Music is at the heart of Sonico – and this episode.
What They Say:
“Super Sonico” debuted as Nitro+’s live mascot girl, and her world will be brought to life in the anime, “SoniAni – SUPER SONICO THE ANIMATION -“!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The opening episode of Super Sonico didn’t exactly overwhelm but it did things in a fun way as it introduced us to our lead character and the cast as a whole. There are a fair number of supporting characters in Sonico’s life and admittedly one can be hard pressed to really identify them by name after that episode, but it achieved the desired point of showing that as a young woman, she has what’s considered a normal and healthy life with a number of friends, interests and activities that keeps her busy and going regularly. That’s not a bad thing to see nor that she was seemingly well adjusted while handling the awkwardness of a pervy producer as well as could be expected. And extra kudos for the production team for bringing in the revealing costume but not showing her in it.
One of the bigger parts of her character came in towards the end with the band that she’s in and that’s a big part of the first half of this episode, both as they record a video for their fans and then get some practice and talking time in about how they want to do things. But girls being girls, we also get to see them all heading out to eat a restaurant and enjoying each other’s company while also getting in some fun little verbal sparring as they bring out different aspects of merchandising and more they want to do when it comes to presenting themselves as a band. The costume designs are cutely comical and we even get to see a few sort-of fantasy style ones come up when Sonico is back at her restaurant and some of the older gentleman there are offering up their own visions. It’s simplistic but in the end, it’s also just plain nice with how it approaches things here.
Of course, into every life a few challenges must fall. Sonico’s the overly dedicated type so when she ends up having to do a photo shoot instead of hitting up band practice, she really takes it hard, especially since Suzu is fine with it as things happen. But Sonico’s just really worried, which makes a part of her nature pretty clear. We get to see how Sonico copes with this, with a little help from her friends as well of course, and that leads to a bit of an upbeat final act as we see everything coming together well. If there’s one thing that it seems like Super Sonico will be like, it’s that it’s going to be a happy show overall. The challenges are simple but it’s not going to give us strong struggles for the characters to face. If the worst she has to face is being on stage without the rest of the band since things didn’t go right, that’s certainly not a big issue overall considering they’re racing there to be a part of it and she’s going to play to make them proud.
In Summary:
Super Sonico is not surprisingly going to be one of those series that’s all about the positive, even when it’s dealing with small struggles. With the character being a company mascot, you really don’t want to mess around with it in a bad way, so it’s a delicate balance. The approach here, firmly cemented with this episode, is a pleasant and enjoyable slice of life piece that doesn’t have anything truly deep or interesting to say but plays out with a smile and a good bit of heart. It’s definitely beautifully animated and I love the character designs and interactions since it’s even careful and mostly respectful when it comes to the fanservice, which definitely sets it apart. There may not be much to chew on here, but it’s a delicious little sampler.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
