka so he tried to move the pot again and that's it, but it took like half the fucking episode to show it. Its ridiculous and I absolutely hate this, however right away it’s not all bad.

Seeing Shimao in Hazuki's body is actually super interesting, the way Shimao has to try and act like Hazuki and can’t easily completely do what he wants to. He’s so close to his old wife and yet he can’t actually do anything about it, he isn’t fully back, she can still only see him as hazuki. This all comes to a head when he straight up asks her is she loves him of course she thinks hazuki is asking this question and answers with a yes admitting that she has fallen for hazuki however Shimao is the only one who receives this information and of course hazuki doesn’t get to know it.

Now up to this point I’ll admit that while I still hated the hazuki parts I was overall still enjoying the show as a whole however the Hazuki sections begin to get even worse as they begin to kinda consume the show, I’m not really sure why this is but rather then shorten the lengthy and pointless hazuki sections down they start to make them longer and almost the focus. While yes hazuki is our protagonist, he’s not what made the show interesting and by himself he actually works really horribly, he works best when he has someone else to bounce off, but I’ll come back to this later basically these sections don’t work because they’re mostly useless and feel like filler. Cutting them back so they took up less time and thus hit the important points more often and had less fluff would of been the much better part and while I can’t remember for sure I’m pretty sure there's an entire episode in the book world with hazuki and it’s just… pain.

Eventually we start to learn some more about Shimao’s past which is kind of a mix between the book world and real world that helps us piece things together, turns out he got cancer and was writing the book hazuki is now in when he died, he never got to finish it or something like that. Now while this is a kinda cliche thing it can be done right, ‘Princess Tutu’ uses this as the basis for the entire show to exist and that show is freaking amazing and while it has a few episodes early not that aren't super interesting it never gets as boring as this done and that's because it doesn't do anything interesting with the book world.

It also never explains how Hazuki gets into the book world or how it even works or what rules it's run by, which is weird because they spent a lot of time in there and it's clearly an important part of the plot and if they spent more of the time in there explaining what it is or how it works, then maybe it would've been slightly better. Plus these Shimao backstory parts are also boring as dirt, they move so slowly and have a bunch of still or barely moving shots and I feel like the show might be trying to be deep or moving but it's just too much of a slog to really be able to pull it off in any way shape or form.

Anyway eventually Shimao tells Rokka what's going on or she figures it out I can't exactly remember but either way, she knows. And then Hazuki comes back to the real world as a ghost that only Shimao can see and this is all also never really explained at all, it's super fucking weird and also not interesting in the slightest. You may think I'm going on about this stuff for too long but it seriously is some boring crap, don't watch this show it's crazy how much of a wall it hits. Anyway in the end it's a happy ending or something. The show had put me through so much boredom that at this point I didn’t care about the characters in any way by the end and so I just kinda watched it to be done with it.

Characters
Hazuki
Hazuki isn't an interesting protagonist, he’s a rather boring person who has lives a mostly boring life and is so useless that he buys flowers everyday despite living in a god damn apartment just cause he likes the girl there, like just talk to her dude.

Either way the main reason that Hazuki is able to work as the protagonist is because of the way he interacts with those around him, he has a serious kinda dead pan way about him and doesn't get easily agitated.

The interactions between Hazuki and Shimao are at the core of the original premise and some of the interesting stuff, after all Hazuki is the only one who can see Shimao and so Shimao will constantly be floating around or trying to annoy Hazuki and make him slip up and the way Hazuki and Shimao have small banter sessions at each other is fun to watch as Shimao is kind of dick and Hazuki can't really do anything in response.

Hazuki's interactions with Rokka are also good because he's like a completely different person when he’s with her, he clearly cares about her and wants to be with her and it's shown multiple times in many different ways in the early good part of the show. Early on in the show we get very few to no scenes were Hazuki is by himself and there's good reason for that, he's always interacting with someone so that he isn't just some brooding guy.

When he's trying to forward his relationship with Rokka but Shimao is also there shit gets interesting and this is when the shows is the most enjoyable to watch and what got me into it originally, SO THEN WHY THE HELL DO THEY LEAVE HIM ALONE IN THE BOOK WORLD!

