Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu

[Owaranai Destiny]

First anime to make me shed tears...Darn it, it's THAT good IMHO. I just don't like sad endings...

[Anime+]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Why the lukewarm response to thios one? Based on the first two eps, it's really damn good.

I agree it is quite satisfactory.

[whisperred]

Originally Posted by lavielove

http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/554.html

tats the OVA isnt it?
its stated there...
n i watched it alrdy...

[Kaoru Chujo]

As someone who watched this series raw last year, I really enjoy reading the enthusiastic reactions of people who are only now getting to see it. Some of us were saying similar things last spring/summer, but those posts got trashed in the meltdown.

The "dance" scene on/above the hillside was one of the greatest anime scenes of all time, as far as I'm concerned. This anime gave me the tight chest and tears-in-the-eyes feelings many times.

[Owaranai Destiny]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

As someone who watched this series raw last year, I really enjoy reading the enthusiastic reactions of people who are only now getting to see it. Some of us were saying similar things last spring/summer, but those posts got trashed in the meltdown.

The "dance" scene on/above the hillside was one of the greatest anime scenes of all time, as far as I'm concerned. This anime gave me the tight chest and tears-in-the-eyes feelings many times.

I couldn't agree more.

What attracted me to the anime was the lure of sci-fi...But I wasn't disappointed when there weren't too many bullets and bodies flying around. Instead of action, we get more story development. One thing that puzzled me is why there was little mention of who they were fighting against.

[Radiosity]

Can't believe I missed this. Just finished ep3 and loved every minute so far

Spoiler for episode 3:

"Please be her partner and dance with her"

That scene with him dancing with the fighter she was piloting was amazing, I had tears in my eyes

Originally Posted by Owaranai Destiny

One thing that puzzled me is why there was little mention of who they were fighting against

It just seems to be some random alien race. I don't think it's supposed to go any deeper than that, after all it's more about Iriya's story outside of her work. The battle aspect lends a heavy impact without detracting too much from the friendship/ romance elements.

[aliensporebomb]

The dance scene indeed was a classic and unexpected.

And when the girl who kind of had a thing for him said they folk danced
Iriya could say most authoritatively that they had not. One of the best
"I told you so" scenes ever.

Spoiler:

And the confession at the end giving her the courage to fight. One person
against an entire alien race? Even a group of fighters wasn't enough.
I see some parallels with this series and Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
especially the way the latter series is going these days.

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

Cleaning up my backlog and finally got to watch this. It wins my "Desprately needs to be a TV series of the year" award but wow. That was a pretty beautiful show. I've would've liked to have seen it more in-depth so I'll be sending my mass e-mail to various anime novel localizers to beg the novels be translated.



Thanks for the covers, Neosam. Hmmmm. Iriya has a nice butt. Who would've thunk it?

[Guardian Enzo]

Having just finished the series I can say, even though I was more or less expecting the ending, it never let me down. Great from start to finish - really moving, and exceptional voice work by all the leads. Six episodes doesn't feel like nearly enough, but the story never felt rushed - it was nicely self-contained. All in all, most enjoyable.

[dojikyo]

Just finished watching the series after reading the postive reviews. To be honest this was good but I guess I was hoping for more. Episode 5 was really strong but somehow the series just didn't work. The whole thing about one person in one battle deciding the fate of humanity reminds me of one of the things I hate most about action animes and I dislike it just as much in this scifi, drama romance. I will have to give points for having an actual ending but I don't consider it to be in the same league as Honey & Clover or Hantsuki. Well I haven't seen the ending to Hantsuki yet but so far the series has been pretty strong.

[zerohaiz]

The songs also did represent the anime well. Especially the OP. I really need the lyrics and the english translation. ><

[Owaranai Destiny]

Originally Posted by dojikyo

The whole thing about one person in one battle deciding the fate of humanity reminds me of one of the things I hate most about action animes and I dislike it just as much in this scifi, drama romance. I will have to give points for having an actual ending but I don't consider it to be in the same league as Honey & Clover or Hantsuki. Well I haven't seen the ending to Hantsuki yet but so far the series has been pretty strong.

I think the main point is not about one person saving humanity or anything. There was quite a thin reference to it, actually. The focus is probably more on Naoyuki's and Iriya's relationship as well as their characters. There wasn't a definitive answer to what really will happen after Iriya flew the Black Manta out.

I haven't really finished Honey and Clover, but I thought it was a pretty good show already. Considering the main focus of the shows mentioned, I thought perhaps InS deserves another chance in your categorization? Just a thought there, no offense intended.

