SoniAni: Super Sonico The Animation

This is the first time I've written a review on MAL, but I feel the need to because I think all people see when they look at this anime is Super Sonico and all that she and her merchandise implies and automatically discard it. While I can't really blame them for that because the merchandise implies a lot, I gave it a chance and was pleasantly surprised. While it's no masterpiece, the fanservice was mild, the characters outside of Sonico were actually interesting and engaging, the soundtrack was excellent, and overall it was enjoyable to watch. ---Story 7/10--- The anime was fairly episodic, and it didn'tleave much for the fairly simplistic overarching plot of Sonico coming into her own as a band member and a model, but it was still well executed and the episodic subplots were well done and all contributed something to the base plot. ---Art 7/10--- It got across the point that it needed to and it didn't detract at all from the anime with too much 3DCG, low quality BGs, etc. ---Sound 8/10--- The music in the show was excellent and always fit the mood very well. The OP and the multitude of EDs were all well done and Sonico's band, First Astronomical Velocity, had quite a few catchy and well orchestrated songs. With the premise of the show being musical in nature, the good soundtrack gives it a good boost and made it fun to watch. ---Characters 8/10--- This is I think where this anime shines, and interestingly enough not because of the main characters, but the supporting characters. Every episode Sonico would go through some kind of ordeal that involved a side character that would develop throughout the episode and end up being affected positively somehow by her. They all had interesting backdrops to their scenarios and were given ample characterization in the small amount of time they were featured, and each one in some way or another contributed to the overall plot of the anime. There were also a few side characters that were in the background throughout the series that saw gradual development such as a chubby girl that came to terms with how she looked and even learned to embrace it through Sonico. The anime was made fun with the high quality soundtrack and the color saturated visuals, and each episode had an interesting premise with engaging side characters. It's not a must watch, but if you're looking for something to just casually watch that you'll enjoy for its simplicity and episodic nature, you won't be disappointed.

SuperSonico: The Animation started off well enough but quickly became a drag with very few redeeming factors. Unfortuately, Sonico was not fleshed-out nearly enough to sustain the show on her own, and an emphasis on fanservice rather than characterization really cheapened the whole experience. There are a loud group of anime fans who will tell you that Super Sonico The Animation is nothing more than a blatant Nitro+ publicity campaign designed to lure in the Otaku with a disproportionately sexy mascot. These people are not far from the truth. However, this a slight exaggeration because the show was not totally bereft of substance. Don’t get yourhopes up too high though. For a start – the OST was easily one of the best this season. Many scenes felt particularly magical thanks to an inspiring musical backdrop. Sonico’s band, First Astronomical Velocity, also provided plenty of ear-candy along the way. Think K-On! but a little more grown up. The OP was also neat, and a number of EDs (I love it when shows do this) were a bonus each time. It’s fair to say that the anime lacked in a few critical areas, but the music was spot-on every time. However… Besides the arguably decent animation quality, it’s all downhill from here. Sonico might be super-cute, but she’s also super-bland without a guitar in her hands. There was not a single piece of memorable dialogue over the course of the show, and the comedy was weak. I did find it consistently hilarious when Sonico would introduce herself as “…S-Super Sonico desu” to people (who would respond totally normally, as if this was a common female Japanese name) but that was about as funny as the show got. Being a total klutz at all times, Sonico would often find herself in a bunch of awkward jams – but the delivery was way too contrived and unnatural to get a laugh from me. Sonico’s band-mates were also disappointingly generic. Besides the musical aspect, neither of them had any real impact on the show. Furi-chan's VA was particularly irritating. There was more than ample time to develop them but by the end it had all been wasted on cheap fanservice and boring dialogue. While there is an emphasis on music, Super Sonico: The Animation is a slice-of-life anime first, and slice-of-life is nothing without a quality cast of characters. Again – the strength of Super Sonico: The Animation is in the music. Nothing else really managed to capitalize. Final verdict: Skip show, aquire OST. 3/10 Side Note:- While the show was mostly trash – episode 7 was entirely different. A surprisingly modest inclusion, it followed Sonico on a very personal journey of self-discovery and introspection. The pacing was perfect and everything just worked for once. Part of this was due to a lack of fanservice (besides a brief hot-springs scene, but it was pretty tame) but the episode stood up on its own. Call it a diamond in the rough.

