Sora no Manimani

kenikki Oct 20, 2009

6.8

Story: 5.75/10 Astronomi is unique in anime, but nothing else here is. This is not a show you watch for it’s story. The romance part of the story is mainly there for some few sweet moments, but mainly for humor. They did manage to push in some halfdecent backstories for some of the characters though. It doesn’t even have a proper ending. Hardly anything is resolved. It could be a decent season finale, but i doubt we’ll see a sequel to this. Although if we do get one, I’ll watch it.Animation/Artwork/Visual Effects: 6/10 Very, very generic artwork and quality of animation and visual effects. The usual artwork is probably the best kind for a show like this though. Nor does it need to be any better. I think it would just lead to unnecessary movements like in K-ON. Although I don’t think it would hurt if it was just a little better at least, like Hayate no Gotoku!! For instance. Definitely nothing above avarage. Sound: 6.5/10 The voice actors don’t stand out i any way, which is both good and bad. As for the BGM; at first I didn’t like it. But later on they started using the music very well as well as playing some damn nice tunes from time to time. But every now and then a crappy song pushed its way thorugh. A bit above avarage overall. Characters: 7.25/10 The female lead is pretty funny. A hyperactive character like her isn’t very unusual, even though these character are usually side characters and not lead ones. I also gotta say that she did get quite a few laughs out of me. Especially in the beginning since her behaviour really suprised me. She felt really refreshing. The male was pretty tame. He managed to get some laughs from me too, but he was nothing special. The club president was definitely my favorite though. When he started coughing up blood the first time I laughed my ass off. He’s also the character that got the best ending. The rest of the cast was pretty standard but I still didn’t dislike a single one. Overall: 6.75/10 This is a nice and charming watch even if it doesn’t really stand out in hardly any way. It doesn’t try to be anything bigger or greater than it actually is (like K-ON does for instance) which is my impression of it and something I like about it. If you want a decent slice-of-life show with some very light romances, then this is your show.

DGFischer Mar 31, 2024

8.4

Sora no Manimani ([The Mercy of the Stars] 2009, Studio Comet) is perhaps the teen-rom which never wished to present itself in this way.  It is a year in the life of a struggling high school club and its members who interact through any number of adventures.  But the chemistry is there.  Three boys.  Three (+) girls.  Hearts sighing for love.  People clueless about the love they inspire.  Romantic night skies with their cluster of twinkling bright shimmerings. Ah, I did say chemistry.  My mistake.  This one is about the Astronomy Club of Shirai High School.   And this plot centers on the club that needs one more member.  That has a developed hostility with the Literary Club and its leader who happens to be President of Student Council.  That has a member who should have been part of this Literary Club (to the chagrin of the Prez).  That has a member who belongs in the Photography Club, but the girls in Astronomy just have that allure.  That has no real funding to gain the telescope that would make them a legit entity on the school campus. But, no, a teen-rom needs tension.  And you get this from the male roles in the club.  Saku is a girl magnet who has no need for these kinds of relationships (or, he's generally clueless about those advances he's receiving ... whatever makes the chemistry of Sora no Manimani works).  Edogawa is the girl repellent who can't win, but his motto is 'if it has a skirt, chase it.'  Watching him bomb is a morsel of the humor of the series.  As a sidebar, Roma is the sickly president of the Astronomy Club who is too mellow and his bloody coughs is a real turn-down ... but Oumi, president of another Astronomy Club and high school crushes on him.  She remembers him as a profound student in middle school whose tales behind the constellations have such a romantic tone.  Oh, yes, one more.  Soma-sensei, a handsome young teacher and relative of Mihoshi (does his presence spark some jealousy in Saku?). Unleash the girls.  Mihoshi is the hyperactive childhood friend of Saku.  They separated for seven years, and this hiatus began on an unfortunate accident which hurt both Mihoshi and Saku.  Saku returns to attend the same high school and resents Mihoshi's pushiness about the night skies.  She is one year older and her constant visits to Saku's class irk Hime, a girl who is falling for Saku.  Fumie is Mihoshi's classmate and rival.  She hates that the book-loving Saku has been coerced to join Astronomy Club even though she knows Saku is more attuned to literary arts.  Saya is the attractive classmate whose family runs the local temple.  So many opportunities for girl to meet guy, and the night skies only have stars, but no starry-eyed youth ... other than Hime and Edogawa. Sora no Manimani is a primer for those who have an interest in astronomy.  Lessons on star-finding, magnitude, light pollution, the seasonal changes of the night skies throughout a year all make for good science.  And it's through all  this that love tries to make some impact. The storyline, however, seems contrived, working in new angles rather than allowing the plot to develop.  The Astronomy Club fights for members.  The President of the Student Council hampers their efforts.  The School Fair offers a chance for the Astronomy Club to gain respect, and by winning the popularity contest to gain funds for a coveted telescope.  A multi-school Astronomy Club network appears by mid-season.  An autumn symposium to study the fall night sky.  A winter camp to study the winter constellations and risk girls in a sudden blizzard.  The stress of entrance exams and the transitioning into a new school year.  And no real love connections to show for it. And thoughts for a second season?  Hah!  Go read the manga for these details. The night skies are the highlights for the animation techniques used, which were noticeably flat 2D tech using a moderate color pallet.  The musical themes were mellow enough to be a notch or two under catchy. Considering the plusses and minuses, overall Sora no Manimani is a decent rendition of life in high school as dictated by club activities.  Not a heavy-hitter in the rom-com genre, but its gentle tone has its own pleasures.

Szwagier Oct 13, 2009

6

When you take a very cliched genred and try to make something original out of it there are 3 possible outcomes. It can turn into a memorable masterpiece. It can turn into something so weird only the angsty kids would watch it while prouldy saying it's "alternative". Or, and this is the outcome in this show case, it can look like cliche anime that is trying a bit too hard.This show is a typical light lovecom to the core. We have childhood friends, love rivarly, oblivious-energetic chara, intelligent tsundere chara - basically completely typical. So how can a show gain the edge to shine a bit brighter than all the other shounen love polygons? By getting a not overused theme (astronomy) and mixing in some astronomy knowledge. And everything would be perfect if not the tiny little detail - they couldn't get the right proportions. Astronomy that should be a spice suddenly takes almost the same amount of screen time as the "main dish" romance. And so we have characters lecturing each other about the wonders of the stas, then showing the starry sky, then marking the constellation on said sky, then gasping a the beaty of those constellation, followed by another lecture about them and after all that finally we got some emotional punchline (usually only as a character thought) like "A, watching the stars together feels so good". Since (thx to neverending astronomy lectures) plot was moving at the turtle pace, the only thing that kept the show alive were likeable characters. They weren't really complex, or really original but they created this fuzzy atmosphere of friendship that makes lovecoms such an enjoyabl genre. There was a bit of low lvl drama,  a bit of humour, some character growth - prety much the usual and predictable stuff. The animation and the sound were both average - nothing to complain, but nothing to be amazed about either. Sora no manimani isn't top of it's genre. It's too slow and filled with too much story unrelevant information, but it still can be enjoyable. Don't expect anything amazing though.