Sora no Oto - Anime - AniDB (2024)

This review is based off of pwq Subs. Therefore, all sound and animation issues will strictly conform to what I have seen in their releases. Also note that all my reviews are done after watching the series

two times.

phrases will be boldfaced for the reader’s convenience. Just link the nouns to the adjectives. Also, I'm spelling the Woto in Sora no Oto as Woto since that's how they spelled it in katakana though it still means "The sound of the sky"ー空の音。

Great visuals, mediocre plot, and some standard characters- same old, same old.

As pwq subs said, Sora no Woto is “K-On! at war.” At multiple times, the viewer feels as if he is watching K-On! at war and, depending on the viewer, it will either detract from the experience or enhance it. If you were not a big fan of K-On! then stop reading, Sora no Woto probably will not be for you.
Presumably, Sora no Woto takes place in the future where a great world war has regressed human technological capabilities back to what they were in the twentieth century, except for the spider tanks. Furthermore, Sora no Woto focuses on platoon 1121, nicknamed the five Maidens of the Fortress, who watch over a little village called Seize. The main character of the story is a fifteen year old girl named Sorami Kanata who is inspired to join the army after being entranced by an army bugler’s performance of “Amazing Grace.” She successfully enlists into the army as a bugler and is assigned to platoon 1121. Most of the series is just a lighthearted adventure with platoon 1121, but this does not mean that things do not get serious. Indeed, in the final few episodes there is much drama and little action. This is what mostly sets it apart from K-On!
Notably, Seize is modeled off of Cuenca, Spain.

When I first looked at Sora no Woto, I thought that the character designs were misleading. Like most people, I believed that it was made by the same person who drew K-on! So, I researched a bit and found that it was done by a completely different person, but seriously the resemblance in style is uncanny. Just an added note, this was not done by Kyoto animation but by A-1 and broadcasted on TV Tokyo.
Sora no Woto looks absolutely gorgeous at times. If anything, compliments should go to the animation, because it was well done. The backgrounds looked stunning when the animators wanted them too and sometimes even when they did not want them to. A good deal of detail went into these backgrounds and the viewer will easily be able to tell. It was unfortunate that their setting rarely changed, but when it did, it looked spectacular. For example, there was one episode where the troupe heads to check surveillance devices on the borders. The scenery of their voyage was just stunning. This was definitely one of the times where I fell in love with the art of Sora no Woto.

Colors also fit their environment. The colors used were very calming and induced a relaxed feeling, which is perfect for half of its genre. Contrasts were also used at times to show energy and action, and these worked well. In regards to actual movement of the characters, it was fine. I felt that the movements were not as fluid as something like bakemonogatari, for example, but decent enough that people would not be annoyed. I never really felt that it was a war anime though because of the awkwardness of the fighting. By that I mean that the animation for the fighting felt really slow and not very realistic.

The character designs reminded me a lot of K-on’s character designs. This in itself isn’t actually a bad thing, but it’s kind of hard to take them seriously at times. Just by looks, the protagonist, Kanata is reminiscent of Yui, the squad leader Felicia looks like Mugi, and Rio looks like a serious Mio. I’m not sure why the characters were designed in this way because this definitely makes it feel like a light-hearted, 4-koma manga when it is not. I have to admit though that the characters definitely fit into their environment, but at the cost of unnecessary parallels.

In the anime, the troupe is called the five Maidens of the Fortress and the OP really tries to force that idea on the viewer. In this regard, it succeeds. I personally could appreciate the OP but couldn’t like it. Aesthetically, it looked very nice and authentic, but as a viewer I found it to be dull and boring. The ED probably would have been better as the OP since it was livelier and served to show who each character was and how they interacted with each other. Traditionally, OPs serve that purpose and EDs are milder. Just personally, I feel as if they should have been switched. The ED itself was decently animated, but really nothing special.

Overall, I guess you could say that the animation was inconsistent in quality- ranging from decent to outstanding. Coloring was nice and matched the beautiful scenery. Characters felt similar to K-on! but it’s acceptable because they fit the setting. Characters moved averagely but the fighting seemed really slow and awkward. The OP and ED were decent but not the greatest thing to ever be broadcasted.

Similar to K-on, the sound of Sora no Woto was one of its biggest factors. Kanata joins the army because of an encounter with a soldier playing Amazing Grace on a trumpet. In the base, she learns how to play the trumpet from Rio and then plays it to signal other troops and the town of danger or just as a wake up call. The trumpet playing was as realistic as it could be. Unlike Nodame Cantabile, when someone in the anime sucks at playing an instrument, they actually play like they suck.
BGMs were not memorable but suitable for the anime. The viewer doesn’t feel as if he is hearing the same BGMs over and over again, which is great. Voice acting worked just as well as K-on! This might be a good thing or a bad thing depending on where you stand. For me, I enjoyed the voice acting but, some seiyuus did not capture their character completely, which is unfortunate. During laid back times, all the seiyuus are perfectly fine at playing their characters, but when a serious moment arises, some seiyuus fail to rise to the challenge.
The OP and ED were honestly kind of boring and easily forgettable and I did not go out of my way to listen to them more than twice. Don’t think that this makes the OP or ED bad, because that’s not entirely true. They are as good as any average OP and ED could be and they suit the anime if anything at all.

