The Light at Night in Summer is a 15-minute slice-of-life short directed by Kota Ishikawa that was released in 2016. The story focuses on a group of high school friends, who are in the process of moving schools, and their encounter with a strange "flying orange light" that hovers over their town. As Hirofumi Mizusawa and his buddy Akira look up toward the skies, the viewer realizes that they should have instead looked a little closer to home.

Despite this ONA’s short runtime, it moves at a slow pace. Some viewers might be disappointed that there aren’t any moments of laser-blasting action or impressive visuals of flying saucers that they might expect. However, it does a decent job of creating a story about beings from another world without resorting to overdone tropes or other cheap tactics. The Light at Night in Summer attempts to create an atmospheric experience and provide enough space for those watching to think about what life from another world might do if it knew about human existence.

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The Plot of The Light at Night in Summer

Orange Orb

Hirofumi Mizusawa is seen studying late at night when he sees a strange unidentified flying object from his window (Close Encounter of the First Kind), which appears in the form of a glowing orange orb. As he continues to spectate the object, which moves and turns with precision, his lights suddenly turn off, the clock stops, and his radio begins to sputter out garbled frequencies (Close Encounter of the Second Kind). Unable to explain this series of strange phenomena, Mizusawa becomes determined to venture out into the wilderness to once again witness what he believes is a spacecraft from another world.

After Mizusawa explains the bizarre occurrences to his friends, Akira and Ryo, the trio decides to go on a camping trip in the hope of spotting the UFO. However, the following day, Ryo informs the two boys that she’s busy and won’t be able to accompany them. During the trip, Mizusawa and Akira spend most of their time discussing the news that their high school will merge with a neighboring institution, their plans to start a new club together and hanging out by the campfire. Despite being removed from any form of light pollution and having a clear view of the sky, it seems that their chance of seeing an alien spacecraft is unlikely.

Just as the pair are about to doze off, they receive a call from Ryo, who informs her friends that she has to go somewhere and "won’t be able to come back for a while." Although Mizusawa and Akira are disappointed to learn that they won’t be able to spend the summer together with her, they understand her decision. As the three discuss what they plan to do when Ryo returns, she begins to cry. Unbeknownst to Mizusawa and Akira, a bright white light looms behind Ryo, and after a mysterious voice asks her if she is ready, it begins to slowly float into the sky. At this time, the two boys begin to hear static on their radio and see an unbelievable sight in the sky.

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Life From Another World

Spaceship near school

Anime titles within the sci-fi genre are typically not known for subtlety. Aliens, spaceships and laser battles are usually plentiful in an effort to make each story as exciting as possible. However, Light at Night in Summer hits the brakes to create a more 'realistic' interpretation of how humans might encounter beings from another world and the vehicles they use. Rather than taking an approach in which extraterrestrial life overtly communicates with humans, Ishikawa instead decides to highlight that they might be more secretive than many works of fiction lead audiences to believe.

However, without a myriad of flying saucers or strange creatures to observe, the short heavily relies on its series of characters and the conversations they take part in. Sadly, Mizusawa, Akira and Ryo are not particularly distinctive, nor do their discussions hold anything that can be deemed in-depth or of any real importance. Instead, they are simply average teenagers, who talk and act precisely in a manner that one might expect. While the mundanity of these characters in some respects adds to the realism of the short, it ultimately diminishes a great deal of the entertainment factor from the work.

This being said, Light at Night in Summer’s soothing score and well-crafted backdrops will likely keep viewers watching, and so too will its element of mystery. Although there might be little to draw people back into this world or the characters that inhabit it, Ishikawa successfully provides an alternative story that ponders how Close Encounters of the Third Kind might take place.