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Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo Redux

Kurogane Shiroikaze — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:31:49 +0000

I just rewatched Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo, this time on the goodness of 1080P (but with bleh subs though), and I found myself liking it a lot more than I did; well I did quite like it enough to place it in my Awesome Tier of 2009 shows; but rewatching it again gave me higher level appreciation of the show.

I was quite right when I said this show was Sunrise’ exploration of the random, but surprisingly the final arc of the show is well structured and thought-out once you peel the layers of gimmicks off. There should be a message here somewhere that it intends to say but I’m surprisingly at a loss as to which is it because there is so many different messages it can be sending out.

I’m feeling extreme melancholy on finishing the show this time however. Somehow it just feels cheating for Sunrise to end the show at it’s happiest moment after the final battle, just like that. Too bad the picture dramas didn’t supply an epilogue. But then, it just seems like the show to do it that way, anyways.

2009 in Review, Part 1

Kurogane Shiroikaze — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:00:39 +0000

First part of my 2009 in Review article. Only shows I’ve completed watching are in this list, divided in to four tiers of descending “accumulative entertainment value”.

GOD Tier

Bakemonogatari

Senjougahara-fascination in full swing.

Toradora

Poor Ami~n :(

Maria+Holic

“o..o..o..o..onii-sama no. IJIMEKKOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Ristorante Paradiso

Almost made me gay for megane-jiisan’s

Eden of the East

Mass Naked NEET Event.

Seitokai no Ichizon

I’m still rooting for Key-kun’s Harem End.

Awesome Tier

Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo

Epic space colony battles. Badass Asimo deserved more screentime.

Saki

Rin Shan Kai Hou is rather cheating.

Kanamemo

Lolicon Hocchan and musical episode made my Season.

GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class

Most educational anime I’ve watched this year.

Sora no Otoshimono

Flying panties are awesome.

Kuchuu Buranko

Second most educational anime I’ve watched this year.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei

Resolves a lot of questions for the series + lots of focus on Rika.

Okay Tier

CLANNAD After Story: KEY should stop using those deus ex machina devices so much.
Zoku Natsume Yuujin-chou: Needs more youkai.
Denpateki na Kanojo: The fastest way to happiness is to look awak from reality.
Asu no Yoichi: Better than I thought.
Hayate no Gotoku 2nd Season: J.C. Staff redeemed themselves.
Fight! Ippatsu Juuden-chan: Would’ve been Awesome tier if they didn’t overuse the urination trope.
Taisho Yakyuu Musume: Would’ve been Awesome tier if they won the last match.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: Did KEY had a hand in writing the last few episodes for this?
Ontama: Short and (bitter)sweet.
Darker than Black Ryuusei no Gemini: Didn’t learn from its predecessor.
Aoi Bungaku: Batshit insane Nana Mizuki was the highlight.
Kanokon OVA: Rather iyashii-kei, surprisingly.
Nyan Koi!: Just barely in here.
Suzumiya Haruhi II: Not counting Endless Eight that is!

Shit Tier

Kurogane no Linebarrels: Only watched it for the name similarity.
Asura Cryin’: Causality loops are mindfucking.
CANAAN: SUGOI SUGOI SUGOI SUGOI
Chrome-Shelled Regios: Felli was in the wrong show.
Tales of the Abyss: Even gg didn’t finish subbing this shit.
To Aru Majutsu no Index: Adaptation Decay.
Gundam 00 2nd Season: The Innovator’s names.
WHITE ALBUM: Give me back my boyfriend.
Tower of Druaga The Sword of Uruk: Needed more Ropers.
Munto TV: Pretentious as fuck.
K-ON!: A music anime with sucky music.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni: DEEN Adaptation.
Princess Lover!: Took itself as a joke.
Kampfer: Ode to Joy.
The Sacred Blacksmith: Cecily is annoying.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Purezza: WHITE ALBUM wannabe.
11eyes: The sex in the penultimate episode was just a vision? GODDAMNIT.

In total, 43 shows completed this year. I’m surprised at how much I managed to watch despite thinking about how slow this year was. Then again, I never did keep track of the number of shows I watched for the last few years…..

Part 2, which consists of other miscanellous accolades, should be up tomorrow!

Sorakake Ends

Kurogane Shiroikaze — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:44:52 +0000

Ah, finally SoraKake ends.

