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Sora no Manimani: a series combining some real astronomy with a romantic comedy story that reminds me a bit of Nodame Cantabile. Being enamored of space and astronomy for as long as I can remember (a Golden Book about the planets was one of my favorite books when I was 3 or 4 years old) I couldn’t resist wanting to blog this series. Since I just started here at THAT, I’ll be making some posts in quick succession to catch up to the most current episode.

Let’s begin

The premise: Saku Ooyagi returns to the town he grew up in to begin high school, recalling his childhood friend Mihoshi ‘Mii-chan’ Akeno (one year older than him) whom he hasn’t seen since he was a young boy. Mihoshi used to drag him kicking and screaming from his quiet days of reading to look at the stars and nature, and he fears a possible reunion. Seeing her at school, her enthusiastic and forceful ways unchanged, he inadvertently joins her astronomy club.

Episode 1: Welcome to the Astronomy Club!

The episode opens with Saku waking up from a dream in which he remembers when he was very young and Mihoshi dragged him out into a field to watch the stars. Setting up the background for Saku and Mihoshi, she shows him a pendant given to her by her father which she claims contains starlight.

No, saku, it is obviously the Amulet of Plot Device.

However, Mihoshi climbs a tree to get closer to the stars, falling as Saku dives to try and catch her. Awakening with a thud that breaks his bedside table (that’s some tossing and turning!), Saku wakes up the morning of his first day of high school.

His mother is so proud, and not unlike someone we’ll meet shortly.

Fears resurface as Saku walks to school, knowing that a demon from the darkness of the past lurks somewhere in this unassuming town. A demon of endless energy, the one who savored the destruction of his peaceful childhood of quiet indoor reading as Lucifer delights in twisting the souls of the damned!

The Nightmare of Saku-mon.

But it is a decently large town, what chance is there of meeting someone from so long ago? Looking forward to a quiet high school life, Saku arrives at school to find the clubs trying to attract new members, and then, this.

Haruhi?

Realization.

Her old friend/plaything sighted, Mihoshi is relentless in her pursuit, despite Saku’s futile attempts to claim he doesn’t know her. She chases him through the school, arms spread appearing to be attempting to gain lift. Well, they do have those snazzy pilots wings on their uniforms (why couldn’t my school have something cool like that?)

Locked on.

Fox Two, Fox Two!

Splash one love interest.

The cavalry, in the form of the other Astronomy Club members arrives too late for Saku, as Mihoshi invites him to join and the two give different answers as to whether they know each other. However, Student Council President Fumie will not tolerate such incidents occurring in her hallways. The Astronomy Club routed, Saku is left to contemplate his options for avoiding Mihoshi.

Just a little too late. Sayo Yarai (right) and club president Roma (left).

No, not this Roma.

President Fumie. I recommend viewing this image/scene while playing ‘Resistance’ from the Valkyria Chronicles OST.

However, Mihoshi will not be denied, running quickly to Saku’s classroom at the end of each period. He escapes for a time, only to be found in the library and chased down into the hallways, where a confrontation ensues. Hardening his resolve to the point of making Mihoshi upset, they get to the heart of the issue. After the falling accident Saku moved and neither said goodbye and Saku said to his mother not to talk about Mihoshi again. We get our first glimpse of some of the drama I expect the series to have alongside the large amounts of comedy.

Who remembers whom seems to be an important theme at the start of this series. Mihoshi seems especially upset when Saku denies their time together.

Perhaps this one of those ‘mistakes caused by youth’ that Char warned us about. Saku, having hurt Mihoshi’s feelings, realizes how stubborn and mean he was at their parting.

Unfortunately for him, his rapid confirmation of Mihoshi’s memories inadvertently leads him to sign up for the Astronomy Club.

The episode comes to a close with the club recruiting fair as Fumie harasses the Astronomy Club, apparently old foes, and Saku and Fumie by chance discover their mutual love of literature when he spots her Literature Club president materials. Mihoshi, feeling threatened, makes sure to remove Saku from such a dangerous (to her) environment and attempts to use inspiration instead of brute force to secure Saku’s allegiance to the Astronomy Club. Telling him about her dream to show everyone the beauty of the night sky seems to have worked, as by the end of the episode Saku proceeds to produce larger pictures for club recruitment.

Jealous Mihoshi is rather cute in a devious sort of way.

Final Thoughts: I’ll use this spot for observations on things other than the narrative of the current episode in this and my future posts.

- The animation is quite crisp and nice, well defined lines and good flow of camera movement  in some scenes.

- I rather like the technique of having the ED start playing as things are still going on, blending the end of the episode into the credits and letting the song rise naturally from events.

- Also, adding everyone’s astrological symbol by their names in the credits was neat.

- I’m still guessing a bit if this is going to be much more comedy than romance/drama or if the latter will work itself into things as time progresses. I’m fine with it either way.

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Related posts:

1. Sora no Manimani Episode 03 – My God, It’s Full of (Projected) Stars.
2. Sora no Manimani Episode 12 – And the Sky Full of Stars (Plus MASSIVE Image Spam of Best Moments and Fumie Love
3. Sora no Manimani Episode 02 – Red Dwarfs and Other Celestial Objects
4. Sora no Manimani Episode 05 – Operation Star One
5. Sora no Manimani Episode 06 – It’s a Sou-nii!