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)
It’s been interesting watching Super Sonico since I had figured the show would be empty and full of fanservice, but the first five episodes had me really finding it to be quite a feminist show in many ways, empowering in the right ways and properly respectful. They lost their way a lot in the sixth episode which made me cringe since it was almost all fanservice, even if it was to play up the horror movie angle in some way. But figuring what they had done before, I still have a lot to like with this show because I think it’s done some strong character work and tied it to a really beautiful layer of animation to keep it engaging and appealing on that level without pandering.
With this episode, it has an odd feeling to it, especially coming off of the previous episode. With Sonico off on a trip on her own, we get a lot of train rides for her as she heads across the country and deals with the small trials and tribulations along the way. She makes her way fairly well but it has the kind of small uncertainties that comes from travel in the way that you get tired, you miss certain things here and there and you’re just generally unsure about where it is exactly you’re going some times. She has the right mindset about it and handles it well, not getting really stressed or even flustered, which makes certain small incidents that happen all the more realistic since it’s just handled in a normal way. But for some, that may make it rather unexciting since it’s not playing true to a lot of the usual tropes.
Honestly, what Sonico does here is important and hopefully a positive message for people, regardless of gender. While we’ve seen her engaging in all manner of activities back home, from school to work to family, the idea that she’s just getting on a train and heading north to see the world a bit for a little while is something everyone should do at various times in life to become exposed to new places and things. As she moves forward, she ends up visiting several different places, meeting people, taking pictures and just soaking up the world as it exists in the more relaxed countryside setting. Admittedly, there’s nothing deep here, but it’s the kind of purposely plotted work that makes you really just take in the situations, the places and the people. Of course, they throw a little tension in towards the end, but that’s just easy to ignore overall, not that it damaged the episode. It just put Sonico in a weird and somewhat out of place situation considering the rest of it, though it does remind of some of the dangers of travel as well.
In Summary:
Quite simply, that was beautiful. If you go into this episode with the right mindset and understanding of its goal and what it’s trying to do, it can be hugely inspirational and hopefuly motivational. And it’s a rare series that can actually do that, and not one that I expected from a series that I thought this was going to be. Super Sonico continues to truly shock and surprise me for what it is and I cannot recommend it enough.
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.
