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「あの夏で待ってる。」 (Ano Natsu de Matteru.)
“Waiting in the Summer.”
Wow, talk about throwing a wrench into the works every few minutes. Ano Natsu de Matteru has always been, to me, a superb piece of storytelling, and in keeping with that, they did everything they could to keep us guessing up until the very last moment. I don’t know how many times it happened, but every time I thought I had a handle on how the story would pan out – whether we’d see a happy ending or bittersweet separation, or something in between – something else would happen to send it careening in the other way. First was Remon-sempai, Kanna and Manami, Tetsuro and Mio, and even Rinon keeping the pursuers at bay. Then we had the train, where Kaito and Ichika were throwing out separation flags like there was no tomorrow. Then there was the lake, and the crystal, and the images in Ichika’s mind, which were all positive…and which were just as quickly shattered when the tree they needed to see was shown to be gone. By that point I was reeling, but I was now preparing myself for the bittersweet ending…only for Inoue Kikuko to begin speaking. I feel like I should send director Nagai and writer Kuroda-sensei my medical bills for all this whiplash!
That’s not to say that the mood was erratic or anything; it was only my expectations that were veering all over the place like Manami fleeing from a rape robot. The mood was pitch perfect, sliding seamlessly between optimism and despair as all of the (purposefully) conflicting hints rolled out one after another. The soundtrack deserves mention here. I’m not one to notice these kinds of things too often, but from the stalwart opening scene, to the frenetic chase, and on down to the mournful train ride and the victorious MIB intervention, the soundtrack hit all the right notes at exactly the right time. And that’s not even half the episode! The ED playing during film viewing later in the episode deserves special note, but I’ll get to that soon.
But you’re all probably tired of listening to me yak on about how well the story was told. As far as what actually happened, there were three major events/revelations this episode, the third being the ultimate fate of our lovers. First was the revelation that there really were Men in Black, and that Remon-sempai was one of them. Oh my gods, that was amazing! I know some of you predicted that, so feel free to pat yourself on the back for that one. This also answers the question of why Manami and Remon knew each other, since Manami’s husband is apparently an agent as well. But better than that was finding out Remon’s true objectives. Like the rest of the main characters, she had no ulterior motives. Sure, she’s an MIB agent, but even if she started out with other motives, that wasn’t what drove her in the end. It was Ichika’s personality that did that. Remon-sempai met an alien, and found her to be kind, so much so that she now considered her a friend. That’s it. This is a beautiful love story, but it’s also a beautiful friendship story. I promise I’ll stop repeating that now (maybe). Moving on.
The second major event was Kaito and Ichika finding the place buried in Ichika’s memories, and the mark that was left behind…which was no longer there. All that, and a recording of Inoue Kikuko speaking, in the voice of (I presume) Onegai Teacher’s Kazami Mizuho. I know many of you have wondered where Ano Natsu fell in the Onegai timeline, since it has been obvious for a while that the two settings were the same. Well, there’s your answer – Onegai Teacher precedes Ano Natsu, with Ichika and the others almost certainly being descendants of Mizuho. Now, this may causes some continuity problems, when you consider what year(s) Onegai Teacher took place in, and the comparative technological levels between the three series (adding in Onegai Twins), which, from what I gather from your comments, are pretty much the same. How long ago did two two Onegai series happen? And if Ichika and her sisters are Mizuho’s descendants, doesn’t that make the times involved even harder to reconcile? Nowadays, technological advancement doesn’t stop charging ahead for anything, not even plot.
Still, I’ll leave all those questions up to you guys, because I never saw the two Onegai series, and I’m honestly not that interested in contemplating those questions. Sorry, no journalistic integrity here, I’m just some guy with a keyboard who likes to write. To me, what was interesting in that scene was that it answered our questions about the timeline, and that it told those of us who hadn’t seen the old series (and reminded those who had) that Mizuho was once taken away…and yet had children. Upon later reflection, I can’t imagine that Kuroda-sensei would have given Mizuho descendents by anyone other than her love, Kei, so perhaps that was a dead giveaway. If it was to those of you who have now seen both, tell us! I’ll have to settle for a scene that was sad yet beautiful, and enjoy the powerful emotions that it evoked. I’m fine with that.
And so we come to the end of this tale. Ichika leaves, Kaito stays, and it’s the original four friends once again once Remon-sempai departs to begin her career (ufufu~). I enjoyed the return of oneechan-san, who I had long missed, but nothing could compare to the first viewing of the group’s movie (the Incomplete Version). As I started to say earlier, playing the full ED during this scene deserves special mention. Yanagi Nagi’s “Vidro Moyou” has always been a superb match for this series, but playing it here was the best use of it yet. Here, it removed the need for almost any dialogue, which left us viewers alone with our thoughts. The music + the film + the character’s reactions all combined to remind us of the story we had just witnessed, and give us a catharsis of sorts, and one for Kaito as well. Brilliant.
Of course, the third and final major event was, as previously noted, the fate of our five lovers – Ichika, Kaito, Kanna, Tetsuro, and Mio. For the latter three, if I had to guess I would say that Tetsuro is beginning to lean towards Mio, thanks to some of his recent reactions, not to mention him inviting her to see a movie with him the episode prior. That may just be wishful thinking on my part, though (sorry Kanna!). As for the main two…thank the gods, it’s a happy ending after all! Objectively speaking, with the title of the series, the tone they set, and everything that happened in the last few episodes, this was the most obvious resolution, but that didn’t stop it from taking plenty of twists and turns on the way to getting here. It was worth it. I would have liked a few more seconds of lovey-dovey stuff to squee over at the end, or at least a properly lovey-dovey end card to go out on, but I have no complaints other than that. Their love, their true love was fulfilled, and the hopeless romantic that I am cannot help but be happy for that. Congratulations, you two! Now, it’s time to work on giving Mizuho some more descendants, ne? Ufufu~
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – A beautiful love story, & one that reminds us that true love, though hard to find & harder to hold onto, really can happen #AnoNatsu
Random thoughts:
- Remember when Remon openly admitted that she was an MIB agent back in episode nine? You know, when Kanna and Mio immediately rejected the idea. No one can say she didn’t warn us! Heh, classic.
- A quick note: please don’t start talking about how that final scene could have been special effects or something! Ichika’s there, she’s wearing the Bolivian shirt oneechan-san got her, and that’s that. No arguments!! *froths at the mouth for his beautiful love story*
- A quick comment on the seiyuu for this series, because I’m not going to get to it in the final impressions below: they were fantastic. Every seiyuu that appeared did a great job, but special mention goes to those of the three female leads (that is, the ones who weren’t the amazing Remon-sempai). Tomatsu Haruka (Ichika) and Asumi Kana (Mio) both played roles that were out of their normal type, but did a superb job of conveying the intense emotions of their characters, with Asumi Kana being especially impressive in both of these regards. As for Ishihara Kaori (Kanna), she’s a name to look out for. This plus Lagrange’s Madoka? Oh my. Mark my words, she’s going places.
Full-size images: 08, 24, 26, 46
Epilogue
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Final thoughts:
Unlike my other favorite series of Winter 2012, Rinne no Lagrange, Ano Natsu de Matteru was definitely on my watch list from the get-go. Its pedigree was undeniable, with the minds behind the successful Onegai franchise (writer Kuroda Yousuke, producer Ogura Mitsutoshi) teaming up with director of AnoHana and Toradora (Nagai Tatsuyuki) to craft the perfect romance. That said, I always approach every show with a heavy dose of cynicism, because I’ve been burned before, and J.C.Staff has been implicit in quite a few of those. I find best to keep my expectations at a level where I can still be pleasently surprised, so I start them low.
Fortunately, as was the case with Lagrange, this series set about exceeding my expectations immediately, though it took only one episode for it to shoot to the top of my weekly watch list. Some people have said this was a copy of Onegai Teacher, but that has never really bothered me. Yes, that’s largely because I haven’t seen Onegai Teacher, but even if I had my point would stand. In my eyes, there are two ways one can really excel. One is to do something that no one else has done, to do something new, exciting, and innovative. That’s all well and good, but that takes a special mind to accomplish that, and besides, “innovative” doesn’t always equal “good.” Then there’s the other way to achieve success, which is to do something that has already been done really, really, really well. This is the route Kuroda-sensei and the others chose, and with so many people with so much excellent experience in the genre on board, they stacked the deck heavily in their favor from early on.
It shows. While breaking little new ground, Ano Natsu is one of the most adroitly executed romantic comedies I’ve seen in a long time. In our five lovers (with a little help from the amazing Remon-sempai, ufufu~), we were treated to a love chain that seemed to have no good solution. As many of us said time and time again, there were five of them, so somebody was going to be heartbroken…and yet that didn’t happen, not really. Sure, not everyone’s love was fulfilled, with Girl C (Kanna) coming up particularly short, but there wasn’t really a Bad End for anybody. How did Kuroda-sensei and the others paint themself into such a tight corner, and then so deftly climb their way out? Because this wasn’t just a love story. It was a friendship story, and a growing up story, and a learning story, and a losing story, and a story of our characters staying true to themselves, so that they can continue to live their lives with few regrets. Some characters lost their loves, but all gained something in return, and were better for the experience. Wow. Wow.
Of course, perhaps there was a lost opportunity here. After all, it’s always the things we want to happen, but don’t, which stick with us the most – the could have beens, the what ifs, the lives cut tragically short, and the loves that will forever remain unfulfilled. It’s those things that leave the most enduring memories, through the scars they leave on their audience’s hearts. But I don’t care. Some stories exist to affect us, to teach us and hurt us and change us into different people for the experience…but not this one. This one is a tale of true love, and that’s a story that many of us already believe in, no matter how much reality constantly assaults it. That’s where Ano Natsu comes in. It’s not new, innovative, or ground-breaking. It doesn’t deal with world-shattering ideas or mind-expanding themes. Its themes, in fact, are as old as dirt, stretching back to the first humans who dared to think that they could be with someone other than whoever their parents chose for them. That nostalgia you feel watching this show isn’t from seeing the work of an old team of storytellers coming back together to give it one more go. It’s from hearing, once again, a story that we have all heard a thousand times before: the story of true love. They didn’t make it up, but they are daring us to believe in it again, to believe that true love really can exist, and that lovers can be together no matter what obstacles stand in their way. Ano Natsu de Matteru is many things, but above all else, it is a beautiful love story. Here’s to hoping there’s an equally beautiful love story somewhere ahead in each and every one of our lives.
A quick note, everyone: please try to keep the discussion nice and constructive. If you find yourself responding to one person’s comments more than once or twice, or are getting too heated, you probably shouldn’t be having that discussion here – we’ve got an IRC channel for that. Remember, us writers do this because we like to write, not because we want to play moderator in the comments. Just keep that in mind, ne?
Just saying, people give this show far to much credit for how simple it was.
Not a single plot twist anywhere.
I strongly believe that the reason why most of the viewers love this show is its ability to captivate us and making it easy for us to relate to the characters. With that being said you should try and think back to YOUR younger years and see if you can connect any sort of experience from those days to this show. I guarantee you that if you do, this show is going to be alot more meaningful to you more than any plot twist that you are searching for.
Meh… I don’t know. I never got the relate ‘thing’, don’t you watch shows to see something that’s not your life. If I wanted to see a story about myself I’d go outside.
As for my younger days… I had a few people I considered friends but I mostly just kept people around if they were useful (a lot like how Kiato uses everyone else in the story).
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Everyone is all like “friendship this and that”, But the only real friend I see in this show are Mio, Kanna, and Testutrosvsf. Everything this this show does is one sided to benefit Kiato while he does nothing to show his friendship towards them.
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Sure I can relate to using people, but I can’t relate to using people I ‘suppose’ to consider friends.
Yes. this show was cliché ridden like the mediocre Rinne no Lagrange, but at least it had Remon! The only real reason I watched this… for her antics, you know.
I think the reason people like the story is precisely because its a simple story, and its relatively believable. The story had very few surprises, but it wasnt about plot twists, it was about telling a love story. The ending was also well done, and was relatively subtle as to what happens to everyone after they finish filming the movie, which I really liked. Cliche stories are cliches because they work. People are always able to relate to them, which is why they keep showing up.
You should have posted this earlier, it’s late so there is no huge flood of posts
Seven, isn’t it hard to understand this show if you don’t have any friends? Friends are people you talk to in real life and have fun with together, in case you are wondering what they are. Fun is…nevermind.
