If I said that the opening theme tune to Sora no Woto wasn’t part of the reason I watched it, I’d be lying. I recall that I started watching ef -a Tale of Memories because of the music too, so it’s hardly the first time. I’ll admit part of me just wanted to see the K-on! comparisons crash and burn in front of the fandumb’s eyes but more than anything the premise was one of the best I’ve read in ages.
As I read down the staff list I realised that none of the K-On! staff were involved in this at all; hell, it’s not even a KyoAni production! I stand firmly corrected on that point then. The background artwork was still stunning though – even when not much was happening there was always something nice to look at and let my imagination fill the gaps in the narrative. I still got a sense though that the series was suffering from some sort of identity crisis.
On one hand there’s an unremarkable tale of cute girls doing cute things in a typical everyday slice-of-life mode; on the other there’s a military drama with some fascinating concepts lurking in the background. If I were to be cynical I’d say the writers wanted to make the latter and even drafted in the mecha designer from Escaflowne and Macross Frontier to that end, but were so worried about the fanbase they recession-proofed the ratings by moe-fying it.
I could go on for ages about how much I loved about the worldview, so I might as well. The post-apocalyptic thing was beautifully realised with little details such as the blend of cultures and languages to make a Europe of the future that borrows from history to make a world that is itself alien but whose component parts are eerily familiar. The bridge to the town, a medieval stone structure, looks hurriedly repaired with metal as if function now takes complete precedence over architecture; a multipedal tank that could have been lifted from the cyberpunk work of Shirow is described as ‘old technology’ next to the 1940s-era fashions and designs of the other vehicles.
The civilisation that progressed further than our own but later returned to a state that lies in the past hints at some great worldwide disaster and gives a dark, looming shadow behind all the events of the story. It’s a world that has lost so much…and yet it insists on the cutesiness. You can either look at it as a serious post-apocalyptic piece that sweetens a bitter pill by lightening the mood, or a piece of otaku-friendly fluff that’s trying to be more grown-up than it actually is.
Although the contrasting moods often clashed and didn’t always work in each other’s favour, I side with the former assumption: the plot meandered like mad for the first half but as the episodes drew to a close it hit its stride and delivered an edge-of-your seat finale. The ending was quite literally a hime ex machina but it made a nice job of blurring the realistic and the fantastical when the legend of the Maidens of Fire came true in an unexpected way.
I got a little Macross moment when the old Power of Music device came to the rescue on the battlefield but that helped me forgive its shortcomings in delivering on the gritty drama; because Macross also needs to be taken less than seriously to appreciate its serious messages. Sora no Woto was from the start a partly lighthearted show so I began to think of the mature and hard-hitting aspects as a bit of a bonus. I just wish that more of the questions were addressed – someone has gone to great lengths to render such a rich and beautiful canvas so it’s a bit of a waste of potential unless a sequel is planned.
The trouble with this complex backdrop that that the storyline seems thin on the ground in comparison. An ordinary girl gets mixed up in big events due to a personal desire to do something simple but not much was followed up after being given a fleeting yet tantalising mention. If you pay attention, the philosophy was poignant and there were numerous personal stories going on which offered frequent and intriguing diversions, but there wasn’t a solid enough common thread for me to get my teeth into.
Another show that this one was compared with at times was Haibane Renmei, which I can understand: both series have a stunning, borderline-fantasy European setting that forms the stage for all the events of the story, the soundtrack and and the closed community of young females getting on with their daily business were similar too. Both throw the viewer in at the deep end with clues dropped in periodically, but leave a lot of unanswered questions. In Sora no Woto‘s case I didn’t detect the same level of profound character devolpment and introspection however, so all that was left was a less memorable (albeit still entertaining) day-to-day comedy drama thing.
I started to view the aesthetic – and the music, another beautiful score penned by Michiru Oshima – as parts of a promise that was only partially kept. The characters were fun and engaging but rarely strayed from the tropes and traits that I’ve grown tired of seeing used over and over; whenever I saw Kuraha, the twintailed tsundere, blush and shout a vehement protest I wasn’t altogether happy about it. And when even I’m tired of seeing a tsundere, I knew something wasn’t right. It’s like growing tired of eating ice cream. But then, that could well happen if I were to eat it every day.
