memories – Trekking with Dennis

Bittersweet Summer Nostalgia

Spoiler Warning: Beware of spoilers for Non Non Biyori Season 1.

I want to preface this by saying that I’m not familiar with anime as a medium. I haven’t watched any anime, really, save for a couple of films that an ex insisted we watch, and while I’ve never looked down on anime or anime enjoyers, it’s never been something I really sought out or took an interest in. So I’m approaching this series – which I’ve only seen, at time of writing, a few episodes of – as a total newcomer to anime in a general sense. I don’t think that matters so much in this instance, because this piece really isn’t “a review” of the series or episode in question. But I think it’s worth being up-front about these things, and there’ll be no hard feelings if you think my relative unfamiliarity with anime makes my take somehow less valid.

It’s quite rare, these days, for any film, game, or TV series to really punch me in the face with “the feels,” but I really don’t know how else to describe the experience of watching a single twenty-two-minute episode of an anime called Non Non Biyori. This episode almost perfectly encapsulated summertime memories from decades in the past, bringing them bubbling to the surface in a way I just… wasn’t expecting at all. And I felt I needed to put (metaphorical) pen to paper and share the experience with you today.

Screenshot of Crunchyroll showing the splash page for Non Non Biyori — We’re going to talk about anime and nostalgia today.

For a bit of background, I asked a friend of mine for some TV and movie recommendations – particularly something “slow,” and not fast-paced, thrilling, or scary. My friend, who is a bit of an anime fanatic, jumped at the chance to recommend me several anime shows in the Iyashikei genre. I was totally unaware of Iyashikei, as a total anime noob, but it’s a Japanese term that roughly translates to “healing,” and it refers to anime and manga that depict calming stories and peaceful locales. That sounded like just what I was in the mood for, and Non Non Biyori was the anime that I chose from that genre to get started with.

Iyashikei is a relatively new genre of manga and anime, from what I can tell. It emerged in the mid ’90s, as a reaction to events like Japan’s economic recession, the Tokyo subway gas attack, and the Kobe earthquake, all of which sparked an interest in calming, healing stories. The genre has continued to this day. It seemed like something worth checking out when I was craving something slower-paced and calming, so after a bit of deliberation and research, I settled on trying Non Non Biyori.

Compilation of four photos of rural Japanese landscapes — *Non Non Biyori* is set in rural Japan.

Something you should know about me, to better inform this discussion, is that I grew up in a small village in the rural north of England. The village I was raised in from the age of one had a dozen houses, a single farm, and about thirty or so residents, and the primary school I attended never had more than about forty pupils at a time; there were only two classrooms, two teachers, and my year group had just six pupils my age. I have vivid memories of playing in the mud, walking home from school along unpaved farm tracks and over the fields, picking brambles in the autumn… and positively *dying* of boredom as a teenager!

I had absolutely no expectations for Non Non Biyori. The only thing I knew about it was that it’s an anime in the Iyashikei genre. I certainly didn’t expect to get an episode that so perfectly – and so powerfully – reminded me of my own childhood, of summer days spent roaming the village, playing in the sun, and getting into mild mischief. But… that’s exactly what I got in the fourth episode of the first season.

Still frame from Non Non Biyori showing Renge and Honoka — *Non Non Biyori*.

Non Non Biyori is (at least so far; I haven’t seen all of it) a largely episodic show. The main characters have one or two adventures per episode, and the next episode picks up a different story, often with a different main character in focus. Episode 4 is titled Summer Vaction Started, and I want to focus on one of the main storylines in the episode: that of first-grade pupil Renge over a few days at the start of her summer break.

Renge’s summer break begins when her older sister returns to the small village of Asahigaoka – the setting for the series. Although we’re worlds apart in some ways, I felt echoes of my own childhood in Non Non Biyori’s depiction of Asahigaoka from the very first episode. There’s a sense of isolation that you feel as a kid that can be quite hard to put into words if you’ve never lived in a place like this. The whole world seems to pass you by as you exist in this small, almost unchanging place. You’re restricted to activities within walking or cycling distance, when there’s no public transport and you’re too young to drive, and when all that’s around you are fields… well, you have to make your own fun with whoever you can find!

When I was growing up, we had a couple of other kids around my age in the village, and even though we didn’t have a lot in common, we played together, as kids will. I can remember digging a “swimming pool” in a neighbour’s garden one summer – a large hole that we fully intended to turn into our very own private pool. It was nothing more than a muddy hole, but we must’ve spent hours digging in the heavy soil, moving stones, and planning out what we’d do when we finally got our “pool” just the way we wanted it!

Non Non Biyori dragged up memories just like this one – memories from, in some cases, almost forty years ago. And I just… I honestly wasn’t expecting that strange bittersweet feeling from a series like this. These aren’t *painful* memories, but they’re events and situations that I just haven’t dwelt on for such a long time, with most of the people involved totally gone from my life today – or having passed away years ago.

