Well then…I sure didn’t see that coming, although in hindsight it makes a lot of sense.
After 9 episodes of build up, Sola finally reaches its major plot revelation/twist. With only 2 episodes and an OVA remaining that means either we’ll hit the climax next episode, aftermath in episode 12 and a sidestory OVA -OR- a build up to climax through the next episode to the finale and an OVA dealing with the aftermath.
In either case, I see a lot of people’s opinions of Sola have been changing these past few episodes. It took a long time for Sola to break out of its ’slice of life’ precursor, but at least it’s all coming to a satisfying and coherent end.
Episode Rating: 9/10
Yorito and Mana visit the abandoned building where Yorito stabbed Matsuri and his memory finally comes back to him. Wanting to know the truth about what’s going on, Yorito regains his resolve to find Matsuri. Before they leave, Mana tells Yorito the truth about Aono, that she too is a yaka.
Meanwhile, Matsuri and Loli in a Garbage Can get some more talking done. Mayuko is obviously aware that Matsuri is thinking about Yorito, but when she tries to get her to talk about it, Matsuri just ignores her and changes the topic. Mayuko thinks that Matsuri is unable to trust her because of her ties with Hige, but Matsuri says that’s not the case and that even if she were to share her worries, there’s nothing anyone can do.
Hoping to better understand what’s going on, Yorito returns home to talk with Aono. Koyori is there as well and they all have lunch together, almost as if things were back to normal. But when Koyori leaves, it’s apparent that they’re not, Yorito confronts Aono and asks her what she’s hiding from him. Aono says she’s not hiding anything and as long as she’s able to live together with Yorito, nothing else is important.
As Aono tries to approach Yorito, he stops her in her tracks by opening the blinds and letting sunlight pour in. Realizing that he’s not going to get anything out of his sister, Yorito leaves her to rot in her own depression. (HAH!)
Elsewhere, Mana is busy trying to track down Hige, after hearing from Sae that he was looking for the tomato soup drink that Matsuri likes. After spotting him boarding a streetcar and chasing said streetcar all around town, she finally catches up to him only to be told that he’s not friends with Matsuri. But Mana knows otherwise and begs him to tell deliver a message to her: “Morimiya Yorito is suffering”.
I guess Mana’s message got through because Yorito and Matsuri are reunited again, in the same very same place as their last meeting. This time it’s Matsuri’s turn to do the stabbing, being the only way to show Yorito the truth, Matsuri impales Yorito with Hige’s sword. Upon doing so, Yorito’s hand explodes into a flurry of origami paper.
A flashback explains the rest. Aono, Matsuri and Yorito were friends hundreds of years ago, but Yorito was killed in what looks a mudslide of sorts. While Matsuri was able to accept the truth and move on, Aono wasn’t ready to let go, and after hundreds of years found a way to implant Yorito’s memories and consciousness into one of her origami dolls, and the result is the present day Yorito.
Finding out that you’re a remnant of the past created with paper isn’t exactly the best news in the world, but luckily Yorito has Matsuri to cheer him up. She explains that the past doesn’t matter, the Yorito in front of her is just as real an existence, with memories and feelings that are his own, to prove her point she kisses him. Matsuri suggests putting an end to everything and asks Yorito to disappear with her.
To prepare for the inevitable confrontation, Matsuri goes to Hige for help, asking him to teach her how to use his sword.
Thoughts
It might have taken a while for Sola to get to the point, but things are falling into place nicely and all the loose ends are being tied up.
I especially like how each character introduced plays a significant part in the unfolding of the story’s events. Mana, who I thought would be relegated to background scenery once Aono and Matsuri stepped in, was surprisingly crucial to the plot, running around gathering information to relay to Dorito-kun so he could make the right decisions.
And last episode we learned the truth about Loli in a Garbage Can and her relationship with Hige. Although it was pretty cliche, I liked how they handled her past. The scene where she stopped Hige from killing Matsuri and his breakdown afterwards was well done, though I still wonder how he managed to scale that tower to get behind Matsuri so fast.
Even Sae, although still largely a token character, played her part in bringing things together. She served as sort of a deus ex plot device to deliver crucial bits of information exactly when they’re needed. Taking coincidence too far? Maybe. But with only 12 episodes to work with and much of it spent on eye candy and build up, shortcuts were inevitable.
