Soni-Ani: Super Sonico The Animation

GonzyChan★ 4

What do you usually get from something inherently a marketing ploy for an animation studio, no more minor, for an anime? Most people don’t think of it much and go with the flow while they’re suckered into the gimmick. Not that there’s anything wrong with that at all. When the marketing has something to show for it with lots of fun creativity mixed in to make the experience worthwhile, it can be conceived as quality entertainment for the masses. Now take most of those qualities away that make the show quality entertainment, and you have Super Sonico the Animation. Showcasing the boobilicious Super Sonico, the mascotof the company Nitroplus, the show is mainly existing to appease the fans of Sonico to have her show where she is the main star. I never really knew much about this particular character outside of being part of some April Fools joke that Nitroplus put out in the ONA for Madoka Magica until I saw the poster for the Winter season and showed it to her in nothing but a tight slim bikini. Likewise, I was intrigued to see where Nitroplus was going with this angle of giving their mascot some much-needed life into her to make her more than just something purely for aesthetic beauty, for better or for worse. By the time I was halfway done with the show, I couldn’t help but wonder how a show like this can’t seem to get down the crucial steps of making a character endearing and charming. When you get right down to it, this show is mainly about Sonico, and the show doesn’t even try to make the rest of the characters slightly exciting or entertaining. Sonico must have enough charisma to carry the show forward to keep the charm looking fresh on the eyes and pleasant to listen to with our ears. Unfortunately, the amount of personality is almost second to none because she’s not a fleshed-out character. In the sense that whenever I look at Sonico, It’s not that she’s a bad character because her only reason for existing is that she has big breasts. It’s just that all I see from her archetype is a mascot. Throughout the majority of the time, they do absolutely nothing to make her seem like more than just a mascot, and we watch her do everyday activities without any significant growth. There’s even an episode where they give Sonico some material that makes her more of a human character that involves her interacting with other people and learning about what they do and how they live out their lives. As most people would expect, it does not include any fanservice shoved down our throats. Now, this becomes a big problem in the form of a question: What is this show supposed to be? Is it a pure fanservice show? A slice of life show? An all-girl rock band show? Or is it a zombie horror show? These genres mixed in an episodic fashion, badly, I might add, make Super Sonico a show extremely puzzling to figure out what it wants to be. It can be frustrating for me, who wanted a fun fanservice show only to have around 3 to 4 episodes entirely devoted to it. The rest are only partially present, and even those aren’t that titillating to even be acknowledged. To extrapolate my point about Sonico being a flat character, many might see that her cheery personality and optimistic nature fuel her as likable and charismatic. You can have someone like Sonico just fine with those qualities, but you can’t just rely on them alone because it makes her a person with no humanity. Since she’s nothing more than a mascot character, I can never see her as anything else but that unless she’s been given enough development for me or anyone to care about her. Sadly the number of scenes shared with Sonico and her friends wouldn’t be enough to see Sonico as anything but bland. As you might already know, Super Sonico’s music consists mainly of your standard J-rock compositions that play from the Opening, Ending, and some concert scenes in some episodes. These are some of the best qualities of Super Sonico. The opening theme is rhythmically fast, and a fast vocal performance that compliments each other. There’s always a different ED song in each episode that is always welcomed, especially with a show focused on music. Despite the rather average CG animation on the characters, the concert scenes are pleasant to listen to, thanks to the top-notch vocals. The technical aspects of the show do have some high-quality art to make the show look pretty by the animation studio White Fox, who’s no stranger to animating some of Nitroplus’s more well-known original works such as Steins;Gate. Not to say that Super Sonico achieves that same level of quality as that show, or even White Fox's other recent effort Hataraku Maou-sama. Sonico is drawn nicely with her firm thighs and nice breasts complimenting her well-endowed figure. I’ve briefly mentioned the CG in the concert scenes, and that’s probably the weakest aspect of the animation. Don’t come here and expect Angel Beats quality concert animation with this one. There were several moments when the drummer’s playing style wasn’t syncing correctly with the music and even with some of the guitar playing. I could consider this show as somewhat of a disappointment, but on the other hand, I wasn’t expecting much either. There may have been some good ideas in giving some decent fanservice for the season, but I kept looking at the clock to see if the episode was almost over. The show just kept dragging on and on over really simplistic characters that aren’t all that enthralling or entertaining to look at. It’s far from the worst. It would just be best to listen to the OSTs of the show and have fun with those than the actual fanservice. When even that becomes more memorable than the titillation, that’s not a negative to be taken lightly. Grade: D+

Bacon_Party★ 7

This is the first time I've written a review on MAL, but I feel the need to because I think all people see when they look at this anime is Super Sonico and all that she and her merchandise implies and automatically discard it. While I can't really blame them for that because the merchandise implies a lot, I gave it a chance and was pleasantly surprised. While it's no masterpiece, the fanservice was mild, the characters outside of Sonico were actually interesting and engaging, the soundtrack was excellent, and overall it was enjoyable to watch. ---Story 7/10--- The anime was fairly episodic, and it didn'tleave much for the fairly simplistic overarching plot of Sonico coming into her own as a band member and a model, but it was still well executed and the episodic subplots were well done and all contributed something to the base plot. ---Art 7/10--- It got across the point that it needed to and it didn't detract at all from the anime with too much 3DCG, low quality BGs, etc. ---Sound 8/10--- The music in the show was excellent and always fit the mood very well. The OP and the multitude of EDs were all well done and Sonico's band, First Astronomical Velocity, had quite a few catchy and well orchestrated songs. With the premise of the show being musical in nature, the good soundtrack gives it a good boost and made it fun to watch. ---Characters 8/10--- This is I think where this anime shines, and interestingly enough not because of the main characters, but the supporting characters. Every episode Sonico would go through some kind of ordeal that involved a side character that would develop throughout the episode and end up being affected positively somehow by her. They all had interesting backdrops to their scenarios and were given ample characterization in the small amount of time they were featured, and each one in some way or another contributed to the overall plot of the anime. There were also a few side characters that were in the background throughout the series that saw gradual development such as a chubby girl that came to terms with how she looked and even learned to embrace it through Sonico. The anime was made fun with the high quality soundtrack and the color saturated visuals, and each episode had an interesting premise with engaging side characters. It's not a must watch, but if you're looking for something to just casually watch that you'll enjoy for its simplicity and episodic nature, you won't be disappointed.