Natsuyuki Rendezvous 11 [End & Review]

moeeeeeee!

I’ll admit that there were a couple of things that I didn’t really like about this finale. But they were pretty minor details:

1. I found the Atushi biting Rokka on the neck to be a little hilarious.
2. The brief Alice in Wonderland scene also seemed crammed in there. I didn’t like what it did to the flow of the scene.

But I liked everything else! In particular…

• Rokka’s line: “I at least want to make the sadness disappear.” I took is as ‘sadness’ referring to Atsushi. Good line.
• Hazuki reuniting with Rokka in the real world. That scene was wonderful.
• The epilogue. Oh my goodness. The choice to make it take place after both Hazuki and Rokka’s deaths was really neat. I loved how their daughter Yuki (c whut u did thar) had Hazuki’s eyes. And of course, the final scene above was really powerful.
• On a side note, Atsushi floating away into the sky vaguely reminded me of Sora in the opening sequence to KH2. Anyone else? No?

Natsuyuki Rendezvous sits right in noitaminA’s sweet spot. Natsuyuki is a beautiful romance story featuring adults as the main characters. Our main three have excellent characterization and their emotions and actions are what drive the story. Yes, there is a lot of emotion and drama, but it never falls into the trench of stupid melodrama.

The main conflict kicks in at the end of episode four and lasts for the duration of the show. I think the length of the body switch lasted a bit too long and the pacing in general could’ve been just slightly quicker. However, Natsuyuki consistently delivered wonderful episodes and rarely wasted a moment in telling its story.

• Story – A- – A bit slow but lovely and emotional.
• Characters – A+ – Superb characterization from a cast of only  three adults.
• Art – A
• Music – B+ – Not the most memorable, but it’s very effective.
• Enjoyment – A – The show I was most emotionally invested in this season.
• Overall – A