Sora no Woto didn’t actually do anything *wrong* to make me enjoy it less. The opening animation is really someting else, the concepts are similarly outstanding and the soundtrack is very pretty indeed. It’s what it didn’t do or, assuming there’s that sequel I’m hoping for, has yet to do: following up on all this exquisitely constructed potential. A lot of upset among viewers is caused by misplaced expectations but when even the makers of the series don’t seem to know what to make of it, what chance do I stand of judging it fairly?
By all means, please watch this series and take the time to listen to the soundtrack too. Out of the recent shows I watched in the past few months it’s one of the most unusual by standing out as doing things a little differently, which is enough to make me recommend it. By the end though I was equally preoccupied with thinking about what it was and what it could have been: it was forever trying to match the promise of its own opening titles as I was trying to work out what I was supposed to make of it.
I have to agree with the “makers of the series don’t seem to know what to make of it” statement strongly. And I thought the episodes still meandered till the last few episodes, but I still enjoyed it.
That said, I fell in love with the soundtrack. Much of the background music brought to mind George Gershwin, especially his “American in Paris”. Strange that I was never that big of a fan of Gershwin, but actually listening to the soundtrack for Sora no Woto really gave me new appreciation for his style. That said, I’m awaiting the soundtrack to come in from cdJapan (along with the Promise CD and 5cm/s BD… ;) )
I do hope for a sequel that will build on and expand this great setting the creators stumbled into, but I guess we shouldn’t hold our breaths (There’s always the DVD-only episodes, but…).
Given those grandiose opening titles and the hints at something truly massive, Sora no Woto certainly took a small-scale view of its story all in all. However, I can’t shake the feeling that this is why the series worked come its final episodes – The fact that we’d watched these girls doing washing and other mundane stuff together brought us into their every-day world, so when that world was shattered we felt the impact all the harder for it.
You’re right that the main characters were all a little stereotypical, but luckily that was papered over to some degree by the depth afforded by what they’ve been through in their war-torn lives so far – Even where we don’t get the full story necessarily, we can see the mental scars just below the surface. It was touches like that which made me appreciate this series, even if it’s no timeless classic as you’ve effectively pointed out.
It is definitely a mixed bag, the visuals (opening included) are stunning, the first half though is a slight let down. In a sense I quite liked the juxtaposition between the happy-dappy, puppies and sunshine fluff and the pitch black reality of war that Felicia and Noel suffered through. If a sequel was on the cards, a wider look at the world, perhaps through Rio’s now royal connections, would be wonderful.
The odd scene of the old war seemed almost alien with the multipedal tanks hanging off buildings and the like; how such a catastrophe happened to wipe all life from the oceans though, that’s something I’d like to see explored. Spot on the mark about the soundtrack though, so many great tracks on there…
I guess one measure of a series is in how much it sticks with you after it has finished, and to Sora no Woto‘s credit, it does just that.
I got the Haibane Renmei vibe as well, but also a bit of YKK to be honest. I guess it’s the feeling of the world on its last legs that did that. Sora No Woto treated the end of the world with the same sort of sadness rather than the usual scary apocalyptic feeling.
The end felt a little hurried, and I can’t help but share your suspicion that A1 “moe-fied” the series in order to ensure greater success, but overall it was a great watch with a nice melancholic vibe that stood out from the crowd.
Actually, when it comes to the “K-On!” style comparisons, Kyoto Animations may have actually copied that style from Kannagi, another A1 Pictures series (same studio that did Sora no Woto). Actually, I doubt that KyoAni actually copied the style, but it’s more of a concidental style similarity since Kannagi was only 6 months older than K-On, but the character designs are something that A1 Pictures was already using at the time (despite the lack of people that seemed to work on both Kannagi and Sora no Woto, from what I can tell). Someone on AnimeSuki pointed this out.
UPDATE: Actually, the Character designer for Sora no Woto, Toshifumi Akai, did do some key animation and animation director for Kannagi… Not sure if that influenced him though. Sora no Woto is the first time he’s credited for Character Design.
What really bothered me was the ending, and the way the legend of the angel was reconfigured to match what was going on with the platoon. Perhaps if Aisha had been introduced around episode 9, this sudden mythological challenge would have seemed less jarring.
I was amused to find out that the title of the ED, “Girls, Be Ambitious” is a reference to a famous line by Prof. William S. Clark, as he said goodbye to his Japanese students: “Boys, be ambitious! Be ambitious not for money or for selfish aggrandizement, not for that evanescent thing which men call fame. Be ambitious for that attainment of all that a man ought to be.” Apparently this is well-remembered in Japan.
