Ano Natsu de Matteru

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"Set in a small town in Nagano prefecture with very scenic and peaceful summers, a teenage boy named Kirishima Kaito is stirred by his desire to do something in his small town and discusses with his friends about making a movie. Shortly after, a “special” girl with glasses named Takatsuki Ichika moves to his town, marking the start of an eventful summer." -RandomC

Genre: Comedy, Romance
Episodes: 12
Links: AniDB, ANN, Official
Download: Episode 1 - CoalGuys | DDL





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This show is from the makers of Onegai Teacher/Twins, and it shows. Perhaps even to the extent that if you liked or disliked those shows, it automatically tells whether you like/dislike this one as well. The atmosphere and setting are altogether similar, the characters share some similarities as well. The plot will also, no doubt. The voice actor cast sounded fitting, with Haruka Tomatsu (Nagi of Kannagi, Hiteihime of Katanagatari) voicing the main girl. Interestingly enough, the main dude is voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki who mainly has side roles on his resume, from varying shows. He didn't fail the role, though, based on the first episode. Then we have the likes of Yukari Tamura (Nanoha, Tenten) and Kaori Ishihara (Suzuna of Kaichou, Madoka of Rinne) in supporting roles.

I was happy with this first episode. It showed the kind of relaxed and warm story telling the Onegai series did back in the day, and the scifi elements seemed quite similarly mixed in. I'll keep watching this one, for sure, unless something negatively surprising happens.

I really enjoyed it as well, but it wouldn't be wrong to call this "Onegai Senpai." You didn't even have to look for similarities, they were throwing them in your face. That said, Onegai Teacher/Twins is one of my favorite series out there, and this is living up to that legacy very, very well. It too can be skillfully suggestive without actually showing you anything overtly ecchi.

References aside (and there were a ton of them), this first episode stood well on its own rights. Ichika's behavior of being extremely self-conscious about her infiltration and ultimately making Remon suspicious and later giving herself away to Kaito was very cute. Perhaps the best parts were why she couldn't quite grasp why she was standing out in those instances. She is amusingly...a complete ditz. This makes you wonder how she even got here, or why she was authorized to come. Maybe she wasn't.

The downside is that her ineptitude also likely caused her to come in too hot, injuring or perhaps even fatally injuring Kaito, and then her repair work was obviously not up to par. It makes for an interesting dynamic.

She's not the only one though. Remon being who she appears to be (the shadow empress of the school?), she was packing down quite the lunch while Ichika freaked out about her own "ordinary" lunch. It's hard to tell at this point exactly how much influence Remon has, or if she is merely making things up in order to get involved in the interesting scenario she's discovered. Then there is the tall guy, seducing teachers to get details, seducing the girl in their group he's got a crush on (or trying to get her to open up), and the girl with an blatant crush on Kaito that pretty much everyone can see. I'm somewhat certain that Kaito isn't completely oblivious to Tanigawa's affections, another plus.

This is off to a good start.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

I'm somewhat certain that Kaito isn't completely oblivious to Tanigawa's affections, another plus.

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Dunno. He seems pretty innocent, with the extensive daydreaming and everything.

I was a bit irritated and sleep-deprived when I watched this, so while it was relaxed and easy-going I also saw it as passable. I'll likely keep watching until I feel like dropping something to free up some time.

[CoalGuys] Ano Natsu de Matteru – 02


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I'm really liking the gentleness to Ichika's voice. Her bumbling and complete failure to keep her alien status a secret is cute. It's amazing that the blue-haired girl is that dense as well. I suppose one might chalk it up to her being so upset about Kaito living with a pretty girl that she missed all of Ichika's slip-ups. Kaito's sister...well, she's an emotional wreck from both having to leave her brother and seeing that upon her return, so it's cliché, but not too surprising that she would fall for that story. She seemed far more concerned about who would take care of her brother, which was why she invited Tanigawa over in the first place.

That nightie...classic Mizuho. That really makes me wonder if the lake and mountains she's thinking about are the ones that I'm now thinking about, Lake Kizaki. If so, it would be a good question where Ichika got the idea from. They said a few things, but none of which were clear. I don't want to make constant Onegai Teacher references, but come on. It's impossible not to. Every character here has an analogue there, down to minor details in some cases. The last two lines of preview nailed it.


On the more serious side, I wonder if Ichika killed Kaito when she crashed. Due to her bumbling, she seems to not have done a very good job repairing/rebuilding him if he's starting to develop bruises and running a low "Alta Rate,"...whatever the heck that is.

Remon just likes messing with people for her own amusement, that much is certain.

Quite innocent high schoolers if they didn't recognize an alcoholic drink.

Kaito's condition isn't overly superb if he needs a regeneration boost every evening. Though if it always comes with a kiss from Ichika, it's not a totally disastrous deal - until the evening Ichika isn't around.

I also thought maybe this is story wise directly connected to the earlier shows when she mentioned the lake, but I guess it remains to be seen.

Episode 3 - CoalGuys



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That was some fest of overactive worst case scenario imagining. It must be nice to be young...

I'm really liking the atmosphere and characters in this show. Though I wish they would get down to filming the movie already.

