Natsu no Arashi!

Natsu no Arashi! (夏のあらし!) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Jin Kobayashi, who is known for his previous work School Rumble. The manga started serialization in Square Enix's Gangan Wing shōnen manga magazine on August 25, 2006, and seven bound volumes have been released in Japan as of March 2010. The anime adaption began broadcasting on April 5, 2009. A second series has been made that is called Natsu no Arashi! Akinai-chū The complete first series of the anime is available to watch at crunchyroll.com

Plot
Thirteen-year-old Yasaka is a boy staying at his grandfather's house during his summer vacation. One day he entered a store and met Arashi, a beautiful sixteen-year old girl working there. After trying to protect her from a man who claims to have been hired by her family to take her back by force, Yasaka ran away with her and now she stays at his grandpa's place with him. It didn't take much time for Yasaka to figure out that his new friend is far from an ordinary girl, as she possesses mysterious powers. The plot thickens when he finds a sixty-year-old picture of Arashi and another girl named Kaja, and to the surprise of all Kaja suddenly appears, and just like Arashi, her appearance hasn't changed at all since then.

Two other characters introduced so far are the place's owner, a woman whose name is still unrevealed and rumored to be a high level con artist, and Jun Kamigamo, a student of Yasaka's age who he met at the store, and works there with him since then. Despite being a girl, she keeps dressing and addressing herself as a boy to the other characters. So far only Kaja and Arashi know her secret.

Characters

 * Hajime Yasaka (八坂 一)

The main male protagonist. A 13 year-old boy who is spending his summer vacation in his grandfather's house. When he met Arashi from the first time, he established a connection with her when he touched her hand, and since then the duo gained the power to travel back and forth in time. He is infatuated with Arashi's beauty and kindness, but is afraid to convey his feelings to her.


 * Sayoko Arashiyama (嵐山 小夜子)

The main female protagonist. Despite still looking like a beautiful sixteen years-old girl, Arashi is in fact a ghost who lived during World War II times. Since then her mission had been traveling back in time to rescue those in her community from air-raids by American warplanes. However, to travel back to the past, she must do it accompanied by a living person from the present with whom she made a "connection". Her relationship with Hajime is a bit more complicated than it seems. In the second season it's revealed that Arashi's first love was a time-tripping Hajime.


 * Kaja Bergmann (カヤ バーグマン)

Another ghost from Arashi's time and her best friend. She was an exchange student from Germany who studied at her school. Her polite and cool demeanor opposes to Arashi's lively and carefree personality. She possesses the same time traveling powers as her, but she can only make a connection with a living girl due to her shyness around boys.


 * Jun Kamigamo (上賀茂 潤)

She is Hajime's friend that has made a connection with Kaja and jumps through time with her. Hajime thinks she is a guy. In the second season, Jun starts to develop feelings for Hajime.


 * Sayaka (さやか)

A con artist who owns the cafe in which Hajime, Arashi and the other girls work. She seems to have a crush on Yamashiro.


 * Hideo Murata (村田 英雄)

A private investigator. He is the son of a man Arashi saved from certain death by preventing him from fishing in the river, on a day when an air-raid struck the area.


 * Yayoi Fushimi (伏見 やよゐ)

Just like her friend Kanako, she is another ghost who died during the war and an acquaintance of Arashi and Kaja, her ethereal body has been weakening through time. Due to a horrifying accident, she's half-paralyzed and can't walk without wheelchair. Her paralysis is more to psychological condition. However, she was healed when she went back to the past and met Kanako again for the first time. Her personality is the polar opposite of Kanako, especially her naiveness that worries Kanako greatly. In the second season she connects with both Hajime and Yamashiro's dog Josephine and Sayaka.


 * Kanako Yamazaki (山崎 加奈子)

Just like Yayoi, her ethereal body weakened and she resorted to steal Arashi's energy to replace her and her friend's, until she figured out that only by making a connection with a living human, her energy would be restored. She and Yayoi are best friends and spent their ghost-living in a run-down mansion. She is very protective and deeply cared of Yayoi's well-being, up to the point where she does not hesitant to hurt somebody for her sake. She is "connected" with Hideo. She looked tough, rude, and unlikeable at first. This is because she had gone through a lot of hardships since childhood and loathes rich girls such as Kaja, Arashi, and Yayoi. Her encounter with Yayoi changed her perspective and she became able to open up herself.
 * Takeshi Yamashiro (山代 武士)

A young man who Arashi saved when he was a child and Hajime's main target of jealousy, as he is always in good terms with her.


 * Shioya (塩谷)


 * Kazuo Sogoru (十五流 一夫)


 * Yōko Himekawa (姫川 ようこ)


 * Kyōko Kamigamo (上賀茂 京子)


 * Yoshimi Anamori (穴守 好実)


 * Umeyashiki (梅屋敷)

First series
An anime adaption was announced in November 2008. The anime series was directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, Katsuhiko Takayama oversaw the script, the character design was done by Kazuhiro Ota and was produced by Shaft. The series was broadcast from April 5, 2009, it had a total of 13 episodes.

Theme songs

 * Opening
 * "Atashi dake ni kakete" (あたしだけにかけて) by Omokage Lucky Hole
 * Ending
 * "Kirari Futari" (キラリフタリ) by Ryōko Shiraishi
 * "Hitonatsu no Keiken" (ひと夏の経験) by Ryōko Shiraishi (ep 6)
 * "Kassai" (喝采) by Yui Horie (ep 11)

Second series
A second series called Natsu no Arashi! Akinai chū (夏のあらし! 春夏冬中) was announced on June 29, 2009. It has 13 episodes.

Theme songs

 * Opening
 * "Oyasumi Paradox" (おやすみパラドックス) by Etsuko Yakushimaru
 * Ending
 * "Otome no Junjo" (乙女の順序) by Ryōko Shiraishi, Kaori Nazuka, Ai Nonaka and Yui Horie

Reception
King Records's Starchild division has offered to pay Amazon gift certificates to bloggers at the unofficial Neko to Negima! to Seiyū-san anime blog site for their reviews of Natsu no Arashi!'s anime series.