Sora No Woto (12 Episodes Single Seasons 2 Ova's) 7.96 out of 10 Stars
While often slandered as "Military K On!!", it's quite an oversight to assume Sora No Woto doesn't have it's own merit as it's own unique story, while some will carelessly draw parallels between how Rio & Kanata play brass instruments, along side plausibly similar character designs & the slice of life aspects each series has to call Sora No Woto a "Rip Off", that's really where the similarities end, as I find the comparison surface level and facile, paying little attention to the stark differences regarding the text. In that while K On! continued to be a text book example of a completely episodic comedy throughout it's span of 30 sum episodes, with everything plush & Kawai (Cute) - Sora No Woto on the other hand blossomed more so into a coming of age story, and at least made some attempt at a collective overarching narrative and theme, contrasting it's light hearted moments with prospect of war that threatens their peaceful way of life on the outskirts of Seize, however rosy and sentimental such a take on war that may be.
While somewhat of an average story with a glossed over and an idealized version of what war really means, what particularly strikes me are some of the more subliminal & quiet moments within the series along side occasional laughs that I find make it worth the watch. Not to mention it's a really beautifully rendered animated series for it's time.
Plot & Narrative Aspects
Beginning with something of a monochrome prologue of the past, we find a young girl in a war town house hugging her knees calling for her mother. Though as grey and lonely as the scene is depicted, we catch a glimpse of a blonde officer walking on the roadside, and as the little girl peeks her head out in curiosity through the empty frame of the door, she looks off into the distance with her trumpet at the ready, and seemingly opens up the sky as the clouds begin to depart when she starts to play the warming and resonant sound of " Amazing Grace's" opening perfect 4th. In the present, that girl "Kanata" is now a little more grown up, however still mesmerized by the mysterious encounter as she too sets off to another town on a journey by train from her home to learn the trumpet and follow her footsteps by joining the military, with the pretence of being able to learn an instrument for free.
Being stationed in the city of Seize within the country of Helvetia, along with a few mishaps & fumbles she still ends up finally meeting the 1121st platoon, getting aquatinted with characters such as Rio Kazumiya & Filicia Heideman. The funny thing about the setting is that although you can see numerous examples of written french throughout the series, oddly enough the country is called Helvetia which is a female personification or name for Switzerland, and the fact that the city of "Seize" was actually based entirely off of the spanish city of Cuenca makes this much much weirder.
Though I do understand this is something of an imaginary setting, and the fact that the enemy soldiers on the borders of Helvetia are called "Roman" Aka Italian, I guess in that sense it makes a little more sense geographically to call the country Helvetia if such rules of logic ever applied in the first place, however back to the point. Thanks to referencing Cuenca Spain for the set locations it really goes hand in hand in taking us back in time a little, where the story is set in a post modern apocalyptic era where humanity has regressed back to 20th century technology standards for the large part, where only relics of the past such as the highly advanced Takemikazuchi tank remain. Not to mention Sora No Woto's depiction of the city is just perfect for the more subliminal and melancholic themes of the series, as the scenery is easy on the eyes, vast and full of history and character. Very much setting the stage for some of the mountainous outdoor adventures & trips throughout the city that happen throughout the story.The Problem Here -
If we're counting the Ova's (Which we should) the story unfolds in an episodic fashion over a span of half a year for the initial series and for a year if we count the OVA's and as you might imagine for a typical 12 episode series, 6 months for 12 episodes is quite alot of time and ground to cover, in that the series is quite temporarily compressed from an episode to episode and to even a scene to scene basis. An issue you might find regarding the given parameters and format is that the story seemingly glosses over alot in a idealistic fashion, with perhaps a sub optimal amount of important developments to make for more interesting subject matter - Be it character developments or plot.
Though the conflict and tension that does arise is often a byproduct of a given character's dilemma with their past, and of course such problems usually unfold into these small episodes dedicated to seeing them through and resolving them. My issue here is that these stand alone episodes if you will seem quite one note and short lived in an unsatisfying manner. In that they seem too much like one offs since I think resolving these personal issues in such a compressed and idealistic fashion is naive storytelling at it's finest, as there's seemingly always some sort of solution to the problem and a typical happy go lucky ending as well. It's predictable to put it shortly, and as a byproduct very little tension is built or explosive results as a result of that suspension for that matter. Being that I tend to find at least in real life and relating to myself for that matter when people harbor such feelings and dark emotions, the trauma tends to be far more intense, deeply affecting and that much more vivid depending on the severity of the issue. So for a character to simply to belly ache for an episode and go back to normal the very next when the story so deliberately tries to tell me that "This is Important" in every way possible (Music, Cinematography, Screenplay, Staging etc.) I simply Don't Buy It. It's really too idealistic, as deeply affecting problems such as these truly take time and consideration to get over, it isn't supposed to be easy is what I'm trying to say, it's supposed to be a struggle.It Gets Better Though -
The story is quite simple as it comes off as pretty easy, in that pretty much right from the get go Kanata & the rest of the 1121st platoon buddy up pretty quickly as we follow their silly and cute antics. However a theme that I like to think is pretty touching is how the story alludes to the continuous cycle of having kouhia's & senpai's (Junior & senior), and how that one day what was passed onto to from the senpai to the kouhai, will now also be passed onto the next generation of kouhai's from those who'll now become senpai's. As I find it perfectly embodies how the story touches upon the trauma of war, and the loss that it brings, and how those that remain must continue to soldier on for the next generation, as a touch stone of respect and gratitude to those who've past on.