Okay they don't really leave him alone, he's always interacting with a different rendition of Rokka as I've stated before but for some reason she's like, kinda dead inside or something. She doesn't have much to say or is super cryptic and it mainly is just a bunch of boring stuff, it's not really Rokka and Hazuki knows that so he has no reason to try and forward the relationship and these side Rokka’s usually go away after an episode or two so they don't develop or really matter in any meaningful way and it's because of this that it’s not the same as in the real world where he has a real goal that's tangible and he knows how to get it while facing an obstacle that only he and the viewer are able to understand and that isn't easily removed. Nothing means anything in the fucking book world.

And now I've just spent more time complaint about the premise of the show but really there's not much to say about Hazuki, he loves Rokka, hates Shimao and is useless and the source of my pain once in the book world.

Shimao
Shimao is a weird character and an interesting one for me to talk about while not interesting himself. Not at first he's basically the villain since he is the obstacle to the protagonist's goal but for some reason he kinda ends up becoming the protagonist by the end, not only does he take over Hazuki's body but his backstory becomes a huge focus.

After all he constructed the book world since it's a book he wrote while he had cancer and so we get a bunch of flashback stuff to before he was dead and he was quite different back then in reality, he was much more nice and sweet and overall he seemed happy where in his ghost state he just seems depressed and even when trying to act caring or panicked he just seems dilated and emotionless.

The problem here is that sweet and caring dude who has cancer and that we know is going to die doesn't make for a good or interesting character, it makes for piss boring shit as he just spouts generic crap in a way to maybe make the show feel deep or something, I'm not really sure why they do it cause it sure as hell isn’t interesting.

The other issue with having him take control of Hazuki and basically become the focus of the show if the fact that this then means that there is no villain in the show, nor is there any real conflict, as I said the juxtaposition of all of these characters and there various relationships and how they all play off each other is key and while you can still create a dynamic like that and take people out of it, you can't in this show specifically and that's a for a few reasons.

Firstly it's all the show has going for it, if you stuff it up then you got nothing interesting left to show and so you'd have to be careful with removing someone from the dynamic of changing there situation so drastically that they're not even in the same god damn world. And also because it's a fucking trio, destroy the trio and you have only two damn people left and that's very bad for the dynamic as you just can't have as much going on between two people it also doesn't help that Hazuki really was the heart of it and while Rokka still thinks he is there he's not and it ruins the whole thing.

Maybe I'm just repeating myself at this point but I really did enjoy the show a lot at first and it just went and ruined itself hard.

Rokka
So now let's talk about Rokka, the love interest of Hazuki and Shimao's ex-wife. Now she's meant to be a pretty interesting character because she's still dealing with losing the love of her life while falling in love with this much younger boy and the whole time she's still running this flower shop that was Shimao's dream in the beginning anyway.

Now, Rokka is interesting early on, since her juxtaposition is indeed interesting and how she deals with it seemed very real and like the natural progression for her character to take and the fact that she can't see Shimao really helps Shimao and Hazukis interactions shine, after all Shimao can do some crazy stuff and Rokka has no idea about any of it.

However she's kinda bland outside of that and it becomes a serious issue once Hazuki is gone. She's meant to be bland anyway, she's meant to be the pretty normal person in all of this while Hazuki and Shimao do all the real interesting stuff, she's just a means to an end off the show, used to set things up despite not actually really being the one who does, she's the reason things happen without actually being the exact reason things happen, if that makes sense.

This causes her character to fail completely once the focus shifts and it really is a shame since before that I was somewhat kinda liking her character despite the obvious blandness she presented. Doesn't help that Rokka doesn't fucking change or grow at all. Yes she does eventually fall in love with Hazuki however as soon as she finds out that Shimao has taken over Hazukis body she reverts right back to being in love with him again.

Now I know it might be considered normal to fall in love with your dead partner if they come back in the body of the new person you love, but I feel like it's not. Now obviously we can't know but Rokka does truly fall in love with Hazuki and I feel like if that happens you truly have to be over you old partner to a serious degree and I know there's the always loving them and crap but if they come back wouldn't you at least be a little weirded out.

Instead Rokka reverts back to fully loving him and sitting around just being with him and then he has to go and Rokka gets all upset about it again cause she has to say goodbye again and it's just like why did you even come back you dumb fucking ghost, you didn't change anything, you just made the show worst’ so Rokka ends up basically having some kind of reset button pushed if you will and now she has to try and get over him all over again and I'm sure this only hurts Hazukis current relationship with her to a great degree.

