After his parents died, Shinpei went to live with the Kofune family on Hitogashima Island. After leaving for school in Tokyo he has not been back since, but after receiving word that one of the two Kofune daughters, Ushio, drown tragically, he returns for the funeral. However, with bruises on her neck, there is some doubt if Ushio’s accident was truly an accident. As he considers her death, strange things begin to take place on this island that forces Mio, Ushio’s sister, to recall an old tale about how seeing a person that looks just like yourself foretells your own death.
Murder mystery with a special twist is always a solid winner. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Summertime Render, then head on down below.
Anime Like Summertime Render
For Fans of Dying Terribly in a Time Loop
Re-Zero
When Subaru Natsuki goes out for a midnight snack run, he suddenly finds himself transported to another world. As a bewildered teen in a land of swords and magic, he wanders around and ends up attacked by thugs. After being saved by a mysterious woman, he agrees to help her get back something that was stolen. Unfortunately, it ends in both their deaths. With his dying breath, he finds that he possesses the power of revival, escaping his death by the repeating the last few hours.
A central component in each series is the main character dying and resetting back to a certain point in time over and over again. Each time, they try to do better to change the outcome to get a desired result However, as a fantasy series, Re:Zero is definitely a different sort of experience and not such a dedicated murder mystery.
Higurashi – When They Cry
Keiichi Maebara just moved from Tokyo with his family to the small town of Hinamizawa in the summer of1983. As the town is so small, school children of all ages are lumped into one class. There he becomes fast friends with four girls where he spends his days after school idly playing games. However, as the town’s annual festival approaches, he learns about a series of murders, disappearances, and other mysteries that surround it. When he confronts his friends, he finds them mysteriously tight-lipped.
While not so well advertised at first, both Higurashi and Summertime Render are about character stuck in a time loop that resets every time they die horrifically. Both series revolve around not letting your friends die, but also trying to figure out why they keep looping.
Steins;Gate
In a rickety old building in Akihabara, mad scientist Rintarou Okabe and his lab assistants work on so-called future gadgets. However, their most successful contraption to date, the Phone Microwave, a machine that can turn bananas into gel, also has the added function of sending emails into the past, thus altering the flow of history.
Steins;Gate is different in that instead of time looping for no initially discernible reason, it is a story of time travel, then a story of fixing the problems caused by time travel. While initially not so focused on murder and death, Steins;Gate grows into such complex affairs as the show goes on.
Erased
Recently the detached struggling manga artist Satoru Fujinuma finds himself going back in time just minutes before tragedy strikes around him. He has saved many lives with this power of “Revival,” but when he is wrongly accused of murdering someone close to him, Fujinuma finds himself sent back to his childhood. As he discovers the recent death in his life is somehow connected the kidnap-murder of three of his classmates, this time he may be able to use his power to save more than just one life, easing his past regrets in the process.
While Erased is about being sent back in time a handful of times, the primary purpose in doing so is to prevent someone from dying. However, the monster here is just a human so, despite the time travel, it really isn’t a supernatural sort of show.
For Fans of Small Town Intrigue
Shiki
The fifteen-year-old Megumi Shimizu dreamed of leaving her small country town behind for the big city, but those dreams died when she did. It was her murder that kicked off a summer of blood and terror in this small town where a city boy and a country doctor try to stop the epidemic of death happening around them.
Shiki and Summertime Render are both about very rural places and ultimately about a group of people that live there trying not to die. Each series has the group of characters become entwined in a series of gruesome deaths while trying to figure out what is doing it and how to stop it.
Yu-No
Recently, Takuta Arima’s father, a historian and researcher, has disappeared. While on summer vacation, Takuya receives a package from his missing father as well as a letter explaining that parallel worlds exist. Inside the package, he realizes that his father has sent him a device that allows him to visit these parallel worlds and decides to use it to find his father.
Both of these series take place in a small town where a certain event kicks off a mystery that is clearly not within the normal boundaries of reality. While Yu-No doesn’t have the same sort of looping, it does have its own special quirk with the alternate dimensions. Unfortunately, because Yu-No is based off a visual novel, it has a few storytelling issues.
The Perfect Insider
Genius programmer Shiki Magata lives on an island as a recluse. She rarely takes guests, but a professor and his student manage to get a meeting. Soon after, their meeting is cut short and they both find themselves in a locked room murder mystery.
Both series take place on a small island, though Perfect Insider makes that space even smaller. Regardless, they take place on an island that has recently had a rather odd death. The story surrounds trying to figure out who did it. While The Perfect Insider doesn’t take as supernatural a turn, it can be as strange as the best of them.
For Fans of Creatures Among Us
Parasyte
One night, sixteen-year-old Shinichi Izumi was peacefully sleeping when a race of parasitic aliens descended on Earth. One parasite infects Shinichi, trying to get to his brain to take over his body, but ends up getting stuck in his right hand. Unable to relocate to the brain, the alien, named Migi, now has no choice but to learn to coexist with Shinichi in his body in order to stay alive. Unfortunately, the other parasitic aliens are not so friendly with humans or to parasites that failed to complete their mission.
Parasyte is an innately different beast in that it is a series about aliens who take over people’s bodies. However, that isn’t really such a far stretch from what is happening in Summertime Render. In Parasyte, the main character can technically recognize other parasites, which takes some of the mystery out. However, as these creatures can take a normal human body, there are moments in a crowd where they could be anyone not unlike the shadow monster in Summertime Render.
Another
Ever since 1972, class 3-3 in Yomiyama North Middle School has had a strange tradition of pretending that one of their students did not exist. When Kouichi Sakakubara transfers into the class, he finds himself drawn to a girl that no one seems to notice. Not paying heed to the warnings of his classmates, all hell is about to break loose.
While Another’s ghost-based mystery isn’t quite the same as a murderous shadow monster that copies the appearance of other people, the plot does surround discovering someone who looks human, but is not. However, there are no second chances in Another, as you will discover upon seeing the whole heap of dead bodies that pile up throughout it.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Summertime Render? Let fans know in the comments section below.