Farm tracks like this were a common sight when I was a kid.

I can see why, to a city-dweller, a series like Non Non Biyori would appeal. It’s textbook escapism – an idealised slice-of-life for the kind of life that most people today, especially in urban areas, don’t really get to experience. I guess that’s also why the Iyashikei genre continues to attract an audience. There’s a lot to be said for something slower-paced and cosy, especially in today’s world. And for folks who live hectic lives in bustling cities… I can totally understand why stories and settings like these appeal. It’s the same reason why period dramas, set in Victorian times or older, are popular in some circles.

As a newbie to anime, I gotta admit that I’ve never really paid much attention to the art style – at least, not background art. Anime characters and that style of drawing and animating people has become pretty popular even outside of Japan, and while I’ve never *disliked* it, it’s not something I really spent much time at all thinking about. I was even less familiar with the way anime shows like Non Non Biyori represent their environments… and I was blown away by some of the vistas in the show.

There are some establishing shots in Non Non Biyori, depicting the village of Asahigaoka and the area around it, that I would literally buy a print of to hang on my wall – they’re that good. And this is another part of the show that I really wasn’t expecting at all! Yet the beautiful artwork brings the setting to life in an absolutely stunning way, and is a major contributing factor to those cosy and nostalgic feelings that I talked about.

An animation studio called Silver Link worked on Non Non Biyori, bringing the world of Asahigaoka to life. The studio, which was established in the late 2000s, has dozens of other productions under its belt at this point, and has a well-deserved reputation for high-quality work. I know it seems silly to harp on about the backgrounds and establishing shots… but I think these are absolutely key parts of the way Non Non Biyori’s summer vacation episode hit me with that sense of nostalgia.

To get back to the story, part of the episode follows Renge as she takes time off from school, eventually meeting up with another girl her age – a visitor from the city, who’s come to stay for the summer break. Renge shows the new girl around, and they take photos together, building up a firm friendship. This is a great way for us as the audience to explore Asahigaoka and the area around the village, seeing it through the eyes of newcomer Honoka. We get several beautiful shots – totally dialogue-free – just depicting the environment, and the girls moving through it.

Renge, from her first moments on screen, is… what’s a nice word for “a bit of an oddball?” She’s the youngest of the main characters, perhaps the youngest person in her village, and she seems to have developed a unique way of looking at the world and interacting with the people around her. She has friends, and they accept that side of her, but seeing her make a new friend – someone her own age – was something special, and you could see how much it meant to her.

Renge and Honoka sheltering under a tree.

This setup was another thing that dragged me right back to my own childhood. Across the fields from the village I lived in was a caravan park, and although the holidaymakers usually kept to themselves, we’d occasionally encounter them when out on walks. I have a vivid memory of being four or five years old, playing with a couple of German kids whose parents my parents had befriended. I can remember doing the same kind of thing as Renge does in Non Non Biyori, taking these two German kids around the village, showing them a pond with frogs and tadpoles, a field with lambs, climbing in an old tractor tyre, and then playing with toy cars in our garden.

That memory… it’s been buried for almost four decades. Yet here I am, in 2026, reminiscing about the couple of days I ran around, one summer, and played toy cars with a couple of kids from Germany all the way back in the ’80s. It’s… it’s a testament, I guess, to the power of storytelling, of animation, and of media in general to tug the heartstrings and evoke feelings that we didn’t even know we could feel.

The story ends the way you’d expect: Renge’s new friend has to go home, back to the city. She leaves suddenly, and isn’t able to say goodbye. It’s heartbreaking to see Renge – normally so stoic – getting genuinely excited for her playdate, only to find out that Honoka has left. Non Non Biyori feels a bit ambiguous with its timing, but I get the sense it’s meant to take place before things like smartphones and iPads were all the rage. Renge has no way to contact her new friend, and just like that… she’s gone.

As Renge absorbs this news, she slowly starts to tear up – and *I* teared up right along with her. Partly, there’s shock: shock that this character is actually just a kid, despite her stoic and oddball presentation in earlier episodes. And partly… well, it’s because I’ve been there. The German kids I had so much fun with that summer, they went home after a few days. And we never kept in touch. There was no internet, no email, and long-distance international phone calls were impossibly expensive, so… that was it. You got a few days’ of playtime, and then it was over. For a five-year-old… it was pretty heartbreaking.

Renge is left in tears when Honoka leaves.

There was a happy ending, of sorts. Renge receives a letter from Honoka, apologising for leaving so abruptly, and promising to visit again soon.

