Jan 28, 2018
I'll start off by saying I am not a fan of CGDCT anime. I didn't like K-ON, I hated GochiUsa. I had all but given up on the genre. Then I watched Sora no Woto, and it blew my ass away. This anime just does so many things right.
Setting - A girl decides to join the army in order to learn the trumpet and is sent to a garrison in a small town on the outskirts of their country. There's more to their world than meets the eye, but you should see it for yourself. It's full of subtle world building which I never expected
...
from this kind of show.
Scenery - Absolutely beautiful. Another thing that I love about this show is that a lot of its scenes take place at unusual times or in unusual weather. That is, rather than 99% of the show taking place during sunny afternoons, a lot of the scenes happen during the evening, night, or rainy days. I'd say it rained for about half of the show's episodes actually. It's very refreshing.
Atmosphere - There's a slightly melancholic tone that carries throughout the whole show. I was in love with it right from the start of episode 1.
Characters - Good characters for a CGDCT show. When I first saw them I went "Here's the kuudere. There's the tsundere." However, thankfully, those traits are subdued and you quickly see that there's more to them than that. The characters actually somewhat feel like real people. What I loved the most about them, is that every single one in the main cast has real flaws. Not those typical CGDCT flaws like 'oh, she often sleeps past important events' or 'oh she's a little airheaded' that are only there to make the characters more cute. Proper flaws.
Music - Straight up fantastic. It does its job as well as it possibly could. It, at times, has an air of mystery, and at times an air of hopefulness, and it's always a joy to listen to.
The Specials - Make sure you watch them. They're on par with the rest of the series and should definitely not be skipped. The first one is episode 7.5 and should be watched after episode 7, while the second should be watched after finishing the series.
Flaws - 1. Kind of a nitpick here, but while the animation is generally good, it can get wonky at times. Especially when the focus is on zoomed out characters. When the animation needs to be good though, it is. 2. I found the conversations and the way the characters speak in one specific episode a tad over-dramatic. Could be just me though, as I haven't really ever heard anyone else mention this. 3. While I found the characters to be decent, and definitely above average as far as CGDCT shows go, they're still not *great* and could have been better.
Conclusion - I loved this show. I think this is the epitome of the CGDCT genre. Even if, like me, you don't usually like these kinds of shows, you should definitely give this one a try. And if you are a fan of CGDCT, you could find this show a nice breath of fresh air. This is, of course, a slice of life, so if you're looking for constant action, you obviously won't find it here. But if you're looking for a laid back show with a great setting and atmosphere, you'd be doing yourself an injustice skipping this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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