Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Tuls
Summer Ghost attempts to touch on the fragile subject of life and death, one that requires a careful amount of introspection to come through as something profound or emotive. Character motivations and mental states play a crucial role in establishing depth, especially in this case, as each of the three characters seems to be plagued by the idea of death, either willingly or unwillingly. I feel like the choice of having three characters is detrimental, and it would've profited by discarding Aoi and Ryou altogether, as the time constraint hinders their collective development. The editing, to put it simply, is frankly horrendous. Frequent cuts and snappy dialogues ruin immersion as it's evident that it's trying to cram as much information as possible in its short duration, adversely affecting…
Read at the sourceBlueEmbers
Quality is the great equalizer in anything really. Sometimes you have big budget producers that make 2 hour long movies that are utterly forgettable, and then you get Summer Ghost - which in a short time makes a lot of itself.
Anyhow, the story delves into those who are close to death- physically, cosmically, however you read it. Having been surrounded by suicides and death in my life, it felt a but close to home. Imagine someone could see right through your meat-suit smoke screen and knew that you where dying in some way and driving towards the edge. It's a wonderful concept that is explored that many can likely relate to in personal or health experiences.
The artwork and sound is great, and I especially like some of the writing and voice acting. It's crisp with colors and quality wor…
Read at the sourcewhiteflame55
This movie is trying to do a lot in almost 40 minutes, and while I think it does a good job telling a pretty evocative story with marvelous visuals, I don't think it does justice to the characters with the limited time it has.
There's something deeper here for each of the leads, something concrete that would have been easy to latch onto since all these characters are close to death in different ways, and yet we barely get to explore more than a surface level understanding of where they're coming from before credits roll. It doesn't help that much of the interactions are deadpan, so even though that makes certain moments pop, it leaves the rest feeling a little drained of emotion, and moments that could have been huge sometimes feel strange or even suggestive of a pretty horrific scene (e…
Read at the sourceHalcyon13
Films nearing the half-hour mark seem like sort of a trend lately. Perhaps due to the declining attention span of viewers, gradually, the general standards for consumption cease to exist. They've always been around, yet recent advertising promises a more glamorous comprehensive experience. Whatever the case, the runtime doesn't have to be an issue, nor does it even need to be considered a facet of thought when handled in the right direction. Summer Ghost is bewildered, bound by a specific restraint on its cast and to what extent they're written if they're written at all. It's hard to imagine there was genuine effort behind the composition of their relative roles in the story, more precisely, the terribly dull dialogue and character beats in a scene. The trio represents various disillusione…
Read at the sourcenia74
The movie has only 45 minutes to show you the story and the background of each character, so you thrown into the action right away. In just a few scenes authors are able to show the characters stories and make them feel relatable. The artwork and music are full of summer and brings a pleasant nostalgic feeling.
On the other hand story is really swift and straight forward, it felt like there was strict time limit there. Despite the fact that you as a viewer are able to undestand the protagonists, they and their stories still feel superficial which ruins that melancholic vibe expected from the anime.
Regardless of the downsides mentioned above, it leaves that bittersweet aftertaste you probably came for, so in the end you would not be dissapointed.
Read at the sourceOPGMitaki
This movie is essentially a piece of advice. a roughly 40 minute advice that tells you to keep living. That tells you that no matter how shitty life is and no matter how much you try to convince yourself that you've done enough you've gotta keep doing your best, You've gotta keep breaking your limits. At least live until you've lived a life you will never forget and never regret. No matter how nice and free the world of the dead may seem or sound to you. Maybe it isn't so worth it after all? A fast paced movie with no particular story structure, no normal pacing, and no awfully detailed animation like modern Anime today. Just a masterpiece in the disguise of an advice needed by many humans in this day and age.
Read at the sourceFireRifle64
Story: 6/10
One summer, the cast meet up and talk to a ghost. Biggest flaw of the show to me is that this was much too short of a movie. It did just enough in the amount of time it had but it could have been more emotional or fulfilling had it been longer like an hour and half. This story contains typical experiences that many may relate to and can hit for many. Each person is struggling with their own issues and they find the resolve to confront their own issues while helping a ghost along the way. My issue with the story is we do not know what made our cast meet each other. They just happened to arrive at a diner and introduce themselves. I was left wondering how they managed to connect with each other and that never really got answered.
