LogFAQs > #969729263

7. Sound of the Sky
https://myanimelist.net/anime/6802/So_Ra_No_Wo_To
Winter 2010 (12 episodes) plus 2 OVAs
My Score: 10/10, MAL Score: 7.54/10
Best Character: Sorami Kanata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9agkY8NLiic

Premise: A young girl named Sorami Kanata joined the army to learn how to play the bugle. Shes sent to a fortress in the border town of Seize and begins training under Kazumiya Rio.

The Good: Sound of the Sky mixes a few genres. Ill call it a cute girls slice-of-life military post-apocalyptic drama. Kanata joins the army and is sent to a small unit guarding a border town. Led by the extremely lax Filicia, they dont follow military protocol there. Other than a few odd jobs around their fortress or in town, the only duty they really have is to play the bugle every morning at dawn to wake the town up. Kanata always dreamed of learning music, and shes ecstatic to be taught by the talented Rio. The other characters are Noel, a quiet mechanic who often works on their broken spider tank, and Kureha, a girl who just wants their unit to be taken seriously.

I mentioned several genres at the start of this section. Sound of the Sky really does go through all of them. The world has undergone a few horrific events for reasons that are mostly lost to time. The result is a setting filled with conflicting myths and hints of things from the past. In the first episode, Kanata fell into a lake and saw the fossilized skeleton of a giant winged creature. It was that moment where I realized this was going to be a special show. A lot of it is cute girls slice-of-life where they hang out or do minor duties, which was a lot of fun. Then there were other times where things got serious, and I thought it nailed that tone as well. Basically, Sound of the Sky had a lot of different moods and did a lot of different things, and somehow every single one of them appealed to me.

The Bad: This is yet another anime that I consider flawless. It has two special episodes that fit into the middle of the series, and both of those were really good. I guess the biggest flaw is that there werent even more special episodes, because clearly there was room for them!

Overall: Sound of the Sky is, notably, not my favorite anime classified as cute girls fun except with deeper themes. Theres more than one of those in my top ten. Its probably my favorite combination of genres. The slice-of-life antics are funny and carefree, and the more serious bits give it all so much more weight than there is in a typical cute girls show. I liked all the characters and everything they went through, but Kanata was easily my favorite.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/8/9/AABz_zAAD7Sp.jpg

CHARACTER: Sorami Kanata (Sound of the Sky)
https://myanimelist.net/character/24488/Kanata_Sorami
Voiced by: Kanemoto Hisako
TOP 100 RANK: 38th

SPOILERS FOR SOUND OF THE SKY

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjaqjIAh6Bk

Much like Sound of the Sky itself, there are two sides to Kanata. Day to day, shes a friendly and energetic girl. She fits right into the lax military unit, and she gets along with everyone once she gets to know them. Shes closest to Rio because shes her bugle instructor, though, and Kanata admires her skill. Theres also a connection neither of them knows about. When she was a child, Kanata met a beautiful soldier who played the bugle for her. It was a small moment, just to cheer up a kid in a ruined town, but it stuck with Kanata and was the reason she wanted to learn music.

She didnt know at the time that this was Rios sister, or that she was a princess, or even that the woman died a short while later. All of this is a good example of the contrasting tone I loved from Sound of the Sky. There are beautiful moments. There are connections between people like Rio teaching Kanata. Sadly, theres also always tragedy and signs of the degrading world lurking at the edges. To me, the fact that these girls can still find happy moments together, even with the world as broken as it is, makes those bright moments feel so much more meaningful.

The video I linked is from near the end of the anime. Two opposing sides have been led into war by power-hungry generals who think one last fight will bring their side to victory. The girls, knowing that all this death is meaningless, throw themselves into the middle to try and stop it. Their one spider tank wont do much on its own, though. So, Kanata climbs out and plays Amazing Grace. Its just enough to make everyone pause, and then Rio arrives with orders to cease the assault. Even on a dying world, amidst warmongers and hatred, a beautiful song is enough to catch everyones attention. Its enough to avert disaster. The world might be beyond saving, given that deserts are expanding and no one knows if the damage can be reversed. Still, none of the girls are giving into despair. Theyre going to keep living their lives and doing their best. I just really loved the themes of Sound of the Sky, and Kanata represented a lot of them.