If you like your anime despair in “but surrounded by romanceable girls” flavor, there's a pretty good chance that you're already familiar with Key—or at least, familiar with their works, whether it's their visual novel source material or the anime adaptations that several of them have. But if you're not, Key is a visual novel studio with a well-earned reputation for going all in on drama and heartbreak. Notable titles include, but aren't limited to: Clannad, Kanon, AIR, and their latest title to get an anime adaptation, Summer Pockets (SP).

For better or for worse, SP is a quintessential Key anime that checks off every box anime fans have come to expect from them over the years: Vibrant color palettes, extremely character-driven narratives, and, of course, big sad. By far, the best thing SP has going for it is its atmosphere, which perfectly captures those blissfully lazy summer-vacation vibes. Quiet (save for the chirping of cicadas), slow-paced moments where characters just let the waves roll in, or bask in breathing in the summer air, feel warm and nostalgic. It does this so well that if you haven't played the visual novel source material, you might not notice how rushed some of these story routes are in this anime adaptation.

As an adaptation, this anime is a mixed bag. You could do far, FAR worse in the realm of visual novel adaptation anime (EX: Dies irae, Chaos;Child), but you could also do way better, too (EX: Steins;Gate, the Heaven's Feel movies). On one hand, as I just said, several story elements get rushed compared to their pacing in the visual novel. Plus, the visual style of the visual novel doesn't get translated as strongly as I'd like, especially in a Key anime, which, for better or for worse, has a pretty distinct, almost trademark, visual style. Some characters made it across better than others, but across the board, the edges are far rounder and softer, and colors—while still not dull, per se—are not quite as vibrant. On the other hand, Hairi often comes off as a creep in the visual novel, and that's been turned way down in the anime, making him much more bearable as a protagonist.

Speaking of characters, however, it's just not a Key anime if there's not a gaggle of girls for our protagonist to get chummy with. And in this case, it's four girls named Kamome, Ao, Tsumugi, and Shiroha—all of whose story routes we get to see play out. While their personalities are a mixed bag, three out of four girls—everyone but Shiroha—have a story route that's, at minimum, got just enough going on to hold your attention, and they're all pretty distinct from one another and generally veer into some pretty unexpected directions. Shiroha, meanwhile, easily has the weakest story route, and at least in this viewer's opinion, was one of the less charming girls (less charming, not un-charming—please, Shiroha fans, spare me from your wrath). Despite this, for reasons that become clear when you watch SP, it's very obvious that way more time and effort was put into making Shiroha shine than the others. In other words, while every girl will get their time in the spotlight, the one who's arguably the least interesting is also the one you're going to be seeing around the most.

In any case, I've talked about all this, and I somehow haven't even gotten to what I'm sure many of you probably came here for: The drama, the heartbreak, and the tears. After all, is it really a Key title if you never need to dry your eyes? While titles like AIR had established this earlier on, it was Clannad's success that solidified Key's status in the minds of the anime fan community more broadly as “The studio that makes super depressing visual novels, many of which become super depressing anime.” And while I wouldn't say it reaches the same emotional highs as series like Clannad (although to be fair, that's a pretty high bar), SP still has its moments, making sure this summer vacation is wholly bittersweet no matter which character's story you like best.

Probably the biggest thing holding it back from reaching those highs is the wonky pacing. As I mentioned earlier, many of the story beats are rushed. Yet at the same time, these same tearjerking story beats are always happening between longer spans of summer vacation, to say nothing of how there's a massive turning point well into the second half of the series, which leaves the viewer feeling like things are only then actually getting started. So you end up with an anime that feels weirdly rushed and too slow-paced at the same time. If it sounds like it makes the pacing of the whole thing feel really off, it's because it does.

Meanwhile, on the production side of things, it's ironic that the visuals in the anime—which is, you know, animated—don't feel like they have as much life as the still images in the visual novel. Still, that doesn't necessarily mean the visuals are terrible. Personally, I'd say they're pretty firmly in good-but-not-great territory. Plus, the animation quality is consistent, which isn't something to be taken for granted in a 26-episode series—something of an endangered species nowadays. The music and voice acting are nothing too exceptional, but charming all the same, too.

For better or for worse, if you want to feel a little sad as a treat (but not too sad), doubly so if you want to do so with some sweltering summer vacation ambiance, this anime's a solid choice. It won't be going down in the summer break anime hall of fame, but it has its moments all the same. It's neither Key's best nor worst—firmly in the middle of the road, with the sun beating down on its face as cicadas continue to chirp the day away.