A happy Matsuri always makes my day.

Yay! It’s finally done!

The final DVD special for sola is basically an episode detailing on what happens to everyone right before the series begins, set roughly around the 2 days before the main series starts.

Nothing much really happens, apart from seeing more of everyone going on with their daily lives, so I don’t feel like summarizing it. Just wait for Lunar to finally sub this episode and complete my sola collection.

Well, to be honest, I’m a bit disappointed it wasn’t as interesting as the first DVD omake and it neither really offered much of development to any of the characters other than to expand on their original characteristics, although Yorito’s sora-con is painfully evident in this episode. I’ll not be surprised if he jerks off to his ceiling…

Also, we find out how Matsuri gets her money… apparently she, uh, “recycles” old books she finds in the church. I’m pretty sure that’s not actually allowed… but maa~~~

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Mmmm.. molesting cute lolis… mmm…

Onsen resort episode, featuring the “neglected” side characters of sola, the Ishizuki sisters and classmates along with Mayuko and Takeshi, who all meet together at a hot springs resort. Timeline-wise, this episode seems to be set after Matsuri’s saved by Yorito and before Yorito discovers that she’s a Yaka. Of course, I could be a bit wrong…

Highlights of the episode:

• Koyori emitting tons of loli moe.
• Sakura Sae, Mana’s classmate and her delusions are extremely funny, especially when she meets her beloved “hige dandy” at the resort.
• Koyori getting molested by Chisato (see above), a total cuteophile. Of course, Mayuko isn’t safe from her touching as well….
• Matsuri in mizugi!!!!
• Aono, still in the hospital, trying out a sukumizu, only to be walked in by… Yorito (see below). Oh god that was totally lulz, especially when they used such a serious BGM track on it.

Always remember to lock the door when engaging in embarrassing activity of any sorts.

Can’t wait for the last OVA… then I can finally complete my sola folder :P.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

In memory of one of last season’s best shows. Matsuri, you will be dearly missed.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Sayonara… Matsuri.

Aono manages to throw off Yorito and avoids Matsuri’s stab. Aono tries to attack Matsuri but Yorito stops her and she runs off. Aono then finds her Yaka powers weakening while Yorito piggybacks the injured Matsuri to find Aono, where they share a last intimate moment together before Yorito himself starts to disassemble. Seeing this, Matsuri decides to go alone, reassuring Yorito that they’ll meet again… which Yorito remarks that it’s an obvious lie.

While searching, Matsuri reminisces back on the times past when she met Aono. They finally confront each other for the last time and Matsuri thanks Aono for teaching her the human heart before starting. As again, Aono has the upper hand, but only just barely. Knocking her down, Aono grabs Matsuri’s sword and tries to stab her but the blow is taken by Yorito who returns to paper. Matsuri then hugs the crying Aono and stabs her, giving Aono her life to change her back in to a human. The sun rises and Matsuri smiles for the last, while remembering back a part of her past where Yorito and Aono tries to show her how the sky looks like.

Time jumps to roughly a year ahead and a boy is seen trying to feed a kitten he has found when he hears a sound coming from a cardboard box, opening it to reveal Mayuko. Both she and Takeshi are still travelling as usual (Remark: Takeshi is right… her dress sense is getting weirder :P). Mana and Koyori are still as usual, with Mana inheriting Yorito’s love for the sky and Koyori still learning origami. At the same time, Aono comes back to town and she first meets Koyori, helping her to grab a book from a tall shelf then teaching her some origami before introducing herself again.

Next, Mana bumps in to Aono at the school’s roof, who’s wearing the school uniform and seems to have transferred in (Remark: The uniform doesn’t fit her at all… probably because I’m used to seeing Aono in conservative dresses.). They talk at length about the sky and the show ends with Aono, Mana and Koyori waking up at 4am to catch the sunrise, just as Yorito did.

Not exactly a very memorable ending, as I hoped it would be, but all in all, it’s a nice, happy ending for the series. Still it was sad to see Matsuri go, as she is rightly the series’ poster girl. Yes, I will definitely miss her. In the end, she was the embodiment of the show’s name.

As for the rest of the ending, I’ve got no other comments as it’s just another happy, life-goes-on ending. Yeah, I guess sola’s appeal for me ended with Matsuri’s disappearance. There’s still another 2 more DVD-only episodes for it, and I wonder what it will be about. Given that it’s from the AIR writer, I guess it will be a flashback episode, ala AIR Summer Special style.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

It’s official. sola is the best show this season.

The episode opens with a flashback to the trio’s past and it’s revealed that Aono was chosen as a sacrifice to appease the Yaka curse and she was have supposed to die. Yorito and Aono mention about leaving and Matsuri seems sad about it until they both say all three of them are going together. A rather lighthearted scene of Matsuri kicking the well, whose rope is stuck, ends the flashback.

