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Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo




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frentymon
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Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 2362
Location: San Francisco
PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:15 pm Reply with quote
Spring 2007 anime season is comng up fast, and no season is complete without it's sappy romance-oriented bishoujo game-adapted anime. Although this is a slew of many in the Spring 2007 season, I'm excited about this one in particular.

I've heard great things about the game, how it was acclaimed to be one of the best of 2006, how it sports a powerful and engaging storyline, how the main male lead was so much better and interesting than all the other male leads out there of the same genre.

I became really interested in this upcoming series after a spread I found in Comp HQ's Spring 2007 that depicted the main "antagonist" girl, Rinne Sawaki. It was stunningly good and the girl looks pretty innocent, but then I read a description of her and she's described as being a deliquent who flouts the rules and does stuff like wear elaborate piercings, skip school, etc. The contrast between her appearance and what seems to be her personality really interests me and largely because of her this is now one of my most anticipated series of the season.

The setting also draws me in. I've heard that it's set on a remote island inhabited by no more than 2000 people, so I'm kind of hoping for an Air vibe in terms of atmosphere. My main concern is that Artland is animating this, and the animation for Happiness didn't look so hot. However I did feel that overall they handled Happiness pretty well, so I have high hopes.

Series premieres on April 4th in Japan. I'm planning to follow this to the end regardless of how it turns out, unless it's so absolutely dreadful that I can't bear to keep on. Which I seriously doubt will happen, but...

Anyone else interested in this series? Thoughts? Comments?
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Iwatch2muchanime



Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:04 pm Reply with quote
Well, I haven't even heard of it till now, but I looked it up a little after reading this and it looks like it could be good. It seems the animation on it will be above average for romance anime, and it looks pretty polished and perrrrrrrty.
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digitalkikka



Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 462
Location: Chicago, Illinois
PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:53 pm Reply with quote
It's not my type of anime, but I'd like to check it out. It will have to compete with a lot of other shows for my time though. I have a rather long list of series I plan on following this season and this is ranked low on my list.

Edited because I didn't make any sense.
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omar235



Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 1572
Location: Florida, Jacksonvile
PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:44 pm Reply with quote
Yes this is one I plan to follow, I love the genre and if possible I try keep track of most of the new shows...I at least try to see the first episode of anything new since I don't have a paticular genre I dislike. Oh and yes the animation is quite nice.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
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Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:22 am Reply with quote
Well, I hadn't heard about it before now, but I'll be sure to keep a look out for it--I always tend to follow at least one renai-game-based series per season. This one at least looks better than Yoake and Da Capo Season 3, better known as Gift ~Eternal Rainbow~. If they can successfully put together a lead male that actually is dynamic/interesting, it'll represent an improvement for the genre.
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Iwatch2muchanime



Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:33 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
Well, I hadn't heard about it before now, but I'll be sure to keep a look out for it--I always tend to follow at least one renai-game-based series per season. This one at least looks better than Yoake and Da Capo Season 3, better known as Gift ~Eternal Rainbow~. If they can successfully put together a lead male that actually is dynamic/interesting, it'll represent an improvement for the genre.


HAHA, I tend to follow everything, but Gift ~Eternal Rainbow~ was WAY too much like Da-Capo in look and everything, I felt bad watching it. But I still kind of like it.
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frentymon
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Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 2362
Location: San Francisco
PostPosted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:18 am Reply with quote
I just watched Episode 1, and I really don't know what to think of the series of this point.

The animation looked pretty good to me, others elsewhere insisted that the animation was not good and in fact is no better than that of Happiness, which I would tend to disagree. The scenary looked very good to me and character designs were fair. I thought it resembled H&C animation-wise in terms of the watercolor feel. Perhaps I'm just oblivious to bad animation (which would be a great thing, actually), but I certainly have no complaints animation-wise, and it's pleasing at least to my eyes.

I do however have a bone to pick with the seiyuu casting. My largest complaint is Rinna's voice (just found out it's Rinna, not Rinne), which totally killed my impression of her character. It's nasally, a bit annoying, not something I should expect from a tsundere on whom all the attention is being focused on. Maybe I'll get accustomed to her personality in regards to her voice but right now I wish they would've picked another seiyuu. Rest of the cast were okay; some people complain about Wataru (main male character's) overly deep voice but I thought it was fine.

Now, the story has left me with all kinds of mixed impressions. Basic rundown is, spoiler[Male lead Wataru lives on a remote island in a harem-house with 5 girls; Umi who is the typical shy osananajimi, Naoko the tough Student Council President of the local high school (that Wataru also attends), Miyaho who is like the klutz who is really nice but also clumsy, token quiet loli Shizu, and Saeri who is the homeroom teacher but is immature and kind of crazy. Then tsundere girl Rinna somehow ends up in the harem house, and runs away before Wataru finds out who the hell she actually is. School begins and everyone in this harem house happens to be part of the student council; they pledge to work hard for the student council. Rinna of course transfers to the school and ends up moving into the harem-house; she refuses to get along with anyone because everyone has to be seperated (for some construction reason, I think) permanently next year in March and she doesn't want to experience that emotional pain in the future. Or something like that, my Japanese isn't stellar.]

I have a real mixed impression of the storyline right now. On one hand it's heartwarming and powerful, with dramatic music to boot and already tearful scenes. On the other hand, at the very end it was kind of a poor reason to get all teary-eyed and emotional IMO (although thinking about it another way it does make some sense). One scene particularly moved me though: spoiler[when Umi and co. decide to put a kaigeikai (welcome party) for Rinna, but Rinna says some really not-nice things and completely dismisses the party. Umi is very saddened by this and starts crying, and while the setup of the scene wasn't that particularly original or great-seeming, the delivery was just right and I thought the scene was very touching.] The storyline is built upon typical cliches, and the premise entirely is very cliche, but I found the characters to be refreshing and definitely not over-the-top or extreme in their respective character personalities. Rinna certainly adds a completely new layer to the story and she could become a very interesting addition (especially seeing as how from the looks of Ep 1, it seems like the story focuses on her). Right now she's mean and b*tchy and not very likeable (not helped by the poor seiyuu choice IMO), but I think her character has room to grow and she could become a really great character eventually.

I'm assuming that since the game (original source material) won some award for Best Bishoujo Game of 2006 that I can expect quality in the storyline and that it will go in a good direction, but I heard that Episode 1 already cut out a hell lot of stuff from the game and the pacing could be horrible and ruin the whole thing if not done properly. Then again, we non-game players (I assume none of us here have played the game) might not notice it, so we might still enjoy the series anyway even if the pacing goes horribly wrong.

Well, I'll be keeping up with this series and seeiong how it progresses. I don't think it'll ever get horrible to the point where I have to drop it, but I'm hoping it will turn out well (and that Rinna will grow on me more instead of annoying me like she has so far).

[EDIT] In conclusion, Aozora is yet another anime in the quickwatch low-budget camp, together with shows like Happiness! and Yoake, but the storyline has too much potential to pass this series up. A central theme I have found in the series after a quick rewatch is the theme of family and home, to fight the "evils" which threaten to seperate everyone from both their beloved home and family (or, closely bonded friends, depending on how you look at it).
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