Sora no Aosa wo Shiru Hito yo

High school student Aoi Aioi lives with her elder sister, Akane, after a tragic accident took their parents away 13 years ago. Because Akane has since been taking care of her single-handedly, Aoi wants to move to Tokyo after her graduation to relieve her sister's burden and pursue a musical career, inspired by Akane's ex-boyfriend Shinnosuke "Shinno" Kanamuro. Shinno was part of a band until he left for Tokyo to become a professional guitarist after the sisters' parents passed away, and he was never to be seen again.

One afternoon, while Aoi practices her bass in a guest house, she gets startled by the 18-year-old version of Shinno from 13 years ago! As if by coincidence, the current 31-year-old Shinno also returns to the town, but he has changed drastically. There are now two Shinno's in existence, but why is the Shinno from the past present?

Sora no Aosa wo Shiru Hito yo revolves around these four individuals as they confront their inner feelings toward each other and make decisions that will affect their lives from here on out.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Aioi, Aoi Main

Wakayama, Shion Japanese

Shinno Main

Yoshizawa, Ryou Japanese

Aioi, Akane Main

Yoshioka, Riho Japanese

Kanomura, Shinnosuke Main

Yoshizawa, Ryou Japanese

Nakamura, Masatsugu Supporting

Taichi, You Japanese

Ootaki, Chika Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Nakamura, Masamichi Supporting

Ochiai, Fukushi Japanese

Nitobe, Dankichi Supporting

Matsudaira, Ken Japanese

Saitou, Shunsuke Producer

Odagiri, Narumi Producer

Shimizu, Hiroyuki Producer, Planning

Nagai, Tatsuyuki Director

Reviews

Jun 12, 2022

Palash0007

Recommended

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Apr 22, 2024

Gsarthotegga

Mixed Feelings

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Apr 2, 2024

Klabautermann

Not Recommended

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Sora no Aosa wo Shiru Hito yo Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Sigsig - Oct 11, 2019	74 replies	by CrazyButNot4U »» Apr 28, 7:32 PM
	I think the song was 'ad-libbed' in the movie KikatoRyuui - Nov 6, 2022	0 replies	by KikatoRyuui »» Nov 6, 2022 6:50 PM
	[Spoiler] Did the MC end up with someone, and logistics question JessysAnime - Jun 17, 2020	11 replies	by JessysAnime »» Apr 8, 2022 6:30 AM
	Still waiting after 3 years.. Yui_Suzumiya69 - Mar 19, 2022	4 replies	by Baby_Penewine »» Mar 20, 2022 7:27 AM
	My most anticipated anime of the year; I’m so excited for this. Marinate1016 - Aug 9, 2019	14 replies	by Yui_Suzumiya69 »» Mar 19, 2022 6:51 PM