Sora no Aosa wo Shiru Hito yo

A tale of experiencing first love for the second time, and that of losing sight of what you once dreamt of.

Firstly, the synopsis is not that accurate. This is not a story of time travel, nor did Aoi only start to fall in love upon meeting the Shinno from 13 years ago.

The movie starts with Aoi plugging in her earphones to practice her bass, drowning out all sounds. I feel that that is a nice touch. We are then gradually introduced to the other characters and how Aoi feels about them. There was also a flashback of her past which explains why the two ... sisters are living together, when Shinno suddenly appears.

Story: 10/10
There were some twists that I've never expected. At first, I thought only Aoi could see Shinno, but it turned out that everyone could see him too. They called him an Ikiryou (a spirit that is left behind when the living passes on) at the start, and I thought that that was the case too, when Aoi ran home to Akane and asked her for more details about Shinno - to which her reply was "I don't know whether he is even living or dead", which cemented my belief until minutes later when Shinnosuke appeared on the Enka stage as a guitarist.

What happens when you meet face-to-face with your past self? That was the other big twist that I did not expect. Watch it to find out!

The story built up emotions leading to that scene from the ominous cave to the landslide to the sealed guitar and to the meeting, and the tension - emotions at an all-time high was kept at that plateau for the rest of the movie. It was truly a work of art.

Art: 9/10
My first thought was that the older Nakamura looked like Poppo from AnoHana, but it turned out that they were different persons. Each scene, though ordinary somehow managed to look special while being not overtly imposing. I liked how the director transitioned from showing a dull welcoming scene to the appearance of a very flashy Nitobe, and how the camera slowly pans to the right to reveal the older Shinnosuke. That said though, while the art was great, it was not particularly outstanding hence the score.

Sound: 9/10
As I have mentioned in the introduction, the touch when earphones are plugged in and when Aoi tries to convey her feelings for the older Shinnosuke was absolutely stunning. Aoi fondly reminds me of K-On! when she plays the bass. I feel that her VA has done a good job in conveying her feelings for Shinno, like how her voice trembled when she spoke to him or that outburst when she found out what Chika has done.

Character: 8/10
Given the number of characters, it can't be helped. Although every character has some development, I feel that they could have given more depth to each of them, particularly the older Shinnosuke and exactly how did he come around. Also, the boy-crazy Chika could have been given more exposition - we never knew if she was telling the truth or not when she claimed that 'nothing happened', because we only have an idea of what's her personality like.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall, I enjoyed the movie enough to write such a long review about it. Even after watching the epilogue however, I am left with more questions that I had at the start and I think that this movie would have a better reception had it launched as an anime series instead.

Overall verdict: 8/10

Mari Okada / Tatsuyuki Nagai. A match made in heaven. One of my favorite pairings in all of anime. I don't know a single thing I've disliked made by the combination of the two of them, and Mari Okada specifically is one of my all-time favorite writers.

I had such high expectations for this movie...which perhaps was the mistake I made, because boy was it such a disappointment. I should have expected this from Cloverworks, who did Bunny Girl Senpai along with the movie which clearly wasn't movie quality, much like this. Ultimately, I feel as though "Her Blue Sky" would have worked much better as ... a 1-cour series and it honestly does seem like it was cut down to a movie due to budget constraints, although obviously that's just speculation.

Story: 4/10
There is absolutely nothing original about this story. That doesn't mean it's bad, it just... well, like someone else said, exists. It wasn't really confusing to follow at all, but the main issue was that too many characters were included, too many things were going on, and the focus was spread out far too much for a less-than-2-hour movie. Half the time it felt like a slice-of-life story, a quarter of the time it felt like a supernatural mystery, and the other quarter felt like a romantic drama. Not all even in any specific order; interspersed throughout, which led to a distinct lack of atmosphere and connection to the characters.

There were too many random shots of people playing music, scenery, and nothing plot-related that it felt like they were trying to find things to fill the time which is just super confusing to me because the story that they were trying to tell in the first place felt rushed as it was.

The lack of cohesiveness in tone and atmosphere throughout the story really led to me feeling absolutely nothing during the climax of the movie, what was supposed to be the most emotional point - and then, the story just abruptly ended.

I guess it was trying to tell the story of not giving up on your dreams and realizing that even after time, what your heart most desires can come true - but that was just one subplot for one or two of the characters. What was it trying to convey to us - what was the story for the protagonist? What did she get out of it? When you can't even figure out what the plot was about in relation to the main character of the damn story... I don't know what to say. It felt like we were following around a protagonist and yet nothing in the story was actually meant to be about her and she was just a device used to serve the story of the two other mains.

