Reviews

Aug 27, 2013
Mixed Feelings
Another Slice of Life, another gimmick. But is a miracle granting rock enough to set Natsuiro Kiseki (Summer-Colored Miracle) apart?

As always my reviews are spoiler free.

Stop me if you've seen this one before: four high/middle school girls are just going about their lives. There are no sinister plots or world-saving hero required. The viewer is asked to sit back and enjoy as nothing of particular note goes on. There is always some theme that sort of keeps the anime moving along, whether it be music, photography, gondola rowing, or in Natsuiro Kiseki's case, a miracle granting rock. It's a slightly different take on a familiar idea. It had a lot of potential, but did it live up to expectations?

Story - 6/10

Four middle school girls come together at a boulder near a shrine. When it is touched, it is able to grant wishes. With Saki, one of the four girls moving away at the end of the summer, they use the rock to make the best of the time they have left together.

I really thought this could be a cool premise. With the ability of having your every wish granted, you could do anything. Herein lies the problem with Natsuiro Kiseki: it totally wastes potential.

Let me talk about some of the other issues with the magic rock. First, its wish granting ability is somewhat vague. While it leads to some undesired (albeit wished for) outcomes, that's fine. However, this rock seems to have some consistency issues to make up for plot conveniences. At first, it is implied that it can grant any wish, as long as the four people touching it wish for the same thing. However, throughout the series, many new "rules" are introduced at just the right time so that the plot takes a certain direction. Some may not be bothered by this, but I feel like the rules were being made up as the game was being played. And don't worry, if the girls can't get to the original rock, one of its "cousins" will always be close by.

The biggest issue in my opinion is how the girls utterly squander the opportunity the rock could give them. How many amazing things could you do in a summer if you had no limits? Not much for them; it is spent on singing, swimming, a short vacation, and a visit to a haunted house from their youth. The majority of the series was the exploration of how vague wishes go wrong and how the girls respond to the following incidents. So much more could have been done.

Animation - 6/10

Animation is very average for the time. There were never any outstanding problems, but nothing worth positively noting either, aside from some nice character designs for the leads.

Sound - 6/10

The soundtrack was nothing special. There are a few insert songs sung by the characters that were okay, but again not very noteworthy. On the other hand, the characters had a good voice cast who fit the personalities perfectly.

Characters - 6/10

Another selling point of a SOL series is the characters, and the studio does a solid job here. They are likable, but as with so many SOL characters, they are cookie cut archetypes with no development.

We have the lead, Natsumi, who is the athletic and capable girl of the group. Saki is quiet and cool, but passionate about her friends (as the series often says directly, but I'm not so convinced). Then we have the over-the-top energy ball Yuka, who has big dreams but low motivation. Finally, the quiet, silent type Rinko with obscure interests rounds out the group for the full 4-girl SOL cast.

To me, they cause a lot of easily preventable problems for themselves, are oblivious to solutions, and are an all around pretty unintelligent lot. I understand they are just in middle school, but it still is a little troublesome. Otherwise, they are likable enough, but you've seen them all before if you've watched more than a few series.

Enjoyment - 6/10

This was the type of show where you want to scream at the characters not to be stupid. It had its charming moments, but by the "touching" end I had unplugged all emotional investment and was ready for it to stop. It is somewhat saved by the couple of episodes in which situations arise that show the (somewhat lacking) character of each girl, and how they think among themselves to achieve the best outcome.

Other Thoughts

With sixes across the board, I recommend looking for another similar series to spend your time on. Natusiro Kiseki is by no means bad, but it just isn't that good either.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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