My Love/Last Summer

  

My Love/Last Summer
Cover of My Love/Last Summer volume 1
僕の恋/去年の夏 (Boku no Koi/Kyonen no natsu)
Genre	Psychological thriller, romance, mystery, dark fantasy, horror
Manga
Written by	Joshua Oda
Illustrated by	Nobu Ishikawa
Published by	Watanabe Publishing
English publisher	NA Mangapop KS Watanabe Publishing
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Monthly Manga Mania
Original run	February 8, 2012 – April 23, 2016
Volumes	8
Anime television series
Boku no Koi
Directed by	Allan Carrara
Music by	Kojiro Miyamoto
Studio	Cal-Cel Animation
Licensed by	Tokki Television Animation
Network	Chiba TV, TV Saitama, Tokki Network JP (original)
English network	Tokki Network (dub)
Original run	January 14, 2013 – present
Episodes	13
Anime
Boku no Koi: Aftermath
Directed by	Allan Carrara
Music by	Kojiro Miyamoto
Studio	Cal-Cel Animation
Licensed by	Tokki Television Animation
Released	June 15, 2015
Films
Trilogy Marvel's Mirror (2018) Untitled second film (TBD) Untitled third film (TBD)

This article contains Japanese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of kanji and kana.

My Love/Last Summer (Japanese: 僕の恋/去年の夏, Hepburn: Boku no Koi/Kyonen no natsu), commonly referred to as Boku no Koi or My Love is a Japanese-Sierran psychological thriller seinen manga series written by Joshua Oda and illustrated by Nobu Ishikawa. The series was serialized simultaneously in both Japan and Sierra through Watanabe's Monthly Manga Mania magazine between February 8, 2012 and April 23, 2016, and was compiled into 8 ankōbon volumes. It follows protagonist Marvel Clements, a high school student sophomore from Bernheim, who meets and falls in love with Audrey Jones, a fellow female classmate. Growing closer, over the summer, Jones disappears without a trace and Clements is resolved into finding her himself. An anime television series adaption by Cal-Cel Animation aired from January 14, 2013 to December 29, 2014 on TNC's Tokki Network, with a second season currently in the works. A live-action film adaption began production in 2014 and is scheduled for release in the winter of 2018. A spin-off manga series continuing the established canon was officially announced on December 5, 2016.

Premise

Set in Weston Ranch, Bernheim, San Joaquin, the story follows Marvel Clements, a high school sophomore, who befriends Audrey Jones, a female classmate from his chemistry class. As the two grow closer, Clements develops romantic feelings towards Jones, but is too hesitant and jebbish to confess his feelings to her. During the summer, the two continue to spend time together as friends but she begins to display increasingly erratic and skittish behavior, which worries Clements. Eventually, Jones does not show up one day and after a day of no sign from her, Jones' parents report their daughter in as a missing person, and a search party is conducted to find her. Desperate to find her, Clements sets off to find her but as he begins his search, he has an uneasy feeling of being watched. As Clements spends his days searching for Jones, he begins to experience and encounter unusual and horrifying events and apparitions.

Cast and characters

Main ensemble

Character	Voice actor (English)	Voice actor (Japanese)
			S1	S2	OVA
Marvel Clements	Jermaine Carter Williams	Takeshi Matsuoka	Main
Audrey Jones	Alessia Haines	Ayaka Akiyama	Main
Three-Horned One	Nathan Tudyk	Hikaru Yoshida	Main
Shane Dawson	Michael Deboer	Yumiko Suzuki	Recurring		Guest
Andy Kosaka	Lincoln Wang	Kouta Moto	Recurring		Guest
Amy Chaudhary	Nina Patel	Kasumi Sato	Guest	Recurring	Guest
Mr. Clements	Daniel Ramirez	Shiro Fujimoto	Guest	Recurring	Guest
Mrs. Clements	Angie Parkers	Michi Mizushima	Guest	Recurring	Guest

Marvel Clements (マーベル・クレメンツ, Māberu Kurementsu)

Voiced by: Takeshi Matsuoka (Japanese); Jermaine Carter Williams (Q-Lo) (English)

The main character and protagonist of the series. Marvel is portrayed as a 14-year old high school student who is reserved and timid introvert, who prefers to daydream and walk alone. He is shown to have friends, but chooses to stay at home or in class instead of participating in social activities. Series creator Joshua Oda described Marvel as "your typical, jebbish teen", and confirmed that Marvel is based on him and his own life experiences and upbringing. Entering high school as a freshman, he is fearful of social isolation, but meets Audrey Jones, a fellow classmate in his chemistry class, who helps bring him out of his shell.

