Summertime Render (manga recommendation)

 

This post is part of 52 anime challange - I'll be recommending one anime/manga per week that I've recently watched. I won't be writing about stuff that I've watched long time ago and that I don't fully remember.

 

I started my adventure with “Summertime Render” with the anime, or rather the first two episodes, which were very interesting and gave me hope for a thriller sprinkled with a large dose of mystery. I expected to get a cake soaked in a heavy atmosphere, like grandma's cake even wet from the spirit. In practice it turned out completely different - all the mystery and suspense turned out to be just a cherry on the cake, just lightly sprinkled with alcohol, but... I am not disappointed.

Plot:

The main character, Shinpei, returns to his home island for the funeral of his tragically deceased sister. The funeral ceremony, reunion with friends and family go normally. However, on the same day, he learns that his sister's death may have been a murder. The next day, strange events on the island begin to escalate until his another sister's doppelganger kills him and Shinpei wakes up the day before and relives the same day.

Until this point it sounds like “Re:Zero”, maybe a little “Boku dake” or “Zetsuen no Tempest”. And it's the latter that I would most quickly compare “Summertime Render” to. But let's start from the beginning. Shinpei will experience time loops many times over the course of the story, but an interesting change was introduced in this manga - each loop gets shortened (which was already presented in the 2nd episode of the anime, if you're an attentive viewer) which changes a lot in terms of the plot. This is not Re:Zero, where the protagonist has an infinite number of attempts. Sometimes Shinpei can jump too close back in time so that some things can't be fixed.

We find out who the sinister clones are fairly quickly, after only about 25 chapters (out of 139), the bubble of mystery and thriller quickly bursts. Sure, the manga keeps something in store for us, but the atmosphere itself changes and we focus on the fights and planning for the next loop. Hence the comparison to Zetsuen Tempest - whoever has watched it knows that in the middle the anime changes and the atmosphere of mystery disappears, and the anime goes much more towards action.
I have no grudge against the author - everything happens naturally, it's just that the anime focused my expectations in a slightly different direction.

Fights and time loops:

The intrigue itself and the struggle to defeat the evil that is trying to take over the island is interesting. Everything is based on the aforementioned loops, which vary dramatically over time. Partly because their beginning shifts, but also what actions the protagonist will take and, allowing myself a small spoiler - how long he will survive before he doesn't start another loop. Arsenal and allies also grow over time.
The fights are planned in a way that the reader can clearly understand, there is no time for boredom, but we are also not overwhelmed by the amount of action or the gradually developing plot.

What caught my attention, especially after recently reading “Tokyo Ghoul:re”, is the light style in which the manga is written. The amount of text is relatively small - there's just enough of it for the reader to understand the characters' plans, their (mostly simple) thoughts, motivations, and what's currently happening on the panels. At the same time, in the case of fights, the amount of text is limited, because it’s not needed. After all, a picture says more than a thousand words.
The time loops themselves, the plans to solve them and everything connected with it are simply well done. The idea gains some freshness due to shifting of their beginning, but other than that we have a rather standard trope known from for example “Re:Zero”.

Solving island mystery:

On the one hand, as I mentioned before, the advantage is the relatively simple way the message is conveyed to the reader. So all the concepts presented in the manga were understandable to me and I didn't need to stop to think about philosophy or quantum physics.
But at a certain point the manga gets lost in this simplicity and we can see "character is OP, just because" themes with no believable explanations. Timelines, time paradoxes, and similar issues also are a little bit stretched and not fully logical at some point. Especially with the last chapter, which disrespects the readers, just a bit. But as is common knowledge, a happy ending is usually worth sacrificing logic for a wider audience.

Other than that, the concept of the monsters/clones on the island is gradually developed, rather coherently logical and interesting. I just caution you not to set your mind that this is the core of the plot and that we'll get a second “Shinsekai Yori” in terms of thriller and mystery.

Art:

The char designs definitely deserve a round of applause. The MC, his sisters, the main bad guy, the bearded guy with the eye patch or the lady with the big breasts from the ship - on one hand they look a bit generic, but I doubt I would confuse them with another manga series. The fights are very clean and smooth, there's no question of not understanding what's going on in specific panels. Faces are “ok”, especially since the series doesn't focus much on the characters' emotions and inner thoughts that much.
Art/graphics just does its job, especially as an action manga, so it's hard for me to have any objections.

Summary:

If you're looking for an interesting story with lots of action and a light dose of mystery, in which the main theme is time loops straight from Re:Zero, you don't have to look any further! Start reading Summertime Render right now!

Also available as an anime today. Don't wait, start watching today!

(I honestly think the anime has the potential to be even better than the manga judging by the execution of the first two episodes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this level will be maintained)