[Beitel]

This series was a great surprise. Although it wasn't the enormous surprise Mushishi was, I had still a couple of great moments to remember. The 'dance' scene from one of the earlier episodes was great. I also loved the fact that it makes you think a bit about the story, that it doesn't give too direct hints about the feelings of the characters. Great anime. =)

[Freak Of Nature]

Recovery post -- original post made 2005-08-18 -- recovered from Google cache
(check that link -- maybe some of your old posts are there, too, and worth resurrecting)

Originally replying to posts by Anlushac11 and Morisato
_______________________________

Originally Posted by Anlushac11

At this point its a mystery regarding Iriya's present state but to me Asaba put that symbol in the field so that if Iriya flew by there she would see it and know that he was still waiting on her. I guess kinda like a Japanese version of the "Tie a yellow ribbon" story, a way of saying "I waiting for you".

It seems that at least Asaba is still waiting for her to come home to him, if she survived she may not have long to live but I would prefer to think that she would want to spend her last moments with the one she loved.

This is how I understand the scene, too. I'm still a bit in the dark as to what that よ character signifies, but it is obviously Asaba's version of a "yellow ribbon". He's waiting.

BTW, I absolutely love the club chairman's delight whenever he realises that his memories are partially blank. He really gets a kick out of having been mind-wiped... who would have thought it...

Originally Posted by Morisato

So Japanese people aren't allowed to get their haired dyed, hmm interesting, never knew that before.

Well, it's not a question of not being allowed - but it is frowned upon. It's associated with delinquents (不良, furyou) in both males and females, and also with a certain style of female fashion, the "kogal" (コギャル, kogyaru) look. For more on this fashion, see this page (though the etymology it gives is wrong - kogyaru originally came from "college girl").

You'll see kogals popping up in other anime, here and there, as examples of "bad girls". They've also found a "home" as a permanent fixture of the porn industry's cosplay repertoire, I might add... Try a Google picture search on the Japanese term - but only if you're over 18.

Incidentally, a recurring theme is that of the native Japanese person who for some reason has non-black hair (viz. Kurosaki Ichigo in Bleach; or Iriya in this story), and who is therefore treated as a deliberate "dye-job" by the surroundings.

This shouldn't be confused with "anime-coloured" (blue/green/purple/pink) hair, which is more like a convention of the manga/anime medium, originally developed to make it easier to distinguish the characters, and retained as a tradition. The unstated principle is that you're not supposed to think of these colours as actual colours, unless reference is made to them. They're just visual markers, to distinguish characters whose hair is actually black.

Originally Posted by Morisato

Still I must ask again if anyone finds it weird that Iriya and Asaba call each other by their last name since they are so close, lovers actually.

No, this is actually very common. It would be normal for them to have progressed to first names, but if they've attached a lot of emotions to the names they first called each other, they might stick with them.

[Buwoy]

I know this is an old thread, but did the ova end where the novels end? Just thinking that the novels might have given a clue as to what happened with Iriya

[DanielSong39]

Some questions:

Anyone find it slightly disturbing that Kunihiro was chasing after Yuuko? Looks like Yuuko reciprocates his feelings, to some degree...

Is it just me, or do Naoyuki's dad and Kunihiro look like twins? Same goes for Akiho and Yuuko. If Kunihoro and Yuuko, and Naoyuki and Akiho, actually got together... nah, don't want to go there.

[Drytchnath]

Originally Posted by Buwoy

I know this is an old thread, but did the ova end where the novels end? Just thinking that the novels might have given a clue as to what happened with Iriya

Dragging this thread back up since the Ayu forums are dead. I have the same question, the anime leads you to believe thats she (Iriya) is already dead. I'm a bit tired of bittersweet endings, so if the novels offered a bit more in the way of an ending that'd be nice to know. The anime just didnt give a nice sense of closure, and its driving me nuts.

[Drytchnath]

Originally Posted by Buwoy

I know this is an old thread, but did the ova end where the novels end? Just thinking that the novels might have given a clue as to what happened with Iriya

Dragging this thread back up since the Ayu forums are dead. I have the same question:

Spoiler:

the anime leads you to believe thats she (Iriya) is already dead.

I'm a bit tired of bittersweet endings, so if the novels offered a bit more in the way of an ending that'd be nice to know. The anime just didnt give a nice sense of closure, and its driving me nuts.

[lavarock]

Discussion of ending:

Spoiler:

I liked the ending. It's more bitter than sweet, but it's a fitting end to the story. Iriya's medical conditions seemed to indicate that she cant really live that much longer anyway. The war seemed to about to end with human's defeat by the unknown alien (someone can clarify me on that?). Or maybe Iriya did win the battle and saved human race at least temporaily? In any event, it's little doubt that Iriya was killed in the last battle.
I liked that instead of spell all that out, the show just hinted them and sent iriya to go for the "last battle". It's really neat.
What really made my heart wrench, is when Iriya almost got raped and then start losing memory (part of her medical condition). It's at those times I truely feel sorry for her, for him, and for the parallel universe the story is set in.
Great series, one of the most emotional drama/scifi anime I have known. Better than Saikano. 9.5+.

[blitz1/2]

Very dramatic and sad. I like this.