So-Ra-No-Wo-To | First Impressions

The winter anime season is officially underway now that I've watched the first episode of So-Ra-No-Wo-To, and I am pleased to report that I was pleasantly surprised by it. It's nothing extraordinary, mind you, but still very charming all the same.

Any girl with a love of caramel is A-OK in my book.

The story is centered upon Kanata Sorami, a girl who joins the army in hopes of learning to play the bugle. She has been assigned to the "Time-Keeping Fortress," which is the garrison of the 1221st Platoon of the Helvetia Army in Seize, Trois. The base is inhabited by four other girls, though we only get to know Sergeant Rio Kazumiya in the first episode.

Holy moly! This guy's driving just might rival Ms. Yukari's!

Kanata has a problem in which she gets lost very easily, but she finds getting lost to be fun because she gets to meet people she doesn't know. While in the process of reporting to the fortress, she gets caught up in the town's water festival, getting drenched and also soiling her uniform in the process. Rio and an elderly woman take Kanata in and help her get cleaned up before sending her off to the fort. Rio also tells Kanata about the origins of the water festival.

The mythological side of this series sets a nice tone.

Kanata, not surprisingly, gets lost again, having to be "rescued" by Rio a second time. Kanata quickly learns that Rio just so happens to be her music instructor, and the episode ends on a hilarious note (pun intended), as Kanata attempts to play a wake-up call at the behest of Rio and fails miserably.

Kanata is no musical prodigy, apparently.

When it comes to the production values, they are rock-solid. The character designs, though a bit unpolished, are still appealing and the backgrounds are gorgeous. The animation, though not top-notch, is still above average, and Michiru Oshima's score (what little we hear of it) leaves a favorable impression. You can't go wrong with an opening theme by Kalafina, and the ending theme is the usual upbeat, cutesy tune that befits a series with majorly female characters like this one.

Rio, on the other hand, plays beautifully.

All in all, the first episode gets So-Ra-No-Wo-To off to a promising start. Though not much actually happens, the mythological foundation, charming lead, and other subtleties here and there make for a good beginning. Time will tell if the writing is up to the task of actually going somewhere with said promise. Given the predominantly female cast, the animation sequence of the closer, and the little bits we see of the other platoon members, this series could still very well descend into "moé-blob" status. Let's just hope that it doesn't.