Being a film fanatic, I would have expected Kaito to have taken shots of all the local places already. He did get on a train, but the place was also within walking distance of Ichika.. whatever the walking distance of an alien may be.

Remon is weird in a totally awesome way. She seemed a bit of a loner at the beginning though, which makes it seem strange in retrospect now that she couldn't have found other people to entertain herself with.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Buffalobiian

Remon is weird in a totally awesome way. She seemed a bit of a loner at the beginning though, which makes it seem strange in retrospect now that she couldn't have found other people to entertain herself with.

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I think her personality makes quite a bit of sense. We have seen already she's a bit lacking in the taking others' feelings into account department, which directly suggests she has indeed have limited pool of close friends in the past. However, she isn't pathologically socially inept, so she simply is a personality that doesn't necessarily need a host of people to surround her all the time. Now, though, she clearly finds these folks of immense interest. It might also be she had a friend of her own in the past but maybe that person simply moved away, leaving her alone for a while, explaining why she can communicate fluently and take charge of situations.

I'm referring in particular to how she completely seems to intimidate all those around her in her year level, but then decides to monopolise Ichika when she "transferred".

I suppose she is tagging along with the group because they agreed to let her in on the project. You could argue that she likes to film just as much as Kaito. If nothing else, she's more well equipped.

True enough. Someone with equipment like that and the knowledge how to use it (if it's borrowed) can't be all disinterested in filming.

Am i the only one thinking that she is an alien too? or at least knows that Ichika is an alien(and is therefore related to some agency)?

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Originally Posted by Xelbair

Am i the only one thinking that she is an alien too? or at least knows that Ichika is an alien(and is therefore related to some agency)?

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I think so too (dunno which though). It was the only reason I thought of as to why Ichika got special consideration from her other than being a tranfer student (and thereby allowing Remon to form a new relationship without trying to get into an existing circle).

I'm pretty sure that she doesn't know that Ichika is an alien (at this point), but she certainly knows something is off. Will she know by the end of the season? Absolutely. Remon herself is definitely not an alien. She's just a bored Queen-type character. Think of Kanade in Mayo Chiki, Mitsune in Love Hina, or Mikako in Sora no Otoshimono.

Ichika made herself a target of that type from the first moment she appeared.

Remon seems to have the reputation that she's already messed with all the third years in the school, and all the second years too. The only fun she has left are first years and transfer students. Other students are afraid of her, they're not ignoring her because she's weird, unsociable, or shy. They initially protested her taking/monopolizing Ichika, in a tone that implied Ichika should be beneath her gaze and left alone since Ichika is their classmate too. Remon insisted, they relented.

I thought at the very beginning she might be an alien, but I dropped that idea soon after. It's the difference between acting strange despite trying to act normally (Ichika) and acting strange because of not caring how others perceive her (Remon). In other words the one trying to avoid looking like an alien is an alien and the one trying to look like an alien isn't an alien.

Coalguys - Episode 04

coalguys - Episode 05

Umm...why the hell was Mio stark naked?

It's a nice detail that Ichika basically mixes and matches foods when she makes meals, since she has no idea what Earth flavors are good together.

I'd wager that Remon knows by now, or at least suspects so deeply, that she's just toying with Ichika as a means to confirm it. If anything tipped her off, it wasn't Ichika's nervous beginnings, but Rinon's appearance. I think after the filming sessions, that she's got her answer.

Mio have always been naked whenever she's at home.

I'm pretty sure Remon knows by now too. Ichika mentioned that she have one older and one younger sisters, so i wonder if there could be a chance that she is related to Mizuho from OS.

What?!

*Ryllharu goes to check* How come I never noticed that before? You're right of course. It still leaves me wondering why Mio is always completely naked in her room. There were inklings of her being a secretly perverted, but it's still highly unusual.

I thought about that connection for a second too, but it wouldn't make sense in the end. Judging by the technology used by other characters, both series take place in their respective present times. Maho was younger than Ichika is now, and Ichika is the middle child. If they are still connecting the two, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Maho who told Ichika about Earth and that lake. Ichika also seems to be a full alien, while Mizuho and Maho were mixed-blood.

On the other hand...Hatsuho (Mizuho's mother) is kind of a slut.

Well if i remember correctly. Mizuho's dad became an outer space citizen and was forbidden from ever going back home to earth again. It's entirely possible that Kei did something similar and Ichika is his and Mizuho's daughter. I still think that Ichika is Mizuho's younger sister, but she ended up landing in a different town or something.

Regardless of who she is or isn't related to, Ichika definitely bumbled and landed in the wrong lake. Actually, didn't she land in a reservoir?

Both Onegai Teacher/Twins and Ano Natsu de Matteru take place in real-world locations. Onegai on the shores of Lake Kizaki, and Ano Natsu is with little doubt in Komoro, both in Nagano. But they're a few hours apart (92 km or 60 mi).

EDIT: I'm guessing she landed here in Komoro. In the river. :p

I remember so little of the Onegai shows that I can't contribute anything to your conversation, so I'll just say that it will turn out one scatterbrained film they are making. At the moment I can't say which one is more interesting: The potential romance and all the complications that would follow or the film Remon is using as her private playground to mess with the rest of the crew. Romantically this looks a bit sad series with such a unilateral chain of likings, with only Kaito and Ichika forming a loop, but only if she gives in.

