Sola

Let's check off the things that annoy me, shall we? ~ A world where kids conveniently don't have parents. Because that would mean the writers would actually have to be skilful enough to write stories including them. The only featured adult in the whole story is obviously a hindrance to everyone, except midway when he suddenly becomes every male pervert's role model. ~ Girls that fawn over one witless guy who doesn't deserve any of them. They fight to the death over him, but why should we care? Why should we be invested in any of this if we cant understandwhy anyone would want him in the first place? He is completely and utterly undeserving of it all, and it renders everyone's actions perplexing. Well, not so much perplexing as it is tiresome to watch this anime go through every cliché in the book to appease undemanding 'fans' of the genre. ~ Main protagonist boy who is an empty cipher throughout the entire story. A complete plank of wood with no personality and no discerning features other than his hobby of taking photos of clouds. This is not 'characterization', its an excuse to make him look interesting. He is in actual fact no different than a million other one-note protagonists of this genre. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that the main characters of these stories are usually ciphers, rather than fully fleshed out and interesting people. Because it makes it easier for male viewers to project themselves onto the character. How sad. ~ Girl character who is treated like a wayward sexual pet by guy. At least Elfen Lied had the decency to make the female character a bloodthirsty psychopath. ~ Boring characters. Every single one of them. Except for maybe the little girl in the green dress, she had a nice attitude. This anime panders to all the moe-loving adult perverts and too-young-to-have-developed-decent-taste youth. Sola's great animation and brief flashes of what could have been an interesting tale are let down by all of the above. There was potential here; to explore people that can never live in the sun, the affects of immortality in a child's body, but the producers were more interested in filling a quota than in story and character. Some of these characters are supposed to be more than a hundred years old yet they still act like brats. Thats because logic is thrown out of the window in sola, because the characters are designed for viewers tastes. Japan's most popular anime of 2007? Depressing. Don't dismiss this review because it's negative. Dismiss it because you've yet to grow out of this genre and realise that this anime is the equivalent of a McDonalds happy meal: planned by a committee, packaged prettily but ultimately tacky, cynically driven and bad for you.

As the title implies, this Romance, Drama is heavily themed on the sky (sola), which is definitely different than the usual anime but that may not always be a good thing. It’s quite interesting how something we take for granted like the sky can be such a treasure to other’s but it’s irritating that the bulk of the story has something to do about the sky. The other main focus of the show is on the blossoming romantic relationship between the two main characters; Yorito is an average guy who’s obsessed with taking photos of the sky and Matsuri, she’s the “special girl” usually found inthese types of anime. This type of set-up has been done many times before and compared to other masterpieces, Sola just seems average. With such a dull premise, a lack of action and unanswered questions it’s easy to lose interest in this show. At least as the story begins to develop all of these issues become a thing of the past and the show ends up being good to watch. This anime ends up doing a not-so-good job in the character department, with the same 7 characters throughout the series. The characters are really average and have the sort of personalities that have been seen many times by an anime fan. On the other hand the show does manage to surprise us with some interesting developments on Yorito (male protagonist). The only other interesting characters in this anime are Matsuri and Yorito’s so called sister Aono because of the mystery that shrouds them and they’re the only ones that are developed well, throughout the series. The visual quality of this animation is definitely above average with this anime embracing various new animation techniques and styles. Just like the title implies, a lot of detail was put into the skies, clouds and lighting effects. Even the water looks superb, yet it’s a shame that some of this effort wasn’t put into adding more dynamic characters to the screen. The music was decent with a unique blend of piano, string and harp melodies as background music. It is certainly suited to the calm and dramatic nature of this anime however it did little to add excitement, on the rare occasions of an action scene. Overall this anime closely resembles “Lunar Legend Tsukihime”, in the sense that both shows revolve around two mysterious girls romantically involved with the male protagonist, who’s unsure of himself. Both shows have the same sort of pace as they start of slow but then finish quick. As a Romance Drama Sola does a decent job in both departments but it was only halfway into the short series that it really kicks in, with shocking character developments and intense fights. The show ended well with the final dramatic confrontation and happy-sad ending, so I only recommend this anime to fans of romance and drama but not for the action lover. ^_^

