Summertime Render

Ya can’t just act on instinct and expect things to work out.
Anger, frustration
View them objectively and they become weapons.
- Ajiro Shinpei.

From the outset, Summertime Rendering has the air of a slice-of-life anime with a lighthearted and clean story. But as the story goes on, one can find themselves drawn into a storyline that is amazingly intriguing and engaging.
I began reading the manga just after the sixteenth episode aired; the ... chapters were short, and I was able to finish it in a few days.
The excellent thing about this anime is that it adapts the whole manga; the 139 chapters of the manga are covered in all 25 episodes.
There are no cliffhangers, and a new season is not required.
Additionally, the plot is fantastic, and the show's premise is quite unique.

Story: 10/10

Animation: 8/10

Sound: 10/10

Characters: 9/10

Enjoyment: 10/10

So, Shinpei is the main protagonist of the story, who, He made his first trip back to Hitogashima in two years to attend the funeral of his childhood friend Ushio Kofune. He was raised in the Kofune family and has been close to Ushio and Mio as if they were his family because he lost his parents when he was a little child.
And the show's female lead Ushio will surprise you.
She is my favourite character XD.
I love how the antagonist in this show, who are also extremely intelligent, try to obstruct the MC's efforts to figure things out.
It's really interesting how time travel works and how everything resets after death. Without giving away the narrative, the programme does a great job of explaining the crucial points so that viewers are not confused.
Also, there are several well-integrated mystery, thriller, and supernatural aspects in the plot. Although the anime builds up a lot in the first half, watchers won't be able to guess what will happen in the last act.
I think the animation was fantastic, and the action parts were thrilling.
The character designs, especially the eyes, were beautiful.

And the drastic tone changes throughout the anime will blow your mind.
Summertime Rendering is a nice change of scenery in the first half of the anime.
But, watchers will find an anime full of negative feelings, regret, despair, desire, and sadness as they become immersed in the plot. The story doesn't end there, though. Near the end of the anime, viewers will be greeted by brutal violence, suffering, and murder.
Man Shinpei will endure the greatest hardship, and as the story progresses, he will grow to be quite likeable. But sometimes it appeared as though he might just break.
The story will also be carried by other characters including Mio, Hizuru, tokiko etc.

Since the plot would draw you in, it was difficult to watch this show on a weekly basis. A 20-minute episode felt like 4-5 minutes lol.

The Opening and endings songs were super good my fav one is Shitsuren Song Takusan Kiite Naite Bakari no Watashi wa Mou (失恋ソング沢山聴いて 泣いてばかりの私はもう.) by riria.

I also watched some episodes twice.
And, there is a slight amount of romance too.

And what a wonderful ending.

This is a show you could binge watch, and it’s one of the best shows of 2022 in my opinion, a true gem.

I’m glad that I watched it.

＼(◎o◎)／！

this is how mystery anime should be done.

spoiler-free.

story:
i really like how it gives you enough clues to keep pace with the developments in the plot, but not enough to make it predictable. tension is skillfully maintained. the show-don't-tell aspect is subtle and well done.
art:
pleasant to look at, and character designs are quite unique. animation is really smooth. TINY SPOILER: i also like how the shadows have red on their bodies so viewers can differentiate between the real people and shadows, i know it has been done before, but the red makes it extra creepy.

sound:
the soundtrack is what i like the most. it's ... not overbearing, but it's not too in the background either. op and ed both match the tone of the story perfectly.

character:
shinpei is an extremely well-written character. he can actually think and do sensible things. how rare is that. i honestly cannot say anything about mio. she's cute. sou is a little bit suspicious, but we'll see.

overall:
10/10. it's been quite a while since i've seen something that has been this gripping
and surreal from the first episode. highly recommend it.

edit: i've probably watched the 3rd episode's ending sequence 10 times now. crazy good.

The straight-up "here's your foreshadowing" on a mystery show of the season.

I'm not criticizing the cliches, but it is a friendly set-up for anyone who likes mystery. There's a certain charm to each mystery author's writing style, and I couldn't oppose the one used in this show either. How the show so far is neatly executed is what I personally prefer. There are no excessive "innovative" twists, no lore dumping right on the get-go, and no overblown fanservice. To be fair, the last part might be subjective or poorly aged later on.

An aspect that I like would be how the story is told from ... a (mostly) first-person POV while also including a heavy inner monologue to help the viewers understand what Shinpei is going through and how his thought process goes. Since this kind of story usually relies on how the characters react to particular plot points, a monologue permits some time for the viewers to slow down and take in the scenery and the plot twists. These pauses are also when the show introduces its whole arsenal of BGM to elevate the emotion of those scenes even further.

There are very few things explicitly explained to the viewers right now, but honestly, I'm favoring the show as another show-to-watch of the season. Even if you are not aware of the genre, I would recommend this to anyone who is not that reluctant with the gore.

Imagine if you crossed Higurashi with Erased and dialed up the production values by several points, you would essentially get Summertime Render. I went into this anime without any real expectations, the source material was not one I had previously read, and I assumed this was going to be another poorly made horror anime given the description. However, I was pleasantly surprised, while not original in concept, STR is one of the most well executed psychological thriller anime produced to date, with a great cast and stellar production. This review will expand on why I personally thought this series was excellent and will attempt to ... provide an answer as to why this anime is overall worth watching along with explanations on the aspects at which it excelled and what it overall lacked.

The single most important aspect of a psych thriller is the execution of the story, as far as storytelling goes, STR handles a fast paced action oriented plot quite well. The first episode starts with a very calm but somber summer atmosphere as Shinpei visits the island he grew up on to attend the funeral of a childhood friend. There are a number of comedic moments like Shinpei diving headfirst into a pair of breasts and another childhood friend getting into a minor bike accident which led to her flashing the main character with her panties and getting soaked in the ocean. Despite how ridiculous this stuff sounds, bear with the show, these events actually end up plot relevant in an interesting way down the line, although I won’t go into it here.

