Set a Date with Natsuyuki Rendezvous

Joseph Luster July 18, 2012

Natsuyuki Rendezvous Streaming Anime Review

It’s a bit strange to say considering the varied style of shows on Fuji TV’s late-night noitaminA anime block, but the second I saw images and trailers for Natsuyuki Rendezvous, I knew where and when it would be airing. Thankfully, the subject matter also manages to be appropriate for the time slot. Natsuyuki Rendezvous is a supernatural, adult romance that actually feels like it was properly made for a grown-up audience.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous Streaming Anime Review Based on the manga by Haruka Kawachi—serialized in Shodensha’s Feel Young magazine from 2009-2012—Natsuyuki Rendezvous centers on Ryūsuke Hazuki, a 22-year-old man with a crush on flower shop owner Rokka Shimao. He stops by her store, Flower Shop Shimao, daily, picking up a new potted plant each time but never quite mustering the strength to say much of anything. Thanks to this habit his apartment is full of flowers and he doesn’t even have so much as a mildly successful pick-up line to show for it. Come on, dude! He’s quiet, maybe a bit cowardly at first, but either way he just doesn’t seem to have the right “in.” This changes when Rokka posts a help wanted notice for part-time workers, and Hazuki wastes no time in snatching up the position.

Now that Hazuki has a more intimate setting in which he can work his magic on Rokka, things should be smooth sailing, right? Seems so, until he bumps into Atsushi Shimao, Rokka’s late husband. Yes, his spirit populates the flower shop, and despite expressing his desire for Rokka to move on and be happy prior to his untimely passing, he just can’t let her go. As shocked as he is that Hazuki can see him floating about, it’s not long before the two engage in a tug-of-war for her affection. There’s not much for the non-corporeal Atsushi to tug at, but he still can’t bear the thought of Rokka actually sharing her life with another man, so he sets out to sabotage Hazuki at every turn. While this provides a momentary distraction, all it truly serves to do is further motivate Hazuki, who dramatically ramps up his efforts to win Rokka’s heart.

Hazuki may have seemed reserved and, really, a very typical male anime protagonist at first, his methods become bolder and bolder within the first two episodes alone. It’s nice to see an anime centered on romance that isn’t full of too much hemming and hawing and gee golly blushing; even with the occasional hope-dashing frustration, the central relationship of Natsuyuki Rendezvous is closer to something actual adults might experience. Feelings are expressed, not bottled up eternally. Due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Atsushi’s death, though, it’s also clear this isn’t going to be a fun-and-games series of budding love. There are complex emotions here, from Rokka’s own reluctance to move on from a painful loss to the clear-cut conflict of the age gap between a relatively inexperienced guy and the 30-year-old widow he’s attempting to woo.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous Streaming Anime Review

Is Natsuyuki Rendezvous well-animated? Sure, I guess. It’s not like there’s a ton of stuff going on at any given moment, but it sure does look pretty. There isn’t much here that couldn’t be done as a live-action drama, but that doesn’t matter. Natsuyuki Rendezvous is all about characters, and they’re already growing nicely after the first pair of episodes. The series is streaming now on Crunchyroll, and Sentai Filmworks recently announced plans to distribute the series digitally later this year, with a 2013 home video release to follow. Perhaps the best thing about the show so far is that I would have no problem recommending it to someone who generally avoids anime, or has never been a fan. It has a broad reach that it can hopefully take advantage of during its time on air and beyond.