Sora no Method poses this question, and then follows with the most mundane answer it could have gone with: a slice of life drama that spends about five minutes of the whole series actually talking about the saucer, despite it being the source of many troubles the characters face. The fact that someone thought it would be a good idea to through in such a large supernatural element and then treat it like it was nothing worth acknowledge subsequently succeeded in creating a very frustrating chain of events.
From the same anime industry that brought you enormous headed children with trouble making friends (looking at you, Haganai), this season, this same industry introduced more enormous headed children with trouble making friends.
The story does begin in a grabbing way; our main protagonist, Nonoka, is on her way to her new home with her father. This is obviously a basic scenario, but once Nonoka's car passes through a tunnel and into her new life, attention is drawn to the great glaring object in the sky.
And it all goes down hill from there.
After throwing the saucer into the plot, rather than choosing a story line to make Sora no Method unique from other anime, the main focus of the show becomes how badly Nonoka wants to make friends. She doesn't seem to give much of a damn about this thing that's hanging over the town constantly, but she will relentlessly bother another girl until she engages in conversation.
Most of the episodes out of the thirteen are back and forth nonsense consisting of 'will they be friends or won't they', only briefly mentioning the anime's unique, floating characteristic when its convenient to make the 'will they, won't they' business continues with petty argument.
It's terrible to admit, but most of the episodes in Sora no Method could probably be skipped over, as it's mostly the same mundanity--Nonoka goes somewhere, tries to make friends with someone, it doesn't work until she applies willpower, it suddenly works, on to the next potential friend.
Nonoka may also be a problem here, as I've noticed one of the downfalls of many anime for me is an irritating main character, and to me, Nonoka is incredible irritating. It isn't her voice or her appearance, but the fact that she blindly assumes she can change everyone's opinion of her if she bothers them enough times. In fact, Nonoka pushes for all the other characters to change and accept her, when she does nothing to change herself. Nonoka experiences no character development and remains presently the likable moe factor, remaining the same desperate from episode one to episode thirteen.
There are times where she would even blatantly prevent other characters from interacting with the saucer, which was perhaps the most frustrating part of her personality--physically watching her prevent any developments outside of her personal relationships nearly warranted a drop of the series halfway through.
If the main goal of Nonoka was to make her cute and charismatic, that base was already covered by part of her supporting cast, Noel, who exhibited a much rounder version of whatever Nonoka was trying to supply. I believe other characters like Noel were made more likable because they weren't trying too hard or forcing their personality onto one another. Where the protagonist failed, the supporting cast strongly marched onward in the shadows.
Being an anime new this year, as expected, the art and sound were cleanly done, and most of Sora no Method's soundtrack was very relaxing. Toward the very end of the series, there was a strange change in art style that startled me, but it may have worked to leave somewhat of an impact. That is to say, it was startling, but it wasn't bad. I especially liked the color palettes used.
In the end, I suppose Sora no Method is a simple case of a plot in the hands of the wrong genre, where there are many exciting and innovative paths to choose in response to the saucer, but none of them were taken. As a drama in its own genre, the show was still a bit indecisive and wishy washy, though with so many other anime out there it isn't right to set expectations to high.
As a final warning, I believe the personality of the main character takes high tolerance to watch, and if tolerated, she is compensated for by the characters that surround her. Why the title focuses on the sky is something of a mystery, because no one else seems concerned with it at all. That aspect may take high tolerance as well.
