Sora no Oto – 04



Great to see that it’s indeed the creators’ intentions to flesh out and develop the characters in the first half of this series. Sora no Oto just has one less annoying character. Noel got a lot of depth in this episode, without making it too predictable of an episode. In this episode she really showed that she’s more than a sleepy airhead, but has a passion for what she does.

As for the setting, my guess would be that we are in the French part of Switzerland. The fact that the characters speak in Japanese is probably done out of convenience: even series as Red Garden and Chevalier, which have nothing to do with Japan, are spoken in Japanese. Another hint of why there is now way that this show is set in Japan is how the saleswoman didn’t mind to be called by her first name. These cultural values are very common in Europe, but I don’t see it happen in Japan, even with a number of centuries in the future. It’s also very plausible for French countries to have English software, especially in the military. Heck, I live in the Netherlands and about half of the software I use is in English.

One big question that I still have is: what happened tot he architecture? My guess would be that the buildings we see here are built by by the locals after something wiped out all of the modern buildings, and that they were modelled after local architecture and resources that were available. That must also mean that most of the futuristic technologies like the giant robot were completely annihilated for some reason.

Also, in this episode Kanata learns to play the trumpet. It was a bit fast and too much of a change, but I know the feeling that the creators tried to portray: for a long time you’re struggling without improving in the slightest, despite knowing the basics, and sometimes it just takes one realization to significantly improve yourself. I practice Karate myself, and I’ve had tons of these moments. In this episode it was obviously exaggerated, but it worked nicely.
Rating: * (Good)

11 thoughts on “Sora no Oto – 04

  1. Well we learned this episode, that the ocean has changed so much that most marine animals don’t exist anymore (dolphins etc.) that means that whatever war waged throughout the world…Europe…whereever, it must have been terrible.

    I thought since episode 1 that it’s set in Europe, but it seems Japanese used to own that land, as some buildings are reminicent, the use Yen as a currency (even though it’s shaped differently) und the school used Japanese (although nobody can read it now).
    Who knows maybe there was even a continental shift…I mean, there are anime that pulled such stuff more out of the hat ^^°

  2. Did you catch my comment in the chatbox about the street signs? When Kanata goes to play her trumpet, they show a sign at the crossroads. One way is toward “Seize”, the other two are toward “Neuf” and “Treize”, so the cities nearby are the French words for 9 (Neuf), 13 (Treize), and 16 (Seize). And when I searched google maps, you can find places in France with those words in their names, but none where all three are near enough each other for those signs to make since. So, my guess is that those are numbered sectors left over from the war or something, which makes Japanese colonization of France make more sense. Also, they make certain that things like place names, etc are written in Roman letters, but the schoolbooks they found were definitely written in kanji. I don’t know if the characters are supposed to be “speaking” japanese, or if it is for convenience, as you say, but it seems clear that at some time in Seize’s past there were schoolchildren learning to read and write Japanese in the village. Also, Kanata’s name is of course, Japanese, while the other girls very clearly have European names. I think your right about the architecture, with the other option being that this was a small village or hamlet before the war, somewhere in the provinces, which grew into a city after the major cities were destroyed in the war. That would make sense of the sort of provincial style architecture, and the lack of any recognizable landmarks, even ruins of landmarks, from major european cities like paris or geneva. Anyway, i thought it was a really good episode, and I think the characters will grow into quite interesting people by the mid-point of the series. As they grow up, face whatever the major conflict for the storyline is going to be, and we learn more about the dark parts in their pasts. I’m also interested in this connection between Rio and the blonde girl, since it seems to be the same way that inspired our heroine. Also, if you noticed, the thing Noel fixed on the robot was its weapon system. Maybe this is just irony, but I have a feeling that its foreshadowing instead. Also, I wonder what the hell that woman at the store meant when she asked Noel if Kanata “knows,” especially considering the way she quickly changed the subject when Kanata walks over…Are the girls getting shipped off to war? Can’t wait to see what the creators finally do with this fascinating setting. This is certainly one of the more interesting post-apocalyptic environments in anime, with strange combinations of bright and dark.

  3. “Also, Kanata’s name is of course, Japanese, while the other girls very clearly have European names.”

    Actually, I looked a bit into this, and out of the lead characters Kureha and Rio also have Japanese first names, while Noel’s last name is also in Japanese and Phylica Heideman is the only one with a European last name.

    It reminds me in a way of Michiko e Hatchin, which taught me about the huge amount of Japanese immigrants in Brazil. Perhaps we have something similar here.

  4. yeah, I actually thought about brazil and michiko e hatchin as well, and even thought that if the language was portuguese everything would make sense, but nothing seems to match up better than some dialect of french with the place names and stuff like that. But, I think that’s absolutely what we’ve got, some bastard-bred culture mixing european and japanese ancestry, I’m still guessing colonization, but it could be anything, even something like japan sunk into the sea after an earthquake and everyone fled to some country in europe, or an epidemic virus, or bombing or anything really. What I hope is that the show gradually answers these questions but never just gives us the answers…Give us the clues and let us figure it out for ourselves, that is what I say

  5. The setting is not Spain.

    The setting is more probably Switzerland (since the country is called Helvetia as I recall, and Helvetii = Swiss people).

    It’s just that a spanish city was used as a model.

    As a proof that they are in Switzerland, below is a screenshot of episode 1 where Kanata is given a note detailing her mission in Seize:

    http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/5323/jpg00111.jpg

    Notice the use of the French language in the note.

    Mention is made for the world “helvetia” too.

    I think it is safe to assume that the setting is indeed Switzerland (I mean the french part)

  6. as of ep4
    “Cute Japanese and European teenage girls, wearing Wehrmacht uniforms, exploring a Japanese school in a Spanish town full of French people who make glassware on Switzerland’s French border, following a Shinto-Christian religion with a miko-nun, treating tropical diseases only children get, accepting yen as currency while not being able to read kanji, celebrating Spanish traditions mixed with Chinese New Years legends, shooting at African owls – that try to keep them away from schoolgirl ghosts – with German rifles, while piloting a multi legged, demon slaying, weather reporting, stealth and sniper mode capable, AMAZING GRACE SINGING, engrish speaking, 200mm coil gun firing “son of the god of fire” supertank from the past (aka Tank-kun).

    For all us /a/ dwellers to post more info about So Ra No Wo To as we figure shit out.”

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