markliuJul 7, 202525 replies418 viewsAlright, so we’ve reached the end of Ao’s route, and I have to say, they did a pretty good job. While it might not hit as hard as the visual novel, in my opinion, the adaptation is solid, especially with the music enhancing the emotion. I kind of expected they would reveal the twist early in the episode, around the first five minutes, I could tell the moment Ao started falling asleep while Ai was waking up.
So that’s how Ao’s route ends. Now, it’s up to Hairi to keep telling Ao stories, just like Ao used to do for her twin sister. He’s also taking over her role in collecting the butterflies. Oh, and don’t forget, Inari is now his assistant, which I really liked. I’m glad they gave Inari more screen time in this episode.
Next up, we’re shifting to the main heroine’s route in the upcoming episodes. This is the heart of Summer Pockets, and from what I’ve heard, this route might only get about three episodes (though I could be wrong). I just really hope they don’t butcher it, same goes for A’s route and P’s route.
You might’ve noticed a festival happening in this episode, that’ll come into play in Shiroha’s route. I hope you all stick with the anime until the end.
~Kamome Route -> Tsumugi Route -> Ao Route -> Shiroha Route -> A Route -> P Route ~
I am glad that they animated this route perfect. As expected Ao's route kinda ended in the bittersweet ending. Next is Shiroha and while watching her route, I have to prepare 100 boxes of tissues.
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I do hope her route can make me cry, but we will see.
Honestly at this point I'm kinda annoyed by the typical "bittersweet" Key ending to be honest.. I've watched Air like 20 years ago or something and it's still the same formular.
At least we have another true omnibus anime format again for a long time, but I get what you mean by it.
Tbh literally the whole point of the company they pride them selves in their formula and prolly will never change for the better and for the worse
Well we got KINDA a happy end with Ao waking up in the end - but of course no lovey dovey time and a lot of drama as this is a Key story - rinse and repeat.
I remember reading on Reddit, that some people were sad about the thought, what happens to Ao and Ai if Hairi doesn't help Ao (because of another route). Gonna agree on that.
All in all I still think this was my favourite route so far, Ao and Airi are just super cute together (and I loved the litte punches Ai was throwing at him for getting romantically involved with her sister).
For the people here who played the game - did they skip a lot of content. Something extra in the end? Next is Shiroha (kinda the main female character isn't she?) right? What is the A Route and P Route about?
Well, they skip most of the trivia and maybe stuff that didn't really important, mostly jokes, but I think they did adapt it pretty well. For A Route and P Route it will explore the most important characters of this anime, you can guess who they are, not that it was too hard to guess anyway.
Spoiler discussion beyond this episode below, don't open it unless you already played and completed the VN before.
Well I do know, that the little girl is Shiroha's and Hairi's daughter (she called him dad once by accident). The other one is also a girl but has she even appeared on the show yet?
That person will show up in one of that route, I think it will be on the A route if I remember correctly.
Called it she went into a coma. She really is best/cutest girl. It was cool you got to see them as a couple but it still would've been nice to see her wake up in the end.
Well, I mean, they kinda stay true to the source, so... Yeah, still would be nice to have some other dialog when she's waking up like how Ai did.
i mean... she did though... at the very end she says she feels her body warming up and being filled and then says good morning so it's clear that's her waking up, still wish we got more after that though
Since Ao used the ritual to wake Ai from a coma and fell into it after and now Hairi is doing the same for her wouldn't it turn into a perpetual cycle of waking from and falling into a coma?
Maybe, but I don't see Hairi touching the butterflies after Ao in her deep sleep, but maybe it can be like that.
i don't think so, since Ao was different, it was because she had taken in so many memories that she couldn't hold herself together very well, Hairi doesn't always need to touch them and thanks to Inari it should be easier since Inari has been with Ao for a long time and can sniff out the right one, ideally it probably only took him a few nights to find her
man what a sad twist to one of the best routes so far (i liked the other ones but this one had the advantage of having something more interesting going on), at the very least we see her wake up at the end but we don't get anything beyond that, though ngl i feel like the ending bit was a LITTLE unnecessary... i mean we had her have the same fate as her sister only for them to wake her up at the very end, feels like it was kinda just a sad twist for the sake of a sad twist and drama but whatever, at the very least it probably only took Hairi a week or so to find her considering he can use Inari to sniff out the right one so we can kinda assume he woke her up and they had the rest of summer to be together but still
This one have a happy ending compared to previous girl stories.
Either way I am loving this one girl at a time harem style, it's so damn fresh, but since summer always reset it makes me feel and care less about characters despite how much I'm loving this series.
I wouldn't say fresh. From a VN perspective there's Amagami SS which is route-based romance.
As a non-VN player but knowing the end route from all the spoilers I still have my concerns regarding this type of storytelling. Not to detract from the stellar VA work and above average animation, it's the reliance on the same old tropes to pull at the heartstrings that I feel is too contrived. I absolutely loved Clannad AS for character development and the gut punch it delivers, but the payoff is dulled (to me) when the premise is reset with route selections.
We have already been exposed to the love interests in each route, but no emotional payoff is rewarded at the end of their arc where the comments keep showing "best girl".
I mean fresh as an anime.
I am really struggling with this show. I just don't care about any of these people. Maybe in the VN there's more character building but the breakneck pace is really killing the show for me. Hairi has no personality, and the girls have to fall in love and turn out to be in a coma or a ghost or whatever so fast that there's no time to develop them. The background characters are non-existent, primarily characterized in montages. When Ai was remembering their names this episode, I couldn't remember any of them. Even she couldn't remember one, lol.
Sure there's a "mystery", though it seems pretty arbitrary and contrived. Maybe that will all come together by the end, but if I don't have any investment with the characters I'm not really motivated to stick through it.
I honestly think I might drop it. I think the issue is mostly an adaptation problem, I imagine the VN has much more time to flesh these things out and you don't need the protagonist to have a personality, you bring your own. I also think the show looks pretty nice, nothing incredible but art direction and design are well-executed. Too bad, really. There's probably stuff in here, but I don't think this is a successful adaptation of that stuff.
5/10 for me overall so far.
You should’ve already dropped this if you didn’t like it
Now with the Ao arc finished, I can say summer pockets got bumped from a 7 to a 7.5/10. Each arc kept improving, and I felt more engaged with this arc. If I had to compare all three girls, I think Kamome was the most interesting girl for me, Tsumugi had the most interesting arc for me, and Ao had the best romance for me. If I had to rate the three arc, itd be Ao, Tsumugi, then Kamome. But overall, as an anime only viewer, I have been enjoying summer pockets.
