Customer Reviews

Anime Legends: Sola (Three-Disc Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Somebody gave a negative 1-star review here (because of dubbing, not the quality of the art) to one of the best animes you might not have heard about so I thought I would counteract the review.

This is a five-star anime, no doubt about that.

Yes there is no dubbing here, but Bandai has gotten a show that might not otherwise have made it to the US market at a great price, so lets not complain too much. You like to read don't you? Plus you get to hear the inflection of the original seiyuus (japanese voice actresses) like the original director intended.

In Japan this was voted as the best anime in 2007 which is something to think about. I think they know anime over there : )

Sola is not your typical robots-explosions-mecha-madness anime nor is it a fan-service romp. It is an exploration of metaphysical forces and the mystery of our emotions as they become embodied in supernatural beings. It is deliberately paced, so if you are in a hurry for some action, then this is not for you.

In a way it reminds me of Haibane Renmei, which is high praise indeed. It has that same type of pensive and curious take on the supernatural order of things.

SPOILERS (MILD) AHEAD...

Plotwise, Sola is about a young artistic (photographer) boy, Yorito, who meets a girl, Matsuri, who has mysterious powers and who turns out to be the "Calamity of the Night." She is basically a being (a Yaka) who is the embodiment of human agony and pain and as such she is meant to always be alone in the universe. Yorito doesn't buy that and befriends her. The rest of the anime revolves around their relationship. It is complicated by the fact that there are forces out hunting for Matsuri.

So, this is an anime that is a little different but of extraordinary quality throughout. The pacing is excellent, the art and music are stellar and the overall show is of the highest quality. take a chance and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Well I first heard of it here at Amazon, It looked interesting, so went and watched 3 episodes on U Tube..
Then I came back and bought it!

Techy Stuff: There are 15 episodes, on 3 disks, not much in the way of extras. It is in Japanese with English subs.
I didn't mind this at all, as a true Anime lover I find that I watch many more subs than dubs anyway.
It is one of the reasons I like anime in the first place, the Japanese voice actors generally have it right from the beginning, many dubs don't help the story at all, anyway that is a personal view.
The actual animation is very good, clean and well defined in wide screen. Audio is stereo. Music is OK, themes are OK but nothing exceptional. The series is rated 13 Up. I rate it as a mystery, fantasy, drama.

liner Summary: Sola's story revolves around Yorito Morimiya, the main protagonist, who is a young boy attending high school. He loves taking pictures of the sky at any time of day and any time of the year. One day, Yorito decides to take a picture of the sunrise overlooking the bay, but is deterred when he meets a strange girl Matsuri, trying to force a vending machine that stole her money when she tried to buy a can of tomato juice. Yorito helps her with forcing the machine while attempting to strike up conversation with her, despite it being four in the morning. Yorito tells her why he is here, but by the time he has forced the can out of the machine, the girl has mysteriously vanished.

There are 7 main characters the story revoles around:
1. Yorito, and Matsuri, who is a mystical being called a Yaka and like a vampire can not go into direct sunlight, are the principal characters, (at first anyway)
2. Aono, Yoritos sick and doting older sister, and unknown to Yorito she is also a Yaka
3. Mana, Yoritos classmate and
4. Koyori, Mana's younger sister who is in the same hospital as Aono, who has made Koyori her friend there.
5. Then there is also Takeshi and Mayuko, Takeshi seeks to kill Matsuri and drain her power to help Mayuko, another Yaka.

Its hard to go further without huge spoilers, suffice to say there is some history between Aono and Matsuri, and even Yorito has a past he does not know off.

I found SOLA easy to get into, the plot unwinds steadily, and some times you see what's coming then.. well it goes somewhere else. All is eventually resolved, and I waited anxiously in the last episode to see how Aono would reunite with her young friend Koyori, after the climax with Yorito and Matsuri has occured.... (not telling!!) This was done quite smoothly and so the whole thing ended on a very positive note.

Only issue I had is that sometimes you can anticipate the story before it happens, particularly if you are observant, other wise its a great new fantasy story and well presented.