I don't even know what I'm trying to say at this point, other than the story felt almost non-existent, that things were just happening just for the sake of happening. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good, and it failed at creating an atmosphere where I cared about what was happening or felt drawn-in.

Again, I really feel as if it would have worked better focusing entirely on only the main characters, cutting out the side characters, and making it entirely character-driven with no other real events occurring. The way the plot was, in order for it to feel realistically developed, the story definitely needed way more time than what was granted for the movie.

Basically, the plot had potential and failed mainly because there wasn't enough time to adequately tell the story they were trying to tell.

Art/Animation: 4/10

There are definitely some beautiful still shots here. Extremely realistic, and full of life, a sharp contrast to the plot. Sadly, like the premise of the movie, the art is fool's gold. I'm almost positive that at least half the shots in this movie, if not more, were photographs passed through filters made to seem like they were drawn or painted when really they were just pictures taken. There's just too much detail, too much distinct lettering and small items in the background shots for them to have been all drawn.

But it looks visually stunning! Because it looks realistic!...because it's actually real images that aren't drawn. Because nothing in the backgrounds were actually moving, i.e. the backgrounds were all just stills, it leads to even more credence in my theory. In Shinkai's films, all of the backgrounds are alive. Here, the backgrounds are just static. The only things really animated at all in this are the characters, which are drawn very inconsistently throughout the movie with such a clear discrepancy in detail between them and the backgrounds, that they feel jarring and clash with the backgrounds. Even if all the backgrounds *were* hand-drawn or painted, the design of the characters style clashes stylistically with them.

There are shots with characters' faces not even attempted to be drawn-in because they're at somewhat of a distance away - yet inexcusable for a movie to not have faces drawn in because it was 100% possible for them to have accurately been drawn-in. There are shots with characters off-model with little-to-no detail in their clothing.

Why would the studio go the extra mile for beautifully-hand-drawn, ultra-realistic backgrounds yet drop the ball hard on character art? I don't know. I don't think they would have, but I'm not going to through out baseless accusations that a lot of the backgrounds were photographs; only state my personal suspicions that they were.

Sound: 6/10

Sound design was fine. The instrumentation was cool - meaning the actual instruments that were played by the characters in the movie. The soundtrack did not stand out in the least - not a single track was memorable for me. The voice acting was probably the strongest part of the sound. It's hard to go wrong on sound and at least the music choice was fitting.

Character: 3/10

The protagonist felt like a plot device for a story being told about the side main characters. The movie clearly wasn't about her yet it tried to make the emotional climax about her and it failed miserably because I felt nothing for her because the story wasn't focused on her. She felt very one-dimensional, I personally saw zero development in her character throughout the entire film, and she didn't gain anything from the events that took place in the film. Further, some of her actions felt groundless - mainly including her personal feelings towards one of the other characters - which I am attributing to the lack of time to properly show development. It felt like her particular feelings towards the character went from 0-100 in no time at all without any real interaction between the two. How she specifically acted towards that character - after 3-4 scenes with that character, practically no time at all - felt unbelievable and unrealistic.

Regarding the other characters, the other two mains - I don't really get how their feelings for one another occurred either, especially considering how the one character was behaving and his attitude for most of the first half of the movie. Furthermore, I just don't get how over a span of 13 years apart, things could have realistically developed again. Lots of things change over 13 years, what ended up happening just felt forced yet again because there wasn't enough time for adequate development.

As for the side characters, they're important enough to have screentime and lines, yet not important enough for anything they say to really have any impact on the story. Like, they were there, yet they played no role in the story other than being there. They had lines and moments, yet none of what they did impacted the development of the story or even how the main characters acted.

I didn't see the purpose of a lot of characters and the narrative could have been much tighter had the movie focused solely on the main characters.

Enjoyment: 5/10

I wasn't bored enough to drop the movie, it had my entire attention throughout, yet I felt absolutely nothing for it or any of the other characters. I enjoy things the most that pull me into the world through worldbuilding and development, both of which "Her Blue Sky" did not succeed at properly doing.

I think I would have enjoyed this movie a lot more had it been an entire series. There was simply too much going on and not enough focus to have me connected to the story even though I was never actually bored.

For this reason I give "Her Blue Sky" a 4.5/10, the definition of mediocrity for me. Good premise, just not fit for a movie.

although this anime seems like the full plot is about time travelling, honestly the time travelling part barely felt relevant until the end of the series

Story: 7/10
the plot was just,,, well blend. the story was almost boring, and it felt like the plot could have included more, and the story had so much room for improvement, and the characters could have been better developed, but sadly this was not achieved. however, credit has to be due to the way the romance aspect of the show was handled during this series, giving you a smile on your face towards the end of the movie,

character 8/10
the ... characters were all interesting, but was not allowed to be developed in this film. the characters all had their flaws presented in the early stage of the film, but some were never fully addressed

overall, i would not recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for a romantic musical anime, but if you are just looking to spend some time with your significant other or just chill in your room and kill some time, by all means go ahead

Just writing my review right after watching this movie.

THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW, BE WARNED!!! (Almost Spoiler-free)

Story: 4/10
The story is really confusing at the start until that red-haired character showed up later in the movie. Just imagine the same person meeting each other but they are in different timelines. (This is some time travelling stuff) The main point of the story is falling in love with the same person who you had relationship with before. Personally, I don't really like the story so that's the main reason why I gave it a 4.

Art: 9/10
Art is exceptionally good in this movie. On par with Your Name ... and Weathering with You. People who likes anime with good art should try to watch this movie.

Sound: 7/10
Sound is somewhat good to me and gets a decent score from me easily.
I won't get into this because I don't critique music well.

Character: 6/10
Character development is pretty okay. All the characters are pretty interesting to watch, especially the red haired guy. I won't get into this because I only know the character for only 1 hour+ and may have to rewatch this sometime.

Enjoyment: 4/10
If I don't enjoy the story, I also won't get to enjoy the movie. Trust me, some decent Korean dramas have way better plot than this.

Overall: 5/10
I will cut it short.
- If you like good art anime, this movie you should give it a try.
- If you like good plot anime, avoid this movie.
- If both, I recommend avoid.

For Valentine’s Day, I had the amazing idea to watch this movie at the last full show with some of my friends (Unluckily for us, we don’t have any dates, but it doesn’t matter as long as we have each other!!!), and honestly, this didn’t disappoint.

Like the synopsis said, this movie is about four people (essentially three), Aoi (the younger sister), Akane (the older sister), “Shinnosuke” of the present, and “Shinno” of the past. The story revolves on the dreams of all of them and how they become tied to one another, whether they become a reality or not. The “time travel” part isn’t ... exactly true, and it isn’t confirmed. They call the past Shinno a living spirit, which was said to be the personification of a person’s strong feelings.

From the same creator of "Anohana", the spirit part of the movie was interesting. The past Shinno was stuck in the place where he tried to move forward from, the place where he had to leave behind some of his dreams. It was quite interesting to see how different people saw him. I honestly thought at first only Aoi would see him, but the other characters were able to see him as well. I don’t want to spoil the movie, so I’ll just leave it at that.

The sound was good, and one of my favorite points in the anime. The movie doesn’t really focus on the music, but it makes the story between the characters better. One of my favorite scenes was when Aoi sang the song “Gandhara” while playing the bass. She had a good voice, and it’s definitely a feat to sing while playing the bass.

The art was also great. The background felt natural, and the random scenes of different objects and events felt nice. But the best parts of the animations were when they were playing the instruments, especially the guitar and the bass. I don’t play them, but I can tell that they were playing the notes for the instruments accurately.

One of my favorite themes is the relationship between siblings, and the love between them. I have a younger brother myself, and I can somewhat relate to Akane. She had to throw away what she wanted to do in order to raise her sister all by herself. She had to sacrifice her time and effort in order to make Aoi happy, but in return she had to reject the person who she loved. Aoi felt responsible for making Akane do that. She felt bad that she bound Akane to her when she could have gone to Tokyo and lived the life she wanted to. They both felt regrets that had to do with each other because of their love for one another. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I can see myself doing that for my brother just so he could be happy.

This movie was pretty good, and I wouldn’t mind watching it again with my other friends. This isn’t a masterpiece or anything, but it’s definitely something I’d recommend.

From the trailer, Her Blue Sky looked decent enough. A well-produced and animated coming of age story with aspiring musicians that was helmed by key members behind Anohana, a solid, rather melodramatic, tearjerker. Instead of rising to the level of the aforementioned series, Her Blue Sky instead imitates the mediocrity of the team's other work, Anthem of the Heart.

One thing all three productions have in common is a fantasy element. While I didn't have an issue with this in the other two titles, it felt unneeded here, exploring feelings of the past that would have been better relegated to subtext. In fact, Japanese films and ... anime have a rather tiresome penchant for injecting rote fantasy elements into an otherwise ordinary story as of late. It often amounts to adding boatloads of spice to a bland dish.

The film is a typical slice of life about following your dreams (or not) and growing up. The two paths are represented by Shinno, the ghost with the same youthful ambition as the main character, and Shinnosuke, who isn't following his dreams.
The latter is a gruff, unfulfilled musician, playing in a crappy enka band that no one in the show seems to enjoy, and I doubt many of the people watching this movie would either.

