Sora no Woto review

So ends the initially dubbed “Military K-ON!” anime which, though not a spectacular series, was fairly enjoyable…

Obviously one thing that stood out about Sora no Woto when it first started airing is the characters’ resemblance to the K-ON! characters (Kanata to Yui, Rio to Mio, Filicia to Tsumugi). Even their personalities are similar, as is the importance of music in both series. However, while A-1 Pictures may have had the intention to cash in on the post-K-ON! boom, the setting and plot of both series is vastly different. Actually, one of the main reasons I decided to watch Sora no Woto was because of its animation style’s resemblance to Kannagi, which was also produced by A-1 Pictures.

I found Sora no Woto to be on the border between an episodic series and a plot-centered series. Most of the episodes are episodic and focus on the development of the five heroines in stand-alone stories, but there’s always some small, subtle plot development within. And for some of the episodes, the last few in particular, the underlying plot becomes very important.

The five main characters, while not conveying any unique personalities or relationships we haven’t already seen in other anime, become likable regardless. I think some of their appeal comes from the setting they’re in – a mixture of moe and mecha/military elements allows them to be thrust into both cute, touching situations as well as dramatic, suspenseful situations, thus different sides of their personalities can be revealed. Despite having only 12 episodes, each of the five girls had at least one episode where they were able to shine, though more episodes would have probably been better for their development.

The main thing that stood out to me in Sora no Woto is the setting. Even by the end of the last episode, we still don’t get a thorough explanation of the world they live in besides the fact that a great war caused it to become the way it is in the story. The only clues we get are subtleties, like the Fire Maiden’s tale, the fact that organism don’t live in the oceans anymore, and that languages and country names are different (Seize resembles Spain, Helvetia is another name for Switzerland, and the Roman Empire’s language is German). Putting these and other hints about the setting together gives the impression that Sora no Woto perhaps takes place many centuries in the future, after some kind of catastrophic war reduced our once flourishing world into what it is in the series. And even after seeing the whole show, I still have the same question about the setting: does Sora no Woto take place in a fictional world, or does it take place in a hypothetical future of reality? I would have liked to know more of the history of Sora no Woto’s setting, but I also think the ambiguity of how it’s presented is fascinating.

For the most part, I didn’t think there was anything noticeably bad about Sora no Woto. As I said, the main girls are a bit cliche but still appealing enough if you don’t have an aversion to their kind of archetypes. The only thing I can fault is the abruptness of the last few episodes. I think it would have been more impacting if Rio had left earlier in the series rather than being gone for only 1.75 episodes. And the fact that Kanata’s performance of “Amazing Grace” in the final episode, though beautifully done, was able to get the attention of and halt an army of hundreds or even thousands of soldiers in giant robots was kind of far-fetched, as was Rio’s grand reappearance at the exact moment that the army was going to resume their attack. But hey, if you’re willing to take the full dose of belief-suspension, it’s a pretty cool ending. And the final scene with Rio rejoining the 1121 Platoon was a sweet finishing touch.

For animation and music, Sora no Woto is above average. The animation, though not as good as Kannagi, was still more fluid and detailed, with a higher frame rate than most TV anime. And for someone who rarely takes note of background music in anime, Sora no Woto had some lovely classical-like tunes, even in the eyecatch. I quickly fell in love with the beautiful opening song, “Hikari no Senritsu,” and the cheerful ending song “Girls, Be Ambitious.” For an ending song, it has more actual animation than the opening and is performed by Haruka Tomatsu, who plays Nagi in Kannagi, but doesn’t do an actual voice in Sora no Woto.

Although I wouldn’t rate Sora no Woto as a ground-breaking series, I would definitely say it’s better than the average. Even if you don’t like the moe style, Sora no Woto is more serious and dramatic than cutesy and light. It has a good mix of warmth, emotion, and beauty as well as suspenseful military/mecha action and drama. It’s a pleasant and often touching show with good universal messages and a setting that keeps you pondering.