The day progresses and he goes to the funeral, and this is where the atmosphere starts getting a bit tense, Shinpei realizes that Ushio might have been murdered instead of dying in an accident and also learns a bit about supposed fantasy creatures called shadows. Out of nowhere near the end of the episode, Shinpei comes across a shadow, basically a clone of Mio who proceeds to murder Mio and then him. The story would have ended there if not for the fact that there is a time loop going on and the entire plot from this point on becomes a story on Shinpei retrying the same timeline over and over until he wins or is permanently killed. Sound familiar? While this premise is definitely not unique in the slightest, I do have to praise the actual execution. A lot of these time loop anime don’t truly explore the potentials and the pitfalls of time travel that effectively, they downplay the absurd advantage time travel provides by dumbing down the protagonist or they cheapen losses and any drawbacks through the nature of endless repeats.

STR manages to avoid these pitfalls by doing the following, first Shinpei is actually an intelligent protagonist, after his first 2 loops he is already aware that he is in a loop without any doubts, and he starts immediately using it to his advantage. In addition, STR manages to create a threatening atmosphere by limiting the time loop such that every loop he goes through has a shorter time window due the loop starting a little bit later. This means that after a certain point death will be permanent for side characters, Shinpei will run out of tries and there is an upper limit to the time he has to save people and potentially the time he has to remain alive himself. By adding these limits to the time travel, along with making Shinpei intelligent enough to use the time travel properly, there is an effective tense atmosphere where the stakes feel real, and the mysteries are interesting. Of course, there is one other key element that makes STR stand out in terms of execution, the antagonists themselves fight in an intelligent manner and the shadow duplication mechanic carrying over the Shinpei’s memories to his clone give his opponents a way to mitigate the advantage of him repeating the timeline. There are some other additions to these mechanics and abilities each side possesses later on, but these are the core abilities, and they allow for the series to have an actual threat to the protagonist without dumbing the protagonist down in a very annoying way. There are definitely some flaws to the story telling, especially the one instance during the festival where the main antagonist spent a lot of time flexing their win over Shinpei and ended up allowing him to repeat the timeline, this was a real low point for the writing and possibly my least favorite moment in the series. However even considering drawbacks like the occasional plot convenience where the antagonist suddenly starts acting very dumb or out of character, STR ultimately had an excellent execution for a time loop mystery story that stayed interesting from start to finish, the actual explanations for the mysteries and the ending were satisfying as well.

Moving onto production, this anime is absolutely gorgeous, from the first moment I saw the animation for the sauce rolling over the katsu dish at the diner in episode 1 I already knew this show was going to be great in terms of visuals. The backgrounds, objects, camera work, animation, character designs are all so well done. We have a beautiful island environment with thoroughly designed vegetation, caves, and a realistic looking small island town. The food, weapons, cars, and even regular household items like kitchen tools and phones are all drawn in a very realistic manner with minimal to no use of CGI whatsoever. The camera work involves a lot of scenes where there are minimal cuts and instead the camera follows the scene in its entirety, this usually leads to a lot of still scenes in many other anime, but STR remains dynamic which is a testament to how good the camera work is. The angles for the camera are also pretty great, although there are a lot of fanservice angles I can let it pass due to just how well choreographed so many scenes are. As for actual fight scenes, there are multiple fight scenes that are on par with top tier action anime and various well known animators such as the guy who did the beast titan fight in Attack on Titan worked on the combat scenes in STR. The fights with the shadows are especially impactful and they always feel very thrilling due to how the anime conveys a bunch of dangerous scenes and how they represent body damage, for example a character getting injured on a specific part of their body leads them to slowing down visibly or not using that body part and getting hit to the face has real consequences like impacts to vision or balance. Every character also has a nice striking character design, the girls are all very attractive despite having relatively realistic body types and the guys all have traits that make them distinctive without it being ridiculous.

The OPs and the second ED were fairly memorable, while the first season had a pretty subdued OP which reflected the somber mystery atmosphere early in the series, the second season went for a more upbeat battle Shonen OP which conveys that the characters are finally united and found ways to fight back. Both of these openings effectively communicate the atmosphere of the series and the transition that occurs over time. In terms of sound direction overall, STR generally excels in using intense sound effects to rattle the viewer and add weight to scenes, the sound effects of the gunshots and the weapons used are especially good. Background music is also solid, it complements most scenes really well, although none of the tracks are so good you would want to listen to them stand alone, the tracks accompany scenes within STR perfectly. The tracks during the final fight in the last few episodes was especially great for how well they fit the scene and the sound design for the planes and bombing run felt incredibly immersive which brought up the soundtrack to another level.

In terms of characters, Shinpei has a few solid points that put him above the average time travel anime main character, the first being that he’s actually intelligent and not in some unrealistic super genius way but in a more reasonable believable way where he analyzes situations and makes decisions that don’t annoy the viewer. Essentially, Shinpei makes decisions that the viewer would expect someone to do if they were in a time loop with clone enemies, he takes videos to prove to people that these clones exist, and he quickly figures out in a few loops on how to tell them apart. He doesn’t make rash decisions and does not let the shadows manipulate him emotionally, he always considers the best moves he can make in his situation and what the most effective way of beating the shadows and protecting his friends would be. Outside of this it is nice to have a main character who understands sacrifices might need to be made, while he hesitates a bit, he is willing to kill shadows that act like humans, and he understands that his victory would lead to the loss of shadow Ushio and accepts this outcome quickly. Shinpei is the sort of realistic and smart MC I have always wanted to see approach a psych thriller series, he isn’t an absurd super genius or unrealistically edgy guy, he’s a normal person with intelligence who can calmly make difficult decisions, this is what is appealing about him and makes him compelling as the protagonist.

The other main cast members have a decent amount of depth to them, they all have their own motivations and goals, some of them are a bit more comedic than others like that cop who just wants to pick up girls but still overall I would say the main cast has depth. I especially like Ushio due to both her awesome character design and her straightforward and open manner of speaking, she does what she wants when she wants and is a true partner to Shinpei at every step. There couldn’t be a better partner for Shinpei, and she covers for his weak points, if he struggles with fights she can help or if there is a challenge, he can’t overcome, then it might fall under one of her strengths, she complements him well and makes for an excellent teammate. I also love her island girl accent, it’s such a cute way of speaking and makes her sound like she is emphasizing everything she says, the voice acting for her was done very well.