I’m going to watch more of Non Non Biyori. But… I don’t want to rush it, really. It’s not the kind of show that I want to binge, because it’s exactly the opposite of a binge-style series, I guess. It’s slow-paced, and forcing my way through half a season at once just wouldn’t feel right. These characters all have their own little quirks and personality traits, but the show isn’t really about them – it’s about what they represent, and the kind of life they lead. A slower pace of life that, really, isn’t possible any more – and not just because time has moved on.

Maybe this will be the start of a longer anime journey for me, I really don’t know. I’d quite like to check out the Shenmue anime – a series based on one of my favourite video games ever seems like it could be fun! But, again, I’m in no rush, really. I’m going to take my time with Non Non Biyori, and even if none of the show’s remaining episodes come close to hitting me in the way Starting Summer Vacation did… that’s okay. I came to this series because I wanted a bit of a break, to slow down, and watch something a bit less taxing. I found that, for sure – but I also found something I absolutely was not expecting.

Thanks for reading.

Non Non Biyori is available to stream now on Crunchyroll. The series may also be available on DVD/Blu-ray. Non Non Biyori is the copyright of Kadokawa Corporation, Silver Link, et al. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

Memories of Halloween

Thu 12.10.23Mon 08.01.24Dennis

Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love the sense of slowly-building anticipation as the holiday season approaches, and October is really the first part of an extended holiday season that will run all the way through to New Year. As I was erecting my modest array of Halloween decorations (and window shopping for more on Amazon), it got me thinking about Halloween celebrations in years gone by.

I’ve always felt that it’s a bit of a shame that Halloween is when it is. Here in the UK, we have Bonfire Night on the 5th of November – known to some of you, no doubt, thanks to the film adaptation of V for Vendetta! Because Halloween and Bonfire Night are so close together, one often eclipses the other, and I just think that’s a little sad. In recent years I’ve felt that Bonfire Night is rather living in Halloween’s shadow, and that Halloween is the more popular event – especially for the little ones. If there was just a couple of weeks between them instead of a mere five days, spreading things out a little, that would be better. But I suppose we can’t just reschedule an historical event to suit modern times!

Memories of Bonfire Night and Halloween are intertwined…

When I was a kid, the “Americanised” version of Halloween was just beginning to establish itself here in the UK. I don’t think I ever went trick-or-treating, but I can remember several Halloween discos and events that were organised by a kids’ club that I attended in those days. It was great fun – and a chance for me to indulge in some of the sweets and treats that my strict parents didn’t allow in the house.

As an aside, I have to confess that I’m a tad confused about the timing of modern Halloween’s arrival in the UK. My parents, who both grew up in London in the late ’40s and ’50s, seem to have competing recollections of the holiday. I know there’s always been some kind of traditional event around that time of year, but as to when modern events like costume parties and trick-or-treat made it to the UK, I really can’t be sure.

A preschool class celebrates Halloween in the United States, c. 1939.

My father insisted that Halloween only became “a thing” when my sister and I were growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, and claimed never to have done anything to celebrate it before then. But my mother can distinctly remember my grandfather painstakingly carving a jack-o-lantern for her out of a turnip when she was five or six years old. In the post-war period, we didn’t have crops like pumpkins here in the UK – or at least not in large quantities. I’ve always wondered what a turnip jack-o-lantern might’ve looked like!

So even within my own family there are two competing ideas about when Halloween started to take off over here! But speaking for myself, Halloween as a holiday has existed in more or less its present form since I was a small child. I can’t remember a year without some kind of Halloween celebration, in fact. And I really do have fond memories of Halloween as a child – some of which, I fear, have rather blended in with other autumnal memories!

One of my earliest memories is actually of Bonfire Night. I can remember being perhaps three or four years old, sitting on a hay bale in a field, watching the fire. It’s one of those strangely vivid memories where I can recall the precise texture of the straw underneath me, feel the cold wind blowing through, and even taste the spongey gingerbread cake that I was holding in my hand. I associate all of those things with this time of year, and that memory is an especially cherished one. There was laughter from other kids ringing in my ears, the smell of diesel fuel that someone had used as a fire starter, and the faces of friendly neighbours and locals who are, sadly, long gone now.

Despite its themes of horror, ghosts, monsters, and the like, Halloween has always felt to me like a kids’ holiday. Getting dressed up and eating sweets are definitely things that the little ones appreciate! But those incredibly positive memories of Halloween parties as a kid is definitely part of why I feel that way. I can’t remember all of my Halloween costumes, but I distinctly remember one plastic skeleton mask that I must’ve had when I was seven or eight years old. That thing was made of the most horrible, brittle plastic – and the edges of the mask were sharp enough to cut through diamond! But wearing the mask and going to a Halloween disco at the local kids’ club was great fun, and seeing everyone else’s masks and costumes was part of that.