I'm pretty sure that Remon is alien, or she has met one in the past. she can even be from some kind of MiB agency - but they only monitor aliens, not capture them.

Love chain was obvious since 1st ep.

Ano Natsu de Matteru – 06 [CoalGuys] [Commie]


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For someone so dense, Kaito is surprisingly perceptive about habits and behavior. He noticed the finger-sucking of his childhood friend back then, and immediately when she started doing it here.

I guess the next question would be, is Mio always naked because she has super-sensitive skin, or does she claim to have super-sensitive skin because she prefers to not wear clothing? She certainly enjoys the sensation of plushies on her skin.

I wasn't sure if Kinoshita liked Kaito when they were young so much and figured this was a fated last chance, or if she was acting weird because she was just using her childhood friend's fortunate appearance as a rebound. It wasn't clear when Kaito said she was acting weird if he meant she was tense about something and nervous, or not acting like herself in general. He said that before she got all love-confession style nervous, because he had been noticing her doing the finger-on-the-lip since she first spotted them on the beach.

I ask because we were never given the reason the two girls were in Okinawa. We don't know if they both live there, if Kinoshita was visiting, if it was a regular vacation, a cheering up vacation, or if the two of them went to find boyfriends.

Coalguys - Episode 08

Ano Natsu de Matteru – 09 [Coalguys]

(covering two and a half episodes below)

So, there is really little room left to doubt that Remon is Morino Ichigo. I'm sure they won't admit it directly in order to avoid any copyright issues, but after this episode, there's no question. She wears a uniform from the school in Onegai Teacher, was "classmates" with Ogura Manami which makes her substantially older than she is pretending to be (and likely set up her and her husband too...), claims she is eternally 17 years old (a nice nod to Inoue Kikuko's group of "eternally 17" seiyuu that Tamura Yukari is a member of), and now the clincher is that she's using Ichigo's adopted mantra. How she snuck into a high school, and how long she's been there, is anyone's guess.

I was kind of surprised that Ichika was so forthcoming with the group. It's true that she couldn't hide it after what they had seen, but she laid it all out. Once Kanna called her out, Ichika got over her shyness pretty quick, didn't she?

I'm also liking Mio's personality change. It suits her and so does the haircut. Too bad she will always be the one who has to suffer the most.

Kanna telling Mio that she doesn't want to be that kind of devious, scheming girl was also a nice touch. It says a lot of good things about her, that despite how much she likes and wants Kaito, she's not about to cut through everything in her path to get it. Her heartfelt attack on Ichika ended the right way too. She ran off without telling Ichika everything, forcing Ichika to stop avoiding the problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

So, there is really little room left to doubt that Remon is Morino Ichigo.

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She should be an MIB agent as well, to always be at the right place at the right time with the right equipment.

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

I was kind of surprised that Ichika was so forthcoming with the group. It's true that she couldn't hide it after what they had seen, but she laid it all out. Once Kanna called her out, Ichika got over her shyness pretty quick, didn't she?

Kanna telling Mio that she doesn't want to be that kind of devious, scheming girl was also a nice touch.

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Ichika probably didn't want to be a devious person any longer, either. You could see she was suffering under her self-created sense of guilt of being such a huge bother to everybody. First she got rid of the huge secret and false identity, then of the excuses to avoid Kaito (that a human and an alien can't be together and that she's going back one day). I don't think she could have possibly needed anything more to get over her shyness as well. Especially since much of the shyness was created by the two former factors.

Perhaps it is more of the fact that I didn't expect Ichika to be quite so forward in her affections after the awkward shyness was surpassed.

She didn't strike me as the, "wanting to kiss all the time," type. I figured Mio for that.

Well, this is still from the makers of Onegai Teacher & Twins. Keeping that in mind, I was totally expecting Ichika to end up at least that much forward. Even if Kaito wants to be the one chasing...

Caught up till ep 8. I enjoy this anime a lot, though I really have one big problem with it:

WHY do all the girls like Umi-chan?! Every episode is filled with "he loves me/I love her/She loves him too?"-drama, but the actual meat, the "why" is never touched upon. In Kanna´s case we can assume that she knows him through all the years, but even then, it´d be nice to show exactly why she likes him. In redhair´s case, there´s no reason given whatsoever.

I dunno, but the whole plot feels kinda meta, when the basis is missing. Instead of all this jealousy-drama, I´d have preferred to start with some substantial experiences, showing what made the girls fall for him.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MFauli

In Kanna´s case we can assume that she knows him through all the years, but even then, it´d be nice to show exactly why she likes him. In redhair´s case, there´s no reason given whatsoever.

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If you had waited until you'd fully caught up, you'd have seen Kaito made a big first impression on Kanna. I don't actually know why Kanna was so impressed by his ability to cope with the huge loss - as there's no indication Kanna had herself lost anything. But maybe she had lost an important grandparent or something or was simply a melancholic personality otherwise.