F is for friends who do stuff together
U is for you U and me
N is for Anywhere and anytime at all! Down in the deep blue sea
duh
*Sees this comment*
*Scrolls down*
/facepalm /ohtheirony
*puts on sunglasses*
Personally it is quite entertaining to see people “trolling” (overused word is overused) each other over an anime post. y so srs? I guess some people don’t mind wasting their time doing this? Yet ANOTHER (no pun intended) mystery of the universe.
That aside, great job Stilts, love your coverage, love the ending. A show doesn’t need to be complex to be good. AnoNatsu showcases how exactly to execute a cliche love story masterfully.
Clearly you were not around for GC.
That’s more along the line of flood status I’m talking about
When I first came to this site 2 years ago, there wasn’t even any need for moderation at all.
The comments section are always filled with friendly discussion and the occasional trolls are completely ignored.
Seems like the times are changing…
Hey, I only started by stating that Kiato was a bad character. I even made valid points and back them up with facts.
People defend this show to a fault. Like I’ve said before; any post that’s not hugs butterflies and kisses is trolling here.
Though when people started getting really upset and calling me a troll I was like ‘meh’ and just went with it to have fun.
Damn right, as they say, “Don’t feed the trolls”. The problem these days is that people start flaming others when their opinions do not match.
And Seven, knowing that you are not a troll(obviously I know you from GC), I
lol, dunno what happened. My original post was cut into two. So continuing on…
Damn right, as they say, “Don’t feed the trolls”. The problem these days is that people start flaming others when their opinions do not match.
And Seven, knowing that you are not a troll(obviously I know you from GC), I kind of understand why those people flame you. The show revolves around Kaito because that is what this show is about. About how Kaito’s life changed(along with his friends) when Ichika came to Earth. When you said that Kaito is a bad character, that’s fine since you’ve backed it up. But when you said that the show sucks because it revolves around Kaito, it’s like saying the story should not focus at it’s plot at all.
Lol I was wondering why it ended on “I”, But I never said the show sucked. People just drew that false conclusion from what I posted. In fact I said a few times that I liked the show, I just hate Kiato. The show tries so hard to make Kiato look like a good person, but then you look at what he actually does. Ignores people, ignores said peoples feelings, only focuses on himself the ENTIRE show, and is ignorant to a point where it hurts other people, It’s a really one sided ‘friendship’. I honestly can’t think of one good thing Kiato did for anyone other than himself.
Oh, my bad. I see you said why this show is bad, not suck. But still, this show is about Kaito so it’s normal for it to revolve around him.
But then yeah, I agree with you. Kaito is selfish and is very self-centered. He admitted it himself when Ichika was telling him how selfish she is.
A selfish character portrayed well can be just as endearing as a selfless one. Plenty of people think Hannibal Lecter is a great character, but I wouldn’t want to be his friend. Did you like the story in Code Geass? Lelouch was selfish to a fault. Kaito had his flaws, but they were all redeemable and seemed natural. If someone like Ichika showed up in your life, would you not drop everything for her? She’s pretty perfect from the show’s perspective.
You think so? I don’t think they were very redeemable, He never even tried to make amends for hurting all his ‘friends’. Personally I think Ichika is really bland, but that’s my opinion. The show focused to hard on trying to make it kiato/Ichika ending, everyone just flat out ignored all the bad things they did and where like ‘yeah sure we’re still friends’ for no reason.
I was never really a CG fan but wasn’t Lelouch selfless to a fault, the whole show was about him trying to protect his sister, He even died/pretended to die for her.
“I was never really a CG fan but wasn’t Lelouch selfless to a fault, the whole show was about him trying to protect his sister, He even died/pretended to die for her.”
Yes, he did, BUT now think about all the pain, suffering, and death he caused to god-knows-how-many-people, including his best friend and even that very same little sister. in the process to achieve his “perfect world” for her. He selfishly used everyone else like game pieces, gave little thought to the feelings of a lot of other people, even those who (tried) to care for him (Shirley, Kallen, etc), and was willing to throw so many lives away just so long as he achieved whatever objective he set out to do unless it wasn’t advantageous to do so.
Sure he may have redeemed himself a bit in the end with the whole plan including his death and erasing the hatred of his family from the world, but the ends don’t always justify the means. By dying himself, he stripped Nunnally of the very brother she cared for just as much and stripped away Suzaku’s own individual identity by making him the new Zero in his place, thus still little more than another game piece to him. In the end, he didn’t even give any thought to how Nunnally might feel about things. He just assumed he knew as her older brother. (Hence, why he was so surprised at Nunnally choosing to be his/Zero’s enemy. He never expected she’d do anything like that)
Who’s to say Nunnally would be happy at all in that “perfect world” if it came at the cost of his life, the brother she cherished so dearly?
So saying Lelouch was “selfless to a fault” yet acting like Kaito is such a selfish, self-serving scumbag…something is wrong there…
I think you are missing the one huge staggering difference, Lelouch went into everything knowing he was going to hurt a lot of people, Kiato on the other hand was just being dumb for not acting on knowledge he had been given. Also Lelouch worked towards everything he did while Kiato was carried by his friends every step of way, even down to the very last scene. He did not help to make the space ships that would let him get Ichika back, the MIB people(Lemon) did. It’s tough to argue that Kiato contributed anything to this series.
Anayway, why are we comparing can contrasting Lelouch and Kiato?
But that’s what makes Kaito more relatable to a lot of viewers; he’s just a regular guy who was living a regular life and then suddenly had stuff thrown at him out of nowhere that’s WAY, literally, out of this world, and NOT some rare genius who knows exactly how to proceed 1000 steps ahead of everyone else and changing things on a dime while dealing with a situation that has been ever-present for years. (Though, even Lelouch couldn’t have done everything without help of those very people he used.)
As much as you may not want to believe it, most people would’ve probably done similar things as Kaito and need “unappreciated” friends to put some sense into you time and time again. You, personally, may not have or would like to believe you wouldn’t have, but you can’t expect everyone to have been so “perfect” in all of those situations if they had suddenly found themselves in Kaito’s position one day. It’s easy to judge and say that you would/wouldn’t have done something AFTER seeing it already happen to someone else, but if you’re the one put into that position, it probably wouldn’t be nearly as easy.
I refuse to believe that. Don’t get me wrong I think almost everyone is stupid and I don’t had my expectations very high for anyone, but a normal person could figure this out with out much trouble; hell, every other character besides Ichika figured it out, without help. Kiato was spoon feed everything he needed to make a smart decision, but in the end he did next to nothing. Maybe if Kiato had to guess what to do each step of the way it would be more realistic but he was told what to do and still messed up.
thinking about it. Kiato pretty much nothing in general the whole series, He uhhhh… eat watermelon, used an old camera, and…. I got nothing.
Really though, be honest. You don’t see anyone holes in your “after the fact” argument. Everyone saw this ending from months a head; some even before that, it was pretty obvious the girl(Ichika) on the cover was going to be the focus of the show.
Hi Stilts,
I’m sorry if I ask that the comments be moderated in the previous episode. Things were really getting out of hand and I just wanted this to stop. Hopefully with the end of this show the trolling will end too.
Hi Seven,
Being negative is all fine as long as its objective criticism( hell, I would even give you brownie points for doing that in a largely positive blog like RC). However, being antagonistic and name-calling people are just plain ridiculous. Omni Prime would not have put up with the likes of you.
@john
Omni wouldn’t have put up with any hate post.
I miss him.
Hey, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I did not start this, all I said a while back was that Kiato sucked, gave a few reasons why, and then people started crying. Calling me a troll and what not.
And it’s not like I care what other people think so I just went with it because was amusing.
420 RC: hugs, butterflies and kisses for life.
@Moondoggie,
Amen to that, brother. I have been lurking in RC since Omni’s era and perhaps it was because he held a tight leash on things that kept every1 civil to each other. I didn’t see the need to post at that time becos the good and bad sides that I think of any shows were well articulated. These newbies just need to go back and read the postings then, to get a better viewpoint of what RC were built on.
Of course, I’m not saying the current RC team are not as capable. I’m NOT, really. Just that these hate elements infiltrating RC gives me all the reason to come out and put my thoughts into this issue.
Seven you are too much of a fag that your hate for Kaito is showing that you are pissed off he ended up with Ichika and not with you! Dude control your urges to want as your husband cuz it’s not gonna happen!
Good review, keep it up. Loved this series, even if it was a little annoying to watch Kaito at times. 🙂
Wow. What an episode.
It’s hard to wrap my head around it.
I had a lot of emotions going on here- at first I was disappointed. When the episode first started- Remon pulling out the laser designator and then having the van launch missiles? That was a bit much. The writers could have done without that.
As the episode went on- things got better. The MIB added some comic relief. The meat of the episode began with the train scenes that foreshadowed what was going to come. Kaito and Ichika had some heartfelt dialogue that screamed- this is it. As soon as they hit the shore something told me that something was going to go awry. And my gut instinct turned out correct. The pain of separation was hard to watch.
But what came next really brought out the best of the entire series-
Seeing them watch the movie was amazing- all the emotion of the summer came out. There was pain, loss and rejection but there was also fun, happiness and friendship- the glue that held them together. It was about life.
That summer wasn’t about waiting- it was about growing up- about learning about love. About learning about rejection- about learning to overcome the rejection. It was about bonding over shared experiences. But most important of all- it was about friendship and how friendship helps overcome hardship.
They grew up and changed. All for the better.
Watching how each one dealt with moving on was fascinating. Kaito had different glasses, Remon left. Kanna, Mio and Tetsuro changed.
The end was fitting a la Toradora. And we so called it- Remon- MIB FTW. I was waiting for it and was rewarded. Remon with her glasses was just too classic. Rinon hanging out in MIB Japan and then the movie. Nice touch. My ears had perked up as soon as I heard Ichika’s voice in the movie- there was no narration in the unfinished version. Ichika was back.
I do think the ending could have been done a little better and added a little more in the emotion department but they didn’t have enough time. It felt rushed. Despite that I’m very pleased with the entire series. I will be watching this many more times.
Well played Ano Natsu. Well played.
Well played indeed, and man just like you, I really hated the separation and the show really did a good job at making you think that they might actually leave it at that… But the ending. wow the ending, its so damn simple and it doesnt scream for anything or try too hard. It was just…. “DID YOU SEE WHAT SHE WAS WEARING!?” hehe.
I completely and utterly did not see what she was wearing the first time I watched the epilogue. Had to go back and watch it again after reading Stilts’ post and it totally changed the ending for me =p
haha it was my younger brother that brought it up for me as well. BUT to be honest, I would have accepted both endings ^ ^
Yep! That shawl! Whoot!
I already said it before, that I would have accepted that ending where Ichika did not come back, but when I saw that, it was clearly the Cherry on top of a 16 scoop sundae on a hot summer day.
Are we sure the ending is not just Kiato dreaming?
The only Ichika could come back was if earth people could travel in space and stuff, We saw the MIB people with blue prints for some space ship thing.
But are we expected to believe they perfected space travel with in one year? because that would make the main cast third years, and there only chance to submit a film for the cultural festival.
Hm… I don’t think those were blueprints. As far as I remember in the MIB movies they often displayed ships that were asking for clearance (either departure or arrival). As far as timing goes I’ll just put on my tin foil hat and my cape of willing suspension of disbelief.
If that was the case why would Ichika had to leave in the first place?
You got me on that one. No clue.
Rinon stayed behind and helped the MIB build the ship and make contact with Ichika’s people. Since Earth developed the technology the rule that prevented contact with earth no longer applied.
In less than a year?
they managed to perfect space travel in less than a year, find Ichika’s planet, and make it back with time to spare so they could make a film for the cultural festival?
btw, you said nothing new. We already said something about everything you said. Please read before posting.
Dude Seven! Stop gunning for Kaito! I know you are horny for him so bad that you want him to be your husband, but please back off! You are ruining the show for the rest of us, we all want this ending where he is straight and goes for Ichika! Sorry he cant be with you, and left your fag heart broken.
Tez- that is a definite possibility. There is the chance that they recovered Ichika’s original ship and Rinon was able to help repair it. And that would take care of the timing issue.
That’s plausible.
