So Ra No Wo To

Sora no Woto strongly adheres to a personal saying of mine: "You never know what you're going to get with short animes". I've watched some truly brilliant shows that were only 11-12 episodes long...and I've also watched some that weren't so good. Sora no Woto was one of those that I wasn't sure about, partially because it could almost be considered an OVA, a collaborative effort of several different studios that had never before been produced in manga, graphic novel, nor any other medium that I was familiar with. However, I found in the end that this show requires some patience before it's true colors ... really begin to show. And they were truly some beautiful colors.

Breakdown:

Story (4/10): I should begin by explaining that the story isn't the strong point of this show. The reason for this is how long it takes for the story to develop into anything with real plot substance.

The beginning of the show is done well enough. We see the main character, and are quickly charmed by her kindness and innocence, and see that she has become a soldier, and is headed to her first deployment. The problem is, we aren't given very much exposition to explain the world she lives in, why her country is at war, or what her family or her home are like.

As other characters are introduced, we begin to understand the dynamic that they share. As I learned more about the characters, I thought that perhaps this show would be more "character-driven" rather than "plot-driven". However, this wasn't really the case either, as the characters don't seem to go through much change early on. They simply have small "adventure" each episode, that doesn't require much prior knowledge of the show, and leaves the characters more or less the same as when the episode started.

Also, seeing as the main cast is composed of soldiers, I thought that they would do more...well, soldier things. All the soldiers where the protagonist ends up are women like her, but they don't really have a whole lot of militaristic duties. They rarely go on patrols or even fire their weapons, for that matter. Ultimately, not much is done with the soldier aspect until the very end, and the rest of the time, these women could be an ordinary group of people who just happen to live in the same outpost. This is why I had a problem with the episodic nature of the show, because it rarely felt like anything of consequence was happening, despite the fact that I was watching a group of soldiers.

I suppose there's nothing technically "wrong" with having an "episodic" feel to a show, where there isn't much overall plot to connect the episodes. However, it's certainly not what I prefer. I personally like to see a strong plot that connects the episodes together, or even having the way the characters interact with one another to create drama and tension. I just didn't feel either of these things with Sora no Woto, which is why I rated the plot so low.

Now, the show doesn't stay this way the entire time. Toward the end of the show, there is a very nice span of two or three episodes where some very big events occur, and I was genuinely excited by what happened. I only wish that more of the show had been so plot driven, and had shown the storytelling prowess that the final episodes did.

Art (9/10) - This show was really quite beautiful to watch. No details were skimmed over, even in the background details. Mile after mile of gorgeous countryside was carefully painted into each frame, making it worthwhile to watch the background nearly as much as the characters. There were some pieces that were animated by CGI, which I didn't find as pleasant as the hand-drawn details, but I suppose machines an be very hard to do by hand. This is probably the show's strongest point, which makes me sad in some ways, since art has noticeably less to do with what makes a show good than many of its other aspects.

Sound (9/10)- Music is a large part of what drives this show, as the tune from "Amazing Grace" often fills the sky. I really enjoyed hearing this piece as it was played on the trumpet, and even in a full orchestration later on. The soundtrack overall was quite good, and I found it interesting that Amazing Grace was so integral to the story. Sora no Woto does mean "Sound of the Sky", which very well may refer to that familiar tune that so many people love.

Character (5/10)- As I mentioned before, there isn't much background given of the protagonist early on. And frankly, we never really learn much about her at all. The main problem I had with the characters was that we learn more about a "supporting" character than the main character. All we know about the protagonist is that she wants to learn to play the trumpet, and that's why she joined the army. We learn more about the background of basically every character than the protagonist, who remains a charming and very lovable, but ultimately very shallow character.

Perhaps what really made her seem shallow was her apparent lack of any sort of character flaw. She is completely selfless, thinking of others before herself, works hard, is completely loyal to her fellow soldiers, and never says anything unkind to anyone. This is all wonderful, but we never see what lies inside her heart. Is she only nice to cover up something tragic that happened to her? Is her loyalty due to the fact that she felt she betrayed someone in the past? The show never really attempts to answer these questions.

