Ranked #1236

sola

I just recently finished sola and I wanted to start off by saying that I am very strange in what interests me in an anime and instantly, from the first episode, I knew that I would love sola. The song in the introduction of the first episode caught at my soul and moved my heart and I also have a personal attachment to taking pictures of the sky and my digital camera, which is what the main character in this anime is like, of course he doesn't quite understand why he is obsessed with the sky, but there is a deep and wonderful meaning behind it.

The anime, as I said, for me, had an awesome introduction, the music, the setting, the mystery of the night, the going to take pictures of the sunset and all that was beautiful, but I also loved how normal and cute the main girl character came off as when the main character first met her. She was not remarkable or amazing (although beautiful, one of the most beautiful I have seen), but she was very cute and charming and he instantly adored her as so many people would have.

The anime does go a bit slow from there and moves from the main characters a bit, going into parts of their stories, but I really enjoyed the weird flashbacks they threw in there because they were extremely interesting and made you really want to know what had happened in the past, so when the anime did slow down a lot, it could keep you going for a bit.

The anime is very serious at some parts and also very mature and what some people would consider slow in action, was just the blossoming relationship between the main characters, which, to someone watching this kind of romantic and supernatural anime would expect. There are very cute scenes between the main character and the girl, Matsuri and as the title says, it is very focused at the sky and Matsuri's power/ailment/curse is quite awesome in my opinion, I just wished she had used it more.

I really enjoyed the turn it took with the main character's sister, Aono and her history and just her in general. She was insane, but that's what I like in anime girls and she was fiercely loyal and loving, which is awesome.

The art was really wonderful, in my opinion! I adored how they were drawn and Matsuri, especially, is one of the most beautiful anime girls I have ever seen. I enjoyed how Aono and Matsuri were both very unique and splendid looking, but the main character and his normal friends were generally normal looking, since they were somewhat normal people. The main character's best friend, Mana, was also very enjoyable, unlike her part in many other animes when she is just in love with the guy and depressed all the time, but a tomboy, this time she had personality and caring and she was smart and curious! The settings were beautiful and the time that the main character and Matsuri did spend together was basically magical, in my opinion and the way it was animated gave off this unrivaled feeling of wonder and love.

I always enjoy when in anime, people have normal responses to things and can act all sneaky and weird about things - example, the friend, Mana, thinks someone is at the main character's house, so she gets him out of it and then goes snooping! Normalcy!

The turn that the anime takes is very unique and the true story behind who you think is bad and good and everything else is also very interesting. The fights were fun to watch, even though not enough of them, in my opinion and I overall really loved this anime.

read more

I watched this anime more than a year and a half ago, but it's still has an impression in me, so I decided to write a review about it.
Sola was the first anime after Naruto, that I started to watch in japanese, so maybe that's the reason why I like it so much.

Story 10: The story cought my attention right away, mostly concentrating around the sky and the characters' actions are all influenced by it. I don't mind that it isn't progressing fast at first, because at least we have some time to know the characters and the reasons behind their actions. There are lots of great ideas attained and as how the story continoues there are more and more flashbacks showing the characters' past and connections. There are always something surprising during to show, sudden changes that keep your attention on it. So I decided to give this a 10.

Art 10: I loved the art, it was beautiful. Especially the backgrounds and the pictures of the sky. They made it so lively with those pastel colors. All the sunrises, twilights were beautiful, the flowing clouds in the sky made me feel at ease... They all made the show beautiful and enjoyable. It shows that the animators put some work into making this anime and there were just a very few lacking.

Sound 9: I liked also the openings and the ending, they were all suitable, having the same mood as the anime. Ceui made a good work, her songs still on my mp3 player, also Aria Yuki's Colorless Wind so...
The ost was great to, nicely choosed for the different scenes, they really created the mood for them.
I was satisfied with the voice actors, Noto Mamiko was a good choose for Matsuri, but they all did great.

Character 9: The character development was impressing in the series. You know, there are those kind of characters too, who at first seem to be the enemies, but later you realize that they have their own reasons to do what they do. And sometimes those reasons as painful and sad as the main characters'. As the story is progressing you start to like them or they become your favourites. I like when an anime make the bad guys likeable, maybe sounds cliche.
But I like the best Aono's character development in the end. The way she reached that point was hard and painful, but she was able to stand up after the happenings and live her life as it should be.

Enjoyment 10: I really enjoyed this series, I finished it within a few afternoons, I just couldn't stop watching it. And after I finished it, there was the feeling of lonelyness. It can't be helped, series I like always does this to me.
But thanks to this anime, I started to see the sky, and to be honest I realized that there are lots of little pretty things, that we don't sense and we just skip them. It's impressed me the rate I started to make pictures of the sky too and still if I see a beautiful scenery, I can't help but make a photo of it.

Overall 9: I recommend this to everyone, because it contains romance, some light fight, deep emotions and you can know a great storyline. Of course at some point I caught myself almost crying so if you are emotionally weak, prepare some tissues for the last few episodes please. read more