***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Soro no Woto. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
A long-awaited ceasefire is called between the warring states of Helvetia and Rome. Though both sides remain on edge, this is the first peace anyone has experienced in decades.
When little, Kanata Sorami (voiced by Hisako Kanemoto) heard a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace by an unknown trumpeter. This inspired her to enlist into the Helvetian military as a bugler. There, she's assigned to the 1121st Platoon in the village of Seize, a remote border town on the edge of No Man’s Land.
Kanata is a dedicated, but inexperienced soldier. Her cheerful demeanor allows her to adapt to the lax atmosphere of the 1121st.
Master Sergeant Rio Kazumiya (voiced by Yu Kobayashi) is Kanata’s instructor. Compared to the rest of the squad, Rio is strict and demanding. Despite her rough attitude, she's admired by Kanata and the other members of the 1121st.
Second Lieutenant Filicia Heideman (voiced by Aya Endo) is the platoon’s commanding officer. With no interest in military conventions, she asks everyone not to refer to each other by rank. A caring, mother like figure, Filicia loves her girls.
Private Kureha Suminoya (voiced by Eri Kitamura) is the platoon's gunner. She respects military code. But her loyalty to her team allows her to go against standard protocol. |
| Kanata |
Kanata and the rest of the 1121st remain vigilant. Ready to respond to any possible, albeit unlikely, enemy attacks.
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| Rio |
Series Positives
A lot of you may be thinking, “Hey this looks like K-On in the military”.
True, it does. The show grabbed my attention because of the visual similarities. But Sora no Woto was nothing like K-On. It was much better.
Art Style
Art Style
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| Filicia |
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| Noel |
Long story short, Sora no Woto looked beautiful.
The Story
 |
| Kureha |
Not even that.
How could a high school club, slice of life, military show work?
The trick Sora no Woto used was addressing the white elephant in the room. A world at war. The first few episodes were your average slice of life anime. We got to know the characters and saw how they interacted with one another. Like Fractale, Sora then smacked reality back into our face.
Why bother doing that? Well...it’s the only way the ending could have worked. And this was one of the most well-executed endings I have ever seen.
Subtle vs. Leaps of Faith
Subtle vs. Leaps of Faith
A story should be an experience. It shouldn’t be spoon feed.
Most people have a fair bit of intelligence. They’re able to put two and two together without an in-depth explanation. It’s all part of being a functioning adult. However, this only works if a story follows the rules.
“What are these rules,” you may be asking?
Well, that’s the great thing about fiction. A story has the freedom to make its own. Thus, things only need to happen in such a way that is believable and expected based on a show’s own criteria.
Sometimes a story may need to take a few liberties. But a plot cannot rely on too many leaps of faith. To avoid this and keep a story interesting, some shows choose subtly.
Well, that’s the great thing about fiction. A story has the freedom to make its own. Thus, things only need to happen in such a way that is believable and expected based on a show’s own criteria.
Sometimes a story may need to take a few liberties. But a plot cannot rely on too many leaps of faith. To avoid this and keep a story interesting, some shows choose subtly.
In the case of Sora no Woto, some things weren’t explained to us. Yet we could still figure things out. For example, the war. Never was it discussed all that much. But the show dropped tons of hints which helped reveal the bigger picture.
Things like this were what made this series so awesome.
Series Negatives
Perfection? No, but you could argue it came pretty damn close.
I kind of want to ignore what's wrong with the show, but that wouldn’t be right. Because there were some things that can’t be ignored.
Why Include This?
The 1121st ran an illegal distillery out of their base and it’s kind of a big deal amongst the squad. This kind of thing should have a spoiler warning before it, but you see, I’m not spoiling anything.
This huge, possibly traitorous detail serves no point to the story whatsoever. The distillery was the focus of a single episode. It was only used to illustrate a rather simplistic point.
Kanata didn't know anything about the distillery. However, near the end of the show, she revealed her awareness of it. She says she learned about it after “that” day. What day was that? Well, you can look all you want, but it's not in the show.
What Kanata was referring to occurred during one of the OVAs. Sort of a huge negative. A show shouldn't use OVAs to explain plot-crucial details.
In this case, though, there's a pretty big counter argument to that viewpoint. Since the distillery wasn't crucial to the plot, it didn't technically break the rule. While true, that makes it so much worse. If the distillery wasn't important, why have it at all?
With an already strong story, I'm astonished that such a huge oversight happened. This opened the possibility for so many different avenues and side events. Sora no Woto took advantage of none of them. I don’t get it.
Final Thoughts
If you're going into this show expecting a K-On clone, for better or worse, you'll be disappointed. Sora no Woto is its own thing and it stands well above most.
An unbelievable story, paired with stunning animation, this is one of the best I've reviewed. It hit all the right notes. When it was happy it was happy. When it was tense it was tense. When it was sad it was sad.
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