Unraveling the Summertime Romance: Shinpei and Ushio's Fate in the Anime

The Summertime Rendering was released in Spring 2022, but many fans were left with questions about the conclusion of character story arcs due to the heavy emphasis on the mystery surrounding Hitogashima. One such query revolved around the series' protagonists, Shinpei and Ushio.

Shinpei and Ushio had clearly harbored feelings for each other since they were young, as depicted in the anime. However, their limited time together was a result of Shinpei moving to the city to study culinary arts. To complicate matters further, Ushio was drowned by Haine in the original timeline. Fortunately, shadow Ushio erased Hiruko, allowing her to rewrite the summer and revive herself in the new timeline.

Summertime Rendering: Do Shinpei and Ushio end up together?

Ushio and Shinpei as seen in Summertime Rendering (Image via OLM)

Shinpei and Ushio are depicted as ending up together in Summertime Rendering, with the narrative suggesting a romantic relationship despite no explicit confirmation in the anime or manga. Despite their previous mutual feelings, they never expressed them, and the events of the story initially seemed to make it impossible for them to be together.

Hizuru Minakata as seen in Summertime Rendering (Image via OLM)

Fortunately, Shinpei was able to communicate with and confess to shadow Ushio. As a result, the two ended up together. However, in order to save everyone, shadow Ushio had to erase Hiruko from the past. This action effectively erased the existence of all shadows and sent Shinpei to July 22nd, creating a new timeline where Shinpei never confessed to Ushio.

Though Shinpei Ajiro lost all memory of the loops due to the new timeline, some residual memories remained. This was evident from his ability to recall Hizuru Minakata's pen name, Ryunosuke Nagumo, a detail he had learned during his time in the loops.

Ushio Kofune as seen in Summertime Rendering (Image via OLM)

The new timeline brought about several changes, with one of the most significant being the fact that Ushio was alive. In addition, she was the one who invited Shinpei to visit Hitogashima for the Summer Festival.

At the festival, Sou planned to confess his feelings to Mio and arranged for Shinpei and Ushio to be at the beach. However, before heading to the beach, Shinpei had a phone conversation with Ushio, during which she requested that he bring her some takoyaki.

Ushio and Shinpei as seen in Summertime Rendering (Image via OLM)

As per the request, Shinpei brought her some takoyaki. However, Ushio Kofune wasn't satisfied with the quantity, as she recalled an occasion during which Shinpei promised her that he would buy her 10 or 100 takoyaki. Upon reflecting on the same, Shinpei recollected the event in which he pledged to buy Ushio takoyaki.

Upon being reminded, Ushio and the other character reminisced about their time during the loops and how they survived the entire ordeal with Hiruko and the shadows. This led to them embracing, indicating that they had finally ended up together.

Editor's P/S

As a hard fan of the anime "Summertime Rendering," I was captivated by the intricate plot and the complex relationship between Shinpei and Ushio. The anime left me with a bittersweet feeling, as I was happy that Shinpei and Ushio were finally able to be together, but also sad that their journey was filled with so much pain and loss.

The ending of the anime was both satisfying and thought-provoking. It was satisfying to see Shinpei and Ushio overcome the obstacles that had kept them apart and finally confess their feelings for each other. However, it was also thought-provoking to consider the implications of Shinpei's memory loss and the fact that he had to relive the events of the summer over and over again. This ending left me with a sense of wonder about the nature of time and the power of love.