Sound of the Sky Anime, Disk 4 (English)

September 5th, 2011

Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuurrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh.

My deepest apologies to sponsor Okazu Superhero Eric P., and all of you who loved it, but repeated administrations of horrible obvious plot complications and utterly idiotic strategy and tactics cannot be swept away by repeated applications of “Amazing Grace.” This series was just absolutely, predictably, pandering and awful, IMHO. I know that so many of you liked it, but I just could not. Too many handwaves, way too many.

I did admire the writers desperately trying to make it make sense at the end, with Aisha’s version of the story about the Flame Maidens and I also thought that the voice actresses did a stellar job of speaking German cutely.

Ratings:

Art – Backgrounds – 9
Story – Auuughhhhhh!
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1 +1 for the obvious Noel x Aisha setup
Service – 5/5 split 5 for the actual creepy pervs and 5 for the sweet/cute obsessives

Overall – Stab, stab, stab

The Sound of the Sky boxset contest will go on a little longer, let’s say until the 20th of September, so check out the rules and send in your entry if you haven’t already!

9 Responses

  1. Eric P. says:

    “My deepest apologies to sponsor Okazu Superhero Eric…”

    No apologies, necessary, Erica. *I* apologize that you weren’t able to enjoy this. Perhaps some ‘K-On’ will cheer you up and alleviate some of your pain for you later? Perhaps?

    Speaking solely for myself–aside from the haunting opening song, the unique world setting, and nice animation/music–one of the things I liked about this series was that in the end, especially in the final episode, it was about a group of girls taking charge of their own lives.

    SPOILER::
    Rio may have settled to get married due to her position, but she seized the first chance she got to be reunited and stay with her fellow troops, because that’s where her true heart laid. When they all discussed what their dreams were, except for one of them they all pretty much thought of anything *but* marriage
    ::END SPOILER

    That’s kind of something for a series with moe-stylized characters by a male staff for a male audience. What ultimately made the show for me was the very final episode where it gets summed up how sincerely strong Kanata and Rio’s bond is–in an un-Yuri way, of course.

  2. @Eric, Rio was able to return because the Roman ruler let her. Lack of agency right there.

    I was honestly terribly disappointed that the “retreat” confused everyone, but inexplicably, “Amazing Grace” made everyone stop the battle. Seriously, that makes no sense if you think about it.

  3. Robert Moore says:

    Look up the Christmas Truce of WWI and you will be surprised to learn that not only was the ending feasible, but less dramatic versions happened in real life. If you take WWI to an extreme (ie. put it on a dying world where even teenage girls are in service), singing an emotional, religious song of the people might shatter morale and cause a delay.

    [[[Spoiler Alert!]]]

    Kanata’s song didn’t stop the battle, it only delayed it. Rio’s sacrifice stopped the battle and saved both nations. To me, that was cool.

    I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the series. Hopefully, someone will use the good stuff out of it and do away with the bad stuff (the moe particularly) in an ahistorical or sci fi series. I really wish Yuri would get out of the high school setting. I really, really don’t care who plays Catherine in the school production of “Wuthering Heights”. I do not.

    Thank you both for putting such effort into writing about this series.

  4. BruceMcF says:

    Hey, wait a minute! You declared that you were never going to apologize in a review again! I demand an apo…

    … oh, wait. I seem to have written myself into a conundrum.

  5. the_patches says:

    Alright, alright. I’ll concede. I’m with Eric on this series for affection, but don’t feel I can DEFEND it. Does that make sense?

    I’m glad you at least appreciated how it looked and sounded. Those were certainly the strongest elements.

  6. George R. says:

    I share Eric’s apology that you weren’t able to enjoy this, not because I feel “you must like it,” but because you did not have an enjoyable time. It sounds like he and I enjoyed the series for similar reasons. Maybe I’m projecting my own fandelusion into the show, but I figure that’s not a problem as long as I enjoy it and don’t insist it is “the one truth” or that anyone else accepts it.

    Music stopping the final battle was nostalgic for me. Yes, it’s unrealistic, but it also was in “Macross, Do You Remember Love” which was one of the movies that got me into anime in the first place. I guess I was expecting that ending here, so the lack of realism raised no issue.

    Anyway, here’s hoping that you find the next thing you watch or read very enjoyable.

    George

  7. @Robert – I’m with you on the school setting. And I stand corrected on the military history as well.

    @Eric, George R., Bruce McF – I think all of you were doing a lot of work to make this series “good.” Work that I felt it did not warrant. I am sorry I could not like it, but I appreciate your understanding!

  8. Arkadi says:

    Totally with you here, Mrs Friedman ^^ That’s all I have to say.

  9. BruceMcF says:

    I don’t think I exerted any effort to like the series, but OTOH, many decades before I had ever heard of anime as a distinct thing (when we were watching Speed Racer after school on the local network affiliate, we didn’t know it was “anime”), I was both a science fiction fan and a brass player ~ bass trombone in particular.

    As far as at first reacting to the retreat with skepticism, but falling into a state of mind where they are willing to believe in the retreat after Amazing Grace ~ that struck me as emotionally true, for battle hardened but war weary troops from, as we had already seen, a deeply superstitious culture.

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