Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo: Youkoso Tsugumi Ryou e

I have long held to the view that an anime series, as bad as it may be can’t possibly deserve a rating of 1. Movies and OVA's yes, but a series had to at least be good enough to convince someone to allow it to be aired on television and because they are long enough that usually you can at least find ONE redeeming quality in them. Well sadly I must revise that opinion, as I had not subjected myself yet to Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo. That’s not hyperbole either, I mean it when I say "subjected myself", this anime was ... truly a painful and regrettable viewing experience.

The story as it’s called is as weak, pointless, and clichéd as they come. Our excruciating high school harem all live happily in their coed dormitory, frolicking in the bath together, sharing wonderful meals prepared of course by the master cook amongst them, and all lusting after the uninteresting indecisive male lead. On a side note, I am always amazed at how early Japanese kids seem to be able to master something. It’s always funny when kids are suddenly master chefs despite having no real training. But that’s not the point and assigning any sociological meaning to this pile of feces is an exercise in futility. Our cast meanders through the so called plot through a series of very loosely connected episodes focusing on one member of the harem. In a way it feels almost like a collection of six OVAs tied together by a common them and wrapped up in a single final episode. They are all extremely formulaic with two episodes for each girl. Each girl’s arc explains of course why they are so in love with our lead and usually revolve around all the many people on their island trying to tear them apart so they can’t all live together as a wonderful happy family! Aw!!! Let me wipe away my tears. (note: these tears are from realizing what I have done to myself in watching this not because of any genuine emotionalism from the story)

I really find it difficult to go into much detail with my analysis of the characters of the individual stories. For one they are devoid of any personality or originality to even comment much on, but also because most of the show is quite vague in my memory. This is due to the fact it took me nearly six months to watch, as I was only able to stomach about 2 episodes a month and also because I have bleached a large portion of it from my mind to protect myself from serious psychological damage. Overall though I think the most disappointing thing about this anime is that a gigantic tsunami or an asteroid didn't appear at the end and swipe out the island, ridding the world of their presence.

Our spectacular leading man is Wateru Hoshino. He’s quite the hunk (not really) and I hesitate to say it but I suppose his closest analog would be someone like Tomoya from Clannad, except without any personality or likability. I suppose it’s mostly because he is voiced by the same actor. Wateru is a delinquent and he feels the need to help every girl on the island to expand his harem even though he refuses to actually make a move on any of them.

As for his lifeless harem we have our standard clichés. Rinna is the sporty girl who doesn’t want to be friends with everyone at first because they have to all move away in a year. Really? But apparently this really pisses off the rest of them and they have to show her the power of friendship! It’s so moving! Oh wait, I think that’s this morning’s burritos... Umi is our standard anime childhood friend, completely devoted to our lead despite not getting the time of day basically from him. Her wish is just not to be alone! NO!!! Don’t leave me alone! We should all live happily together forever! If I was Wateru, I feel I would have said, "Get lost bitch! You're annoying." Next is our loli and emotionless robotic girl, Shizu. She’s messed up because her parents are total douche bags but thanks to Wateru he is able to take her away from their cold treatment so she can experience the joys of their dormitory life. This includes bathing together with our pedophile leading man and other clichéd anime activities. Miya is our oujosama who frankly is so completely uninspired and uninteresting (even in this cast) that I can’t even remember what it is she wanted. Something about collecting newspaper clippings. Literally it was THAT exciting. Naoko is our perfect girl and closet tsundere. Perfect body, exceptional student, class president, and of course is unable to show our lead the way she really feels! It’s so touching I just want to... oh god it’s the burritos again. Last but not least is our sensei, Saeri. The fact that she doesn’t act like an adult and is actually a serious love interest of her own student speaks volumes.

Usually when something is this dreadful, I can find at least something to compliment. With the artwork and the animation quality that’s not the case either. It is completely 3rd rate and devoid of anything that might be misconstrued as talent. Backgrounds are bland and cheap looking while the characters are equally uninspired or appealing. The quality of the animation is also extremely poor, with many of the motions looking very awkward and unrealistic. It’s obvious that this was made cheaply and I feel a bit ashamed to say that the artists are this untalented. But the results do speak for themselves and its completely obvious to the eye that to everyone involved this was a paycheck and not a work of love.

If there is only one thing remotely positive to be said about this anime then it can only be about the soundtrack. And that is only because it is noticeably less horrible than the story or artwork. The OP/ED songs are bland and very ordinary. However compared to some of the songs that have graced other anime they are masterpieces. The seiyuu cast has really only one talent, the voice of Wateru the rest of the cast is made up of little used and unknowns who were probably desperate for any work and eroge actors. The lack of talent definitely shows and the lack of ability shows, particularly the incessant crying which sounds like a more like something you'd hear in a hentai gang rape scene.