Becoming very close friends, Marvel becomes romantically infatuated with Audrey but when summer comes, before he has the chance to confess his feelings, she goes missing. Determined to find her, he relies on his memories and social media to pinpoint her whereabouts. When this proves futile, he descends into depression, and begins to be haunted by nightmares and incomprehensible visions. Soon, certain, recurring objects he saw in his dreams start to coincidentally appear around him. Eventually, he comes into contact with a demon, named the Three-Horned One, who claims to know of Audrey' whereabouts, and promises to reveal it to Marvel if the boy agrees to become the demon's "associate". Accepting the demon's request, Marvel becomes the demon's host and is thrust into a hidden world of dark magic driven by emotions and fear (the Domain of Despair). Descending into madness and consumed with self-loathing, he ultimately fails to find Audrey.

Audrey Jones (オードリー・ジョーンズ, Ōdorī Jōnzu)

Voiced by: Ayaka Akiyama (Japanese); Alessia Haines (English)

The main female protagonist and the deuteragonist of the series. Depicted as a sweet and endearing girl, Audrey herself struggles with social anxiety and takes comfort in Marvel's company. Although Marvel develops a crush on Audrey, she is unaware of it though it is later revealed that she had romantic feelings towards him as well. Over their freshman year, Audrey and Marvel become close friends, but over the summer, she begins to exhibit signs of paranoia and suspicion, and becomes distant from Marvel. Eventually, she disappears and for most of the series, her whereabouts are not revealed, with her appearances in episodes being solely in Marvel's flashbacks, and later, visions.

Three-Horned One (3角形の悪魔, 3 Kakugata no akuma san)

Voiced by: Hikaru Yoshida (Japanese); Nathan Tudyk (English)

The main antagonist of the series. An ancient but mischievous incubus, the Three-Horned One is depicted in his "true form" as a man with the head of a three-horned goat. Spending eons searching for and deceiving heartbroken souls, the Three-Horned One relies on fresh hosts and their raw emotional power to continue existence. Choosing Marvel as his latest victim, but is intrigued by the strength and passion of the young boy. Rather than ultimately dispose Marvel as the demon had with his previous victims, the Three-Horned One hopes to drain Marvel of his humanity and groom the boy into becoming a demon himself. He feeds off of Marvel's hope, and falsely claims to know where Audrey is.

Shane Dawson (シェーン・ドーソン, Shēn Dōson)

Voiced by: Yumiko Suzuki (Japanese); Michael Deboer (English)

Mutual friends with Marvel and Audrey, Michael is portrayed as the voice of reason, and tries to convince Marvel to give up on finding Audrey. A devoted enthusiast in all things related to conspiracy theories and the occult, Michael is one of the few people who discovers Marvel's deal with the Three-Horned One, and leads his own independent investigation on the Domain of Despair and its inhabitants. As a result of Shane's research, Audrey's whereabouts and fate are finally revealed, but the boy becomes lost into the Domain as well.

Media

Manga

The original manga, written by Joshua Hiroshige Oda, was serialized on Watanabe Publishing's seinen-oriented magazine, Monthly Manga Mania from February 8, 2012 to April 23, 2016. The series, including its extra volumes, is licensed by Watanabe's subsidiary, Neko Press, with the first tankobon volume released in Sierra on September 18, 2012. Due to the popularity of My Love/Last Summer, the continuation of the series, starting with the manga, has already been developed, with new manga slated for release in the early spring of 2017.

