Ghost stories just aren’t for Halloween night. Tales of spooky people can take place all year long if you in the mood for a yarn. It’s not like ghosts have an off-season. Encountering a ghost on a summer night means you don’t have to worry about being bundled up and tripping on a pile of leaves when they scare you. Summer Ghost is an animated film from Japan that introduces us to a few fresh elements about connecting with those who still haunt the Earth.
Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo have heard about a ghost that haunts an abandoned airbase during the summertime. The three teenagers meet up on the decaying tarmac having heard a story that if you light a firework that’s similar to a sparkler, they can maintain contact with a ghost until it snuffs out. As they do a little ritual, the ghost does appear to one of them. Why only one? There’s a major reason for her being in contact with them, but let’s not expose it. She’s not there to haunt as much as she is there to complete a mission.
Summer Ghost is the first major animated project from loundraw. He’s been a notable illustrator of covers and other projects over the years. Now he’s stepping into the world where you have to do more than one drawing. He and his team have proven up for the challenge. While this is rather short with a running time of 40 minutes, there’s a sense that you’ve experience a full feature film. There’s a lot packed onto the screen visually and emotionally between the three kids and the ghost. Both reality and supernatural shine on the screen. Summer Ghost is a spooky treat no matter what the season.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The transfer let you appreciate the character design by loundraw. The audio has both the Japanese and English tracks in 5.1 DTS-HD MA. They both sound fine. The movie is subtitled in English.
To You Before Dawn Documentary (78:53) takes us deep into the production of loundraw’s first big animation project. There’s a lot that goes into making an animation and most of it takes place in offices since there’s very little studio and location work.
Feature Animatic (37:12) has the rough variations of the images during the making of Summer Ghost.
Interview with loundraw (13:36) has him explain how his name is from three English words smushed together. He explains how he came up with the fireworks element of the story.
Shout! Factory and GKIDS present Summer Ghost. Directed by loundraw. Screenplay by Hirotaka Adachi. Starring Rina Kawaei, Chiaki Kobayashi, Miyuri Shimabukuro & Nobunaga Shimazaki. Running Time: 40 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: November 1, 2022.