Not only do we get to see Shinnosuke panty-chase after the main character's sister, but the main also had a crush on the old version of Shinno, and is like "Oh, senpai, I always loved you and wanted to tell you uwu, but now you're a creepy old guy about to marry my sister... NO!" when talking to the ghost. An unnecessary child character also tags along just to confirm to the audience that the main is not crazy. There's added "comedy" and animu shenanigans as she prevents her sister from walking into find ghost Shinno. The fantasy element was unnecessary and all of it could have been embedded in the subtext. As it is, it's no more than a distraction.

The characters spend all their time rehearsing their music, but the buildup never went anywhere, leaving an empty feeling. The problem is that the enka music was presented as lame in the film and seemingly wouldn't have been satisfying as a conclusion or a pivotal scene, since it seemed to be a part of Shinnosuke having given up on his dreams (and the vocalist is awful). With the ridiculous flying sequence at the end and all the Shinno nonsense, there wasn't enough time for the characters to make any kind of alternative music. It really feels like if they cut out all the fantasy fat, then maybe Aoi and Shinnosuke, after finally settling their differences, could have gotten a band together alongside the enka music practice, having the film conclude with one of their very own songs they put all of their passion into.

Not to say this isn't a cliche ending, for I've seen this in other movies and series, but this is just typical payoff for a movie about a band. Even if they decided this didn't work and wanted to go in a different direction, as they did, it's surprising that a movie so focused on music actually has very little GOOD music. I've never seen a film about a band that was so musically boring.

Some of the character interaction is decent or quite good, but much of it felt rushed and underdeveloped. The main spends so much time talking to the old Shinno, resulting in her never really getting to know the real Shinnosuke. While the main's female friend was probably a good and needed inclusion, she never really has much to do in the short running length of the film, and I question if she also should have been excised or given a few extra scenes.

In conclusion, this is an okay slice of life drama with an unneeded fantasy element. It's watchable, but Anohana or Ghibli films like Only Yesterday would probably be a better choice.

Within 10 mins of the movie, I realised that this was going to be a special one. The plot of the movie was so different and refreshing that I had very high hopes and expectations from the movie. But it did disappoint me to some extent when it did not reach its potential. The foundation that the movie laid in the first 15 mins made me look into so many beautiful scenarios in the movie but the writer decided to go with an average one.
Yes it is not a bad movie at all. But when you begin this strong in a movie you tend ... to increase the expectations of the audience and those expectations did not meet for me.
The movie does give a very beautiful message to never regret about anything in life and to not shut in your feelings. I really loved the message that the movie displayed for the audience. It is a decent watch overall.

Ok, first of this is from the people who made Anohana, and I found that such a letdown, (the series, not the movies, haven't yet watched it), and Her Blue Sky was AMAZING.

Story: 9
Well rounded and makes sense. It's simply a story about love and regrets. The story itself focuses around four, or three people, Akane, Aoi, Shinno and Shinnosuke and is very sad, (I cried, I NEVER cry watching sad stuff). I won't give a plot summary as I don't want to give spoilers, but trust me it's worth the watch.
The thing that pissed me off the most was the ending, but I'm sure ... you'll understand it if you watch it. (Poor Ao-chan :( )

Art: 6
Really good until halfway then the backgrounds began to look more like actual photographs, but the character art stays very good, and the background revert around the last 20 minutes back to the original level.
I love all the character designs and backgrounds (ignoring the photograph ones) except for Shinnosuke's character design, but as he had to be originally Shinno I really understand it.

Sound: 9
I love the soundtrack especially Gandara. I just love it, and the voice acting really good, it really puts you off it it's had bad voice acting but it doesn't so :D. They also had really good voices for the cast who can sing.

Characters: 10
Ignoring Shinnosuke who if you can't tell I strongly dislike. All of the characters are strong and amazing. Shino and Aoi are the best though.

Enjoyment: 10
It's happy, it's sad, it's amazing. I found it very enjoyable and I would definitely recommend it to those who are fans of Your Name, Weathering with You, Hotarubi no Mori e, A Whisker Away and Your Lie in April. It is the kind of thing that I certainly think needs a rewatch and may when I finish this, (let's ignore the fact for me it's currently 02.29 in 24 hour time.

Overall: 10
Everything about it ignoring the photographic backgrounds which are my biggest peeve, it amazing, hence my 10/10. But I certainly recommend watching it.

Sorry about my rant and I hope this review could be of help to you.

It's actually a very good film, I really enjoyed the story. But there is still much that can be criticized. There may be a few spoilers in this review, but I try my best not to leak the story line.

The visuals are very good, it cannot be denied, the visuals provided can spoil the eyes, both in character and depiction of locations, I also like the way the seiyu play their roles in the film. The part that I like the most about this film is the song. yes, I immediately put this song into my playlist.

