Anime Review: SoniAni

Hello lovelies!

I hope you're doing well!  I'm back with another anime review, and this time, it's for "SoniAni," or "Super Sonico the Animation!"

So for a little background information, Super Sonico (すーぱーそに子) is a character that was created by the Japanese computer and video game company Nitroplus, and she made her debut at a music festival sponsored by Nitroplus in 2006.  She was so popular that the company developed music, manga, games, toys, and now an anime series all about her! Sonico's defining features are her pink hair and headphones (as well as her large bust).  Nitroplus has since made other characters that are companions to Super Sonico, and their merchandise is sold alongside hers.

Now I didn't know much about Super Sonico when I decided to watch the anime, other than that I had seen a lot of pictures of her online, and that my friend Eunice adored her and loved to draw her a lot.  I was a bit put off initially because of a lot of her suggestive photos, but she was too cute to resist so I jumped in anyway.

To start off, here's the plot synopsis from Anime News Network:

 "Super Sonico is an 18-year old college student who plays guitar for the three-girl band Fastest Speed in Space and models for pin-ups. In spite of her busy schedule, she still finds time to her grandmother at her restaurant. One night, her band members Suzu and Fuuri, are late to a concert, forcing her to play alone. The result of that show will have far-reaching consequences for Sonico."

Unlike the plot synopsis for "Is the Order a Rabbit?," I don't like this one very much.  It seems to focus only on one episode instead of a synopsis for the entire series.  I'd describe this anime as a chronicle of Sonico's life, centering around her work as a model and her passion for her band, which is actually called First Astronomical Velocity.  Sonico tends to get herself in trouble for her inability to say 'no' when someone needs her help, which leads to some pretty crazy situations in which her friends Suzu and Fuuri jump in to save the day.  If I were to categorize this into a genre, I would say it's a mix of slice of life and comedy.

Let's get on to the characters, shall we?

What is "Super Sonico the Animation" without Sonico?  Here she is in her everyday style.  Like the plot synopsis above stated, Sonico is a college student who also works a job as a model, is in a rock band with her friends playing the guitar, and helps her grandmother out with her restaurant as well.  Sonico lives in her own apartment apartment, and it's never mentioned where her parents are, as all we ever see in the anime is her grandmother.  At first, Sonico seems like the too-perfect anime heroine who we all love to hate for being that way, but as you continue watching, her flaws are shown, and you can't help but fall in love with her.  One of her main flaws is that she just cannot get up in the morning.  She has at least four alarm clocks, and her five cats have to crawl in bed with her and meow at her constantly--even then she might fall back asleep.  She has a much thicker build than most anime heroines, and that's one of the reasons I like her.  It's nice to see a girl with a softer body be happy and successful, even if she's still drawn in wonky anime proportions.  Sonico is a hard-working girl with a positive attitude, so you can't help but root for her.  She is also a bit naive, but luckily she has her friends to help steer her in the right direction.

Speaking of friends, meet Suzu.  Suzu is the leader and bassist of First Astronomical Velocity, and Sonico's best friend.  The essence of Suzu is captured in the above photo.  Basically.  Suzu works at a themed cafe (you can see her pink nurse uniform in this picture), and is in charge of all band activities.  She sets up rehearsals, books shows, and spouts out a lot of big ideas whether it's about songs, lighting, or costumes.  Suzu is of average build, and is the smallest of the three girls, but she constantly loves to show off the bodies of her friends and thinks that they're beautiful, though sometimes she can get a little overbearing on the matter.  Suzu brings a lot of comedy into the series due to her being outspoken and wound up all the time, and it's entertaining as hell to watch.  I find myself relating to Suzu in that when I'm passionate about something, I go all in, and I'll do whatever it takes to reach a goal.  Suzu's passion for her band and her friends is inspiring, so she's a character I love to watch.

The last of the main three characters (but certainly not the least) is Fuuri.  Even though I've fallen for Sonico's cuteness and Suzu's fire, Fuuri is something special.  Fuuri is the drummer of First Astronomical Velocity, though you could never tell that by looking at her.  She's the softest, cuddliest anime character I've seen in a long time (I think her boobs are even bigger than Sonico's), and she's also the quiet type.  The main gag with Fuuri is that she never stops eating.  In just about every shot that she's in, Fuuri has some sort of food in her hand or in her mouth, and when she doesn't she's thinking about food or talking about how hungry she is.  Usually when anime characters eat like this, it's portrayed as a bad thing, but somehow the writers of SoniAni have made it so adorable.  She'll walk into a scene with an armful of nikuman and all I can think of is "OMG SO CUTE!!!!!"  I can't put my finger on it, but something about Fuuri just melts your heart.  She's a girl who loves her friends, loves her food, and loves to perform onstage.  With all that drumming I guess it makes sense that she's hungry all the time!

