(L) Sora no Woto

[Raiga]

And I'd just finished Aria yesterday... I think I've been hearing "suteki" too much these past few days... plus Kanata's starting to remind me of Akari. Well, not necessarily a bad thing.

Interesting start, I look forward to where this is going. ^^ Kinda funny with how Kanata's got a natural ear for notes but doesn't seem that great at playing them herself...

... am I the only one who thought the ED song felt out of place though?

[Tatiana Razajev]

I highly approve of the existence of Sorami Kanata. Looks like I'll be following this one for now.

[Syntron]

Originally Posted by Manji Midou

great ep1, can't wait for the story to go more into detail about the maidens. this show reminds me more of strike witches then k-on so far ._./)

The girls wear pants.

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by Raiga

And I'd just finished Aria yesterday... I think I've been hearing "suteki" too much these past few days... plus Kanata's starting to remind me of Akari. Well, not necessarily a bad thing.

Interesting start, I look forward to where this is going. ^^ Kinda funny with how Kanata's got a natural ear for notes but doesn't seem that great at playing them herself...

... am I the only one who thought the ED song felt out of place though?

Yes the ED felt bit out of place though I still liked it. And I found the OP, and music played during it pretty fitting, and amazing at times, also it started off more interesting than I expected. Definitely gonna watch more of it.

[Mitsu Aoi]

Originally Posted by Raiga

And I'd just finished Aria yesterday... I think I've been hearing "suteki" too much these past few days... plus Kanata's starting to remind me of Akari. Well, not necessarily a bad thing.

Same here. I cant stop staring at the scenery, finally found a series with an easygoing and light atmosphere. Plus the music gave me a relaxing feel.

One thing that boggles my mind is this Cute Grumpy little girl who seem to look like the girl who goes un-tan~ nudge nudge

Spoiler for Cute Grumpy looking Girl:

[Seravy]

re: ep1

Brilliant! I'm in awe! Not since Kamichu have I been this taken. The world laid out in episode one overflowed with emotion and wonder; filled with breathtaking imagery and beautiful sound, while at the same time hiding subtle revelations. I can only hope the same care that went into episode one is invested in future episodes; though even if only a fraction is used it would still go a long way IMO. I look forward to the next episode.

[MeoTwister5]

Every year there's at least once or twice that the first episode of a series makes me need to completely reasses my initial opinion of of the series it pilots. For 2009 it was the first episodes of Cross Game and Aoi Hana.

For 2010, apparently it's SoraNoWoto. And to think it's the first new episode of the year I've seen no less!

Great animation. Great music. Likable lead. Great potential.

This is now my Must Watch series of Winter 2010.

[ac195]

Well, the character designs have been obviously influenced by certain other shows… but…

This show has a lot of potential…

The foreshadowing with the fire maiden legend in the beginning has my mind just drooling for so epic war torn ending…

Oh, and if production values keep around this level… this show could be great.

[MeoTwister5]

BTW anyone have the VA list? Almost absolutely sure that's Yu Kobayashi as Rio. Kanata sounds familiar but I think she's new. I don't recognize anyone else though.

[bbee]

Is it just me or are 3 of the girls carbon copies of the girls from K-on? I don't mean "influenced", I mean direct copies. Not having read anything about the show beforehand my first reaction was "wtf how did the k-on girls end up in ww2 era france?". Maybe it's just that my memory of the K-on girls is so hazy, since the whole show is so forgettable..
Looks like they managed to import and timeshift japanese festivals, too.. And the whole Asian concept of gods that need to be "appeased", plus I think I saw some hints of a mech in the garage.

Odd combination, and it doesn't work very well IMO. What we saw of the backstory and characters wasn't very interesting and felt very generic and simplified. Traumatized girl blossoms into a moeblob with a passion for music due to her savior? Please.. Frankly, given the history that the character designs evoke, namely that of brainless moeblob shows, I needed a *lot* more to the story for me to take the show seriously.
Oh well, nice art though, maybe a few more eps before I drop it.

