Summertime Render

Since the death of his parents, Shinpei Ajiro had lived with the Kofune family and their two daughters—Mio and Ushio. Although he then left his home island to continue his education in Tokyo, Shinpei returns after Ushio tragically drowns during the attempted rescue of a little girl. During the funeral, his best friend informs him about bruises found around Ushio's neck, casting doubt over the cause of her death.

Suspecting a murder has taken place, Shinpei reevaluates recent events, but strange incidents only continue to transpire. Disappearing people and other unexplainable occurrences lead Mio to recall an old folktale referring to entities called "Shadows," which may not be entirely fantasy. Supposedly, an encounter with one's Shadow foretells the person's impending demise.

Facing the dark side of Hitogashima Island, Shinpei stands against his grim fate to fulfill Ushio's final will—to protect Mio.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ajiro, Shinpei Main

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Kofune, Ushio Main

Nagase, Anna Japanese

Minakata, Hizuru Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Kofune, Mio Supporting

Shirasu, Saho Japanese

Haine Supporting

Kuno, Misaki Japanese

Hishigata, Shidehiko Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Minakata, Ryuunosuke Supporting

Sanpei, Yuuko Japanese

Nezu, Ginjirou Supporting

Urayama, Jin Japanese

Hishigata, Tokiko Supporting

Kawase, Maki Japanese

Hishigata, Sou Supporting

Ono, Kensho Japanese

Sotokawa, Akihiro Producer

Kojima, Hiroaki Producer

Shimosato, Satoru Producer

Kitazawa, Shiryuu Producer

Reviews

Jan 19, 2025

Longnines

Recommended

A young man returns to the island where he was raised to attend the wake of his childhood friend and stepsister following a tragic accident where she drowned while rescuing another child. Shortly after returning to the island, he learns that his friend's untimely death may not have been an accident at all, but murder; and even more disturbing, the girl who was rescued has suddenly disappeared, alongside the rest of her family.

Summertime Render is thematically a supernatural mystery-suspense with elements of action and drama. The story follows Shinpei, a thoughtful young man who hid his accent when he was residing in Tokyo, and the ... cast of characters around him will steadily expand and compound with interest as the anime goes on. The supernatural concepts at work here have good execution, with some touches of plot convenience (or flexibility, if you please) built into them, but nothing is otherwise too unreasonable or far-fetched. The scope of the story was planned out rather well.

The animation quality is good to great; the action scenes are smartly composed and have great choreography. The writing is good; the cast of characters are collectively interesting and likable, some more so than others. There are lots of twists and turns. There could be said to be some weaknesses in the unreasonable (or otherwise asinine) logic of certain antagonists(s) towards the end of the story, but when have villains ever been reasonable? If they were reasonable, they wouldn't be villains. The pacing of the show is rather nice too, as the episodes will fly by with few dull moments to speak of.

I strongly endorse Summertime Render as being a worthwhile watch for anyone that likes mystery, action, and interesting characters doing some troubleshooting for their problems, all with a supernatural flavor to it. It doesn't disappoint as being entertaining.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 16, 2024

airenaishen

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Summertime Render could have been a great gem, but the story ended up getting the thrown into the mud in the second half of the show. Many viewers will be very disappointed towards the end of the show for the uncreative and anti-climatic storyline.

Score for the first half the story: 9/10

-3 points for the storyline in the second half that cut too many corners just to finish the show.
-1 points for the sexualization of females. Panties and swimsuit-everywhere are unnecessary for a great story. Not to mention that it is disrespectful to females.

Hence the overall score: 5/10

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Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jan 4, 2025

Quitch

Not Recommended

Funny

Summertime Render promised to be The Thing mixed with Groundhog Day; an island where you couldn’t tell friend from foe, and the protagonist would have to utilise their death to figure out how to navigate the threat. It was made for me. Sadly, the reality is that the show abandons this concept almost immediately. The protagonist so quickly gains a method to detect shadows that you wonder the point of the concept, just make them generic monsters and you get the same thing.

This show feels like a microcosm of all the problems in anime. It can’t make up its mind whether it wants to be ... a drama, a comedy, or softcore porn featuring children. It doesn’t excel at either of the first two, and the last one is just a hill that anime insists on dying on. The writing doesn’t understand how to portray emotion except through having characters shout to convey to the audience that this is A DRAMATIC MOMENT. The comedy is heavily reliant on the tired slapstick you’ve seen a hundred times before and likewise leans on shouting to convey that the funny is happening.

Eventually Summertime Render decides that it’s actually a romance. This also doesn’t work due to flat characterisation with very little difference between the starting and end point for most. The protagonist is your typical bland insert, who inexplicably has half the women wanting to get with him. For several women in the show trying to get with him seems to be their sole motivation in life. He’s also introduced committing sexual assault, so clearly this guy is a winner.

There is a real lack of introspection in the writing. Shadows are perfect copies, not just physically, but mentally too, keeping the thoughts and personality of the original. Yet at every turn the show fails to interrogate what this means. Is a copy the same as the original? How do you feel if someone who died is still alive? Is that life? What does this mean for our understanding of what a person is? How do you handle the mental load of fighting and killing loved ones and children? Not once are any of the questions asked, let alone addressed. The protagonist abandons the island for the mainland, even changing the way they speak to better fit in. Why is their return and the nature of their departure not a barrier or an issue to be addressed? I was none the wiser by the end as to why the protagonist couldn’t have just started on the island. Another wasted opportunity.

The writer also loves pulling stuff out of their arse. Regularly situations will develop where one of two things will happen, either some power that has been subject to no foreshadowing will be used to get the writer out of a corner, or we’ll have flashbacks to conversations that happened in previous loops that we never saw. Both are incredibly lazy. I can understand some of this in a manga with regular releases, but an anime should be able to smooth out these rough edges, yet no attempt is made to do so. You start with something that’s relatively grounded, but by the end is an unrecognisable mess of lore stacked on top of lore which just removes all stakes because you know the writer is going to make up something new again next episode.

We’re constantly told how smart the protagonist is, yet their every action in the show speaks against this. Time after time they make the worst decision possible in every scenario they encounter. One character makes a comparison to failing to save before a boss fight, but it’s closer to a game where losing a particular unit loses you the mission and the protagonist opts to put this unit in the frontline. It was hard to root for someone who was this stupid, and the show never provides adequate explanation as to why half the cast is following this guy, apart from the ones thinking with their genitals.

There’s just nothing to recommend here. It isn’t well written, plotted, or paced. It doesn’t feature interesting characters, it doesn’t interrogate its themes, and its central concept is wasted. At best this is forgettable drek.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Summertime Render Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Sep 29, 2022	500 replies	by oooo3333 »» Jan 18, 12:18 PM
	Poll: Summertime Render Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jun 16, 2022	89 replies	by Takatin-sama »» Jan 17, 4:22 AM
	Poll: Summertime Render Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Apr 14, 2022	345 replies	by Ash_applepie »» Jan 11, 7:34 AM
	This story would make for an excellent open world RPG game. middle_pickup - Feb 7, 2024	12 replies	by middle_pickup »» Jan 4, 12:12 PM
	Poll: Summertime Render Episode 20 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Aug 25, 2022	266 replies	by metalrain_15 »» Jan 1, 5:55 AM