This review contains very light spoilers for Summer Ghost. Five years after his professional debut as an illustrator at the age of 18 loundraw found himself at a crossroads. At the time I was very busy working as an illustrator ... people started asking me to do the same things the same sorts of things Id done before because thats what I was becoming known for. And that was difficult for me.https://www.fandom.com/articles/summerghostanimeloundraw loundraw from a June 2022 interview with Fandom It was in the midst of this creative crisis that he would post a drawing titled Summer Ghost to his Pixiv account. It was a return to the art he had sought to make all along. 500https://i.redd.it/wt5m5oee7gx41.jpg Summer Ghost by loundraw 2018 Having completed his graduation project in 2017a trailer for a hypothetical movie titled Yume ga Sameru madehttps://www..com/watch?v=u79x7HzB9SQloundraw had already begun the transition toward animation and had been nurturing directorial ambitions. Then in 2019 at the age of 24 he founded FLAT STUDIO with Tetsuya Yano releasing his directorial debut Summer Ghost two years later. One might be forgiven for glancing at loundraws work and seeing him as a spiritual successor to Makoto Shinkaithere are undeniable parallels between the two. Both exhibit a strong affinity for photorealism generous use of lens flare meticulous attention to depth of field and at times striking similarities in their visual imagery. However it could just as easily be argued that these stylistic features stem from loundraws framing his works through the lens of a camera and that it is also informed by broader cinematic inspirations beyond Shinkai. For instance loundraw has cited Irritus Birdman as a key influence on Summer Ghosthttps://www.fandom.com/articles/summerghostanimeloundraw and the connection can clearly be seen in sequences like the ones below where tracking shots replicate camera movements with painstaking precision. https://i.ur.com/5M9OXnx.mp4 This aesthetic is not merely a referential gesture it fundamentally shapes the shot compositions. The manipulation of depth of field creates a sense of distance by shifting focus between different elements within a scene effectively integrating the characters with the backgrounds. Similarly loundraw frequently employs lens flare throughout the film to deliberately guide the viewers gazehttps://i.ur.com/qIQdnHD.png. More interestingly he sometimes incorporates lens flare into the colour scheme of his shots making for unexpectedly memorably images.https://i.ur.com/5nbOmsW.png It is in this latter regard that loundraws talent is most evident. He possesses a remarkable eye for colour combinations effortlesly using monochromatic and analogous palettes to evoke the suffocating banality of ordinary life while resorting to triadic schemes to capture the warmth of a summer sunset. His unique vision leads him to unconventional choices that remarkably work perfectly more often than not. This applies equally well to the lightning with loundraw deliberately amplifying the range of hues used to depict light to grant an ethereal appearance to the characters in many scenes. Herein lies another feature that separates him from Shinkai: the willingness to sacrifice strict realism in favour of expressiveness cheating with use of shadows when it better serves the colour scheme. 700https://i.ur.com/roWqp1i.jpeg As wellcrafted as the compositions are an unfortunate byproduct of the cameracentric aesthetic is the gradual sense of detachment it fostersa constant immersionbreaking reminder of the artificiality of the events unfolding on screen. One way this manifests is through the manipulation of focus. While the decision to blur many of the backgrounds keeping them out of focus may be a practical production choice to streamline workflow for a small studio it also leaves the viewer feeling as though the story takes place nowhere in particular. In the directors defense perhaps thats the very point of it. A core tenet of loundraws artwork is the concept of blank space. For me blank space is very important a lack of detail. Ive been told previously by background artists that its actually harder not to draw something...https://www.animationforadults.com/2022/05/aninterviewwithsummerghostdirector.html loundraw from a May 2022 interview with AFA In his view it leaves room for the audience to construct their own stories around deliberately restricted imagery. I like to draw things with as much blank space as possible. I generally try not to draw people with obvious emotions so that the reader can fill in the gaps by asking Why is this person making that expression?https://www.cinra.net/article/interview201807loundraw loundraw from a July 2018 interview with CINRA Yet when it comes to a film rather than isolated drawings this approach does not quite achieve that same effect. Instead it creates a feeling of emotional distance which is only heightened by the delivery of coldly calculated selfanalytical dialogue from the characters. Theres a notable absence of what Miyazaki once described to Roger Ebert as mahttps://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hayaomiyazakiinterviewthe pause that allows the plot to halt and gives the viewer time to take in the scenery. While it might be tempting to attribute this pacing issue to the script the situation is more complex. Otsuichi the screenwriter makes use of his extensive experience as a light novel and short story writer to successfully build upon loundraws basic premise. He unifies the central motifsfireworks summer and the ghostfrom the original drawing while introducing his own. In particular choosing an airport as the backdrop for the ghostly summonings a liminal space between destinations is a brilliant touch that perfectly complements the themes of life death and ephemerality that the other motifs such as the fireworks represent. 500https://i.ur.com/iw2GhJz.png However Otsuichi faces two significant constraints: a short runtime and a unique workflow that prioritizes visuals over narrative. The script was developed in parallel with the storyboards and the director frequently requested changes to the former based on his visual ideas completely shifting the balance of the storytelling process. For the script I did something a little bit different from the standards of making an anime. I was doing the script and the storyboard and then took ideas from the storyboard back to the script.https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/20221031/summerghostdirectorloundraw/.191212 loundraw from an October 2022 interview with ANN Moreover a quarter of the total shots ended up on the cutting room floorhttps://animeuknews.net/2022/06/interviewsummerghostloundraw/. While its impossible to say for certain whether an extra twelve minutes would have significantly altered the films impact its hard to imagine that it would have been a detriment. As the film dashes from one montage to the next there are almost no moments of silence and this is no accident the Summer Ghost soundtrack is only four minutes shorter than the film itself with every single piece making its way into the final cut. Four different composers contributed to the score following loundraws explicit instruction to avoid creating a cohesive unified sound. Instead each track is tailored for a specific story beat often serving to narrow the emotional distance between the viewer and characters that is created by the previously discussed elements. Rather than unifying the tone of the entire soundtrack I wanted to play appropriate music for each scene so I told the composers to bring out their own colour rather than balancing with the others.https://avexnet.jp/column/1000499 loundraw from a November 2021 interview with Avex A standout example in this regard is Hideya Kojimas Frozen in Timehttps://www..com/watch?v=yjLvzIbDQqg which plays during the casts first conversation with the titular ghost. Its ambient style marked by haunting sporadic piano notes and distorted strings creates the unsettling sense that the melody could veer in any direction at any moment though it never doessubmerged instead within the broader atmospheric soundscape. It imbues the scene with an unspoken tension an eerie stillness that perfectly embodies an encounter with the paranormal. 500https://i.ur.com/0rPomFD.jpeg Similarly the musical compositions from Akira Kosemura Itoko Toma and Guiano complement their respective scenes just as effectively. However much like the films pacing the transitions between these pieces can feel jarring due to the lack of deliberate welltimed pauses. As such the lasting impression once the credits roll is that Summer Ghost functions more as a portfolioa showcase where each scene and shot feels like an exhibition piece meticulously animated and scored for display rather than a cohesive work of art. It seems more about proving that loundraw can helm a larger project serving as a stepping stone for his studio to enter the anime industry leverage existing connections and nurture new ones all while honing his craft as a director. No honest criticism can be levelled against such an ambitious endeavour founding a studio at 24 and releasing a project like this by 26 is an impressive achievement in its own right. All the elements are now in place for loundraw to achieve widespread mainstream success in the near future. Yet it is not the promise of whats to come but rather the ghostly apparition of bewitching beauty that haunts the screen those fleeting glimpses of warmth that sparkle and fizzle out intermittently like fireworks leading one to revisit the film hoping that with each subsequent viewing one might just awaken to the magic of a summer sunset. Unhappy with this review? Read mehttps://anilist.co/activity/798743459