Sora no
Manimani
Number of episodes: 12
Production Studio: Studio Comet
Fansub Release Viewed: TKK
Likelihood of US Release: Medium
Saku Ooyagi returns to his hometown and reconnects with his old friend, Mihoshi Akeno, with whom he parted on bad terms. Mihoshi, determined to improve their relationship, invites Saku to join the astronomy club she founded.
Episode Summary
Saku Ooyagi wakes up suddenly on his first day of school having had a nightmare about a strange girl he used to know as a child. Mii-chan was an acquaintance of Saku’s whose boisterous nature often irritated him, since all he wanted was peace and quiet so that he could read a book. He thought little of her after moving away, but since his father’s job transferred his family back to their hometown, Saku has been dreading meeting Mii-chan once again. When Saku arrives at school, gold paper stars begin to fall from the sky, and a girl standing on the roof announces recruitment for the Astronomy Club. Saku recognizes the girl as Mihoshi — Mii-chan — and she in turn spots him in the crowd. Saku spends the rest of the school day trying to avoid her.
Mihoshi finally corners him and begs to know why he’s been absent from his classroom during every break. Rage mode ensues, and Saku tells Mihoshi exactly why he’s always been mad at her. However, Mihoshi has her own view on the matter, and cries about the time they both got injured and Saku was gone by the time she left the hospital. While Saku is apologizing for their past disagreements, Mihoshi tricks him into joining her astronomy club. First task — recruiting new members, since they need five to remain an official club and they only have four. Saku is tempted to jump ship by the leader of the literature club, but ultimately has some good ideas to help build interest in Mihoshi’s astronomy club, in spite of the fact that the weather is not on their side.
Thoughts
I would be inclined to mark this as just another cute, mildly-funny shoujo love comedy, if not for the fact that much of the tension seems to be resolved in episode one. No, the two leads aren’t embracing, having just confessed their true undying love for each-other, but from the way Saku initially acted towards Mihoshi one would have expected his hatred towards her to have lasted a bit longer than half of an episode. I feel like, now that he’s realized the mistake he made as a child and been made to feel oh-so-badly about it, there’s really not a whole lot more that can happen in their relationship, especially since, despite obvious temptations in the form of a hottie from the lit club, Saku already seems invested in making the astronomy club a success. While it might be cliché to expect a little more resistance on the road to their true love, it's a formula that tends to work; in fact, it's a formula on which shoujo series of this type are built. Without any clashing I don’t feel like there’s a big reason for me to watch the show.
I have to say, though, that I sympathize with Saku. Really, Mihoshi isn’t the type of girl with whom I'd like to spend my time. She’s a bit like Haruhi Suzumiya in that she’s enthusiastic about her organization and isn’t about to listen to anybody trying to oppose her, but Mihoshi otherwise just seems like a cheap rip off — a clone created to cash in on the popularity of the character type. Saku unfortunately softens up too quickly, as I stated before. I feel like he should be Mihoshi’s foil; an opposing personality in contrast to her overbearing and over enthusiastic nature. Unfortunately, he withers up and climbs on board too quickly to serve that purpose, and ultimately seems less interesting for it.
Perhaps the series’ saving grace might be its unique focus; Astronomy. It’s not entirely evident from episode one how large of a role astronomy will play in the series. It might be just a backdrop, which is what I expect, but, like the sunspot viewer in this episode, bits of science might start to peep out here and there and, like music in Nodame Cantabile, might add a bit of extra flavor (which isn’t to say that music was the only thing Nodame had going for it; it was truly an example of the whole package).
Visually the show is above-average, with consistent and fluid animation, though it lacks some of the life seen in higher-end action-oriented series. For a shoujo series, however, the visuals are quite good; unfortunately, shows of this genre often get the short end of the stick when it comes to animation budget and visual creativity. I think that the most visually memorable scene would have to be when Saku arrives at school and shining paper stars are floating through the air like so many sakura petals. Other than that, though, there isn’t much here that one can’t see in other, more well-written shows.
Unfortunately, this series doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from the pack. I tend to have a soft spot for shoujo comedies, because there are some of them that are very good and which stand amongst my favorite anime. Shows like this one, though, just seem to lack the spark of creativity that make them memorable beyond their broadcast season. If this series includes some more astronomy content, it might have a chance at breaking out, but otherwise it’s nothing special.
Pros
- The use of astronomy is really the only bit of content that I haven’t seen played out in many other series
- The animation is above average
Cons
- The relationship between the leads loses tension very quickly, becoming boring
- The female lead feels like a Haruhi ripoff
