Sentai Filmworks has been doing a few upgrades for awhile now for various series that were released on DVD only originally due to their numbers, estimates and even likely licensing rights that puts in delays between US Blu-ray releases and Japanese releases. One title that’s getting an upgrade that we know of now is Natsuyuki Rendezvous, which was a noitaminA block show from the summer 2012 season. Sentai releases it on subtitled-only DVD in the May 2013 and now it will be coming to Blu-ray in November 2014 with all eleven episodes and the clean opening and closing sequences. It’s not getting a dub upgrade though from what we can tell.
The series is based on the josei manga by Haruka Kawachi which ran in Feel Young from 2009 to 2012, ending before the anime was broadcast, for a total of four volumes. The anime was produced by Dogakobo with Ko Matsuo directing it.
Plot concept: Hazuki may be near-sighted, but he knows true beauty when he sees it. The delicate form of flower shop owner Rokka draws him in like a bee to honey. Hoping to cultivate a relationship between them, Hazuki takes a part-time job at her shop only to discover two huge thorns preventing the nurturing of any romance. The first, the fact that Rokka is still grieving for her late husband Shimao, would be enough to snip most men’s ardor short, but it’s the second that really threatens to make Hazuki’s forlorn hopes wilt. While Shimao is most definitely deceased, he hasn’t yet departed, and his spirit is still living in Rokka’s apartment!
Only Hazuki can see him, which leads to a very strange romantic triangle indeed. Are Hazuki’s chances with Rokka as dead as the man who still lives in her house? Or can he somehow make love blossom even though there’s an interloper pushing up the daisies between them? One way or another, the ground’s going to be rocky and someone or something’s likely to get nipped in the bud!