However, it’s no mistaking that the plot still revolves around the three central characters: Matsuri, Aono and Dorito-kun. Matsuri continues to be my favourite character of the entire cast. Her ability to accept reality, deal with it and move on places her leaps and bounds above Aono, although it can be argued that shes doing it as a means to protect herself from being hurt and not being honest with her feelings. But nevertheless, it’s this outlook on life that keeps her in bright spirits, and that rubbed off even on to Yorito, who just found out that he’s made out of paper. I’d say it’s quite a feat to cheer up someone who just gained that sort of knowledge.
Aono on the other hand, continues to live in the past, and is getting burned for it, rightfully so. Her wish to live with a fake Yorito is selfish and though she may be fooling everyone else, deep down she must be aware that the real Yorito is long gone and that she’s only prolonging her suffering by having to face a fake every day.
* * *
With the ending in sight, am I the only one who foresees a potential disaster for Sola’s finale?
Matsuri and Yorito’s decision to disappear with each other is the catalyst for said disaster. This means Matsuri killing Aono to break her link with Yorito, and then baking herself in the sun to end it all. On one hand, that would be an epic ending -IF- they actually play it out that way.
The problem lies in the tendency for studios wanting their anime to end happily, with the way things are set up, this would likely mean some random wtfux ending where Yorito pulls a Pinocchio and becomes a real human. At that point they’d probably take it a step further and heal everyone of their yaka condition so they can live happily ever after. It’s that sort of ending that I fear. Let alone cheapening Matsuri’s determination to put an end to things, that sort of conclusion would cheapen the entire tone of the series, at which point the OVA would turn out to be some sort of trash harem spinoff. DO NOT WANT!
But that having been said, should Matsuri really have to kill Aono to put an end to things?
Hige and loli in a garbage can were after Matsuri’s head because killing her supposedly returns all those she has turned into yakas to their human form. So if Matsuri were to cook herself, wouldn’t Aono return to human, causing her to lose her powers and leaving Dorito-kun as a pile of scrap paper? That’s what they’re going for anyways, why go through the trouble of killing Aono.
But I guess that would mean no epic Aono vs Matsuri showdown, and that’s something I do want to see…
~ Shirukii ~
13 Responses to “Sola 10”
Leave a Reply
Please use [spoiler] [/spoiler] tags for spoilers.
Loading ...
I DO NOT want a crap ending. Give us a depressing ending for once! Its ok if its depressing atleast the dreaded plotwholes won’t make their way into my Sola. Considering their are 3 more episodes left (Its a 13 episode show) with two specials, there is enough time to find some kind of solution that doesn’t make everyone sad. And I HOPE the specials are afterthoughts or maybe some kind of connection between the first season and another season *wishful thinking shoot me*. Leave the crappy harem spin-offs away far far away please. Thanks. Thats it hee
So…..Dorito-kun is a big, magical paper mache…..interesting…..definitely unexpected………and (as Shirukii said) it fits in retrospect……up to and including the sora-philia
On a humourous/cheesy sidenote…….No wonder he couldn’t bed Matsuri in ep. 2, his spine was paper thin!!!!! lol :P
(If you don’t get this refrence see the blog entry for that episode, it was all I could think of when I saw oragami paper flying everywhere lol :P)
I feel vindicated for sticking with Sola :)……..Great episode….while the storyline was somewhat cliche for loli-in-a garbage can in ep. 9, what will stick out in this series for me is the acting/character development……… it’s not spectacular, but it’s kept me thoroughly entertained!
Matsuri=A++…….Something tells me I’ve developed a “thing” for chicks with purple hair lol (ahhh Nayuki, Matsuri, Yuki My sentiments exactly….Although Sola will likely end in some kind of happy ending, I seriously hope Matsuri opens a can of whoop-ass on Aono….
———-> “A flashback explains the rest. Aono, Matsuri and Yorito were friends hundreds of years ago, but Yorito was killed in what looks a mudslide of sorts.”
I think there was also some mention of Aono being a sacrifice for the village……
My guess would be that the village wanted to sacrifice a yaka to get rid of bad dreams/a plauge or something….but she didn’t die in the fire, so the mob freaked out and killed Yorito who was her friend (and likely tried to save her at some point)……..
I’m looking forward to next week’s episode :)
argh!!……sorry for the double post OTZ….bad typing skills/copy and pasted in the wrong spot
right after “Ahh Nayuki, Matsuri Yuki” the my sentiments exactly is in reference to Shriukii’s statement of: “Yorito leaves her to rot in her own depression. (HAH!)”
