hontou ni
23Apr/0718

Sola gratia, Sola fide and Sola Stripera

Apologies first to our Reformation fathers for my liberties with their slogan. But grace, faith and Stripey are indeed ingredients of this post albeit overstretched in relation with the Spring series, Sola.

Sola Gratia

And by the grace of Nanao Naru sama, we, undeserving mortals, can now bask in the divine beauty of our moelicious Sola goddesses. I was absolutely won over by Sola's character designs with its original illustrations in the ED. Matsuri's winsome personality, Aono's stoic innocence were wonderfully and fearfully conveyed through those stills. Especially love Aono's half-miko outfit and can't wait for her to lose that drabby hospital robe in favour of it.

And I know everyone is so gonna take this the wrong way but tanuki's honor compels me. It's so, SOOO good to see anime girls reasonably proportioned besides the mammarian overload that plague most pandering bishoujo series. I'm no DFC adherent but I believe I have good taste in figures. It's also great to know that there's no overdose of frilly ribbons to make up for a lack of moe-tivity. Nanao sama's moe-designs just comes through with a right dash of ribbons, a meld of gentle colors and impeccable costume design. Truly, we are unworthly to behold such loveliness.

Sola fide

It needs to be said that while I am in awe of the moeliciousness of Sola girls, I retain some reservations about the series. (Yes, I am THAT badly scarred by Cabbage love.) However, unlike Yoakena (the animation that is), there is plenty of basis for good faith that the series would turn out well and it's all in the team behind the series. First the production staff. The story of Sola was born of the pen of Hisaya Naoki who is one of the writers of Kanon. The series composition is done by Hanada Jukki who also did the script for Kannazuki no miko (what powerful lines Chikane had in ep 11!) and is involved in notable series such Rozen Maiden 'trilogy' and Popotan. (Yes, I'm conveniently omitting Mahoromatic 2.) Of course the series is animated by NOMAD who holds my deepest respect for putting together the very entertaining Rozen Maiden tale although their Chokotto Sister still invokes fleeting bouts of doubt.

However, the greatest boost of faith is the rich pool of seiyuu talent amassed for this production. Our kawaii beret-donning protagonist, Matsuri, is played by Mamiko Noto. Even seemingly minor supporting characters are voiced by notable seiyuus like Shimizu Ai and Koshimizu Ami. Oh I forget, the resident sweet-loli, the one who looks like Shinku in Suiseseiki outfit (who can blame Nomad for recycling their costumes?), is voiced by the seiyuu who also did Gretel in Black Lagoon (WOOT!). Just waiting for her to pull a double beretta on sword-dude.

But the greatest seiyuu surprise was Aono, the co-heroine of Sola, who is voiced by my 2nd most favourite seiyuu, Nakahara Mai. Now Aono is nothing like Mai's typical roles of which I thought Tokiha Mai (Mai HiME) to be her best and most definitive work. Neither feisty nor busty, Aono probably draws from the same gene pool with Primula and Nagato Yuki. It's indeed refreshing to see Mai san break out of character stereotype.

Sola Stripera

Now for more Stripey thoughts on the series as a whole. While the series seemed to enjoy a great production team, I did find the interaction between the characters a little disconnecting at times. It could be that awkward pause that was dragged a second too long or several irrelevant responses, I'm not sure. But there were at least 2 occasions in 3 eps that I had the feeling the characters interacted on separate recordings. Other than that, I generally have high hope for the series and am looking forward to some siscon drama between Yorito and Aono. (I know, Aono is onee-chan and my fetish is of the imouto persuasion but Aono behaves like the spoiled imouto I love so much in such scenarios.)

Here's the Sola ED for all to enjoy. Looking forward to ep 4.

Sola ED: "Mellow melody" by Ceui

Related posts:

  1. The true antagonist(s) of Sola
  2. Sola power – Morimiya Aono
  3. 15 random thoughts on Sola 04-05

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Filed under: Sola Leave a comment
Comments (18) Trackbacks (0)
  1. TedFox
    April 24th, 2007 - 00:02

    YOu’ve impressed me enough to go take a look

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  2. Skane
    April 24th, 2007 - 00:36

    Because I feel like warming up my seat in Hell.

