Now to most, if not all students, Summertime is a key point in your life. That’s where most of your youth goes. I, myself, have so many summer memories that when it gets to a certain point during the summer, I just stop and go, “This is it”.

Forget my personal life, this applies to entertainment, too. When I watch J-movies or shows, I get considerably excited when certain things happen: School festival episodes, beach episodes -which subsequently leads to fireworks scenes-, graduation episodes, and you know, summer stuff.

My youth, your youth, OUR youth is not coming back so when I get this feeling watching some shows or movies, I’m just satisfied with life. I’m also satisfied with the unorganized rambling you’re about to read. So. Warning: I could just change to another idea on the drop of a dime so this is not the most professional post I’ve written in a while. I just haven’t written anything in a while.

Now I’ve mentioned some things that makes it feel like summer for me. How about some specifics? I’ve seen so many J-movies in my life, it’s ridiculous how much time I’ve wasted watching this stuff. But sometimes, you just strike gold. Some obvious summer-time movies you must watch before they end include: Linda Linda Linda, Summer Time Machine Blues, and Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo. The first two are live action and the last one is one of the best animated movies of all time.

Linda Linda Linda’s mix of music and slice of life has that Beck feeling where you get to form that band you always wanted to form except you either never succeeded or… you just cant play a freaking instrument. The “summer” feeling I get from this is that feel-good feeling you get when you see their big performance and that chill atmosphere you get throughout the movie. Summertime’s just a time to chill, but it’s that climax during summertime that you just look forward to. Linda Linda Linda perfectly personifies summer.

Tokikake (in case you didn’t know, also called The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), is more of a re-living of your youth thing. When I watch it, it’s more for the nostalgia feeling than anything. Sure it gets pretty moving/sad but in the end, you feel just like you feel at the end of summer: happy you went through all you did during summer and sad that it’s about to end, but there’s still the next summer to look forward to.

Summer Time Machine Blues is pretty much self explanatory. I just wanted to through this in there because this is the movie that christened this summer vacation for me. It’s quirky and cute and well, it just got me pumped up for summer. It just brightens your day at how cute it is.

Of course, if you cant handle 1.5-2 increments, there is also episodes of anime. BUT WHO WATCHES THAT JUNK, RIGHT? Blogging about anime is overrated.

For me, Summer is like a 4-koma. I’ve retyped this next sentence many times, but I really just cant explain it. You’ll either get that or you dont. 4-komas and Slice of Life helps you appreciate summer so much more. So what shows can you watch for that summer feeling?

Azumanga Daioh is definitely one. But who hasn’t seen this yet. I mean, come on. Those beach episodes represent the high points of your summer. Not for what you do, but just for the fact that you’re doing something with your pals.

The Aforementioned Beck goes with Linda Linda Linda. I get excited watching this show, even when I rewatched it dubbed.

Even Aria can fit here. Aria is slow, but like Akari, if you just take the time and just appreciate the atmosphere, no matter what the season, you get that “This is it” feeling.

And well, I’m blanking out on other more recent shows at the moment but that just goes to show how unexcited I am with the new anime season(s). I’ve sorta lost a bit of passion in anime lately, that’s why I’ve been watching more J-dramas and stuff, but give me more Hidamari Sketches that can evoke a summertime-esque feeling from me, and I’ll love it once again.

Other J-shows that would make your summer more… summery-sorta like honorable mentions-: Nobuta Wo Produce, Waterboys, Stand Up!!.

Summertime is also time for cons. Meet up?