If I introduced all of the characters in SoniAni this post would be a novel, but I want to introduce just one more character who I think brings a lot into this series.  That character is:  

Manager Kitamura.

This man is so hilarious he was one of the reasons I kept watching the series.  More Kitamura please!!!  Mr. Kitamura is Sonico's manager at the modeling agency, and he always wears this ogre mask.  You never see his face.  Ever.  Which is part of why he's so fabulous.  Mr. Kitamura is always with Sonico on the job, and he's very protective of her.  If a photographer ever has unsavory intentions, he opens up a can of whoop-ass and makes sure that they're never seen again.  HE USES A FREAKING KATANA.  He's a fine upstanding man who has zero tolerance for sexual harassment in the work place, and that's a huge problem in the modeling industry, especially in the gravure style shoots that Sonico does.  I'm glad that the writers introduced a character like this in the series and shed light on this problem, even if it was in a lighthearted way.  

One more thing that I like about this series is that the ending song of every episode is a different song by First Astronomical Velocity.  I love the fact that they kept the continuity of the band theme and had a wide variety of songs instead of just one song that they play over and over again.  I'm hoping that First Astronomical Velocity will turn out like Houkago Tea Time and that they'll keep releasing music, because these songs are really good!  I need to get my hands on the OST for this show so I can listen to all the songs again.

I don't know if this show has a confirmed second season, but I surely hope it does!  This series is fun, hilarious, and heartwarming, and I think anyone can enjoy it regardless of gender or age (though I think I'd rate this PG-13).  There are some gratuitous body shots, but that was to be expected with an anime about Super Sonico.  I don't think that they distract from the plot and since they made Sonico a gravure model, it fits in with the scenario.  Overall, I would definitely recommend this anime if you need something to cheer you up, or just want something fun and uplifting to watch.  

If you're interested, you can watch the anime on Crunchyroll here!

Have you seen this anime yet?  Let me know what you think in the comments!

Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you in my next post!

xoxo

Martha

Anime Review: Is the Order a Rabbit? (Update)

Hello everyone!

Back in April, I did a review for an anime called ご注文はうさぎですか? (Gochūmon wa Usagi Desu ka?) or "Is the Order a Rabbit?"  You can read that post here.

 I went over the general plot and talked a little bit about each of the characters, though I wasn't able to review the character Syaro because she hadn't appeared in the series yet.

Now that she's been on the show for a while, I'd like to talk about her and how the series is continuing.

Syaro lives next door to Chiya and the two are long time friends.  She goes to the same school as Rize but is younger than her, so she calls her 'senpai.'  She really looks up to Rize and always wants to impress her, which leads to some pretty hilarious scenarios.  Syaro works at a cafe that specializes in different types of tea, and the cafe uniform is a bunny maid outfit.  There's this ongoing gag that the other characters think that Syaro comes from a wealthy family because of how cold she can be sometimes, and she desperately tries to keep up the act, even though in reality money is tight for her.  Another funny thing about Syaro is that she gets flustered easily.  Once the cold image is broken, she's a little awkward and goofy, and it's so cute.  It took me a few episodes to warm up to Syaro, but I do like her character and she fits in well with the group.

As the series continues, there are always more cute things and silly scenarios as one would expect from a slice of life anime, but there are a few more fun characters added as well.  The new character who is most interesting to me is an author who follows the girls around.  She seems to take inspiration from them and just so happens to be where they are a lot of the time.  She's a little bit out there and air headed, but is always kind to the girls.  Apparently she has some sort of past with Chino's grandfather...and she has the most hilarious name:

Aoyama Blue Mountain

When she introduced herself to Cocoa I couldn't help but bust out laughing!  Seriously, who comes up with these names?!  I was definitely not expecting that.  Anyway, she's a very enjoyable character and I'd love to see more of her.

I believe I stopped at episode eight, and there is a total of twelve episodes.  I'm so excited to watch them but I don't want the series to end!  I'm wondering if they'll leave it open for a second season...we'll see!  

I won't be doing a review of the ending of the anime because I don't want to spoil it for you!  I'm hoping my anime reviews will give you a taste to get you interested enough to watch the series, but not spoil anything for those who are currently watching.

For those of you who are currently watching this anime, who are your favorite characters?  Which cafe would you work in if you got a chance to?

Discuss down in the comments!

Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you in my next post,

xoxo

Martha

Anime Review: Is the Order a Rabbit?

Hey there honey bears!

Sorry for the long wait, but I'm back with another post!