@Seven
Actually, the people voicing over during the last scene mentioned that the movie was being screened AGAIN, and that it was a movie made by alumni, meaning that the completed movie had already been in existence for an indefinite number of years, and that Kaito and company had already graduated. That would mean that they did have more than a year to, ummm, do whatever they did to bring Ichika back.
I doubt it had anything to do with them building a craft able to traverse long distances in space. Unless they did some reverse engineering thing with Ichika’s spaceship. I doubt Rinon they’d leave Rinon on the planet while bringing Ichika back, so I don’t think they repaired the ship. (Though if I assume this, I’d have to assume that they took Ichika’s ship back as well, so that reverse engineering thing is unlikely as well.)
If you think about it that isn’t even less likely that she came back, because they had to figure all out by themselves? I forget exactly but it was implied that there movie was only two years old, meaning that Ichika would have had to come back within a year.
You’d have to provide some proof for the movie being two years old, but that point isn’t out of the question either, considering that it falls within the window of Kaito and friends graduating as well as the guy voicing over having seen the movie at least once before.
I’d say she came back sometime within the period of one to two years. But yeah, doesn’t explain how they managed to settle the issues with the alien authorities and get Ichika back on Earth. Open endings are open. An OVA about the time that passed in between when she was taken away and when she came back would be good.
think about it this way, she had to be back with in a year because she was in their movie and they could not have submitted it for the cultural festival if they were not still students there. Now sure that showing may have been more than two years later but it would serve no purpose. Facts stand that they managed to get into space, find Ichika’s people and bring her back within one to one and a half years. Which I think is ridiculously convenient for plot circumstances.
Yeah, realized she had to be back before the cultural festival for the movie to have been completed in time. 2 years isn’t impossible, but it’s cutting it close. I think I’ll go with a year.
And I’m thinking it had less to do with people on Earth developing technology to travel to wherever Ichika was taken back to, and more likely a result of some sort of intervention by the MIB.
Remon-sempai looked like she decided to get herself more involved with them, so it’s likely that she convinced them MIB dudes to try to negotiate with whatever alien authorities out there to amend the law about interaction with species of different classes. And it probably worked. It looked like Rinon was in their MIB facility with a tag classifying him as some sort of “special visitor”.
I’m going with Seven and JP’s analysis on this one:
Ridiculously convenient and 1 yr.
Though I am still of the opinion that there are multiple possibilities-
First:
The contact loophole-
Remon: It is possible that “aliens” have visited before… ep. 15:06
Kaito: If there’s proof- then then earth wouldn’t be classified as F ep. 11- 16:05
Ep 12- 13:30 the speech that was made by the woman who had previously been on earth had been triggered- as Ichika’s sister said- directly from Inglobe. The data was decrypted.
Voila. Proof. But it would be expected that any change in policy would take time and Ichika wouldn’t be able to immediately come back.
I’d say this would be the most likely scenario.
Second:
Rinon and Ichika’s damaged ship were never shown to have left. Thus there is the conjecture that the ship was restored using Rinon’s help. It is pointed out that it would be unlikely that the “aliens” would leave them behind. This would make sense but both are valid as there was nothing shown to negate the assertion that the damaged ship never left.
Seven what are you talking about? No one ever said she came back within a year. They also had a damaged ship so it was a matter of reverse engineering not perfecting the technology. Also they didn’t have to reach her planet, just simply contact them once they developed the technology.
Also… no, I will not read every comment above mine, because half of them are part of your one man war against this anime and people who like it. Furthermore, if people have said this why would you ask that question while leaving out such blatant clues as to what happened?
Sorry, buddy, you’re points and opinions aren’t as infallible as you seem to think they are.
ah…. just to good. I love when people make them selves look pathetic with any work on my part. I don’t even need to say anything, by stating you would not read the comments all you did was look like an idiot.
It’s funny because almost all the people who have tried to insult me so far just ignored any points or comments made and just scatter shot insults in an attempt to make a coherent argument out of nothing but “lol this guy dum, me smart, I insult him, look cool”. I may be paraphrasing a bit, but that was with out a doubt your thought process.
@Tez
Dude, you ought to read Banana’s last post at the very least. He concluded both of Penguin and Seven’s analysis.
At the end of the final episode, students of their school said that the students who showed a film last year did it again this year which obviously means at least 1 year has passed and not more than 2 years.
As for me, I think it would have been better if Ichika returned for around 10 years(or even more) after she left. It would prove how strong Kaito and Ichika’s love for each other. They both said they’ll love each other forever, but then Ichika returns within a year or two which is kind of anti-climatic after using the words <i<"I'll love you forever". Don’t get me wrong, I loved the ending that Ichika and Kaito got back together but wouldn’t it be a lot more romantic if Kaito and Ichika waited longer before being able to see each other again?
@The Story You Don’t Know- that would have been totally sweet. 10 years. all grown up. props for that idea.
That train scene really reminded me of “5 Centimeters Per Second”, and it really made me dread the moment when Kaito and Ichika will be inevitably separated.
REMEMBER, I AM A TROLL. IGNORE ALL MY POSTS
It’s funny because the more down votes I get the more people read it. Kind of seems ironic, right?
http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/156/054/troll.gif
Oh dear, the troll got butthurt.
Keep up the good work, prick.
Lol wait what?
Why am I butthurt?
If you think I care about anything anyone says you’d be wrong.
Down votes = sexiness
I’m gonna miss you bro.
You to bro /<3
Though if someone covers Accel world, I'll hate all over that show, all day, every day.
That 2D fat protagonist lol
Trolls always are trolls, look at Seven, the poster fag for trolls. Hello there troll! Sorry your mom must not be paying attention to you and got yourself hit on the head when you were a kid that you developed ADHD. Wait, I guess that must be recently cuz you still sound like a kid. Poor Seven, poor fag!
Stilts- thank you for your excellent coverage and your insight. Ano Natsu has been an amazing ride.
No regrets.
I really want that scooter. That thing can phase through metal, sustain no damage after falling out of a moving car, drive off road, carry two people, and it can out run an advance alien rescues capable of space travel and atmospheric entry by itself.
It’s probably a Toyota.
(Using the voice of Tychus Findlay) Hell, my Toyoda could do all that while carryin’ 4 person, driftin’ down the mountain, an’ still delivery ‘Doufoo’ in one piece.
Sorry, Seven. Couldn’t resist myself. :-p
apparently you can’t resist a lot of things
Oh wait, wrong person. some else said the same thing in another post.
phuck this, I’m leaving class early to go home and sleep
Hmm. I’m beginning to see why everybody is picking on your comments.
Well, anyway. Have a nice long sleep and it will do you good. I once stayed up 50 hours before and at the end I couldn’t remember what actually happened during that time. Perhaps an alien/MIB mind-wipe or something…
Seven do yourself a favor by killing yourself. The whole world would be a better place with less people like you around.
I don’t like stepping in but that was a little much.
I agree with Banana. Seven might be an irritating closet tsundere, but he does not deserve to be cursed to hell like that. Please keep all replies to him civil and rational.
We don’t have to stoop to his level to argue, everyone.
Awww, thanks Virox.
It’s nice to know my efforts are not going to waste, Not even like I’m trying to troll people, But it’s still nice to see people like you. Thanks again, you gave me a good laugh as I woke up
The show did an amazing job in many ways: visuals, animation, music, character introduction and, of course, their design were all High Tier stuff (Tanaka Masayoshi is a genius). This reminds me that we are living in 2012 and modern anime looks and sounds fucking great. One more example of this would be “Another”.
After that, everything was already done before, but it works well enough. An entertaining anime for sure.
Still, Toradora was better.
I think ToraDora is better (Granted it was longer too) but this anime is just so amazing. It follows TD’s footsteps but makes a place of it’s own as well.
I loved the ending, it reminded me of Strawberry 100% so much. The montage of Ichika when they were screening it made me tear up a bit.
I love it.
That ending song is really godly combining with some of the best climactic scenes, one of the reason why this series is really good. The scenes where they are crying while watching the short film, really makes a pain in your chest, and I think that ed song is one of the reason >_<…
Nice ride for this series, I think majority of us enjoyed this short gem.
Thanks for blogging it Stilts…
Oh! btw Kanna’s ending route is now open for enlisting… enlist yourself if you think you think you are worthy.
…..
nerd
Lol calling me a nerd isn’t that bad and yup even though I’m a nerd not bragging but I have a one hot of gf IRL unlike you who’s gf are all the down votes you’re getting LOL…
Oh and I won’t miss you since after trolling this series you can now go on to another series and post you’re seven times trolling power again… btw you’re face looks like jahrkal the troll warlord.. just search him if you don’t knew him ^^…
oh btw you’re a troll seven times as good as this show.. oh if you wanted too, you can join eight so that will makes 56 times as good as this show… LOL!
Ah, good times. It’s always so funny when someone tries to brag about real life stuff over the internet. It’s even better when you make baseless comments on how people look physically.
Oh so sad, how hard some people try.
Lol if you could not guess that I’m eight you’re dumber than you make yourself look.
So people who come onto a site that blogs anime are nerds?
…WELL COLOR ME FRIGGIN SHOCKED.
Still Seven, you got to admit some types of nerds practically control Silicon Valley, is one of the riches people in the world, has Hollywood twirling at his fingertips…
True, But how many Hollywood directors do you think pretend they have anime girlfriends?
No doubt that major players in the world are nerds, I’m just saying it’s pathetic to pretend to have an anime girlfriend.
I’d agree to that… if it’s something anime fans can help not doing, XD.
Sad to inform you, though, anime fans, being fans, would admit claiming at least one anime character as their “waifu/husbando”….
Mine’s Marika BTW. *runs*
You can’t really make that claim, It may be a popular thing to do. But it’s not fact.
I’m a closet anime fan, No one in the real world will ever know I watch anime, And I’m still a fan none the less. I can also say I’ve never pretended to have an anime girlfriend/wifu or whatever you want to call it.
Well then you ain’t “hardcore” yet.
Do you know what Touhou is? How BRS started? Can you name me a bunch of eroge that has an anime adaptation? All without looking in the internet?
This is just scratching the surface though…
Lol Omg! just seeing you react makes me laugh so hard, dumb? LOL! accomplished anything? LOL get a real life men, just seeing you trolling around here makes me pity you more, oh troll nowadays…
I can’t guess it since you’re so dumb to use another name lol…
well, I’ve been up for about 60 hours now and I left class early to get some sleep which I normally don’t do. But I have to say even while half awake you are so easy to read, it’s sad. It’s clear you got up set at mt calling you a nerd, and of course you’ll say you’re not, but it’s obvious because of all the spiteful one liners you just said. You try to cover it up by adding ‘lols’ all over, it’s not really becoming to act so blatantly hostile. It’s also really easy to tell who’s who by how they type and what they say, just learn to read effectively.
Anyway, I’m going to bed. Night bro
Seven you are a typical case of closet otaku yet you call others nerds, hahaha! What are you a dumb jock? You play contact sports by touching other men? Sorry guys, the reason why Seven hates Kaito is cuz he ended up with Ichika, cuz Seven probably wanted Kaito to be his husband but the ending ruined it for him. Sorry Seven didnt know you were such a fag shipper and imagine yourself getting gangbanged.
Touhou is a fighting game and BRS was a song I think. As for listing eroge, you got me. I could not even start, pretty sure Shuffle was one.
“Touhou is a fighting game” *facepalm*
gotta stop entertaining myself reading life-fail trolls…
Anyways, forgot to include my credits. Thank you stilts, for blogging this gem :’)
There are varying degrees of “nerd”. Like when you make comments about yourself, a real person, dating or involving (whatever you want to call it) with an anime character it’s a pretty high level of “nerd”. In a sad way.
Just to revised…
There are varying degrees of “troll”. Like when you post unnecessary stuff even though to a such a simple comments of appreciation and posting some flaming stuffs that doesn’t need to post.
It’s the sad truth that troll nowadays are really out of control.
I suggest Hooked on Phonics
There are various levels of retards, there are weak retards, semi-strong retards, strong retards, and there is Seven. He is in a whole level of retards. Look guys it’s a Seven! That means you have been insulted beyond belief and salvation because you are retarded enough to be called Seven.
Seven you have been up for 60 hours? Great job smoking weed/pot cuz really you have got to be doing some heavy stuff for you to stay awake that long and prove to us all that you are retarded beyond salvation. What class did you just attend? A course for growing marijuana in your basement? Seven you gotta move out of your mom’s basement man!
