Aliens Among Us

There's never been any doubt in my mind that there's life in the universe other than what we know of on Earth. The Milky Way is just one part of a bigger picture, and it seems to me almost egotistical that we feel ourselves at the center of everything, the lone speck of humanity in a landscape bigger than we can even comprehend. Of course, I'm under no illusions that “aliens” are green men who will one day descend upon our world and perform rigorous tests to figure out how we tick. If we ever did come across aliens (which I hope we don't, since our society would probably war with them like we do with everyone else), I think they would look similar to us. Maybe there would be differences to how they are suited to their own environment and society, but I do not believe they would appear as monsters to be afraid of.

Romance anime Ano Natsu de Matteru (Waiting in the Summer), tackles the issue of an alien visitation without bringing war and a fatal culture clash into the mix, but instead chooses to reflect on love, the courage to stay beside someone, and the many joys of teen angst. In fact, for over half of the anime, few characters fully even realize that main heroine Ichika Takatsuki is from another planet; they simply treat her as a friend, a woman, and someone they do not with to lose.

I mean, who would ever guess that beautiful red-haired Ichika is an alien?

Ano Natsu de Matteru begins with main character Kaito Kirishima filming the night sky with his new hand-held camera when a burst of blue light appears and the ground he is standing on explodes beneath him. He wakes up the next day safe in bed, but what he experienced wasn't a dream. The blue light was from Ichika's Takatsuki's space craft making an emergency crash on the Earth, a place she wanted to see in order to bring closure to a memory of a lake and a tree she has been seeing in her mind.

However, Kaito has no recollection of any of this. When he first sees Ichika again on his way to school, he thinks her bright red hair is unusual and stunning, but he does not immediately suspect her of anything but being pulse-stirringly beautiful. Noting Kaito's instant attraction, his friend Tetsuro asks Ichika to join them in the movie they are planning to make in the summer with Kaito's new camera. Ichika cheerfully joins the group of friends, which includes easy going Tetsuro, timid Mio, tsundere Kanna, and deadpan Remon.

The ladies of the series: Kanna, Remon, Ichika, and Mio

Unfortunately, Ichika doesn't exactly have anywhere to live, and is a bit confused about the finer points of Earth's culture, including food, hobbies, and formalities. Kaito fantasizes about asking her to move in with him, and ends up asking her in person, thinking he's still in the middle of daydreaming. She accepts, and though flustered at first, he makes good on his word and lets her move-in to “look after” him when his sister goes on a business trip to Bolivia. She pretends to be studying abroad, all the while masking her alien powers (mostly healing technology and the ability to use her “pet” Rinon to communicate with space crafts) from the boy who is slowly falling in love with her.

Tsun-tsun Kanna is less than thrilled about Ichika's close relationship with Kaito, since she's had feelings for Kaito since meeting him, though she's never worked up the courage to confess. Kaito is also less than helpful in that department. Though Kanna's crush is obvious to everyone around her, he is oblivious to her feelings to the point where he doesn't understand how every little act of kindness on his part fuels her hopes. However, Kanna happens to be the object of childhood friend Tetsuro's affections, and also has no idea that he is watching from the sidelines in pain as she tries to convey her feelings to Kaito. He plays the neutral party, helping Kanna try to find happiness with Kaito while simultaneously encouraging Kaito to find happiness with Ichika if he so chooses, but in actuality holds out hope that Ichika and Kaito's blooming romance will force Kanna out of the picture.

Small group of friends, large amount of unrequited loves

To add insult to injury, Mio fell in love with Tetsuro due to his gentle, supportive personality which encouraged her to feel more comfortable with who she is. She realizes his feelings for Kanna, but hates to see him suffering silently while Kanna chases whole-heartedly after Kaito. Much of the series is centered on the pangs of unrequited love, with the exception of Ichika and Kaito, which reminds me a bit painfully of being a teenager in the not-so-distant past. However, the message these one-sided loves convey is important: even if you cannot be with the person you want to be with, its meaningful to share that desire with them, or else you'll simply bottle up and explode, suffering alone without ever being put out of your misery. When any of these characters confess to the person they like, even when they are rejected and have to get over the pain of not being the one the person they love wants, they at least have the comfort of not having to suffer in limbo for any longer. Being rejected sucks, but it's the first step to being able to move forward.

In any case, while all of this is happening, Ichika and Kaito are struggling to let their own romance unfold. Kaito is candid about his feelings, but Ichika is burdened with the knowledge that she is only a temporary visitor and that one day she will have to go back. Though she likes Kaito, she fears having to tell him about who she is and believes, humorously enough, the he will call the “Men in Black” on her when he finds out. Who knew that movie was known even in space?

Remon, a tiny little girl who joined the group for her own mysterious purposes, watches the whole drama appearing before her with amusement, continually nudging the characters in interesting directions that will cause them to conflict and often question their actions. As if she knows Ichika's secret, she makes the script of the movie they are making about Ichika being an alien and falling in love with Kaito, though no one else realizes how close the truth hits to home. It isn't until Rinon accidentally sends a distress signal out into space and triggers a rescue pod to appear on Earth that the rest of the gang figures out Ichika's back-story and has to cope with the fact that their new friend is in actuality not even from their planet.

The alien technology has landed! Where else but Japan?