Her character design is also god awful, I know there are people like this out there I'm sure but she has a huge forehead and her hair is done in such a way that really fucking shows it and my god it doesn't look good, her eyes are also done in a weird way that doesn't complement the rest of her design and that doesn't help her, especially when the eyes are right below the god awful forehead.

It doesn't look good and it took me a while to even get use to seeing it cause most of the time it's just a really off putting look to look at normally, I don't know what exactly it is but something about it makes me have trouble looking at it even though I've seen shows that are arguably much worse in this area and have no issue with it.

Overall all the characters are bad on their own or eventually devolve to that state due to the story writing them into situations that don't work for them or flatter them very well. But this is going on for too long and I’m really just starting to repeat myself and getting more angry plus I really just wanna get this done. But hey at least there's no chance of it being longer than my New Game! Review.

Presentation
This is gonna be fast, you see all aspects of the presentation can be summed up in one word. Generic. The animation is generic to the standard animation that doesn't really do anything or special I guess the book world does mix it up a little but it’s a blending of styles that first of all doesn't even look good. Secondly it’s been done a million times so it’s not like the show is special or breaking new ground and lastly it’s just a still frame that the characters look really weird in front of, it’s like when CGI is used and looks weird cause its a 3D model. Well the 2D characters look weird in the book world because they have shading and the bookworld environment doesn't making it lack depth and thus the styles clash way too hard.

The animation in terms of actually animating is very low effort, all the movements are simple and only things that need to be done, the characters can spend a lot of time being very still or there mouth is hidden so it doesn't have to be animated when they talk, the camera rarely moves most of the time it just stays still and it’s rare for the characters to move too much. It’s very simple and very lazy and can be a real annoyance as it continues to just stay that way as the show goes on. It’s not exactly horrid, I’d say it’s bearable but still a problem nevertheless.

Music and sound effects are basic and unmemorable, I’m sorry but I actually can’t talk about it because of how bland it is, and again very unmemorable, so I don’t even fucking remember it. I guess next is the OP and ED which are also really bad, the OP is bland, slow and uninspiring, the images used are mostly still shots and even before I started hating the show I very much didn’t enjoy the OP, but I watched it anyway cause I’m not a scumbag who skips the OPs. (#ForwardingMyOwnAgenda) It’s slow and boring and I don’t like it, and the ED isn’t much better.

The ED just kinda slaps visuals together and I feel like it’s going “Look how I deep I am, I’m only using pretty moving visuals for my ED and pretty music” and while the music is nice and pretty the music doesn’t belong to the anime, music shouldn’t make you enjoy or hate anime or the OPs and EDs, enjoy what ever music you want but what the show does for it is the animation and that’s the interesting part and here it’s just horrid. I could get more meaning out of looking at a kaleidoscope for the same amount of time and I bet I’d have more fun.

Ang guess what I can just have the song play in the background because it’s not a part of the anime and I can have it play while I do a number of things better then watching crap, so don’t tell me I’m wrong cause the music is good, that doesn’t matter.

The voice acting is also super generic, it’s just what it has to be, no one is really that good but none of it’s really that bad either, well some of it’s bad but some of it’s good too so it evens out and hit a dead average. I said this would be done fast, not much to say about the presentation really.

Wrap-Up
So Basically this show is really bad and after those few early episodes there was little left to enjoy from it, I overall regret having watched the show and I hope that if you have read this and can understand why I found the show horrid that you will also avoid it, I think this show is liked by more people then it’s hated by but that's the same for Sword Art Online and Re:Zero so general consensus isn’t a good way to judge something.

If you understood what I was saying and don’t like the kind of things I bought up then don’t watch this show, it’s painfully boring and I wish I had known more about it before I jumped in with high hopes, it’s a good concept gone wrong.

Overall I have to give this generic piece of crap a 3/10

I didn’t enjoy watch it at all in the end, the negatives outweigh the positives way too heavily and those positives are the only reason this isn’t a 2.