It was
Meth labs in your bathtub 101
No regrets watching Natsumachi.
Banana Furikake hit everything I was going to post about. I wasn’t as big a fan of Toradora as everyone else (I was an Ami fan, FWIW), but this show leapfrogged over that for me. In such a short amount of episodes, I was introduced to characters and managed to care about their desires and heartbreak. Sure, I still consider Ichika and Kaito to be weak, but that’s only because I thought Tetsurou, Mio and Kanna were that much stronger. The aforementioned trio are just so amazing. And need I say anything about Remon?
I didn’t think I’d ever be happy for Kaito and Ichika, but the ending with the narrated movie proved otherwise for me.
But still, I wouldn’t mind if an OVA popped up to flesh the ending out a little more for the Tetsurou/Mio/Kanna dynamic… that scene when Kanna started crying during the movie and Mio comforted her made me lose it. I know that feel, Kanna, I know that feel.
Much appreciated R. I would also love to see an OVA!
Perhaps beyond fleshing out Mio/Kanna/Tetsuro and add Ichika’s home planet. Too much? ♪(´ε｀ )
Beautiful indeed, you worded every idea I want to express, I really miss that kind of friendship, good thing I don’t have regrets before we all got separated, might try to give them a call later,
Thanks for blogging this one, it’s been one hell of ride,
Haha yeah, after watching this show, as a college student, I looked back in those times and actually called my friends from middle school 2 of which are married now. It’s quite the experience.
Wait til they or you have kids … Changes everything.
Oh man, I can only imagine. But i know I wouldn’t fully comprehend it yet until I get there. But I hope the ones responsible for this show are still around when that time does come, and create another show that will make me cherish life as time speeds up.
Just make sure to show em a copy of Ano Natsu when they’re old enough.
Oh, you already know it ^ ^
Happy end for every character I wanted it for! yay! Ichika and Kaito get to be together. I agree with stilts in that I wish I could have seen them together instead of just seen everyone “recognize” her showing up and then seeing the finished movie with her back on earth years later. “Your ship is broken? what? again?” that made me laugh pretty hard. And as much as kanna was cute, mio won me over so I am glad it looks like she gets her guy.
Oh and while it has been years since I have seen Onegai Teacher. I remember it having a happy ending.
Hello everyone, these are my thoughts about this show and will be put in a bullet point list style. Enjoy. Feel free to discuss with me as well because after finishing this wonderful show, all I can do is discuss it for the next month. (Exaggeration)
– I did not want this show to end, neither did you. = ]
– The HIGHLIGHTS OF MY MONDAY ARE GONE!
– What I really loved about this show is that it had a niche and it stayed there without anything too extreme, except for the alien aspect (but you and I both know it was a great addition)
– The feeling you get once you get immersed in the beauty of this show is unexplainable. I am quite sure that the sheer emotion that show brought out of its viewers is that of just genuine happiness.
– What this show makes me think of the fact that; there are 12 episode series, 24 episode series, 50 episode series animes, (and of course there’s Naruto and Bleach) WHY CANT THIS ONE BE ATLEAST 50 EPISODES?! (Exaggeration for this show is actually perfect the way it is, but one can’t help but say such words.)
– Again, trying my hardest not to constantly move my mouse to the lower part of the screen to see how much time I have left before the show end because it blocks the subtitles.
– I cannot stress enough the fact that this show had one of the better and memorable casts this season. Their attitude, thoughts, dialogue, and interactions, are the closest thing to reality.
– I also understand that many of our viewers feel that the characters are too cliché and to them I say that I think that’s why they are so damn good. The fact that these characters are so cliché is what made it so much easier for us to relate to them, and after this relation we start to feel what they feel and understand their mentality that we ourselves have been in once or twice in our lives. That, my friends is the selling point of this show.
– The fact that the writers also allowed for conceivable growth within these characters in a span of 12 episodes and in no hurry at all are way beyond me.
– I understand that I am giving this show a high rating, and it deserves it. I know you will too and here are some of the reasons for why I do.
– The pace is not rushed nor is it too slow. I believe that the writers were very keen to time management and that’s very rare in anime. They made every episode so eventful!
-The characters are LOVABLE and are definitely Memorable. I know for sure that every viewer is able to relate to them whether be it Kanna or Ichika x Kaito or even Remon (which is always the most eventful and hilarious role in these types of situations and yes, even the Men in Black aspect) .
– The art is amazing for it really contributes to the mood of the show (The pastel color scheme in contrast to Ichika’s bright red hair really brings out the happiness and sadness that a summer romance between friends).
– The music is not overly dramatic nor does it disappear in the character interactions. Once again, shout outs to Nagi Yanagi for doing a fantastic job. Please understand that you have a lot of fans here in the U.S.
– The voice actors also did a masterful job at depicting their character’s emotions to the full extent.
– As complicated as it gets the love FOOD CHAIN actually worked out in the end, and although sadness enveloped most of the cast, they were still mature enough to realize how important their friendship is! They truly care about each other.
– As a closing comment, I would like to add the impression that this show has left me. It really made me reminisce about the innocent friendship and love (not the yugioh kind of friendship, nor the Hitagi x Koyomi kind of love) that I went through in my younger years and how important they really were to me. I would like to say thank you to all those who made this viewing experience quite an amazing one and that I hope that they really do continue doing a great job at creating more masterpieces such as this one.
Great ending. Happy endings are best!
This series started out like an Onegai Teacher clone, but pulled sooooo much away from it. I haven’t rewatched that recently, but I do think Ano Natsu was much better in terms of romance, character relations and developments. I was still holding out for an Onegai Teacher/Twins cameo at the lake though. Oh well.
Also, I felt like I just watched an extended trailer for MenInBlack3. I wonder if they got some ad funding. Lol.
Reasons this show was good:
-It did nothing new so it did not have to improve anything.
–
–
Reasons the show is bad:
Kiato is the center on the universe, Let’s be honest. nothing in this show did not focus around Kiato; be it direct or indirect. And while at the center Kiato does nothing but cause problems, you can argue he’s human all you want, but he’s one stupid human. Every single person in this show tries to make Kiato happy while he does nothing for anyone else.
–
–
Lol, let’s try to make a list of things Kiato did that helps anyone but himself. It’s tough.
Lol who’s Kiato I think there’s no Kiato existing on this show? LOL
The dick’s been calling him Kiato ever since he started trolling the audience of this show a few weeks ago.
Pretty sure he knows, He just has nothing other than “lol u r troll” to insult me with so he’s grasping at straws.
Still butthurt I see.
Anyway, have fun having the last word. You trolls always do, it simply means we’re all ignoring you. Be grateful I’m even feeding you for this last time.
Oh ok we’re playing the “anything I say is fact” game. Not a big fan of it because it makes you look pathetic for not posing a real argument, But I’ll give it a go.
–
We clearly are in a geocentric universe, and I’m am the center of the earth. Also, pokémon are real.
lol He’s been a dick? I thought he was a pussy lol XD
That one complaint is basically complaining that there is a main character to begin with.
Though to be more accurate, it was practically Ichika that was the “center” of the story.
Complaints are complaints, but backhanded cynicism doesn’t count as facts.
Not really, It’s Kiato. No question about that. Ichika was a focus, I don’t get how don’t think he is, he does the voice overs and monologues.
“That one complaint is basically complaining that there is a main character to begin with”
Lol I really want to know how you came up with that. Not only does it make no sense, it’s vague with out a base.
While it’s true I hate Kiato’s character I never say anything with out some form of fact behind it. I’m not about to re state my whole argument, If you want to read it go back to the other posts for this show. But in short: Kiato is told how everyone feels and does not act on it till it’s far to late. You can’t argue that because lol, that’s exactly what happened.
Seven take an ESL class, oh wait sorry ESL class wont help you, go back to nursery english! Do you know the letters of the alphabet?
Seven is a posterboy for trolls, hey there troll, nice to meet you, you mad cuz Kiato ended up with Ichika and not with you? Sorry that we are all shipping him for Ichika or Kanna, we didnt know you had the hots for Kiato as well. LOL!
Guys. Can we stop the spamming somehow? I mean, obvious trolls are obvious (and stupid trolls are stupid and paranoid), and you don’t have to feed them, but at some point it stops being trolling and instead it’s just some idiot overloading the page with the same idiotic content over and over.
IP Ban? I think even a name ban could be in order, just to confuse the troll feeders (Yes, I’m looking at you)
And finally, the up and down votes are great, really. but it should hide the post and ALL CHILDREN POSTS. If somebody wants to feed the troll, let them do it in private or at least somewhere remote.
“but it should hide the post and ALL CHILDREN POSTS”
Do you mean all subsequent posts? or all posts by that name/user
That was an excellent blog to an excellent finale, Stilts. I could never have worded my thoughts as eloquently as you.
At the risk of repeating myself, director Nagai Tatsuyuki is on a roll: Toradora, AnoHana and now this, throw in Honey & Clover II and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun along.
I would totally welcome it if they do a spin-off featuring Remon-sempai in her MIB escapades.
Thank you kindly! And yeah, since I’ve started reading RC, I’ve starting paying more attention to seiyuu, and since I’ve started writing here (and working on the preview, ohoho…that’ll be out soon!), I’ve started paying more attention to directors and other staff as well. Getting to the point, Nagai Tatsuyuki definitely just made my to-watch-out-for list.
Stilts thanks for doing a great job on these series you picked up from Divine. I love the fact that you have produced short novels each week for 2 of my favorite shows this season (This and Rinne).
I’m glad my irrepressible wordiness wasn’t too much of a turn-off, heh. Hopefully I’ll be better at picking the best shows and get really good ones from the get-go this next season!
I think the ending would have been more touching if Ichika never came back and Katio grew up and moved on but kept a copy of the movie with him to remember. But I am happy he got a happy ending.
And I finally cared about Ichika and Kaito as a couple. Sure, it took until the last episode but it happened.
The first four episodes of this were extremely cookie-cutter and generic to a fault but once the movie kicked off it gained steam and never lost it.
The friendship was my favorite part, moreso than the romance.
A delightful ride. Glad I picked this up.
As for my character preferences..in order:
1. Lemon
2. Kanna
3. Tetsubro
4. Mio
5. Kaito
and Ichika comes in at a distant 6 mostly because I couldn’t care for her until the last epiosde.
3,4 and 5 are all interchangeable though. I loved them all.
This is exactly what I find enjoying about this show. It is the fact that different viewers can relate to different diverse characters that this show has to offer
No absurdly long wall of text this time round. (breath a sign of relief, eh, Seven?) I hate posting with my phone. =(
Good job, Stilts. Enjoyed your blogs on this series from start to end.
Thought that everyone was badass this episode, even Rinon. Well, everyone EXCEPT Ichika and Kaito. I had expected a little more from them than just fleeing.
And if the Japan branch of the MIB ever decide to recruit people, I’ll be the first in line. They have awesome lolis working for them. <3 Remon-sempai. Ufufu~
True story, I hate posting with my phone, it makes me look like a retard with the grammar and wrong words.
but what I am I signing in relief about?
Doesnt matter what medium you used, be it a phone, computer, paper, etc all kinds of medium would make you a retard because you are the one writing it. It’s because Seven is writing comments on his smartphone that his phone turned into a retardphone. Note to all smartphone manufacturers, you need to have a retardphone-proof for retards like Seven
“And if the Japan branch of the MIB ever decide to recruit people, I’ll be the first in line. They have awesome lolis working for them. <3 Remon-sempai. Ufufu~"
Haha, excellent – I will apply too!
Waiting for Hollywood (MIB) to sue Ano Natsu for Copyright Infringement… LOL
I think it’s okay considering how popular Agent K is in Japan, See here. lol
Remon was MiB agent! I knew it! and Remon trolled us all by hiding it in plain sight aka telling it straight ufufufufu!
Stilts, nice write up. This was a nice, if somewhat tragic ending for me as
I was hoping things would really work out. The seiyuu did an excellent job –
but mainly this series was about comedic timing – which was superb.
Did anyone notice that Ichika’s ship has been left behind (am I mistaken)…?
Did you really watched until the end? The real end, the last scene of the movie? 😉
If I had to guess, I’d say that the ship on the screen in MIB HQ at the end was none other that Ichika’s. Rinon was still around, after all.
I think, they take the broken Ship with them. And she came back with it. But this time she “parked” with MiB Help. So Lemon has a Eye on this “Alien Ship”
Nice ending. Leaves you a bitter sweet feeling inside.