I have got to say, the last 6 episodes have been a real rollercoaster ride, compounded by the fact I just marathoned them all in one shot (which is generally the best way to watch ANY Sunrise show lately) and it’s really hilarious to see how the balance of power and the antagonist keep on changing over those 6 episodes, with the only constant in place being Nami as big, or even bigger, as a bitch as she is.

I especially found it funny that Imo-chan served as the final catalyst in to pushing Nerval to become good again and give up on his plan to make every human in to boxes, especially after 20 episodes of us grooming the viewers to see him as a very powerful existence with a twisted aim. The swiftness in which he makes his decision to give up that plan and finally see humans as they are is both surprisingly funny yet natural at the same time.

On the other hand, the sudden change from reluctant helper to megalomanical destroyer of Leopard was pretty unexpected and combined with the change of heart from Nerval, really did make me find it hillarious at first and then awe after it the facts sinked in. It’s pretty rare to see such switch of antagonists in any show and I’m pretty respecting of the writers to do that in Sorakake.

But… all in all, I still think that that was merely to cover the fact that there are still a lot of things unexplained yet about the whole show, such as the true meaning of the ‘Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo’ moniker, the Shishidou family (how are they related to Kagura, etc), Enigma and the Brain Colonies. Kagura also would benefit from a bit more backstory and it’s almost criminal how little airtime Takane gets :(.

Well, that just means there a big avenue left for Sunrise to start churning out a sequel or side-stories of the SoraKake universe and I’m pretty fucking sure they’ll capitalize on that sooner than later. Till then, let’s hope the Picture Dramas will reveal more background details as they come out on the Blu-Rays.

Pizza Hut in my Soaring Cake

Kurogane Shiroikaze — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:29:56 +0000

Heh, good to see even Pizza Hut’s in Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo. As expected from Sunrise, they lurve their pizzas.

On another note, plot getting thicker and thicker in Sorakake. Srsly, the first good (in a positive way) series from Sunrise in a while. I am surprised to learn that Honoka is >50 years old orz.

Boorukake Shoujo

Kurogane Shiroikaze — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:00:45 +0000

Erm? WTF? Sorakake just randomly turned in a baseball anime. Sunrise is seriously going random on this show.

Sorakake is Sunrise’s exploration of the random.

Kurogane Shiroikaze — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:37:28 +0000

Not content with battling space colonies and shit, Sunrise is going the extra mile by putting headless walking suits of armor as well as leviathans in the show. Dear god, how much more random can Sorakake get?! And why is so compelling to watch?!

Badass Asimo is badass

Kurogane Shiroikaze — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:39:56 +0000

LOL wut! ASIMO! It’s bloody ASIMO!!!! Is Honda one of their sponsors too?!!

Even more fucked up, is how fucking powerful it is. A friend described it as Master Asia (though I don’t know how accurate it is) but it seems a pretty fucking fair comparison, considering how it FUCKING deflected a bunch of missiles using only it’s bare hands.

Personally… I think it’s bloody Nanoha imprinted it in. It’s white. It goes “Let’s be friends.” and it’s fucking badass. Hell this scene’s like bloody paying tribute to it too… “Tomodachi ni narimashou. Tomodachi ni narimashou.”

Also I want Sakura’s scarf. It’s like having two extra hands (to grope people with).

The Leopardnomicon

Kurogane Shiroikaze — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:29:20 +0000

Evidently, Leopard is a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan. I did a double-take when I noticed the name on the manual that Honoka was reading.

Also, this show needs more Kazane and Takane. Seriously. God, Yukari Tamura in onee-san role with that serious, deep voice….

Yandere Imo-chan

Kurogane Shiroikaze — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:06:04 +0000

Oh wow, holy shit. Imo-chan can get REEEEEEEEEEEALLY scary when she pops. Nonaka Ai’s yandere voice kinda rocks. After hearing her in so many passive roles, it’s quite the refreshing change. Poor ~~Lelouch~~ Leopard suffered quite a deadly battering from her.

That said, Sora Kake is turning out to be quite a bloody good show, with yuri, epic mecha battles and side characters that ALWAYS seem to titillate us by insinuating they know everything but aren’t letting it on at all. Well, considering it’s a Sunrise show, that’s to be expected…

UPDATE: Yes, Imo-chan is scary.