Saturday 15 December 2012

Anime review: Sora no Woto

Title: Sora no Woto (Sound of the Sky)

Year: 2010

What is it about: A rookie who joined the military for free music lessons.

My review: It's quite hard to describe this anime. There is not much of a fixed plot. My first impression of this anime is that it is going to be another Valkyria Chronicles. I was entirely wrong. Sure, this anime involves soldiers and the military. But the major difference between this anime and Valkyria Chronicles is that this anime takes place in times of peace, whereas the latter takes place at times of war. Another thing is, this story centres round a platoon consisting of young girls. So there is really nothing much to be expected from this anime other than a little girl trying to adapt to her life in the military while taking trumpet lessons from her senior.

This anime is not the type where it gives you the feeling of suspense at the end of each episode, nor is it the type where there is a tension atmosphere throughout it's anime. It's rather carefree, and somewhat the happy-type. It's also a bit funny. Their missions have nothing to do with go out and kill someone (obviously. They are little girls.), but rather, to purchase items or at the worst scenarios, a search-and-rescue mission. To wait for a phone call from HQ is actually one of their 'missions'!

These keeps going on and on throughout the anime. Then we get to see a little flashbacks of war times to spice the anime a little. That's when things get a little more interesting, when we get to know the characters a little more. Just a little though, until the last two episodes that is. The final two episodes is where their lives are actually jeopardized by a potential war. In the last two episodes, it's where we see a little more actions than the others. There's army, tanks and so on marching to face each other and prepare for combat. This anime also takes a somewhat unexpected turn towards the end, though it is actually predictable that there won't be a mass battle going on. Keep in mind that this is not a war anime, but a post-war anime where the characters are enjoying times of peace while the high tension lies within the negotiation for truce.

Finally, like many other animes, this anime has its own set of flaws. The first, this anime tends to get things a little mixed up. I know a great war has taken place before the events of this anime, and apparently the war is so destructive it wipes out all of human technology. But it is really weird to see on one side cutting edge technology with spider-shaped tanks that can climb walls, and on another side a girl who have no idea how a telephone works. Another thing is about the typical way an anime tries to cut short its length. When the main character joins the military, she suck real bad in blowing a bugle. But after an inspirational talk from a random guy, she instantly became a pro. Though I won't blame it entirely as she really had been practicing hard, but failed at every attempt.

In conclusion, this anime is actually a pretty pleasant one. Not often can you find a soldier story that has nothing to do with fighting and blowing stuffs up. This anime will also put you in tears just by hearing the song "Amazing Grace" played with the trumpet at the right moments. The most amazing this about this anime is that an emo kid is voiced by Aoi Yuuki who is famous for voicing the most talkative and annoying characters, and then there's a priestess voiced by Misato Fukuen. Guess what, both of them spoke German!

Rating (out of 10): 7

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