When they started the movie and the ending song started playing I was like “Ahh, this it it… it’s over” XD
LOL Remon an agent! No wonder why she was so awesome!
Also I do agree Tetsurou may be starting to lean towards Mio but near the end when everyone was walking home and he was about to say something to Kanna, I think it’s sort of a hint that this ship is not over yet as well XD But in the end I’m glad they didn’t give us a definitive answer to who paired up with who in this love triangle (even though Kanna is pushing Tetsurou to Mio)
I’m glad I watched this series 🙂
Also how cute is this!? https://randomc.net/image/Ano%20Natsu%20de%20Matteru/Ano%20Natsu%20de%20Matteru%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
I’ve watched both Onegai series, and the only similarity between this series and the other two is that the lead girl with glasses is an alien and Lemon was similar to Ichigo. That’s where the similarities end.
Regarding the crystal at the lake, while it is voiced by the same person who voiced Mizuho, I don’t think it is meant to represent Mizuho but rather a cameo. The proof is in the following spoiler for Onegai Teacher and Twins. Show Spoiler ▼
Overall, definitely the best romance drama of the season, and possibly the best one since AnoHana. This director has been doing an awesome job thus far, I hope he keens on cramming out awesome titles in the near future!
agreed 100%, for many reasons:
-Think of it as an indirect sequel(kinda like angel heart to city hunter, same universe, after main series, but not a sequel)
-If u want to get real specific, there are a ton of small details, okay it was voiced by inoue kikuko, but they don’t show Kei’s name on the tree, if they did, that would be a flag for a direct sequel.
-The actual timeline of it does not match at all chronologically.
-Like you said, Mizuho didn’t crash, and was allowed to visit the planet. She was also happily married for a long time after the first series.
-You will never, as a writer or creator, be like: “ok guys I known we gave u two happy endings of the first two series, but guess what? they get separated anyways, out of the blue. That’d be the biggest troll to your fanbase, myself included, that loved the series from the beginning. and If you wanted to take that route, that would just mean they killed Kei, just like they killed Mizuho’s dad, because he couldn’t forget and/or had children with her. end of my rant.
ps. If you really wanted to place it somewhere it would be at ep 11 of teacher, when everyone’s memory is wiped clean and she is gone. I could spoiler tag this but it has been out for years =)
Commenting so more people will see this one. Thanks taiakun! That answered a lot of the lingering questions I had…or would have had, if I weren’t still wrapped up in enjoying the warm fuzzies :3
I have a theory on the connection to OT (and it is a stretch at best), however I will put it in an easy way.
What we think as time is constant is actually our perception on Earth. However this might not be the case in outerspace/other planets. Astrophysics have long known that time can theoretically be manipulated faster or slower due to the effects of gravity.
If Ichika’s planet can operate in a way that time is faster relative to Earth’s, then perhaps a generation here on Earth (25years) could be hundreds of years back on Ichika’s planet.
A 25years technological gap in a rural town (even in Japan) would not be so obvious.
After all, other than the smartphone and faster computers, what technological breakthrough have we progressed in the last 25years, right?
This would also explain the technological evolution on her planet is far superior than ours.
Thanks for letting us know, taiakun! I did watch both Onegai series before, thought the teacher one involved aliens, the twins didnt really have that theme if I’m not mistaken right? I watched both series a long time ago, so I was a bit confused watching the ending of this show that Mizuho got separated from Kei when in the end of the show they got married, so after watching the end of this show I was kinda trolled for that info, glad you let us know cuz I completely forgot those minor details like Mizuho was allowed to be in Earth in the first place. You’re also right that chronologically it did not make any sense at all, since if she was really the ancestor then the events that had taken place in onegai teacher would be like 100 years ago lol. Well thank you for clearing that up! Upvotes to you!
You welcome 🙂
Yes, that’s right. While Mizuho also appeared frequently in Onegai Twins, the story focused more on the Twin’s relationship with the new male lead character (though they all went to the same house at the start of the series after witnessing Mizuho’s spaceship on the news).
Expanding on my theory above. If say after Onegai Twins timeline, Mizuho was eventually found out to be on Earth and finally taken back (while pregnant,perhaps?). After 25(Earth)/Hundreds(Mizuho’s planet) years have passed, Mizuho’s descendant has finally arrived on Earth, and this story begins.
Its a stretch, I know. But its workable in theory.
Possibly. However the story told by the crystal of the alien’s life on earth contradicted what Mizuho went through in many ways (mainly that Mizuho did not crash-land on earth like the crystal stated and that she was allowed to interact with humans) that I doubt it has any direct relation to Mizuho. Also, in terms of technology, Mizuho’s technology was just as superior to Ichika’s, if not more advanced (I recall Mizuho’s younger sister being able to teleport the main character to another world entirely).
I’m gonna keep it short.
This is simply the best
romcomanime this season for me. Everything’s perfect for my tastes, will definitely watch it again.The show’s strongest point for me is how the characters are as human(err, and alien?) as they can be. The emotions, the development, it’s just too good.
This will definitely get my vote for The Show Of the Season and Best Romance :3
It’s weird, everyone’s like “they’re human blah blah”. But really don’t you people expect a little more intelligence out of people? They’re all sixteen; seventeen ish, yet Kiato acts like he’s a 5th grader.
–
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I guess I just expect a bit more out of ‘humans’ than you guys. Like the ability to think past what is your immediate ‘want'(Ichika).
I see that your hate on Kaito is on another level so I won’t argue with you, let’s have it your way. Let’s say Kaito is a sixteen/seventeen year old teen with a 5th grader’s brain.
But then again who’s more “human”? A 5th grader acting maturely like he knows the world or a sixteen/seventeen year old boy who’s very childish?
Well, of course it’s the latter. You”re more likely to see people in the real world acting very stubborn and childish than children acting maturely. Thus, Kaito being childish like a 5th grader can still be considered “very human”, right?
This right here is what I tried to avoid because this is truly opinion based. Sadly you have to look at this on a person to person basis. Which is why I used a lot of “I”s in that comment.
I personally expect more common sense out of people after a certain age, but not every might.
You don’t really need to understand the world in order to realize that if you go chasing after another person in front a person you know has feeling for you, you’re going to hurt them.
It’s a bit ironic to read your complaints about the main characters maturity while being much more childish yourself. No, trolling is not a sign of maturity nor does it get better with quantity of posts.
It’s a good thing that he was more mature then you and didn’t run over to Kanna as soon as he was told about her feelings to shoot her down, as that would have been rather insensitive.
Instead he did the right thing and pursued his own happiness with honesty. He didn’t try and hide his feelings from anyone and they reached both his target and his friends. If Kanna had done that herself from the start (before the anime started), then things might have turned out happier for her. Tsundere girls (or guys) should worry less about their feelings being found out and more about their feelings not being found out until too late.
Oh, Thanks. I was hoping someone would post a completely opinionated comment.
You’re a perfect example of what I was trying to avoid, See how you have absolutely nothing to back what you say? All you just did was voice your opinion about what he SHOULD have done, not what he actually did.
Thank you for helping me prove my point, Sorry you had to look like an idiot doing it.
Of course it’s my represents my opinion, as do every single post you have made. Do you think your opinion smells like roses with all the negative votes it gets?
We’ve been over it a ton of times. I don’t argue my opinions, I just state negative facts about the show.
I also don’t think my opinion smells like anything, because it’s a thought. At least you tried to be creative.
Downvotes for Seven!
I’m going to have a mini-rant. Here goes:
It was ending so well then that LAST *insert profanity here* SCENE. Heck, I didn’t even mind, maybe even enjoyed, the random action scenes.
But why, God, why do they feel obliged to *insert profanity here* it up by making her to come back? Why can’t they just leave him to spend the remainder of his life wistfully wandering the realms of nostalgia? All the drama and emotions so far have been so nice and so real. Sometimes there’s just no need for a happily-ever-after fairy tale ending…
“I’m going to have a mini-rant. Here goes:
It was ending so well then that LAST FUCKING SCENE. Heck, I didn’t even mind, maybe even enjoyed, the random action scenes.
But why, God, why do they feel obliged to fuck it up by making her to come back? Why can’t they just leave him to spend the remainder of his life wistfully wandering the realms of nostalgia? All the drama and emotions so far have been so nice and so real. Sometimes there’s just no need for a happily-ever-after fairy tale ending…”
You’re welcome, It’s the internet bro. No one cares if you curse.
hahahaha I’m glad the ending didnt go the way you wanted Seven! U mad bra?
Having recently watched 5 centimeters per second, this happy ending was perfect for me.
5 centimeters per second was pretty much the opposite of this, But the season they do it is because they are trying to hit as many bases as possible in order to make the fan base bigger.
P.S. The surfer chick from 5CPS is one of my favorite characters of all time (probably because I also surf), But she is like Kanna is a lot of ways.
@Seven: Amen to that. Surfer chick episode was the best episode out of the three.
When typing out my rant I really had 5CPS in my mind with the forever alone protagonist. I see why the chose it to end it like this though but it’s just like adding last minute soy sauce to a chocolate souffle. It’s just not right.
Yeah, its ending is very depressing which is the exact opposite of AnoNatsu’s ending. 5cm per second has a good life lesson, something that can only be taught by giving us that sad ending so I still appreciate it. I’m glad that he was able to move on in the end.
*But the reason they do it is* god… I need sleep
anyway, I don’t know. I figured he did not move on and was still hung up on the one girl. I saw it as he was just coasting through life without really trying to feel anything.
For me I kept having ‘Hoshi no Koe’ vibes when Kaito said ‘I’ll go to you..’ :S But all’s well that ends well!
I’ve wanted to watch Hoshi no Koe for a while but it’s so short and I know I’ll probably want more. So it’s better to just not put myself though it.
I know this is off topic but
Show Spoiler ▼
A classic is “the girl who leapt through time” but you’ve probably seen.
Another really good one is “Kings of Thorns”, it’s a post apocalypse drama.
Thanks, I’ve watched the girl who leapt through time. I just looked up King of Thorn in ANN and it I find interesting. I’ll be watching it later 🙂
It’s one of my favorites, the ending is really sad though.
King of Thorns looks pretty interesting. Thanks for the suggestion.
Can someone please tell me who the hell Kiato is?
He’s that one dude; you know. With the hair and eyes.
Who is he? He’s Spiderman
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Lol I though he was pussyman aka seven… LOL!
Yes, Seven is a bakayarou and a complete fag.
It was a very enjoyable ride, from start to end.
I believe the fact in itself that I was on my toes checking each week if a new episode was released says a lot.
There was actually true romance in there, and no, for once, they actually didn’t drag it out and frustrated us for xx episodes before making it clear to us, they didn’t use humor or laughed it off, or made it ridiculous with gags, it was direct, it was charming, it was moving, it was also painful sometimes. But I never felt bored and after 12 eps, I feel sad bcs it ended of course, I can’t say I wouldn’t have liked to see more about those 2, but I can say it was really good.
Only confuse about one thing they stated thatearth is label as a class D planet because no alien contact was made in the past, so where did all these MIB and high tech gadget come from, that part doesn’t seem to make sense to me. For MIB to exist then earth is higher than class D then, so there was no need for Ichika to leave the planet in the first place and the federation should have noticed it from beginning.
I believe they said that Earth was labeled as Class D because it lacks the ability for interstellar travel.
As for proof of alien contact, I suppose the MIB cannot just come out and reveal themselves. Like in the movies, the MIB serves as a refuge for aliens, a sanctuary that technically “does not exist” to the public, even the galactic federation. So even Remon, as an agent, cannot only help with so much while her hands are tied by regulations.
agreed 100%, with Taia-kun for many reasons:
-Think of it as an indirect sequel(kinda like angel heart to city hunter, same universe, after main series, but not a sequel)
-If u want to get real specific, there are a ton of small details, okay it was voiced by inoue kikuko, but they don’t show Kei’s name on the tree, if they did, that would be a flag for a direct sequel.
-The actual timeline of it does not match at all chronologically.
-Like you said, Mizuho didn’t crash, and was allowed to visit the planet. She was also happily married for a long time after the first series.
