So...this kind of came out of nowhere. Well, not necessarily, as this indie short film, Summer Ghost, was actually announced in February last year, though without much fanfare. It only just now dropped, and GKids announced they're putting it out on DVD and Blu-Ray with an English dub. This is actually the directorial debut of one loundraw, who is primarily known for character design and doing illustration work for light novels. They did the cover art for the light novel I Want To Eat Your Pancreas and the character designs for Tsuki ga Kirei. But I had forgotten about it until it just dropped out of nowhere and GKids announced it. I was even further thrown off by the fact that Summer Ghost is only under 40 minutes long. But I had some time to kill and decided to watch it. Now that I have, what do I think? It's...pretty nice, and fairly polished for the creator's first real break into producing their own anime.

Summer Ghost centers on three high schoolers: Tomoya Sugisaki, Aoi Harukawa, and Ryou Kobayashi, who are all very different from one another and are going through their own struggles. Tomoya's controlling mother disapproves of his desire to paint and wants him to focus only on his studies. Aoi is being bullied at school, and attempted suicide once, and Ryou found out he doesn't have much longer to live. But all of them have one thing in common: They're interested in meeting the supposed summer ghost, said to be the ghost of a woman who committed suicide. After spending some time lighting fireworks, they manage to meet said summer ghost—a red haired woman named Ayane Satou. Mission fulfilled, Aoi and Ryou go back to their lives, but Tomoya begins seeing her alone, and after learning more about her, he, Aoi, and Ryou find themselves looking into just what happened to Ayane to make her like this, sorting through their own issues in the process.

In case the premise didn't clue you in, the story is pretty heavy on themes such as death, living life to the fullest, and taking control of your future. It almost reminds me of AnoHana, but with the main trio not having known Ayane or each other before this. Since the film is only 40 or so minutes long, it really needs to make use of its time in order to tell the story it needs to, without dragging its feet or focusing on anything that's not its main subject. Thankfully, I think Summer Ghost succeeded with this one. It knows what kind of story it is and what it wants to be, and sees it through to the end, remaining consistent throughout its run. The animation is quite good, especially considering this is done by a new independent studio. The character designs remind me of Makoto Shinkai's Voices of a Distant Star, only more refined and less jagged, but still maintaining an angular look about them. The backgrounds are beautiful as well, and I love how a lot of the short consists of Tomoya seeing bird's eye views of his hometown and other places he travels to with Ayane's help. I don't have as much to say about the soundtrack, but it does its job.

That being said, I'm sort of mixed on the characters. I mean, I like them just fine, and their problems are relatable, but their development is woefully predictable, and you can see the directions in which they grow from a mile away, even without the summer ghost mystery. The characters are pretty down-to-earth though, and I did like Ayane's arc, though I found Tomoya's a little too overly angsty for my liking. I do appreciate that they didn't try to drag out his angst for too long, though. It does help that the pacing is fast, but not so fast that you can't keep up with what's going on. Being a 40-minute movie, it doesn't have the luxury of taking its time to flesh out its story and characters, so it really needs to deliver right from the start. Thankfully, Summer Ghost made great use of its time, delivering on all of its plot points and characters even to the end, even if it left some questions unresolved, like specifically what illness Ryou is afflicted with. Oh, and for anyone wondering, there's no romance or gross fanservice.

For anyone wanting something with a bit more action and less mysticism and slice-of-life, this isn't the movie for you. Summer Ghost isn't necessarily breaking any new ground, but I think it's a nice little movie for anyone who wants to kill 40 minutes of their time. Considering how Makoto Shinkai also got his start in making indie movies before moving on to more official productions, I hope Summer Ghost will give loundraw the opportunity to do more things and make bigger movies, or whatever else they want to do in the anime industry. I'm also going to eagerly await the eventual DVD/BD release from GKids because I like this enough that I want to own it and show it to family and friends.