You know Im kind of a little bit of a bumbling mess still after just having finished this but I really want to get my incoherent ramblings that dare call themselves thoughts in my head out into the world for others to read. Because I think this deserves even more recognition than it is getting at the moment. Much more in fact. Instead of an actual structured review that tells you what this story is about cuz honestly who in their right mind reading a review wants to know what something is about well at least I dont and am looking more for the emotional aspect read the synospis for that I am here to tell you how it made me feel. Or more accurately Just how much it broke me Not everything needs to be happy. All that matters is that theyre both content. Ive touched upon this in my ongoing activity updates that you can find herehttps://anilist.co/activity/677270935 already but the way this manga manages to combine so many powerful delicate and sensitive themes and implements them into what is essentially a pairing of just two major characters with such an intricate sense of care and passion like you will find in almost no other anime or manga done like this without feeling overbearing or overwhelming well its certainly emotionally overwhelming without overstaying its welcome never feeling like it tries to do too much all while building up and maintaining a mostly healthy romantic relationship steadily progressing forward in the background strikes me as something of incredible beauty. I am IN AWE of every single page of this manga that alongside all this has such a powerful way to convey these themes and emotions in its art and paneling that I havent seen in a very long time in romance manga. Especially when it comes to the facial expressions and little details that make a character feel more human. I genuinely think that there is no better portrayal that I have seen of ACTUAL realistic anxiety and insecurity in animanga than Shizuku Hoshikawa and that alone makes her a contender for a spot in a list of top 5 animanga protagonists IF NOT even higher than that. yes I have seen and read Bocchi the Rock yes it is one of my favorites but while Bocchi is more of an accurate portrayal of how it FEELS Shizuku is one of how it ACTUALLY IS. Kaori Asaka her counterpart in the relationship hiding behind a mask of an energetic and lively personality while her real feelings that she can only talk about with no one else but Shizuku but even then not even to their full extent until the end that is slowly gnaw and eat away at her from the inside in this intense portrayal of a struggle that I imagine not many of us can actually relate to nonetheless manages to be a powerful way of showing how a situation like hers can affect the people involved be it the one actually inflicted with it or the people around them that everyone can take away at least SOMETHING from it no matter how small. But that is not to say these two main characters are the only strengths this story has no on the contrary every single one of the side characters which admittedly arent that many has a specific role that they fulfill in exactly the way they need what would Shizuku ever do if she didnt have Seri and Ruri to handle Kaoris condition because she sure as hell wouldnt be able to on her own. and they serve as an incredibly nice addition into an already powerful narrative making me think that the mangaka had all of this planned out from the first second they started to draw the manga which kinda should be obvious when looking at the title Speaking of Obviously I have to address the elephant in the room here that being the title of the manga itself: The Summer You WERE There is exactly what it promises to be. Since the moment I started this I knew how this was gonna end YOU reading this probably know how this is gonna end but that is besides the point. The point is the journey of how it eventually gets there and how it impacts the other characters and you as a reader and for that I can very confidently say that I cant think of many if any that handle it as well as this one. These two girls Saved each other. And saved me. Barring the Aria Series Kumiko in Sound Euphonium and maybe JUST MAYBE the Requiem for Innocence prequel VN for The House in Fata Morgana I dont think Ive experienced ANYthing that has hit me on such a personal level as The Summer You Were There has in dare I say probably the last 5 YEARS. Which is HUGE because Ive only really started to watch anime 6 years ago and read manga or LNs 4 years ago meaning this includes pretty much 90 of what is in my lists. When it comes to emotions this does NOT hold back. It goes all in into the depths of your heart and digs its way ever further until it reaches the deepest point that even you yourself couldnt have ever imagined existing and Rips it all to shreds. Giving the most satisfying feeling of CLOSURE I have seen ever since reading the final chapter of Girls Last Tour all those years ago. So please if youve come this far in my little review PLEASE do yourself the favor of reading this story. By the time I reached chapter 9 I was 100 convinced that this is gonna end up with a full score on my list and that sentiment hasnt dwindled a single bit over the course of me reading this. If anything it just got cemented further and further with every single chapter all the way into the last. At this point though considering the actual themes the story portrays and how raw and real it goes about it Im going to give out a little content warning for things like Depression trauma guilt anxiety bullying sucidal tendencies mental health atonement and forgiveness loneliness escapism and most importantly: loss denial and grief. Because this story is NOT for the faint of heart and you should not go into this having a negative mindset and should only dive into it when you know you will be able to handle it. No. Id rather say I ADVISE you not to go into this if you are not sure if you are able to handle it. I do consider myself quite an emotional person which I think should be pretty apparent already when you read through all my activities and reviews and stuff on here but even then there is only a small hand of things that not only made me cry but that made me bawl. And when I say bawl I mean BAWL. Like a little bitch. This is one of those. There is not a single chapter after chapter 5 where I havent cried and Im not talking about simply tearing up a little bit no I mean a full stream running down my face and I can say one thing for certain after having now gone through this experience of the final chapter: I am an empty broken man. And I wouldnt want to have it any other way right now. 10/10 This needs more recognition and an anime adaptation. That would be pretty cool too. This is not just a yuri manga this is art. It is catharsis in the truest possible sense of the word. I might even prefer this over Bloom Into You Not because of its romance but because of its drama aspect and the way it weaves these powerful themes into these powerful characters. Im looking at a potential number 2 in my Animanga 7x7 for the end of this year already this early on. look at my profile bio if you want to know more about that. Something that surpassed even my own highest expectations in a way that I wouldnt have thought possible until now. Im still crying. In fact I dont think I have EVER cried as much with something fictitious or media related as today. Maybe not even Aria. Maybe not even Torchwood season 2 those who know know. Thats how much this means to me right now. I dont think I have ever taken breaks INBETWEEN PAGES OF A SINGLE CHAPTER. Today I did. Never before have I uttered the words I dont want to read these final pages in my life. Today I did. I have never started to laugh uncontrollably because of how hard I was crying making me look like Im a complete and utter psychotic maniac. Today I did. To reiterate or rather correct my earlier statement above: I am not an empty broken man. I am but a mere shell of an empty broken man drifting along in the winds of this worlds indescribable loneliness. That.. hurt a lot. But I think it also saved me in a way. And I wouldnt want to have it any other way. https://i.ur.com/TzgXdHh.jpg I do too Shizuku. And I also want to believe that this story is real at least that way I can justify crying myself to sleep because of this last night. I want to ask the author of this just once if what they wrote here comes from personal experience because this gets almost TOO real at times.