    What if…

    Cheers. ;)

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  3. kei-clone
    April 24th, 2007 - 00:59

    lol, still glad to see that I can come to you for a blogger who somehow has the same opinions as I do 99% of the time.

    sola ftw~

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  4. Zyl
    April 24th, 2007 - 01:18

    Hmmm… Bro, I seem to recall you had also praised another series as your moé fix during the previous season but that went to hell in a handbasket pretty quick. You’ve given reasons for faith but what about intelligent doubting? After all, a great eternal recurrence is the tragedy of great girls that are in dire need of being in better shows. ;)

    Would be much appreciated if you could share your reservations about Sola in more detail please!

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  5. maglor
    April 24th, 2007 - 02:22

    I predict Stripey will soon be praising Mana and Koyori sisters.

    I have to mention that OP and ED of this series tried to emulate AIR’s ‘Tori no Uta’, half successfully. Since I still consider Tori no Uta to be modern day ‘L’homme arme’ ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'homme_arme ), even a quarter success should be praised. I especially liked the ED and can’t wait to hear the full version.

    As I have posted in AnimeSuki Forum ( under my old webname of ‘wontaek’ ), ‘Sola’ has a great potential to become a serious series about deep passions people harbor inside. The trouble is, delving deep into mental state of characters is fine for pure arts, but makes lousy commercial sense, so, sadly, the animators will likely take lighter and fluffier route with the story.

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  6. flaskis
    April 24th, 2007 - 04:23

    Well, the moment I heard “Kanon” in the same sentence as “Sola” I understood that this series would be good, and I’m not disappointed. I’m also sold by the character design, especially Matsuri and that awesome outfit of hers, zettai ryouiki nice overall = win.

    Just curious by the way, does your siscon stretch to both older and younger sisters, or do you prefer one above the other? (lol this sounds so wrong!)

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  7. Adun
    April 24th, 2007 - 05:49

    So far one of my favourite series of this season. For Matsuri to be a few hundred years old, she has good sense in clothes even though she can be a little clueless at time. But that’s what makes her so cute~~

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  8. Mac
    April 24th, 2007 - 06:42

    To tell the truth, the animation has not particularly impressed me.

    The character designs I enjoy, just… not the way they’re typically drawn. Generic, pointy-chinned drawings aren’t my thing. How the characters look relative to each other might get across what I like.

    I like the story so far, I like the scripting, and I love the voice acting, despite the awkward portions, which are an issue of direction–especially animation directing creating awkward timing. I just keep thinking to myself, “I’m enjoying this, but I wonder how much MORE I’d enjoy it if it were animated by some one else.”

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  9. Kabitzin
    April 24th, 2007 - 07:49

    OMFG Skane…

    I think Sola seems intriguing, but I have a hard time getting past the art style. I never really was a fan of that angular Da Capo style, but perhaps my curiosity will get the best of me.

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  10. Xellos-_^
    April 24th, 2007 - 10:31

    >>And I know everyone is so gonna take this the wrong way but tanuki

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  11. Stripey
    April 24th, 2007 - 12:25

    Tedfox: Pls do! :) Although my Stripey-sense having been tingling so inaccurately of late, I think Sola’s gonna be a hit :)

    Skane: Erm, is the seat beside you taken? XD

    kei-clone: Indeed! That’s one of the very purposes of my blog, to find like-minded anime-lovers and gush about our passions. :) I’m very into Matsuri now but I suspect once Aono gets up and about, I’d join AAA in a flash :P

