Watching 'Natsuyuki Randevous'

Natsuyuki Rendezvous is a summer 2012 anime with eleven episodes, based on the manga by Kawachi Haruka. The manga is comprised of four volumes and ran from 2009 'til 2011. The anime is produced by Studio Doga Kobo (How Many Kilograms are the Dumbbells You Lift?) and is directed by Matsuo Kou (Storyboard - Dororo, Terror in Resonance). The show stars Nakamura Yuuichi (Break Blade, Clannad), Fukuyama Jun (Ao no Exorcist, Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion), and Ohara Sayaka (Aria The Animation, Bleach) as the three leads of the show, lending their voices to Ryousuke, Atsushi, and Rokka respectively.

Narrative

The narrative starts with a lot of potential, only for it to trickle into complete annoyance by the time the final episode came around. The set up is comprised of three central characters, the owner of a flower shop, her younger part time worker, and the ghost of her dead husband. Had the show taken her perspective it would have delved into an interesting direction of showing the various ways someone would deal with letting someone go in order to move on with their lives. In addition to looking at the ways people cope and how they view people and the status of their own lives after having lost someone that is close to you. What is all the more disappointing is the fact that the story does try its best to convey these ideas, only to be completely decimated by the wholly unlikable characters on screen.

Characters

The characters start off with a lot of promise, as does the narrative, however with each passing episode, the more the show decides to portray each of these characters as completely unlikeable people to the point that the only reason that I was watching the show was the promise of a complete ending to the show and the hopes that maybe the ending would at the very least be satisfying somehow. It does not.

The owner of the flower shop is an absolute mess of a character, constantly going back and forth so much Harley Quinn would tell her to calm down. The dead husband, while the show tries to portray him in a positive light, is deep down a horrible individual that has an incredibly toxic victim complex and uses his death as an excuse to do the hurtful things that he does. The part timer, who is trying to be in a relationship with the shop owner, who is eight years older than her, becomes progressively obnoxious, and does things that constantly contradict his motives to the point that you think that he is doing this on purpose to see just how far he can push things with his boss.

The only, and I mean the only character that has the slightest semblance of decency is the shop owners sister in law, who seems to be a genuinely good person surrounded by horrible people.

Visuals/ Music

These distractions from the show is a massive detriment to as a whole, as the visuals are quite pleasant to look at. The colours are bright and vibrant, while the characters are well animated. The backgrounds has a good amount of detail that really helps in the immersion of the show. The visuals even get quite interesting, with a completely different style being used for the moments when the character is in the storybook to help there be variety in the show.

The music is also quite well made and tries it's best to salvage this show. The fact that the visuals and music are so well made makes it all the more tragic that it is accommodating this particular narrative and this particular set of characters, primarily because there seems to be a lot of love given to this show in its production process.

In Closing

While I loved the visuals and music, the narrative and the characters are far too insufferable and so my recommendation is to skip this entirely.