[kyouray]

I enjoyed this first episode which's technically good. The series has gorgeous setting and shows that staff's trip to Cuenca wasn't useless since it reminds me my trips to Spain.
Many people complain about the K-ON! design but it can offer nice animation.
However the mix of Japan, Spain and France cultures is a little disturbing.

Originally Posted by Nina.Wolken

BTW, did anyone figure what was the orange stuff the people were splashing at each other? Holy orange juice?

Seize takes inspiration from Cuenca so it may be a reference to San Mateo festival and the tradionnal drink "zurra" composed of wine and fruits.

[IronWarrior]

First good episode, this is going to be a good anime.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

BTW anyone have the VA list? Almost absolutely sure that's Yu Kobayashi as Rio. Kanata sounds familiar but I think she's new. I don't recognize anyone else though.

You can always get the seiyuu list by going to my current anime schedule (link to winter schedule in sig below) and then clicking through from the show's "info" link there to its ANN page. From the show's ANN page, where seiyuus are listed in detail. You can also click through from the seiyuu's name to see what other roles they have done.

In this case, you're right about Kobayashi Yu. Good ear. Here is the full list:
seiyuu -- role (Japanese names in Japanese order)
Aikawa Juri -- Sorami Kanata
Endo Aya -- Felicia Heideman
Fukuen Misato -- Yumina
Ishizuka Unshou -- Klaus
Kitamura Eri -- Suminoya Kureha
Kobayashi Yu -- Kazumiya Rio
Yasokawa Mayuno -- Naomi
Yuuki Aoi -- Kannagi Noeru

[Nina.Wolken]

Originally Posted by kyouray

The series has gorgeous setting and shows that staff's trip to Cuenca wasn't useless since it reminds me my trips to Spain.

Seize was definitely inspired by Cuenca, nice found Kyouray! I wonder why they decided to present it as being part of Trois villes, which is on the French side though. Not to mention the Helvetic administration of the area. Someone at A1 Production might just have decided to mix all the good stuff from their trip in this show (who cares about consistency?).

Originally Posted by kyouray

Seize takes inspiration from Cuenca so it may be a reference to San Mateo festival and the tradionnal drink "zurra" composed of wine and fruits.

Oh, I see, something like sangria? If Seize was created base on some Spanish place, it has to be something like that .

Edit : about the VA -> Hisako Kanemoto (formerly Aikawa Juri) -- Sorami Kanata
ANN needs to correct it.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Nina.Wolken

Seize was definitely inspired by Cuenca, nice found Kyouray! I wonder why they decided to present it as being part of Trois villes, which is on the French side though. Not to mention the Helvetic administration of the area.

Its anime and frankly it will take something like "Paris is the capital of the USA" for a lot of people to even raise a eyebrow. As for this "its inspired from..." talk, there is a manga out there for your information. It doesn't start the same but the village and everything else is copy/paste into animation land. What timeframe are we talking about with this trip?

[Nina.Wolken]

Originally Posted by Cats

As for this "its inspired from..." talk, there is a manga out there for your information. It doesn't start the same but the village and everything else is copy/paste into animation land.

I know (still have to read it though), but the manga was based on the anime if I'm right. The anime itself is an original work. So it's more like : "The manga is copy/paste into paper land", right?

[felix]

Originally Posted by Nina.Wolken

I know (still have to read it though), but the manga was based on the anime if I'm right. The anime itself is an original work. So it's more like : "The manga is copy/paste into paper land", right?

I guess, but thats not the point. Is the manga which is pretty much same thing as the anime published before your trip?

[Nina.Wolken]

Originally Posted by Cats

I guess, but thats not the point. Is the manga which is pretty much same thing as the anime published before your trip?

I don't know much about the production team's trip (or was it Mamoru Kanbe alone?), nor when it did take place, but I pretty sure it was several months ago, before the first chapter of the manga was released for sure.

[Bombo]

hahahaha
Old women :"The new girl is bad " hahahahaa
The OP and ED prefect and the animation decent but too bad some charcater like K-on
Anyway I'm look forward for thi anime ..first episode was great tbh

[Sheba]

It's set in a distant future, so the globalization may have left a LOT of its marks. This may explain the mishmash of french/swiss, german (look at the Fritz helmets!) and japanese.