I started watching a new anime recently called ご注文はうさぎですか? (Gochūmon wa Usagi Desu ka?) or "Is the Order a Rabbit?"

Let me tell you right now, it's flippin' adorable!!

Here's the plot synopsis from Anime News Network:

"High school freshman Cocoa Hoto got lost and bumped into a coffee shop called "Rabbit House" while looking for a boarding house for the upcoming semester of her new school. Luckily, Rabbit House is the boarding house she's looking for, and to return the favor Cocoa starts working at the coffee shop alongside quiet and cool Chino, strong and athletic Rize, plus Chiya and Syaro from Japanese-styled coffee shop Amausaan, as well as the shop mascot rabbit Tippy, who sometimes doesn't quite act like a rabbit...."

Usually I feel that the plot synopsis leaves something out, but this one pretty much hits the nail on the head.  "Is the Order a Rabbit?" is a slice of life style anime centered around middle and high school girls (read: Lolis) who work part time in a cafe.  With slice of life anime, the plot is very simple and isn't as fast paced as other anime genres, but what matters most is not the plot.  It's the characters.  Let's meet them, shall we?

Here we have miss Cocoa (pronounced koh-koh-ah), and she's the main character in this story.  She's got a few of your main character traits of course:  overly excitable, gets along well with everyone, loves pretty much everything, etc.  She has a habit of getting lost frequently, and her special skill is doing math in her head.  She's a hard worker and gets used to the cafe atmosphere quickly.  She thinks of Chino as a little sister and cares for her very much, and also has an obsession with rabbits.  Anything cute and fluffy really.

Next is Chino!  Chino's father owns Rabbit House, the cafe she, Cocoa, and Rize work in.  Chino has a great knowledge of coffee, and she is constantly seen with the cafe's mascot, Tippy, perched on top of her head.  Chino is the youngest of the group, the only one in middle school, and she is a bit shy.  She gets overwhelmed when first meeting Cocoa, but slowly warms up to her and even calls her "Onee-chan" once (but never does it again because Cocoa flips out).  Chino loves animals and cute things, but doesn't react as loudly as Cocoa does.  You can tell she likes something when a blush forms on her cheeks.

The third character we meet is Rize (pronounced Lee-zeh), and she's about the same age as Cocoa.  Her father was a soldier so she keeps up a tough image, carrying a gun around with her, and all of her accessories are in some form of camo.  When she gets put in charge of teaching Cocoa how to work in the cafe, she takes the job very seriously and has Cocoa call her "Sir" during training.  Despite her tough exterior, Rize loves cute things.  She constantly has inner monologues about the other characters and how cute they are, but is quick to hide it so the others won't notice.  She's an interesting character because she flips between the military training she's learned and wanting to be a normal high school girl.

The fourth character we meet is Chiya.  She's in Cocoa's class in school, and her family runs another coffee shop in town that specializes in traditional Japanese sweets.  Her shop also has a mascot, and he's a black rabbit named Anko (pictured here).  She's soft-spoken and kind, but she gets very excitable when she talks about making sweets.  You can see a twinkle in her eye and she becomes a lot more animated whenever she's thinking about it.  A fun quirk of hers is that she doesn't just call the sweets by what they are, but comes up with creative names for them that she thinks are poetic and represent the ingredients...although that sometimes can make it hard for the customer to order since they don't know what all is in the dish. XD

The last of the main characters is Syaro.  There are only two episodes of this anime released, and we haven't met Syaro yet.  I have a hunch that she may work at Chiya's family's coffee shop, or her family may have one of her own.  I'm looking forward to meeting her!

Out of all of the characters, I have to say my favorite is Chiya.  I can definitely relate to her in the creative process, and she has a passion for what she does that gets me excited about it!  Also she's so CUTE.

I just love her bright green eyes.  They match her uniform!

I'm excited for this anime to continue forward, and this is one of the only anime that I have watched while it's currently airing in Japan.  I usually wait until the whole series has finished broadcasting and watch it all in a few sittings...but the previews for this one were too cute to resist!

The Slice of Life genre took me a while to warm up to, but I do enjoy a good fluffy, cute show to make me smile and keep me relaxed when I need it.  Not to mention all of the cafe settings in this show give me ideas for the maid cafe.

Once Syano makes an official appearance, I'll write another post about how the anime is progressing.  I'm so excited!

Have some more cute pictures:

Too much cuteness and moe I'm gonna diiiie...

I hope you liked this post, and I'll scope out some more cute anime to review for y'all!  

What genres of anime do you watch?

If you've seen this one, what do you think so far?  Do you like it?

Let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear your opinions!

See you in my next post!

xoxo

Martha