See? Hizuru didn’t die! How could she after all that she has been through? Summer Time Render Episode 20 sees the thrilling conclusion to this bout between Shide and her. Let’s get right to the review!
Summer Time Render Episode 20 Overview
Summer Time Render is the latest anime by the Anime Studio OLM, previously known for producing critically and commercially acclaimed anime like Komi Can’t Communicate and Odd Taxi. Ayumu Watanabe directs the series, a director whose career so far has been intrinsically linked with OLM, having previously directed Komi Can’t Communicate and Space Brothers for the studio. The anime is based on a manga written by Yasunori Tanaka.
The series is also referred to as Summer time Rendering or Summertime Render, making this episode’s name also be Summer Time Rendering Episode 20 and Summertime Render Episode 20. You can read our review of the previous episode of this show right here!
– Summertime Rendering Episode 20 Review does not contain spoilers –
Summer Time Render Episode 20 Review- Live To Fight Another Day
Focus is a word with a few different meanings, all deriving from the same context. There is “focus” as it is used in photography and media, meaning putting a specific object as the centre of a shot so that they get more of a spotlight placed on them in their possibly important moments. There is also “focus”, as in resolve, where somebody is paying their full attention to a singular task in order to see it through. Combine both of them, and you get this episode that liberally featured both of these kinds of focus.
Read More- The Devil Is A Part-Timer Season 2 Episode 7 Review: The Demon And The Hero
The camera kind is a neat trick that the show uses all the time to great effect. It features incredibly detailed character animations with blurred or no backgrounds at all to save costs as well as to make the moments feel more important. That is but one of the many tiny but important tricks the show uses to increase the production quality while still managing to be as consistent as it has been for half a year. I expressed some doubts about OLM’s ability to keep the same quality in the later episodes after seeing how good everything was in the first few episodes, but those concerns were misplaced.
The second “focus” is Hizuru’s efforts to face off against Shide, something that was borderline suicidal despite her abilities. She herself called out her own death flag in the last episode, giving the audience some hope that she might just survive this confrontation as she has been doing throughout the series. We have seen her die many times, sure, but Shinpei has always been able to loop back and save one of his most valuable assets to fight Haine and the shadows. With victory uncertain, the only thing she could do was fight and try her best, which she did.
Read More- Made In Abyss Season 2 Episode 8 Review: The Revenge Of A Lost Soul
Shinpei has lost a lot since the show started, so much so that loss doesn’t even feel real to him anymore. That is a great parallel to how the audience’s mentality has changed from the start of the show. Deaths used to hit like a truck whenever they happened in the earlier episodes, but we got used to them just like Shinpei did, although it doesn’t cost us our sanity and make us kill ourselves to reset as it does him. Deaths that can’t be taken back are made even more poignant when we realise they have happened, like in Ushio’s case (the second time).
It is insane how much the show has managed to build up Shide and Haine in such a short amount of time since we started exploring them. Hizuru’s backstory helped build up Haine a lot, and even though Shide has mostly been characterised by how evil he is and the number of people he has killed, he feels more powerful than Haine at this point. Shadow Mio also had a fantastic showing in this episode, playing an important role in making it clear that there is still hope for humans.
Verdict
Summer Time Render Episode 20 was another phenomenal episode that served as a shining example of how great the characters in this show are, alongside its various other qualities that we talk about weekly.
Click here to read the review of the next episode!