Haine and Shide made for great antagonists all things considered, as did the shadow versions of the main characters, while I would have liked to see more shadow Shinpei in the middle of the anime they did make good use out of an alternate version of Shinpei early on and at the end. I specifically enjoyed that the antagonists weren’t dumb, they noticed all the weaknesses that Shinpei had that the viewers would have also noticed and found ways to consistently beat him despite time loops, they also had compelling motivations for their goals even if these motivations would not necessarily apply to humans. Overall, the mind games between the protagonists and antagonists, the realistic portrayal of these characters, and how much depth was available for a number of cast members made the cast stand out strongly and kept the viewer engaged with the series.

In consideration of all the different factors such as solid story, great visual production, decent sound, and great cast, along with how much personal enjoyment I got out of this anime I would have to give it a 9 overall. It is definitely one of the most under watched series of 2022 and its way to bad that this series couldn’t have been streamed on a better platform.

Summertime Render is a time travel story. As many other time travel stories do, it capitalizes heavily on the idea of cognizant recurrence and the horror related to it. As far as time travel stories go, I think Summertime Render is very strong, and easily one of the most ambitious anime that I have ever seen.

It’s difficult to assess the quality of plots in anime that have to do with time travel due to their inherent scientific (and often purely logical) faults with random semantic details, which may or may not even be worth docking credit off the whole. It’s often the case that some ... paradox or convenience that comes to light instantly demerits everything that the anime in question may stand for altogether. I hate to think that such “problems” actually have a bearing on the entirety of any work. My implication isn’t that Summertime Render is riddled by these, but rather that whatever slight inconsistencies there are, they’re quite overshadowed by the sheer amount of complexity and logic that is put into the larger picture. What usually warrant a lower rating are more large-scale issues like pacing, characterization, and production.

In the case of Summertime Render, though I will admit that it wasn’t without its faults, I found myself thoroughly engrossed in and constantly impressed by the twists and turns that the narrative takes. I’m a sucker for time travel done right, and I can’t say this is anything but that. Whether it be the century-spanning history, the deep lore and enigma underlying the entire island, or the confusing-but-logical-when-you-really-think-about-it plot contrivances at play, I never ceased to revel in the (fruitless?) pursuit of a happy ending presented in this show.

Setting this aside though, I will admit that there are some bipolar levels of thought put into characterization here, with some characters having excellent backstories and motives but others (unfortunately including our main character sometimes) relying on one personality trait to get them out of sticky situations. Obviously, this is imperative in our case to progress the plot, but it does take away from the otherwise incredible logical build-up made through the show in crafting its complex chronology.

Summertime Render’s audiovisual quality is excellent on the whole, with occasional dips in episodes, likely due to studio scheduling and whatnot. For a show with a manga that I’d never heard of before I actually watched it on a whim, I was thoroughly impressed by how high the production quality was. Of course, it goes without saying that all 4 OPs and EDs are magnificent.

Overall, Summertime Render has revitalized my passion for stories with historical lore that underlies the truth. Through solid time traveling mechanics and fleshed out plot semantics, it was able to pull me in weekly, rendering (haha) me speechless by the end of the episodes towards the second half. I’m very sure that I’ll come back to watch this show at some point in the future just for the thrills, and will likely have an even better time with it than the first time, equipped with the power of retrospect.

Time loop stories are no easy type to write and most of the times they leave viewers unsatisfied. Its extremely hard to execute such tale well that would leave little to no complaints. To my eyes, however Summer Time Rendering has managed to provide and enjoyable experience from start to finish that I would gladly return to in the recent future. Let us embark on a journey to Hitogashima where various secrets lie beneath that will change the person striving to render for a new tomorrow.

Characters are important factors in a story and its mostly due to them that we keep enjoying a tale. If ... they are not interested or engaging in are eyes then we as viewers would have less incentive to keep following them but if the opposite happens then we gladly continue observe their every move and get invested in their fate. Shinpei is the protagonist of the story whose most important trait is that he is very smart and learns from mistakes while also implementing new ideas based on various experiences and its this trait of his along kindness that makes audience sympathize and root for him. Ushio who is a friend of Shinpei and one whose story strongly revolves around is also a force that makes people want to keep watching due to her funny personality and chemistry that she has with Shinpei and the rest of the cast. The opposite could be said about antagonistic forces who are very smart and cunning which makes their tackles with protagonist that much more interesting to follow and the way in which Shinpei and co try to overcome those obstacles combined with bonds that they build is what is so appealing.

Story is part where people opinions would mostly differ and it depends on the mindset that you put while watching the show. Given its premise and what has been established throughout there are a lot of ideas that the author uses later on that were placed from the start and carefully introduced and expands various concepts to keep things fresh and interesting to follow. While the mystery aspect is one of the driving elements that initially dragged many into the show there is another element that makes each episode that much more intriguing and it’s the psychological aspect that both the protagonist and the antagonist share which makes their encounters so great in the first place. Usually one force would overcome the other through sheer power difference and there would be no way for the other to even touch the opponent but once mind comes to play many various doors appear to open with different ways to tackle opponent, however opening these doors alone and finding key is not enough when an enemy adapts so quickly to the protagonist and outwits them in a way that most of the times doesn’t feel cheap but its something that is a logical conclusion based upon the evidence that was brought before and the way to beat it has also been there. While I should not be mentioning a release model In a review due to the way we experience medium in a different way but I believe that those elements that I mentioned heavily shine once watched on a weekly basis because a mystery series heavily relies on clues, thinking so having time to slowly process that is an important element.

Animation is an aspect that is the most appealing to many people and seeing various clips would convince one to take a chance with a series and while Summer Time Rendering does have its share of impressive episodes what I have to say is the consistency in drawings throughout consecutive 2 cour was maintained and neither felt way off or distracted from experience. When it was necessary to have dynamic movement and camera the staff and freelancers brought thanks to connections managed to pull it off in spectacular way which added this fantasy element that sure was present from the beginning but added this new flavor to it. There were also cases of subtle character animation that is slowly fading away as time goes on but is aspect that brings character to life through expressions, movement and subtle elements that combined could add to the immersion too. The OST while feeling out of place at times for the most part was an integral part of the story that set the mood correctly depending on the circumstances sometimes delivering intense music with choir and vocal while in others a calm and soothing type like the sound of waves crashing on the surface.