Coming back to the present, Matsuri provokes Aono at their house, inviting her to follow her to an abandoned part of town. Yorito and Matsuri are at a movie theater there and they share some small talk before Aono appears there.

Once she arrives, Aono and Matsuri duke it out, Yaka-style, grandly destroying the buildings around, with flashbacks of their past interspersed throughout the fight. Aono has the upper hand throughout the battle, with her mastery of paper and after some effort, Matsuri manages to land a hit in with Takeshi’s katana, revealing that the Aono she was fighting was another paper construct. The real Aono, meanwhile, finds Yorito at the movie theater.

Back to Matsuri, the paper construct explodes in a storm of paper which causes the surrounding items to attack her. Yorito confronts Aono, saying that he’s not a true existence and both he and Aono should be erased. This angers Aono and he restrains Yorito while Matsuri has managed to reach the movie theater.

Aono and Matsuri resume their fight, and again, Aono has the upper hand with her paper skills. Matsuri is thrown back and as Aono gets ready to land the last blow, Yorito frees himself and restrains Aono. Matsuri readies herself to deal the final blow when the movie projector, inadvertently switched on during the fight, suddenly displays a movie of the sky, causing her to pause for a moment… then she stabs herself, with a flashback to Takeshi revealing that with the exchange of a Yaka’s life, the sword can return a Yaka back to human, with Matsuri deciding to turn Aono back to a human. The episode ends as Matsuri thrusts the sword downwards…

Whoa…. I didn’t expect that to happen. Seriously.

First off, I have to say that the Aono vs Matsuri fights were awesomely choreographed and executed, with both of them using their Yaka powers. Aono clearly seems to possess the more powerful ability and I have to say that her mastery of paper is pretty awe-inspiring but Matsuri might have most probably held back from using her own powers, judging from the way she fought.

And the finale of Matsuri stabbing herself with the katana was seriously out of expectations and I say it was quite a good twist. I had to rewind the scene twice to believe that it was happening but it was well explained, IMHO, also resolving a bit of mystery left behind with Takeshi and Mayuko’s storyline.

Given that Matsuri evidently is sacrificing herself to return back Aono to normal, this means Aono will be the last person standing amongst the three and the next episode is still pretty much open to deduce what happens next, with either Aono possibly commiting suicide as she has done before, or will she continue living on and not to mention maybe a deus ex machina of the three of them actually surviving.

In any case, sola has really been a rollercoaster of a ride. Let’s hope the final episode ends the ride on a high note.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

How should I put this episode..? The calm before the storm I guess.

Yorito makes a decision to return his sister… and everything to normal. He returns home to Aono and tells her he wishes to restart everything from the beginning. With that said, he spends his last day at school the usual way by skipping classes to watch the sky.

The rest of the episode then focuses on Mana and Koyori as they realize Aono and Yorito are going to leave. In fact, their classmates memories of Yorito has also been erased and Mana’s as well, after a teary last meeting on the school rooftop. Mayuko and Takeshi also leave town, as Mayuko feels she might interfere with Matsuri’s decision.

Finally, after everything, Matsuri confronts Aono… sword in hand.

Well, tying up all the loose ends now already and the series is heading for it’s ending. This episode is rather boring but it does show the transientness of the Yaka and Yorito, as a phantom construct.

Nothing much else to comment here on this episode, so it’s another long wait for the next week to see the showdown between Matsuri and Aono. Ultimately, what would happen to Yorito? Will he continue on as a phantom construct or will he disappear.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Yorito confronts Aono and Matsuri reveals a terrible truth about Yorito.

Yorito finally remembers the events of the night he stabbed Matsuri and Mana reveals to him that Aono is a Yaka as well. Heading home, Koyori and Aono have made French toast and he has breakfast with them, until Koyori leaves and he confronts Aono, stating that she has something she’s hiding and he pulls back the shutters, letting sunlight in, stopping Aono.

Meanwhile, Sae bumps in to Takeshi, out buying groceries and she’s happy to see him again. Back at school, Sae once again gossips about her meeting, overheard by Mana who rushes out to find him. She manages to catch up with Takeshi and asks him to relay a message to Matsuri.

The message reaches and Matsuri meets Yorito back at the abandoned building where he stabbed her and this time, Yorito is at the receiving end as Matsuri reveals that Yorito is a paper construct made by Aono in the image of the original Yorito, who died back then. Yorito is depressed, finding out he isn’t human, but Matsuri cheers him up, saying he’s who he is, no matter what he is. Yorito then returns back home while Matsuri asks Takeshi to teach her how to use his katana.

