The Summer Pockets anime, adapted from Visual Arts/Key’s popular visual novel, is now halfway through its first cour as Episode 6 premiered on May 12. Long-time fans of Key works have definitely picked up the anime, given that the legendary Jun Maeda (CLANNAD, Angel Beats!) is responsible for the concept and composition of the Summer Pockets visual novel and anime. As a Key fan myself since 2008, I have witnessed ups and downs in their anime works, but I find myself loving every second of the Summer Pockets anime adaptation.
However, I think Summer Pockets may struggle to bring in new fans with its slow pace and moderate approach to developing its characters. Veterans of Key content know what they are strapped in for, especially if they have watched Little Busters or CLANNAD. While I find the slow pace and unhurried rollout of characters to be a positive point of Key’s works, this might not be the case for everyone.
The Key Formula
Summer Pockets, so far, is about escapism. The main character, Hairi Takahara, travels to a remote island to settle his late grandmother’s estate, and the destination naturally helps him escape some trauma from back on the mainland. In pure Key fashion, characters are slowly and vaguely introduced one by one for the first couple episodes – a style of pacing that matches a lot of Key visual novels and anime adaptations in my experience. For the record, I haven’t played the Summer Pockets visual novel yet, so I’m watching the anime without any knowledge of the original material, which is the same thing I’ve done for almost every Key anime outside of Planetarian.
Back in 2008, when CLANNAD was my all-time favorite anime, I often recommended it to fellow otaku friends, but a good percentage of them couldn’t get through the first six episodes due to the pacing and dialogue. I failed to understand, at the time, why they couldn’t see CLANNAD as the masterpiece I saw it as when I was a teenager. Now, in 2025, when I look back and think about the reasons why I loved CLANNAD so much, it wasn’t because of its pacing, characters, or story. It was simply that it was one of my first introductions to a school drama/romance anime, especially one adapted from a visual novel.
I’ve only rewatched CLANNAD four times, which isn’t a lot for a series I had claimed to be my favorite anime for over a decade (in 2021, I declared Non Non Biyori as my new favorite anime). I have no urge to go back and rewatch CLANNAD these days (it’s just too damn sad). I have no urge to even recommend it to newcomers or veterans of anime. CLANNAD just isn’t for everyone, with its moderate pace, plethora of seemingly random characters that don’t directly impact the main story, and multiple arcs that watchers may find derivative. The school setting also doesn’t sell well, given how saturated the anime medium is with the genre.
All of the reasons I listed above describe how I felt about Jun Maeda’s Little Busters (2012) anime adaptation, despite a lot of the pacing and arcs being similar to CLANNAD. I can’t help but wonder if Summer Pockets will have the same impression on people who aren’t longtime Key fans.
Speaking as a Jun Maeda and Key fan, Summer Pockets feels like the most Jun Maeda/Key work since… Little Busters in 2012. Charlotte, The Day I Became a God, and Rewrite all felt very different, pacing and storytelling-wise, than CLANNAD, Little Busters, Kanon, and Air. Each character introduction in Summer Pockets is similar to how comedically and subtly characters were introduced in Key’s 2000s anime adaptations. I enjoyed the introduction of Kamome – how she comes across as a bit bossy and lazy, but episodes later, we find out that she has a health condition that limits what she is able to do. I always felt that Key’s adaptations post-2015 felt way more rushed, leaving me unable to remember characters’ names and past stories, completely the opposite effect of their pre-2015 anime.
I feel that Summer Pockets goes back to that 2000s Key style of not only slowly developing characters, but also gradually building the world (or in this case, the island). However, in a world of instant gratification where many anime stories cram as much as possible within their first few episodes, I’m not sure how the slower approach will leave newcomers to Key’s works. I like anime that keeps me curious and keeps me coming back each week, and Summer Pockets does that with its world-building by having almost no “NPC” characters.
For example, the anime keeps going back to the same restaurant owner we were introduced to in episode one. Since only a few hundred people are living on the island, the anime is careful to return to the same characters, even if they have minor roles. Every shop and every person makes the island feel more than just a setting – it genuinely feels lived in. Some viewers may feel that the anime wastes their time with this kind of slice-of-life world-building, but it’s part of Key’s charm.
I don’t want Summer Pockets to change its pacing. It’s perfect for me. But despite how much I’m loving it so far, I don’t see the anime taking off with mainstream anime watchers. There’s nothing wrong with that; not every anime is for everybody, but I also don’t see Summer Pockets taking off as much as CLANNAD did in the 2000s.
It is not yet confirmed how many episodes Summer Pockets will run, or if it will even cover the entire visual novel. There are enough characters introduced that if each girl got an arc, I could easily see Summer Pockets running beyond 26 episodes. Kamome’s arc has (seemingly) wrapped up at the end of Episode 6, and while adventurous and engaging, I think Jun Maeda and studio Feel have a lot more sadness and shock in store for future arcs. However long Summer Pockets will be, I feel locked in until the end.
Summer Pockets is currently airing on Crunchyroll.
©VISUAL ARTS/Key/Torishiro Island Tourist Association
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