Ano Natsu de Matteru – 12 (End)

[Commie] Ano Natsu de Matteru - 12 [E3A9CBDA].mkv_snapshot_18.08_[2012.03.26_21.13.32]

[Commie] Ano Natsu de Matteru - 12 [E3A9CBDA].mkv_snapshot_21.01_[2012.03.26_21.16.24]

Nagai and Kuroda-sensei have been spending most of this series making difficult tasks look easy, so it’s no surprise that they should prove more than up to that last great challenge – the ending.

One thing you’ll never be able to do is please everyone, and I’m sure there will be plenty of dissatisfied customers with Ano Natsu. For me, I’m wholly satisfied – I thought the final episode was briskly paced, with a near-perfect balance of drama and contemplative reflection, with some very solid comedic moments. In truth, the alien part of the plot was never going to be as compelling as the relationship side, but in that context I thought Nagai and Kuroda managed to have an alien ending that was still very human and focused on the emotions of the main players. And realistically, that was all I was hoping for.

For starters, I thought the crash/chase scene that began the episode was really well-executed, starting with Rinon deploying herself as a giant air bag when the van crashed. That was followed by the arrival of Manami, who mysteriously (at the time) said she was told by her husband to be at the very spot and the very time where Kanna emerged from the woods, trailed her her “huge stalker”. This was followed by a plea to her oft-maligned to save her as the rescue pod was going to “rape her”. Yes, apparently he’s an MIB too, though it doesn’t seem as if Manami knew – and there can be no question whatsoever that Remon is one.

Just whether these MIBs are similar to the ones in the Tommy Lee Jones/Will Smith film of the same name is a seemingly critical plot point, because those MIBs certainly had the proof of alien visitation to satisfy anyone – but MIBs have been in the cultural lexicon all the way back to the Roswell days (that’s almost 70 years, mind you) and it’s just as plausible that these guys are in the “just in case they exist” business. In any case they prove invaluable in saving the supporting cast’s bacon, but as for the main characters, things are not so rosy. Here’s where we get our possible Onegai Teacher tie-in, as a voice from the past reaches out to Ichika and Kaito (and Emika in orbit) once they arrive at the lake from Ichika’s dreams. The implication that this is Ichika’s ancestor is strong here, and she just wanted to share her memories of the planet and the human she’d come to love before being forced to leave Earth herself.

I think the way this is tied in to the main couple is rather elegant. While memories are too fleeting to provide the proof of alien encounters Kaito and Ichika need, they do stand as a nice parallel to the film that Kaito had planned all along to make, to make sure his memories and loves were captured to be shared with others in the event he weren’t around to do so himself. And with Ichika snatched back to her home planet, he has no choice but to move on – and I love the way the film was tied in here too, as Remon delivers the completed reels to Kaito before telling the gang that she’s transferring away, “right now”. Of course Remon’s reels aren’t just the silly Ultraman parodies and staged alien encounters with Ichika, but all the candid moments too – the things she captured when everyone’s guard was down. Again, “elegant” is the word I’d use here – elegant in the way this showed everyone how much they meant to each other, and how painful it was that Ichika was no longer in their lives. Painful for them all, but most especially for Kaito of course.

To the end itself, of course many viewers will be dissatisfied that there was no on-screen reunion, that much was inferred and not spelled out. I enjoyed this understated approach, though – the knowing smile on Remon’s face at MIB headquarters as she looked at the plans seemingly of a spaceship design, the shawl that Nanami brought back from Bolivia, the reveal through the showing of the film at the school culture festival, after the gang has moved on. I also liked the fact that nothing was spelled out in the love triangle – Tetsuro might have ended up with Mio (“Just take Mio!” was Kanna’s command, a proposition to which she seemed only happy to agree) but it’s left to the imagination. We didn’t get a neat, conventional ending in a series where the relationships weren’t neat, but messy and complicated – for me, that’s exactly as it should be. And we got an ending that was hopeful, with a strong implication that love conquers all, and one where all of the main characters seemed to fully embrace that they meant the world to each other, as friends.

9 comments

TigerxDragon

March 27, 2012 at 6:18 am

I thought that this was a great ending to a series i really enjoyed. I actually liked the non-on screen reunion. Seeing the final video with Ichika I had the biggest smile. And as for this versions MIB I thought that their headquarters looked pretty close to the one in the movie so I thought it implied them being the same.

Fencedude

March 27, 2012 at 6:28 am

I DEMAND a Lemon MIB spinoff.

admin

March 27, 2012 at 7:05 am

You know, I'm pretty happy with the way this ended up – I never say no to sequels of series I love (and this one may just do well enough on BD to make it realistic) but this feels like a good place to leave things.

ToraxDora, I don't remember hearing from you before – thanks for commenting! I agree, the off-screen reunion really worked for me.

TigerxDragon

March 27, 2012 at 7:38 am

I have been lurking the past couple season but this show finally got me to comment. It was just so good.

Ishruns

March 27, 2012 at 9:33 am

It worked for me too.

Platonic relationships are what Japan is all about

deafvader

March 27, 2012 at 7:19 am

I called it. I previously stated that it is the same lake that Onegai Sensei crashed in!! And I guessed the descendants theory.
I did not know they did not end up together, it may make some mad, but I didn't really like Onegai Sensei; so i didn't complete it and have no attachment to them.

P.S. KANNA!!!! NOOOOO!!!!

@Enzo: MIB movie 3 is coming [hopefully] soon.

SQA

March 28, 2012 at 3:07 am

Some spoilers:

Kuroda & Nagai got to cheat a little on the Onegai Sensei tie in. Given the way that series resolved, this actually could be in completely in canon and it doesn't matter. They pulled a few tricks to get Mizuho back. She could very easily have left that when she headed back in ep 11. So it could be both.

What we do know is that they're descendents of Mizuho. They could be descents of Kei as well. Or Kei could have died a few years later and she went home. There's a lot of possibilities that don't effect the Onegai stories. It's just that they were, now, in the past and those characters are dead.

I still think Kaito is a descendent of Hyosuke X Kaede from the first series.

Okay, spoiler tags don't work.

SQA

March 28, 2012 at 3:09 am

It was a good way to end it. Though using the Film to end the series should have been a given from early on. But, it felt good.

And knowing how Nagai handled Toradora helped a lot. You have to stay for the ENTIRE episode with this director. 🙂

Beckett

April 2, 2012 at 5:32 am

Eh, I really have to disagree. I didn't think the ending was handled well at all in terms of Kaito and Ichika. Most of this last episode I think was fine but I think the "no on screen reunion" bit really undermines a lot of the good. They spent 11.5 episodes building up the character drama and making us care what happens to them and then… don't show us what happens to them. Different people have different opinions and that's fine, but from my perspective all of the buildup, all of the drama, all of the suspense is completely wasted by not giving us a proper conclusion. Really disappointing to me because this was otherwise one of my favorite shows of the season.

I agree with your opinion in a lot of cases Enzo but in this one I just can't get on board, I see this as a weak ending that doesn't completely ruin the show, but does waste some of the effort they made in the first 11 episodes. In a romantic drama show there has to be an emotional payoff to justify our falling in love with the characters and this show failed to deliver it at the end. Which shouldn't surprise me at all since anime writers are almost all awful with endings.

Ano Natsu de Matteru – 12 (End)

Guardian Enzo

9 comments

TigerxDragon

Fencedude

admin

TigerxDragon

Ishruns

deafvader

SQA

SQA

Beckett

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9 comments

TigerxDragon

Fencedude

admin

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Ishruns

deafvader

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SQA

Beckett

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