Talk about a big waste of potential. On paper, Natsuyuki Rendezvous's premise seemed like a unique one in its focus on a love triangle involving a young part-time flower shop worker, his older manager, and the ghost of his manager's dead husband. The dynamics of the triangle involved Ryosuke trying to start up a relationship with Rokka, Rokka learning to move on with her life following her husband's death and Atsushi learning to let go of his attachment to his wife. The series shows some signs of its potential with Atsushi later possessing Ryosuke's body and realizing how short-sighted his actions were with wanting to ... stay with his wife, while Rokka starts to slowly fall for Ryosuke throughout the course of the series. The presentation for the series is also quite good with vibrant color, gorgeous scenery shots of locations like the sketchbook world that Atsushi's soul is transferred into and some nice animated sequences coming from Atsushi's presence in the mentioned sketchbook.

So with such a unique premise, what could lead me to want to rate it so low? Maybe mostly because of the title's two male leads. While both are supposedly kind and gentle with their actions to attract Rokka, both frequently wind up being jerks with their behavior. Atsushi treats Ryosuke like crap and even considers committing murder later on in an attempt to keep Rokka and Ryosuke apart from one another. Ryosuke isn't much better as he is often insensitive to the desires of both Rokka and Atsushi. The series suffers greatly in the fact that both male leads fail to make any attempt to empathize with one another and try to understand the issues each of them face with their predicaments. The second half of the series remedies this to an extent when Atsushi possesses Ryosuke's body. But by that point, I only cared more for how Rokka was affected by all this instead of the two male leads.

Issues with the male leads weren't the only issues I had here. The series is prominently focused on the perspectives of the three central characters throughout their conflict and with exception to one character (who doesn't get enough presence to influence the plot in any way), we don't see any other characters related to the three central ones whom we could get to know so we could better understand and empathize with them. Sure, the sketchbook world allows one a look into the head of Rokka so we could better understand how she views both the men she has attraction to so she is better fleshed out as a character. But the two male leads don't get this kind of focus so I could better relate to them and not perceive them as bad love interests for Rokka.

Overall, Natsuyuki Rendezvous is a series that has quite a bit of wasted potential. While having a potentially unique premise for a romance anime and a likeable female lead in the form of Rokka, the unlikeable behavior of the two male leads and a lack of major focus on elements that would allow one to better empathize with them hurt the quality of this series greatly for me.

(Since the series is ongoing, I might have to change the review depending on how it ends.)

The story of Natsuyuki Rendezvous was the most interesting among all the summer 2012 anime series I looked through: a love triangle with one of the people being a ghost. It's not everyday you stumble across a description like that, I had high hopes of the anime(and let's face it, I needed another josei manga after Sakamichi no appolon), and it didn't disappoint. The story is wonderfully done, it keeps you engrossed so that the 23 minute episode just breezes by. Even with the supernatural touch, the romance has ... a realistic and warm feel to it. I'll give the story an 8/10.

The art is wonderfully done. It's clean, simple and beautiful, specially the flower arrangements and the shop. The characters are not specially beautiful but still pleasant to look at, and the expressions are very well done. And the animation maintains the same level though all the episodes. 9/10

Rokka(the store manager), Shimao(the ghost) and Hazuki(the protagonist) all three of them have very likable characters. Their doubts, reasons, hopes and attachments are all explained, so that it's difficult to dislike any of them. And they have multiple facets to their characters, which are fun to explore. Like for example, from Rokka's memories, Shimao doesn't appear to be a guy who'd get attached to anyone, but that's obviously not the case, or he wouldn't have stayed back as a ghost. For me, the characters are the most important in any josei manga, and I'll give the ones in Natsuyuki Rendezvous a 9/10.

The music is probably where the series seems to be lacking a bit... The ending song is very nice but I feel like skipping the opening most of the time. The rest of the soundtrack is nothing extraordinary, but it doesn't feel out of place either. 7/10

OVERALL, the series gets an 8/10. A must see for any fan of the genre(and a good starting point for those inteested). It's a thoughtful, beautiful and, of course, romantic story that I'm glad I picked up.

I will update this after completing the series but episode two has compelled me to leave this review here:

Imagine the one you love is gone forever and you could never grasp his hand or even feel his warmth except for the very fickle flowers he has left as his heritage, a constant reminder to the beautiful way he arranged them as if never separating them from their life-source, rather making them even more beautiful in their last countdown to death. Now imagine, hanging around as a floating nothingness in a world that can’t see or hear you. Though, after years of pining away ... after your love whose longing cries stopped you from taking that last step, a fellow comes along who can actually communicate with you but the catch is, you have to help him reach his love-goal with your own wife even if its for her sanity. Do you think, if you were posed this question, you would have the balls to do it? Now imagine, a straight-man, who has nothing but pure intentions getting embroiled in an out of this world romance-drama that he was never ready for. You can’t really blame him for marking his territory because he didn’t do anything wrong in falling love. My problem is that I am imagining it all and not taking sides because I see all of them completely right at what they are doing. Don’t ask for a verdict but a note: if you are not watching this series this season, you better because this has the making of a masterpiece that would become benchmark for the many romance series to come. noitaminA definitely has a winner this season.