Volumes

Title	Japanese release date	Japanese ISBN	English release date	English ISBN
1. "Friends"	August 12, 2014	ISBN 978-4-05-843309-1	December 16, 2014	ISBN 978-0-7355-1296-3
"First Day of School" "Getting to Know You" "Days Go By Fast" "Heart Flutters"
2. "Gone"	September 9, 2014	ISBN 978-4-05-843402-8	January 16, 2015	ISBN 978-0-7355-1297-4
"Seen By" "Mistakes" "Not Home" "Where?"
3. "Search Party"	December 16, 2014	ISBN 978-4-05-843901-1	March 8, 2015	ISBN 978-0-7355-1298-2
"Red Herring" "The Three-Horned One" "Indentured" "Not Prepared"
4. "Domain of Despair"	January 16, 2015	ISBN 978-4-05-844220-2	April 12, 2015	ISBN 978-0-7355-1305-8
"Oblivion" "Poe's Letters" "Red Sparrow" "Alpha Omega"
5. "First Moon"	March 18, 2015	ISBN 978-4-05-844050-0	May 1, 2015	ISBN 978-0-7355-1309-3
"By Dawn" "Audrey and Me" "The Race to the Bottom" "Hunter and the Prey"
6. "Blue Blood"	May 5, 2015	ISBN 978-4-05-844673-2	July 17, 2015	ISBN 978-0-7355-1311-7
"Slain by Motivation" "Unintended Consequences" "Fugitive" "The Drain"
7. "La Doueler Exquise"	July 30, 2015	ISBN 978-4-05-844699-4	August 15, 2015	ISBN 978-0-7355-1319-2
"Want You Back" "Crawling In My..." "Heightened Awareness" "The Truth"
8. "End of Summer"	September 7, 2015	ISBN 978-4-05-844708-5	October 1, 2015	ISBN 978-0-7355-1320-0
"Runaway" "There's No Escape" "Look Around" "Dead End"

Anime

A television anime adaption of the series produced and animated by Cal-Cel Animation originally aired on Tokki Network JP's cross-animation programming block (consisting of Western and Japanese). Directed by Hollywood veteran Allan Carrara, the television series was Carrara's first work outside cinematography. Character design was handled by series creator Joshua Oda, while production was overseen by Daniella Chase. In accordance with Sierran anime tradition, over half of the animation and production of the series was done in Japan by Japanese staff, and the series was released simultaneously in Anglo-America and Japan upon initial runtime to qualify as "anime".

