In confession - what usually catches my first glance when selecting Anime to watch is the title. and "_Summer" was such a unique title, I simply had to watch it - given it was only two episodes, as well. Being Swedish, at first I had some heck of a hard time understanding the alternate title "Underbar Summer", with "underbar" meaning "wonderful" in my language, until my slow brain realized that it was referring to the "_" in front of the title. -_-; "Huh, is the alternate title in German or something?" If you're into Ecchi, then it's watchable. If you're not, there's not really much elseto gather from here. As others have already told, it ends too soon; it's a good setup for a harem kind of anime, and had it drawn on for some ten episodes more, I'm positive it would've gotten much more enjoyable, not to mention acquired much more recognition. But...
STORYLINE
"Storyline"? Hahahaha. It's a setup for a storyline, and not much more. The rest is up for us to guess, I suppose.
ART
No complaints here, though. Although I'm weak for these kinds of things - very few new shows have such art that I'd call "horrible" or even "bad". The animation is as neat as expected from Anime shows.
SOUND
My only quirk is with the lead blond girl sounding just a tad whiny. Otherwise, the voices are fine, the music is fine. The opening theme is pretty; the opening theme carries a lot of weight, since it's supposed to introduce the series in a fair way, and I think it did a good job.
CHARACTER
You have most of the stereotypes here. Quiet, pretty girl; energetic tomboy; silent, emotionless girl; perky little sister. And of course, the annoying sidekick guy who knows twenty times more about picking up girls than the lead character, but still never gets hooked up. Ever. So hey...
ENJOYMENT
There are some half-naked sceneries, including the classical "outdoors bath" where the guys peek at the girls and the girls throw things at the guys. There are also hints at relationships, but they are oh so subtle and never progressed in the actual show. That's the enjoyment I got from it.
OVERALL
So as said...if you can't find anything else to kill time with, then by all means, I'm not one to stop you. It's only two episodes after all, and then you have another "completed watching" series that you can brag about. ;P Sure, I've seen better shows, but granted, I've seen worse ones as well.
Recommended
People might think it's pointless, but I love this OVA! _Summer starts of in a perverted way! (Ridiculous). Takumi was forcibly dragged by his friend to peek at the girls while taking a bath. (They got caught of course, hahahaha)...... The cast consist of wide variety of personalities. From the main guy who is clueless and slow. The bestfriend who acts cool, who is insearch for a girlfriend. The childhood friend that cooks for him every morning that's quiet. The sister that's outgoing and cheerful. The childhood girl's bestfriend who is agreesive,bossy,loud and shows no interest on guys (tomboy-ish) but deep down ya know. The school girlidol who only talks to Takumi. Of course the most funniest of all, the weird/mysterious/robotic sounding girl, Chiwa (by the way she's my fave!). This might sound very typical but it works, great cast huh!?!
While the premise is about Takumi trying to find the girl he likes, but the show isn't about that, it's about the importance of friendship. (I think this is why people was put-off and mentioned this is stupid and pointless.)
I don't know why but I do LOVE this (for how many times now? LoL), it's very relaxing, cool, simple and great. I wish that there were more episodes but seriously I love this series!!!!! The story isn't original nor great but I love the atmosphere of it. The characters were fun especially Chiwa. It has 2 awesome episodes, even in it's shortness this anime has definitely earned a spot for my top ten list. Enjoyable episodes. Seriously I'm addicted to this! They need to do more episodes.
If your looking for a simple short series that is worth watching you'll find it in _summer. For me there is something special about this anime, that got me hooked hard into it.
I can't guarantee that everyone will like this same as me but hey give it a try.
Mixed Feelings
There's not much to talk about this OVA, because it doesn't really explore what we were introduced to. Well, in the synopsis it says that the protagonist starts to become aware of liking the opposite sex, but this was never mentioned in the OVA in a clear way, it was not explored. There is also kind of a romance that is left very open between the protagonist and his childhood friend, Konami. And guess what? It is not explored either. The protagonist's friend, Osamu, is always after a girlfriend, but never gets one. In the first episode it is hinted that he might have a relationship with Shino,because they are always arguing. This, too, is not worked out.
The characters themselves are not bad, but the plot does not help to have that much attachment for them.
The character design is very good, it's what I praise the most in this anime. And I also love those anime designs from the 2000s.
The work ignores a lot of things, to in the end have a message of living in the now, because good memories are important. Well, that would be good if it explored the things that we were introduced to.
It's an average anime, it's okay to watch. But as a whole, it's a potential that was wasted.
SaSayayurin
November 12, 2023
Mixed Feelings
It's catered more to the customer base who have experienced the eroge that the anime's based on since the story took little to no time to introduce the characters or elaborate in any way further than surface level on their relationship or the attraction the girls have for the protagonist. The protagonist status of the main character is painfully obvious when every side character and harem member is calling out for his name and attention despite a strong lack of personality. Rather, he's got more flaws than merits. In comparison, his sole male friend, the comedic relief who gets beaten up most of the time during hisscreen time, sees things more maturely and clearly than he does yet remains all that he is, as a comedic relief.
The harem members are extremely cliché with the exception of the quirky one.
I get the idea of the anime aiming for a coming-of-age sentimental angle, but it fails to deliver when you cannot relate or connect to any of the characters.
If it was aimed at new potential customers for the game, it still flops, because these girls have 0 personality aside from their cliché build-in trope of -deres.
Animation is passable, OST is forgettable.