Then what are the drawbacks?
- In my opinion, the ... initial introductions for each character are less mature, especially Shinnosuke. I hope that the introduction to the past of an important character can be described a little more broadly, so that when you enter the story you can immediately understand what the problem.
- Too much time skip, even though I think adding 20-30 minutes will make the story more perfect
- this is fatal point. Their "concert" is not shown in the story but in post credits, I think it would be better if you want to increase the duration by 10-20 minutes to reveal a clearer past, and their relationship after the conflict is over.

if those points are met, I can give a higher score

I found myself incredibly excited at the first time I heard about this movie.The trailer feels promising, the animation looks wonderful, the story makes me think that this is going to be a sad, tearjerker story. And my excitement went wilder when I found out that the story is written by Mari Okada. So I have such a high hopes about this movie. But then I realize that this movie wasn't what I expected it to be.

Story:
The story follows a girl named Aioi Aoi. She's an aspiring bassist who dreamt of pursuing a career as a musician. Following the footstep of her sister's boyfriend ... Kanomura Shinnosuke whose gone to Tokyo to pursue a career as a professional musician.
Aoi's sister Akane was meant to go with Shinnosuke to Tokyo but she ends up refuse to go due to her parent's dead and her responsibility to took care of her little sister.

13 years later, the now highschool Aoi met with the 13 years ago Shinnosuke. While on the other hand the adult version of Shinnosuke is coming back to town. And it's Aoi's decision to get Akane and Shinnosuke back together again.

Review:
I love the characters in this movie. I love how every character act always based on their personality and quirkiness. Like Akane who look like your typical nerdy, good girl type of personality, how the older Shinnosuke is the grumpy, gloomy, and a drunkard, the complete opposite of his 13 years old self who always seem cheerful and see the wold in a positive way. Aoi is your typical edgy, angsty, and rebellious behavior really shines the story in this movie.
But still having such a wonderful character can't avoid this movie with some of it's major problem.

This movie is missing something crucial in most of Mari Okada's work. The character interactions. While the characters really stands out on their own, most of their interaction felt like an awkward prepubescent kid trying to make a small talk.

Some of the conflicts happen without any reasons at all.like the climax where Akane is trapped in a collapsing cave for a pendant belong to a perverted old man. Those kinds of conflict who rely too much on coincidences only make the story felt rush and forced and doesn't really add too much to the emotional impact that the viewers supposed to get.

Conclusions:
Well the question is am I enjoying this movie? Kind of. There are some parts I love about the movie, like the gorgeous animation, the lovable characters, the good soundtrack, and basically all the music element in this movie.
But I think this movie suffers from a rush production and a storyline that feels forced.

Do you think you should watch this movie? Well if you only looking for something enjoyable to watch then yes.
But if you looking for a deep and emotional drama you won't get it here.

But despite all the flaws, I still enjoying this movie. This movie reminds me of how much time can change people, and how everything wouldn't work the way you planned it out to be.
Because sometimes many people think that you can be free by going so far away from home, only in reality they forgot that sometime the freedom itself is home.

Her Blue Sky

A movie which is really good at expressing that the path towards your dreams can really be hard and rocky path and requires a lot of sacrificing

This would be my first review so please spare some criticisms

Story :8/10
I was expecting a time travelling story but to my surprise didn't become relevant until the last bit of the story,the pacing is good but there can be some flaws not too major to bat an eye

Art:7/10
... The art style isn't that spectacular but it does it's job,the art styles help express the emotions much more better

Character:7/10
Some characters felt a bit underdeveloped but nothing too major to ruin the movie,There is some characters that definitely developed properly with a good pacing and you can feel some emotion attachment to them as i did

Enjoyment:9/10
Just watch the goddamn movie,I'm telling you right now

Her Blue Sky, a movie that exists.

Story 5/10
Honestly, as I sat through this movie I only grew more and more bewildered by the plot of this movie, which has nothing really to do with either time travel or the weather. The plot is nonsensical at times leaving you to scream questions at the screen, and by the end of leaves several plot threads left hanging.

Art 6/10
I may have been spoilt by Makoto Shinkai's weathering with you and expected this film to have the same fidelity as that one. The expectation was not met sadly with most of ... the scenes only being slightly better than most TV anime.

Sound 7/10
It's pretty decent, and is by far the best part of this movie though not really all that praiseworthy either.

Characters 6/10
The characters were a mixed bag, I disliked some I liked others. The MC comes off as overly angsty and edgier than a razor, not entirely unlikeable but I much prefer if she has toned down these traits by at least a little. To loop back to the plot for a second, some of the characters shown in this movie have next to no purpose which makes me wonder if the plot has left them behind.

