The easiest way to describe Sora no Woto is to identify its most obvious influences. Already well established is the K-On! style gelatinous character designs however the set up and pacing has more in common with Haibane and its European influenced locale. Most prominent however is the tonal similarities to the Valkyria Chronicles series which is unsurprising given Studio A1 Pictures' leading role in its production, likewise for the animation which shares a great deal with Kannagi. The entire package is distinctly different to all of its progenitors but the opening episodes can't fully escape the gravity of its derivations.
this is a cynically constructed series targeted for maximum marketability and minimum friction
Kanata, who in her infancy witnessed a beautiful woman playing a trumpet to the sky, joined the army in the hope of learning to play her bugle for free. Upon arriving in the town of Seize she is caught up in a local festival and, after dirtying her military uniform, is taken in by the curt Rio. Kanata inadvertently loses Rio's pendant and forgoes her induction into the local barracks to search for it only to be lost herself and needs to be rescued by those she was due to meet earlier. What follows is an introduction to the slow life of an isolated border-town's army base and the numerous inconsequential adventures that result from it.
Like the creatures themselves, Mushishi came more or less out of nowhere. A critically acclaimed manga by Yuki Urushibara mostly unheard of outside of Japan, and Studio Artland for which this would be one of their first fully produced series outside of some relatively obscure OVAs. For it to be so unspeakably brilliant is at odds with common wisdom; story and sound fuse together to create an astonishingly beautiful vision of Japan. Blossoming with wonder, it is a world that is delightful to be lost within: enraptured by the craftsmanship applied to the smallest detail and ensconced within the gentle auditory landscapes.
the loss of a child, the desire for the wellbeing of a community, the sacrifice of one for many - these are the heart and soul of the series
Comprising twenty six mostly episodic stories, the series follows Ginko: a silver haired nomad and a self-proclaimed Mushishi. Picking up where physicians may fail, he concerns himself with mushi, a primal and fugacious life force that suffuses the world but is often only known through their effects on its inhabitants. Sometimes these can be as innocuous as a living painting within a kimono, other times causing afflictions such as memory or hearing loss, but sporadically, they can affect entire communities whether inadvertently or through the misguided auspices of humans themselves. Regardless, Ginko travels listlessly from case to case, sometimes stumbling across one and other times cajoled by letters which travel through the mysterious mushi roads.
