Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru (And Yet The Town Moves)

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Alternative Titles

English: And Yet The Town Moves

Synonyms: SoreMachi

Japanese: それでも町は廻っている

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 8, 2010 to Dec 24, 2010

Premiered: Fall 2010

Broadcast: Fridays at 01:55 (JST)

Producers: Pony Canyon, TBS, Movic, Magic Bus, Studio Pastoral, flying DOG, Memory-Tech

Licensors: Sentai Filmworks

Studios: Shaft

Source: Manga

Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy, Seinen

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.44¹ (scored by 18,166 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1791²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2313

Members: 51,903

Favorites: 195

7.44

Ranked #1791Popularity #2313Members 51,903

Fall 2010TVShaft

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Episodes: /12

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Synopsis

Hotori Arashiyama loves mysteries, but there's one she just can't solve: why does the solution to one problem inevitably seem to lead to another? Like how when Hotori has to start working at the Seaside Maid Cafe after school to pay off a debt and her friend Toshiko fortunately knows exactly how a Maid Cafe should be run. Which is fortunate since Hotori has no clue. Except that, unfortunately, Toshiko has no interest in working at the cafe—until she discovers that Hotori's childhood friend Hiroyuki is a regular. Which SEEMS fortunate. Except that Hotori doesn't know that, while Toshiko likes Hiroyuki, Hiroyuki secretly likes Hotori, while Hotori secretly has a crush on... No, no more spoilers!

But if that's not enough drama, there's work, angst with a certain math teacher, table tennis between her classmates, her younger brother versus the school's bad girl... And yet, even though everything seems like it's going to crash at any moment, somehow Hotori's life keeps going hilariously forward.

(Source: Sentai Filmworks)

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Background

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Supporting

Chiba, Shigeru
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Nakamura, Shinichi

Producer

Ooshima, Miku

Assistant Producer, Script

Shinbou, Akiyuki

Director

Kameyama, Toshiki

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"DOWN TOWN" by Maaya Sakamoto

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Ending Theme

"Maids Sanjou! (メイズ参上！)" by Maids

More reviews

Reviews

Dec 24, 2010

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Salsk (All reviews)

89 people found this review helpful

To be honest, I didn't know what to expect from this adaption. I was familiar with the source material, but since the production was in the hands of Shaft, yeah. For the unitiated: If Japan's anime industry was a party, and the studios were the invited, Shaft would be the high guy smoking joints on your favourite couch while eating all your snacks. They're just completely unpredictable. Some times they'll create excellent animation and sharply delivered dialogue, other times they'll churn out something that looks more like a slideshow and the boring, endless monologues which are associated with them.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The plot of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru is fairly straightforward. Enter Hotori, a quirky high school student whose dreams is to become a teenage Sherlock Holmes. After school she works in Seaside, the maid cafe owned by her grandmother, together with her classmate Tatsuno. Throw in a large cast of interesting characters, a bunch of puns, some lateral thinking puzzles, a couple of love triangles/squares and you've got yourself a winner. The story is slice-of-life style, with two chapters from the manga adapted into each episode, keeping things fairly fast-paced and never boring in any sense of the word. It's all very simple, but due to Shaft's style of blowing simple things up to bizarre proportions, it works.

One thing that was unexpected was the quality of the animation. It was very fluid and quite detailed, and not only during the first episode, it kept the quality level relatively uniform during the whole series. This is REALLY uncommon for this studio's shows, usually featuring big dips in animation quality throughout. I guess their budget might be bigger this time due to Bakemonogatari's success, but I digress. The typical eye close-ups and large amounts of on-screen text which the studio is rather infamous for were also mostly absent. I'm not complaining. The black and white "I'm in despair!"-animation from the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei-series is still there though, if anybody is wondering. Both wide-angle and extreme frog-perspective shots see frequent use (or abuse, depending on your opinion), which brings a nice sense of Shaft-flair to the scenes.

When you think Shaft, you think great OP animations (well, at least I do). Soremachi is no exception, I don't think I'm going too far by saying it's the best OP of 2010. But to be fair, when combining the sweet sounds of ROUND TABLE with the OP animation of Shaft, you wouldn't expect anything less. Which brings me to the soundtrack of the series. I wouldn't call it amazing or anything, but it's pretty good and it serves it purpose well. The ED is also great by the way, maid rock! Oh, and while we're in the sound section of the review... The voice-acting cast is fairly strong. You have both established voice-actors like Sugita Tomokazu and more unknown ones like the voice of the main character, Omigawa Chiaki. I gotta hand it to Omigawa though, she really brings out the essence of Hotori in her voice.

