The spring 2022 anime season is packed with sequels like the third season of Kaguya-sama and the highly anticipated adaptation of Spy x Family, but one upcoming series that has slipped under the radar is Summer Time Rendering. Premiering April 14 on Disney+, Summer Time Rendering combines mystery, horror, and time leaping to make for an exciting show to watch. The anime will be two-cour and have 25 episodes.
Summer Time Rendering is adapted from a manga series written and illustrated by Yasuki Tanaka. From the trailers, Summer Time Rendering appears to be a simple summertime story of Shinpei, a boy with two different-colored eyes, who returns home to attend the funeral of his friend, Ushio. It's deceivingly idyllic, except for several seemingly inconsequential events that turn out to be not-so-unimportant after all. Shinpei realizes Ushio's death isn't what it appears. Here's why you should watch Summer Time Rendering when it streams:
What Is Summer Time Rendering About?
After two years, Shinpei returns to his hometown on the Hitoga island to attend Ushio's funeral. He, Ushio and her sister, Mio, have lived together for years up until his parents died. But coming to his hometown was a bit of a challenge. On the ship, Shinpei gets slapped after falling face-first into a woman's bosom. He watched Mio dive straight into the ocean after losing control of her bicycle. Not to mention the strange dream he had right before he arrived of Ushio warning him to protect Mio.
Shinpei learns that Ushio didn't drown, like everyone believed: There's a mark on her neck that suggests foul play. There are rumors about mysterious beings that appear as doppelgängers, known as Shadows. Seeing a Shadow is akin to seeing death itself, because it means the Shadow will hunt you down and kill you. While searching for a way to save Mio, Ushio is captured and killed by her Shadow, in front of Shinpei's eyes. Without blinking an eye, the Shadow shoots Shinpei as well.
Who Are the Characters?
Summer Time Rendering could have easily ended there. Shinpei got shot, but instead of dying, he survives and is sent back in time. Each time Shinpei dies, he is sent back in a loop, like Groundhog Day, except every time he comes back, it isn't at the same moment as before. In fact, he loses time. Shinpei, with help form Mio, has to figure out how to save her and the other people on the island, and how to defeat the Shadows before it's too late. However, it proves to be near impossible, with the Shadows repeatedly overpowering, except for the one time loop that brings an unexpected character back from the dead: Ushio.
The woman whom Shinpei met on the ship also came to the island with her own mission: Fourteen years earlier, her twin brother, Ryuunosuke, was killed by the Shadows, and now Hizuru Minamikata is back again to discover how the Shadows can be vanquished, once and for all.
Why You Should Watch Summer Time Rendering
Time-traveling anime is a tried-and-true story, but the way Summer Time Rendering unspools makes it all the more enticing. Every time Shinpei goes back in time, the sense of urgency increases, despite how he repeatedly returns to a moment when it feels like an ordinary summer's day. There's an interesting dichotomy in how peaceful the island looks when there is so much darkness lurking beneath. It has everything horror fans would want, and everything fans of mystery love. Because the Shadows are exact duplicates of those they copy, can Shinpei and his allies even trust each other?
The manga is an exciting page-turner. Shinpei retains all of his memories when he travels through time, and he starts piecing together the clues to create a strategy to change the outcome. Despite being a time-travel story, Summer Time Rendering never feels repetitive. Shinpei soon realizes there is a limit to the time loop, further adding tension to the story. This is rare, because the plot device always seems like a power that makes the user invincible (until they get killed), but that gets twisted in Summer Time Rendering, because it's Shinpei's death that triggers the loop.
The cast of characters ais also distinctive, and although romance is hinted at the beginning between Mio and Shinpei, as well as between Ushio and Shinpei, the romantic elements don't take center stage. It seems like Shinpei will never be able to escape this seemingly endless loop of a nightmare, but every time he travels through time, he gets closer to saving his friends.