Favorite Summer Songs

Laura Cameron at The Well-Apportioned Desk is wrote a post titled Journal Prompt July. She decided to tackle July journal prompts compiled at the BaronFig blog in 2024. While I do not have a journal, this struck me as promising  JulyReply material, so I looked at the five prompts she singled out as interesting examples and noted “What is your favorite summer song and why?” As I have noted in NLJ articles on the ending song in season one of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten and my interview with Victor V. Gurbo, I am not a “music guy” by any stretch of the imagination. But I do have some takes on anime and game music, so I can come up with (channeling LeBron James’ 2011 arrival in South Beach) not one, not two, but three summer songs. For context on what I am looking for, not my interest from my review of a 2006 anime localized in English as Living for the Day After Tomorrow in capturing the aesthetics of seasons.

1. 5 Centimeters Per Second is my favorite anime movie (granting I am more of a TV anime guy than a movie guy). The movie takes place in three acts, and I will venture that it is best known for its cherry blossom motifs and the winter-dominated act one. However, the most technically impressive act (in my humble opinion), act two, takes place entirely in the summer. It is from here I draw my first summer song. The movie’s sixth track, Kanae’s Feelings, is a summer-y take on the anime’s melancholy second track (used in the trailer and act one), Distant Every Day Memories. Both are among my two favorite anime OST, but I dare say my opinion on which is better has evolved and now leans very slightly toward the more down-to-Earth Kanae’s Feelings. (Listen: Original Track on YouTube; (better) Eminence Symphony Orchestra version.)
2. I watched the 2005 anime adaptation of Key’s Air. I have yet to play the visual novel (on my to-do list). While I cannot say I am a big fan of the Air anime (unlike the 2006-07 adaptation of Kanon, which is a personal favorite anime of mine), it did have what I would rate as an all-timer OST. Natsukage, localized as Summer Lights, distills “summer” into a short OST. (Listen: Visual Novel version (official).)
3. From 2021-2024, I played, reviewed, and discussed 31 freeware visual novel localizations that had all been translated from Japanese to English from 2005-08 (see my al|together collection). My favorite of these 31 visual novels, all of which remain free to download and read/play, is May Sky, which I wrote enough about to have a collection hub on the subject. May Sky stands out for his spring descriptions of May, but there is a summer component to it as well. This novel has what I would describe as the best overall soundtrack of the 31 novels I reviewed for the project, and the best of its songs happens to relate to the “summer” part of the piece. When I hear An Intermezzo, I find myself thinking that the novel’s maladjusted main couple will be alright. (Listen: An Intermezzo.)

I am sure I could come up with some more songs, but I am satisified with my three selections, which cover movies, anime, and games.

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