I had a very good time watching this series partially due to being an anime only but other that I was heavily invested in the characters and story presented. Each episode made me want to see more and left me with various thoughts that I could use in order to figure stuff out and it this weekly experience is what in my eyes made this such a memorable show. All of these aspects mentioned above combined into something that was no doubt worth the time investing into even if it took months to get it done but even so the hours spend on watching and bonding with these characters were certainly not for naught and I’m sure that those feelings that I had throughout be it sad or happy will remain in me for years ahead.

Those 3 days were short but felt like an eternity. The presence of time depends on how you how you love it and with whom you live it. The memories and bonds you share with others will make the dullest day one of the brightest ones. Though we may never experience something as unnatural as this story what we could get from it is a lesson to be remembered. It may have been a dream and it may soon fade into nothingness but I’m sure that even in parts of a puzzle they would remain in your heart and shape you into a better person, but whatever you shall do with this memory and will you toss it away or not depends only on you alone.

Summertime Render


I don't know if I wanted to praise the anime for the fact that I could hardly stop watching it. Or to express my sadness about how this show got worse and worse with each episode. This is of course often the case that series lose quality over time, but here it was impressively fast. Especially from episode 19 on, you couldn't talk about quality anymore, it felt like the writer was changed and some amateur grabbed his chair.

And the golden rule... if in an interesting anime, a white-haired evil loli with different colored eyes appears, then you already know that the ... anime is going to be bad. It's the same thing over and over again.

[Story 4]

The main topic of Summertime Render has everything a heart desires. It has a mystic atmosphere, unexplainable murders, good pacing, creepy monsters, and many mysteries that simply captivate the viewer.
Unfortunately, much of the suspense is already sacrificed in episodes 5-6, when the "killer" is given a face and the big baddies are already revealed. From then on, a lot of the atmosphere practically disappears and it veers more towards an action shounen.

From that point on I just thought to myself that it was disappointing but maybe it will still be good. But my hope evaporated, it resembled more and more from episode to episode an unwanted child between Re: Zero and Mirai Nikki and it got worse and worse. Why throw out everything that created actual interest at the beginning of the series? This is beyond my understanding.

To make matters worse, the story became weaker and weaker towards the end, with less and less content and more and more clichés. The opponents turned into clowns and no longer had any charisma. And I don't even want to start writing about episodes 22-24. The villains got caught in a time loop so often that their IQs suffered massively. Despite being radical and manipulative, to begin with, they evolved into the dumbest antagonists I've seen in a long time.

Episode 25 would have been less bad in that regard if not for the impressively brainless finale. Also interesting to see how little impact it had to change 300 years of the history of an island and still come to almost the same result. Heh, Stein Gates put the whole thing in a much more interesting light.

[Characters 4]

I don't hate any of the characters, some of them are relatively understandable or even rational. Unfortunately, they are massive stereotypes and grossly unrealistic. The protagonist is the worse Tanjirou, who goes from a rational character to an irrational one.

The female protagonist is the LIVING PLOT, without her the entire story would be meaningless as she does practically everything and is the answer to every question. She is strong, has all sorts of abilities, is invincible, and doesn't even want to die. When she shows up, you know the scene is going to be boring. The first episodes were so impressive precisely because this invincible monster wasn't present and it was just human versus shadow.

Double G Cup is the typical female bookworm with big boobs, except that this one can fight shadows for story reasons and does everything without a problem, except when it comes to the supreme boss.

The rest of the side characters are simple stereotypes with no achievements to speak of.

The 2 antagonists are an absolute disappointment. Although the shadow was interesting at the beginning, he developed into a generic pseudo-Isekai antagonist that knew no logic or sense.
And the Loli... yes, every cliché that was on the list was chopped off with her. It's impressive how the author managed to create a good atmosphere and on the other hand, had no idea what he wanted to do with the plot.


[Animations 7/ Music 6]

The animations were fascinating at the beginning and lifted the atmosphere, it was a gorgeous image and the scenes practically flowed into you. From the halfway point, they were rather shaky and limited to only a few moments of brilliance. By the end, it was just average carnage with no sense of detail.

Music-wise, the anime was average, both intro and outro. What I did like, however, was the spoiler-free first intro and some osts.


[Conclusion 5]


And so you see again what happens when a good idea ends up in the wrong hands. Under other circumstances, this series could have become an unparalleled top title. The subject matter around the island and the shadows was a goldmine and so little was made of it, and in the very end, it was just slapped on the table. What a disappointment. When we saw the ending, we could hardly believe that this was the same series as when we started.

[Enjoyment 6]

Summertime Rendering has one of the single greatest premises to a mystery anime I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately it completely abandons the whole “murder mystery” part of its plot.

Effectively the idea is that our main character gets the ability to return back in time to a specific point, the catch being that the point gets later and later as time progresses. For example if he dies once than he’ll be sent back to the beginning of the show, but the next death may send him a couple hours into the future.

This is absolutely brilliant because it allows the character to make mistakes, but still gives a ... sense of urgency knowing he can’t make too many mistakes.

The show starts out great, MC hears his friend drowned, MC goes to funeral, and MC learns that she may not have drowned but actually been murdered. He does some investigating and then is killed by the doppelgänger of his friends little sister. He then gets sent back in time to the beginning of the show.

What an incredible start, your mind has so many questions and you already know you’re in for a journey.

Unfortunately this show has to deal with an issue, it gave the protagonist a super power, so the writers now have to justify why he has the superpower. In doing so this story now has to add a supernatural element to the island, which takes the story from what would be a regular murder mystery to a supernatural mystery.

The supernatural element they added to the island was the “shadow sickness”, effectively the idea is that sometimes people on the island see their doppelgängers and then the doppelgängers kill them and their families, so now the MC has to also solve the mystery of the island not just the mystery of the murder.