The story was three teens confronting someone who…
Read at the sourceKyragos
What is the purpose of my life? What should I do of my remaining days? Would I be better off dead?
These are the questions the characters of Summer Ghost ask themselves. In this movie, three high schoolers, meet offline for the first time, in order to investigate a rumour about a ghost on an abandoned air strip. Their trip is a success. They meet the ghost of a girl their age and ask her questions about her current “life”. One of the trio gets relatively close to her afterwards and wants to help her move on. The story is mainly about how people should cherish life, accept hurdles and find their own path. This is quite cliché, but effective in this context, while facing a real ghost.
Due to the movie's duration, the characters are barely developed. However, each one, ghost included, has t…
Read at the sourceN31m4d
Overrated.
The characters are mostly generic archetypes who lack dimensionality. The ways in which the three main characters are close to death are standard cliches, which end pretty much as one would expect them to. This made the second half of the movie very predictable. In its short run time, the movie relies overly on flashbacks in order to communicate the emotional weight of the characters' situations, although thankfully it at least has the sense to put these early on in the movie. Despite these negatives, the tropes this movie chooses to employ are at least rather compelling in their own right, making the story a bit more enjoyable.
The art in this movie is generally nice, although it mostly doesn't stand out. There are a few points in the movie where the shot directing stood out…
Read at the sourceDamnOtakuMan
Animation is rough and choppy sometimes, but the art is good.
Story is decent. Three people struggling with life, but it just felt like one of those movies that just for the sake of emotion, they purposely make the story sad.
Movie's direction is not really that good but as it is loundraw's debut directorial movie so I think it is barely fair.
You can watch the movie in your free time as the movie is not anything special, it even felt bland in some parts but overall its a decent movie to watch.
Soundtrack is good, It perfectly matches the atmosphere of the movie. Overall it's good movie 7/10.
Read at the sourcekevinking16
Worth my 40 mins.
The anime is decent at pretty much everything.
It is good, not to the point that it is remarkable, but it is good.
It is sad and satisfactory at the same time and brings the very same vibe as Shinkai Makoto's works. Sad but not depressing, very subtle. I like the fact that I won't get obsessed over the story, but the message of how beautiful life is that the anime carries will definitely linger in my mind for a while.
If anything I think this is a safe debut for Ioundraw as a director as the concept of the story isn't new at all so I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.
Highly recommend if you want a short ride of emotion.
Read at the sourcez_ach
A good movie, makes the audience feel like they've journeyed with the characters. No good movie is too long and, no bad movie is short enough. If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and, the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on.
I think I just started rambling there anyways, Summer Ghost is something i like to call "different" and "unique" compared to other anime movies. First of all, many people might of not enjoyed the movie (as much as i did) because, it's only short and, it seemed like they just needed more time to fully complete it (aka felt rushed.) Which i don't mind if you think that but, i would say i'm the opposite of all that.
To me, Summer Ghost has been beautifully adapted from Loundraw's manga and did well in every aspect such as, the…
Read at the sourcejo___8
I will never cease to be amazed at how much art pervades Japanese animation. I've been looking for this movie for a long time, and now I've finally seen it. I was fascinated by the trailer. The music, the voice of the protagonist, the drawings, the colors. Everything seemed to anticipate a small masterpiece. And so it was. The artistic work behind this short film is outstanding. The designs are truly beautiful, the landscapes and colors mixed with an overwhelming soundtrack make the audiovisual experience satisfying. But what really matters is the story. It is certainly not the first time that an anime talks about death, a very frequent theme especially in films. I think of "Colorful", "Spirited Away", "Children who chase lost voices", "The shape of the voice". However, in a short time lou…
Read at the sourceFirechick12012
So...this kind of came out of nowhere. Well, not necessarily, as this indie short film, Summer Ghost, was actually announced in February last year, though without much fanfare. It only just now dropped, and GKids announced they're putting it out on DVD and Blu-Ray with an English dub. This is actually the directorial debut of one loundraw, who is primarily known for character design and doing illustration work for light novels. They did the cover art for the light novel I Want To Eat Your Pancreas and the character designs for Tsuki ga Kirei. But I had forgotten about it until it just dropped out of nowhere and GKids announced it. I was even further thrown off by the fact that Summer Ghost is only under 40 minutes long. But I had some time to kill and decided to watch it. Now that I have,…
Read at the source_slowdiver
I loved the art direction and the music at times. Everything looked and sounded nice.
