Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu

[NeoSam]

Its based on a novel for young men.

The novel was serialized in the seinen(young men's) novel magazine Dengeki HP (The same magazine that serializes the seinen novel Zettai Shounen and many other seinen novels that got animated and will get animated)
Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu novel is 4 volumes and finished, here are the covers:



Genre: Seinen, Drama, Romance, Science Fiction

[Kaoru Chujo]

This was a moving SF adventure/romance that played over the first half of 2005. It was six episodes based on a four-volume novel, so the story had to be telescoped considerably, but the job was done pretty well.

On the last night of summer vacation, Asaba sneaks into the school pool for a swim. To his surprise, he finds an unknown girl already there. She is a new transfer student in his class, and she turns out to have a secret after-school job.

The cast helped make it work:
Iriya -- Nonaka Ai (Ichijou-san in PaniPoni Dash!, Miko in Kamichu!, etc. -- a real up-and-coming soft moe voice)
Asaba -- Namikawa Daisuke (Koyuki in Beck, Kamishiro Maiku in Onegai Twins, etc. -- what a great, direct voice he has)
Akiho -- Chiba Saeko (Dokuro-chan, Chika-chan in Ichigo Mashimaro, Natsuki in Mai-Hime, Momo in Peach Girl, Ai in Noein, etc., etc.)

official site

ANN page

[Shiroth]

There's nothing like the return of the Iriya thread. *Watches again*

[hikaru2895]

this was the most beautiful and moving anime of all time... Thanks Neo-sam for reviving the thread... i'm still in shock about the forums reset to jan 2005...

[Furudanuki]

I'm happy to see that this thread has been restored - Thanks to Neo-sam!

Iriya was a surprise gem for me. I didn't know a thing about the series, and I only got the first episode because my download queue was empty and I saw that there were only six episodes. But that turned out to be one of the best choices of the year. I've got the CD version of the OP loaded into my MP3 player random rotation, and I still get a lump in my throat every single time it comes on.

[AOforever1]

Anybody know if there might be a small OVA to wrap up the open end of this series?

[NeoSam]

I have added the covers of the novel to the first post.

Ahhhh how I wish there was a manga based on this novel >.<

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by NeoSam

Ahhhh how I wish there was a manga based on this novel >.<

Hpefully there shall be one some day.. but untill then one can only dream.

[Guardian Enzo]

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

[aliensporebomb]

Speechless. Watched all six episodes back to back to back.

I have lots of unanswered questions though.

Spoiler:

What happened to her - did she die in her final mission or did she
succeed? If she died wasn't humanity supposed to be wiped out? If she
lived the letter our hero received at the end implied she wasn't around
any longer.

Was anyone else as bothered by the school nurse beating the crap out
of our hero repeatedly? I couldn't believe it and it was just as shocking
when he returned fire.

And at the end when he gets a gun pulled on him he fires back and is
called a WIMP even though he just murdered her brother? Some of this
was very disturbing.

Anyway, the love story was very sweet and like all tragic love stories
could have been happier but another great, great series.

I really liked this - it was short, but not too short but was gripping and
really sucked me in somewhat similarly to Honey & Clover.

[Furudanuki]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

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

The original response was not lukewarm at all. There was a lot of information and conversation in the Iriya no Sora forum before the hack. But since the series came out in 2005 and the backups were from 2004 year end, all those posts are now gone. But now that another group is subbing Iriya, interest may pick back up and some of the original group of viewers might check back in.

[Guardian Enzo]

Mmmm, fair enough. It's just that absent more available posts here, I searched out as many reviews and such as I could find elsewhere, and the general reaction seemed to be "pretty decent". Maybe what I saw wasn't representative of the opinions around here...