This now becomes the shows main focus, the traditional murder mystery is cast to the side in favor of shadows and it keeps expanding the lore and powers of shadows. In doing so it creates more and more powers and characters that the show has to explain away later which takes time. For every new power that a character has the show will take around an episode of time explaining it and telling the backstory of it.

By the end the show becomes a battle show with characters just using their special powers. Instead of a mystery show.

Who killed this character->how are there doppelgängers->why do I have supernatural powers->why do these other characters have supernatural powers->let’s explain the backstory of the supernatural powers->let’s fight each other with our supernatural powers

Supernatural characters naturally get more character development because the show spends so much time explaining their backstory that the non super powered cast feels bland and underutilized, and having a bland cast is a death knell to most mystery thrillers.

It’s still a good show don’t get me wrong, but it definitely strays away from the initial premise. Don’t go into it expecting a murder mystery, go into it expecting a supernatural mystery with fight scenes and you’ll have a better time.

The art of mystery is always a tough thing to achieve perfectly. It’s one thing to be suspenseful, a bit scary, and leave viewers at the edge of their seat, but to have the story done without convolutions or questionable points is what’s difficult. This show looks great, and is pretty good in showing off its brutal moments, but has its share of questionable moments that took away a little from the immersion. For the most part, this show was pretty good, but as it went on, it kept losing steam towards the finish and sputtered to an ending that probably could have been better.

My ... grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20

STORY: 17.5/25

The story at first, was very engaging, and Episode 1 was a great hook to the series. The mystery of how Ushio met her demise before Shinpei’s arrival to the island was a good setup for the story. The investigation of the Shadows was interesting and had its share of suspenseful and horror elements that had me on the edge of my seat, and those themes were executed to near perfection. However, as the show went forward, while it did maintain a good chunk of its quality, I don’t know whether I could call this show too long, or too rushed. There’s a lot of dialogue and meandering, while the advancement of the main plot points went by in a flash when it decided to advance. In my opinion, for the most part, I think that it probably should have been in the realm of 30+ episodes to really flesh everything out.

To compare the first and second cour of this show, both cours had its share of elements that were intriguing, and backstories that were a little emotional/messed up. Towards the end of the second cour, I could see the rather obvious contrivances rearing their ugly head, but it’s not bad to the point of me hating what happened at the end. Throughout the story, I could draw elements of Re:Zero, or Higurashi, though the comedy was ridiculous sometimes, perhaps comparable to something like Jojo’s, because those tonal shifts between action and comedy were so abrupt sometimes that it felt like that.

All in all, this had an intriguing story at first, that started to lose me more and more towards the end, which was to be expected, though perhaps doing this show in a split cour format would have kept my attention a bit more.

ART: 9.2/10

The animation was pretty good throughout, with its vibrant, yet dark undertones, and great sakuga in the fight scenes.

MUSIC: 9.2/10

The OP and ED in the first half of the show were very creative, and I enjoyed those two a lot, and the OP and ED in the latter half felt more “normal”, but had some emotional weight in the final episodes. The soundtrack throughout matched well with the show.

CHARACTERS: 15.5/20

Believe it or not, I was never wholly invested in the characters, because their overall development wasn’t that strong, but every character had their share of good moments. Shinpei is a decent protagonist, not the dumbest you can imagine in stories like this, as he tries to decipher mysteries and control his powers, but still makes questionable decisions, like telling the villains too much information, for example. He’s quite the dumb one at the beginning, but I’m glad he developed a sense of awareness and became a much more likeable protagonist near the end. Ushio was a strong character, but she was also the character who contributed to the most tonal shifts due to her bubbly personality, leave it to her to make a joke in a tense moment. Won’t spoil much more about the characters, but Mio, Haine, Shide, Hizuru, and others all had their moments of emotional weight and badassery to impress me.

ENJOYMENT: 13.2/15

I enjoyed this a lot, but my enjoyment did fall off a little throughout the series.

THEMATIC EXECUTION: 16.3/20

The horror and suspense elements were done rather well, as the eerieness and quietness of some scenes really had the edge of your seat, as the show waits for the perfect moment to cut that silence. The nightmare fuel wasn’t cut, and there was a lot of vivid imagery for sure, which is always welcome. There were some themes that were unnecessary, like some of the comedy, and the shots of fan service as well.

OVERALL: 80.9/100

A quality show that I believe most people would enjoy, which is why it really was a shame that this show was locked behind Disney jail, which limited a lot of the discussion that could have been intriguing. It has its share of convolutions and shock factor that didn’t feel very strong, but if you’re looking for an action and mystery series, this one would be a decent one to pick.

Honestly, not what I expected but I like it a lot. (MAYBE SPOILERS)
I don't usually go into anime reading what they're about so this was a complete surprise to me compared to it's thumbnail. I can genuinely say that my jaw was on the floor at the end of episode 1 and then it all clicked. I can probably predict how things with go or maybe not because the plot in itself about being able to go back in time and change things is sorta basic. Yet, it's still really really enjoyable and the characters are definitely likeable.

It is a murder mystery with a ... supernatural twist. The animation is really quality it's super enjoyable to watch along with the its soundtrack.I obviously do not know much about the characters yet so I can't exactly judge them.

There's only 5 episodes out but I will continue watching
I think it's worth giving it a try.
:)

Summertime Render promised to be The Thing mixed with Groundhog Day; an island where you couldn’t tell friend from foe, and the protagonist would have to utilise their death to figure out how to navigate the threat. It was made for me. Sadly, the reality is that the show abandons this concept almost immediately. The protagonist so quickly gains a method to detect shadows that you wonder the point of the concept, just make them generic monsters and you get the same thing.

This show feels like a microcosm of all the problems in anime. It can’t make up its mind whether it wants to be ... a drama, a comedy, or softcore porn featuring children. It doesn’t excel at either of the first two, and the last one is just a hill that anime insists on dying on. The writing doesn’t understand how to portray emotion except through having characters shout to convey to the audience that this is A DRAMATIC MOMENT. The comedy is heavily reliant on the tired slapstick you’ve seen a hundred times before and likewise leans on shouting to convey that the funny is happening.

