catching up on Ano Natsu de Matteru

AND for some reasons, I have no idea why the heck did I wait this long to start watching this anime. I know I chose this a little later than the other Winter 2012 series but given all the interesting reviews and the number of people watching this, there's no doubt that this anime is worth trying.

With 10 episodes already up, I just started my marathon and had to stop at episode 5 because of the time. Oh look, it's 1:09AM and I still have school later. Episode 11 will be up in around 24hrs and hopefully I can catch up before the final episode airs next week :3

Story-wise, as to where I am right now, I have to say that it's pretty good. The number one thing that initially made me add this to my list for Winter 2012 was because of the romance part of genre and I am certainly not disappointed in anyway. The first episode was pretty interesting but what's good about Ano Natsu de Matteru is its ability to be able to improve its execution every episode. Unlike the usual trends on anime which goes off with the outstanding-over-the-top first episode that catches everyone's attention and goes down as the story progresses, Ano Natsu de Matteru goes with a simple first episode and gradually makes its audience stay on their seat wanting to watch the next episode right away.

To give a quick look on what's in Ano Natsu de Matteru, it's an interesting combination of slice of life, romance, drama (possibly) and sci-fi (which until now hasn't been given much attention - just some little snippets). While watching this, it reminded me of Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai because of how the romance part of the story is built. If you don't understand what I mean, it goes like this: Mr.A likes Ms.B and Ms.B still can't understand her feelings. Then there's Ms.C who likes Mr.A. AND can I add more? LOL. Mr.D, who's childhood friends Ms.C actually likes her but told her that he'd help her with Mr.A while Ms.E, on the other hand, likes Mr.D. LOL. That's just confusing. On simpler terms, Ano Natsu de Matteru's romance, generally runs around the adolescence kind of love and that what makes it good.

oh, the look on Remon's face >:]

As for the characters, I'd say that they're pretty interesting. The best thing about them is that they seem real. To go on my top picks, I just have to pick Kirishima Kaito (Shimazaki Nobunaga). He gives off a good example of a pretty normal high school guy (except for the fact that he'd be pretty good with a relationship with an alien - though he did stated his reasons. LOL.) given how he sulks over something like awkward (misunderstood) confessions, gets his share of perverted moments, daydream about the girl he likes, and more. Other than Kaito, I also have to give credits on the good character of Ishigaki Tetsurou (Ogihara Hideki). I guess I'm liking him for personal love for characters who gets the hard time of things (like how much I actually like Anaru from AnoHana) in terms of romance (though it's kind of weird that I'm no fan of Tanigawa Kanna [Ishihara Kaori]). He keeps quiet about how he feels and just try to cheer on the girl he likes and always be there for her. AND finally, another character I really like here is Yamano Remon (Tamura Yukari) for being the Souma (WORKING!!) type of character. LOL. Not that she wants to torture people and be labeled as sadist rather she's the type who'd tail you and look at your inner most feelings AND she's probably the character who knows who likes who :3

As for the art, there's no doubt that I'm a huge fan of J.C. Staff in terms of animation and background designs. Though they're not entirely as good as those of P.A. Works, I have to say that they could come in second. The animation is pretty refreshing and the art completely reminds of AnoHana. Pet character, Rinon, is pretty cute and the rest of the character designs are well done. Moreover, the emotions of each characters are well presented though no drama has been shown yet. What I mean in here is how they feel about each other such as jealousy and awkwardness are very well shown.

Overall, Ano Natsu de Matteru is a pretty interesting anime to watch most especially if you're into romance-type of anime. I personally haven't seen much sci-fi yet but it looks like it's going to be shown sooner or later but I'm pretty sure that it's going to be good (from the episode reviews I've seen, that is). I'd say that it's definitely not a waste of time and it's very well recommended to watch(: