Ano Natsu de Matteru has been a series which focused on friendship and the broader relationships between characters – no matter how painful things got, how often their feelings overlapped, this group of friends have managed to stay together. That is the major draw, and easily the best thing about this show, showing that, no matter who you love, and who they love, there is always the possibility to still be great friends, knowing that you have done your best. It was great last week seeing how this groups friendship kept them together, no matter how much they were hurt, and more importantly, every single character in this series is likable. There are no characters that just come across as selfish, stuck up, or just plain annoying – they all have their moments of immaturity, as befits a group of high school kids, and yet there is a level of maturity which many other romance anime lack. But, it is also a series that never goes overboard with the drama, even when one character says something very important to the story, there are little elements of humor that help to keep the plot dramatic, without being melodramatic. Read more of this post