Geu Yeoreum

Short conclusion: the story is incomplete. It just ends, without proper closure. The story had the potential to end up being great, but the writers clearly did not. Who is this for? You want to see a well animated, slice of life yuri with non-exagerrated characters and do not care for the story at all. You do care for the story and want it to make you feel sad, dissatisfied or even empty. You want to see weak and coward characters so you can say "at least I am better thant that". You are a weak coward in your intimate relationships and want to see yourself in an anime so you can say "it's OK, others are like me as well". Who should avoid this? You want a GL story that is fun and complete. You want a GL story that is inspiring and complete. You want to see (yuri) characters getting over their limitations and eventually make healthy choices. You just want to have a good time in general.

The Summer is a short, yet impacting piece of youthful yuri yearning filled with the trials and tribulations that come with falling in love and managing a relationship. The tender, intimate moments of two girls falling in love emit a sense of warmth, comfort, and passion characteristic of a new relationship, but the real meat of the story rests in how the conflicting personalities of our main duos put a strain on even the mildest of interactions. The conflicts are never rooted in clichéd misunderstandings or feel mean-spirited, but rather stem from Yi-gyeong and Suyi being very different people with different perspectives on the world and themselves. The lack of acceptance toward LGBT relationships in the time period the story depicts is also a notable stressor early on, feeding into Yi-gyeong’s tendency to put a heavy emphasis on her personal appearance and leading to conflicts over Suyi’s directly opposite demeanor. The raw emotions of each moment are brought out wonderfully by the softness of the artwork, with incredibly solid color design leaning into moodier sunset lighting matching the sense of intimacy rather well. There is a bit of animation jank that pops up every once in a while, but rarely enough to wholly disrupt the overall experience, with solid character design work and excellent framing of the more intimate moments of their relationship making this a nice little piece of eye candy. Much like youth itself, the story is brief and fleeting, yet burns brightly enough to leave an impact; certainly a hidden gem worth checking out.