Shin Kimagure Orange☆Road: Soshite, Ano Natsu no Hajimari

'Shin Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning' is the second Kimagure Orange Road movie, which was shown in the mid90s. It's 90s æsthetic rather than 80s. It shows the characters when they were older, so there's changes in the character design. There were flashbacks as well as pictures that were similar to the original anime we love but with some small differences. It requires getting used to but it's not that bad.

Note also that Izumi Matsumoto's vision of Kimagure Orange Range [the mangaka of KOR] differs from that of the director and the screenwriter. That's why the manga ending is said to be different to the ... anime ending. Also, Matsumoto did not approve of the writing of the first movie.

This second movie, on the other hand, is not written by Matsumoto. Its source material is the Shin Kimagure Orange Road novels which are reportedly not as good as the original manga. It follows the events of the first movie.

Here are the bad parts of the movie. The drama of movie 2, which is 22-year-old Kyousuke and 19-year-old Kyousuke getting trapped in a time loop, is not really anything to write home about.

The original anime TV series was inconsistent in its rules on time travel. In episodes 47 and 48, it finally decided that every time travel is accounted for and that there's nothing you can do to change the past. Apparently, KOR: Summer's Beginning follows the rules of episodes 47 and 48. Hence, there was no actual tension.

The future Madoka might have been emotional over what's happening to Kyousuke, but as viewers, we know that it will end well.

(Minor plothole: How is it possible that 22-year-old Kyousuke wasn't able to avoid being trapped in the first place given the fact that he also travelled into the future?)

That said, even though fans of the manga did not like movies 1 and 2, I like it. And even some fans of movie 1 aren't exactly keen on movie 2. But as far as I'm concerned, it's not really bad despite reading many naysayers.

The heartbreak of the first movie was necessary, but it was not well received in Japan, which is why some say movie 2 was produced. It provided space for the reconciliation of the three characters while at the same time taking Kyousuke and Madoka's relationship to the next level. And future Hikaru is gorgeous. I think this is a satisfying conclusion to the franchise.

Movies 1 and 2 aren't actually necessary if you think about it. The TV series ended at the right moment when Kyousuke and Madoka kissed offscreen, and coming out as a couple and Kyousuke breaking Hikaru's heart could've been left to our imagination. If we insist that moving to maturity is one of Kimagure Orange Road's themes, both movies satisfy this. Movie 1 is about confronting and breaking from the toxic love triangle of the original anime. Movie 2 completes the cycle with the reconciliation of the three and their renewed friendships standing on a firmer and more realistic foundation.

The story of movie 2 can be any random time travel episode from the anime but given cinematic weight. It's better than the TV series but falls short of the emotionality of movie 1.

Short review without spoil
Orange road was one of my fav show when I was young.
I gave a super nice 9 only because it's the fan service episode I wanted !

I watched orange road when I was 15y and this final at 46y so of course it bring me back so many memory from this time and it was a key age ; first love etc etc ot gave me this weird feeling of time fly and identification with main character 30 years later still working.
This OAV gave me a super strong life emotion and I don't think it will happen ... again with an other anime., o
Only because of that I had to give 10 ( the note I gave to anime who had big impact on me when I was young and one or two recent anime )
I'm conscient this is an average oav movie for none old time fan
It's really amazing they made a final so many years after the end of TV serie and OAV ( better late than never).

After watching this movie, I had to rematch for the first time Orange road tv serie and OAV for the first time also.
it didn't age very well but I'm glad I did and OMG the spécial " the BREAK UP OAV" I did'nt know and beleive they did it and it's hard ! I would call it " Break up , he hard way " :)
I wish I saw this OAV before this final !!!! "

This second movie continues where the last left off and is based on the first book of a three part novel series written by Kenji Tereda who was the main scenario writer for the TV series (he also wrote the scenarios for JRPGs Final Fantasy I - III too apparently). So again, this isn't based off Izumi Matsumoto's original work.

It continues to show how he envisioned the characters from the original Manga, now nineteen, would have moved on with their lives through university. If you watched the first movie, you might feel better for the characters after watching this. Maybe it was Tereda's way of ... trying to redeem himself after the poor reception of the first movie. I guess you could also consider this movie fan service for those who wanted a more complete closure to the relationships.

However, it gets quite weird with the supernatural powers back in and the way they're used just feels silly as usual.