Giving away even what about I'm about to give away amounts to a spoiler for the first episode, but I'm gonna do it anyway. The anime series
Asatte no Houkou (link goes to a search for the series on my favorite anime site) is the sweetest, loveliest bit of anime to come by since
Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto (aka
Someday's Dreamers). And the English title's mangling is just as bad: The literal translation of Someday's Dreamers' native title was "Things Important to a Mage." The literal translation of Our Summer Story's native title is "The Direction Taken the Day After Tomorrow."
Karada is a young girl of 11 who lives with her brother Hiro, who's 19. She hates being treated like a child, and she agonizes that her brother has sacrificed so much to care for her since their parents died three years ago in an accident. Shouko is an unhappy woman of 19 who comes to the small town where Karada and Hiro live, and she tells Karada she came to this out-of-the-way place to start her life over. In the first episode we learn that Shouko and Hiro had some kind of relationship before he disappeared from her life-- and now she learns that he abandoned her to do the right thing and care for his sister.
After an evening of confrontation and argument, Karada and Shouko both end up in front of a Shinto shrine where they both issue secret prayers simultaneously. As the moon breaks over the shrine, they turn to one another-- and Karada has gotten her wish. She's suddenly aged eight years; she has her wish, people will treat her like an adult. Shouko, in turn, gets her wish as well: she's lost eight years. She has her chance to start her life over.
You'd think that this could be played up for ecchi fare with questionable loli content, but the writers clearly aren't going for that. If Someday's Dreamers made you feel all mushy and happy inside, Our Summer Story will make you want to tear up and cry at the end of each episode, but for a different reason, and not always because you feel sad. Both Karada and Shouko are freaking out learning to live with their new selves (the scene where Shouko realizes that, at 11, nobody will buy her cigarettes is quite nicely done), and Hiro is also freaking out because the little sister he's tried so hard to take care of has suddenly vanished.
Supporting these three are the sister & brother team Touko and Tetsumasa, both of whom are apparently close to the ages of Hiro and Karada (the sister is a year younger than Hiro, and the brother a year and a half older than Karada), and have been their moral (and sometimes physical) support for the past three years. They provide all sorts of useful roles: a contrasting "couple", greek chorus, comic relief, and subtle emotional tension.
Anime has gotten a bad rap recently. The last three seasons have been remarkably without the kind of lovely, emotional tones set by
Someday's Dreamers, and while experiments like
Simoun tried while tottering on the brink of absurdity, the current spate of violent, bloody, vampire and monster-laden flicks desperately needed something as sweet as
Our Summer Story for balance. (
Aria came close two seasons ago, but it was more a series of lovely vignettes with no real character conflict, no real emotional impact.)
Our Summer Story is also done well. The art is beautiful, with watercolor backgrounds and clean, well-drawn characters in an established, traditional style that goes well with the series. The music is beautiful, small-band piano style that never intrudes but always fits well.
Definitely worth a watch.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}