Like you, I found Sora no Woto imbalanced but beautiful.
I only had the chance to watch one episode of it, and actually liked it very much! I’m usually not a big fan of military x cute girls (with something like K-ON I can stand it when it’s unrealistic, but here it’s often painful…), but the slice of life factor absolutely makes up for it.
Oh, the opening is great. My first reaction was that it sounded a lot like the Allison & Lilia OP, and I used to love that song.
Can I be the last to say that this show was a mixed bag?
I don’t think the comment that the creators didn’t seem to know what to make of it is necessarily a bad thing. I think uncertainty in how it’s going to turn out can make moments of great beauty. Not that the creators were rolling dice as they went. They certainly had an intention for showing us a gaggle of moe girls (even if the early art suggested a less-moe design) who happened to be soldiers operating in a post-war civilization. It instantly raised questions. What had happened? What was the war like? What kind of show is this going to be? I think the creators planned that, and of course they have no obligation to answer that last question. THIS kind of show, that’s what!
So, in terms of it being a mixed bag, I mean from both the audience expectations (which is the audience’s own damn fault), and the overall quality. As you said, it’s just beautiful to look at. With hindsight, the slow slip back into war was subtly handled. The world they created was rich. On the other hand, the whole mythological side didn’t work for me. I don’t think they worked it hard enough. And I could have done without that damn “waiting for the phone to ring” episode.
In the end I think they should be commended for confounding our expectations.
@Nick: the soundtrack is absolutely lovely – the same songwriter who worked on Xam’d, incidentally. And yeah, it’s funny how the K-On! comparison is based purely on a superficial character design resemblance.
@Hanners: it certainly worked well in terms of winding up for the big finale. I suspect a rewatch would make me appreciate it more. A second season would be the ideal thing though.
@chaostangent: although the characters were quite ‘off the peg’ the backstories helped endear them to me. I’d so love to learn more about the events in the background – it’s not so much frustrating as simply strange that this was left dangling. To its credit, certain aspects really did stick in my mind.
@otou-san: I can see a bit of the YKK-style ‘gentle end to the world’ thing in there, as if the human race is bowing out gracefully (interestingly, we still make the same old mistakes by fighting each other!). Perhaps it was that unique mixture – ‘apocalypse moe’ as Bateszi put it – that made it a refreshing change.
@2DT: yeah, the difference between the two interpretations of the legend would’ve worked even better had it been introduced sooner…instead of, say, having Kanata sit next to a telephone and trip over a lot for an entire episode. ¬_¬ I had no idea that the end theme, which was an increasing non-sequitur as the story progressed, was a reference so well-known in Japan. That little nod would’ve sadly passed me by completely if you hadn’t mentioned it, so thanks!
@Sasa: I loved the Allison & Lillia OP tune (shame about the rest of the series!) but yeah, I can see the folky-ballad vibe in this too. But then, I’m a shameless Kalafina fan anyway…I hope you get the chance to finish this, then I can hear your thoughts about it. (:
@Peter S: I liked the way it rendered the worldview and how things lulled me into a false sense of security before gradually getting more serious. As for the expectations thing…the viewer has a responsibility of sorts to think about what s/he is seeing and not transpose preconceptions onto it, or jump to conclusions. But the writer(s) have a responsibility to give the average viewer a fair chance at doing this – I’m having a bit of trouble putting this into words clearly, there’s a point where it stops being the audience’s fault and becomes the fault of gaps/inconsistencies in the writing.
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I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish the series anytime soon because I am approaching finals, but afterwards I definitely will! Then again, first comes Bakemonogatari… and about all the other shows I have missed over the past year (I should make a list which ones they are.)
With that said, happy birthday!
I don’t have anything to add, except that like the homage in the ending song that 2DT pointed out, there’s one in the gorgeous opening; of course it’s not simply arty, it’s an in-your-face pastiche of Gustav Klimt (but you knew that already), and the best part is, that one shot of Kanata from the back, hunched over and looking over her shoulder at the camera, is a spot-on copy of a figure in Klimt’s Goldfish! (But with a chaste white robe added.) The best part is, Klimt meant this figure as a “kiss my ass” to those who objected to the “obscenity” of his earlier work—the full title is Goldfish (to my critics).
Quite a switcheroo, going from that to the adorable, innocent Kanata, eh?