Natsuyuki Rendezvous Review | A Love Triangle… With a Ghost

Hi guys and welcome to my place!

Well, this week has been… Difficult to say the least. I’m in a no stopping mode and it has been hard to write this review… I also have a ton of ideas that I want to post, but no time for them… GRRR it makes me a little angry… But oh well! That’s life!

Let’s go to why you are here! As you know from my previous post (two weeks ago) the Anime that I got in the Random Anime was Natuyuki Rendezvous… I did not see any reviews or intros about it, so I really did not know what I was getting into. So let’s start!

The story:

Well, from the beginning I understood that I was going for a romantic Anime, however I never watched Josei Animes, normally I only watch Shoujo ones, this way it was nice to see a different setup and a different approach to a romantic plot. Contrary to what I am used to with Shoujo, there is not really that part of endless shyness and misunderstanding… Which for me was a breather.

The story follows a guy called Ryosuke that falls in love with Rokka who owns a flower shop. At the beginning he would stop there and buy tons of flowers to be able to meet with Rokka until he ends to take a part-time job at the shop. Not long after he tells Rokka that he loves her… The story proceeds with him going to Rokka’s house and find a guy in his underwear there who seems to be her boyfriend, however in the next day (or in that night, something like that) he founds out that he is actually a ghost and he is Rokka’s late husband. All this in one episode! I’m not going to lie, at the end of this episode I was like… How the hell are they going to push forward the story after this? I mean, normally romantic stories END with the characters telling they love each other, this one STARTS with it.

Well, they did a decent job! Atsushi is not able to let Rokka go (even though he wants her happiness and that she continues with her life) and this way he tries to sabotage their relationship the as much as he can. Let’s face it… It would be difficult for you to try to have sex (or even kiss) someone while having the late husband of your SO in front of you all the time!

Now, you will have some of this back and forward relationship, until Ryosuke gives his body to Atsushi (in the stupidest way possible). Basically Ryousuke goes out with Rokka to an amusement park, but he fails to make Rokka happy as he has seen in a picture when visiting the same place with her late husband. When they get back to Rokka’s house he goes out to buy cigarettes, however he ends up getting drunk! (Don’t really understand why because everything was going ok) When he gets to the house he’s almost passing out and gives permission to Atsushi to take his body before blacking out. Easy as that!

This is when the story really starts to get interesting and made me watch until the end of it! However, from this point forward I would consider everything as a spoiler, so you will need to see it to know what happens next 😀 I only say that it is a bit “wtf”?!

The pace is pretty slow to be honest, but if you are going for a ride of a more laid back and relaxing Anime, this story will work well for you! 😀

Characters:

The story focus in the main 3 characters, although Atsushi’s sister appears here and there (and I kind like her).

Ryosuke:

Well… I don’t know if I like him or not to be honest… Although his passion for Rokka is great and he puts her above all else, he seems to be a little boring in his daily life. Also he does some stupid acts that don’t really make sense, such as saying “I’m going to make Rokka forget everything about Atsushi” (Or something like that) out loud while he was preparing to have sex with Rokka… Even if he was talking towards the ghost and not Rokka… Well you just don’t say something like that.

Atsushi:

I don’t really like this character… I understand that he loves Rokka too much to let her go, but why tell her to put everything in the trash and moving forward after his death? Moreover, he doesn’t want her to be sad, but he then proceeds to sabotage the first relationship she is starting to have after so many years after he died? I’m sorry, but you, dear Atsushi, are an a-hole!

Rokka:

The only character I do like. I can understand her grieve… My mother never really got into a relationship after my father passed away. She is also a decent person and does not have any kind of negative traits that I would point out (Well, passing out because of a cold is a close one). It’s that kind of character that you easily fall for basically! 😀

Audio:

The best way to describe the intro and ending music is a romantic one towards adult women, that hits the spot for their main viewers, but it’s not really my thing!

The voice overs could be better, not going to lie. There are some parts that you don’t feel that the emotion is passing correctly trough the character voices, specially when they are supposed to be angry. However, it does get better along the Anime. Probably the voice actors were more relaxed, dunno (?)

Animation:

The Anime is from 2012 and the animation is ok for that time. Nothing really to comment besides the flowers! Since the story mainly passes inside a flower shop you will be able to see many kind of flowers and ever each of them are drawn to the detail!

And that’s it! My general review is… It’s  a decent Anime, it could go way deeper in the story and the voice acting could be better, but IF you are looking for a more calm and relaxing in the romantic genre please go ahead. I think you will enjoy this Anime, probably a lot 🙂

I give this Anime 3,5 Tulips out of 5 Annoyning Ghosts!

Now, for the next Anime!!!! The Anime that came out next in the randomanime.org and that I will review as soon as I end it is (or drop it, we never know):

Gantz

Hope you enjoyed this review! Comment down below what you thought of Natsuyuki Rendezvous if you already saw it! If not, tell me if you are thinking on watching it 😀

See Ya Soon! 😀