It's easier to see why Kaito would feel attracted to an older girl than why Ichika would start like him. Perhaps she had no prior relationship experience and Kaito being the warm gentleman he is and showing healthy interest in something as wholesome as filming won her over (instead of being an antisocial otaku, for example). There's no particular reason she shouldn't have fallen for him. They spent a lot of time together and Kaito showed clearly enough his own interest.

Ok, well, now we know why Kanna likes Kaito, that´s that. I guess Ichitaka is your generic, mysterious alien girl, so she doesn´t need any other reason for why she likes Kaito.

Some completely different topic, though: I really hope, Renmon (or whatever Taiga is called here, lol) joins the love drama at one point. Otherwise, she´d be just too much of a plot device. Being in the shadows all the time, laughing like an old lady. Though we´re lacking male options at the moment for that to happen. Then again, it doesn´t add up anyway. Assuming that Kaito and alien-girl get together, we´d have Tetsuro and Kanna. So that´d leave the option for some lesbian relationship between Mio and Renmon, fu fu fu.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MFauli

Some completely different topic, though: I really hope, Renmon (or whatever Taiga is called here, lol) joins the love drama at one point. Otherwise, she´d be just too much of a plot device. Being in the shadows all the time, laughing like an old lady.

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Taiga? Wtf are you smoking? She doesn't act like the Toradora Taiga, isn't voiced by the same seiyuu either, since you appear to be deaf if you think that Kugimiya Rie and Tamura Yukari sound the same. Remon isn't a tsundere. Nor does she act like the only other notable Taiga, Fujimura Taiga from FSN (again, not the same seiyuu).

If you're going for the, "they're both loli characters, lol," you could not have picked a worse example. Had you gone with Furude Rika (who is coincidentally voiced by the same seiyuu), you might have had a decent case. Or Akai Ringo from Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi. Those two at least share the same personality type as Remon.

As for Remon's personality, watch Onegai Teacher and especially Onegai Twins. You'll understand. That's what they're going for here, utterly intentional. Either it is the same character using a fake name here, or she is particularly meant to evoke that character in every way possible. That's what my major point above is about.

Do not get trolled.

I hope Mio and that other guy get together. Mio deserves to be with him, and I would much rather see them together than the Kanna pairing coming true.

While I don't disagree in any way, why would he ever pick Mio? He's pretty obvious about his affections for Kanna. She's just as dense as Kaito is to not see it. He's always nearby to protect her, he confronted Kaito and told him when Kanna was too shy to admit her frustrations and affections, and he's always looking toward Kanna as Mio looks toward him.

Kanna isn't particularly any less deserving of a little love herself. She's been rejected over and over by Kaito (though mostly indirectly) since the series started.

I wonder if Remon will help out Mio though. She's spent most of this time keeping Kanna away from Kaito or throwing Kanna into Tetsurou's direction. Or maybe she won't. Perhaps Remon doesn't find her to be as entertaining as Ichika has been.

It's because Kanna has been more dense and a coward compared to the others. She liked Kaito for so long, but was beat by practically everyone in confessing their feelings. I really can't root for someone like that.

I'm all for Tetsuro + Mio. I just don't like Kanna. Prolly the blob hair.

I don't dislike any of the girls. Normally I do dislike third wheels because I dislike love polygons in general, but I can't really dislike Kanna after she showed more than once she won't get in Kaito and Ichika's way and even gave Ichika a push. What Shinta said about her is true in Kaito's case, but I won't hold it against her should Tetsuro now make a real move to seize her. While it's unfortunate Mio would be left alone, the flow simply was going in this direction from the beginning. Having still someone behind Mio secretly loving her would be a huge stretch already...

Coalguys - Episode 10

Leave it to Remon to find a suitable gift...

Now it looks like it might be Kanna who is left alone of the three girls (not couting Remon, since she wasn't going for anybody).

Ichika's sister sure wasn't worried about revealing her origins.

I like the feeling of the show. It's nicely presented, Ichika being an extraterrestrial isn't even important to the story. I mean, the only problem is that she'll have to part someday. But there are many reasons other than being from another planet, that leads to the same problem. So I guess it's just a little bonus.

I Find Mio and Ichika are liking body contact a lot, not something that usual in anime, I guess that's a selling point for me :D

One thing that this episode made me realize is that happy relationships in romantic anime are reeeeeeally boring. The whole beginning with Kaito and Ichika, ugh. I guess this is why you usually don´t get to see a functioning couple inmidst of the story often, since typically it´s the end material of the plot.

Lots of possibilities going forward, BUT I hope this anime doesn´t take the easy road and have Ichika demand to leave earth, thus resulting in Kaito and Kanna automatically getting together, leaving Tetsuro and Mio.

And unlike seemingly most people in this thread, I really don´t like the presentation of Tetsuro and Kanna and Mio, and also the last scene of Kaito´s in this episode. It might be my twisted view on love, but the way everyone just like that accepts that the one they love loves somebody else, all the while smiling, cheapens the value of love, imo. I guess some would say that they´re having a mature stance on love, but I just don´t see this kind of behavior work out in the end. Also, with how casually everyone accepted that they cannot have the one they like, but still smiled and all, it got me some "incestuous" vibes, where everyone will just make out with one another. Weird.
I guess I would have preferred the whole episode a lot more if Kanna hadn´t told Kaito about her loving him at the end. By doing so, she neglected both Tetsuro´s feelings for her, and Kaito´s and Ichika´s feelings for each other. It was the ultimate selfish move, because the only good that came out of that action was herself feeling better for having spoken out aloud her inner thoughts.