-You will never, as a writer or creator, be like: “ok guys I known we gave u two happy endings of the first two series, but guess what? they get separated anyways, out of the blue. That’d be the biggest troll to your fanbase, myself included, that loved the series from the beginning. and If you wanted to take that route, that would just mean they killed Kei, just like they killed Mizuho’s dad, because he couldn’t forget and/or had children with her. end of my rant.
ps. If you really wanted to place it somewhere it would be at ep 11 of teacher, when everyone’s memory is wiped clean and she is gone. I could spoiler tag this but it has been out for years =)
This show EASILY went from low priority, to season favorite really fast. I was so distraught over this episode because I was scared at the solution. Yet, the solution was just what I wanted.
That’s it, AnoNatsu wins all the awards. Now one of my favorite anime.
I hope Seven is not from seventhstyle.com.
I could change my name back to Eight if you’d like.
Bravo on the epic “Final Thoughts” section Stilts
I cried, I admit. Nice story, epic characters, good production.
Series Score 9/10!
except Kiato
When I say “characters” I mean everyone, no exceptions.
What about this one?
http://minus.com/mY2cx0pl3/1f
….
O_O
NO EXCEPTIONS…
If you say so. I still think Kiato is an ignorant jerk though.
He’s holding something for his girlfriend. Epic. 😀
And the whole of RC will say “You’re wrong Seven and you don’t get it.”
Hugs, butterflies, and kisses ; bro
hugs
butterflies
and kisses
i wanted to but it did not happen
The reason why it is not a perfect 10, is because Seven is a FAG that ruins the series by trolling for his opinionated comments, what an asswipe, you damn hypocrite. You avoid people because their comments are opinionated? That’s what comments are about you damn retard! I’m guessing from the way that your age is probably below 10, heck sorry if I’m insulting 10 year olds that have an IQ greater than yours.
to think this wasnt even on my radar to watch, but after seeing the blog post on episode 9, i decided to watch, and now its one of my top 10! go figure
So I’ll admit, I didn’t catch the ending at first and was ready to rage-quit this one at the very end. Then I thought okay, this series deserves a second look, and then the last five seconds clicked, and I felt like an idiot. The dialogue, the location, her clothes… yeah, happy endings are happy! Poor Kanna though… live well and find love, Adorable Girl C!!!
Like a lot of others, I didn’t go into this show expecting much, and while it really didn’t do anything new(except maybe the MIB thing that I honestly didn’t see coming), it was still just awesomely entertaining. From the animation alone I thought it might be another Toradora, and it wasn’t that far off(better IMHO)! It was just fun, minus the brutal cliffhangers 😛 That’s why I couldn’t except a bad ending, with how everything else worked out for well for Kaito and Ichika. Just couldn’t see things getting so brutally “life lesson”y at the very end, and I’m glad they only partially did. Yeah, I’ll be watching this one a few dozen more times XD
Thanks for the coverage Stilts!
Thanks Stilts for a great write up on the finale. I’ve been a reader of Random Curiosity since Omni held the reigns, but I have never personally posted before today. With Divine having to pull back temporarily I’m glad to see talented writers continuing RC’s legacy in expressing great opinions for anime every season. Constructive writing can’t be achieved without consideration for the readers, and it’s obvious by the comments not everyone’s opinions can be agreed with. What makes your writing great is that it summarized a quality show from a fans perspective, especially when the show did a lot of work to be refreshing in spite of familiar plots, and it really was a fascinating and engrossing journey. PW
Thank you! Glad to hear I haven’t screwed everything up yet, though give me a season or two and I’ll figure something out : )
Look forward to our new writers getting more active this next season. We’ve got some real good talent for you all to enjoy…and Zephyr, but hey, you can’t win them all.
(<3 Zephy! :3)
I see you good sir.
Nyahaha~! :3
I have to say Ano Natsu is my favorite anime this season. Some people may say it was simple, but I loved every minute of it and it kept me on edge at the end of every episode wanting more. I believe the story was well written and it gave the reader many emotions of love and a sense of belonging.
Another thing I have to say about this is the Ano Natsu ED – Best ED of 2012
Agreed on your comments about the series
I must take issue with one thing, though. While Ano Natsu’s ED (the song itself) is awesome, and was consistently used to great effect, I can’t give it the best ED of 2012, or even Winter 2012. Not the best ED sequence, at least. I mean, have you seen High School DxD’s ED?? O.O
With Yanagi Nagi singing it, of course it’s bound to be great 🙂
But I think EGOIST’s(aka Supercell) ED song for Guilty Crown, Departures, is pretty good as well. But Stilts is right, nothing can be compared to High School DxD’s ED sequence. While I wouldn’t really say the song is better than the 2 songs mentioned above, the visuals spell W-I-N. If you’re a guy, that is.
Hey I like LOST CHILD would that have a place at the end of 2012? 🙂
Cant wait until Thursday.. I want to watch it already!..
Allow me to put my thoughts down.
My prediction that Team A (KaitoXIchika) would have a AnoHana end was spot on, which is the bittersweet but ultimately happy end. A more realistic point of view is that Ichika, like Mizuho, would not be together with her beloved as a married couple would. Her life would mirror Mizuho’s and in the future, maybe her descendant (a red-haired cutie, perhaps?) would one day return to earth and the cycle would continue once more.
Another one of my predictions that Team B (TetsurouXMioXKanna) would remain status quo was also correct. Although Tetsurou is leaning towards Mio, as I mentioned it would take some time for it to bloom with the other girl’s approval.
My prediction of the appearance of the last, famed member for the Forever 17 Club was also true, although it was only her voice.
My thoughts that an OVA is unnecessary for closure is somewhat correct. Though I wouldn’t mind having another episode, it would just troll fans everywhere. Come to think of it, a troll OVA starring our master troll(ufufufu~/ Not Seven!) wouldn’t be so bad after all.
This show have been the best roller-coaster ride that I’ve been in. Even though you know what the ending will be, the twist and turns are what that gets me excited week in week out. Even after I have ‘seen’ the ending 2 episodes before, the plot twist from the last 2 eps really made it so interesting and exciting.
My only sadness is that the bittersweet fate of Mizuho had crushed my lasting impression of the end of Onegai Teacher. I have always thought that she would live her life with Kei on Earth. I didn’t expect she and her descendant(Ichika) would share the same fate as Orihime and Hikoboshi.
All in all, a very good show. Nagai should stick to anything else that begins with ‘Ano’. He’s on a winning streak with AnoHana & AnoNatsu.
…just as planned and just as I posted back in episode 10. She had to leave and the ‘tragic three’ got their 4th member back. I enjoyed this show. It wasn’t as much of a tearjerker like Ano Hana was at the end, but it was a decent feel good show… and giving Kanna fans a good ribbing on 4chan was also quite fun too.
Hm, you really red the article or watched this episode until the end. Icika is back, just as a little hind, or I missunderstand your “4th member back”. =)
10/10 :’) Haters Gonna Hate
lol, MIB turned out to be real!
Agent L 😛
Looks like Ichika did come back for the last scene to the movie?
The final scene when the movie was shown should be years after the incident.
Perhaps in the gap the Agent L with Special Advisor Rinon somehow got Ichika back?
Bad ass remon… But that black glasses makes her looks like a blind
At first I only was interested in watching because Haruka was one of the seiyuus.. I simply love her voice.
Then i saw that not only her, but everyone, and the story.. I’m glad
Yea MIB baby.. where’s K?
Ya saw Ichika with the Bolivian Shirt. Made me go!?!?!?! Nani..? So I wonder what happened there… too cliffhangerish to not know… gahh
Quite a number of JC Staff shows ended this: AnoNatsu, Shana 3, ZnF 4…real epics 🙂
I wonder what news shows will they put out next season.
I’m hoping for another RomCom 🙂
As long as Nagai-sensei is directing it, right? 🙂
No Mio x Tetsuro…? I am dissapoint.
The rest of the series was so good that I don’t really care though! Thanks for the Stiltastic posts on this!
Will the Spring Preview 2012 be coming up any time soon..?
We’re getting close, we just started a month late since Divine kept hoping he’d have time to do it. We’ll have it out on time next season for sure, so bear with us here!
Oh, I’m bearing with you alright.. I’m bearing my claws off here!
I don’t mind the wait, just gives me something to look forward to (and that something happens to be a preview that will make me look forward to other stuff). So much forward-looking..
and thus another show comes to an end. so does winter.
lets see, where do i start…
i was really hoping to start brawling (as bad as when it happened for ano natsu [x2!] and toradora) when ichika left kaito or when nagi yanagi started to sing but that did not happen… i’m alright with that…. i can’t sleep otherwise…. although, right now, im feeling emotional after watching the ep
i’ve noticed the lemon made continuous reference to MIB but i REALLY THOUGHT she was trolling us. never did i realise that she REALLY IS from MIB. hope to see her in MIIIB. i remembered seeing that poster outside the local cinema (hollywood, if you’re watching this, please make sure that Agent R plays a major role in the movie)
and thanks stilts for covering this show. im guessing that at the current moment, with all the new writers joining RC, it kinda makes things slightly difficult to write spring preview?
Stilts, you told everthing that needed to be told. I can’t add anything but, Ano Natsu is a wonderfull romance comedy!
Good troll ========== R/Lemon-sempai
Bad troll ========== Seven
Why? it’s simple… Good troll can help people, bad troll can annoy people.
WTF. Feeders like you are worse me more than the troll itself.
A successful internet troll is the one that annoys people. The more you hate the more he stays. Learn to internet for god’s sake.
Oh and what do you think about yourself? LOL! omg you’re such a good boy? LOL omg praise you for learning the internet so badly, asshole
You’re not wrong and you’re not right either, I think it’s still depend on the gravity how the troll is insulting you/certain person, if it does involved some personal issue I think you’re lacking the thing that your avatar does have and that is what you called manliness or courage to defend (Harima) if you’re just keeping yourself on silence.
To be honest most feeders are just a victim of trolling and by impulse of their emotions so I think you shouldn’t just enter yourself in their own flame war, just let them be and I think they will stop sooner or later after they’ve been worn out. I think most people understood that and just posting their own opinions on the show itself not just bothering at those 2 and instead of butting in and just adding some flame in that word war. I think you should focus on the show’s discussions since you’re like those people when you posted that.
Just my 2 cents on this certain discussion and will never be bother to return to this topic again.
That’s just what mommy says. A true troll never gives up even if he is ignored, I planned on stopping because well, the show is over. Some people here just get mad over the littlest things
Kiato no baka! cow? MIB!
WTF are coalguys are doing.? Baka? Cow? heh Baka is the tagalog/filipino translation of cow, the heck was that!!
Kanna Tanigawa is the best character in this show, this season, and maybe even for a lifetime. End of Story.
“Then there’s the other way to achieve success, which is to do something that has already been done really, really, really well.”
Couldn’t have said it better. I loved Ano Natsu much in the same way that I loved Toradora! (although Toradora! is still the champ). I loved that they spent the time making the series really really solid and because they did that, all of the messages really hit home. You don’t need to create something riveting or confusing or original to make people rethink what they thought they understood. This is a story that reaffirms our faith in humanity, love, and friendship, and it does it extremely well.
I still find it hard to believe that Remon != Ichigo Morino, is her first alien friend Mizuho Kazami or Ichika, why would she have multiple driving liceneses if she weren’t Ichigo, why is she her carbon copy. lol
Anyway fab series, great blog of series, Happy customer. Now to go back and rewatch onegai teacher & twins.
Really disappointed at this anime for relying on a semi-deus ex machina *coughmeninblackcough*
Does it hurt for the creators to take this anime seriously. The developments were ridiculous. And it became totally unrealstic. For example, during the explosion scene, Kaito and the Alien girl just left. Did the thought that Remon could’ve been dead not cross the duo’s minds? This isn’t a cheesy action series where you see characters sacrificing themselves to help the main characters escape.
First off, you can’t be expecting anything realistic from this series (unless, of course, if you have a strong belief that aliens such as Ichika actually exist IRL), so when you put the whole show in perspective, the existence of the MIB isn’t all that strange. I guess the producers didn’t want to end the series off too seriously.
But yes, Kaito and Ichika were, to be blunt, plain dumb, which has made the pair quite the disappointment ever since they get together. It goes to show that some people can fall so madly in love that they forget about their surroundings, the people they interact with and how to respond to situations without thinking about themselves as a couple. Sure, some could have called what they did “trusting in their friends”, but there’s a difference between reliance on friends and conveniently throwing them away. I definitely thought they should have shown more concern for Remon-sempai.