Enjoyment + Overall 6/10
Overall I can safely say that the film is mediocre and while enjoyable enough to not feel like a waste of time I wouldn't recommend it unless you're really itching for a dose of mediocrity.

TLDR; Movie's plot is meh, characters are a mixed bag, art is ok, sound ain't terrible and is pretty mediocre overall.

I loved this movie. I’m somewhat lukewarm on Mari Okada usually, but her and Tatsuyuki Nagai really work together beautifully here, showcasing all her positive aspects really well. As with Anohana, Okada excels at crafting beautifully written characters with authentic and genuine emotional insecurities. Her dialogue is excellent, being both naturalistic and hilarious. She has such a knack for writing teenagers who actually talk and think like a human being. So much of Aoi’s internal monologue resonates so much me personally, especially her penchant for knowing that she shouldn’t say what she’s thinking, but overcomes with enough teenage anguish to power through that reasonable voice ... in the back of her brain. Her rage at herself for seemingly dragging her sister down is eerily similar to one of many insecurities I had as a teenager, and is written so well. The themes of regret and failure are done so well also, really creating this nostalgic atmosphere filled with longing and mistakes.

The music is great, as it should be for a movie ostensibly built around it. The score is atmospheric and soothing, pulling you into the melancholy world the anime creates, yet is also soaring and grand, placed well enough to possibly warm even the most blackened of hearts. The songs that Aoi and Shinnosuke perform are good as well, and I can definitely buy that Shinno was talented and passionate enough to reasonably pursue great success.

The animation is unbelievably gorgeous, and almost on par with Kyoto animation for some of the best animation in the industry. Beside some CGI cars, every frame is beautiful and lushly detailed, with some of the most lifelike and fluid character movements I’ve ever seen in anime. The emotiveness is jaw dropping, never once feeling janky or stuttery. Every character moves in their own unique and deeply human way. The colors are so bright and striking, lending each scene such amazing vibrancy.

The direction is unbelievable, with so much emotion packed into every gorgeously placed frame. So much character depth comes purely from Nagai’s stunning direction, with hilarious or tension filled cuts focusing on the dynamic movement of the characters. You get so much just by perfectly framed close ups on small facial expressions, or wide shots establishing the characters’s environment.

Overall, A preposterously well animated film that is packed with magnificent dialogue, great character work, and a resonant treatise on the destructive nature of idle regret coupled with an inability to rectify past mistakes.

first of all, for anyone who want to watch something, read the synopsis first, don't like me, i immidiately watch the movie without read the synopsis, but even im not read it, i enjoy the movie so much, Aimyon do a really good job on that soundtrack song.

Bring your emotion into the movie, and make you curious abut what happend next, that's what this movie are.
anyway, love is complicated, when you like someone,, but u realized that someone u like is liked by someone u love. It force u to choose right? this film has so many reference about your life

(Spanish review below).

It was okay.

It's one of those animes with nice animations to spend time on a Sunday afternoon. However, that's about it. Even the musical aspect, which seemed like it was going to have weight in the plot, sometimes loses it in the middle of the drama.

If we talk about the characters, I only liked the young version of Shinnosuke. His adult version seemed like a jerk to me, Aoi was too dramatic and hysterical, and his sister, Akane, was too passive. I always expected her to explode at some point, but all she had were soft and evasive answers.

As I said, the anime ... is nice and entertaining (at least). In a couple of scenes, they use real photographic backgrounds and draw the characters on top, and the truth is that it doesn't look good at all. The photography doesn't combine with the rest of the drawings and it's very distracting.

I recommend it if you're bored and want to watch something.

...

Estuvo bien.

Es uno de esos animes con animaciones bonitas para pasar el rato una tarde de domino. Sin embargo, no aporta nada más allá de eso. Incluso el aspecto musical, que parecía que iba a tener peso en la trama, a veces pierde peso en medio del drama.

Si hablamos de los personajes, sólo me gustó la versión joven de Shinnosuke. Su versión adulta me pareció un patán, Aoi era demasiado dramática e histérica, y su hermana, Akane, era demasiado pasiva. Siempre esperé a que explotara en algún momento, pero lo único que tenía eran respuestas suaves y evasivas.

Como dije, el anime es bonito y entretenido (al menos). En un par de escenas se utilizan fondos de fotografías reales y dibujan a los personajes por encima, y la verdad no queda nada bien. La fotografía no logra mimetizarse con el resto de dibujos y desconcentra mucho.

Lo recomiendo si están aburridos y quieren ver algo.

So close, yet so so far.