Sora no Woto’s story line can almost be defined as a daily life except for the fact that it focuses on the lives of soldiers. There is some war action and tragic back stories, but those take place later in the anime. For now, I’ll divide this into two parts- the serious and the non-serious.

Non-Serious: These take place in the beginning half of the series. This is basically to give the viewer a taste of Sora no Woto and introduce the characters. These episodes were touching, amusing, and sometimes generic- there really was no consistency. Even my enjoyment was inconsistent. Sometimes the episodes were so boring that they felt like that first extra episode of K-on and sometimes the episodes were exciting and made me eagerly anticipate the next episode. The boring episodes and interesting episodes are not exactly even though. I believe that the interesting episodes slightly outnumber the boring ones. But if you do not appreciate art as much as I do, you might find some episodes less interesting than I did.

Serious: These episodes are in the last half of the series. The serious episodes actually focused on the war and the scars of each character. In all honesty, I wish they just kept it consistent with the first half even with the chance of criticism for not making any war connections because, honestly, it did not really work. Not once did I really believe that any of those people were soldiers. At times there was tension, but nothing really like the seriousness of war. It felt as if they just turned the seriousness up one notch instead of five. If the creators wanted viewers to really feel like this was a war anime, this is what they should have done. If they wanted this just to have a war setting with funny characters, they should have just going the route they were going in the first half.

Overall: The viewer could sense that there were going to be serious moments in the series, but probably could not predict that they would be so weak. War scenes should have been done more seriously or not at all. It really is “K-on at war.”

In terms of making the viewer bond with characters, they technically did not succeed. I felt as attached to these characters as I did to K-on characters, which is not really that much. In twelve episodes, it is indeed difficult to accomplish this feat. On the other hand, for something like K-on, it is not as crucial to gain the viewers’ compassion, but for an anime with a war setting, it is imperative. Sora no Woto has a war setting and thus should be able to make viewers feel something for the characters’ dilemma. I said technically earlier because most of these characters felt similar to ones in K-on, so technically we have already bonded or not bonded with these characters. Even if you feel as if they have different personalities, the art style will fool the viewer into thinking that he has seen these characters before and that he knows them already. Air head? Check. Motherly type? Check. Person who tries to keep the group in check? Present. So far that is 3/5 characters from K-on. All we’re missing is the scaredy-cat and an energetic tomboy. It will either be a turn on or off for viewers to see such familiar characters and thus, the best advice is just to imagine as if these characters are completely different from the K-on ones. Good luck though.

It feels pointless to actually review the characters’ personalities, but I’ll do it anyway. The characters’ chemistry felt perfectly fine. They worked well together probably because it already worked in K-on. Their personalities complemented each other and thus created a nice balance that kept the viewer interested at times. In terms of their “sorrowful backgrounds” the creators failed to make the viewer interested. In twelve episodes, it is really difficult to make viewers bond with characters because it is such a short interval. In general, it is hard to make viewers bond with characters because they are not real. But for a seinen like Sora no Woto it is definitely crucial to get viewers to feel some kind of compassion for the characters, which brings back up my original point that the creators should have focused on either the serious part or the light-hearted part of the anime rather than do both. In the end, I did not even have a favorite character. Their backgrounds were sometimes melodramatic and insignificant and that is really unwanted for an anime that is trying to be dramatic.

Oh wait! Redeeming factor- there was character development. Indeed, the characters overcame their past scars and bonded as a troupe to exact justice on the evildoers. I will not go into detail on these emotional scars, but they did conquer them by learning from each other. The viewer will be able to tell that the characters changed from who they were initially and will hopefully be able to appreciate the new selves. Personally, I found their changes acceptable and welcome despite their almost petty and generic obstacles to overcome.

“Hey it’s K-on! oh wait no it’s not…” That is seriously this anime’s value- a knock-off K-on that tries to be serious. Its animation quality and sound were great, but characters and story not so much. I would probably only watch this on blu-ray for the stunning visuals and imagination of what a future post-apocalyptic war would be like with people in a Spanish country speaking Japanese. I guess I will cut Sora no Woto some slack since it was more original than most animes that aired around the same time, but not that much slack. This is a maybe buy for visual fanatics and a rental/download for those who just want to watch it to say they watched it. I did not exactly hate watching it twice, but I do not think it was really worth the time.

Sure, I enjoyed some of it but in hindsight, it was just something to watch, not real entertainment. Watching it a second time was not as painful as I thought it would be, but it sure was not as enjoyable as the first time I watched it. Sora no Woto is an anime that gets staler as time passes by. I enjoyed the non-serious episodes more than the serious ones since the serious ones were just so much easier to mock and criticize. The non-serious episodes were not very original but at least much more entertaining.

Like better than average animation? Watch Sora no Woto. Otherwise, try something with more prestige unless you really really want to watch this anime. Do not get me wrong, Sora no Woto is not horrible but it is definitely a bit below average. If you are curious, check it out. If not, then just pass it by and you will not be missing much.

Done reading? All critics feast on criticism or praise and I’m hungry. Don’t forget to rate this review!