Hello, all! Kate here.

I don’t know about you, but I hate the summer. June is only mildly bearable, and then it goes downhill from there. And yet, I love a summer setting—a moment around which everything in a fictional story revolves.

When thinking about summer in anime and manga, Summer Wars naturally comes to mind. My manga of the month is also a summer-y romance story. Other things jump out too: In my review of Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop I specifically call out how I wished I had watched it in the summer; Movies like Ride Your Wave and Lu Over the Wall highlight this time of year (maybe Masaaki Yusa has a thing for summer too now that I think about it); and I recently read the sweet romance My Summer of You and its follow up My Summer With You. Summer has so many distinct features and visuals, the season is a joy to behold in anime and manga.

Join us on Discord and let me know what anime or manga summer brings to mind!

-Kate