Another big part of Halloween for me is the food. I know what you’re thinking: surprise surprise, the fat person wants to talk about food! But it’s true: Halloween doesn’t seem like a big food holiday in the same way as Christmas or Thanksgiving, but for me the food is no less important. Those early childhood memories of Halloween all include different foods – especially sweet treats. My parents didn’t allow my sister and I to have many sweet things at home, and what they could afford was usually only the cheapest value range versions. At the kids’ club I mentioned I’d always have a few pennies (literally, just a few) to spend on penny sweets, and I took full advantage as often as I could! But at Halloween, I remember there being a buffet of snack foods that, to my young eyes, must’ve looked like an absolute feast of all the things I would never get at home!

What I remember most, though, and what I love so much about Halloween food, is how the theme of the holiday carries through. Everything is made to look or feel like something else – sausages decorated to look like bloody fingers, marshmallows with little eyes and teeth so they resemble skulls, and even bottles of pop dyed vibrant shades of green, blue, black, and other unnatural colours to look like poison or witches’ potions! Food could also be incorporated into games and challenges, like the traditional game of apple-bobbing that we used to play. There are some phenomenally creative ideas out there to make even the simplest snack fit with the Halloween theme. And I’m absolutely in love with all of them!

Look at these adorable Halloween cupcakes!

This might’ve been Halloween 1997 or 1998 – I genuinely can’t remember which. But as a teenager I came up with what remains to this day my best-ever Halloween costume. I got a mask at a party shop in a big shopping centre of newly-elected Prime Minister Tony Blair, and with an ill-fitting suit borrowed from my uncle, dressed up as the PM for a Halloween party that a friend of mine was hosting! That was great fun, and as we were all older by then, alcohol was definitely part of the equation! I can remember my friend racing around, desperately trying to give people coffee to sober them up.

Looking back now, with Blair being such a universally despised figure (at least among folks of my generation), making a costume of him seems fitting in a bitter sort of way! After all, isn’t the theme of many Halloween stories that the real monsters are us humans? I can’t think of many figures from the past thirty years more monstrous than Blair the War Criminal. I can’t believe that I voted for him at my first ever general election!

I think we’ve drifted off-topic somehow.

Turns out this poster was right after all…

Ah yes, Halloween! That’s what we were talking about.

On another occasion a couple of years later, I was taking part in an exchange programme while at university. I got to spend my first Halloween in the United States, seeing first-hand how the Americans really go all-out for the event. I was shocked when I went to the local shopping mall and saw a dedicated Halloween store selling all kinds of costumes, decorations, and more… in August! Apparently these pop-up Halloween stores are an annual thing, and they begin to appear in late summer to get ready for the spooky season. I’d never seen anything like it – and in the days before social media and YouTube, seeing an all-American Halloween in person was truly something special.

The university I was visiting had several big Halloween parties and events, and I even had my first encounter with trick-or-treaters that year! Several groups of students visited the off-campus house that I was renting, and a group of younger kids did, too. By the end of the night I’d ran out of treats to hand out! Ever since, I’ve made sure to keep my pantry well-stocked ahead of Halloween.

Also in the United States I had the pleasure of spending time at Disney World in the run-up to Halloween. I was able to take a break and visit Disney with a friend, and we got to see all of the decorations and special events that the Disney folks put on for the celebration. It was great fun, and I have a particularly fond memory of riding the Haunted Mansion attraction after dark, surrounded by all of the Halloween theming at the park.

Any Halloween fan should try – time and finances permitting – to visit one of the Disney parks for Halloween. I know the parks are stupidly expensive these days, but if you’re going anyway, picking a time of year like Halloween – when there’s something extra going on – is well worth it. I think there was some kind of after-hours Halloween event that I attended that year, too… but I’m not sure if they still do that in this post-lockdown era.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit one of the Disney parks around Halloween, I thoroughly recommend it!

These days, Halloween tends to be a quieter affair! My days of discos and parties are long gone, and after digging the decorations out of storage and making sure I’m well-stocked in the event of a trick-or-treater incursion, I tend to spend Halloween itself with a lightly spooky film or TV special. As a kind of homage to those earlier Halloween nights, I’ll often prepare a modest buffet of finger food and snacks, too. It might not be the same as a big party – but it suits me just fine!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this stumble down memory lane. I don’t have another creative outlet, and I thought writing up some of my memories and nostalgic recollections of Halloweens gone by would be a bit of fun. Hopefully it was interesting, at any rate.

Horror and jump-scares aren’t usually “my thing,” and my Halloween tastes tend to veer more towards the kid-friendly than the outright terrifying. But that’s the nice thing about Halloween, in a way: it can be whatever you want to make of it. If you want to go all out, rent the scariest film ever made, and watch it with the lights out – go for it! But if, like me, you’d rather curl up with some snacks and something a bit less frightening, that option is open too. I love Halloween.

Some photos used above courtesy of Unsplash. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.