But really, if you seen enough anime, you could probably tell that it must have been amateur hour for character writing, because the characters are BLAND. The delivery of what they were saying wasn't the problem (most of the time), I liked the natural neutral delivery (most of the time). It was the dialogue pace. When you would expect a dramatic/introspective pause, the characters would keep talking and what they would say was supposed to make you feel something. This disconnected me from feeling what the characters were feeling, and it was the main thing that basically ruined the film for me. Also because of the dialogue pace, the rather deadpan neutral vocal delivery that I previously mentioned I like…
Read at the sourcegabi11
"My time to die has come, it's in the past, but yours remains in the future"
Summer Ghost is another movie, and another gem I had the chance to find and witness.
The story is nothing of an irregular note, a group of teenagers fighting with problems in their life from a young age like bullying, reduced self-esteem, and so on.
The story axes on a group of 3 high school teenagers who met on the internet with a common purpose, to meet the "Summer Ghost".
According to the articles written in the newspapers, the ghost will appear only in those people's faces who light a firework.
They buy some fireworks from a local shop and procced walking to an abandoned airport that got closed. Sitting on the tarmac, they are continuously trying to light up fireworks in order for the ghost to appear.
In the…
Read at the sourceren0080
That was a good 40 minutes movie. Though I felt like it could've been better if it was longer. Like, a good 1 hour and 30 minutes is probably the best runtime for this in order to flesh out the characters' backstories, motivations, and adding more depth to them.
Cause as it stands for now, characters just happen to be that kind of characters for the story to function. Like, the girl was just getting bullied just because. Or the other guy is [spoiler] just because. There isn't really a "why?" on the things that are happening. And that's a shame because if we had gotten a bit more reason as to why things are happening to those characters, we would have gotten more attached to them and felt the weight of their circumstances.
Well, moving on cause I don't wanna spoil anymore. The animation wa…
Read at the sourceYuu_Kanzaki
Summer Ghost is a short but quite complicated movie to watch. Everyone has their own share of problems. A person can look completely fine and satisfied on the outside, but we never know what's hiding behind that smile and laughter. However, no problem is worth more than the life you have been given. That is message I got from watching this movie.
The art of the movie is very pretty. I like the designs of the characters and the way they are drawn. The color is bright but not vibrant; it has that 'dull' tone going on. The animation is choppy most of the time, but decent enough and it doesn't ruin the movie.
Characters are, arguably, simple. Because the movie is only 40 minutes long, we don't get to explore what had happened to them prior to the events of the movie. The characters themsel…
Read at the sourceXaeNut18
I really like the art the sound everything here but I just wished that it was longer though the pacing was a lil too fast but it was worth the watch I really like the story because the mc is having the same problem as I do right now and it impacted me by how his action goes and well and animation is decent or I could say pretty good but I hope to see more of your work in the future
Keep up the good work and in the near future I hope to see how better your animation and movies or animation would be
I hope to see your new work soon 🙏
Read at the sourceChatox17
First of all this is not a movie for everyone, The story requires a lot of interpretation with so little time because the movie's pace is really fast so pay attention!
With that being said, in 45 minutes they've done a pretty good job telling a story. If they got like 70+ minutes to tell more about backstory of each character even more, I believe this movie could be much more emotional.
Artstyle is great, although the animation seem rough, the lighting and color tone are make up for it. Which help a lot to understand the character's view of the world.
Soundtrack is also great. It fit pretty well with the story, which make the story even more emotional by the end.
Overall, 9/10: for a short movie, It's really great, and I suggest you give it a try. The only thing holding it back is the…
Read at the source