Episodes

Season 1

The opening theme for the first season was "Doa o Tōshite" (ドアを通して, Through the Door) by Sierran J-pop band DTX, while the ending theme was "Wasurerarenai" (忘れられない, Unforgettable) by Megumi Mizushima.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Adapted from	Original air date	Prod. code	K.S. viewers (millions)
1	1	"School Friends" "Sukūrufurenzu (スクールフレンズ)"	Allan Carrara	Tad Miyagawa	Volume 1 ("Friends")	January 14, 2013 (2013-01-14)	1–01	2.41
Marvel Clements is a young teenager who has just started his freshman year in high school in the suburbs of Bernheim. Terrified of the next four years that awaits Marvel in high school, he befriends Audrey Jones, a girl his grade who moved to Bernheim over the summer from Porciúncula. Although their initial interaction is awkward, they become steadfast friends, and grow close over the school year. Marvel develops romantic feelings for Audrey, and makes it his resolve to one day marry her. Meanwhile, there are growing incidence of freak accidents and apparent murder-suicides appearing throughout the city.
2	2	"Summer Gone" "Natsu ga satta (夏が去った)"	Allan Carrara	Tad Miyagawa	Volume 1 ("Friends") Volume 2 ("Gone")	January 20, 2013 (2013-01-20)	1–02	2.73
Freshman year ends, and summer begins. Although Marvel and Audrey are now best friends, rumors spread among their friends and others claiming that the two are now dating. Uncomfortable with this possibility, Audrey drifts away from Marvel, and begins to act erratic. Concerned, Marvel tries to confront her, and is determined to confess his feelings to her, but she continues to push him away. Hurt, the two do not see each other for a week, before Marvel receives a missed phone call from Audrey overnight, which he sees in the morning. When she does not pick up her phone after several phone calls, Marvel rushes to her house only to discover that the police are there. Declared missing, Audrey's parents filed a missing persons report, and a search party is conducted. Distraught, Marvel seeks to find her himself, and finally be able to reveal his feelings to her.
3	3	"Devil's Bargain" "Akuma no bāgen (悪魔のバーゲン)"	Allan Carrara	Kenneth Cumberbatch	Volume 2 ("Gone") Volume 3 ("Search Party")	January 27, 2013 (2013-01-27)	1–03	2.88
For a few days, Marvel tries to find clues leading up to Audrey's disappearance, and recruits his friends to help him. When the trail of possible leads to nowhere, Marvel's friends try to persuade him to give up, and allow the authorities to worry about Audrey herself. Triggered by their reaction, Marvel has an emotional breakdown, with his negative energy attracting the wandering, demonic spirit of the Three-Horned God, an entity with the body of a man, and the head of a goat. Introducing himself as an ambivalent, but ancient being, the Three-Horned One offers Marvel a chance to find Audrey if the boy agrees to become the demon's host for a time. To prove his promise, he reveals to Marvel, Audrey's diary, which had presumably been taken away by police. Believing the demon is of good intentions, Marvel accepts, and agrees to allow the demon into his soul. After a painful transfiguration process, the Three-Horned One becomes part of Marvel's mind, manifesting himself as an inanimate, astral projection which can only be perceived by Marvel. Now in Marvel's domain, the Three-Horned One demands that Marvel commit "Four Great Sins", or sacrifices, before the Three-Horned One is willing to reveal Audrey's location and fate.
4	4	"The Enslavement of Marvel Clements" "Māberu kurementsu no gyakusatsu (マーベル・クレメンツ の虐殺)"	Allan Carrara	Kenneth Cumberbatch	Volume 3 ("Search Party") Volume 4 ("Domain of Despair")	February 3, 2013 (2013-02-03)	1–04	2.64
Marvel, adjusting to the Three-Horned One's continuous presence in his mind, spends the next day in bed paralyzed. While he sleeps, in his dreams, the Three-Horned One manifests himself and presents to Marvel all of the boy's fond memories of Audrey. Happy and nearly convinced that the dream is real, the demon proceeds to morph the idyllic scenes into morbid, haunting visions of destruction, including the death of Audrey. Filled with grief and rage, these emotions give the demon sustenance and stops, allowing Marvel's emotions to subside. Desperate to be with Audrey again, Marvel demands that the Three-Horned One give him his first great sin to commit, to which the demon refuses, seeking to "delay" gratification, and that the boy must suffer "for a times, time, and a half a time". Meanwhile, the Bernheim Police Department conducts a large-scale investigation of murders which have taken place across town within hours of each other, leading detectives to believe that the crimes were connected.
5	5	"Memories of You" "Anata no omoide (あなたの思い出; メモリーズ・オブ・ユー)"	Allan Carrara	Tad Miyagawa	Volume 4 ("Domain of Despair") Volume 5 ("First Moon")	February 10, 2013 (2013-02-10)	1–05	2.58

Critical reception

The series received generally positive reviews. The manga series was the third highest selling series of all forms of print, selling more than 10 million copies in a single year during its initial run, making it one of the highest selling manga series in Sierra. My Love/Last Summer was declared the fourth favorite new series and second best series for male seinen audiences by the Asia-Pacific Cultural Network, the leading news source on the anime industry within the Anglosphere.

Reception towards the anime adaption has been mostly positive, with universal praise for the animation and sound quality. Allan Carrara, who was the main director of the television series, was lauded for his willingness to deviate from the manga canon, especially as it began to diverge from the manga during the second season. However, some aspects of the show have been criticized, mainly over the gratuitous scenes of violence and gore in the darker scenes. Marty Simmons from the Porciúncula Times was critical on the show's direction in Season 1 and wrote, "Although My Love/Last Summer has nailed down the gorgeous artwork and animation from the popular manga series effectively, it occasionally and very noticeably falters in tone and mood. One scene, you have something so saccharine and sentimental, it's downright nauseating, and in the next, so morbid you wonder if the series is trying to be edgy for the sake of being edgy and just as nauseating." Other reviewers have praised the anime adaption more favorably. Television critic Pauline Martinez from The Unionist wrote on Carrara's directing, "[He] has never had experience in the animation industry, yet he has managed to translate his work with live-action cinematic over new grounds," and commended his ability to "balance romance, horror, and humor" into the show. Although many other series had similar premise, Caden Huang from Vanguard noted, "This series achieves what few have accomplished. It truly reflected the human condition", describing that "even one scene alone allows you to experience a rolling storm of different emotions first, and then deep intellectual thought next".

See also

• Sierran anime