Without a doubt this anime is the worst pile of crap ever inflicted on an unwitting public. I firmly believe that everyone involved in the production of this anime should be rounded up and arrested and tried in the World Court for crimes against humanity. Or at the very least they should never be allowed to work in the industry again. Think of all the children in Japan who were harmed in the airing of this program. Then again, even Japan had to know this sucked really badly and the ratings had to have been abysmal. Small miracles.

This anime is worthless. It has no meaning, it has no worth. Now I am going to take a few minutes to explain why I state these FACTS, but first; why did I watch this anime (well the 3 or 4 episodes I could stand watching). When I've watched an anime that I've found good or moving or in any other way has enriched my life with a bit of entertainment and/or amusement I usually choose to watch an anime that I know I'll enjoy less. You know, just to balance things out a bit.

My choice was this anime, mainly because the person doing screenplay ... and series composition for this also did the script and series composition for "Welcome to the NHK" one of my all time favourites. All I can say is wow, it had to be inexperienced directors right? Right?!

Needless to say I had to drop this anime before I suffered serious trauma to my brain. There is no storyboard, it is non-existant. The characters are probably the worst characters I've ever come across and with this being said the character-interactions are even worse than the characters themselves which, basically, is impossible. I have many more, much worse things to say about this anime but I'm going to stop here because it's just too much effort for something so meaningless as this.

This anime was allright, but if you're looking for an amazing romance/harem type anime then this is not it. It's more like a friendship anime than a romance anime, and in fact this is precisely what it advertises itself as, though the whole one guy, multiple girls thing, made me think otherwise. So I can say this was not my kind of anime, though the music was nice, and it had a warm summery feel. I'd say to round things off, this anime is nothing amazing, but I'd stick it in your plan to watch, and if you have nothing else better to do then ... try it out, but do not be fooled, there is little romance in this anime.

Ok, so I’ve just completed watching this anime, frankly I think a “Slice of Life” genre should have been added since this anime, I don't know about you guys out there, but I find this anime good, my ratings:

Story: good no.7.

As indicated in MAL’s info, the biggest employer in Minami-sakou Island, Demizugawa Heavy Industries Aviation branch is packing up and most of the island’s residences are moving out as well, the only ones who will remain are the island’s original inhabitants and among them is Wataru and Sae-chan (because she’s a teacher at a local High-School). The main theme is focus on the tenants ... of Tsugumi Dormitory, whom are due for eviction since the school has no reason to maintain it, however the place holds dear to their hearts since they have establish a close relationship with one another in that very place. What makes the story good is how the muchacho (male lead) describes his memoirs with each members of the dormitory leading to the final days of their stay and how everyone struggles to make the most out of it. As to story goes on it does make you feel the days when a sad good bye is imminent and somehow will put you in the same scenario as they where. The harem genre of this anime is unique, co’z this is probably one of such genres were the chiquitas (female cast) are not competing for the muchacho’s affection, here, the muchacho is one with the girls, the romance part is petty much trivial and in fact only one of the chiquitas has feelings for the muchacho, the rest only maintains a sister and brother relationships with the muchacho.

Art: Good no.7.

All I can say is that I like the way the characters were drawn and the background as well.

Sound: Mediocre no.5.

I simply have nothing to say here, but I do have a comment with the voices of Sae-chan and Naoko, in my opinion, being a teacher Sae-chan should have had the voice of Naoko and Naoko should instead have Rinna’s voice.

Character: decent no.4.

Ok, I only gave the rating because I really don’t know how to describe the author’s mixed-up of the character’s personality and charcteristics ………what I mean is, that Sae-chan who’s is the tenant dormitory teacher should have had Naoko’s character or should I say that Naoko should’ve have been the dorm teacher and Sae-chan should have been the dorm sempai, as for Rinna, she should have Shizu’s personality since at the beginning of this anime she was such a klutz for sleeping besides the muchacho (lead male character) in her lingerie, Shizu on the other hand, should be the one who is sullen and obstinate to the dorm residence since she’s the one who’s parents seemly abandons her. Umi should’ve been the patient and calculating Miyaho instead of an emotional and sensitive girl who clings on to the muchacho for comfort, her character should go to Miyaho, because since she grew up in a life of comfort and suddenly at a young age has to get her hands dirty managing the dorm which is establish by her grandfather, despite the fact that she has a butler. She tasked herself the moment she came to the island to find out everything about her grandfather which didn’t come easy and has felt frustration upon doing so fortunately she has the muchacho to help her out. They author did nail the muchacho’s character right aside from casting him as narrator he’s kind hearted (as usual) and is all too willing to go into great lengths when helping the chiquitas even if it gets him into trouble.

Enjoyment: good no.7.

Well, watching this anime really is enjoyable in the sense that you can empathize yourself with the characters. Even if it is a short novel, it is worth watching.

