The biggest problem with Summer Time Rendering is the Disney+ jail. The show got a staggered release across different regions, with minimal marketing to boot. Chances are that this title may have slipped you by, even though it's among the best anime of 2022.

The simplest way to describe Summer Time Rendering is that it's a supernatural thriller with a time loop gimmick. Although it's a story that plays with many different genres, shifting from wistful youth drama to mystery to action over the span of its 25 episodes, in the end its appeal comes down to the suspense. Every episode has at least one nail-bitingly tense scene, leaving you wondering how the characters can even survive the situation, let alone come out on top. Summer Time Rendering's biggest strength is that it keeps adding layers to its central premise, keeping you guessing right to the very end.

Like other popular time loop series such as Steins;Gate and Re:Zero, the central conceit of Summer Time Rendering is that the protagonist repeatedly goes back in time in order to prevent a tragedy from occurring. Where this series makes itself distinct is in how the situation changes dramatically with every loop. SHINPEI cannot infinitely go back in time; every time he resets it's a little further in the future than the previous time. He is also not the only character who retains memories from previous loops. This means that, even with time traveling powers, he is constantly on the back foot. He might have wit and ingenuity on his side, but so do the antagonists, which results in a suspenseful game of cat and mouse.

Honestly, the best thing about Summer Time Rendering is its tight plotting and pacing. It might be an adaptation of a manga, but the story is already complete and every major plot thread gets a resolution. You don't have to read the manga or wait years for a second season that may not even happen, nor is it trying to build itself up into a never-ending multimedia franchise. Closure is not something to take for granted when it comes to anime adaptations; I truly appreciate how this series respects your time.

If there is something significant to criticize about this series, it's that its characters and dialogue are rather flat. It also makes liberal use of shlocky violence and B-movie action tropes. Although there are attempts to flesh out the world and themes during the lulls in action, this is more of a plot-driven thrill ride than an emotionally resonant experience. That was perfectly fine for me; importantly, I never once had the impression that the series was doing anything wrong with its bag of tropes. Perhaps the only wrinkle that could make it difficult to recommend broadly is its fanservice, but this is one of those shows where the violence so heavily outweighs the sexual content that only mature audiences should consider watching this in the first place.

Visually, Summer Time Rendering is impressively consistent. Instead of going all-out in its opening episodes only to peter out later like so many other anime tend to do, the production here is relatively restrained at first, putting more emphasis on dynamic camera angles than a large number of drawings. The biggest heights come later, with some well-animated action scenes to match the climactic moments in the story. It's a great example of a well-paced anime, not just from a storytelling perspective but also from a production one. Director Ayumu Watanabe is known for his arthouse films like Children of the Sea, but with Summer Time Rendering he demonstrates that he's just as good at making distilled entertainment. It's not revolutionary cinema, but the visuals never fail to enhance the plot beats.

In the end, Summer Time Rendering may be most notable for simply... not screwing up a perfectly good story. Rare is an anime adaptation that never gives its viewers a niggling feeling that something got lost in the transition. Everything this series set out to do, it accomplished. There is no sense of lingering regrets or wasted potential. Even if it doesn't go down in the annals as one of the all-time greats, the satisfaction alone makes it one of the best anime of 2022. Be sure to check this out if you want to watch a surefire hit; it helps that it's addictively watchable.