Natsunagu!

After earthquakes suddenly took place in the Kumamoto Prefecture, Natsuna Keyaki lost contact with her dearest online friend, Itsuki. With nothing but a drawn picture of the landscape, Natsuna embarks on a journey from Tokyo to Kumamoto to find her.

When Natsuna gets lost in a rural area of the disaster-stricken prefecture, she encounters a policeman and an energetic middle school girl named Izumi Chiba. Izumi, along with her hospitable family members, offers Natsuna shelter and information to assist her in her quest. With these kind locals helping her on every step of the way, Natsuna moves closer to discover what happened to Itsuki.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Keyaki, Natsuna Main

Hashimoto, Ai Japanese

Chiba, Izumi Main

Aoyama, Yoshino Japanese

Iwasawa, Tomoya Producer

Fukudome, Shun Producer

Yamamoto, Junichi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Animation Director

Honda, Yasuyuki Director

Reviews

Mar 26, 2020

Lumyh

Recommended

// SPOILER WARNING //

Natsunagu! is a very cute short show about a girl who wants to meet up with someone she met in an online game after an earthquake hit the area her friend lives in.

// Story // 9/10
This one is a simple to understand show, nothing complex about it, but it's simplicity makes it good.
Natsuna met a girl on an online game and after an earthquake hit where her friend lives, she wanted to check on her, especially after said friend sent her a text saying "i want to see you", before the game shut down, cutting all ties between them.
Natsuna now has to ... track her friend Itsuki down with nothing more than her name and old adress, making some good friends along the way, and eventually reaching her goal in the end. Overall a good development for a short story, and it kind of reminds me of Kimi no na wa in some aspects, the whole looking for someone but you don't know who exactly you're looking for aspect.

// Art // 10/10
The art style in this anime is actually quite simple but refreshing from all the plastic looking bright anime we've been getting as of late!
A very water-color vibe and 90's ish vibe for the backgrounds, the art style is very clean and nice to look at, and definitely fits the tone of the story!

// Sound // 8/10
There isn't much in the way of sound effects in this anime, when Natsuna stumbled, there wasn't any sound when she hit the floor (and if my memory is correct she didn't even say anything) but the voice acting is very good, Natsuna's voice is especially nice to me, it just has a nice ring to it.

// Character // 8/10
The characters are kept simple and likeable, which is a good thing for a short show like this one. The only character surrounded in a mystery is Itsuki, but we do get to see her by the end of the series, so that's all good. Izumi's dad is also very likeable, reminds me of a typical american dad who likes to have a cold one with the bros on a saturday

// Enjoyment // 9/10
I enjoyed watching this as the episodes were short and so there wasn't time for any filler. Everything you watch adds to the story and development, so you aren't wasting any time, everything builds up to the finale, and in my opinion, a nice and fitting conclusion to a cute short anime!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 26, 2020

SomedaySoon

Mixed Feelings

This was an enjoyable watch overall.

The story is pretty simple as you can probably tell by the synopsis; I would say it isn't executed as well as it could have been. Some episodes seemed to kind of lose my interest with what was actually happening story-wise but I kept watching because I enjoyed the art/music.

The art is absolutely beautiful, lots of very nice landscape scenes with sunsets and mountains. It feels quite simple but has a certain vibe to it that is aesthetically pleasing. The art-style goes well with the music choices, in my opinion.

Sound is pretty good. I enjoyed almost all of ... the voice acting and the music selection was used well/all the songs were enjoyable.

The characters felt pretty flat besides the main characters. I did become emotionally invested in her throughout the series, though.She is cute and you want things to work out for her the more you learn about her. All of the other characters mainly just a play a role in her story so they aren't really worth mentioning.

Overall, it was an enjoyable watch. It's quite short at 48 minutes so it doesn't take a lot of time and would probably be a decent binge-watch if you are in the mood for something simple, aesthetically pleasing with good music, and pretty cute.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 25, 2020

bend_over

Not Recommended

*Spoiler Warning*

Please, take a seat and let me tell you why this anime sucks.

I honestly would have skipped this if it wasn't for the fact I scrolled down the winter-anime-list until the end. Since there are so many, I skip many that don't seem interesting enough to try. Among the unpopular anime I started watching "Natsunagu", mainly because of the cover. It has a really cool-looking one and and as for usual I gave it a try and oh my, what I found wasn't pleasing.

We are introduced to the protagonist who for some reason wants to meet her best "friend" because she had met her ... in an online game and after playing for a long time she suddenly decides to meet her supposedly best "friend" even though it's just her who wants for that to happen, but who even cares about that since the protagonist is just absolutely selfish. Yup, Natsuna is insufferable, unbearable, and insupportable. As long as she can accomplish stuff she cares about she won't be giving two shits about anyone else. I hate her because she's got helped so many times and yet, she's that selfish and at no point in the story she tried to change herself.

There's a scene in a later episode when she talks to this girl and she kept asking her about the "friend" she herself had to travel to come and see and the girl said "No" at least 4 times in the span of 30 seconds and still, Natsuna was so persistent on this that at one point I really wanted to punch her right in the face. If someone says no, then it's a no. There is no point in asking anymore.

Natsuna doesn't evolve. Her character doesn't mature. She's still the same person as she was in the first episode, and don't come to me and say that she matures in the last two episodes because she doesn't. She's helped by the support cast (which I have to say that it's so random everyone in the town helps her out) and gives her the motivation "she's in need". That's just a combination of deus ex machina and a little bs. Those three are here to serve help because she needs it? No, it’s because she's written this way. She doesn't need help and yet she gets it because we have to somehow lead her to the final destination even though she can do that easily by herself.

As for the ending, I cried. Not because it was sad but because the show had finally ended. It took awhile but it finally happened and for whatever reason I have a feeling we'll be getting a sequel which in all honesty, I would like to be part of the staff so I can get the chance to write the story and with that in mind, kill Natsuna near the ending. Ah yeah, that's so spicy.

Itsuki is way too good for Natsuna.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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