Hello everyone,
Here we are for another review of a romantic comedy/slice of life manga/anime series that aired quite recently named Sora no Manimani based on an original work by Mami Kashiwabara.
Let's start with a synopsis :
Sakura Ooyagi returns to his old home-town in order to start school at Souei High School. On the first day, he runs into an old childhood friend: a junior named Mihoshi Akeno. As children, the two used to play together, with Mihoshi, or Mii-chan, being extremely fond of astronomy. After convincing Sakura to join the school's astronomy club, another girl, Hime Makita, joins the club in hopes of winning over Sakura. The anime tells the story of the 6 club members as they soar through their lives, each maturing and changing their outlooks on life.
Yes, this looks and is a normal school story revolving around a club (this time an astronomy one), but mostly around characters that grow up and mature slowly.
This series reminds me a lot of Hoshizora no memoria, a recent erogè that I played, that shared both the club setting (astronomy) and the character focus.
No, you won't see much fanservice here, this series is very pure and most of the content is sometimes even a little cheesy, but that's all good as this was the intended original idea behind this series.
The story by itself is more like a slice of life as there isn't a very strong plot to follow through the whole series, even thought you have some time to time vibes of romantic comedy.
The characters are rather few (less than ten), but well characterized and with a good and solid backstory. They are mostly likable (you'll grow up to love them) and have some level of growth during the series.
I have two favourite characters in this series. The first is the lovestruck Hime Makita, trying to follow his love (our protagonist) join the astronomy club and her presence is what create most of the romantic comedy of the series. (Loved her inner thoughts)
The second one is the innocent, pure and energetic Mihoshi Akeno, with her passion for the stars and at the same time even if not voluntary torturing the poor Sakura. (and even then I envy the position of Sakura in that club)
There are no hatable character in the series except maybe a little in the beginning of the series the student council president Fumie Kotozuka.
The graphical quality is pretty big and I loved a lot the girls design (especially Hime's one), the animation was mostly consistent in the whole series giving a good feel about the series.
The sound quality is top notch even if most of the seiyuu involved in the project are not the most famous out there (except for Haruka Tomatsu in Hime's role that is by far the best voice in this series)
Concluding, this series may sound a lot clichè, but has a good execution and high production values and I suggest it to anyone looking for a relaxing watch without too much infodumping/drama.
See you soon,
feal87