Ichika has managed to settle in and she’s become a catalyst for people gathering together.
What They Say:
After explaining the situation to Nanani, she suddenly invites Ichika to stay at their hose while she is on her trip. Kanna is floored, and informs the group about this new development.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After an opening episode that certainly seemed familiar in a lot of ways, Ano Natsu de Matteru provides a little bit more history in its prologue here that shows how Ichika came to crash on Earth. It’s something that lays a bit more of what’s to come down the line with the intrigue side, but it’s not heavily followed up on. What the show wants to do is get back to the simple, cute and somewhat fun high school antics as the group has huddled together in Kaito’s place to understand the situation. The cover story that Ichika came up with isn’t too detailed but it’s more than enough to work over the other girls and make them go with it for the moment at least, though there’s still some concern about her living with Kaito.
While we got a bit of the science fiction aspect of the series at the end of the previous episode with how Ichika had helped Kaito, a lot of what we get here is basic slice of life material as she starts to live with him while trying her best to keep her secret. There’s a good bit of atmosphere given to it, helped by the beautiful backgrounds that the series employs, but the characters haven’t managed to really to come alive yet. And to make matters worse, it really feels like they’re trying to remake Please Teacher here with some of the moments, such as when Ichika comes to see Kaito and she’s wearing one of his sisters nighties that looks rather familiar. It’s cute but it takes you out of the show a bit and again reminds you of another work.
It also doesn’t help that there doesn’t feel like there’s any progress here, making it a slice of life show that is almost too relaxed, even if it fits the locale pretty well. Kaito and Ichika spend a fair bit of time together especially as she wants to go and see different places, something that was the original cause of her crashing on Earth to begin with, and with it being summer break a number of the other students in the class have found themselves drawn to his place with her. It’s an amusing sudden grouping of friends that forms here, but they’re all stereotypes at this point with no firm personalities of their own. It’s cute and fun to watch on a basic level, such as when they end up getting a bit drunk without realizing it while playing games, but it doesn’t really connect you to anyone.
In Summary:
With the second episode of the series, Ano Natsu de Matteru again has a hard time really establishing its own identity. There’s plenty to like here in a most basic way when it comes to the setting and the characters, things that hopefully get fleshed out more over the run rather than going with cliches we’ve seen many times in many series. The biggest problem is that it feels like a different and less fun rewrite of Please Teacher, something that hasn’t eased with the second episode. It’s obviously different and goes in different directions, but the similarities continue to stand out for those that saw that other series. From a fresh perspective, you can easily see how this would be appealing just from the animation and the sexiness it presents that isn’t jammed directly into your face. It has a great atmosphere and it does leave me wanting to know more, but it also has me really wishing it was establishing its own identity more.
Grade: B-
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
