Yakusoku no Nanaya Matsuri

Oh boi, a movie that I did not know, or practically nobody, and that has come so easily to my heart despite having a meh story.
(I know it's an Ona, but movie sounds better fo me)

The film proposes Shoma, a normal boy, as his main character, which his best friend he had not seen in 3 years calls him to go to a festival, to which our protagonist is excited to go and see his friend. Once, in the place where the whole story takes place, we are introduced to two more characters: Kanna and Shiori. And you know this is a serius reference to ... Yui from Sword Art Online when one of the characters it's an IA and it's actually important. Shiori, the heroine of the movie, has also gone to that festival to see someone important to her. While Kanna is the organizer of the festival and wants Shoma and Shiori to be the Tenyu and the Orihime, they are the ones who do the main acts of the festival.

Story: It is a simple story, easy to understand, without many twists in the plot and following a single path, a very special festival is celebrated, which the friend of shoma who had not seen in 3 years invites him to go. When arriving at the place where it is celebrated, he does not find his friend and thinking that he will be able to see him at the end of the festival, he stays and meets Shiomi who will also be one of the most important people for the festival. One of the missions of the story is to empathize with the protagonists with what is happening in the film and with their relationship. And at least, it has made me empathize with them; which I liked a lot.


Art: As for art, there is not much to emphasize. It's the kind of art you'd expect for an anime in 2018, it's not like Violet Evergardeen's, but it's still very good. It has a good palette of colors, which does not hurt your eyes, the backgrounds and water are also very well done and in general the characters (background / main) are well drawn with real things like the movement of the body or simple things like the color of hair and eyes. But in general it is very good.


Sound: WoW, the sound, not counting the final song, which is beautiful and has excellent quality and a perfect rhythm for the series, the sound in general is good. There are times when it stands out like at the end of the festival or when meeting Shiori, since the background music was very good, and it did not seem like the one that is always used, but otherwise it is quite normal.


Character: The worst or the best of the series, depends how you look or your tastes. Taking into account the two main characters and the little we have seen from their friends and family, I would say that they have focused enough on real cases to create these characters. The personality of Shoma has been very good throughout the film, considering that it contains fantasy, your reactions seem quite normal for these cases. So the main character, although not very flashy is well created for the movie. As for Shiori, she already knew more or less what was going on in that place, so her reactions and thoughts are also very real or what would be normal in those situations.

As for design, as I said have been based on cases and real people, perfectly both protagonists could be background characters in an anime shonen, of the normal that are designed, although I prefer it that way.


Enjoyment: For me to enjoy an anime, it means that this can make me feel or experience new emotions or ones as normal as laughter / sadness / etc, as long as they are stronger than those caused by the last anime that I saw provoking such emotions. Now, this movie has made me a little desperate because Shoma took a long time to realize everything (which is normal, because that kind of things are not normal in a normal world). Also although there were less moments that I was happy that Shoma and Shiori were together * fanboyling with the ships xD * and puff, I'm not going to say the final emotion, although if you've seen the movie you should know what it is. For what I think an enjoyable anime, (that the story is easy to understand also helps), is not for all types of audiences for the tastes, but as Slice of Life and mystery, is (for me) more enjoyable than many other series.


Story: 7/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
All: 7,8
It's a good Anime, possibly not as charismatic as other anime or movies, but for people who want to see things at a normal level of anime or just people looking for real characters, the anime is very well done.

like other people, i found this thinking it was a TV series. watched it anyway and got quite surprised by the nice art and good character design. not even half in they straight up tell you the ending of the OVA, and if that wasn't enough they keep telling you more and more as if you didnt get it the first time. the creator could have made a real tear jerker movie out of this, but they totally ruined the mood by inserting useless fighting scene.

pros:
-very beautiful background and character
-good concept

cons:
-seeing the ending a mile away
-the ending is spoiled tru the whole film
-un-needed fighting ... scene

Starlight Promises focuses on a high school student named Shoma Mihara invited to participate in a mysterious festival from his friend Atsushi, whom he hasn't seen since their days as elementary school students. During preparations for the festival, Shoma becomes acquainted with another high schooler his age named Shiori Senozawa seeking to reunite with her sister and the festival's organizer, Kanna, who appears in a holographic form throughout the festival preparations.

Revealing elements about this ONA does have some major spoilers for what its true premise is all about, so I'll try to tread carefully with my thoughts on Starlight Promises. But essentially, it mixes elements ... of traditional Japanese folklore revolving around Tanabata and augmented reality that serve as the major drive for Shoma and Shiori's reasons for becoming part of the festival. This mix is quite creative with trying to preserve historical accuracy in sticking with the established traditions for Tanabata, while adding in a futuristic twist for how its implemented. There is also a decent amount of fleshing out of Shiori and Shoma's characters, which serve as the major crux for why they are at the festival and helps create convincing character drama out of their situations as the film progresses along, especially in the case of Shoma. Plus for an ONA, Starlight Promises is quite a visual pleaser with gorgeous scenery, good-looking character designs, and fluid movement throughout its run.

Praises aside, Starlight Promises is not without its issue. What is revealed about the purpose of the festival is rather predictable if you know about the origins surrounding the Tanabata festival and the film does enough early on to make things clear about what the festival in the film is all about. In addition, there are some action scenes that seemed unnecessary for their addition to the ONA as they didn't mesh well with Starlight Promises' intended premise and seemed to be added in just to pad out the ONA's runtime.

Issues with predictability and pointless action aside, Starlight Promises is still rather creative in its mix of a well-known Japanese holiday and sci-fi, as well as offering some solid character drama out of Shoma and Shiori's situations. I'd at least recommend checking the ONA out at least once if you are interested in a solid character drama.