At the mid point of the series (EP 7) it's really in this period of mourning that the members of the 1121st platoon really grow closer and open their hearts to each other a little bit more, reaching something of an emotional climax as each of them send their paper lanterns down the river stream in memory of those that have been lost. We slowly begin to inch towards the ruin alluded to in earlier episodes, as the later half of the series soon builds into a tilting point, where war once again threatens to ruin their way of life and the happiness they've salvaged and healed from the cracks. The story of course comes full circle as a trivial misunderstanding of the myth surrounding the water pouring festival as seen in the first episode regarding the fire maidens is unraveled, as the foretold events alluded to in the myth seemingly unfold in the present like a prophecy with the 1121st platoon in the place of the fire maidens.How It All Ends -
In that the main conflict of the story resolves in an incredibly overly idealistic & rosy fashion, really striking quite a bit of disbelief in the timing and the cause and consequence of events, where essentially our "Knight in Shining Armour" arrives at perfect moment and with Kanata's rendition of "Amazing Grace" ceases the incoming clash between armies in an impossibly ridiculous fashion cueing a lot of eye rolling on my part. Worse the pretext for the two nations for fighting in the first place was so vague we really have no clue why, where, and exactly when Helvetia & Roma fought at all. All we really know is that they fought in the past, and the terms of negotiation regarding the armistice erected a year prior was falling apart, really apparently being the only reasons behind the civil unrest that later takes place in the story.
Though alongside an OVA, the story goes to further lengths in attempts to bandaid and elaborate on the issue of the world "slowly ending" and how land and resources are growing more and more scarce, pushing more and more nations to fight over them in hopes of survival. Definitely offering a much better ending and resolving point for the series as it's left somewhat open ended and optimistic at that, as Rio of 1121st like many other's throughout the last episode explain their dreams to Kanata, in that her dream stems from her late mother's belief that somewhere out there in the unexplored regions lie the habitable promise land that they've been searching for to settle, to bring an end to the conflicts raging across the land.Character Analysis - Relation to plot
The large part of the story centers around our ever cute female protagonist Kanata, and while I do like her cute antics & dialogue, she's somewhat of a stock character with a relatively non descript background & as a result she's seemingly just a happy go lucky girl from the boonies without really any defining struggle or dilemma she goes through, let alone that many developments to her character at all really. And as you might imagine with having such a character being the focal point of so many aspects within the story doesn't really make for much interesting subject matter, and more so coming off as somewhat monophonic. Mainly relying upon the general slice of life and comedic aspects that can be seen in just about any other given anime. This circle of light of course thankfully doesn't really extend towards other characters, as asides from Kanata we're given quite a bit more substance with characters such as Rio & Filicia.
However I find that even their character portfolio's are limited in how much emotional effect & in turn the consequence they actually have on the plot. Rio's character portfolio of course in my opinion is perhaps the most interesting & perennial part of the story. Without trying to reveal to much, she came to be as a result of an inexcusable affair her mother had with another man, who since passed away alongside her sister, who was something of a role model for her as well. Her struggle entails that after running away from her home to a city which she didn't really plan to stay very long, she had little purpose or comfort from the likes of her family or friends. With this rather vacant mindset she struggles to find the will to push on, though somewhere along the lines while spending time in the 1121st platoon she finds the friendship & solace she's perhaps been looking for. Rio herself really serves as the enforcer and backbone of the 5 man platoon, straightening her juniors out & being something of a capable role model for them. However she also has a something of a quick temper & a sharp tongue that sometimes rubs people the wrong way. Though just like the other members of the 1121st platoon she slowly realizes that the peaceful life she's salvaged & the relationships they've built with the people across the town of Seize is something she's willing to protect in the face of danger.
And in my eyes this really does wonders in gathering a collective theme that's built across the duration of 12 episodes, being the prospect of building a new life and relationships, and if the time ever comes serving to protect it . As you might imagine the whole "Friendship" and "Protection" thing is of course old and cliché, but at the end of the day it still works & the staff at A-1 pictures was still able to offer a unique and refreshing experience to be able to rock such theme's in a reasonably entertaining fashion. The issue more so lies in the one note dilemma type characters and how little diversity each character has regarding their individual portfolios if you will. Again it's with the sort of one and done episodes focussing on the given characters one note dilemmas I was talking about, which every character asides from Kanata has.
Filicia's for example comes across during the 7th episode on the day of "Fiesta Des Lumiéres" which is wholly similar to Japan's Obon festival. It highlights her period of mourning as her usually bubbly and optimistic demeanour, is contrasted with her abnormal behaviour when spacing out & trying to isolate herself from the group with obvious excuses. It's this service of episode "vignettes" if you will that really leave me a little disappointed in the potential that characters such as Rio had, and although I didn't really expect really that much from Kureha as I found her spotlight episode quite adequate, I really do think Soro No Woto is missing a strong developing character thread that develops throughout the entire series for me to really respect it as a story overall, I mean you could blame the format yes, but it's not like I haven't seen other 12 episode series that use their time more efficiently for far more vivid and complex developments, as I can't really ignore the multitude of nonchalant slice of life episodes that could've been used to develop more character story, giving far more substance and emotional context the over arching narrative as a whole.
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| Hiroyuki Yoshino [Screenplay & Series Composition] |
In the end Sora No Woto was indefinitely a very comedic and relaxing watch, with the sparse scenery & cute gags to go along with it, as I always found that the main reason I enjoyed Sora No Woto was really because of the laughter and subliminal atmosphere I would get out of it. Finding that the screenplay written by Hiroyuki Yoshino while flawed in a larger sense of things, was still quite enjoyable and refreshingly comedic. However it's not series to look forward to for a broader range of more complex emotional flavours, and as a result the overarching plot is similarly simplistic as well.Page 1
Article Contents
- Plot | Narrative & Character Aspects
- Production Aspects [Cinematography | Animation | Art Direction]
- Voice Actor Choreography | Sound Effects
- Original Soundtrack & Addendum
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