But I´m definitely looking forward to what follows. As written above, as long as they don´t take the easy way out by having Ichika leave earth, I´m excited to see how they´ll solve all those triangles and quadrangles and quintangles and whatever.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Kanna spent an unknown number of days hiding away, pretending to be sick because she was unable to do more than cry - and you talk about everybody simply smiling? Tetsuro is Tetsuro, and didn't end up doing anything else but kicking the fence and hurting his foot, but I hardly saw him smile away the emotional pain after his doomed-to-fail confession. It's true the bigger picture was pretty clear to all of them from the beginning, and that could have, to a degree, forced them to look like they had a mature stance, but that's it. Kanna's last useless confession came after Tetsuro's useless confession - and it was purely for her own peace of mind, signifying the same thing she told Tetsuro: That she can't forget Kaito. That's the opposite of casually accepting they can't have their loved one. Also, neglecting Tetsuro's feelings for her and Kaito and Ichika's for each other have got nothing to do with that. She can't magically start to love Tetsuro, and Ichika herself thinks it was due to Kanna that she got together with Kaito.

I hope you weren't looking for some bitchy polygon drama you find in stock shoujo or tv live action, with all the backstabbing and whatnot, that should result in everybody hating everybody enough to kill them instead of pairings based on love. I preferred this show's approach much more.

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Originally Posted by Kraco

I hope you weren't looking for some bitchy polygon drama you find in stock shoujo or tv live action, with all the backstabbing and whatnot, that should result in everybody hating everybody enough to kill them instead of pairings based on love. I preferred this show's approach much more.

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No, absolutely not, that´s not what the series went for from the beginning. However, I have a hard time accepting how this episode was about people caring more about their own personal peace than caring about their friends. I found it to be a totally nonsensical reaction when Kaito smiled towards Kanna, who was confessing to him. And while, of course, one cannot change the fact who he/she loves, going from listening to Tetsuro´s confession to happily confessing to Kaito, made Kanna appear like a, well, like a not so nice friend to have.

Basically, all their friendship is really fucked up at this point, and different to what I expected before, NOW would be the perfect time for generic drama and bitchfest to begin. Because there´s reasons for that all over the place.

No, I still disagree. Tetsuro confessing to Kanna despite both of them knowing it would be no good is what encouraged Kanna to run to Kaito to speak her honest feelings for one last time. Both knew, once again, nothing would change, but I suppose she needed that to live with herself, especially after she had helped Ichika to get Kaito. Both were useless acts but one could say they were better than to swallow their feelings and try to stay simple friends. The regret should be lesser this way, especially since they are high schoolers already and soon enough might go their separate ways naturally. It was now or never.

There are also none among this group of people who could have acted much differently at this point. Things would have been considerably different if Kanna hadn't waited until a competetor appeared. I believe Kaito has a complex for older women, but who knows, a virgin might have gone for any pretty girl...

Their friendships were fucked up already when love entered the picture - and that was a long time ago, when Kanna fell for Kaito and Tetsuro for Kanna. Later Mio for Tetsuro. Even without Ichika, it would have fallen apart sooner or later if confessions had happened.

Coalguys - Episode 11

The location that doesn't appear on the Federation's maps, but does on terrestrial Japanese maps...is Lake Kizaki, the setting of Onegai Teacher. And yes, it's a little under 3 hours away from Komoro, as I mentioned before.

I guess someone else's mother was extremely diligent making sure no one else knows this particular Class-F planet has ever been visited before.

Mio's muttered comment about Remon's casual remark that she has "quite a few" driver's licenses...the fact that she even has one means she shouldn't even be in high school. It's like 300,000 - 400,000 yen ($3500+ USD!) for the process from start to finish. Now, Remon is shady enough to have that amount of money by some means or another, but you still have to be at least 18, and Remon declares that she's 17.

I guess Tetsurou has given up on Kanna. Makes sense, given that the girl he liked first keeps pining away for Kaito despite knowing how hopeless it is. Mio is a better choice anyway. I don't hate Kanna, and wish her well, just not with Tetsurou or Kaito.

edit: Mio sitting on a park bench, Mio riding side-saddle on a scooter. It leaves you with a lingering question, "Did she remember to wear them today..."

In the end, I didn´t enjoy this anime as much as I hoped I would. The story is too simplistic, too narrow. There´s really only the love-confession between characters, but then all the actions that usually make such romantic anime interesting to watch are missing. The episodes at the beach were closest to being that. Too much "I love you", not enough "and that´s why".

The "solution" also sounds weird. Why would earth be considered more than just an F on the galactic industry scale, if mankind had made contact with aliens before? Not only does that still leave the fact that they don´t have interstellar transportation, it could also have been the same illegal kind of contact that happened this time.