Kaito and the others are fairly accepting considering the bombshell that has just been dropped on them. They just want Ichika to stay and be happy for as long as she is able to since she already feels at home in her new environment. Kaito admits to vaguely remembering the incidence of her landing, and swears that he still loves her, not because of or in spite of the fact she's an alien, but because she's Ichika. However, Ichika is less certain. She likes Kaito, but doesn't want to cause him any excess pain if she one day has to leave Earth. It takes a bitter tirade from a heartbroken Kanna to clue her into the fact that it's stupid to stay away from someone she loves because of a “might” or a “maybe.” Even if she does have to leave one day, if accepting Kaito's love will make both him and her happy, there's absolutely no reason to be afraid of accepting it based on a single possibility of something bad to come. Ichika comes to her senses and confesses her love for Kaito, complete with a very heartwarming kiss. Awww.

Kaito wins a kiss from the fair maiden!

SPOILER. Naturally, the possibility Ichika was afraid of does become a reality. Ichika's sister comes to Earth, reporting that the people of their planet received her distress signal and were wondering why the rescue pod failed to retrieve her. Even after Ichika explains that she wants to stay on Earth and has fallen in love with Kaito, her sister points out to her that she's broken the law by staying in a planet that has not been able to reach the galaxy's bureaucracy and approve friendly interactions with the alien race. If a search party comes to find Ichika on Earth, she will be arrested by her government. No if, ands, or buts. Kaito begs her to consider an alternate possibility, but Ichika once again becomes terrified of hurting her friends with her existence and runs away.

Once again Kanna yells at her for being a coward and not fighting to stay in the place she wants to stay. Ichika still tries to flee, but Mio and Tetsuro gag Rinon and tell her that they will do absolutely anything to make sure she doesn't have to leave Kaito when she truly doesn't want to. Luckily, Remon teams up with Ichika's sister to devise a new plan: since the location on Earth inside of Ichika's memory was probably implanted by someone who had been to Earth, if they find the location, they can establish that Earth does have prior and friendly communications with the alien race. This will hopefully spare Ichika being arrested if they can pull it off.

Men in Black Remon!

And pull it off they do! While being attacked by rescue pods trying to take Ichika back, Tetsuro, Mio, Kanna, and Remon band together to protect Ichika and Kaito as they race to the location in her memories. Eventually the Men in Black show up to help them in their battle, revealing that little Remon is in actuality their leader and had been investigating Ichika before deciding she was a close friend and no danger to anyone.

Ichika and Kaito reach the lake to find an alien marking on the tree, the proof they needed of an earlier alien visitation. But as soon as they try to record the image, the tree explodes into balls of light, and Ichika receives the voice of an ancestor who once crashed to Earth and fell in love with a man before having to leave him to return to space. The ancestor wanted her descendants to find Earth again, and this time be able to stay if their heart desired to find happiness there.

But with the tree destroyed, Ichika has to let the rescue pods take her so they don't continue to harm her friends. As she leaves, she promises that she will see Kaito again one day and that she will love him forever. Poor, poor Kaito is distraught, but he feels Ichika has learned her lesson well enough not to sacrifice herself and stay away in order to protect him, so he sadly lets her go.

Time for Ichika to say goodbye. But for how long?

After this sad scene, we're left with the circle of friends watching the movie they created and Remon has edited for them, which begins with the space-alien plot and ends with all the beautiful moments of friendship they shared that summer. Kaito and Kanna are both moved to tears, and they leave behind the film, “Waiting for the Summer,” for other students to watch during the school festival. We catch a glimpse of the students watching the film, but this time it has a new ending-- Ichika is there, wearing an outfit Kaito's sister brought back from Boliva after Ichika had initally left for space. Ichika has returned! Spoiler End!

All in all, Ano Natsu de Matteru is a touching tale of love and friendship that shares the importance of being honest and up-front about feelings, but also being aware of how disregarding the feelings of others can prolong their suffering. As a girl, I often struggle with how the “sexy” girl gets the hero while his “female best friend” figure is always left to suffer one-sided affection. We see this in Baka to Test, ef, Les Mis, and so many other stories, and its hard to fully support the couple when someone else's heart is being trounced on. In the case of Ichika and Kaito, Ichika is lovable enough to make this less of an annoyance, and the story-line hits a right note with Kanna saying that just because Kaito and Ichika love each other, it isn't going to automatically erase the fact that she loves him from her heart. Just as Kanna has the right to love him, Kaito has the right to love Ichika, and Tetsuro has the right to love Kanna. It may not always be pretty, but love that works out seamlessly just doesn't exist in the face of real human (or alien) emotion.

The “alien” factor also worked well. It isn't overbearing or ridiculously portrayed, and I loved that Ichika didn't struggle as much with being an alien as she did with being a girl in love with a boy she wasn't sure if she could stay with forever. The show does indulge in its moments of fan service, especially since part of their film takes place on Okinawa beach, but considering how much more it could have had, I wasn't particularly bothered by it. Once again, the heroine with the biggest chest is the love interest, but once the relationship truly gets rolling, Kaito doesn't go around ogling her goods, and in general focuses more on her sweet and comforting personality. And when Mio admits to Tetsuro that she comes from a family of nudists, there isn't a single sexual joke in sight, and he kindly doesn't dwell on the fact or bring it up without her permission.

The mandatory beach episode has its moments, but won't alienate most female fans

Ano Natsu de Matteru is well-worth the watch. The animation is beautiful, the plot interesting, and the concept fresh. There are plenty of familiar tropes within the plot, but Ichika's back story gave them enough of a unique twist to keep them from feeling overdone. The whole slew of one-sided love stories can get a bit heavy for those looking for a feel-good tale, but the resolution to those story-lines was fairly satisfying, with each member of the love-many-sided-shape giving each other's feelings dignity, but not smothering them with kindly pity to make moving on that much harder. The series is only 12 episodes long, so it's a short, sweet romance with enjoyable sci-fi twist to watch while waiting for summer.