It pains me to give such a low score to Natsuyuki Rendevouz, a show that has such a great premise. A love triangle between a dead man, his ex- wife and a new guy trying to enter her life, that should be a great show, right?

Sadly, the execution was so poorly made that it managed to kill the entire plot for me. The main problem with it is the abusive amount of flashbacks concerning Rokka and her dead husband. While I feel that some were great and gave us dept into their relationship, the vast majority were useless, and took SO MUCH screentime out ... of Hazuki's and Rokka relationship, that needed better development. With so much time going to flashbacks (seriously, like 50% of the series is flashback) the plot felt extremely contrived, and Rokka's relationship with Hazuki didn't felt believable, witch weakened the series a lot.

That aside, the art is beautiful and colorful, an eyesore, and the sound is not bad either. The characters are good, and I can sympathize with them all, Rokka being the best character. Strictly speaking it had all that was needed to be a great anime, but it fell short. Such a shame.

I love this show. It was one of those shows where instead of watching it just to talk about it with other people on the internet, and checking the progress bar on at the bottom of the media player to check how many more minutes are left, I watched it because i actually really enjoyed it, and I was captivated.

I will list the bad thing out of the way first: low budget, not as bad as Muv-Luv Total Eclipse. Fairly typical for josei though, so I'm not knocking too much off. The animation is simple and there are no moments where the quality is bad.

Now ... the good things:

The story is very touching. You will definitely come to care a lot for the characters. Hazuki (the male lead) is a likeable guy that seems very down to earth and believable. He is kind of infatuated, even obsessed with Rokka (the female lead) to the point that he seems stalker-ish in a loveable way. As for Rokka, you really do feel pathos for her as she laments over her dead husband in a series of flashbacks him, and you can't help but see great strength of character within her as she tries to "get over" him. Meanwhile, her dead husband (Simao) watches over her as a ghost, unable to interact with her, but silently observing her, like some kind of guardian spirit. The chemistry between Hazuki and Simao as they both try to fight over Rokka is absolutely hilarious; Simao's "cockblocking" gets to absolutely insane levels. This anime is a complete adaptation as well, meaning it adapted all of the manga. No crappy ending, it's complete and very fulfilling.

The soundtrack compliments the touching story as well. I think it's definitely clear that a lot of effort was put into the soundtrack. Although admittedly the OP isn't particularly noteworthy, I the ED is lovely and the piano music is great; it's very calming and fits so well that sometimes I didn't even notice it was playing. It's a nice contrast from the other stuff this season that is full of garish high pitched singing and synthesised Jpop. (that isn't to say I don't like the stuff, but it's just a nice contrast). Another nice contrast is that there are no highschools in this romance. Everyone's a grown up adult, and in the grown up adult world which is ironic given Simao and Hazuki sometimes seeming rather childish when they try to compete over Rokka.

Also, another thing I really admire about this anime is its simplicity. There are only four characters in its entirety, three main characters, and one side character. Without a ton of forgettable side characters to clutter the experience, I felt that the story felt very tightly focused. Not for once did I feel bored and waiting for the story to move back to the main characters, because there is literally no-one else. it's just Hazuki, Simao and Rokka. Miho, the side character is very minor and never feels like she is intruding on the plot.

Finally, the colour palette is pretty glorious. Flowers and botany play a huge role in this anime, and this gives the animators and artists plenty of opportunity to just go all out with the colours. The backgrounds in forests have this beautiful and subtle paintbrush like feel. Each episode is a joy to look at and a visual feast. If only it had the budget to match that artistic merit! Then I would be sad that 10 is the maximum score I can give!

In case you do not know, the demographic for the manga and this anime adaptation is "josei", so it's aimed at women 18-30 years old. But hey I'm a guy and I enjoyed it.