Oooh, while I’ve suspected Yorito of not being human since episode 7, this was certainly a radical way to reveal his identity. Well, I guess Matsuri was kinda pissed off at getting stabbed earlier, heh. Still, this reveals that Yaka are quite powerful beings, as Aono managed to make a paper construct of Yorito that real and imbued with emotions as well. Probably that’s the reason she was in the hospital earlier, as she was said to have overused her Yaka powers. I’m not surprised if Paper Yorito has a time limit of existing.

More bits of Matsuri and Aono’s past are revealed and the juicy is about Aono saying that she was supposed to be a “sacrifice” but she lived instead, therefore dooming Yorito. Well, I can already guess what’s the reason.

The most interesting bit is definitely Matsuri asking Yorito to leave with her and asking Takeshi to teach her how to use his anti-Yaka sword, hinting at some kind of showdown between her and Aono perhaps. If she does face and defeat Aono, what would happen to Yorito? I have a feeling the ending will be something out of expectations.

And before I end this post… the episode preview this time… poor Koyori… :P.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Mayuko and Takeshi episode this time. Poor Matsuri T_T.

Aono attacks Matsuri relentlessly, using her Yaka powers to control paper, Yomiko Readman style. Matsuri, already injured and in a regretful mood, just dodges Aono’s attacks but she finally gets cornered. Giving up herself to fate, she passes out and Aono tries to deal the final blow but stops short after a memory of her past with Matsuri surfaces.

Matsuri is saved later by Mayuko. Meanwhile, Hige-dandy manages to learn the whereabouts of Mayuko from his admirer and confronts Matsuri, who gets separated from Mayuko. While fighting, we learn about Mayuko and Takeshi’s past, where they were both childhood friends but Mayuko was murdered on her birthday. Later, one evening, Takeshi visits Kamikawa house and finds Mayuko, miraculously alive, but she reveals she has been turned in to a Yaka and she’ll never be able to stand under the sun again.

In anger, Takeshi promises to return her back to normal and stay by her side forever. Fuelled by this promise, Takeshi makes quick work of the already weakened Matsuri and just when he’s about to deal the final blow, Mayuko appears and stops him, saying she doesn’t want to return normal and wants to be together with Takeshi only, triggering a round of memories of them both travelling together.

Meanwhile, Yorito, who was out most of the episode, finally wakes up and looks up to the moon, somewhat ominously.

First off, Mayuko <3. Especially her past self. Long hair fits her much better than twintails. Now at least we know both their pasts. I wonder who turned Mayuko into Yaka, though, was it Matsuri or someone else?

Secondly, Matsuri really got abused a lot this episode, being on the verge of death twice, first by Aono(”ZA PEHPAH!”) and next by Takeshi. In the Aono-Matsuri-Yorito triangle, I guess the most pressing question now still remains…”Who is the current Yorito?”. Aono is definitely hiding a lot of things and man, vibes of Higurashi was felt when she went over to Mana’s house looking for Yorito this episode.

Again, I’ll say the lack of real previews really a both a blessing and a curse. Three more episodes left.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Yandere-mode kowai yo…

Oh wow. Shit truly hits the fan this episode. First we had Matsuri disappearing for the entire episode, then a lot of Aono-san fanservice ( loved how she fussed over her clothing and hairdo ) and then Matsuri’s unexpected reappearance capped off with Aono going yandere-mode causing Yorito to stab Matsuri.

A lot seems to have happened in the one month that passed within this episode as Matsuri seems to have hooked up with Mayuko, whose origins and motives are still not explained yet. Also, looks like Matsuri, Yorito and Aono has had quite a past together as seen in the flashbacks, most likely a love triangle between them with Matsuri somehow making Aono in to a Yakabito, while Yorito is well… still human it seems, but as how it happened, we still have no idea.

Mai Nakahara, to me, is doing a good job at voicing Aono, and it’s really funny and awesome to see that her and Noto Mamiko are voicing exact opposites of their stereotype characters. Meanwhile… Ami Koshimizu’s character does scare me a bit… especially when she does the episode preview this time round.

Speaking of which…I’ve got a love/hate the episode previews for sola now… they offer naught a hint on what’s coming, which is good in a way, and bad in another too… sigh.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Matsuri-chan kawaii yo Matsuri-chan!

Noto-sama again proves her talents. The power of Noto-timespace is a dangerous one for certain people.

That aside, Matsuri is probably one of Noto’s most perfect characters yet, in terms of moé-ness. She’s cheerful, playful, mischievous, cute but yet she possesses a dark secret and probably a troubled past. I know it does sound clichéd, but this is really what I call moé.

Noto-sama banzai! Noto-sama banzai!

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