If you like premises involving time travel weaved into a dark and mysterious story that’s done within 25 episodes, then this one is a must watch!

In the month of October of 2022, there are a massive amount of widely popular animes that’s either continuing or making their grand debut like My Hero Academia, Spy x Family, Chainsaw Man, etc. Out of all the content I could be talking about, I had to make sure this one comes out first!

How I came across this anime was something literally out of the blue. Sometimes an out of the blue suggestion from your coworker can spark a curiosity that ends up spiraling into a 25 episode binge session. That’s what I did on the weekend on October 1st and the 2nd. Unfortunately for United States viewers like me, it’s only available on Disney+ international. If you got a decent VPN, it’s on Japan’s Disney+, subtitled in English up to around episode 20.

A Premise That Keeps Working!

If you’re reading this, then most likely you want something to hold onto to give you a reason to watch it or save your time. However, if you want to go into watching this anime with a blank slate, I would absolutely stop reading this post and just go watch it. That’s how highly I think of this “off of a whim” watch.

If you’re still reading, then you have your sights set up on exactly WHY you should spend almost 9 hours of your life watching this. The answer occurs all within the first episode because that’s all you’ll need to buy into this series. The cloudiness of all the mysteries surrounding the main protagonist, Shinpei Ajiro will have you wrapped up in blanket asking “why” to every single part of the story.

The end of episode one had me HOOKED!

In a nutshell, the main protagonist is Shinpei Ajiro, who is on his way from Tokyo to his hometown of Hitogashima, which is a small island, to be at the wake of his childhood friend, Ushio Kofune. From the very beginning of episode one, what seems like a series of strange happenings and accidents, start to add up to become more than just coincidental. As these strange little things start to add up, boiling over—Shinpei with Mio Kofune, the sister of the deceased Ushio and the childhood friend of Shinpiei, start this long journey of figuring out the true reasons behind Ushio’s death. That all culminates into Shinpei’s first “time loop” that brings him back in time to when he first appeared on the island to visit for the wake.

Again, the first episode is all you’ll need to determine if you want to continue or not!

Don’t worry! You’ll keep continue!

A premise is just a premise unless it’s presented and told in a way that actually grabs your attention. There’s just no way to tell you exactly what grabs your attention without spoiling it outright, but the word “shocking” is the best word that describes how the first episode will pull you into the story.

The Feels

If you’re into any murder mysteries and killer documentaries, then take those feelings you get from watching that and apply it to this anime. Those feelings elicited through the pain of loss and the paranoia of those close to you being involved—while your body shivers in a cold sweat through this ominous, dreary darkness that you experience knowing that something unexpected is going catch you off guard. This anime is that with a supernatural flare that only an anime would be able to accomplish.

There are little bits and parts of romance that feeds into the story. Many of these characters are teenagers and are just figuring out how to deal with their feelings. Many of the romantic issues that the characters face are very cliche, but that’s where the anime provides enough of a twist on the romance to question where all of these romances will actually end up. Very early on, it’s just a “you don’t need to explain this that much” part of the story. The romance in itself is a mystery and it doesn’t heavily lean into those aspects. Because of the plot and the cast of characters that come together, it all naturally works itself out as it becomes a feel good addition to the story, rather than some forced annoying impediment.

Making us question where Shinpei’s feelings actually lies and Ushio being dead, becomes a revolving door of questions.

Rather than an outright cringe-fest of doing this all for love mumbo-jumbo, it’s tolerable and provides enough balance within the story to keep all types of viewers happy. I can see all types of guys and gals enjoy this anime just as equally. It’s more of a hero’s journey to save people’s lives, rather than doing it all for a hot blonde.

Superb Storytelling!

The creators’ abilities to keep the story interesting, provide the right amount of tension and create those little moments that break you out of a lull was a marvelous balance from each episode. When parts seems like the writer is writing themselves in a hole, something new gets added to the story to enhance it. It’s these kind of moments where plot holes and lame plot devices bear fruit, but actually becomes an acceptable response to where the plot is heading.

At no point did I question the answer that was given in any of the time loop scenarios or from the situations occurring with any characters. Everything that I had questioned, got answered. As the story concluded, I think it was a satisfying ending that gives everyone closure.

Great Cast of Characters

A cast of characters that you’ll grow to love what they bring to the story—that is what Summer Time Rendering will provide. Every character is not wasted and provides some level of importance to the story as Shinpei starts to figure out all of these strange happenings. There are no characters that I can say are annoyingly dumb or make terrible decisions that gets the audience screaming because it was to forcibly push the plot. The antagonists involved that are meant to be scary and menacing are scary and menacing. The bad guys in this anime were smart enough on their own merits to figure out what the ensemble cast of heroes were trying to do to counter them.

That’s what I loved about this anime!

All the characters are reasonably smart and courageous. There was no reason to make any characters cheap plot devices and that’s not something you see too often. If you guys read my Attack on Titan reviews, you’ll know my disdain for a character like Yelena. Thankfully, there are no”Yelenas” in this anime.

If you are looking for a main protagonist to not be a crybaby and have some balls to make courageous decisions, then this is your guy. He’s not dumb, mopey and annoying. He’s not exactly the typical dumb shonen protagonist that just gets stronger either. Shinpei Ajiro is literally given the ability to help solve this series of supernatural incidents. While trying to solve this mystery without dying, he gets help from all of his closest friends and some other mysterious characters that provide that extra oomph to the story.

The Verdict?

I strongly recommend people take a shot at this anime! It can be binged on the weekend and the story ends in 25 episodes. It’s just the right amount of time to build many appealing supporting characters. Each episode compounds one another, leaving you entrenched in the story line with very few boring lulls. After episode one, you will fully buy into the story!

It’ll probably help if I gave some ratings, right?

Characters: 8.5/10

This story has a plethora of characters that fall into many of the most popular kind of shonen/seinen archetypes, meaning that it works. Even though there are many characters that fulfill a particular role that most experienced anime viewers have seen before, how it unfolds within the story is what makes these characters that much more enjoyable to watch.

Antagonists: 7.5/10

As the story unwinds, there are a host of multiple menacing characters that don’t quite reveal themselves to be the main boss. Sometimes the best antagonists are the ones in between and this story has plenty of great ones like that. Last bosses and the big reveal of any plot always come at the end anyways and that’s where the combination of a very good story, along with every character that slowly reveal themselves to have had a hand in these strange occurrences become progressively better. I’m not entirely impressed with the main bad guys, but I enjoyed all the ones that helped the story get there.

Story: 9.5/10

What determines a perfect score for the story versus the scores below it? Cheap plot devices and bad plot holes. In a story where time traveling and having the story stay consistent is so important, I was impressed by how well the story was able to explain every occurrence and every time travel loop that occurs. With a little bit of romance that’ll warm the hearts of most, this is a dark and frightening story that gives the audience feeling a wide range of highs and lows. That ability for the story to keep your wheels churning as you watch is a special one.

Animation: 7.5/10

When there isn’t anything negative that particularly stands out that is an impediment on a scene, then I think the animation was good. There were a few fight scenes, especially in the later episodes that really grabbed my attention. However, nothing was out of this world, but that’s not why would watch this anime.

I would give this anime an 8.3 out of 10. The only nitpicky downside to this anime is the “unimpressive-ness” of the main villains and their motivations. However, the growing ensemble cast and excellent storytelling overshadows any of my subjective issues over that. If you love anime and great anime stories, then you MUST WATCH THIS!