Unrealistic = Aliens & MiB. Now that thought shouldn’t exist. That’s not how you judge realism in animes.
This show has been realistic at times, and that is great. When it becomes unrealistic, however, most of the time the anime becomes dumb and ridiculous.
It’d be good if you could define what you mean by “realism in anime”.
I don’t see what’s wrong with the existence of the MIB in a series that has an alien as a main protagonist. While I do see that Kaito and Ichika were wrong to just run off even after witnessing that explosion, I can’t exactly say it’s unrealistic either. People can be that narrow-minded and selfish. Kaito and Ichika had their sights set on getting to that lake, so everything else that happened was no longer a big enough concern for them to turn around. Crappy, but not unrealistic.
And it may not be a cheesy action series, but yes, it is about side characters sacrificing something to aid the main pair in some way (in this case, their relationship).
HELLO AGAIN STILTS!
k, so I dusted off my onegai teacher dvds, and watched the whole thing again(yeah I’m THAT guy), and Show Spoiler ▼
YES!!!!
I watched OT a long time ago, and it was practically my introduction to anime, so of course I love it with the burning passion of a thousand suns and I would defend it against a raging mob of haters armed with guns made out of guns.
Because of that I was so damn angry at the apparent Mizuho cameo practically saying “In the end Kei and me parted ways” and for a whole day I kept thinking of solutions and over-analyzing so that they could be together…until I read your post and remembered that at the end of the eleventh episode Kei, in fact, couldn’t remember Mizuho and she was taken away.
Anyways maybe the two series have nothing to do with each other, and maybe that was just Kikuko Inoue paying tribute to a much cherished role, but the simple possibility that they didn’t undo the OT happy ending made my day. Thank you.
And about Ano Natsu, now that I’m older I can see some things that I can’t oversee, but this comment has grown too long, so in a nutshell, enjoyable, but to me the plot needed more events to drive the characters.
With the help of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, Ichika managed to return to earth. And they all lived happily ever after
It would’ve been much better if she didn’t come back at all. The creators just did a happy ending just for the sake of ending it happy.
Ok I apologized for my earlier response, maybe I’ve been just swayed by my personal emotions. specially sorry to Richard, >_< )
I think this isn't a flame blog like horriblesubs site…
… this is about the episode 12 of Ano Natsu… not a flame war..
There are haters and lovers of this show….
and honestly I'm one of the lover of this show.
Toradora is greater than this bec. of the lots of development that occur, bec. of the ed episode satisfied most of the fans of it that they didn't read the manga/LN anymore.
Ano Natsu on the other hand does have a deus ex machina ed… But I think, a short OVA will do the justice on this one and the Kanna, Mio, and Tetsuro triangle is still foggy.
No offense was taken. See you around.
Feel bad for Kanna, this whole series she has gotten the short end of the stick. Yet I think this situation was handled quite well when she came clean so good job writers!
It does seem like that way but I think Kanna merged out as the strongest out of all her friends. Plus it’s obvious she will move on so I can see it as a happy ending for her 🙂
My most anticipated finale this season, and it did not disappoint. So many great things about this series, but the one thing that really stood out for me were the characters. They were all consistent and likeable, yet they still remained unique from each other. And the fact that they never really beat around the bush in terms of relationships. Everything was so simple and straightforward, and it allowed the complexity of the characters really stand out.
Remon-senpai FTW
I first watched Onegai Teacher many years ago, back when I absolutely adored the rom-com genre. I actually don’t remember much about that series anymore, aside from the basic premise of an alien girl falling in love with the protagonist, and Pocky. Needless to say, I will most definitely be rewatching Onegai Teacher, for a bit of nostalgia trip.
I can’t get Yanagi Nagi’s “Vidro Moyou” out of my head, and it’s not a bad thing. It’s such great song. *proceeds to download and replay it indefinitely*
Seven I think you need to shut the hell up. It’s clear no one has any desire to read your garbage, so why not leave instead of making an ass of yourself?
man… not even a little creative or witty. I can’t even begin to argue with that, there’s nothing to say. In the future please try to add substance to your comments.
So in the end, the film was completed by Ichika returning to the Earth?
And as for timeline confusion, I don’t think Onegai Sensei is directly connected to Ano natsu. Its like, a “in-direct sequel” if you ask me…
Anyway this series, Another and Lagrange were top series for this last year’s Winter. Others were a alright such as GC, BRS etc but the ending was really disappointing.
Re: Ichika return- yup.
Well before I start to read Stilts’ review and final thoughts and all these walls of text in the comment section, I just want to get this out of my chest……….”WTF is that ending, seriously japan what the heck! Last Sunday I just finished watching “Toaru Hikuushi e no Tsuioku” and now this, sometimes I just want to have my romance Anime to have a sweet cheesy ending. C’mon after all the hardship and trial that the couple overcome just for the sake of each other, at least give them a proper and deserving conclusion of their love. Seriously japan is that really that difficult to make!?”
Rant done! Anyway Ano Natsu for me is really one of the best I have seen in the romance genre in Anime this past couple of years, it’s simple, well paced, overall art and aesthetic is great, the characters are very fun to watch and I just really love the ED song. This Anime just sets the bar high in the romance genre for me this year.
Very well done Stilts;; definitively no regrets after watching this anime.
Hey stilts! Any plan on this upcoming spring lineup, you mind to take fate/zero arc 2?
Ano Natsu isn’t good, its AWESOME!.. Two thumbs up with a very big smile for Ano Natsu!.. A really one of a kind of an anime.. The story, the characters, its all there.. I cant ask for more!.. Its already there!.. Its just too powerful show.. ^_^
RandomC commenters: there’s no winning against a troll, only “not losing”. Like others said, don’t feed trolls because all they want is attention. If you hate Seven then a healthy dose of indifference is the only solution. In other words don’t respond, ever.
Some of you are falling victim to Seven’s trolling by getting emotional and throwing around personal attacks. How about talking about the show instead of the people writing their opinions? Yeah I’m talking to you BaKaYarou, Da5id, Moondoggie and others in past comment threads.
Seven, your trolling is very entertaining. Unlike what some have said, you’re intelligent because you really know how to push people’s buttons and get them to flame you. Though, in the next series I hope you’ll do more than word the same point 10 different ways (hating Kiato).
It’s tough, Like everyone has said the show is simple so I really can’t argue many points because… well they’re not there. Trust me, if I had more to insult kiato with than ‘he’s an idiot’ I’d do it. But I pretty much have to reword it, I keep trying t make it simpler because people miss the point.
Why do all Seven’s comments get disliked?
because people in here KNOW how to feed a troll, just sit back and enjoy the show.
More like because us keyboard warriors can’t get a grip on our emotions. Seriously, if you guys want to talk shit with Seven, fine, but at least craft your posts into a proper discussion, not some comment about trolls or mothers. I’m sure Stilts was talking about this when he mentioned “not wanting to play moderator”, so do him a favor.
And if you don’t have the patience and wit to debate, don’t bother starting one.
hey hey don’t get me wrong, i’m a peace man, i’m not trying to start another bullshit fight and not even continue this one, just saying how funny is to see people desperately trying to “fight” a troll. plus, come on a site with millions people and not a single troll is no fun.
by the way, i like it! the “keyboard warriors” nice one.
I’ve been making people mad for a few weeks now with this show. I just keep pointing out the really negative sides to the show that everyone likes, and if it’s not hugs, butterflies and kisses, it’s trolling on RC.
Though unlike some people I don’t just post blatantly ignorant and hateful comments because I don’t agree. I like to keep it civil and not just spew insults, I also like to keep it creative.
@lkm
Ah, I hope you didn’t get the wrong idea. I agree with what you said (including enjoying the show, although by doing so, I’m just supporting something that I’d rather not support), and your post seemed appropriate to compound on and to point out the issue at hand. My post wasn’t directed towards you, but rather to everyone else planning to rage at every other negative comment. Sorry if I came across as being hostile. =D
@Seven
It has something to do with how blunt you are when pointing out certain things. It also has something to do with everyone of us being unable to look at each aspect of this series (or any other series, for that matter) from different perspectives without having some sort of bias towards our own opinions of the series. But instead of using this as a tool for discussion, it seems like a number of people here (and a particularly nasty dude) just want to argue for the sake of arguing. It’s disappointing, actually.
Have to agree about the “hugs and kisses” thing, but I’ll refrain from commenting on that. I don’t have the courage nor the perseverance to put myself in the same position you’ve placed yourself in. I can’t handle all that hate, lol.
BTW, what new series will you be following this coming season? Can’t wait to pit my wits and horrible English against you again. >=)
And just to show that I still intend to stay on topic: I know we all saw that MIB stuff coming a mile away, but it still didn’t stop me from letting out a loud “HAHA!” when Remon-sempai turned back to the row of bazooka-wielding agents and went “Took you guys long enough”. Remon stole the whole episode, in my opinion.
No idea what shows are being covered next season. I hope someone does Accel world, that’s a fun one to hate because of the protagonist being fat. But that one is way opinion based so it’s hard to argue.
I like to wait till a show is finished airing before watching it, I usually marathon the show. I feel it makes the show better that way. So a lot of the time I try to avoid looking at shows posted here I don’t watch weekly. Otherwise I would comment on all the shows
@Seven
In an effort to be hypocritical, I’ll take the bait.
In Episode 9, you say:
“I can read a conversation while you at best can read a full sentence”
“this is just getting out of hand with the amount of sheer stupidity you say.”
“Are you now purposely trying to make yourself look stupid?’
“You are so hell bent on trying to make me look bad you act like a retard in the process.”
And now:
“I like to keep it civil and not just spew insults, I also like to keep it creative.”
It’s not funny anymore when you outright deny the reality of your previous comments. What was that about keeping it civil and creative?
Those comments where all pretty civil in context of when and who they were said to. You apparently have not read some on the comments here, take Virox for example. He is just being outright spiteful and angry, while the insults I say have relevance to what is being talked about, him along with a few others are just being belligerent.
Stop hating on Seven! Show some love people …
So calling the fans here a nerds is creative? I think that’s a personal attack and not creative nor constructive at all, and maybe that triggered Bakayarou’s emotions if I’m not mistaken even though it’s just a hunch.
Ok fine, I’ll give you that one. I was just trying to be mean, the whole ‘wifu’ thing is just disgustingly pathetic on a lot of levels. So I felt a need to say something.
Brilliant series nonetheless. 🙂
hmm it was an enjoyable anime thanks to lemon, rinon, tetsurou and every character but Ichika and Kaito :/ that couple is the most boring I’ve ever seen in an anime xD but nice job j.c staff and staff lol they made a really good ending *^*
tbh, i would really rather the ending be kaito worked hard on science and end up joining MIB and design space crafts… and then leave it at that…in an anime where a pink blob can wrap people, i know i really shouldnt argue whether it is probable or not, so i’m gonna leave out the science talk. the irrational reasoning for the ending i persoanlly would much prefer is because if kaito were to join MIB, it would show much much more dedication and affection he had for ichika… but it could just be me… happy ending usually doesnt leave as strong an impression on me…
Something like that would be good. Anything but an ending where Ichika comes back. Do the producers understand how awkward the ending was? It would have been so much better if they had left it at Kaito and company moving on with life, while keeping in their memories the summer they spent with Ichika, and how they’d be waiting for her in the future summers to come.
Also, I presume that Ichika came back to Earth, which meant the silly promise that Kaito made when she was being taken away was kinda broken. I didn’t want to point it out, Kaito, but you’ve made yourself into a fool.
And I forgot to mention that Tetsurou and Mio looked really cute on that Vespa, especially when it ran out of gas! Mio’s scream was just HNNNGGGGGG! Kanna and Nanami going on about the stalker rapist robot? HNNNGGGGGG! Remon-sempai in a suit and sunglasses? Ahh, my heart can’t take much more of this.
im going to miss that ufufufuuf. part now. :(. but besides that I really hope to see more animes from these directors and crew in the near future. Def one of my top romance series of the season 🙂
Hope that the crew will work on the recently news about the little buster anime… I think if the crew will work on that one another great anime will be born… It’s been a while since Angel Beats and Clannad so hope a proper crew/director and specially a studio will work on that one ^^
I don’t have much to add but, I did want to say that Ano Natsu ended up being one of the best romcoms I’ve seen in a long time. I wasn’t even going to watch the series except for RandomC blogging it. Many thanks to Divine and Stilts for their time and effort. I would wholeheartedly recommend this series to anyone.
