soraphiles?

I know the sky is a major theme for the anime, but the sky fetishes really need to be toned down a couple notches. It’s only the second episode and it’s reaching the annoying/creepy threshold. Case and point: Dorito-kun is presented with a prime opportunity to bed Matsuri, yet they opt to stare at his -fake- sky instead. Fail.

Episode Rating: 8.5/10

Picking up where we left off, Matsuri is cornered by the random sword wielding guy when Yorito arrives on scene. Taking advantage of the distraction, Matsuri picks up a candle holder, breaks one of the UV lights and escapes through the window. Sword guy goes after her and finds her collapsed outside from the impact of the fall. He charges Matsuri but she uses her powers to rapidly rust the nearby scaffolding, causing it to collapse and giving her a chance to hide. Sword guy is not deterred though, a quick exchange of projectiles later and one of his light bombs connect, sending her flying.

Yorito goes after her, only to be told by the sword guy that he shouldn’t waste his time, that she’s not human. Yorito ignores him and runs off. He finds Matsuri unconscious in a nearby cemetery and brings her to his house.

The next day, Yorito awakes to find Matsuri loitering around, looking at his sky photographs. *insert nonsensical sky terminology* She then thanks him and as a reward for saving her, offers to do anything he asks of her. After Yorito just ends up staring at Matsuri with awkward silence, she figures he’s thinking of something ecchi and calls him on it. She instead offers to treat him to her version of cooking, which is apparently just taking everything you can find and shoving it into a microwave oven…then charging said oven when it doesn’t turn on.

After the failed cooking attempt, Matsuri breaks the silence on her situation. She turns off the lights and shows Yorito the effect the sun has on her, disintegrating her flesh and bones.

She’s certainly not human, but she’s not a vampire either, I didn’t catch what she called herself…anyone have any idea?

The two spend the rest of the day watching TV and eating snacks, until night falls and Matsuri thinks it’s about time that she leaves. With nowhere to go and a madman with a sword chasing her, Yorito thinks it would be better for her to stay with him for now. She says it’s impossible, but Yorito refuses to relent. The two argue back and forth for a while until Yorito gets a call from Mana, telling him to come to the hospital to see Aono right away. With little choice in the matter, Yorito reluctantly leaves, but makes Matsuri promise she won’t leave yet.

It turns out that Aono was just angsty that Yorito didn’t show up for a couple days, and just wanted to spend some time with him.

Yorito returns home with Matsuri nowhere in sight and “bai bai” written on one of the picture frames. He begins to rush out to chase after her, but stops when he notices the light in his room is on. Much to his surprise he finds Matsuri laying on his bed, albeit fully clothed. So he asks her why she decided to stick around. She admits that she was about to leave, until she saw his room, whose ceiling is tiled to look like the sky.

Matsuri invites Yorito to join her, and the two stare aimlessly at the “sky” for a while, admiring its beauty. But Yorito knows the real thing is much better, and promises that one day, Matsuri will be able to see it too.

Thoughts

Meh. A rather uninspired episode if you ask me.

The main problem is that the characters aren’t really going anywhere. Dorito-kun was more of the same, caring about little else than the sky, though at least he’s showing some interest in Matsuri, even if it’s only because she shares his fetish.

As for Matsuri. she has a lot of potential as a character, which so far isn’t being capitalized on. I mean, she’s a light fearing monster and the best they can do is give her a “Sei. No. *charge*” moe catch and a matching case of soraphaelia to pair up with Dorito-kun? Though I still like her over the rest of the cast so far, it’s one of the first times I’ve actually liked one of these naively cutesy characters. The whole “ecchi” scene admittedly got me to laugh, contrary to the common adage, it’s funny because you know it’s NOT true. No way Dorito-kun would be thinking about nooky when surrounded with that many pictures of the sky.

Of all the characters, I like Aono the least. I revoke the comment on Yuki/Rei channeling. She may have the silent and stoic behavior pattern down, but the reason they worked for Yuki/Rei was because they had an underlying sense of mystery about them, whereas Aono just sits in a hospital all day making origami. Not to mention that calling Dorito-kun for a mere “I’m hungry…” makes her come off as, for lack of a better term, an attention whore.

I don’t know what it is with the scenes between these two, but for the life of me I can never manage to concentrate enough to make out the dialog. Someone fill me in? kthx

On the technical side of things, it’s nice to see that the animation quality is staying relatively consistent. There was some occasional facial warping, but nothing that would suggest the animation budget is dwindling. The new OP was decent, though I still prefer the subtlety of the opening sequence from episode 1. I’ll take it over the ED any day though, which I have skipped both times due to disinterest. This is where I’d throw in a witty comment about how other animation studios are catching up with KyoAni, but it might incite more hate e-mail, so I’ll pass. ;)

I’m kind of on the fence with Sola, I don’t exactly have a burning hate for it, nor do I have much love for it either. I hope next week gives us an indication of where the plot is heading, because I’m jumping ship if all this anime has to offer is insight into the relationship of these two soraphiles.

Stay tuned for lolikit’s take.

Damnit! Make it stop! T_T