I really should read my posts before clicking submit, but hell I’m running on about six hrs of sleep right now
@ Ivy: I want a good ending too, but how likely is it that they’re really going to kill off Matsuri? =(
@ Kanon_fan82: lol @ paper mache, amusing way to put it.
>> I seriously hope Matsuri opens a can of whoop-ass on Aono
She better, or Sola fails. Hard.
>> I think there was also some mention of Aono being a sacrifice for the village
You’re right, I missed that the first time around. Hmm, I sense a Jigoku Shoujo-ish flashback scene coming next episode then.
And six hours of sleep is pretty good =O I was running off ~5 hours a day throughout the school year.
>>The problem lies in the tendency for studios wanting their anime to end happily, with the way things are set up, this would likely mean some random wtfux ending where Yorito pulls a Pinocchio and becomes a real human. At that point they’d probably take it a step further and heal everyone of their yaka condition so they can live happily ever after. It’s that sort of ending that I fear.
LOL. That sums up my thoughts about the series. Can you say “miracles happen”? If it does I’m branding Kanon’s writer as a one-hit wonder forever. 50% chance of that happening though.
@ Owen S: Oh man, I forgot we’re dealing with Kanon’s writer here. We’re doomed!
OH MAN………………
I really noticed how this episode sort makes you wonder how he other characters see Yorito.
I mean since he’s memory and Origami. It sort of makes him inhuman when you see him in that light. But overall since we’ve known him as just normal, it’s easy to keep that perception.
LOL…….problems with the final episode aside, do not speak ill of Kanon’s writer(s) :) ….. Although the chance of a miracle ending is pretty strong =(
Unlike Kanon, Sola doesn’t have enough epic moments (such as Makoto saying she wants to marry Yuiichi, Mai waltz, symbolic giving of Ayu’s hairband etc. etc.) to make me stomach a half-assed ending…….
It would be a huge disappointment, and Sola would be a huge waste of time……except for Matsuri’s ultimate display of moe-ness :)
A side note which I forgot to mention in my other posts…..OTZ
Was anyone else annoyed during the confrontation between Yorito and Aono???
the editing was horrible…..it starts off with all the kitchen lights on, and then when Yorito opens he blinds (to let in the sun) all the lights in the room have mysteriously turned off :P…….Hard to believe that the animators would miss that…..
@ Avisch: To the cast that is oblivious to Yorito being a giant piece of origami, I’m sure he appears as your everyday high schooler.
But as a viewer I have a lot more sympathy for him now, he just found out that he’s made out of paper! Not only that , but his existence is based off another person, he’s a copy whose original purpose is to serve as a placeholder for a dead person. It reminds me of the opening of SnS when Yuuji found out he was a torch.
@ Kanon_fan82: There’s nothing wrong with Kanon’s writer…when he wrote Kanon. Everybody has their own style and that shows through all their works, but if he pulls off the miracle ending in Sola, I’m going to have to agree with Owen and say that he needs to be more versatile in his writing. A happy ending for all may be suitable for Kanon, but in this situation it’s hard to justify everyone living happily ever after.
Nice catch on the scene with Aono, I was too busy cheering for Yorito being able to stand up for himself that I didn’t even notice XD
Mind you, in kanon, the entire theme revolves around how miracles happen. They had to put it in somewhere otherwise the 23 episode build up would have gone to waste. And quite frankly, the original ending was pretty good. It’s just that Kyo ani had to somehow wrap up all four stories while being determined to have a happy ending to the point that they had to put in a lame patch up for the 24th episode. And lets not even bring me on the subject on how Amano seems to mysteriously dissapear after the tenth episode. (The montage at the end doesn’t count!)
Anyway, back on the topic at hand, does any one wonder how does the paper change color just before it distingerates? And about the Lighting trick the pulled of at the kicthen scene, I think it has something to do with the light contrasting. Either that or the guys at the studio is lowering the budget after the huge senbon zakura ripoff they pulled of last episode.
Now this is one series where I really hope they don’t all commit suicide or something, since I really like Matsuri (and Yukito coupling).
On the subject of the OVAs, I’m kinda expecting that they’ll deal with building upon the events of 400 (I think?) years ago, a la Air in Summer.
Ah well, so long as it has Matsuri in it I’m not complaining.
This is a late comment, but what are your thoughts on the episode preview skit? I’ve enjoyed how random they’ve been, mostly the one at the end of ep3, but this one here is going to be my absolute favorite.
*Koyori-ist*