[manly_madonna]

I thought the series was decent. Not too great, not too horrible. You have the god-blessed, luck of the devil male protagonist (who, for some reason, is liked by by one or more of the female casts), the childhood friend who is inlove with him, and the mysterious new anemic, transfer student who's really an alien slaying princess in disguise. I'll give the protagonist a bit of props in this series, at least he isn't the normal 'oh what shall I do! WAH! WAH!' male loser that modern anime seems to be churning out by the second. He at least showed some initiative in what he wanted and how he felt. Instead of taking the back seat and watchings things unfold to his favor. My only problem is with the ending, it leaves things open and there really isn't any closure. It leaves you thinking, "What the frikk'n beeper was this all about in the first place!"

Worth downloading and watching, but isn't something I felt needed to to be kept. So after viewing the series twice in a row, I took it off my hard-drive.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by aliensporebomb

....I have lots of unanswered questions though.

Spoiler:

What happened to her - did she die in her final mission or did she
succeed? If she died wasn't humanity supposed to be wiped out? If she
lived the letter our hero received at the end implied she wasn't around
any longer.Was anyone else as bothered by the school nurse beating the crap out
of our hero repeatedly? I couldn't believe it and it was just as shocking
when he returned fire.And at the end when he gets a gun pulled on him he fires back and is called a WIMP even though he just murdered her brother? Some of this
was very disturbing....

Spoiler for some answers:

Based on the anime and on reading parts of the novel, she probably died, but we don't know for sure. Sequel? The nurse is a worse batterer in the new series Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noberu Sora (also good and slightly similar, without the SF). I think it's a Japanese cosplay naasu meme. At the end, we don't know for sure whether the "brother" (he isn't really) actually died. His allegiance was to humanity, not Iriya. I think he was willing to sacrifice his life to get Iriya into the air again, and was provoking our hero to do something that would get Iriya to do her duty. I think we're supposed to think she won but died, but I don't know. Maybe we're just waiting for the invasion.... The disturbingness (?) is part of the wonderful intensity of the series.

[ayyo]

Originally Posted by aliensporebomb

Spoiler:

What happened to her - did she die in her final mission or did she
succeed? If she died wasn't humanity supposed to be wiped out? If she
lived the letter our hero received at the end implied she wasn't around
any longer.

Was anyone else as bothered by the school nurse beating the crap out
of our hero repeatedly? I couldn't believe it and it was just as shocking
when he returned fire.

And at the end when he gets a gun pulled on him he fires back and is
called a WIMP even though he just murdered her brother? Some of this
was very disturbing.

Anyway, the love story was very sweet and like all tragic love stories
could have been happier but another great, great series.

Spoiler:

I haven't read the novel so I don't know for sure but she probably died. And I don't think they meant that if she dies in battle, humanity will be wiped out. It was more like if she doesn't fight, humanity will be wiped out and somewhere they knew she wasn't going to make it through the battle. So that was why the brother was all like whats worth more, her or humanity.

Also, if you didn't make the connection, the person who wrote the letter was the school nurse who was also that womans-name-that-escapes-me-atm who watches over Iriya as a guardian type thing, but Iriya used her name during one of her flashback for the bus scene where she waited for the protagonist and complained why she followed her again and that she doesn't like her.

[aliensporebomb]

I'm still blown away by this, Honey & Clover, and episodes of
Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora in one month and I'm shattered
in a way. But good!

Thanks for the hints and tips. I think if I watch it again I'll notice
that.

[whisperred]

hey... any chance tat there will be a series for tis?

[lavielove]

Originally Posted by whisperred

hey... any chance tat there will be a series for tis?

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

[Ryusei]

This anime is absolute poetry. Really great.

Just one small note. Carrier Ticonderoga doesn't exist. In reality the Tico is an escort cruiser.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Ryusei

This anime is absolute poetry. Really great.

Just one small note. Carrier Ticonderoga doesn't exist. In reality the Tico is an escort cruiser.

Agreed. I was really blindsided by this one - not expecting all that much based on the relative lack of buzz. What a gem.

Oh, and the expression on Asaba's face while he was reading the pornos in the convenience store (ep #5) was absolutely priceless...