    Zyl: LOL! Bro your memory’s too good, too long XD I think I should make a list of “Stripey’s shameful picks” for accountability’s sake. Well, most of my mild apprehension came from ep 3. There is a slight dip in animation standard and the dialogue seemed clumsy at times. There are also moments when the interactions come across as unnatural (as mentioned in the post) probably as Mac says due to less-than-stellar directing. And the series have a lot of generic elements that would potentially drag it into mediocrity. Let’s hope it doesn’t go that way :P

    Maglor: oh and I was wondering where wontaek had gone. :) Didn’t connect the previous Maglor comments to you. Anyhow, so glad to have you drop by again. As for Sola’s plot, I wouldn’t be surprised if the series ends with Matsuri’s demise or departure. The OP depicts Matsuri as a memory in an photo album. I hope they have the testicular fortitude to go the road less-travelled :)

    flaskis: LOL! Glad you asked about my siscon since it gives me a chance to clear the air. Ahem, well the truth is I don’t have siscon. :P I like drama and siscon shows give me plenty of that so it doesn’t really matter if it’s onee or imouto. But! I also notice I prefer a more mature male lead to be emotionally more stable than the girl in such circumstances and that usually calls for the boy to be older than the girl, hence that a slight inclination to onii-imouto dramas. :)

    Mac: It’s great to know that I’m not imagining those awkward pauses. :) I sometimes wished the series was done by ZECXS :P

    Kabitzin: Take that leap of faith! Eternal bliss (and possibly siscon) awaits you in Sola :)

    Xellos-_^: LOL! But.. but… I prefer Aono to Koyori, surely that refutes any preceived loliconism? XD

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  12. Kresnik
    April 24th, 2007 - 23:01

    I’m the supporter of Mana.. :D Long live childhood friend, classmate, and girls-who-make-my-dinner-when-they’re-not-asked-to-and-not-asking-anything.. :P

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  13. flaskis
    April 25th, 2007 - 00:25

    >> Ahem, well the truth is I don

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  14. Vexx
    April 25th, 2007 - 00:31

    The music track of the drama CD (as well as the play) hooked me to at least take a look at this series. The mood and the rain… plus the lineage of the project team.

    Anyway… we’ll see. The end of the first episode gave me some doubts (I really wasn’t interested in an action story). Hopefully the jist here will be a straight up romance or at most a triangle (no, no more harems for a while thanks unless they’re pure comedy). I need to browse around and see if Matsuri is based on a mythological race much like the Petopetosan world portrayed (kappa, ero, etc). Loved that show and its music as well.

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  15. FlameStrike
    April 25th, 2007 - 18:08

    Matsuri is a win full of moe x.x This show is working out pretty well to cover for my lack of Kanon since it ended Heh

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  16. greyscalefuzz
    April 26th, 2007 - 09:42

    Hey bro, I’ve seen the 1st couple of eps for this and don’t quite get where this is headed. But hey, its for the moe right? ok… keep watching. Stripey says so. :P

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  17. Stripey
    April 26th, 2007 - 20:46

    Kresnik: heh, I’m weak to such archetypes too… Shirakawa Kotori being the top of this list :) That said, I’m not sure if Mana does have any romantic inclinations towards Yorito. She’s not responding enough to the threat of the very kawaii Matsuri if she is :)

    flaskis: Heh, my good brother who is also my webmaster installed rotating banners features. There’s Mai-chan from Yoakena too! :)

    Vexx: Ah, looks like I be picking up Pepetosan then :) I enjoyed the music for Sola very much too. Captures the mood so well. As for romance, I suspect it’ll be 2 way between Aono and Matsuri rather 3 with Mana with Matsuri coming up tops or dying XD Inferred from OP and ED :P

    FlameStrike: Matsuri’s really cute for something that’s hundreds of year old :P I’m just waiting for Aono to get more into the tale. She gives me Nagato Yuki vibes with Haruhi’s tsundereness :)

    greyscalefuzz: Haha thanks for your faith! Your advantage is you could hum-tam me physically if it goes terribly wrong :)

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  18. Malise
    March 1st, 2009 - 15:01

    i just wanted to say that I love this site

    ( REPLY )

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