Josei is often neglected, people often skip over it thinking it's either for women or the drama is too heavy, but I say that this is a great anime to take a look in if you are a fan or if you are pretty new to josei, and it's a great anime in it's own right.

I really liked the poster and it is 11 episodes only so i decided to dig in finish it quickly, it looks really cute i thought

the first 3 episodes or so were really good hazuki was so adorable i liked him i was wondering why it has a score of 7 ?
i was kinda guessing what is going to happen but oh well everything just .. got really twisted and i was like wait-what(?)..

the story
its about mainly a ghost of a dead young husband shimao and his widow rokka and the poor young man hazuki who got stuck in their twisted ... world, because he just decided to fall in love with rokka, who i think was trying to move on

it would have been a nice story if there wasn't so much complications really, i dun wanna put any spoilers but seriously the begging was so promising it hurts.


YES the Art
i loved it that's why i decided to watch it, so simple and cute, was deceiving tho
the art sigh

the sound
was really good i have nothing against it

DE characters
hazuki, poor lil hazuki that bright lil man i was almost attached, well almost. His character development ...well there isn't any, he was just madly in love with rokka and was willing to do anything for her and it almost coasted him his life

shimao
That guy pisses me off, not only he is selfish, cruel, annoying and did i say SELFISH ... he is so childish (although i like childish) but this one gave me a headache.

Rokka
that person! i never really understood her intentions her feelings(?) her character was the silent straight forward type the lack of expressions when she is with not-her-dead-husband was misleading.


Enjoyment
i didn't really enjoy this, maybe hazuki's bashful attitude and although the art was nice the ending song was really catchy and sentimental the story tho, gave me a headache and heart aches cuz i never felt that the manger really loved him
her annoying ghost husband controlled his body
he was almost dead
he was dealt with like he was a second option
the age gap
sigh

this is my first review and its all "negative" written all over
im sorry i wrote this out of frustration, really wanted to vent.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous is about when to move on and regrets after death and interestingly enough this isn't just about the living but also the dead.

The story begins with Hazuki who has a crush on Rokka the widowed owner of a flower shop who is 10 years older than him. For unknown reasons he is unable to work but when a part-time opening is advertised at Rokka's shop Hazuki jumps a the chance mainly so he can get to know Rokka better. Just when he begins to make progress with Rokka, Hazuki meets Shimao the ghost of Rokka's dead husband who has no intention of allowing ... any man near Rokka.

The story begins well but loses itself just over half way through. Natsuyuki Rendezvous has good characters beautiful and colourful art work and music which fits the anime just right i feel the story tries to do too much and over complicated itself.

However, what makes Natsuyuki Rendezvous a success are the interactions of the characters. There is the rivalry of Hazuki and Shimao, the overcoming of guilt of having feelings for another man other than her husband and her reluctance to move on from Shimao's death, Hazuki's often bad decisions while trying to woe Rokka and Shimao's regret of being more open with his feelings with Rokka when he was alive. It is these interactions which keep you watching.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous is a very good anime which perhaps at times is sad and at times uplifting but could have been better if the story tried to do less than it did.

There used to be a time when the Noitanima timeslot was synonymous to uncommon stories and quality shows but those good times are now over. Even Noitanima succumbed to the stereotypes and fads that plague modern anime, and thus we get this show. Don’t fool yourselves to thing it isn’t because it came out during the ghost/zombie fad and is nothing more than a rehash of the premise of AnoHana, which also aired in the same timeslot half a year ago.

THE STAFF
- The animation is also not done by a bigshot studio but rather a minor one called Doga Kobo. These guys haven’t even produced ... a single above average show in their whole career, so what the hell are they doing here, collaborating with a top tier production?
- The directing is done by Matsuo Kou whose roster is filled with nothing but mediocrities. I sincerely see nothing good coming out of this combo.

SPECIFICS

STORY

The premise is about a guy who wants to have a relationship with a widow but the ghost of her deceased husband is still lingering around her life. And he is not the scary haunting type, since tortured souls and animated rotten corpses are presented as moe in anime. He is a bishonen who occasionally doesn’t wear clothes, or has an open shirt so we can feast on his hairless chest. KYAAA fujoshi service! So this ghost refuses to move along to the afterlife because he doesn’t want to leave his wife behind. So when another man tries to take his place in her heart, he gets annoyed. This new man is the only one who can see the ghost, and constantly has it in his way every time he wants to advance past the safe zone with the widow. Imagine a steamy scene where he is about to kiss her but the bishonen ghost appears in front of him making it look like a gay kiss. KYAAA more fujoshi service. Other than that, a lame cockblocker.

