Subculture Anime Blog

I bet a song would bring out the emotion… My final impression is included.

Summary:

Returning to Hokkaido, Sora is quickly greeted by her mother. Eating lunch with her after arriving home, Sora mentions her meeting of Gouta and the gladness that she had for going to Tokyo. Sora later travels to the large tree in town, expressing to her father that she has also become a mage. She receives a photo mail from Gouta while there, sending one back to him before he goes for a surf. When Sora’s mother reaches the tree, Sora brings out one of her father’s requests from when she was a child. Generating the spell that she had worked to become a mage for, visions of Sora’s becoming a bride flash by. By her side, is Gouta. After seeing this, Sora falls into her mother’s arms with a peaceful smile on her face.

In the future, requests are still being fulfilled by the Hara Agency. Hiyori has become an upperclassman for a studying mage, and at the moment, this student expresses the difficulty she has with magic. Hiyori brings up the girl’s hopes by making her realize that magic isn’t so simple, mentioning what she had learned from Sora in the past. This was that, the most important thing in magic is the recipient’s feelings. While remembering this, however, Hiyori can only look up into the sky to reminisce. Kouji and Honomi discuss traveling plans in the city, getting into a small argument about things as usual. When Kouji mentions visiting Sora’s home, Honomi can only deny the thought. Remembering her, Honomi can only express how amazing Sora was. YASUKO has become quite popular with her music, preforming for a record store in the city. She mentions to her fans that she will be playing a song that she often did while she preformed on the streets, delighting some of her devoted fans.

Gouta finally visits Hokkaido via bike, getting the large tree’s location from one of the friendly residents. The woman also passes him a tomato, mentioning how delicious they are in their area. When Gouta reaches the large tree, he expresses how glad he is to finally have been able to see Sora. Bringing out the blue stone that he now wears around his neck, he states that he is always with her. Gouta had traveled to oceans around the world to surf, then wanting to show them to her. With this, he generates magic to make one of the scenes come from his mind.

ED: This mostly consisted of montage from previous episodes in the series. Before parting with the series, we are reminded of the time when Sora gave Gouta her blue stone.

Impression:

NoooOOOOOOOoooooo!!! Sigh….well, I guess I should have been expecting it. The last episode ended up being very bittersweet, leaving me with a feeling much like I had after watching presentations like Byousoku 5 Centimeter or Honey and Clover. I found it very interesting when we had a time skip to the future, but after Honomi and Kouji’s scene, I knew I would have to start bracing myself for a bit of emotion. Sora’s last performance was spectacular, putting her story in a full circle by completing her father’s request. Her mention of this being the reason became a mage was so great, especially considering how much power she held. I am slightly surprised that Gouta stayed loyal to Sora despite seemingly not having a lot of contact with her, but I loved how he had actually pursued his original dream of surfing around the world. The end of the episode also seemed to suggest that Gouta’s magic had become extremely powerful; close to or at the level of Sora’s. The ending seemed to show what most slice of life series do; that you should enjoy life to the fullest, even if you may not a long time to do it. Although short, Sora’s life was wonderful while she made other people happy.

Some parts of the animation in this episode were very interesting. During YASUKO’s performance, and a small part during Gouta’s visit to Hokkaido, the characters were rendered much more detailed than they usually are. I wouldn’t say that this was only done because they were not moving, so I can only wonder if it was for a simple aesthetic purpose. I also loved how they presented the series title in the beginning of the episode. YASUKO’s records were also nicely created, and I loved the TOWER and Catistar (a play on Napster) signs around the record store. Speaking of the singer, the OST for this show has come out quite recently. Despite my looking forward to it for quite awhile, I have yet to take a chance to listen to it properly. I am definitely going to have to do this during a low point in the weekend.

Final Impression:

If I had to compare this series to any other during the season, I probably couldn’t do it. This anime is one that stands out from most any other, no matter what generation it was created, making it seemingly timeless. Having become interested in Natsu no Sora after hearing that it would be directed by Osamu Kobayashi (Beck, ParaKiss), and that it would be produced by Hal Film Maker (the Aria series), I was not disappointed at all after picking it up. Despite how much people criticized it when this show started, I found the use of photographic backgrounds and minimalist animation was beautiful, unique, and inspiring. This series was astonishing in both visuals and sound, with an amazing soundtrack to boot. I constantly talked about how much I wanted to hear the series’ OST, and I am even eager to do so now. Cast-wise, the series did not have any weak links. Kana Hanazawa did very well as Sora in particular, just adding to her growing portfolio of successful roles.

Add all this to the slice of life story involving everyday kids (who happen to be able to use magic), music, and individualistic culture, and I felt myself connecting to this series on several occasions. Along with all of the themes of friendship and life appreciation, there was a simple, yet very believable love story. Not attempting to follow stereotypes that other shows have created, Sora and Gouta’s relationship was a joy to watch from start to finish. The bittersweet ending of the series was beautiful, focusing on the dreams and accomplishments that people can obtain despite what losses they have had in life. In the end, I would not rate this series as highly as Beck or Paradise kiss (the two shows that come closest to relating to the series), simply because I could relate to the themes of music and art in those two series so much more. I am very glad I watched this animation though, and if anything, I would probably re-watch it in the future for an inspirational kick.