An expanded version of the game titled Summer Pockets Reflection Blue was released on June 26, 2020 in Japan.

The game's concept is by Jun Maeda, but he did not write the scenario due to similarities in themes with Air, which he primarily wrote.

Throughout the game, the player encounters CG artwork at certain points in the story, which take the place of the background art and character sprites.

Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made.

Upon the completion of the Alka route, another scenario called Pocket is made available, which serves as the true conclusion to the story.

The first is a table tennis minigame that takes the form of a quick time event where the object is to click one of the circular indicators on the player's side at the moment when the ball hits it.

Successive hits on any one indicator will change its color from blue, to yellow, red, purple, and finally a multicolored "Super Shot!!"

Summer Pockets is set on an isolated, rural and peaceful island on the Seto Inland Sea called Torishirojima,[n 1] which has a population of about 2,000 people.

Hairi grew up in an urban setting, but after an unpleasant incident, he uses the recent death of his grandmother as an excuse to come to the island to take care of her estate sale.

An in-house competition among Visual Arts employees was conducted to submit ideas for the new project as long as it was based around a concept involving an enjoyable, everyday life and a tearful story, but otherwise not being constrained by previous works by Key.

Maeda decided not to write the scenario for the game due to similarities in themes with Key's visual novel Air (2000), which he primarily wrote.

[4] Baba had suggested on multiple occasions that they bring in Niijima for a new project, leading to him being brought in as a scenario writer.

Although the game is set on a fictional island, it features locations based on real places; the development staff went to Naoshima, Megijima and Ogijima to aid in this process.

The use of nostalgia as a theme was important for Kai who likened Maeda's concept to the Boku no Natsuyasumi video game series.

1st Beat, and she was asked to join the staff for Summer Pockets due to her art being highly compatible with Na-Ga's illustrations.

[9][10][11] A full-color introductory booklet called Summer Pockets Walker was distributed for free at anime and gaming stores across Japan starting on March 30, 2018.

[12] To advertise Summer Pockets, J.I.O Create took a 2007 Honda Stream RSZ and made it into an itasha (a car featuring illustrations of anime-styled characters) with images of the game's heroines.

[19][20][21] The stories, subtitled Natsu no Mabushisa no Naka de (夏の眩しさの中で, In the Middle of a Dazzling Summer), each focus on a separate character and feature illustrations by Fumuyun, one of the game's artists.

[6][25] The limited edition came bundled with an official guide book titled Torishirojima Kankō Nisshi (鳥白島観光日誌, Torishirojima Sightseeing Journal), a remix album titled Swallow Tale, a rubber coaster, a microfiber cloth, a glow-in-the-dark sticker, and promotional cards from the Weiß Schwarz and Lycèe trading card games.

These items included telephone cards, tapestries, mousepads, posters, a smartphone stand, and four separate drama CDs.

[32] An upgraded version of the game titled Summer Pockets Reflection Blue was released on June 26, 2020 for Windows.

There are also new everyday life scenarios featuring the characters interacting and having fun together, and this includes an upgrade to the table tennis minigame.

[47] Six of the main characters from Summer Pockets have background music leitmotifs—the original four heroines, plus Umi Kato and Ai Sorakado.

[55] The single "Asterlore / Aoki Konata / Natsu no Sunadokei" was released in September 2020 containing theme music from Reflection Blue.

[57] A spin-off manga series, illustrated by Yūnon Nagayama and centering on Tsumugi Wenders, will begin serialization in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Moeoh magazine and on Kadokawa Corporation's KadoComi website in February 2025.

[58][59] An anime adaptation was announced to be "in production" during the "Key Channel 2-Hour Special: Lunaria Feature #2 & Staff Year-End" livestream on December 29, 2021.

[60] It was later confirmed to be a television series produced by Feel and directed by Tomoki Kobayashi, with Keiichirō Ōchi handling series composition, Mai Ōtsuka designing the characters, and the composers from the visual novel reprising their roles as music composers alongside Shūhei Ōhashi.

1 game sold on Getchu.com, a major redistributor of visual novel and domestic anime products, during the month of its release,[64] and at No.

[25] Summer Pockets Reflection Blue occupied the top two spots for games sold on Getchu.com during the month of its release for the limited and special edition versions,[67] and was ranked at No.

[69] Reflection Blue occupied the top two spots for computer games sold in Japan during the week of June 22–28, 2020.