I like most characters (with the exception of Ichika), and I enjoyed some of the dynamics between them, but it just wasn´t enough meat on that (plot-) bone for my likings.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

edit: Mio sitting on a park bench, Mio riding side-saddle on a scooter. It leaves you with a lingering question, "Did she remember to wear them today..."

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lol
I was waiting the whole time for Tetsuro to make some comment about that

So...not enough wrist-slashing angst for ya?

I find that I enjoy the happy romance series more than the angsty-drama filled ones these days. It's a nice form of escapism from real life relationships where one party invariably goes (temporarily) insane. Here, there's no dirty love triangle that devolves into a group of people hating each other, it's a simple line of affection.

Plus, the drama-filled ones are overdone these days, and most of the time they are infuriating, with one set of misunderstandings providing all the filler up to the foregone conclusion that was obvious from the first episode. They only reason they're 12 episode instead of 3 is always: (a) lack of communication, (b) jealously, (c) some inane misunderstanding where one half jumps to conclusions as a result of (a) and (b). The cycle and combination of (a) through (c) feeds on itself over and over until everything is miraculously solved in the final two episodes.

I'll take more Ano Natsu type series and less of the alternative, thanks.

By the way, you say, "in the end," when there's one more episode. At least one, if it follows the same pattern as the series it is pulling influence/nostalgia from.

I definitely like this type of romance more, and have always liked. That's also why I like series with romance more than romance series. A romance threatened by some external danger is my thing (like here the galactic law forbidding contact), not a romance threatened by a third wheel, misunderstanding, or jealousy.

I have been quite satisfied with this show, and even now some mystery remains in the form of Remon and the purpose of the genetic memory.

Didn´t know how many episode there´d be, but I figured it´d be at least close to the end.

Anyway, I don´t know about that wrist-slashing angst, but a bit less one-dimensional writing would have been nice, yeah. I happen to forgot the titles of anime I saw quickly, so I cannot name many examples of what anime did it better imo, but one example would be Clannad. That anime was clearly filled with "love", but it made an effort to lead the plot towards that love, not have it be the end all of the story. Or for a newer example, Ano Mita Hi ... also featured a nice love story that wasn´t self-contained by a love-theme, but worked hard to create a broader scenery.
Sure, you´re probably going to wave all that aside and say "those aren´t comparable to Ano Natsu", but then I´ll disagree and reply that Ano Natsu indeed IS comparable to those above anime, but simply felt more simple, cheaper in direct comparison. That´s my opinion, anyway.

More like it is a throwback to older series (two in particular). A semi-forbidden love that happens anyway.

I do not mean to say that the romance series with plot twists, love triangles, backstabbing, and complicated love aren't good. There are plenty of good ones, some I would name among my favorites. AnoHana is one of those. As unpopular an opinion as this may be...Clannad is not. Drama is the focus there, not a budding romance as it is here in Ano Natsu, or resolving an unfulfilled one as it is in AnoHana. So, yes, for Clannad, I would wave it aside and say it in particular isn't comparable. Romance in Clannad is simply a vehicle to introduce more drama.

After you've seen a dozen or so of the "complicated love" ones, they tend to get rather cliché, using the same plot devices over, the same stock character archetypes appearing without fail, and even the same premise from time to time. So, I agree with Kraco, most often, I prefer series with romance in them, not necessarily where it is the sole focus (though when well executed, those are great too).

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Originally Posted by Ryll

Mio's muttered comment about Remon's casual remark that she has "quite a few" driver's licenses...the fact that she even has one means she shouldn't even be in high school. It's like 300,000 - 400,000 yen ($3500+ USD!) for the process from start to finish. Now, Remon is shady enough to have that amount of money by some means or another, but you still have to be at least 18, and Remon declares that she's 17.

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I took her comment of "I have a few" to be akin to how one says "I have a few passports".

Have - yes.
Legally obtained? *cough*

I find it hard to believe Remon could see the road.

- or reach the pedals.

I'm much more interested in Mio/Tetsuro than Ichika/Kaito - as long as the former two get together I really don't think I care about the latter.

It was really annoying when Kanna lectured Ichika about how her determination to be with Kaito was weak. I have no idea how much "trouble" the planet would have gotten into, but Ichika's sister didn't make it sound like something you can wave off. So two (maybe 5) people's feelings of attachment are worth the (dunno, lives? completely social reconstruction?) of 7 billion people?

The utilitarian in me cringes when shit like that happens.

PS: it takes 3000 dollars to get a license? What on earth do you have to do? I just had to read a book, do a paper exam, learn to drive then do a road exam..

Can parents not teach driving in Japan?

It's largely the fees to take the road test if I remember right, and worse, most don't pass on their first try.

Yup, getting a driving license can be very difficult/expensive in some countries.

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Originally Posted by Buffalobiian

It was really annoying when Kanna lectured Ichika about how her determination to be with Kaito was weak. I have no idea how much "trouble" the planet would have gotten into, but Ichika's sister didn't make it sound like something you can wave off. So two (maybe 5) people's feelings of attachment are worth the (dunno, lives? completely social reconstruction?) of 7 billion people?

