Summer Ghost

It is said that fireworks can calm the souls of the dead. For Tomoya Sugisaki, Aoi Harukawa, and Ryou Kobayashi, fireworks are what allowed them to meet the Summer Ghost. Believed to be the spirit of a young woman who committed suicide, the Summer Ghost only appears in a specific area and can only be seen by those who are within arm's reach of death.

Tomoya is a creative soul being crushed by his academic obligation to get into a good university. Aoi is a meek girl who is relentlessly bullied by her classmates. Ryou is a former basketball star who had to forfeit his passion following a grim diagnosis. The only thing these three have in common is their ability to see the Summer Ghost. The Summer Ghost is said to be able to answer any and all questions pertaining to death—something the three teenagers desperately want to know more about.

Dissatisfied with their initial meeting, Tomoya sets out to find the Summer Ghost once again. But the more time he spends with the ghost, the more the mystery surrounding her existence unravels.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Satou, Ayane Main

Kawaei, Rina Japanese

Sugisaki, Tomoya Main

Kobayashi, Chiaki Japanese

Kobayashi, Ryou Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Harukawa, Aoi Main

Shimabukuro, Miyuri Japanese

Ayane's Mother Supporting

Sahaku, Miyuki Japanese

Teacher Supporting

Nakamura, Kazumasa Japanese

Sugisaki, Reiko Supporting

Honda, Takako Japanese

Katsumata, Hideo Producer

loundraw Director, Original Creator, Original Character Design

Otsuichi Screenplay

Kosemura, Akira Music

Reviews

Feb 7, 2022

Chatox17

Recommended

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 pacing. It feels like they want to tell more, but they don't have much time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 18, 2024

whiteflame55

Mixed Feelings

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.g. dropping a certain suitcase off at a certain person's door at the end with no note or explanation).

I think the concept here was interesting, even if the execution leaves something to be desired. Maybe fewer characters would have helped. Maybe splitting the focus of the plot less. Maybe just not with the whole help a ghost plot that just ends without much actual resolution. Honestly, the more I think about this one, the more it goes down in my estimation, but it stays a mixed bag for me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 6, 2025

Tuls

Not Recommended

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 its core vision.

Regardless of its several shortcomings, it does manage to be visually appealing. Claustrophobic and dull rooms with Tomoya illustrate his trapped mentality, while brighter outdoor environments display the beauty of life. Summer Ghost is a valiant effort in conceptualizing teenage emotions haunted by looming death, but its writing, unfortunately, doesn't reach the endless horizons that its visual aesthetic does.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Summer Ghost Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) removed-user - Nov 11, 2021	114 replies	by JackCompletes »» Jan 13, 1:04 AM
	What happened with the mom? yami_jpeg - Apr 6, 2022	15 replies	by OP_Rider »» Jul 31, 2023 2:39 AM
	Summer ghost dub is out but I don't know where to watch it. Ian052503 - Nov 2, 2022	8 replies	by Haigen »» Nov 19, 2022 9:57 AM
	Summer Ghost - Initial trailer thoughts? ImmortalAbomb - Sep 1, 2021	15 replies	by ImmortalAbomb »» Nov 5, 2021 10:11 PM
	Five minutes PV Nishide - Nov 1, 2021	2 replies	by xAbstractx »» Nov 3, 2021 2:29 AM