NotCliche

Kanata, reporting for duty!

Sora no Woto, one of the most anticipated animes in my whole list for the year arrived, and the delivery of the first episode is nothing short of excellent. Ever since I’ve saw the preview trailer for the series, I immediately had a feeling that this series would somewhat resemble the atmosphere ARIA had when I first watched it.

And I’m extremely glad that I was right!

The first episode introduces us to the five primary characters in the series, although much of a proper introduction each. Even then, I’m sure many people would immediately know how they are like, judging from how they communicate to one another.

It’s an amazing town, all right.

Right off the bat, we’re treated to a lively festival that takes place in the town of Seize, where Private Kanata Sorami and her 1221st Platoon is stationed. Assigned to the “Time-keeping Fortress”, Kanata is a trumpeter, although it’s not exactly sure what does a trumpeter does in the fortress, other than playing the “wake-up” tune or something. The festival celebrates the legend of “maiden of flame“, where the town was supposedly saved by several maidens who had sacrificed themselves for the greater good of the town.

While viewing the first episode, I can’t help but to feel that this particular series has an ARIA-like feeling to it. The town of Seize can be related to the city of Neo-Venezia, both of which have their own fair share of legends. Like how Akari had explored around the city of Neo-Venezia, Kanata had her own fair share of adventuring as well as witnessing of legends.

A beautiful sunrise to complement the soothing trumpeting.

The non-important characters such as the towns folks of Seize also plays an important role in the overall feeling for the episode too, as one would agree that one of ARIA’s beauty is that the main characters usually interacted with the towns folk, giving a kind of heartwarming feeling while watching the anime.

Not only that, Sora no Woto features some of the most beautiful and detailed art to ever grace any anime TV at all. From the inside of the town to the rocky mountains that the town of Seize sits upon, every single little nook and cranny looks extremely detailed, and that alone is probably one of the most distinct thing about Sora no Woto.

Kanata in a helmet looks pretty cute.

Despite the cheery look that Kanata has, her history seems to be one of sadness, as the episode starts off with a somewhat depressing mood, and it might somehow be related to why she had wanted to join up with the military as a trumpeter in the first place. With her in the fortress are:

“You hold it THIS way.”

Rio: Always strict, always serious. Despite the “no-nonsense” aura that she gives around her, she is extremely caring about her friends (or platoon mates, if you will) and would occasionally tease others when given the chance.

Reminds you of a certain pink coloured female from Lucky Star, doesn’t it?

Felicia: Your typical high-class lady like kind of person. Captain of the fortress, she can be considered as somewhat of a mother for the girls of the platoon. She is also, in the very least, somewhat scheming, seeing that she had “deliberately” chosen Rio as the maiden for the festival of Seize.

Give her purple hair and a pair of glasses to go!

Noel: Not much is revealed in this particular episode, but it looks like she’s a mechanic for the platoon. Managing massive tanks seems to be her job, and she barely talks.

“Are we there yet?”

Kureha: What can I say? Doesn’t like to wait, likes to get things done quickly…. that kind of impatient girl!

Field cooking by Kanata!

The episode started in a fashion where I could not have wished for more. Unlike majority of the anime series out these days, Sora no Woto features on extremely distinct kind of opening that separates it from the rest: a dynamic opening, unlike the ones that graces our animes these days. Like ARIA, the opening sounded great and the animation that accompanied it was extremely fitting. However, since the series is currently in it’s first episodes, it’s not exactly clear if the later episodes would still feature this kind of “dynamic” opening, rather than the traditional “static” opening. But one thing’s for sure, the first episode’s opening was nothing short of awesome.

As we go along the episode, I’m gradually seeing more and more familiar things between ARIA and Sora no Woto, and that’s generally a good thing. Despite the K-ON-ish art, Sora no Woto in the first episode has proven itself to be one of the more interesting, heartwarming and comedic (somewhat) series in the whole of the season and I’m pretty sure it will continue to be in time to come!

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