SoniAni: Super Sonico the Animation is a music, slice of life anime co-created by Nitroplus (the creators of Super Sonico) and White Fox (the creators of the anime); the anime has 12 episodes and aired between January and March 2014. Plot It is important to note that SoniAni: Super Sonico the Animation was designed as a marketing tool for Nitroplus to sell Super Sonico brand to people. Each episode we see a new day of Sonico’s life; she gets into different situations and different trials. It is an open secret that all slice-of-life shows don’t have a complex story;yet, it helps you to relax; that iswhy we watch SoL shows. In Sonico’s case, the show was sometimes boring; yet, it was a very funny experience for me. Main Characters Main Protagonist – Super Sonico - Voiced by Ayano Yamamoto (Nae Tennouji, Arisa Kajiwara) – She is an 18 years old college student that works as a model, a waitress at her grandmother’s restaurant and is in the band called First Astronomical Velocity with her two best friends; she has the position of the band’s vocalist and guitarist. Sonico always wears headphones and is never seen without them; she is easy to get embarrassed in front of other people, she sleeps so much that it requires someone to help her to wake up, she also can’t live without pasta. All in all, her character was funny for me: she tries her best to get the job done, even when it gets her into problems, she enjoys helping people with their problems and she always stays happy no matter what. Suzu Fujimi - Voiced by Mai Goto (Pina Sformklan Estor, Chelsea Blankett) – She is one of the Sonico’s best friends and a member of the First Astronomical Velocity as its bassist and leader. She normally wears a pink nurse uniform and tries to get Sonico to wear crazy outfits for concerts; Suzu is very amusing character: she always has a plan to solve problems and tries to help Sonico with her problems whenever she can do it. Fuuri Watanuki - Voiced by Mami Ozaki (Hana Isuzu .Elena Shiina) – She is also one of the Sonico’s best friends and a member of the First Astronomical Velocity as its drummer. She is very shy, always sleepy, or hungry. She was a very interesting character for me, as her indifference, has always caused problems to her friends and it was really funny. Presentation SoniAni has a very bright color scheme to draw the viewer to the life of Super Sonico, which is nice and fun. Alack, there were also some problems about the characters: the show focused on Sonico well, but the other characters didn't receive enough time for development, and it was a real problem of that show. The animation of the characters; on the other hand, is very well-made and looks great, except when it switches to a different style, when the OP and ED were shown; the animation in OP and ED was good, but for some reason, the animation in the anime was much worse. The voice actors did amazing job and I highly appreciated it; their characters looked alive and realistic; it was very pleasant for me. Finally, the music part was is one of the best things about the show; the songs fit every episode well. My opinion SoniAni is one of the anime, which I can’t hate, but I found it difficult to enjoy a show so similar to K-on, IdolMaster and others. The anime did everything to make its music scenes similar to Love Live’s, but when it works well in Love Live, in SoniAni it feels very forced and not needed. While I know the show was a marketing tool, they could have done a better job of presenting Super Sonico to the public; the story didn't feature anything new, some episodes were boring to watch and the style of animation used for the songs was much better than for the anime. I did enjoy Sonico’s, Suzu’s and Fuuri’s characters a lot, as they really carried the show for me, but the supporting character were dull and boring. The Verdict SoniAni is an anime that can only be enjoyed by a fan of the brand; its lack of the story, the focus on Sonico and bad development of supporting characters (not saying that the show is cliché) ,will probably make it hard for most of the people to enjoy SoniAni.

This is literally the worst anime I've ever seen in my life. First off, Super Sonico is an extremely boring protagonist. For someone who is a college student, model, guitarist in a band, and works at her grandma's restaurant and apparently leads an exciting life, they sure made it seem very boring. Not only that but her character and personality are one dimensional. She's perfect to the point where nothing she does or says is interesting, she just goes along with what everyone else says which is also something I had a problem with. The supporting characters don't help much either. Instead of making up forwhat Sonico lacks, they also fall flat and are extremely uninteresting. The only interesting character in the entire series was The Manager, and that's because he reminded me a lot of Meito Anizawa (the anime shopkeeper) from Lucky Star. As far as the humor goes, whether it be subtle or apparent, it's virtually nonexistent. Don't even get me started on the music. I would have had absolutely no problem with it if Sonico didn't claim that her band played rock music. What they play and what is played throughout the entire series is a far cry from rock music. I find it an insult to actual rock music. All the ending themes and opening were very boring and unmemorable whatsoever. The ending sequences themselves also have this weird 3D animation that feels like something out of a bad Nintendo GameCube game. All in all, I don't know how I managed to go through all 12 episodes. I would only recommend this series to someone as a cruel practical joke.

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