The show gives plenty of development to a supporting character that I mentioned previously, which makes it seems as though she should have been the protagonist instead. The cast is ultimately very likable, but their development is rather unbalanced, and we will ultimately learn things about them at the last second so that we can understand something. The creators caught themselves a few times, and had to have a character suddenly say "Oh, by the way, there's this really important thing about this other character's past that we forgot to mention until now, so here it is."

Not a bad cast, just one that was mishandled.

Enjoyment (6/10)- I had to force my way through one or two episodes where nothing really happened in the overall plot. Charming and fun only works for so long before someone like me will get curious about the plot, and this show seemed to forget about the plot until nearly the end. If it weren't for the mismanaged characters and lack of plot, this show could have been a lot better.

Remember how I said that it shows some truly beautiful colors at the end? Well, it does, but not until I had to sit through ten episodes of basically nothing. The end of the show was wonderful, emotionally moving, and brought a very satisfying conclusion to everything. It just wasn't enough to make up for early problems that hurt the overall enjoyment value.

Overall (6/10)- Ultimately, this show is worth watching, but only with realistic expectations. It's a lot of fun to watch at first, gets boring in the middle, but does end on a high note. Just don't go into this one expecting anything mind-blowing.

After watching this anime, I really can't help as to wonder as to what is the main theme of this thing; is it the female cahracters struggling to find a way to ease their boredom co'z they're assigned in some outpost which is too far away from any action or is it the bugle call "AMAZING GRACE?" So, how do I rate this anime? Here's how:

Story: Fair 6.
Ok, so the genre of this anime are the following: Military, Shonen, Sci-fi, Musical, Action (appred only in the last 2 episodes) and Comedy (just a little bit). However amongst the genre only the musical part ... is most prevelent pertaining to Kanata's bugel calls, everything else are trivial and a mediocre of "Make love not war" kind of thing.

Art: Poor poor 3.
Question: what the heck was the artist thinking when he or she got inspiration to don the Helvetia soldiers (feamle charcters inculded) in a Nazi style uniform, which by the way inculdes the utility vehicles and the guns that they use except the tanks, also the Roman soldiers were donned with a wrong kind of uniform, in reality, during WW2 the Italian (Roman) army donned an Olive Gray uniform and not the typical WW2 Soviet Style uniform, frankly everythings that were drawn were composed bits and pieces of something during WW2 that the artist of this anime seem to based it from ..

Sound: Dreadful 2.

If you're talking about the opening theme, I hate it.
If you're talking about the various bugel calls inculding the "Amazing Grace," I say it's a bit of a Sacrilege (pataining to the "Amazing Grace") to even make it part of the anime. The said bugel call is reserve only to a solidier, fireman or any member of the law enforcement unit who died in the line of duty. There is a diffrent bugel call which is used to call for a truce, and I'm surprise that the author of this anime doesn't know it.

Character: Mediocre 5.

It is not unusual for a female soildier to be regulated for guard duty or any non-combat duty. So, if the setting is in some European country then all charcters should sport european names, particulary in German, unfortunatly most of the charcters still have Japanese names like: Kanata Sorami, Rio Kazumiya, Kureha Suminoya and Noel Kannagi. On the other hand, the supporting character Aisha Aldola is not a typical roman name, The character's name is more like a combination of French with a touch of Spanish, also she should be speaking Italian or latin instead of German.

Enjoyment and Overall: Fair 6

As in fair enough to be watch by all ages.


Trivia: During WW2 the Soviet Red Army utilizes women for sniper duties.

One of the most cutest main characters I ever came across!x-) little Kanata enters the army to learn her gift and dream, music, and its mainly about her work in the beautiful small city Clockwork Fortress, with four other soldier women.

This can be an enjoyable to some, but towards a limit, others it can be bore or an anime that's trying too hard.

*Characters*
The main aspect that I like about this show. The bond between these characters is cute and complex. Each of them hold dark pasts that effect them allot.

The head of the command is Filicia, who seems to be a strong, wise leader, and ... a little pervy as well x-). Although she seems light hearted, her past effects her greatly.

Noel is a very smart and interesting character, and one of my favorites in this series. Often falling asleep and rarely saying much.

What seems to be the second in command of this fleet is Rio, an understandable, kind but also terror person.

