Kono Aozora Ni Yakusoku Wo
 

http://www.web-giga.com/aozora/banner/o-bnr710_06.jpg

Romanji: Kono Aozora Ni Yakusoku Wo
Kanji: この青空に約束を-
Literal Tl.: The Promise to This Blue Sky-

ayyo desu. Being that this was my favorite game of 2006 scenario-wise, I'm happy that it was promised to be make into an anime. Hopefully it won't be another Baldr Force eh.

Intro

Aozora (shorthand for Kono Aozora Ni Yakusoku Wo) is a 'heart warming' story of a bunch of teenagers who live out their youth. It is based off of an erogame by Giga. Aozora takes place in an island of 2000 people, south of Japan.

Genre: School, Love, Drama

Story

Every year, less and less people come to the island, which also means there are less students enrolling into the school. Already the boys dormitory was demolished since there was only one boarder left.

Currently there are only six people left living in the girls dormitory, an unacceptable number for the expenses for upkeeping it. However, the kids there were content and happy with their way of living. Then one day, a new transfer student was assign to live in the girls dormitory, but she refuses to get along with the rest. Can the teens keep their group from breaking up and losing their home?

Characters

Wataru
The awesome protagonist. He currently lives in the girls dormitory. He's the vice president of the student council. He's also the mojo that makes the magic happen, go Wataru!

Rinne
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/3...3chara1se6.jpg
The anatagonist. She refuses to get along happily with everyone else. She's seen as a delinquent because of her attitude and pierced left ear.

[The following people all live in girls dormitory and are part of the student counsel]

Umi
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/9...3chara2dy4.jpg
Wataru's childhood friend. She's in the same class as Wataru. Though timid and quiet, her big heart is what kept the group from breaking up before.

Naoko
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/7...3chara3le2.jpg
The awesome student council president and Wataru's senpai. She is extremely popular and influncial. But underneath her smiling face, she wants nothing more than to lash out at all the ass kissers. Currently the only one who holds a leash on Wataru.

Miyaho
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/1...3chara4xz2.jpg
The cheerful ojou-sama. She's in the same class as Shizu and they are both Wataru's kouheis. She's always cheerful and optimistic, though she is hopeless with sports and cooking.

Shizu
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/4...3chara5bc8.jpg
Everyone's quiet, innocent little girl. She acts lke a cat sometimes. She always takes her baths with a member of the girls dormitory, even Wataru.

Saeri
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/4...3chara6xx0.jpg
The superintendent of the girls dormitory, Wataru's homeroom teacher and the advisor of the student council. Because of the stress, she often drinks and loses her age. She's nicknamed 'Sae-chan' by her students.

What, you the forgot the best girl in the game...well funniest at least, Akane 4 life! :D

http://www.web-giga.com/cgi/aozora/r...rank_akane.jpg http://shop.m-matching.jp/chara/img/.../akane_top.jpg

All girls were nice but couldn't care much about the game's story, Naoko (not Naomi) had nice ending though.

The game that has won the 2006 Bishoujo Game Award, including with best scenario and best theme song award, huh.

Never played the game myself, but it certainly looks like expectations from the fans are high for this one.

More offical news will probably show up soon.

What happened with Baldr Force?

After what happened with Akeruri, when I hear new anime adaptations of eroges now, the word "cabbage" immediately comes to mind. So that's probably my biggest concern. :heh:

I don't know, there wasn't much originality in girls' stories for me to care, the main story about knocking down dormitory wasn't that much present either, overall game was being middle-of-the-road and just ok, but far being from eroge masterpiece or whatever.
Seeing that Game Awards list for best scenario, both Scarlett and Imitation Lover had lot more interesting stories/plots for me, but maybe Aozora fits better what typical japanese erogamer wants.

It's supposedly a fan-based award or something unofficial.

lol~ you too? I guess it was that huge of a trauma to any fan of the original work ^^;;

この青空に約束を, good game indeed, but definately not award material when you consider some of the better titles that came out on 06'. Nanatsuiro Drops for example.

All criticism aside, I will be looking forward to the anime adaptation (albeit with less expectation than before). If anything, seeing Iinchou animated takes priority over any character~ ^^

It's Kaichou though, I think, rather than iinchou. But regardless, I look forward to her appearance.

http://www.konnyaku.tv/


NeoSam has announced that the anime website is working. And a healthy bump. The character designs; not bad. Not bad at all. Could've been a lot worse, in some way or another, but I'm glad to see it looks good.


My only concern is the title: Youkosou Tsugumi Ryouhei (or something)

Is that a name? Are they doing a Tsuyokiss and turning the focus from Wataru to some complete newcomer?



And Umi's bust size is supposed to be slightly bigger than Rinia's. Nuuu ~__~

If they do a Tsuyokiss out of this anime, I'm just going to drop it from the first episode.

I don't know whether to be encouraged or discouraged when I look at the cast and crew, which I've researched for a blog post:

"The director, Yabuki Tsutomu, did Keitai Shoujo and Happy Seven. Lead writer Nishizono Satoru does the same job on Happiness and Naruto Shippuden. Animation director Hanai Hirokazu animated the good-looking Kamisama Kazoku. The cast is an interesting mixture, with Koorogi Satomi (Himawari in Crayon Shin-chan), Orikasa Ai, Shinji Kawada (Mine in Nodame), and Nazuka Kaori (in a minor role), among others. The fact that Artland is the animation producer also gives me hope."

From reading your posts and looking at the anime and both game sites (the PS2 version comes out May 31) it appears this one is at least worth a look.

By the way, the main character is listed on the official site as "Wataru," to be played by Nakamura Yuuichi, whose best previous role appears to have been Akihiko in Muteki Kanban Musume. Not sure which character that was.

And that subtitle means "Welcome to Tsugumi Dormitory."

tsuyokiss was sad indeed...

dont remind me >.<

http://img04.yourpix.org/thumbs/04.0...5104074572.jpg
3502x5075, 2.4 MB

I just saw this spread in latest Comp H's Vol. 3 I purchased yesterday:

It looks even better on paper than monitor, and that left me searching up Aozora and trying to take apart the Kanji to read the character's name. "Rinne Sawaki" I think it was, and if such an innocent looking girl is the antagonist then I could see this as potentially being really good.

I'm a bit skeptical about Artland though. The animation for Happiness! really didn't look so great, probably only a notch about infamous Yoake. Hopefully they'll do better than they did in the Fall.

And is "Aozora" the official shortening of the title? I wasn't sure before, so I called it "AoYaku". Guess not.

Saw episode 1.

Looks like something that I'll really enjoy then. :)

Hopefully someone will pick this up soon...

So, is there like a "main girl" who the male lead will definitely go for in the end? I'll only get into a series like this if the end choice is made unpredictable...

EDIT: Or will this be more like a slice-of-life romance Lamune type thing?

Really looking forward to seeing this now...I'd be happy if it turned out similar to Lamune, I'm very glad to hear the male lead's not spineless and that the animation quality is pretty good.

yes we're going to pick this... as soon as the raw is available (or someone here want to help me getting the raw?) :)

edit: raws out. working on it :) (hopefully our translator and editor is not busy this week...)