So can someone explain to me when exactly Ichika comes back? Im just trying to clarify if she returns 2 weeks later or a year afterwards. Im assuming that when it was stated as “alumni” they were referring to Ichika and Remon but im just confused at this point. I don’t know why but this has been stressing me out. Thanks in advance for the reply.
It’s said why is previous comments, not only why she came back but when. Just read.
Kaito and friends were the last people to hold on to the film, so I’m guessing they were the alumni that the voices in the last scene were referring to. This would have meant that they had already graduated. Everything that happened throughout the series took place during the summer of their first year in high school.
Summer of first high school year -> School festival in their final year (which I presume is around the spring-summer period): Approximately 2 years
From there, it’s a bit hard to narrow down the timeline. The blazers they were wearing in school following the scene where Ichika was taken away probably means that it was around autumn when they receive the incomplete film from Remon. The sign above the classroom door indicates that their still in their first-year class. That’s about all the clues I can gather from the episode to piece together the timeline.
So using all that, the most that I can figure out is that Ichika returned within the span of 2 years, and the earliest being right after They decided to view the incomplete movie (which I’m assuming may be as early as a week after Ichika is taken away, but that depends on when their school semester begins, and stuff).
To be honest I think Tetsurou still lingers feelings for Kanna. From the way he reacted when watching the film and the scene turns to him and Kanna sleeping next to each other, and how he wanted to say something to her when they were going home, and how he still seems hesitant about dating Mio (despite Kanna pushing him to :P)
But that might just be me because I’m a huge Kanna fan LOL. Well like I said before, it’s good they didn’t give a definitive answer to KannaTetsuMio.
Well they squeezed 1 galon of juice inside a tetra-pack. For shame sir!
After watching the heartbreaking anime of the season (Guilty Crown), it’s really refreshing see a happy ending. I know that this isn’t going to happen but, could have a Season 2
I think that would get the typical reaction amongst fans of the first reaction which is: “Second seasons are always worse than the first.”
In this case I’d agree because everything interesting about the two most important characters has already happened.
I wouldn’t mind though. ^^’
First reaction = First season. *facepalm*
anyone else think that the “scene that they finally found” kind of remind you of the location that takes place in Onegai Sensei and Onegai Twin?
That was a nice dose of nostalgia for me. Hope they do an ova for this later. 🙂
First,i espeak spanish,so, sorry for my errors on this reply.
Wanna talk about the timeline in which occurs the story.
This is before the Onegai teacher series.Twins is a secuel of this as well,because it happens some time later,prooof of that is that all the town in Twins know that Mizuho sensei and Kei are married when that subject is show.
But,in Onegai Teacher,the reason for Mizuho for come to Earth was that it was her father home planet.Ive like to say Mizuho is daughter os Ichika and Kaito,but that is not the case,apparently.But she probably is of the ones who let the message,because her mother(of Mizuho i mean) appears telling some similar story.
Also the Ichigo Morino character,she ressemblance a lot to Remon sempai,and it looks she inherit her MIB abilities,like is show in the ova,with all that secretly recorded porn of the other characters.
Most people watch these shows for entertainment, but a lot of folks have complexes about what they watch. They are afraid that others will label them as nerds or geeks, so they can’t watch something for entertainment value, it has to boost their egos too. Usually you hear them say, this show is manly/unmanly, this show is scientific/unscientific, etc. I know a lot of people are afraid of the stigma from watching anime, so they have tell themselves, if I watch a “socially acceptable” anime, then I’m still a cool person. In all honesty, you’re more likely being judged by your looks, as opposed to what shows you watch. Stop trying to define yourself by what you watch and just enjoy the shows for entertainment.
“you’re more likely being judged by your looks” <= Fact
I personally don't let a single fucking person ever know I watch anime, I keep all my anime on a terabyte external hard drive that I hind when people come over. I also do a few sports to make sure I stay in good shape because I refuse to be fat.
Personally I think that if you're a nerd the least you can do is not be fat, and if you're fat the least you can do is not be a nerd. A simple rule to live by that would make society better.
stuff I'm not sure who you're directing that at, but you make some very valid points, people care to much about things in general.
Meh. To each their own. Whether one watches anime or not won’t get you a job nor will it affect how successful you are.
Just don’t wear that Pokemon t-shirt into a job interview.
Guys. Can we stop the spamming somehow? I mean, obvious trolls are obvious (and stupid trolls are stupid and paranoid), and you don’t have to feed them, but at some point it stops being trolling and instead it’s just some idiot overloading the page with the same idiotic content over and over.
IP Ban? I think even a name ban could be in order, just to confuse the troll feeders (Yes, I’m looking at you)
And finally, the up and down votes are great, really. but it should hide the post and ALL CHILDREN POSTS. If somebody wants to feed the troll, let them do it in private or at least somewhere remote.
you saved me a lot of time THANK YOU.
im confused did she come back? or did he photoshop her outfit in! and if she did come back why they only show us one last second image! RAGEEEE
Lol Photoshop. I wonder if he really was that desperate.
But no, that’s unlikely. Kaito did comment about Ichika’s ship breaking down AGAIN in the film. I’d say that’s evidence enough to conclude that she came back. Yes, it was very short, which made the ending quite lacking. Bad mistake, producers. Should have stopped while you guys were doing relatively well with that last episode.
FIANLLY got to watching the last ep ;_;
oh man, the last second too D’: Such a beautiful story…
and ha, remon was MIB i knew it! I thought it was a dead giveaway when remon admitted to it and mio/kanna rejected it.
So glad she came back.
Didn’t know the possible link between the onegai series. Should look that one up :/
Go Kanna~!
This had to be one of the best anime I ever saw (even though I’m saying that about most of the Winter 2012 anime :P). I only have one thing to say; Beautiful and heartwrenching. I just couldn’t stop crying while watching the end of the episode. The flashback and everything else. Wow. Definitely worth watching and rewatching 🙂
test
lmao.
don’t imply- just come out and say it as it is.
Show Spoiler ▼
<3 IT but she returned right right?
Easily the best show this season. It’s not just the finale that was simply fantastic, but every single episode along the way had it’s own reasons to make me cry, snicker, smile, and just plain freak out (in both good and bad ways, but mostly good), not to mention all of the intense cliffhangers (sometimes managing 3 in one episode! coughcough episode 6).
Everything about this show was beautiful in it’s own way, and I felt like it was a combination of ToraDora!’s witty characters and AnoHana’s impossible affections, and both of the shows heartfelt romances and heart-wrenching soundtracks.
All in all, it was simply amazing and I would buy it a thousand times over, dub or sub or whatever just to be able to watch it again and again.
Something I’ve learned about watching this show. You’re going to end up watching it with your brain and your heart. They’re going to conflict a lot, and want different things, and the ending of this show satisfies neither really, but at the same time, it fills out incredibly well.
Solid 4/5
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” – Gandhi
Everyone has their own perspectives and views. We need to do our best to keep the peace and friendliness in society or else the world would be a bitter place.
I think that there is a place and time for everything. If you find something that is disagreeable with you, you have 2 basic choices, fight or flight. I would choose the latter to avoid conflict and keep my opinions to myself.
If someone wants to have his say, just let him be even if you may be disagreeable with it.
Though I should also mention that “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”. Likewise, in RC, we like to keep things diplomatic, constructive and positive. It would be nice if that is respected, though the freedom of speech is rightfully yours. Its just courtesy.
This is a once off post from a lurker since the early days.
Best anime of the season? =O!
I watched the whole thing through after it was finished.
My thoughts: Not bad, I really liked all the supporting characters, but like several of the ruder posters have said, I wasn’t quite as enthralled with Kaito and Ichika. I didn’t hate them or anything, I just didn’t feel quite the great camaraderie from them that I did from the other three.
I do think Kaito’s getting a bad wrap. He was in a messy position in the love totem pole where no matter what he did, half the people were miserable, so the best thing to do was be honest. He stuck to his feelings, and he deserves props for that. And that is why the friends weren’t mad at him, because he was being honest. He wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.
I have to say though, what the hell is wrong with the space government? No contact allowed, but we’ll send in armies of robots to batter motor vehicles and potentially do grievous harm to the natives. Their laws are supposed to evoke star trek, but everything they do makes it seem like space is a tyrannical dictatorship.
Tugged at the heart strings it did.
I like how you put it Stilts. Captured my thoughts quite well despite not knowing what to say!
I didn’t want to watch this episode cause I didn’t want it all to end! 🙁 oh my time to find myself an alien girlfriend and have the summer of my life~ afk!
oh god sevens back again…
what happened to that life you had?
Too lazy to type up again so I’m going to copy paste my comment on another blog with minor edits.
I liked this show a lot overall, but I didn’t think the ending was handled well at all in terms of Kaito and Ichika. Most of this last episode I think was fine but I think the fact that there was no on screen reunion really undermines a lot of the good. They spent 11.5 episodes building up the character drama and making us care what happens to them and then… don’t show us what happens to them on screen. Different people have different opinions and that’s fine, I’m sure many loved the ending, but from my perspective all of the buildup, all of the drama, all of the suspense is completely wasted by not giving us a proper conclusion. Really disappointing to me because this was otherwise one of my favorite shows of the season.
I can’t help but see this as a weak ending. It doesn’t completely ruin the show, but it does waste a good bit of the effort they made in the first 11 episodes. In a romantic drama show there has to be an emotional payoff to justify our falling in love with the characters and this show failed to deliver it at the end. Which shouldn’t surprise me at all since anime writers are almost all awful with endings.
For me this show did no wrong at all until the ending. If you’ll allow a sports analogy, it’s a bit like your favorite player on your favorite football team running a kickoff return down to the 5 yard line with seconds left on the clock, and then spiking the ball instead of running in for the touchdown to win the game. The pacing, writing, characters, etc were all top notch in this show but what good is a beautiful kickoff return if you fail to deliver at the end of the play? Really really disappointing, this was one of my favorite shows this season but now it will probably be somewhere in the middle of the list instead.
God this reminded me of my last relationship with the whole “I will love you forever part”… cept it got broken off because of the distance that Ichika could handle and not my ex.
Love it, but too close to heart 🙁
In fact, it was the exact same storyline: girl moves in, guy and girl fall in love, but with a Shymalan twist: it ended.
Finally watched the finale. … Ano Natsu took the best themes and ideas from Onegai Teacher, and retold them. Bloody. Brilliantly. This series cannot come to Region 1 quick enough, I am buying it and I’m probably going to find a way to purchase Twins (even though I hated that series except for like the -1- ep where they stop being whiny about who is the relative and who isnt >>;.)
Anywho, oh god. So many nostalgia trip moments. “Ooh I know that train station. Omgomgomgomgogm THATS THE LAKE!!!.” To, “NO FCKING WAY. Kikuko Inoue “Kazami Mizuho!!!” *dies a happy fanboi*” XD!!! Onegai Teacher was my first fansub. So the series holds a special place in my heart. I am so happy I get to tuck this series in with it.
Dat Yanagi Nagi… her vocals… soo good. Between Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, and Vidro Moyou… I look forward to any series she’s lending a theme to o3o!
Oh man, this series was an unfair level of heart string pulling good. Here’s to an omake OVA! … Hey they did it with Onegai Teacher and Twins they practically /have/ to do it here >___>;.
*restarts the ep and tosses it to where Vidro Moyou cuts in. TTATT!!! What a blessing good friends, and good times are ^_^;;. *sniffle snif sniffle* Ok.. I’m done. I’m done!. See you next season!
Well, I for one thought it was all round a superb series and one of the better love comedies to have come out in the past few years. The final episode really rounded up things very nicely. Sure, it may seem illogical or convenient to the plot, but WHAT THE HECK. The subtle ending that clued us off that their relationship turned out well was brilliantly done in my opinion.
Also, I love how they made the MIB headquaters a near exact replica of the one seen in the movies. Pretty awesome throwback/homage.
Good series, though I probably would have liked it more if the way they handled the relationship of the two main characters didn’t feel so cheesy.
I really enjoyed the Kanna – Tetsurou – Mio triangle though. I found those three characters far more interesting than the main couple.
If it’s me,Last scene will be timeskip for 20 years :
-just like nobita invented/create doraemon, let kaito create shuttle to faraway galaxy.
-so they met again and married across the universe ,against all odds,make impossible possible.