Compared to the all the characters Kureha doesn't seem to have any background, and I tout she would have an interesting one. She seems jealous of Kanata, but this aspect of her seems to be forgotten as the series go on, not resolved, but forgotten (...well I thought so anyway).
Sort of amusing the way she takes the whole army fleet seriously, as she seems to be the only character in the group that does, which I like.

Last is the out sweet cute main character: Kanata. As I said before she's very cute, and has a natural gift of music. Where ever she came from, her home seemed to be detached from the rest of the world.

The other minor characters in this series, including the main ones, seem to have a powerful bond and are all easy to like and admire.

Certainly a strong factor in this series.

*Art*
The city is beautiful, and I'll love to visit it if it ever existed. A sort of remote Italien look, with its tanned red, old buildings. With the impressive art, you'll never admire such a city.
The characters also seem to move freely and look believable, compared to other anime's.

*Story*
Sadly, a slow, ineffective plot. That doesn't seem to get the 'wow' factor, although you can see it tried.
However, the music Kanata makes at the end does send a shivers down your spine in a good way. 
It also seemed very far fetched, the machines and the unexpected and fast pace ending climax seem to come out of no where!?! and strangely enough it runs away again before you sort of notice they've happend. If you get what I mean:-)

I say some people may like the plot, but I didn't really. I personally thought it was weak, and didn't seem to climax when it obviously tried.

*Overall*
A good anime with its characters and Art work, but sadly the most important factor: the story, seem to be weak.
However the other two factors bring my view up to a 6/10

But give it a go for fun!:-)

I have to say that I really wanted to enjoy this anime, and I dd for about the first six episodes, but after that I began to lose interest. I have a few little complaints here and there but overall the show was quite good. What killed it in the end for me are two things; the first being that it became extremely boring as nothing ever really happened, and the second being that it seemed as if the anime wasn't really going anywhere.

Story (6/10)
This was my biggest issue with the anime, as I said, the story didn't really seem to be going anywhere. I ... had watched about 9 episodes before deciding to drop the anime. I was hoping that by 3/4s of the anime, the story would be in full swing, but nothing really ever happened. Through the show it seemed like a couple minor events would occur, but they would never seem to play a role on the reset of the show. I also was expecting a music anime, with the main character getting progressively better at the trumpet. However, the music could have been removed with minimal impact on the show. The music aspect was more of a minor backdrop to hold things together. My last issue on the story is that it takes place in the future, but the only indication of that is the tank which is very cyberpunk. The timeline just didn't make much sense. Ho could ALL modern technology be completely lost in a large war? How can there be these massive tanks with hologram screens, but no communications, they need trumpet players to send messages to each other? Again, the show could have just as easily been set during WW2 and very little would have changed, except for the fact that the time would make sense, then.

Art (7/10)
I'm going to keep this short and say that the art is definitely good, but nothing more. I liked the way the characters and environment were drawn, but they weren't really anything special.

Sound (7/10)
I was really hoping for a good soundtrack here, but was really disappointing. There is really only one song through the whole anime, amazing grace. Other than that, the ambient music and sound effects were just...decent, nothing special. I really wanted to hear more interesting music coming from the anime.

Character(6/10)
I enjoyed the main character. She was cheerful and energetic, but that is hardly anything new to an anime character. On top of that, she had absolutely no character development. At no point did she change or realize something aside from when she magically realized how to play trumpet well by watching glass being made...somehow. All of the other characters are rather flat as well. However, with their backstories, there was HUGE missed opportunity. The best example is when you learn one of the girls has PTSD from the war, but that is only relevant in that episode; after the episode, it is never mentioned again.

Enjoyment(6/10)
To keep this short I'll just say that the show started really strong for about five episodes, then slows down really hard by episode seven, then I lost interest by episode nine. The best way to some it up is by saying so little actually happens that it becomes a very boring show rather quickly.

So in the end, I wasn't a very big fan of Sora No Woto. I found the story and a lot of events to be really confusing, and the anime is really slow. It just wasn't my kind of anime, I suppose. I o recommend this anime to anyone who wants a simple story with little thinking, it is a very casual watch. It s nice and peaceful so it's a good one to relax to. With that said, if you are expecting a great story with engaging characters, I would refer you elsewhere.