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I very much doubt it would have led to anything like that. In fact I think the earlier speeches of rules or laws speak against it. They might have easily wiped the minds of Kaito & Co, but the law is likely there to prevent anyone from trying to affect an entire planet. Besides, the whole thing is made much funnier by the fact those drones are freely flying around and even attacking a vehicle. A perfectly homo sapiens looking humanoid telling she's an alien is one thing, but an obviously too advanced robot flying around is another. That actually makes it look like jealous guarding of their own advanced technology and not protecting the cultures of less developed worlds.

Coalguys - Episode 12

It was cute.

A nice cameo VA by Inoue Kikuko, but they made it clear that whoever of Ichika's space culture landed there, it was a long time ago (to avoid copyright infringement...), and the memory of the lake was indeed some genetic memory of one of Ichika's ancestors. The MIB thing was pretty funny too, perhaps Ichika's initial fears were justified. Seems that Remon really was just slacking off from her normal job and messing around with the lives of students for her own twisted amusement when work fell into her lap anyway.

The very last scene was a nice gesture too, making it a happy ending.

That said, Tetsurou is a dumbass. Kanna is telling him to get together with Mio, who openly admits with no embarrassment that she would gladly accept, and he just hangs out with them both as friends. He needs to give it up, Kanna doesn't like him that way, and Mio does. We know he likes Mio at least a little too. Plus Mio has a better body, and her newfound confidence is fantastic. Kanna isn't going to be hurt by her best friend going out with a guy who also happens to be one of her friends, and whom she has no romantic feelings for, she's at least stronger than that. Tetsurou is too self-conscious about Kanna thinking she's a third wheel. I don't think she's ever seen him that way, and she'd be happy for her childhood friend and best friend.

Remon and MIB were my favourite parts of this episode. It's Deus Ex done right!

(PS: the sign in from of Rinon at MIB says "Special Consultant", not "Special Visit". I suspect he's there to help MIB get space-ready)

I wouldn't say Remon was out to torment students, but instead that she was camping around the place she thought was most likely to be an alien landing site.

While it's easy to say Tetsuro should give it up, it's not that easy if he had genuine feelings for Kanna. To go out with Mio simply because of a higher probability of success while still liking Kanna more is dishonest.

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

The very last scene was a nice gesture too, making it a happy ending.

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Yeah, good for Kaito that Ichika is a lousy pilot.

It was a nice ending all in all. While it went with the Asian you can't fight the system road, it still was romantic enough.

Remon being at least MIB was expected. I was already wondering what happened to Rinon when Ichika alone was taken and the last time we saw the critter was it riding the swoop bike. Finding a new home at MIB wasn't a bad choice - until Ichika came back for it, anyway.

I´d like to start this by admitting that, yes, I started watching this show expecting and, more importantly, wanting a more traditional "rabu rabu"-anime, just some quality romancing and stuff. So I´m partly at fault here myself.

Having that said: I didn´t like the ending, or rather, how the last two episodes concluded the story. The alien-stuff was just out of nowhere, even though we saw one of those drones earlier in an episode. You CAN make such a drastic, crass change in contents, but imo you cannot do that at the end of a story. That way everything prior to it feels cheapened and less relevant. If you introduce the big alien-event in ep 12, you have to go for another 12 episodes to make it feel right. Develop the plot from here on out. Make the aliens part of the Ichika-Kaito plot. Instead, we went from almost-typical romance to crazy-alien-chase at the very end of the whole anime.
I don´t even want to mention Remon, because I hate it when little girls/boys are part of some serious organization as if it was something normal. Please, there´s no logical reason why a young school girl would be part of the, lol, Men in Black. No comment on the MiB existing here, by the way. I had hoped they would just make Remon another alien ...

Yeah, I wouldn´t recommend this series to anyone, because I feel its plot concludes in an inconsistent way and the actual meat of the series has a lot of talk about love, but not action or events that show the root of this so-called love. And then it leaves everyone but the main pairing unresolved. I don´t even understand what´s Tetsuro´s problem. And there´s a limit to how much you can lower your self-worth, dear Mio.
Anyway, I´d put this anime under "filler, if you have seen absolutely anything else".

So, what? You would have only accepted Ichika if she had come escorted by a fleet of Star Destroyers and during her stay on Earth the shadow of Death Star had been hanging next to the Moon? Come on, she's just a girl who somehow managed to get her hands on a small FTL craft and came to Earth without anybody knowing, drawn by the genetic memory. Unfortunately the distress beacon was triggered later and a rather big operation by her home planet was initiated to retrieve her. I might be biased because I liked this show (but then again, so are you because you disliked it), but that sounds perfectly reasonable to me. We knew from the beginning she was an alien.

Ryll has been saying all the time Remon is a person from the times of the earlier alien "incursion" to Earth, so she's neither young nor inexperienced (despite very much looking that way). She's actual experience of these aliens, so she's far more qualified to be in MiB than most of the generic goons, I bet.

But to each their own, I guess.

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Originally Posted by Kraco

So, what? You would have only accepted Ichika if she had come escorted by a fleet of Star Destroyers and during her stay on Earth the shadow of Death Star had been hanging next to the Moon?