Eventually Summertime Render decides that it’s actually a romance. This also doesn’t work due to flat characterisation with very little difference between the starting and end point for most. The protagonist is your typical bland insert, who inexplicably has half the women wanting to get with him. For several women in the show trying to get with him seems to be their sole motivation in life. He’s also introduced committing sexual assault, so clearly this guy is a winner.

There is a real lack of introspection in the writing. Shadows are perfect copies, not just physically, but mentally too, keeping the thoughts and personality of the original. Yet at every turn the show fails to interrogate what this means. Is a copy the same as the original? How do you feel if someone who died is still alive? Is that life? What does this mean for our understanding of what a person is? How do you handle the mental load of fighting and killing loved ones and children? Not once are any of the questions asked, let alone addressed. The protagonist abandons the island for the mainland, even changing the way they speak to better fit in. Why is their return and the nature of their departure not a barrier or an issue to be addressed? I was none the wiser by the end as to why the protagonist couldn’t have just started on the island. Another wasted opportunity.

The writer also loves pulling stuff out of their arse. Regularly situations will develop where one of two things will happen, either some power that has been subject to no foreshadowing will be used to get the writer out of a corner, or we’ll have flashbacks to conversations that happened in previous loops that we never saw. Both are incredibly lazy. I can understand some of this in a manga with regular releases, but an anime should be able to smooth out these rough edges, yet no attempt is made to do so. You start with something that’s relatively grounded, but by the end is an unrecognisable mess of lore stacked on top of lore which just removes all stakes because you know the writer is going to make up something new again next episode.

We’re constantly told how smart the protagonist is, yet their every action in the show speaks against this. Time after time they make the worst decision possible in every scenario they encounter. One character makes a comparison to failing to save before a boss fight, but it’s closer to a game where losing a particular unit loses you the mission and the protagonist opts to put this unit in the frontline. It was hard to root for someone who was this stupid, and the show never provides adequate explanation as to why half the cast is following this guy, apart from the ones thinking with their genitals.

There’s just nothing to recommend here. It isn’t well written, plotted, or paced. It doesn’t feature interesting characters, it doesn’t interrogate its themes, and its central concept is wasted. At best this is forgettable drek.

Summertime render, a mystery story on an original exotic island in Japan. The MC takes some day on this island cuz his childhood friend died on weird circumstances. As he originally planned to leave the island after the funerals, he decides to stay after learning that all his friends are endangered. Some old traditional beliefs of the locals are more than just beliefs...

What do I think of those 4 first episodes ?

I've hardly seen an exotic setup on a japenese island like that. I've got some names in my head but it's really rare. It's really pleasant with the upcoming summer to travel a little ... bit.
The story is a masterpiece, there is a similar thing to RE zero with the timeloop when the MC dies, i kept getting surprised after every episode.

Characters seem interesting aswell. The MC is beautifully designed (art is really beautiful and people are recognizable and distinguishable from other animes). He's got that original haircut instead of the classic and overused random asiatic man haircut. He's brave and smart.

Mio is a cheerful girl trying to discover why her sister died while spending time with the MC. She frequently puts her hairs behind her ears, it's a sort of gimmick but it's really good because it enhances the animation and it gives her special characteristics to make her more memorable.

Not going to talk about others because we've seen them few times only.
I'm really impatient knowing that story and I believe it has the potentiel to be one of the best anime.

Initial impressions :

Spring 2022's supernatural thriller genre.

I saw the pilot and got hooked in about 8-9 minutes. The plot hadn't still been revealed and I was under the impression that this would be a classic murder mystery. The flow of the episode and the other elements seemed to point in the same direction. Then the episode wrapped up, and I was left with mixed emotions. I had to make a call to either enjoy this show as it was or constantly compare it with Re:Zero and spoil my experience of watching this show for its natural elements.

The following contains Spoilers. Proceed with caution.

Shinpei returns ... to his hometown of Wakayama island from Tokyo after two years. His purpose of return is to attend the funeral of Ushio Kofune, his childhood friend. Strange events start to unfold the minute he sets foot on the island but he however is oblivious to all those. He reunites with Mio, Ushio’s younger sister and her father, who took him in when he had lost his parents. Later, he discusses with a grieving Mio the existence of ‘Shadows’, mysterious entities which take up human forms, kill the originals and take up their place. The next day, Mio is shot dead by an entity which looks like herself and Shinpei is killed in the process as well.

That’s all. With no mystery revealed, the MC is already dead. This moment really had me at the edge of my seat and I was very excited to see how the next minute would go. Then it happened. The MC went back in time to the previous day. Its ‘Return By death’ all over again. I got this strong sensation of watching Re:Zero. I hastily dismissed this show as I thought I could easily predict how this show would continue from this point forward. But I was wrong.

Three episodes in, I still can’t get a solid grab on how the plot would continue, though being given hints by the story itself. Shinpei restarts by dying but it is not from the same point . He loses time for every restart. This makes things even more complicated as he is given with a lesser time frame to act, every time he restarts. Having confirmed the existence of Shadows firsthand, it is now up to Shinpei to race against time itself and protect Mio and his loved ones before they are completely replaced with Shadows.

Now, coming to the technical aspects.

Animation - 10/10
The animation is on point in every frame. It engages the watcher from start to finish with pretty scenery, excellent character design and most importantly, beautiful eyes. The eye animation game is so strong, its amazing. The flow is magnificent and every episode is a treat to the eyes.

Soundtrack - 9/10
One of the cornerstones of the horror mystery genre is the background score. Summertime Render exceeds our expectations with a chilling, engaging and eerily quiet score which amps up our experience to an awesome extent. Complimented by thrilling sound design, it gives an overall horror feel.

Voice Acting - 10/10 (IMO)
Being a fan of the Japanese country style dialect myself, I really enjoy the dialogues and the accent with which the dialect is spoken. The Voice actors are doing a remarkable job in delivering the emotions behind a scene, which is more difficult given a horror setting.

