Ano Natsu de Matteru - Episode 1

Well, I certainly didn't expect to see something like this...

After watching the first minute or so of Ano Natsu, I started having doubts on whether this was going to be just a slice-of-life romantic comedy. Everything up until the ending temporarily rid me of these doubts. But then it came. That small, fat pink thing in the screenshot made me reluctantly acknowledge the fact that there was going to be a sci-fi aspect to this show; a slight disappointment, I must say. It's not so much that I dislike anything sci-fi, but I was expecting more of a "normal" story when I first read the synopsis. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this episode. The AnoHana and Toradora! feel gave me a sense of nostalgia and seeing the familiar art and character designs put a smile on my face.

I found all the characters to be interesting and likeable, but I can also see why one would argue they're a bit cliché. Kaito and Ichika alone are examples of the typical, seemingly-useless male protagonist and beautiful transfer student, respectively. For me, my favorite character so far would have to be Lemon (or Remon). Her laidback attitude and mysterious personality differentiate her from the rest of the cast. The fact that her small stature reminds me of Taiga from Toradora! is also partly why I like her character. And since this is a romantic comedy, there's bound to be talks about potential pairings. Right now, I'm rooting for Kaito x Ichika (even if I wasn't, it'll probably happen), as well as Tetsurō x Mio (they seem like a good match). But like almost all romances, there'll probably be events that change the audience's view of a character so these preferred pairings of mine may also change.

Focusing on Ichika for a moment, there is no doubt that she has some sort of supernatural power. With the chance of the story being "normal" now out the window, I guess the best thing to do is to enjoy the rest of the series without any further expectations. This episode was slightly slow in terms of plot introduction. I felt that some scenes could've been cut out or shortened to make room for an extra few minutes or so of content. Right now, all we know is that Ichika is not "human" and that Kaito is involved with her somehow. Not a bad start, per se, but I doubt it's captivating enough to hook viewers. As for me, I'll continue to watch this since it still is a romantic comedy after all.

As always, new OP/ED means a paragraph with my thoughts on them. For the OP, I found it slightly catchy. It reminded me of the Shakugan no Shana and Hayate no Gotoku! songs sung by KOTOKO (maybe it's because she wrote the song). Half of the ED in this episode was overlapped by dialogue so I will hold back my judgement on it until the next episode. From what I did hear, it was a decent song. I look forward to hearing the unobstructed version next episode as vocals by Nagi, who sang some supercell songs, will most likely receive a positive response from me.