Welcome to another week of Sonny Boy! This is a pretty trippy episode all things considered, but one I still enjoyed. So without further ado lets jump in!
On the visual side Sonny Boy is still weird. I continue to like it! The flat coloring and low line count is very appealing and I think it works with the surreal presentation. Stuff like the background falling and splitting like a curtain was great! Yet some stuff, like Rajidani’s toys that he creates with his power, still feel out of place. The white outline around them combined with their incredibly cartoony nature doesn’t mesh well with the students. One could argue that this is on purpose! That these toys were made from a different world, a different set of rules, from the students and thus shouldn’t fit with them. I’m not opposed to that argument and I’ll wait and see how Sonny Boy continues to use them as sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. For now though consider me wary of their continued inclusion.
As for the episodes narrative I think the subject was pretty clear. This week Sonny Boy was all about cutting yourself off from society, willingly or otherwise. How a person can come to feel disconnected from the group either through their actions or the actions of others. This is a pretty important subject for our young characters! They are still growing up, figuring themselves out and their place/role in the wider world. Right now they have their own sort of social ecosystem in the school. They can learn how to navigate/interact with people, figure out who they are without to many consequences. Or at least they could if it wasn’t for these islands and their special rules. They add (perceived) consequences and transform an otherwise safe setting into one they know nothing about. That said, I think this subject also extends beyond the school yard.
Now, I’m not totally sure if Sonny Boy intended this to stretch this way. And seeing as NEETS/Hikikomori are a Japan-specific issue I don’t want to make any assumptions or speak out of my ass. But I do feel that there is a conversation to be had, especially after COVID, about how disconnected our society might have become. How easy it is, with modern conveniences, to not interact or socialize with other people. There was an opportunity here to really say and explore a very touchy subject for people. And its because of how this story can extend into every day life beyond highschool students that I’m actually rather annoyed with how it concluded.
To explain what I mean lets take it from the top: Students that are separated from the group, socially and physically, become frozen, black splotches that are frozen in time. They are unable to move forward, to progress, to grow as people because they are stuck in their little room alone. After this we begin to see Nagara, our MC, start to follow in their footsteps. He is pushed out of the group, shunned by students like Asakaze who are jealous of his success or Pony who wants him to be someone he isn’t. This all leads to him fighting with and shunning them in turn. Pushing away those who he believes don’t want him to begin with. It’s only when Nozomi reaches out and reinforces that they need him, that he is desired, that he is able to stay with them. And this is when the problem starts.
Sonny Boy had the solution, the answer to these frozen students was staring it in the face: Make them feel wanted, show them what only they can do and help with. Make them want to leave their rooms rather than dragging them out by force. And yet despite having this answer what does Sonny Boy do? It drags them out by force. Nagara, with the help of Rajidani’s toys, lifts up and scatters the curtains separating their worlds. Forcibly bringing them back to reality without ever actually solving their problems or integrating them back to society. Suffice to say I found it a disappointing ending. If these students return to how they were and suffer the same fate, then sure. Set it up as a failure for Nagara and I’ll be happy, plus the loose clothe Pony finds will be important later. But if that’s the end of the issue…
That said there is one thing that I liked with what Sonny Boy did with Nagara, his power. It’s pretty clear at this point that Nagara doesn’t simply find portals to other worlds, he creates them. Whether he creates the rules as well or if those are just consequences we don’t yet know. But this has a pretty big implication! That being that I would wager that Nagara is responsible for this whole thing. That he was anxious about growing up and graduating school and so created a world, a scenario, where that would never happen. Where these worlds are his escape from those anxieties and that he will only be able/willing to return them after he has grown as a person. Considering how Mizuho and Hoshi could both use their powers before the school disappeared, I don’t think this is that far fetched.
So yeah, all in all I would say this was a decent episode of Sonny Boy. It had its highs and low, singular, and for all that I don’t like the ending I did enjoy everything leading up to it. The art style continues to be refreshing and Sonny Boy’s approach to common issues for people it’s characters age is something I appreciate. There’s childish drama sure, but its all rooted in deeper issues plaguing each of them. I look forward to seeing what happens. So long as it can give me a better ending than I got this week, I’ll probably be happy!
