Time-Loop Mystery Thriller Anime Keeps You Guessing In The Best Ways
Summer Time Rendering follows the story of Shinpei Ajiro as he returns to the small island he grew up on when his childhood best friend, Ushio, dies due to a freak drowning accident. However, strange situations and suspicious people set Shinpei on the hunt for the truth about what really happened to his friend. This one-season anime manages to take the classic time-loop story and enhance it with tension-filled moments and terrifying enemies.
A Well-Reviewed Series
Though it was up against some stiff competition, Summer Time Rendering still did pretty well for itself. The anime received an average score of 8.49 on My Anime List, putting it at rank #138. It also had a popularity ranking of #424.
Outshined By Other Anime
Despite its high reviews, Summer Time Rendering was unfortunately a little overshadowed. It came out in the spring of 2022 when continuations of Komi-san Can’t Communicate, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and Rising of the Shield Hero were the main focus. Additionally, anime like Spy x Family, Tomodachi Game, Ya Boy Kongming!, and Skeleton Knight in Another World were popular new series released around the same time. So it wasn’t so much that Summer Time Rendering didn’t have the hype, it was just overshadowed by a series of other great anime.
A Smarter Time Loop
I was a little hesitant to try Summer Time Rendering when I first heard about it. I tried to watch Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou when it came out in 2020, and I didn’t like it at all. There were a lot of issues and overall the show felt unfocused and confusing.
But I decided to give Summer Time Rendering a watch anyway, and I was happy to see it wasn’t like Higurashi at all. Though it follows the same premise—every time the main character tries to find the truth about a sinister situation, they are killed and brought back to a certain point in time.
However, in Summer Time Rendering, the application of the theme was done much better. All of the characters were smart and actually did things right. Unfortunately, the villain was equally as smart and posed a solid threat against the side of good as they tried to change their fate.
Reincarnation Brilliance
Shinpei used his ability to return from death in smart ways to gain information and save others. Every time he reincarnated, he had less time between reincarnation and when he died, so he had to use it scarcely and wisely. Sometimes, events became set in stone after he died, and too many deaths in quick succession would have led him to a permanent demise.
This added twist and focus on this limitation throughout the series raised the tension in ways that other time loop animes struggle to do properly.
The Ending Isn’t Perfect
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My only complaint with the show is that it’s a bit of a mess at the end. It gets complicated quickly, and it isn’t easy to unravel. Also, I felt that a lot of continuity and timeline plot holes popped up at the end to give the characters more of a happy ending.
Summer Time Rendering is available to watch on Hulu if you’re ready to see this twisty, dark, time-loop anime for yourself.
