Summertime Render “Orbital Resonance” Review
Summertime Render “Orbital Resonance” is the sixth episode of the Summertime Render anime. After his death in episode 5, Shinpei rewinds back to the beginning again. On this rewind it is revealed Nagumo reached the island already aware of the Shadows presence. The island priest, Karakiri Masahito, greets her at the funeral as Minakata Hizuru, revealing she grew up on the island. Shinpei, determined to do things right, uses Nagumo’s trick for detecting Shadows and realises at the funeral that Shiori and both her parents were already Shadows. Shinpei receives Nagumo’s phone number in a code from Ushio’s father Alan and solves it, but Nagumo had given her phone to her contact on the island, Nezu Ginjirou, who answers the phone. To test if Shinpei is human, Nezu shoots Shinpei’s shadow, proving he is human. Meanwhile Nagumo does the same on Alan in the bathroom and in a surprise attack smashes his shadow with a hammer, killing Shadow-Alan instantly. Shinpei meets Nezu who now trusts him and introduces him to Nagumo. Using coded references Shinpei is able to communicate certain facts to Nagumo so that she instantly knows Shinpei is a time traveller who has met her before in the future and is someone her future-self trusted. Shinpei cries as he finally has an ally who knows everything.
Nagumo’s Story
This episode is a little slower than usual, it being a small combination of Nagumo’s backstory and using that backstory to flesh out her character and move the story along. Now slow doesn’t mean bad but it does take a big dive away from what we’re used to when it comes to this show in general. With all the episodes up until this one taking place through the eyes of Shinpei who is inexperienced and slowly learning but still smart enough to catch on quickly it’s interesting to see things through Nagumo’s eyes as she’s experienced, knows the Shadows well and deals with them with zero mercy. If he’s a spark learning to use a new power, she’s the flame waiting to train him.
That’s the interesting thing here. She knows that he’s a time traveller now and with her lack of surprise, Nagumo likely has a plan on how to use his power to it’s fullest. Hopefully that small hint at the end will be enough to spark the team up of the century! I can’t wait to see what they do next week and where they go. The Shadows still pose a massive threat.
