Otaku Review

Sora Kake Girl – Ep 2
Studio: Sunrise
Air Date: 1/12/09
Genre: Sci-Fi

A major drop in animation and the most confusingly easy going heroine ever instantly makes ‘Sora Kake Girl’ much harder to get through.

The Story

After meeting Leopard and being shot by a mysterious girl, Akiha returns home confused but alive. The wedding engagement is called off by her mother and she goes to school only to be questioned about why she out in that capsule in the first place (glad I’m not the only one who would like to know). When the mysterious girl who shot her appears at school as a new student though, her life gets much more complicated as she starts to learn more about what Leopard is and what he needs to survive. Meanwhile, the Mystery Department is officially off the case but unofficially they want some answers of their own.

Good and Bad

The animation in the first episode is what had me initially sold on this series. Just very beautiful to look at; from the lines to the CG to the characters, it all looked wonderful. Within the first few seconds though audiences will see exactly how much of that was just to hook in the audience. The colors are dull, the lines are faded and the characters don’t look anywhere near as sharp as they did in the beginning. It was nice while it lasted though. Of course one expects a drop in quality going into the second episode but this felt like a freefall.

Beyond the animation though, there were many things about the first episode that had me intrigued enough to want to continue. The characters were a very strong selling point with me at first. Akiha originally struck me as an interesting lead character. She’s sweet but not annoying, stubborn but with good cause. In the second episode though, her engagement is called off almost right away making one wonder if the whole thing was just an excuse thrown in for her to run away. Worse than that is how laid back she is shown to be in this episode, and I don’t mean that as a compliment.

Around the middle of this episode, another character takes her on a mission to retrieve something. At first she is very reluctant to do this and even calls out about how what they are about to do is stealing and wrong. Never once does she ever stop doing anything though and even carries on the objective while her partner acts as a distraction. It takes one line of dialogue to convince her that what they are doing is ok. How are we supposed to get behind a heroine who is that easy to lead around?

Music

For almost the entire episode, the music in ‘Sora Kake Girl’ was either irritatingly out of place or just plain bad. The opening single from Ali Project is something that initially I was looking forward to hearing. Unfortunately I soon realized that while it’s not a bad track, ‘Rara Eve Shinseiki’ is not the best song that the band has ever produced. It’s not the worst but they have done much better than this. The sound is nothing new from the group and the lyrics are certainly less than inspired.

Much of the episode’s first half is filled with soft violin music. Once again, normally I am a big fan of well composed violin music being used in the background. However, as most of the first half takes place within Akiha’s school, the music never felt like a match for the setting. Later in the episode however, the music in the series takes a drastic turn for the better. From the blues guitar in the tavern to the driving guitar riffs in the final moments of the series, that is the kind of music that fans can get behind and enjoy.

Cast

At first I really didn’t mind her or the character. It was annoying sure but it’s not like she talked much so I tried my best to just get over it. However, Ai Nonaka as the mascot character Imo-chan just grated on my nerves this episode. The high squeaky voice that was always, always, always cheerful just drove me to the edge. Perhaps it was just a matter of time but it’s going to be interesting to see how many others feel that way as the series starts to progress further.

Overall

With two episodes presented, the story has yet to really take shape. So far there have been some interesting clues dropped regarding where this story is going to head next but no villain has been made apparent which is where this series is suffering the most right now. With a weak lead and no conflict to get behind, it’s very difficult for me to be slightly interesting in this series right now.

The third episode is certain to develop a few things further however. Characters are finally being brought together into one place and hints are being dropped at who the main cast is going to be fighting against but at this moment, I’ll be catching episode three more out of curiosity rather than genuine interest.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS