Summer Ghost

Summer Ghost is a 40-minute Japanese animated film about an urban legend: light fireworks at an abandoned airfield and the "summer ghost" will appear, a spirit who can answer any question. Three teenagers who meet online, Tomoya Sugisaki, Aoi Harukawa and Ryo Kobayashi, each come to the airfield for reasons of their own. The ghost, who introduces herself as Ayane Sato, tells them she is visible only to those close to death. Afterward Tomoya keeps returning to the airfield, drawn into a relationship with Ayane that he hides from his friends, while trying to understand why she lingers.

The film was released in November 2021 and marked the directorial debut of loundraw, following Proof of Us in 2022. It was written by Otsuichi and produced by Taro Imafuku. The voices were provided by Chiaki Kobayashi as Tomoya, Miyuri Shimabukuro as Aoi, Rina Kawaei as Ayane and Nobunaga Shimazaki as Ryo.

Summer Ghost sits at 7.4 from around 3,500 votes on IMDb and 7.3 from roughly 167 votes on TMDB, while a smaller group of seven critics rated it 7.6. Its short runtime and small vote counts on TMDB reflect a release that circulated mainly among fans of anime rather than a wide theatrical audience, with the critical and audience scores landing close together.