Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm (Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue)

With the invention of anti-gravitational shoes known as Grav-Shoes, the ability to fly freely has become an everyday experience for the people inhabiting a four-island archipelago south of Japan. This invention has brought the people new ways of living and also a new sport known as "Flying Circus," where participants gain points by either touching floating buoys or their opponent's back.

The gullible and clumsy Asuka Kurashina, newly transferred to Kunahama High School, enters this world of flight unknowingly when she is able to pull off a difficult maneuver the first time she participates in a Flying Circus match. Eventually, this leads her to join her school’s Flying Circus club. Led by their coach, Masaya Hinata, their members consist of the experienced Misaki Tobisawa and her overprotective friend, Mashiro Arisaka. Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm follows this rookie group soaring high above the skies and toward their dreams, armed only with their unwavering passion against an uncertain future.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Episode 1 was previewed at an event at Togeki Cinema in Tokyo on December 26, 2015. Regular broadcasting began in January 12, 2016.

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Wakabayashi, Naomi
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Cook, Justin

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Oono, Ryousuke

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Fukura, Kei

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Nishiya, Yasuyuki

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Opening Theme

"Contrail ~Kiseki~ (Contrail〜軌跡〜)" by Mami Kawada

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Ending Theme

	1: "a-gain" by Ray (eps 2-11)
	2: "Kimi Toita Sora (君といた空)" by Ray (eps 12)

Reviews

Mar 5, 2022

Aluminum_

Recommended

I was able to finish this series just recently and it left me an interest to write a review for it. While I was able to play its visual novel (the first visual novel that I was able to finish), I’d like to give my cents worth.

Aokana is a unique sci-fi, sports anime which revolves around the value of camaraderie, which the anime adaptation gives emphasis. What makes it unique is the concept of the sport involved which is the “Flying Circus” (FC). Just imagine a dogfight between 2 fighter jets but instead of the jets, humans themselves are involved with the help of gravshoes ... for them to fly. Basically, it’s a human dogfight with addition of racing in the sky, that’s how FC works. It was introduced here that humans are capable of flying almost freely with the help of gravshoes.

I was surprised that the anime adaptation went on a different side compared to the visual novel. Though the only difference of the two is the thought of the story, the anime adaptation didn’t fail to retain most parts of the visual novel. What surprised me is how the story flowed on the anime. In the VN, the main protagonist is Masaya and the story revolved on himself and his relationship with the 4 heroines (Asuka, Mashiro, Rika, and Misaki). What we had here in anime is Asuka as the main protagonist and the story revolved on the friendship built in their club and with their rivals. In addition, in the VN, Masaya’s the one who reached a hand to Asuka in her first flight while in the anime, Misaki’s the one who introduced Asuka in flying. After their defeat in the FC Summer Tournament, the anime followed Asuka’s route in the VN in conclusion to the series.

Story:
While the main key of the VN is the romance (aside from the sports), the anime didn’t disappoint despite removing the romance part. The story became interesting and enjoying about the development of the 4 main girls together with their friends/rivals. The love for the sport, passion to grow, fear of losing, regrets and trauma of the past, envy and anxiety for those better than them, which are some of the keypoints tackled that were able to execute in the anime. They were able to deliver the story of the VN straightforwardly without sacrificing important details.

Art:
The art and character designs are not as beautiful as from the VN but it’s still commendable as they were able to replicate the designs from the VN and weren’t massacred. Aokana is very colorful in the VN considering that contrails are everywhere in the sport and Studio Gonzo was able to do a great job in making it possible in the anime.

Sound:
The choice of OP and ED theme fits the series but not as good as from the VN. The insert song “Wings of Courage” from the final match between Asuka and Saki is a banger and really sets the mood for that specific scene. I was surprised that they prepared a different ED (Kimi to Ito Sora) for the final ep. If you love Ray and Mami Kawada like me, you’ll surely enjoy the songs of this anime.

Verdict:
Obviously, I really enjoyed this anime. I only have a little personal disappointment since I came from the VN first but still, this one’s a good watch. This anime will have you the thought of fun in flying and being one with the sky.