Anyways, the thing that I really liked with the show wasn't animation or OP or anything like that. It was atmosphere. When it comes to the general mood of Soremachi, it feels like a more energetic, more silly version of such classics as Aria or Kamichu. This is just one of those nice relaxing series you can wind down to. If you enjoy shows like that, you're in for a real treat; if not, well just try watching it anyway. This is not the best thing to come out this year, but that doesn't mean it's not a worthwhile watch.

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Dec 27, 2010

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

8thSin (All reviews)

63 people found this review helpful

'Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru (The World Still Turns)' is about a dull maid café in a small shopping district, and the daily lives of its employees and customers.
It sounds like just another slice-of-life comedy, but it is one of the most thought-provoking comedy series I've ever encountered.
The town is a microcosm of the world. Conversely, 'SoreMachi' attempts to explain the way things work by studying the lives of ordinary citizens in an ordinary town.

The protagonist of the show is Arashiyama Hotori, a carefree, clumsy, and air-headed, yet very proactive girl who works in the maid café. Her irresponsible and unpredictable actions gets her into all read more

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Jul 19, 2015

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

johnbradshaw (All reviews)

20 people found this review helpful

Somehow, from very the first episode, strange story settings, head tilt, weird camera angles, i talked to myself: "My god, this show is made by SHAFT". The studio that is both hated and loved for their unique approach to directing anime (thanks to Akiyuki Shinbou). Many times, they actually improved the anime but many times, they just created a disaster. So what about this show ? Is it lucky enough ? Very Fortunately, it is.

In fact, SHAFT has directed many great shows : Monogatari Series, Madoka Magica, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei,... And even among those famous shows, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru or And Yet The Town read more

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Jul 16, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

foxnewsnetwork (All reviews)

13 people found this review helpful

It's no secret that Akiyuki Shinbou and the usual suspects at SHAFT productions tend to produce avaunt-garde shows with weird intros, strange camera angles, odd positioning, and artsy flares. Yet, even amongst the veritable flood of Shaft shows (actually, all anime in general), Soremachi stands out. It has become a rare example of when good source material meets good animation production. Everything from the loosely connected story-line, to the elegantly constructed setting, to the personalities and interconnections between all the characters spin perfectly into one gem of an anime.

People often argue that a "good" anime must have a "good" story; such an all-encompassing statement is simply not true. Lucky Star, Hidamari Sketch, GA, K-On, etc. did not bother with trying to tell an "epic" tale and yet all ended up being amazing. Meanwhile, Ichiban ushiro no dai maou, Shana, to aru, seikon no qwaser, etc. were all deep stories that floundered upon the rocks of poor scripting, stupid characters, and pathetic presentation. A good anime, instead, should be engaging and entertaining - Soremachi does this with its rapier wit and clever lines. And a great anime should seamlessly and effortlessly mix brief moments of poignant depth with an usual atmosphere of the playful, heartwarming, and or mysterious - Soremachi does all of this too with its skillfully planned scenes and ever lovable characters.

And the characters of Soremachi - the residents of their particular Tokyo suburb - strike me as particular real and loveable. Unlike the millions of other high school animes where the main character, claiming to be the "average high school kid" is actually a tsundere sword-wielding warrior with major personality issues living by herself because her parents are somewhere overseas involved in top-secret research (or something similar), Arashiyama Hotori is a 16 year old girl living in a upper-middle class suburb of Tokyo with her mother, father, two younger siblings, and the family dog (which looks like a raccoon). Her parents count on her to look out for her siblings, she gets in trouble when her little sister cries or when her brother tattles on her, she goes and hangs out with her friends from school when she tires of dealing with the kids, etc. Actual normal, realistic, stuff!

Yet, through expertly done scripting and directing, the normal everyday lives of the residents around the Maruko shopping district is heartwarming and charming to the audience. Be it Hotori's misadventures with math, Kon's tomboyish rowdiness, Shizuka's sci-fi fantasy search for rainbow delights, or "mourning for Sanada", the viewer finds himself drawn into town coupled with happy fanfare and cheerful folk music. And for a too-short 12 episodes, the viewer not just watches but lives the conflict, conversation, witticisms, tiny victories, and hilarious defeats of Hotori, Hotori's friends, family, teachers, and environment.

Soremachi manages to convey its wit through timeless humor, its history through poignant moments, and its charming magic through good fun and cheer. Its many messages are bold where it needs to be an subtle where appropriate. Its character art-forms are delicate and beautiful when appropriate, and refreshingly (and realistically) ugly (fat, old, bald, etc.) when called for. The pace presses to presto-allegro to skip over the dull droning moments, and slows down to lively vivace to highlight the vibrant lives of the citizenry. The source is skillfully written, the anime masterfully produced, the music expertly scored, and leaves the viewer delighted at being able to watch such a sparkling jewel of a show.

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