Overall: good no.7.

The author did a good job as to how this anime goes, I guess just watching it make us realize that we should make the most out of a good thing (I’ve may have already said that), But you know, the slice of life of this anime really does reflect to everybody, I mean, one way or another we may have experience a sad goodbye and wished that it could have lasted forever, but we just can’t, and all we can do is preserve in memory the good things that we’ve experienced. And that is what this anime is all about, mediocre maybe? But it is a fact of life.

I have completely forgotten about this anime the first time I watch. If I can recall it is about the Tsugumi Dormitory in Minamisakōjima which will be demolished. The main guy is having his last moments with the last group of girls in this school. I kept searching for the title but I couldn't find any.

The animation is dull. As you can tell, it looks like a simplistic animation with bright colors.

The melodrama in the anime has exceeded to the point where this anime is hard to watch. The music has a very sad tone.

If you notice, the voice actors accent isn't that good with ... the exception of the guy who voiced Wataru. The problem is the voice actors only voiced the characters in this anime rather than any other anime.

The main guy, Wataru, is like Edward Cullen, very emotionless and bland, sulking and never care about people.

Basically, the premise, the characters everything is forgettable. There isn't a single character I remember well. They come off as carboard cutouts. Umi Hayama is the biggest crybaby who always relies on people and very annoying. Rinna is so aggressive that when she was only in underwear she beat Wataru even though he didn't know what was going on. That's all I could remember.

In the final episode, every girl cries when they have to depart on their separate ways. The girls are very immature and don't want to accept devastating things. The cast really made Shinji Ikari a great man and a great hero.

The problem is most of the characters especially the side characters are cruel. I don't mind cruelty in this anime but the cruelty just leads to nothing. There was no resolution in the plot or the characters.

The anime is so boring and forgettable.

I got to say based on this anime it's basically about friendship and how nothing can break the bonds between friendship. This anime is by far one of the most interesting anime I've seen so far give this 10/10 (my opinion). So basically this anime tells story of a guys who gets in this one club and one day wakes up finding a half naked girl in his room before the girl ditches off she slaps him XD. But then soo on as the sory progress further it tells about each side of the chracters.

Recommendation: This series does nothing with an interesting premise. Skip it.

The biggest problem with Kono Aozora is its structure. It was immediately apparent that this was lazily adapted from a visual novel, even though I didn't know that going in. Instead of a coherent plot, you get 2 episodes each with each of the 6 girls in the main cast. The stories are unconnected, contradictory and not even really in chronological order. Without having played it, it's obvious to me that they just adapted a 2-episode-sized chunk of each girl's route from the visual novel and threw them all together ... as a sort of collage, with a common ending for the final episode. It becomes confusing when things happen in one arc but are contradicted by events in other arcs. One example is Shizu leaving the island at the end of her arc, but then appearing in the arcs following that as though nothing has happened. It makes no sense when you try to watch it as a coherent story instead of a compilation of routes from the VN.

It's a shame because there's a kernel of an interesting idea here. The central idea the series is structured around is the transitory nature of life. In one year, the 5 girls that share a dorm with our main character Wataru will leave the island they live on forever, following the closure of the island's main industry. There's a lot of potential here for philosophical meditations on the ideas of friendship and love, and how they can change with time and distance. Unfortunately this series isn't interested in any of that. It's mostly just cheap melodrama and the boring kind of slice of life nothingness that leaves no impression on you. The idea is supposed to be that they're making memories with each other that they'll remember even though they'll never see each other again, but mostly all you see is them fighting and crying and sulking. Aside from a few parties, the happy memories are mostly offscreen as we're treated instead to mediocre drama about neglectful parents and unrequited love and plots by the evil principal to shut down the dorm. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the plot, such as it is, takes no turns at all, and simply ends with them all graduating and leaving the island. You might get a bit wistful is nostalgia is your thing, but that's the end of it, there's no epilogue, or them doing something special to stay together or anything like that. It's just over. Felt very pointless and like they never made a good case for why making those memories together was so important.

A series like this could have been salvaged with good characters, but there aren't many here. Most are either dull (Wataru, Umi, Shizu) or unlikeable (Naoko, Rinna, Miya). All the typical harem tropes are here. The sporty tsundere, the innocent childhood friend with perfect housewife skills, the emotionless loli that gets clingy when she opens up, the domineering student council president, and the klutzy rich girl. Those one line descriptions basically tell you everything you need to know about them. The one exception is Saeri, the dumb and immature teacher that comes through in the clutch when they need her. She's easily the best character in the show. Normally I would find a teacher being part of MC's harem kind of icky and objectionable, but it sort of works with Saeri because she's less mature and responsible than her students and both students and teachers alike treat her like she's still a student herself. Saeri alone isn't able to make this series worth watching though. Pass on it.