Summer Ghost

It is said that fireworks can calm the souls of the dead. For Tomoya Sugisaki, Aoi Harukawa, and Ryou Kobayashi, fireworks are what allowed them to meet the Summer Ghost. Believed to be the spirit of a young woman who committed suicide, the Summer Ghost only appears in a specific area and can only be seen by those who are within arm's reach of death.

Tomoya is a creative soul being crushed by his academic obligation to get into a good university. Aoi is a meek girl who is relentlessly bullied by her classmates. Ryou is a former basketball star who had to forfeit his passion following a grim diagnosis. The only thing these three have in common is their ability to see the Summer Ghost. The Summer Ghost is said to be able to answer any and all questions pertaining to death—something the three teenagers desperately want to know more about.

Dissatisfied with their initial meeting, Tomoya sets out to find the Summer Ghost once again. But the more time he spends with the ghost, the more the mystery surrounding her existence unravels.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Satou, Ayane Main

Kawaei, Rina Japanese

Sugisaki, Tomoya Main

Kobayashi, Chiaki Japanese

Kobayashi, Ryou Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Harukawa, Aoi Main

Shimabukuro, Miyuri Japanese

Ayane's Mother Supporting

Sahaku, Miyuki Japanese

Teacher Supporting

Nakamura, Kazumasa Japanese

Tomoya's Mother Supporting

Katsumata, Hideo Producer

loundraw Director, Original Character Design, Original Creator

Otsuichi Screenplay

Kosemura, Akira Music

Reviews

Feb 7, 2022

Chatox17

Recommended

First of all this is not a movie for everyone, The story requires a lot of interpretation with so little time because the movie's pace is really fast so pay attention!

With that being said, in 45 minutes they've done a pretty good job telling a story. If they got like 70+ minutes to tell more about backstory of each character even more, I believe this movie could be much more emotional.

Artstyle is great, although the animation seem rough, the lighting and color tone are make up for it. Which help a lot to understand the character's view of the world.

Soundtrack is also great. It fit ... pretty well with the story, which make the story even more emotional by the end.

Overall, 9/10: for a short movie, It's really great, and I suggest you give it a try. The only thing holding it back is the pacing. It feels like they want to tell more, but they don't have much time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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May 23, 2022

N31m4d

Mixed Feelings

Overrated.

The characters are mostly generic archetypes who lack dimensionality. The ways in which the three main characters are close to death are standard cliches, which end pretty much as one would expect them to. This made the second half of the movie very predictable. In its short run time, the movie relies overly on flashbacks in order to communicate the emotional weight of the characters' situations, although thankfully it at least has the sense to put these early on in the movie. Despite these negatives, the tropes this movie chooses to employ are at least rather compelling in their own right, making the story ... a bit more enjoyable.

The art in this movie is generally nice, although it mostly doesn't stand out. There are a few points in the movie where the shot directing stood out for me, such as the use of text messages and a 3 way split screen to show the characters communicating and some of the more funny shots of 2 characters exploring an art gallery and posing in silly positions.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 2, 2023

Halcyon13

Not Recommended

Films nearing the half-hour mark seem like sort of a trend lately. Perhaps due to the declining attention span of viewers, gradually, the general standards for consumption cease to exist. They've always been around, yet recent advertising promises a more glamorous comprehensive experience. Whatever the case, the runtime doesn't have to be an issue, nor does it even need to be considered a facet of thought when handled in the right direction. Summer Ghost is bewildered, bound by a specific restraint on its cast and to what extent they're written if they're written at all. It's hard to imagine there was genuine effort behind the ... composition of their relative roles in the story, more precisely, the terribly dull dialogue and character beats in a scene. The trio represents various disillusioned selves, youth attached to a glorified future. Individually, each of them is a flimsy topic of emotional introspection, and together, every moment becomes a trivial reflection of hidden secrets. The script fails to incorporate necessary pauses, nor does it indicate hesitation in what's presented as a sensitive area of discussion. Loundraw manages the allotted time quite well, fitting his concept without the tension of haste, but maximizing the element of realization is admittedly a tougher task.

The designs are sharp, similar to his previous work, often exhibiting dreary eyes. Unfortunately, the animation isn't exactly up to par, most obviously frame skipping, especially noticeable when characters turn their head for a change in expression. Character acting is also excessively dull, hardly emphasizing the mood of a situation. Speaking of atmosphere, the cinematography is uniformly impressive, likely the only part of the trailer that remains consistent with the final product. It excels in lighting, background texture, shot selection, and aspects of dreamy visual direction transitioning between reality and the supernatural. Loundraw's first attempt at helming a feature is barely acceptable, unable to balance the rationality of decisions against the wide-angle gentle backdrops of scenery. Utilizing too much circumstantial reasoning to avoid the meaningless expiration of life. Summer Ghost is akin to an actual ghost, a bit transparent, evidently hollow.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Summer Ghost Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) removed-user - Nov 11, 2021	104 replies	by Juju132512 »» Dec 6, 9:23 AM
	What happened with the mom? yami_jpeg - Apr 6, 2022	15 replies	by OP_Rider »» Jul 31, 2023 2:39 AM
	Summer ghost dub is out but I don't know where to watch it. Ian052503 - Nov 2, 2022	8 replies	by Haigen »» Nov 19, 2022 9:57 AM
	Summer Ghost - Initial trailer thoughts? ImmortalAbomb - Sep 1, 2021	15 replies	by ImmortalAbomb »» Nov 5, 2021 10:11 PM
	Five minutes PV Nishide - Nov 1, 2021	2 replies	by xAbstractx »» Nov 3, 2021 2:29 AM