Makoto FurukawaShigeru ChibaYuka TerasakiAi Hashimoto
Natsunagu!
Episode 1 also reviewed here: Anime 1st episodes 2020: N
Medium: TV, series
Year: 2020
Director: Yasuyuki Honda
Writer: Domeshi
Actor: Ai Hashimoto, Makoto Furukawa, Miho Saiki, Shigeru Chiba, Yoshino Aoyama, Yuka Terasaki
Keywords: anime
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Format: 12 four-minute episodes
Url: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=22911
Website category: Anime 2020
Review date: 18 October 2022
Natsunagu
A university student called Natsuna loses contact with her old friend Itsuki when the online game they both play suddenly closes down. Natsuna doesn't have Itsuki's email address or phone number. She thinks Itsuki lives in Kumamoto, but that information's four years old. Furthermore, Kumamoto's right on the toe of Japan's main island chain, about 880 km away from Tokyo, where Natsuna lives. It would take about fourteen hours to drive there.
Natsuna blows her savings and gets on a plane. What she hasn't considered, though, is that Kumamoto had some famous earthquakes in 2016. When she reaches Itsuki's house, it's just empty ground covered in bits of rubble and trashed house.
The rest of the show is Natsuna's search for Itsuki. It's nice. She makes some friends, including a junior high school student called Izumi who says annoyingly stupid things to a local cop and probably thinks she's flirting with him. (Teenage girl in love. Brain disengaged. It happens.) The locals are pleasant, but usually can't help. Natsuna keeps going, though.
It's a brief sneeze of a series, obviously, especially since a quarter of each episode is the end credits. If you fast-forward through those, it barely lasts half an hour. It is, though, modestly charming. It was also commissioned by the Kumamoto Prefectural Government to promote the prefecture's recovery effort from those earthquakes. Fair enough.
"Thanks for all your support. Kumamoto will strive towards rebuilding a better future. Kumamoto Prefecture."