All of these elements work intricately with one another and deliver an overall enjoyable, keep you at the edge of your seat, nail-biting 24 minutes, every week.

Summertime Render is almost a tale of two different anime. For the first third or so of the show, maybe even the first half, I was largely glued to my seat. It had the right blend of mystery, action, genuine creepiness and plot twists that were still within the realm of normal human comprehension. The latter half, however, goes completely off the rails and continuously tries to one-up itself over and over again until the plot is so bloated, convoluted, over the top and hard to follow that it just feels like a mess. It absolutely tries to do way too much rather than simply ... sticking with what was already working.

The anime is modern, having only come out in 2022, and therefore looks nice. It's not THE prettiest anime I've ever seen, but it's far from ugly, and the action scenes in particular are very fluid and have a lot of moving pieces. The sound however, and perhaps this is just a Hulu problem, seemed very poorly mixed during my viewing with music and effects being much, much louder than the spoken voices of characters, requiring me to repeatedly turn the program significantly up or down with each viewing.

In this anime I disliked the randomly sprinkled in fan service. To be clear, I have no issues with fan service as a general concept whatsoever, but if you're going to do it, really do it. Go all in, be unapologetic, make sure there are half a dozen fan service moments in every episode. Here, however, it happens so infrequently and seemingly randomly that it simply feels forced and out of place. It's as if someone at the studio was afraid to do it too much, or perhaps didn't want to do it at all, but someone above them told them they WILL include these moments, so find a way to make it happen.

Throughout the entire show, the abilities and powers of the characters in this show are increasingly over the top and increasingly convenient. I also found the ending of this anime extremely unsatisfying. It's neat and clean and it removes any and all stakes from the show and makes all deaths and sacrifices that came before it more or less irrelevant. It felt lame and forced and clearly designed to appease that audience who can't handle anything other than a happy ending.

At the end of the day I don't regret seeing Summertime Render through to the end, but I'm confident my final score would have been considerably higher had I simply put it down around the halfway mark. It was doing things the right way up until that point but then it fails to adhere to "If it ain't broke don't fix it" and opts instead to go more and more and more over the top until it's just a giant mess with way too much going on and much less believability. Nevertheless, it's probably still good enough to recommend watching for fans of the genre.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 7-8
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 7

Summertime Render is one of the best anime in recent years, period. Let me just start with that. It's freakin' great!

But let's break it down further:

Animation / Art / General Visuals - 10/10
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An absolute masterpiece. The visuals simply blew me the hell away, and I'm hundreds of anime deep. The scenery is gorgeous. The entire setting is as if painted by masters with unlimited time. I can't even imagine improving on this.

The animation is similarly top notch, with faces receiving amazing detail when it comes to emoting. Extreme versions of both realistic and comedic variations are masterfully sprinkled into the show. Just enough to catch ... you completely off guard but not enough to go overboard. Absolutely incredible.

This visuals alone would be enough to recommend this show to most anime fans. THIS IS what he format excels at. You can't get this from any manga or light novel. It's that beautiful.

Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 9/10
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Masterful. Sounds fit the scenery perfectly. Every detail whether in the background or foreground has the right sounds that really hit the spot.

The OP's are cool, and the ED's very nice as well.

I must say that I didn't notice any particularly memorable tracks during the show, so that's my only subjective complaint. But that shouldn't matter to most of you reading this, as your music tastes may be completely different.

Voice acting is good across the board. More than good in many places. All the characters have appropriate voices and many of them are put through a wide range of emotions which are excellently portrayed. It's hard to find anything to complain about.

Story - 9/10
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Summertime Render is a story that starts with the premise of a murder mystery. Which is the genre I was expecting when I went into this.
However, that premise quickly evolves into a supernatural horror mystery, before evolving(or devolving?) into a more standard Shounen-esque style for the second half, leaning more heavily into Time Travel and Supernatural Combat. Splash of Romance is thrown into the mix, but not in an overbearing kind of way. It's done in a way that makes you more invested without hogging the focus from the other aspects.

The story ended up being rather unpredictable which is a pretty good sign for any show that aims to have mystery. Though I'm sure some viewers will be angry at the original premise not being sustained quite all the way through.

The overarching story and execution can't claim to be fully original, leaning on and borrowing aspects of many great shows that have come before, but it manages to put unique twists on most things, leading to a very satisfying, and fresh experience. It's really hard to complain when you get more of the good thing. Using storytelling tactics that have been used before is no crime, especially if the original is near perfect and so is the follow-up. And this is about as close to perfect as you're likely to get.

Truly, an enjoyable experience all the way through.

Characters - 9/10
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Ajiro Shinpei, the main character is quite interesting and enjoyable to watch. Unlike the hordes of incompetent and dumb MC's that we're pestered with in most anime, Shinpei is very capable. He doesn't quite reach the level of being "OP" or an obvious genius or martial arts expert or anything like that, but he's a solid notch above your everyday MC. He thinks fast on his feet, is capable of long term planning, isn't crippled by his emotions at every turn, and even handles romance as a normal teenager - that is, the anime tropes of a completely oblivious and romantically incapable MC do not hold true here. There's some of it, but it stays within the reason of teenage romance.

Supporting cast is similarly pleasing. With many characters being stand-out in their personalities, especially the MC's core partners with whom he spends most of his time with. They all have very distinct personalities that play off of each other real well.

One might complain a little that we don't get quite as much depth on some of them to truly flesh them out, not even the MC gets as much backstory as we'd like - but still, they feel like actual human beings in this story, and not just some random placeholders whose job is to spout exposition and get involved in lame anime tropes. No, the characters make sense as they are, doing what they're doing. And that's pleasing.

The villains are similarly interesting and you'll have a good time trying to get a handle on what they're all about, and the show certainly isn't holding our hand when it comes to figuring it out. Tensions run high the entire show, and full understanding and catharsis is properly left to the very end.

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Total - 9/10

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One of the most enjoyable anime I've had the pleasure of ever watching. Amazing production values, great story, great characters. Can't really ask for more than that. And best of all? The story is finished. You're not getting blue balled. You get all 25 episodes, a full start to finish injection right into your veins. Cherish it, as it's becoming more and more rare in the anime world these days.

