Waiting in the Summer

Highschooler Kaito Kirishima (Nobunaga Shimazaki) is out with his 8 mm camera one night when he spots a dazzlingly bright light descending rapidly through the darkness toward him. The next thing, he’s waking up in his room next morning, with no recollection of what happened to him. It’s nearly summer break, so he and his school friends plan to make a movie together to dispel the boredom of the long, lazy days ahead. Joining them in the project are two rather unusual girls from the year above: brand-new student Ichika Takatsuki (Haruka Tomatsu) and Remon (should that be Lemon?) Yamano (Yukari Tamura) who looks moe, but has a truly sinister laugh.

Ichika – with nowhere to live – ends up staying at Kaito’s house and the little gang start to put their movie together. But if Kaito thinks that he’s in charge, he’s soon outmanoeuvred by the subtly Machiavellian Remon, and the movie script soon becomes the story of an alien (played by Ichika) pursued by the Men in Black.

The arrival of a new – and cute – red-haired girl throws the friendships within Kaito’s group into disarray. His easy-going and good-looking best friend Tetsuro (Hideki Ogihara) discovers that meek-mannered Mio (Kana Asumi) has feelings for him – whereas his childhood companion Kanna (Kaori Ishihara) is devastated when she realizes that Kaito has fallen for newcomer Ichika. Cue romantic complications aplenty: some sweet and funny, others painful and raw. Everyone realizes that there’s something a little different about Ichika (her chocolate curry, for example) and her cute pet Rinon is certainly no ordinary hamster, enabling her to ‘jump’ from one location to another. But when Ichika’s big sister comes looking for her from their homeworld far, far away, the alien movie the friends have been making all summer no longer seems like science fiction but reality. Will Ichika be allowed to stay with Kaito on earth? Or has she broken a rule by straying so far from home?And who – really – is Remon?

This is a genuinely cute series with attractive character designs, a sweet megane hero and heroine, and beautiful scenery… But maybe it’s just all a little too nice and a little too ‘I’ve seen it all before but done better.’ The alien girl who accidentally injures/kills a boy and heals him is carried off with far more pizazz in ‘Birdy’ and just about every highschool slice-of-life anime comedy explores teenage angsting over relationships, from the ‘Ooh, we just accidentally touched!’ through the ‘I can’t say the l— word’ stage to the inevitable ‘will they, won’t they?’ Kaito and his Big Sis Kaori are – of course – orphans, living alone (I really feel sorry for all the parents in manga and anime who are conveniently killed off so they can’t interfere in their offspring’s growing pains and never get to see their offspring reach adulthood.) And, of course, Kaori is off (on business) to Bolivia when Ichika shows up, so Onee-chan, of course, invites the totally strange girl to live in the house and take care of her younger brother while she’s away. As you do! (Well, if you live in anime-land…)

The soundtrack, by I’ve and Maiko Iuchi, is as pleasant and sweetly inoffensive as much of the action of the film. Opening Theme: “sign” by Ray and Ending Theme: “Vidro Moyo” by Nagi Yanagi are generic and attractive but no more than that. The extras are the textless Opening and Ending and some MVM trailers. The series is decently subbed and the original voice cast deliver some persuasive performances, especially Haruka Tomatsu as Ichika.

Waiting in the Summer (director: Tatsuyuki Nagai) is at its best when portraying the agonies and delights of first love and the complications that arise when classmates who have been friends since primary school suddenly see each other in a new light. It’s especially good when depicting the conflicted feelings experienced by Tetsuro and Kanna; both seiyuu are very convincing. But the science fiction element feels odd and tacked-on; the two final episodes suddenly take off into a different genre altogether. The plot doesn’t bear too much close examination either, relying on coincidence again and again. Also, our alien heroine Ichika has done her homework so well on life on earth (correct school uniform, speaks perfect Japanese etc.) that it’s hard to believe in some of her other slip-ups. And the series completely cops out when it comes to providing a proper ending. You could, of course, argue that this only serves to make it rather true-to-life in its depiction of a summertime teenage romance…

Or you could – rightly, I think – feel a little cheated.