223rd G-View: SoniAni – Super Sonico The Animation

It’s time for some Super Sonic Racing as we take a look at Super Sonico TV in this latest G-View.

Genres: Comedy, Slice of Life.

Themes: Music, Idols.

Number of episodes: 12

G-Rating: 9/10

Plot Summary: SoniAni is a show about the daily life of Super Sonico, a college student who jumbles several activities at once. The four most important being her marine biology studies, helping out at her grandma’s bar, working as a gravure model and being the lead singer of her indie rock group, First Astronomical Velocity.

I will begin the review by stating the most important fact. SoniAni is not a show for people who have short attention spans or little patience. That is a because a large portion of the show focuses on some aspects of Sonico’s daily life at one of the four activities/jobs mentioned in the summary. The one getting the least attention being her college studies which is treated like any run of the mill school anime setting.

At her modelling job she is accompanied by her badass manager behind the ominous hannya mask, Kitamura, enemy to perverts wanting Sonico’s body for commercial reasons, friend to everyone and guardian/father figure of Sonico’s.

In short SoniAni is a documentary or a reality TV show starring a small (I think) Japanese town celebrity named Super Sonico, except nowhere near as poisonous to brain cells (depending on who the viewer asks of course). Basically do not expect an epic tale of an idol scraping her way from the bottom and change the world of music as she rises to the top. No she does that by just being herself, working hard and making others around her happy…so the concept is not that different from more popular idol shows when one stops to think about it.

Let’s continue with Sonico herself as a character.I read in some other reviews that everyone else on the cast was more interesting than Sonico herself. I assumed that meant Sonico is a Mary Sue and it is a proven fact that the internet LOATHE Mary Sue and Gary Stu characters. Sonico is not a Mary Sue at all. She’s just an inspirational, optimistic, hard working and determined woman whose willpower to face any challenge and her undying resolve and loyalty to her friends inspires and cheers up many people around her her. She also happens to be a heavy sleeper (With a workload and work ethic like hers it is not unbelievable), somewhat naive and used to be timid in her high school years or during first meetings. I can understand that because, while not a workhorse myself, I know what it feels like to be nervous to talk to strangers at first. I even knew a workhorse while attending college.

As I mentioned above Sonico’s influence, moe-ness, loyalty to her friends and devotion to doing a good job affects people around her who have their own personal trials to combat or agendas to reflect on their current actions and bring positive changes to their lives. So it’s technically a show about Sonico and the people she meets in her life.

Suzu, the girl behind Sonico, leader of the band Sonico’s in, happens to be my favorite female character on the show.

The first five episodes are formulaic in a sense that each one basically showed what Sonico did in one of her four main activities/jobs. Then episode six happened…Let’s just say I haven’t seen an episode as hilariously epic as this one in 2014 since episode 3 from Zvezda

Then, believe it or not, my favorite episode of the entire show kicks in, episode seven. I say it is unbelievable to some because to the naked eye nothing of value happens in that episode. However, to a person who enjoys slice of life anime A LOT happened there. It is, for the lack of a better term, an episode about discovering one’s self, broadening their horizons and be inspired by the wonders that the world has to offer just from taking a trip.

The other episodes after that swing from documentary to other characters. I mean Sonico’s “Kitty Rangers” get their own episode at one point.

With someone with a body like Sonico’s the show taking advantage of this is unsurprising…yet somehow it does not feel forced. It’s confusing but at no time did it feel like the fanservice on the show was being abused. It’s difficult to explain to a newcomer but for someone who has seen fanservice in MANY shows over the years it kind of makes sense. I will say that it took some getting used to before I became comfortable with Sonico’s head and body. I used to find her head and body did not match very well but I got over it as the show progressed.

The animation quality is decent. Many of the girls are hot and I think only Sonico and Fuuri have somewhat “different” body measurements. The show’s atmosphere, as is customary with most slice of life anime is relaxing and pleasant to look at in some occasions.

The CG during the ED sequences in almost every episode are mixed. Some are pretty cool while others are okay at best. The OP and most of the EDs are probably songs from the Super Sonico series of games as I am not familiar with her series. I know who she was before the anime announcement at least. As for the show’s soundtrack, it reminded me of Yoshi’s Story because several of the show’s tunes are remixes of a the melody played after Sonico wakes up the first time. It’s pretty how many tunes can be played using only one melody.

As for potential yuri there is not much to be found here, unless the viewers accept the subtle hints in the first half of the show that Suzu could secretly be attracted to Sonico. They’d make a cute couple.

The reason why I enjoyed SoniAni so much is because I felt at peace while watching the show. It felt strangely relaxing and somehow taught me that when given the opportunity to go beyond the horizon (unintentional Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon reference) and see the wonders of life that exist both outside personal borders and inside the borders themselves. When making friends that you know are special, appreciate them as much as possible and most important of all…never trust weight loss cream or other skin care products.

Overall I think many will say that I overrated SoniAni but that is how much I enjoyed the show. I do not whether readers will get the same experience watching this one as I did but SoL fans can at least give it a go sometime when bored. It is NOT AS BAD as some claim. It is simply not for people who are impatient or looking for a great tale about life changing idols and are willing to accept something similar but in a somewhat smaller scale.

PS: For the major Super Sonico fans out there, no the origin of her headphones is not explained and probably never meant to be.

PPS: I forgot to mention the show has many short montages accompanied by cool songs. I should get some of those insert songs.