And that is the whole conflict in this show. What do I think about it? It’s totally boring! Aside from being a rehash and a fad chaser, it also lacks any hook to keep the viewer interested. There is no love triangle or dilemma going on in here to spice things up, since one is alive and the other one is dead. How hard is it to tell whom the heroine will choose? There is simply no motivation to keep watching further.

Of course in the minds of the fujoshis there is a lot of interest in how the live dude is going to win the widow’s heart. Maybe the ghost can give him advices on what he knows about her as means to press the proper buttons to win her heart. Maybe it will be somewhat interesting to see how they will open up to each other and reveal… well, hopefully something more than typical stuff. Maybe her grief will come out, the live dude will smile for a few times in his life, and the ghost will move to the afterlife.

ENJOYMENT

Well, you can stop hoping because the plot is running on convenience and not logic or even free will. All you get is a line of asspulls and the characters acting completely out of sync with what is going on. Imagine the woman getting sick out of nowhere and the ghost runs to tell the live dude to go help her. Yeah, how nice to have an asspull of a disease being the only reason the plot can move forward. How about some free will instead? How about hiring an exorcist? How about telling her the truth instead of letting her think he was stalking her all day and night?

For a romance, the story is never character-based and that ruins everything. Every single event is based on the whims of the author and not the will of its characters. For example, while the ghost was still alive, the only reason he proposed to the woman was because he found out about his illness. The only reason he asked for a divorce is because he found out it would be incurable. The only reason the new guy asked her to go steady is because the ghost started getting in his way. Although you can say the characters are simply adjusting to life’s everyday problems instead of acting autistic to their surrounds, it still feels like they are completely passive and weak-willed. The scriptwriters controls them as he likes and not as they should behave.

CHARACTERS

Even if we put that aside, everything in this show happens without much emotion, since the characters seem to be very cynical about everything. And not just because they are adults who have control over their emotions. They don’t seem to care much even about supernatural stuff like ghosts, or about serious stuff like proposing to marry someone. There is nothing worth anticipating. There is no way to like such passive and weak-willed characters; most people today prefer dynamic and active ones. Not only that, but as the episodes go by the characters become more and more annoying exactly because they don’t care.
- The heroine does ridiculous things such as trusting a guy who knows where she hides the keys to the house and when she is in need of help. What kind of mature woman would tolerate a guy who seems to stalk her and talks to thin air? And for someone who is an expert in decorations, her style in clothes is terrible! What is wrong with that hat of hers?
- The ghost nags all the time, kicks things and acts like a spoiled brat, surely not something a married adult would ever be. Later on he possesses the live dude and tries to seduce his woman again, while the spirit of the live one is in some dreamland. What is this crap? Mature romance my ass.
- And the living dude… well, he doesn’t care or does much; he passively strolls through the events like nothing much matters. Why is he even blocked from kissing the heroine just because a ghost was in the way? Just close your eyes and go for it man.

PRODUCTION VALUES

If there is something nice in this show, that would be its looks. The atmosphere is nice for a josei anime, as it takes place in a flower shop with lots of fancy colours, and the two main males are hairless chest bishonens. Of course even that can only mean it is just tired rehash of the same old stuff we get for over a decade. As for the music part, I found it too soft and unnoticed, while voice acting doesn’t excel anywhere exactly because the characters are so cynical.

VALUE

The whole thing is basically a ridiculous supernatural ghost romance where common sense flies off the window. I know many who found that awesome in Dusk Maiden of Amnesia but lets be honest here; this is all crap. No sane person would want to spend his life jerking off to hot air… And yes, anti-social otakus are not sane so of course and they would choose hot air as their waifu.

I have seen what those who liked the show have to say in its defence and pretty much they all repeat the same thing. “The mature romance of the summer season”. Meaning, just something to watch for the summer and as soon as fall kicks in they will dump it for the next mature romance that comes out. And wait a second, mature? How the devil is it even mature if it has such a retarded story? Ghost romance? Seriously? Is this the legacy of Twilight? Improbable couplings between a human girl and a random undead creature? What is this, did normal romances all of a sudden got dull and beyond salvation? Or perhaps are all modern romance anime totally crap to the point you grab at straws?

