Summer Media

[Cramoisi]

Since summer is upon us, I wanted to start a thread on media that is to be enjoyed during the summer. I'm convinced that the season in which you consume a certain work has a distinct effect on your enjoyment of it, and not consuming it in the proper season is most detrimental; some people may argue the OPPOSITE, that they would rather consume summer media in the winter as to get some mental relief from the cold weather outside, but I think this is NONSENSE and this is my OP anyway.

I'll start with a work that is (probably) familiar to most of you here, Wonderful Everyday or Subarashiki Hibi. I already briefly touched on this in one of my "Videogame Music" posts.

I spent the greater part of last summer reading Subarahibi. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't read it to read it in the summer; it definitely has summer flavor. I'll dedicate this post to some of my favorite songs from Subarahibi for those who haven't had the pleasure of reading it. I recommend you listen to them from this website, the audio quality is noticeably higher.

It's obvious why Subahibi is summer-themed, as the events of the story happen during the summer. I won't go into the details of the plot (though maybe I will make a Subahibi appreciation post one day, right now I lack time and I haven't fully gathered my thoughts on it anyway). Other than that, the art style feels distinctly fresh; the colors used are always light and bright, especially the heavy use of blues which is a staple of this VN (there are hundreds of scenes where the SKY is a main character). Bright blue always reminds me of summer.

IMG_3613.JPG (240.81 KiB) Viewed 76 times

I have fond memories of being in my room with the shutters almost all the way down, the unbearable summer heat pulsing outside my window, reading Subahibi for 7 or 8 hours straight and afterwards going out for a walk at dusk... gathering my thoughts about the plot and trying to piece the clues together; coming back home and staying up until late reading more. Subahibi also has many scenes that happen during sunset, you can almost smell the damp summer air in this image, the light ocean breeze, the taste of cocaine on the tongue before a warm night...

takuji.jpg (104.67 KiB) Viewed 76 times

As for video games, Persona 4G immediately comes to mind; a good chunk of the plot happens during the summer. I struggle to think of a more cheerful song than Signs of Love. I choose to believe that P4G is a good characterization of how it must've felt to grow up in a Japanese town as a teenager. Much more light-hearted than Subahibi for certain. It's also the type of game that you can play for hours at a time while it's too hot to do anything outside. I sometimes like to play games like these that make me feel like I'm a teenager again, very few games make me feel that way but PG4 does a great job at it. The combat system is not the most entertaining thing in the world; the length of the mid to end game dungeons felt like a chore at times. The highlights of the game are the atmosphere, the characters, and the story, or just doing insignificant activities like fishing or having a Gyudon at Aiya's Diner at night. The school camping trip is one of my favorite parts of the game... I just realized that Subahibi and P4G do have something in common: they both involve a murder mystery (well, kind of). Mayb summer is most adequate for such settings; the feeling of great adventure and freedom of a warm summer night... I believe in this.

Persona-4-Golden-Screenshot-067.jpg (126.61 KiB) Viewed 76 times

I hope everyone shares their favorite summer media so I'll have something to do this summer, and I guess we can do one of these OPs again when Autumn is near lol.

[Amlux]

Really nice thread. I'll have to think of some more good choices. But it actually seems like there are a number of great VNs that take place at the height of summer. Besides SubaHibi, one of my favorites is Period, which is set in Nagasaki at the height of summer and has some really lovely watercolor-esque coloring (and great flat heroines from the tube-king himself Ooyari Ashito):



And of course Steins;Gate is the first one that came to mind. It's great because it speaks to us on the closest level of how we spend summer as otaku: INDOORS WITH COMPUTERS AND MACHINES! I believe Cross Channel was also set over the summer.

[Cramoisi]

Really nice thread. I'll have to think of some more good choices. But it actually seems like there are a number of great VNs that take place at the height of summer. Besides SubaHibi, one of my favorites is Period, which is set in Nagasaki at the height of summer and has some really lovely watercolor-esque coloring (and great flat heroines from the tube-king himself Ooyari Ashito):



And of course Steins;Gate is the first one that came to mind. It's great because it speaks to us on the closest level of how we spend summer as otaku: INDOORS WITH COMPUTERS AND MACHINES! I believe Cross Channel was also set over the summer.

Very grateful for the VN recommendations, like I said I got into this medium quite recently so most of them are unknown to me. I think the distinguishing quality for whether something is good as summer media or not (besides the obvious case of the story being set in the summer) is its lightness, a certain degree of lightheartedness and playfulness is necessary, most of all a lack of severe seriousness and heavyness; I cannot imagine reading the PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT in AUGUST while its 40ºC outside, sweat building up on forehead pouring down on the book and so on... I also dislike doing math in the summer... any sort of activity that requires staunch concentration, bending over a book for multiple hours on end, I find unbearable in the summer (that is what winter is for, perhaps why the Germans developed such convoluted systems of philosophy... many months locked inside the house inhaling fumes from the stove, many hours to ponder over and over like a cobwebbing spider).

Summer is for reading light novels and biographies, nothing with too high information density, perhaps 17th-century French moralists and other short aphoristic works, or letters and essais like those of Montaigne; but nothing TOO serious! I believe a few Platonic dialogues could also fall under this umbrella, given the almost theatrical style some of them display: the Symposium and even The Republic are good summer reads. I hope this post helps elucidate what I mean by summer media, so the rest can feel inspired to post their recommendations.