This movie starts off surprisingly well, one of the few anime that distances itself from the anime tropes and makes characters well defined and closer to realistic. Everything from characters to aesthetic was so sweetly spot on, and though the plot is nothing to write home about, it is a very comfortable ride thanks to how non-anime it seemed and how chill it is: a true proper slice-of-life experience with a supernatural twist, and some nice, romantic drama.

Alas, what was supposed to be a nice, comfortable movie about growth, maturity and following your dreams, was that for about two ... thirds of the movie before it turned into some quite unnecessary, forced drama about rescuing a "damsel in distress", and turned to rather strange and inexplicable supernatural occurrences. For aesthetics' sake I think it's worth a watch, but this is not the sort of anime I would gladly go back to re-watching, because once it gets into the third act, everything unapologetically loudly falls apart, and you're left standing in the rubble of the story, scratching your hand and wondering: how could this have happened? I would like to know too, because the subtlety with which the story is told until then suddenly turn into exposition so poorly told, and an ending so poorly delivered that it literally made me yell 'that's it?' at the screen.

There is a 'cheat-epilogue,' which is to say: the main story beats that were supposed to be THE finale of the movie are presented in still shots that appear as the credits scroll. Have I mentioned that a good deal of this movie was about music, and that there is a massive music festival being announced throughout it? And all we get out of that is a STILL SHOT IN THE CREDITS?

All in all, worth one watch for the sake of being able to say you've seen it, and maybe enjoy the really well animated and acted portions of it, but largely a disappointing experience as far as the story - and the promised but never delivered music - goes.

i was expecting there's many original songs in this anime, but it turns just a few. i interested to this movie because it has some music and band element in it, but it turns the band is just a gimmick haha.

the story was good, but it was confusing at the first time. the art is beautiful, it has some anohana atmosphere in it (yeah i know the setting is in the same places). the sound is so good, plus i watch this in the cinema so it sounds great with dolby surround. by the way, when aoi's playing the bass i cringed a lot ... lol, it sounds so awful. the character is not bad, but it was confusing at the first half.

i liked this movie, but i think i won't watch this movie for the second time. i think it would be boring when i rewatch this

If you're looking to watch a movie with a neat ending and characters that act like they do in the movies, then Her Blue Sky will probably disappoint you. Yet, for me, a lot of the things that many people may not enjoy about this movie were things I really appreciated.

I'll start with the technical aspects of the film first, though. The art was amazing. While there are certain scenes where CGI was obviously used, it wasn't so distracting or jarring that it looked "bad" to me. The backgrounds in particular were really lovely, high quality, and while looking somewhat computer generated, WORKED in my ... opinion and gave them an almost photographic, realistic feel. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I personally thought they were very nice. Something else I noticed about this movie was that animators took care to animate very subtle expression changes during certain scenes!

Now, as far as the writing goes, I'm a firm believer in Mari Okada as one of those writers who, when she misses, misses badly. But when she hits the mark, her work really shines. While Her Blue Sky wasn't AMAZING for me overall, something I really appreciate about the film is the realism of its characters.

This obviously varies between characters (see: Shinno still reads as very anime-), and it's a matter of opinion, but Aoi in particular felt like a teenage girl: when confronted by a difficult choice regarding her first love and her love for her sister, the answer to me, as an adult, was obvious -- but she didn't know what to do. It's a moment that's easily dismissible as "this protagonist is really stupid, huh?" but to me, that really communicated that she was still very much a child, someone who wasn't grown up enough to see what the "right" decision would be easily.

The same goes for characters like Masamichi, who could have very well been villainized for the drama, but read as an adult -- which is what he is. The characters all function and act their age in my opinion, which is very rare to see in anime or even dramas in general.

Some may dislike the ending -- it doesn't end "cleanly" (or maybe they dislike the less realistic part of it, that's understandable), but personally, I loved it. The movie didn't NEED to wrap everything up, and the way the story is told post-credits felt right to me. Anything else would have made the movie drag; it said all it needed to say, though I will concede that there were some plot points that felt abandoned by the end (the festival is made to be such a big deal, but in the end...?)

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, I enjoyed the characters, and most of all I feel like the themes of first love, losing sight of your passion, choosing between yourself and the person you care about, etc were well presented. While I again feel like Mari Okada is very hit or miss for me, she wins this one.

(Also there's a REALLY fun rock cover of Gandhara which is worth looking up on youtube at least-)

A lot of people are coming to this through anohana, and although there are a great deal of parallels, Sora no Aosa wo Shiru Hito yo has an entirely different story, and portrays its characters in a very different light as in anohana.

From here on there may be spoilers for the movie, be warned.

