Soranowoto begins as we see young girl Sorami Konata crying by herself in a town decimated by war. She is rescued by a soldier serving as a bugler. This moment heavily impacted her life; when she grows older, she joins the military to become a bugler herself. Sorami is assigned to the Clocktower Fortress in Seize city. She makes her way to the fortress to begin work at the beginning of the series. There she meets the company she will be working with, who all happen to be girls.

Militaristic Action

The world of Soranowoto is a future torn apart by warfare. Technology is described as being forgotten and “magic-like”. Sorami’s company has a large but nonfunctional tank that the engineer is attempting to repair. There are glass figures depicting dolphins from when the ocean still had life. The setting is beautifully detailed and coloured with muted pallets emphasizing green and grey. Soranowoto a very aesthetically appealing show. The textures and linework have a dark, earthy feel to them which contributes to the atmosphere of post-destruction. Essentially, Soranowoto is an attempt to combine the moe-fun characters of K-ON into this bleak world. I am supportive of this concept. I do believe that slice of life could be given more depth. I do believe that these kind of characters could be applied to something more substantial. This could work. The problem with Soranowoto is not the combination of these elements, but just that it is doing a poor job of it.

Play that funky music, white boy.

These beginning episodes parallel those of Haibane Renmei’s in a few ways. Both are heavily “slice of life” but gradually reveal a world darker than the cute fun going going on with the cast. Soranowoto’s backstory was not told through a narrative explanation on the world’s history. It is revealed throughout with tidbits of information here and there in the background. The foreground is Sorami’s developing relationships with her new comrades. Haibane Renmei was similar. Rakka’s entrance into the world was great and fun as she bonded with the others. It was clear, though, that she was born into a world that proved weirder as she learned more about it. Haibane Renmei is one of my favourite shows ever, but I’m really having trouble getting into Soranowoto- why is this? The characters in Soranowoto are so boring that I can hardly stand them at times. Sorami and Rakka are very similar characters- both are a bit inept, eager to help out and learn more, and are obnoxiously cute all the time. Rakka, however, was more believable. Rakka’s dialogue seemed thought out. She was cute and inquisitive in an endearing way. Sorami’s sappy dialogue comes off as a forced moeblob. The same is true for the rest of the cast. These characters are so flat and boring that I have trouble caring about them. At times, I find their interactions charming, but often I feel like “Yes, Kureha, I get that you are tsundere”. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the characters fail due to “moe pandering, but just that the characters are too poorly developed and completely uninteresting.

In episode one, we follow Sorami as she heads to through town toward the military base where she will be working. Of course, Sorami is inept and clumsy and keeps winding up in wrong places and getting slowed down. She happens to meet one of the unit’s members, Rio, on the way. An item of obvious sentimental value gets stolen by a bird. Sorami ends up extremely late because she traveled down near the water to retrieve the item. She gets stuck and uses her bugle to get help. This episode teaches us the Sorami is hard to deal with, but she is so cheery. ^__^

Episode two is all about bonding with Kureha. Kureha is embarrassed about how inefficiently run their squad is, and how everyone knows they are useless. There is no danger along this border, so there really isn’t a much of a need for them. She takes an instant dislike to Sorami, which is obviously resolved by the end of the episode. This episode teaches us that being BFFs > management skills.

In the third episode, Sorami gets sick and is tended to by Rio who is a Reki clone from any angle. To make comparisons between this episode and the time Reki tended to Rakka’s illness would become the entire episode synopsis. Only here, the dramatic tension is nonexistent and there is no sense of mystery or urgency to it.

As expected, the fourth episode has Sorami getting to know another co-worker, as she helps Noel repair the tank. Once again cute is a catalyst as Kureha notes that this is the first time she has ever seen Noel smile, thanks to Sorami.

I wanted to like Soranowoto. I was intrigued by the concept, and am very impressed with the atmosphere and visuals. It has the potential for a solid series, but is wasted with the boring characters and lack of a sense of importance. I’ll continue watching it to see where it goes, but so far Soranowoto is a completely forgettable experience.

This _should_ be cool :\