We don’t like Disney... Summer Time Rendering is great! This anime that no one can get their hands on ended up being one of the best anime of the year so far. I thought the 25-episode length was the perfect amount of time to tell this wonderfully sewn-together story. It was an enjoyable ride from start to finish, with plenty of drama and action-packed moments. We got a real gem with this one.

Art: 9
Now I dont think the art is anything amazing to look at, but it definitely fit the tone of the anime, the character design and art style would really mesh well ... with those gruesome and serious moments that this show brings. The animation was also really crisp, as the fight scenes had some great moments. The music was good too, the ending of the first half is such a beautiful track that I could keep on listening too. Most of the music in this show is great, not only that one ending.

Characters: 9
Most of the characters in this anime are great. Especially Shinpei, Ushio, and Nagumo, however, there are certain characters that are a little harder to get attached to when they have more prominent roles, as they didn't get the same amount of development as some of the others, but with the main protags, and antags all being really well done, I dont really have much to complain about.

Story: 10
This anime had the best story out of any other anime this season. With it having a good start, and a good ending too, to me as an anime fan, I couldn't ask for more. I thought the series length at 25 episodes was perfect, I thought the pacing of the anime was really good, and nothing ever happened where I felt it was a little too convenient. I think the entire storyline between the antagonists was really good, and as the show progressed it just got you more and more interested. Now I will be objectively fair, there were maybe two episodes sprinkled in the middle that was a little boring, but those were necessary to move the plot along in a reasonable manner. Overall Summer Time Render was a banger and I would give it 9 shadows out of 10.

7/10 ~ Fun Adventure

This show took on a bit cramming Walmart brand Aaron jaeger into the world of Higurashi, give him the powers of Subaru Natsuki and plot elements of Steins;Gate, and honestly pretty similar vibes to Shiki. Weirdly this show from about ep2 through episode 14 I was hooked, The story kinda sped up way to fast, adding bullshit reasoning to justify its plot to move forward, and then it just kinda ended. And the Ending... Disgusting, made me feel like I wasted my time, really you can just not watch the last episode and it probably better for it. I do enjoy stories ... that deal with time, but they have to be really good. Kinda like Something like Sushi, you don't just want any sushi, you want it to be a certain quality or its not worth it and could make you sick. The way time was used in this felt top notch on some parts of the story, and for others like a coinvent excuse to move the plot forward. Its also pretty strange that on one hand I felt like the middle section was pretty bad and I wanted to stop watching, but on the other hand rushed and It needed another 10-20 episodes to really flesh out alot of the points of the plot. Could simply just be the story boarding or directing. Bit hard to tell.

Pros:
- Minus a few CGI stand outs the show is really well animated, surprisingly so.
- First half of the show is a pretty good mystery thriller, the real thing you are trying to figure out is what is going on lol
--the mystery murder parts were far superior to the battle Shonen it became, how very YYH of them lmfao
- the whole magic system is all pretty interesting
- how writer lady uses her phone to talk to the other character is really interesting

Cons:
- Over sexualization of women, atleast the first ep is plagued with it so you know what you are getting into
- Like Re:zero it has too much excessive gore that feels pretty unnecessary
- some of the English VA are really bad and they stand out too much
- too many plot elements that they assume you get with the cast with little to no explanation that are easy to miss and are frankly confusing
- Stupid teens "liking" one another, yawn
- Man I normally dont get confused with who is who in anime, but towards the end it was mad confusing who they were talking about in regards to some charecters
- 2nd half felt really rushed
- too many because we say so rules to the power/magic system were added in the 2nd half...
- the villains intentions actually made no sense, probably would have been better to just say they were crazy
- never felt that the MC was in any real trouble because they kept adding convenient plot devices to get him through
--how many times he could die kept changing
- MC was boring, but his love interest and the secondary MC was just the best character.

This show is the type of show if you turn off your brain its a pretty fun ride, and I know most people like a good happy ending and wont have the same problem I had with it, so its easy to recommend. However due to the over sexualization of women, excessive gore and Japanese culture tropes its not something I can recommend to non-anime watchers. Anyone who enjoys Higuashi, Re:Zero or Shiki will probably enjoy this one. Over all I would say this show was just good, but far from the 8.5/10 it has on MAL

I was watching Re:zero s2 and after finishing it , i missed it so i decided to look for a similar anime and i saw this being recomended and oh my god was I pleasently surprised , it has almost every trope i love , time travel , the main characer is smart and protected by the strong love interest, and the attention to details is astonishing , making it a great rewatch , all the reveals are hinted at early on , ushio the girl is so adorable and fun to watch , the mc is smart in a fun entertaining way , and ... the story is gripping , and everytime you think there is no more mystery to be revealed things get deeper, i loved almost every character except miyu she feels fake , and the villain was very fun to watch , the overall anime reminded me of my fav anime parasyte , which was another plus , my only problem with it , is the ending , i made me feel the story was pointless in one aspect which i won't spoil , but that one detail could have made this show a 10/10

I think people missed the point of the show. At the start we are faced against unstopable enemies and tons of information. Later we start to get glimpses of a way to not die with hope of saving the island. The main character decides to help the island out of love for Ushio, so that makes it a lot more sad when we get to the bottom peaks of the show. It also showers us with relief when something slightly good happens. These waves of fear, relief, love, bittersweetness, makes the show enjoyable. The fact that the main character has to think outside a box, ... that is outside another box, that is outside 30 other boxes makes it feel like the main character isn't saved by plot armor.

This anime is one of the few, out of 300 I have seen that makes me feel genuine emotions, like those in real life, and it's the first to make me want to write a review.

This anime should fall under horror. this is nightmare fuel. New fear unlocked.

this anime has me exploring a new fear of mine and it is not fun. but not fun in the best of ways. this anime has pulled an emotion out of me that has not been pulled before. 10/10 this string of pixes gave me what I am always looking for. emotional manipulation. this time I'm scared out of my mind of identical twins. thankyou for attedning my ted talk. if my review could be shorter it would have been but i have to put ford in for mal to let me ... submitt my take. thankyou