Name: A coming-of-age film that managed to deliver it's simple message with it's on-your-face drama
Item: Summer Ghost
Rating: 75
Author: R2R

Waifra

A coming-of-age film that managed to deliver it's simple message with it's on-your-face drama · Waifora

/anime/130050/summer-ghost

#Execution There isn't a break while watching this Anime. Normally, you'll have a understandably lengthy character introduction session so that the audience can familiarize with it's characters, some scenery moments to flex your budget or fill in the time gap and dramatic pauses to let some heavy/important scenes to sink in but this movie has neither of those. It doesn't take a single break to introduce it's plot or characters, breath-taking animation & scenery are always present in every scene and it tells it's story & message really quick with it's fast paced straight-forward dialogue. On-your-face action? How about on-your-face drama? It wants the viewer to catch up with it's fast paced story and in the process you start to feel all these emotions but can't take time to react to them, until at the end of it's 40 min length, where you start to let all those tiny emotions it given so far, to burst out into a mess of joy, sad & calm on your face which you might not really control it while hearing to the soothing soundtrack play as the credits start to roll (unless you skip it). It's an unconventional approach to let a drama go this fast (atleast I haven't seen anything this fast in a drama Anime). I'm not sure if this is a deliberate choice by the creator or a "filled the most we can" Anime but I quite enjoyed it. Though it's high speed drama might let a few plot points slip.

#Story The story is about 3 teens who one day decided to investigate the rumored "Summer Ghost" who appears when you lit some fireworks at the certain location, and they go out and meet her. And this the only point where you feel calm because after then the Anime won't let you have a breath until the very end. The fast pacing aside, the story is pretty good given it's runtime, except it isn't well written cause there are some loose-ends it didn't cared enough to tie though I think it's fairly important.

Spoiler, click to view

How did Ayane able to tell that Aoi was getting bullied? Sure, only people who are close to death can approach & see her, but how did she found it out so accurately? What happened to the killer of Ayane? Surely, they aren't living happily ever after, right?

Ignoring them, the story is pretty well rounded for the message it's trying to convey.

#Characters Characters are.. well, aren't anything special except they can't seem to enjoy their life. Their problems are easy to connect to or seen pretty frequently in other films or Anime.

Spoiler, click to view

Life threating illness, bullying and strict mother aren't something that screams originality but they are used well enough to build the story, rather than the characters.

#Art & Animation The art style looks really good. I've wondered who's creator behind it cause I had a feeling I saw something similar somewhere and turns out, the creator of this Anime, loundraw also worked as a character designer for Anime like Vivy, Tsuki ga Kirei and Pancreas movie but those aren't exactly what I had in my mind, so I watched all of his other works from his FLAT STUDIO (which are just ads/trailers for music videos, looks like this is their debut Anime project) and then I remembered I saw some of those ad clips in 2 or 3 AMVs. From the beautiful scenery to some complex shots, everything is really good and soothing to watch. But I liked LIE OF FALLING a lot. Do check those ads if you are craving for some good animation/scenery (Reminds a lot of Shinkai).

#Music It's wasn't bad. I don't remember any except for the ending OST. But since it didn't bothered with my experience, I'll say it's OK.

#Summary An unconventionally fast approach to a drama (that might not be suitable for few) filled with soothing animation and a well delivered message with characters that are just 'not bad'.