Summertime Render “Vortex” Review
Summertime Render “Vortex” is the fifth episode of the Summertime Render anime. Following the shocking events of episode 4. The show actually gives us answers. Shinpei meets Nagumo Ryunosuke, who is the woman from the ferry, she has in depth information on how to defeat the shadows and is good at it as she saves Shinpei. However this save doesn’t do anything as everyone at the temple is killed by the shadows and they summon a massive shadow that can just absorb people in the blink of an eye. Mother seems to be the random person that this shadow summons who has the same eye as Shinpei but Shinpei asks Nagumo to shoot him in the head so he can die and come back from the past and stop it all happening.
Shadows and Time Travel
OK so the massive shadow knew what Shinpei’s eye was plus conveniently told him out loud it’s the source of the ability to time travel. With that aside, this episode’s end is pretty obvious right from the moment we see the scene of everyone having been slaughtered but whilst it’s obvious what Shinpei would do (honestly suspected he’d fall in and do it sooner but he’s having a dumb day I guess) it doesn’t detract from the shock when it does happen. Partially because it becomes clear that knowledge of his power doesn’t help him control it, he’s only just learning about certain moments he can jump to and the massive twist at the end that has Ushio, likely shadow Ushio, waking up on the beach on the 22nd, days before she is meant to be spotted.
The whole thing is giving off branching timeline vibes, yes he moves forward in time every time he uses the power but more importantly Shinpei doesn’t seem to have noticed every time he resets little changes naturally happen, things he’s got no control over. This could lead to a major problem but as shadow Ushio is a good shadow maybe she can help in the fight against them. I’m sure there’s more to Shinpei’s time travel power but it just hasn’t been picked up by me or it hasn’t been shown yet and I cannot wait to see how he continues his journey from now on!
