Natsuyuki Rendezvous

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.

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.

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.

A dead husband spirit still wanders his old place, because he is too attached to his wife. Sounds creepy but romantic. A young guy falls in love with the widow and starts working with her, and to his surprise he can see the dead husband's spirit. The rest is how the dead husband comes to terms with his wife moving on with her life with the help from the young guy.

The character of the dead guy is somewhat annoying, well sort of expected from a jealous husband. The later episodes though very vibrant in art, are very slow moving and you feel like just skipping ... scenes. On a whole story is OK sorts, art is good, but it lacks to keep the viewer interested.

Story: 6/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 5/10
Character: 4/10
Enjoyment: 5/10
Overall: 6/10

Despite looking like a fantasy romance, Natsuyuki Rendezvous has, at its heart, a very mature idea. This is a story about the heart of a widowed woman, about her vulnerability and the emotional baggage that surrounds her, in this case literally.

Unfortunately, this whole series is just a little bland. While there are some very poignant moments with Rokka Shimao, the majority of the series is slow and mundane, lead by a main character in Ryousuke who it is incredibly hard to feel any compassion or connection towards.

The idea is good, and at moments this series is quite touching. But it is not an engaging or ... exciting romance, and the whole ambience of the series is just slow and mundane.

I have never in my life, watched an anime with pure interest, to only end in annoyance and disappointment. (Contain spoilers)

The story starts so well, I thought it was about a widow who was gonna overcome her grief, and find new love with someone else. I thought it was about acceptance of the events that happened in the past but no, the time when the most annoying character I've ever seen in an anime gets to ruin the next half of the series, which is such a shame since I really love the premise.

The art, it reminds me of Kimi No Todoke. Though I think ... the animation is slightly off at times. But I don't think there's really a huge problem here.

Sound, well it's Aimer, I think the theme song is really pretty too tho. The background music, does suit the flowery motif though sometimes it feels out of place at times.

The character portion are usually my favorite parts of making reviews like this.
Kazuki-kun, I think he really deserves better, he really was the MVP of this story. He would go all these lengths, even if Rokka, she doesn't see him as her lover, as long as she is happy. (Also he's 22 btw and he has an 8 year age gap so that makes Rokka 30 years old, idk why people think having an age gap is illegal, as long as they aren't a minor and adult relationship or known each other since one was very young, I think it's fine.)
Rokka-san, I think she is fine, it was really refreshing to see a grown woman in anime be assertive, and a bit tomboyish on her part. I really like her arc, about grief but I think it was executed really poorly.

Okay, now we get to the best worst part of this anime, the husband, annoying ghost-san. OH GOD THERE'S SO MANY TO UNPACK HERE.
FIRST OF ALL, HE LITERALLY TOLD HIS WIFE TO DIVORCE HIM WHILE HE IS DYING, it's like he sees his wife having no feelings at all.
Second, after his death he still haunts his wife, I know she did say to stay, but please if you really want her happy, just let her go.
Third, he is very possessive of his wife, even if he was dead, he doesn't even let Hazuki-kun talk to her.
Fourth, instead of being grateful Kazuki-kun lent his body to him, he decides to mess with it, like cutting Kazuki-kun's pretty hair, and spending his money for glasses.(And not to mention, Kazuki was drunk when he said yes, so I don't think that's very consensual)
Five, in the body, he's messing with her feelings, making her think that Kazuki-kun doesn't like her anymore.
Six, dude literally goes to have ### with her, and then leaving her alone after the next day. And he has the right to call himself a husband?
Seven, he does commits thievery, and tries to frame it on Kazuki-kun.
Eighth, he sees his wife as an object to be won, no wonder he's so possessive. And Kazuki-kun even points that out.
Ninth, dude literally puts his wife into dangerous situations like making her look for him through the cold nights, and EVEN GUILTRIPPING HER INTO KILLING HERSELF?!
And the worst part is, the story trying to make him a sympathetic tragic character. I know he has health problems, but you shouldn't be this unlikable and put the two other characters in pain. I think I found the character I truly hate in anime now.

Enjoyment, I say the first episodes where good, but skip to 13:45 on the eleventh episode to not waste your time on stupid annoying ghost-san. (But anyway, I think I'm gonna check the manga to see if it's good.)

I went into this show really wanting to like it. I expected a cute romance that also dealt with themes revolving around accepting death and moving on. While the show has its moments, overall, it doesn’t do as much as I would have liked.

The story follows a young man in love with his boss at a flower shop, however, the ghost of her husband haunts him and tries to get in the way of the two getting together. While initially I believed it would be somewhat predictable, wherein the husband eventually moves on, as does his wife, and the two end up together, the ... story is not so straightforward. Half of the series sort of meanders after some strange plot twists and some more supernatural elements. *spoilers* The main character ends up trapped in a story book world while the ghost posses his body, and pretends to be him while dating his former wife. This arc goes on way too long and gets rather boring, and uninteresting. This arc does eventually end, but right at the end of the series, leading into a rather predictable ending.

The main cast is probably one of the stronger aspects of the show, as they each feel realistic and fleshed out. The pain of losing her husband is evident in the female lead, and the selfishness her husband feels for not wanting the two to get together seems reasonable. The protagonist is a bit annoying as his reasons for attraction don’t really feel fleshed out and authentic.

The art and animation can be pretty inconsistent. The animation is never truly outstanding, but the art has its moments. As the series takes place in a flower shop, there is plenty of gorgeous flowery imagery, filled with bright and vibrant colors. The storybook world also provides more opportunities for fun and bright colors, and quirky character designs. The show does not always look great though, as a lot of the art feels flat and not as vibrant as it could be. While the show has a somewhat pastel like aesthetic at times, this is not always the case as many backgrounds and scenes look rather plain and generic.

The sound design is pretty fine overall. No tracks too memorable but the OP and ED are good mood setters and they get the job done.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous is overall an enjoyable watch, if not a bit plain and uninteresting at times. The series fails to take full advantage of its potential, which unfortunately weighs down the experience overall. If the story and character writing were a bit tighter, this series could have been great.