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No. But I would have liked some more actual events over the course of the whole show. I cannot even remember anything other than the portion at the beach that they "did". Everything else was just pointlessly messing around, telling each other "I love you", "I dont love you" and so on. (fake-edit: Oh, there also was the festival, yeah)
I just finished watching The World God Only Knows, and while this show has nothing in common thematically, I would have liked if Ano Natsu had more "action" events spread out over these 12 episodes like TWGOK did. By that I mean specific situations where something non-love related happens and we see the characters overcome this situation, thus resulting in character-development and futher bonding with each other. With 12 episodes, you could have had at least three proper, fleshed-out events (And to give an example: One event could have been Rinon going missing, or Remon getting an emergency mission where the others help without knowing about the MiB, or using Ichika´s superios alien-technology to save a school festival from being ruined. And so on. Lots of options).
Doing this, the alien stuff would have been better established, without interfering too much with the Ichika-Kaito relationship. And the ending wouldn´t have been such a stark contrast to all of the rest. I mean, to be fair, maybe that´s what the producers went for: Going out with a bang. That´s their choice then, and it seems it wasn´t a bad one since you all liked it. I didn´t. Simple as that.

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Originally Posted by Kraco

Ryll has been saying all the time Remon is a person from the times of the earlier alien "incursion" to Earth, so she's neither young nor inexperienced (despite very much looking that way). She's actual experience of these aliens, so she's far more qualified to be in MiB than most of the generic goons, I bet.

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I don't think Remon/Ichigo ever found out about that particular secret. It was the more mundane secret that everyone found out about. Whether she found out the big secret later, during the time period where she fixed up her sempai (Manami) and someone who would later become her subordinate, is anyone's guess.

If MFauli wanted more blatant alien incursion stuff, then he should have watched Asobi ni Iku yo! instead, and as promising as that seemed, it wasn't as good as this was. Its finale wasn't that much different than the negatives he's painting this series with.

I don't know where MFauli is getting the idea that the alien stuff came out of nowhere. Ichika killed Kaito crash-landing her spaceship in a river in the first 45 seconds, and then spent the rest of the first two episodes healing him with space technology, showing other people on occasion. Then the warping around to stalk him, having Rinon at all, her always freaking out about the MIB, etc. As MFauli said, the rescue drone did appear earlier, it appeared in episode 8, and she showed everyone her ship in episode 9. That left an entire quarter of the show left.

I wrote in the OP's description this show to be about a dude who wants to film a movie and in the middle of it a mysterious girl appears. And that this is comedy/romance. As far as I can tell, this story stuck to that 100%, not wandering off trying to incorporate alien stuff more than necessary during the bulk of it, let alone trying to serve secondary characters by having them rob any of the precious few episodes with stuff that has got nothing to do with the description. Sure they might have made the show more adventurous or even exciting, but it would have nonetheless been poor editing and writing. With the very ending of the final ep, the story went back to its roots: the movie, and thus concluded everything very smoothly, despite the goofy scenes of the folks being hunted by the rescue bots.

If there is anything that didn't really belong or served dubious purposes, it's the MiB. Remon was needed in some form, I reckon, but the MiB stuff brought little essential onto the table. It was just some kind of a jab at Ichika's initial fear of the (imaginary) agency.

The MiB where TOTALLY needed.

How else could you explain that a handful of alien rescue pods failed against a few 17 year olds?

Or the fact that Ichika managed to come back despite failing to find solid proof to present to the governing bodies that Earth had alien contact prior to all this?

The MiB needed to show up to take care of everything, then have Rinon come back with them to build a space-craft. For all we know, Ichika was taken back without her ship. Humans just needed to find it, understand it - then use it.

Regarding the End, the trace they were trying to find is the message from a former alien from Ichika's race (probably) crashlanding on earth years ago.
She was taken back to her planet and brainwashed.

both that message we heard and the message she wrote on the tree would not change anything regarding earth's status.
After all, that first alien was on earth some years ago, probably less than 20 years ago (and overall it fits in with the Onegai Teacher/twins shows as pointed by Ryll, if I'm correct).
Those events were properly managed by the galaxy entity and no trace of those events are enough to change earth's classification and help Ichika come back.
So trying to find the place was utterly pointless from the start.

But those past events probably led to the creation of Japan's MiB...

Also the reason why Ichika comes back in a matter of weeks/months only is because those idiot aliens left Ichika's ship and Rinnon.
They trully are dumb.
With the ship alone, MiB would probably need lots of years to try and repair and then run Ichika's ship.
But with the Ship and Rinnon, of course it's a lot easier to get it repaired, operate it and get Ichika back!

Well, for the last part, I'm a little surprised a galaxy entity would change earth's class that quickly, even with some earthling coming to them...
First they should easily understand Rinnon did all the job teaching how to repair the thing and create appropriate material/tooling.
Second, a galaxy entity probably has its administrative delays... I can't see something that huge reacting under a year regardless of technology...
So the problem is not Earth's classification, but rather how quickly things got Ichika's way.

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Originally Posted by David75

So the problem is not Earth's classification, but rather how quickly things got Ichika's way.

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Nah, Rinon sent a copy of the film to the Galactic entity, and it had all the politicians and bureaucrats in tears in no time. So, they made a special exception to allow her to come back.