Review of Waiting in the Summer

I did not give a straight 10 due art and sound. But on all other aspects it is a straight 10!!! When I read somewhere this was a kind of retelling of OneTei I jumped to it, but I did not expected it to go extremely RIGHT on the aspects I did find fault on one of my best loved animes of all time (OneTei). The Art could have been more similar (Onegai Teacher is gorgeous in that aspect) as well as sound which were flawless on OneTei, but Ano Natsu de Matteru is simply delicious to watch and the plot/characters/story is so well doneit made me watch it all at once! I went through it all in one go (after two weeks of training on my job that was a nice relaxing time) and it left me with a satisfaction sometimes not found after watching a series. The MIB references were really hilarious and this series rank among those were relationships are not taken in a shallow, idiotic way. All characters are interesting and not a single one is stupid or really infantile. Actions are taken with thought and intent, and there is no reasonlless drama like happened in OneTei at its end (the great flaw at the end of that series, although its manga goes right on that aspect) Characters are sincere and take real action, not wallowing on stupid, stalling drama and self pity or denying themselves like I saw on other similar series. We see characters going after their dreams and the main protagonists are like us, in their doubts and actions. Ok, at the end the action was offboard, but that was ok with the mood, and the Ichigo counterpart here, Lemon (aha, first a strawberry, now a lemon...nice twist if you get what I mean) was great to see in action.

The love entanglements were really well done and even a bit surprising with 3 characters, and really well handled. Had OneTei went like this in regards of the love dramas there it would have been perfect...but then it was close to that anyway.

Best of all, the end is what I was hopping for, and on that aspect mirrorred OneTei (I feared it would not be so but then the last scenes were gratifying and cute).

I would like to see an OVA depicting what came after...maybe not a series (not necessary) but an OVA could be nice, with room for some more comedy this time (so much room there, like Ichika's family, the MIB, the Federation....)

I love this little unpretentious Masterpiece and Ano Natsu de Matteru is for me one of my most loved series!