Story: 10/10

The entire premise of this movie revolves around the central theme of growing up with responsibilities, having ideals contrasted with the harsh realities that lie in the adult world that is not quite as touched upon in much other anime. This is clearly portrayed through the two different Shinnos ... with the younger one representing the ideals and the older one representing the harsh realities of the real world after having those ideals shot down. There are other examples such as Akane, but I mainly focus on Shinno in this review.

This is concluded in the end with the older Shinno embracing his past ideals by which the younger Shinno can then disappear as his older counterpart has become idealistic again which would mean the younger Shinno would have no reason to exist anymore (since the whole point of his existence was to change his current self to his past ideal). This shows the watcher that it is possible to go back to previous ideals even if it has been shattered by society, it is always possible to pick yourself back up.

Another theme that I found hit home very hard is that life is very fleeting and your life can go by in a flash. That is shown by the time skip very early on in the movie, wherein one minute the characters are young, contrasted to how the characters are when they are fully grown. This is further emphasized when you see two of the exact same characters in different ages of their lives with Shinno and you see how nothing is permanent and you should seize every opportunity as it comes since it may never come again.

A criticism I see about the double Shinno thing is how it should not work as in typical anime, you cannot have two of the same character in the same time period meeting each other face to face. For this, I would like to point out that the younger Shinno is not a time traveller and instead is more like a projection of the older Shinno's regret of moving forward and is only manifested in the movie because the older Shinno moved closer to his home which (I speculate) causes the regret to grow large enough to manifest itself as his younger self bound to the room that he was traumatized in with the guitar as a metaphor of a shackle since it is what caused him to move forward. And breaking the guitar to leave is another great part for me as well.

The story of this anime just hit so many different themes and portrayed them so well that it deserves a 10/10 (imo)


Art: 9/10

The art was outstanding, very nostalgic to the anohana style. All of the scenes have an insane amount of detail in them with very fluid animation. This anime has it all, when it needs to pull an action shot, at the ending with the younger Shinno flying, it really feels like weathering with you.


Sound: 10/10

The music in this anime was also quite good. From the ambient sounds of crickets to the emotional soundtracks they play whenever there is an important revelation or conflict taking place. I found that the music set the tone excellently for each scene no matter what the scene was about.

The opening and ending playing during the movie while was especially good.

Character: 8/10

The characters in this anime all had a great deal of depth to them, with each character having a link to all the other characters in a way that the watcher can fully understand why they act the way they do with other characters. For example, Akane was written to be a perfect older sister character, but when she's alone she can still be vulnerable and cry etc.

The way the characters interact isn't shoved in your face either, when they need to interact they will, and when it doesn't make sense for them to interact, they won't and this realism is what makes these characters so great. Like when Akane brings (Young) Shinno rice balls (unknowingly) while looking for Ao, he does not confront her because it does not make sense to do that. When Ao sees Akane crying she does not confront her.

This reminds me of a pet peeve I've had about animes where, for example in a harem series, the MC's love interest sees the MC with another girl and totally misunderstands which results in some kind of conflict. This movie completely avoids that.

Enjoyment: 9/10

I was hit very hard by the themes of seizing the moment and ideals vs reality as well as with the immersive art and sound design, the entire story just sucked me in, I loved it!

Overall: 9/10

Seriously consider this show, it is criminally underrated. I feel like the further you dig into this, the more you will find to enjoy.

Sora no Aosa wo Shiru Hito yo,

"Might Contain Spoilers"

While I did enjoy this movie it wasn't overly dramatic nor was it complicated well maybe just a bit with the spirit thing I thought it was just a tad bit weird but got over it anyway the plot wasn't anything complicated younger sister has a crush on her older sister boyfriend younger self well at that point in time the older sister was attending highschool together with her boyfriend younger self while the younger sister looked to be in elementary school if that, to me it looked as if the younger sister didn't realize ... what she felt was feelings towards her older sisters boyfriend anyway the younger sister has trouble expressing what she really wants to say instead she lashes out with rude remarks typical tsundere for you, So and So happened and she understands why her sister sacrificed her happiness for his younger sister, this series was ok for me the character designer is a legend well to me he is I love his style and the animation looked very fluid low-key made me want to figure out who pitched in on this project as for the voice actors I hardly ever complain about Japanese V/A's so I might be a lil biased in that regard also the background pictures the scenery everything was really well done the visuals was really good I almost wish this movie was like a the starting point for this series and then follow up with a 12 episodes series to tie or clear up some loose ends especially with the main female characters Aoi because at the end we still didn't see if she ended up with someone as she got over her crush for her sisters boyfriend younger self plus some characters for me personally needed to have closure the elementary kid who claimed he liked Aoi did he get with her or did he get with the friend of Aoi who was boy hungry I guess we will never know I'd give this movie 9/10 or even 10/10 but it failed to clear up some loose ends and such but nevertheless it still ended up enjoying