There might be some parts which seems to bore you especially in the beginning but they were necessary to build up the excitement and tension in the mid and later part of the anime. I’d say that I could recommend this to those who likes light series with competition that doesn’t have any romance element. It’s a pretty flexible anime worthy of any type of viewer. I could guarantee that it won’t disappoint you.

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May 28, 2021

TsukiAkari8620

Mixed Feelings

(NOTICE 1°: Recommend to watch the anime first before reading this review)
(NOTICE 2°: This review is in English and Spanish)

--REVIEW IN ENGLISH--

‘’Look at the sky, don't avert your eyes, the answer lies there’’
That's what the visual novel taught me.

(NOTICE: Visual Novel Reader / Player)
Yes, as it says above, this review is focused from the point of view of adaptation of a visual novel, so it will have two parts, how good anime is and the other side of the coin, how well adapted to anime is it, both points individually, so here we go.
...

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Mar 10, 2024

KanekoKTIA

Not Recommended

First off AOKANA has a great concept and execution... in the visual novel. The anime removing romance has me feel less both towards characters and sports which you'd think would be improved cause it's given extra focus.

I finished playing both Aokana and EXTRA1 & 2 recently and they're all perfect imo, I've seen some people say the romance was a bit out of place at some points in the VN but this adaptation proves to me that "A story about girls flying through the sky and falling in love" (or something like that was shown at the Grand end credits) is a necessary part of ... this story. Should also mention some people believe the romance is what makes some of the heroines (Mashiro and Misaki specifically become such amazing characters by the end of their routes and EXTRA's thanks to their relationship with Masaya). The adaptation mostly focuses on Asuka's route and the romance in that was much more minimal compared to others but even so the reason they are able to go against Inui (not spoiling who wins) is the trust they build as coach and player which the romance also serves to highlight and that goes for the other routes as well this isn't even my main issue with the removal of romance - it's how they make Masaya's relationships with the girls feel less important (once again weakening the coach and player trust), in the VN he's the one who fly's with Asuka without Misaki and that becomes a key part of her trust towards him, He changes Mashiro's grav shoes to speeder not Rika cause he's the coach and is making decisions for his players which allows Mashiro to put trust in him (this one specifically annoys me cause Rika's reduced to a side character which is accurate to this route but still why the side character in the anime). There's also the loss of all other heroines asking about what if they had been the one to put in effort which isn't just some harem thing it's them genuinely wanting to be good at FC and shows their growth in both trusting the coach and love for FC. There's also Masaya's trauma which even if both Misaki and Mashiro handle it best in the VN Asuka still does a believable enough job of getting rid of it only thanks to romance making it feel believable.

FC is presented much better in the VN as well and somehow feels more dynamic than this animation, plus artsyle is really good in the VN and CGs (especially EXTRA CGs) look amazing.

The music still being Elements Garden and Ray's ED let the music be a saving grace but even then it's mostly the same as the VN and Crossing Way, Wings of Courage, One Small Step and one of a kind are all better OPs (anime still has a good op just not great) with Millions of You and Happy Tomorrow (Both Mashiro EDs) being close to a-gain.

So my point is play the VN, Asuka's route is like a shounen, Rika's is the worst one but is still good and provides some introspection on Masaya, Mashiro's is just adorable romance and even more so is her EXTRA (enough that I replayed her route within a week of first finishing it), Misaki's is just pure sports drama mostly in EXTRA2 but still some in main game. Every single character in AOKANA gets their chance to shine as well just not in the anime.

AOKANA, EXTRA1 and EXTRA2 are all 10/10 maybe even more so for EXTRA1 due to Mashiro bias but this...

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First this or VN? Grontan - Feb 28, 2023	8 replies	by GlennMagusHarvey »» May 5, 2:14 AM
Poll: Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Jan 11, 2016	210 replies	by Karva1 »» May 1, 8:01 PM
Poll: Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Mar 28, 2016	151 replies	by Azzybana »» Dec 7, 2023 3:20 PM
English Visual Novel OppaiSugoi - Oct 8, 2018	22 replies	by OppaiSugoi »» Jul 17, 2023 7:53 PM
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