I first encountered the title Natsuiro Kiseki when the winter anime season was still in full swing. It was one of the few spring anime previews that I watched. Most of the interest in the series was generated because the characters were voiced by the J-pop idol and seiyu group Sphere.
While I didn't know the group, I felt that I had to watch the anime simply because I couldn't understand what the hell was going on with the trailer. It seemed like a typical slice of life anime featuring four best friends. At least, until they showed a clip where the girls are flying in the air.
The summer of friends Aizawa Natsumi, Mizukoshi Saki, Hanaki Yuka and Tamaki Rinko is shaping out to be horrible as a fight draws out between Natsumi and Saki. They later find out that the tiff is caused by Saki's decision to distance herself from her friends because she will be moving to a different town at the end of the summer. Desperate to bridge the growing gap between Natsumi and Saki, Yuka and Rinko convince them to wish for the same thing on the large rock found on the shrine grounds managed by Rinko's family. Still fighting, the girls end up wishing they can fly and, much to their surprise, find themselves floating in the air. The girls realize that the legend that the large rock can grant wishes is true. In the following days, more wishes were granted by the large rock, making the girls go through unnatural experiences. As the rift between the friends are slowly mended, they all decide to have the best summer together in order to create great memories with Saki before she and her family move.
Natsuiro Kiseki or A Summer-Colored Miracle is a genre mash-up, featuring slice of life, fantasy and adventure elements in its storytelling. The girls go through various experiences courtesy of the large rock and the mischievous mind of Yuka that are at times funny, poignant or even frustrating. They try to make the most out of the last summer together, including a stab at trying to get discovered as idols. Many of their experiences involve making one or all of the girls learn a particular lesson, even if that lesson comes with heartache.
Set in a backdrop of the idyllic seaside town of Shimoda, the girls' lives are relatively ordinary. In fact, despite the large rock with magical miracle lending powers, most of the challenges of the girls stem from their dynamic as a group. The series shows how everyone in the group has strong personalities (with the exception of Rinko, but she's on a different level anyway) that are bound to clash now and again, and most of their adventures courtesy of the large rock's powers are just a means to find a resolution every time they experience any conflict. It seemed that the fantasy element was just coincidental or just instrumental in bringing to light revelations that the girls would eventually find out on their own, albeit at a much later time.
Natsuiro Kiseki has the makings of a good anime series. It meshes comedic and dramatic elements that are usually present in many good slice of life series. However, it fell short for me. The series was enjoyable to watch to a certain extent, but it wasn't compelling enough to make me feel excited about the next episode. In the end, I chose to watch all of its twelve episode run just to see how the girls would end their summer, and whether Saki and her family will continue with their move.
In the end, the best part of the series is the story of friendship between the girls, but is unfortunately one that can be easily overshadowed by other anime titles that utilized the slice of life formula more effectively.
Slightly happy viewing with this one.Labels: Adventure, Anime, Fantasy, Natsuiro Kiseki, Slice of Life, TV