It was kind of boring at first, because after the first episode, nothing interesting really happened. It did get better during the middle, then better turned weird, but it wasn’t that bad. Let’s just say it has something to do with paper. A lot of paper. Characters are really weird. First you have Yorito – someone completely obsessed with the sky. I don’t even know why he’s that obsessed. Then there’s Matsuri, who surprisingly, is kinda ecchi in her own way. Aono – you either love or hate her. She’s naturally funny, but towards the end, you just might hate her. Mayuko, the gothic Lolita, iskinda tsundere, and Takeshi, the guy who’s always with her, I just don’t get him at all. His personality changes all of a sudden during the second half. Mana’s actually pretty insignificant. I’m a bit surprised that Mai Nakahara and Ai Shimizu are both in Sola, and once again, they’re playing close friends. Mai Nakahara plays Aono Morimiya, while Ai Shimizu plays Koyori Ishizuki. Mai Nakahara does not sound like her usual, cheerful self though. This is probably my least favorite out of all the characters she played, since Aono lacked emotion in her words. In fact, it was the same for almost all the characters. I just didn’t feel their presence. Animation is pretty good. The backgrounds are really nicely drawn, and I like the incorporation of real images with the animation. My only problem is the character design. The characters look really skinny – I know this is common in most anime, but their faces are really skinny. The characters tend to look old because of that, especially Yorito. The opening and ending themes were really nice. I like how mellow and soft the songs were, especially the ending theme, titled appropriately as “mellow melody”. The opening theme, “Colorless Wind” wasn’t bad either. In fact, I think it’s nicely done. I love the strings in the beginning, and how it really fits the story of Sola.I do have a problem with the BGM, because during the beginning of the series, the BGM used didn't really fit the scenes. I did like the BGM tracks that were variations/instrumental versions of the opening and ending themes. It was a good attempt – it had a nice plot but again, it’s the fault of bad execution. The story was a bit hurried once again, that the important details/events felt like they were lacking something. I find myself getting surprised now and then, but not because it was shocking. It’s more of like “Oh, why is she there?” or “How did that happen again?” I just might rewatch it, not because I liked it enough to watch it again, but because to understand it better. Maybe by then, I’ll like it more.

Animes are seperated into 3 categories: good, bad and exceptional. Sola belongs in the exceptional range, with the likes of Elfen Lied, eureka 7, Samurai Champloo, School Rumble etc.. This is definitely the series strongest point. Although it starts of slower then most animes but picks up quickly.The story is interesting and is very "deep", tackling many subjects such as existence, isolation and other. The story also makes effective use of symbolism and foreshadow, such as the sky, the night which the audience may not recognize at first but will realize along the series. Its these attention to details and little things that make thestory exceptional. It is also worth noting that this series has one of the best endings ever, it is not a generic "happily ever after ending" which has been done to death, not much more can be said without spoiling the story, however the ending does not leave the audience feeling sad or "empty" as it wraps up all its loose ends and reveals everything to the audience. The art is great, the action scenes are beautifully choreographed. However, my only gripe is that all the characters had a very triangular chin, which i can't stand. Voice acting is wonderful, especially the voices of matsuri and Aono. The theme music employs a light piano melody, which isn't spectacular by itself, but when combined with the animation onscreen, it really comes alive. Characters in Sola may seem empty and lifeless at first, however once the audience watches the entire series, this will be explained and the audience will realize what a fantasic job the directors have done. Character design is also exceptional, especially Aono and Matsuri Overall, Sola is something truly beautiful. It is hard to tell you how so without revealing the plot but I am 100% sure anybody who watches this series will be deeply touched by it's wonder story.

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