Definitely worth the buy, and the 3 week wait for it to come from the USA to Australia!
If unsure.. well then go and U Tube an episode or two, also check out Anime News Network and wikipedia. :))
An Excellent Anime.

Ok, first of all, to discount this product simply b/c of it's lack of a English dub is absolutely ludicrous.

If you purchased this thinking it would be dubbed, then yea, I can see how that would suck, however, this was never advertised as such here on amazon, nor was it promoted as such in the months leading to it's release. When you consider this project was nearly axed and delayed once already, I'm glad to finally have this in my hands.

The state of anime is pretty dire right now. Companies that have been around for decades now have either consolidated, or completely vanished :(ADV, Geneon, etc.) Part of the reason is the down economic situation in the world, but it's also my belief that the anime market is suffering due to a lack of quality anime. There haven't been any breakout hits in the last several years, at least since 2007, IMO.

Sola is one of those rare exceptions. Would I have prefered a dub, sure. I watched this on [...] when it originally aired a few years back, but purchasing this dvd, subtitle and all, has enhanced the experience for me, not taken away from it. The likelihood of a dub being released is minimal and to pass on this series for that sole purpose is pretty close minded.

This series is a rare great that will top my personal favorites list for a very long time to come.

For more info and episodic reviews etc, I recommend these sites:
[...]

This is a very good anime series. I can't quite put my finger on why I like it, I just do. The characters are very well created and the interactions are realistic. It's hard to classify: it's not action/adventure although there are some components, it's not romance, although again there are some components. I guess it has a little bit of everything which makes it a relative good reflection of real life. Once it gets into the meat of the story and the background mysteries that tie all the characters together you are drawn in. I'm not much a fan of the 50+ episode animes. Most (but not all) just can't hold my interest beacuse there is so much boring filler material thrown in. Which makes this perfect for me 13 episodes (plus 2 one off episodes) let's you get into the story and get to a satisfying conclusion in a relatively short period of time.

I originally saw this anime online when it first came out in japan. IT's a great show, the art is terrific, and the characters are captivating. The plight of the main characters is heartwrenching at times. It had a great idea, but quickly became to gimmicky. But i still give it four out of five stars.

My package came in great timing, the anime in perfect condition (as was stated), and its arrival was swift and persise. 10 out of 10 on shipping..and the anime is a good watch as well.

This is a really excellent anime. Why it was rated the best anime of 2007 I'm not sure though. It was great but not that great to be the best of all animes in 2007. There are so many good animes produced every year I just doubt this is the absolute best one but you should still buy it. I don't want to over rate it but it would be even worse to under rate it. Sola is truly a fantastic story with some very interesting twists in it. Unfortunately the last to episodes were such a twist I'm not sure I really understood what the heck was going on. It seemed to me like the anime was over at episode 13. Episodes 14 and 15 sort of take you back in time to an alternate reality or something and I really don't know what the point of the last two episodes was. It's possible I'm just dumb or something so I would recommend this one anyway. If your clever it may not confuse you.

This was one of those animes I bought that I didn't have high expectations for, I was shocked. This is easily one of the most entertaining and touching anime movies I have had the privilege to watch. I won't provide a summary because you can always read it somewhere but I will say this is hands down an anime worth owning. The animation and music are all excellent and the story is very touching and leaves a good impact. The characters are all lovable and contribute to the over all greatness of this story. In short I would recommend this to anybody seeking a touching story involving romance and fantasy.

But ever since you guys went subtitles only i stopped buying your dvd's. Sorry no dub=no sale.

A dub requires just that little extra effort and money and adds value to a product. Its not like you are selling this in japan, this is the usa where peoples main language is english.

Its like not having enough faith in your product to try and sell it to mainstream America but a small niche group of sub only people.

I would have loved a Bang zoom dub like on haruhi.

Its nice that you are putting out a product for cheap for those who don't already have the region 2 dvd's. But for those who already own the series and have watched it multiple times in raw form, will they pay for the same product twice just for a sub script?