Story 8.0/10
You can understand the plot and story by reading the description, honestly it's fairly simple and oddly relaxing slice of life & comedy anime. What made the show interesting for me was the main character Sora's and other characters opinion and perspectives on life. I like that everyone in the show sees things differently and I felt that this was something that made the story unique. Because of the lack of interesting story, I was already anticipating slow paced story telling and plot. Honestly though that slow pacing really made the show all the more enjoyable. This is because I got to understand the characters more. It was relaxing in a way and lastly I was able to get to know their back stories and why they each like what they are talented at. Overall I gave the story 8/10 simply because it's enjoyable if you have the right amount of patience to sit through it.
Character 8.0/10
Now, with the characters, I liked almost all of them. I do not have any complaints or anything that I would want to see change from them. I believe that each character played their role perfectly and help bring some sort of comfort and enjoyment to the story. Sora of course is my favorite of the bunch. This is mainly due to the fact that she is a bit of an airhead, very spacey, and as mentioned earlier she has a very unique perspective of life both in and out of school. I also mentioned earlier that the characters have their own unique personalities which makes for an interesting cast. Overall I was very impressed with the characters and wouldn't want to see anything changed.
Animation 7.0/10
Nothing too special with animation. Sketchbook is presented with generic late 2000 animation, decent considering it's time of release however, I personally felt like it had a more early 2000's look to it perhaps 2001-2002-ish visuals. Either way, it was still pleasant to watch and appealing enough for me to enjoy. Character designs were also pretty good. Some of the characters were a bit odd... but I managed to pull through.
Soundtrack 8.0/10
As mentioned in lots of my other reviews I am a sucker for pianos. As a keyboard/pianist it's sort of self explanatory. The music in the show has a great relaxing feeling to it. The piano songs in the background help enhance not only the mood of me (the watcher) but also it helps reflect what the characters are doing as well as the mood. Voice acting was pretty good too. Lots of the voice actors did an amazing job with their roles. The opening song is my favorite thing about the soundtrack though. It's very peaceful and relaxing. It's sort of like the embodiment of the show. It really represents what to expect from the story and characters. I actually don't have too much to add on the subject of the soundtrack.... anyway I'd have to give it 8.0/10
Enjoyment 9.0/10
Overall, I loved Sketchbook. I felt like it fit my needs. Everything I was looking forward to seeing came true. It was a relaxing, very sweet and a heartwarming show to watch. I do believe that it was well worth my time checking out.