Ok, how about this? The guy is lost in an accident at sea and everybody think he is dead. His wife grieves for a year but eventually moves ahead in her life and gets into a relationship with another man. So the guy finally manages to return and finds her now in love with another man. Wouldn’t THAT be an awesome hook for a show? What is this bullshit with ghosts? There is no room to create any decent plot. Bring an exorcist and move along with your lives dammit!

So in all, it’s a shitty show for fujoshis. The conflict is bollocks, there is no hook to interest you into watching further, the characters are cynical, everything runs on convenience, and the ending is dull and predictable. Go watch Nana instead.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 6/10
General Artwork 1/2 (generic)
Character Figures 1/2 (generic)
Backgrounds 2/2 (pretty flowers)
Animation 1/2 (basic)
Visual Effects 1/2 (basic)

SOUND SECTION: 6/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (corny but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 2/4 (average)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)

STORY SECTION: 2/10
Premise 0/2 (boring right away)
Pacing 0/2 (dull)
Complexity 1/2 (not much)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (cheesy)

CHARACTER SECTION: 3/10
Presence 0/2 (annoying)
Personality 2/2 (cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 0/2 (random)
Catharsis 0/2 (no free will to get any)

VALUE SECTION: 1/10
Historical Value 0/3 (none)
Rewatchability 0/3 (too stupid to bother rewatching)
Memorability 1/4 (nothing special to bother remembering)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 1/10
Art 1/1 (pretty flowers)
Sound 0/2 (sounds meh)
Story 0/3 (feels stupid and does nothing to redeem itself)
Characters 0/4 (they are annoying)

VERDICT: 3/10

This anime was painfully slow, and very lacking. I feel that the characters could've been developed a little more.. or at least show a little bit more of emotion. Personally I didn't feel sadness, joy, or pity for any off the characters. The feel of it was just too dull.

I think I hated this show so bad because it was made well. I could've also hated it because the plot is genuinely bad and unenjoyable.
The husband being there just made the first half of this series so uncomfortable to watch. The second part was just upsetting, dragged on forever, and felt quite pointless and had many random things going on. Maybe these are the feelings that they meant to stir, maybe it was just bad.
Either way I'm sure there are people out there who would like this but this is not for me at all. The characters felt quite awkward and stiff ... and the feelings with hazuki seemed a bit forced. I'm just glad it's over at this point.

1. Story

I found the premise interesting. Romance and the supernatural are frequently paired together, but I found the premise somewhat fresh. For the most part, the story kept me interested but had its flaws. In a series that focuses on romance the characters are key, so my issues with a couple of the characters subtract from it.

2. Art

I think something both fans and detractors can agree on is that that the art in this series is no slouch at all. Whether its the more tame colors of the streets, the vibrant colors of the various flowers in the shop, or the more abstract settings, ... everything looks very well-done.

3. Sound

Score-wise, the use of music is far from frequent, resulting in a more atmospheric feel to the series, which I think works well and highly appreciate. The voice actors did a solid job in their respective roles. The background noise was fairly well-done and quite detailed.

4. Characters

This was, in my opinion, the weakest part of the show, although it isn't all bad. The lead female character felt believable to me, and I enjoyed her interactions with the two male leads. My issues stem from both male characters. For starters, I felt Hazumi was missing something that would make him stand out on a positive note. In my honest opinion, while his character initially interested me, he seemed somewhat bland and kind of unrealistic. I also didn't completely buy his motivation for pursuing a relationship with the female lead. Either that, or his motivation itself was a little underdeveloped.

Another issue I had was with Shimao's evolution as a character. Part of it felt somewhat unnatural to me. Other than that, I felt the interactions between the main characters was rathet enjoyable to watch.

5. Enjoyment

While the series has its merits, another issue I found was with its pacing. The first few episodes were fine. Most of the last episode was fine. A good portion of the in-between felt kind of sluggish to me. While their are moments of interest in this slower gap, the slow down in the pace did sap my enjoyment at times.

Overall

If you are a fan of romance, this could merit a watch. I don't think its the best, but there is much certainly a lot worse shows to spend your time on.

If you aren't particularly a fan of the genre, I would actually say that, aside from the pacing, it could still be an interesting watch.