Sola Episode 8 Review

From this episode, Aono’s true character is revealed. It may be easy to just identify her as a bad person.. wait, what am I saying? Man, she is a bad person with all the brain washing for own selfish reasons. She’s evil. Alright, back to the rest of the episode.

Aono did a job on Yorito’s mind, but she obviously didn’t do a complete job as Yorito’s contradicting memories builds up stress on Yorito’s mind. And like a harmful parasite, Aono keeps Yorito in his room and in the process keeps in the dark about everything that’s happening concerning Matsuri.

It’s also good to see that a very minor side character actually plays a role in pushing the story line. Mana’s friend and co-worker Sae happens to take a photo of Matsuri and Mayuko walking together. It didn’t seem like she had the chance to take the image, but whatever.

Matsuri is bearing her guilt with the stab wound that Yorito gave her. She can regenerate her injury, but I guess in a twisted kind of way, it’s the last tangible memory she has of Yorito.

The ironic thing is that with all the effort Takeshi goes through to try to get Matsuri to Mayuko, Mayuko manages to meet Matsuri by herself out of pure chance. And the two already realize that each other are Yakas.

This episode finally reveals that Aono is not a fan of sunlight either, although it was pretty obvious from the first episode. At least Aono has a little more personality in this episode than the previous 7 episodes. But with her face so close to Yorito, is it hinting to the idea that they may not be related to each other, and that Aono’s just a psychotic obsessed lover? But that would be too easy.

The most entertaining part of this episode was when Mana literally slapped some sense into Yorito. That was pretty much the only option left for her at that point to break whatever mind disorienting techniques Aono placed on him.

As the episode winds to a close with Aono going on the attack with paper planes as her weapon of choice (is she going to paper cut Matsuri to death?), the next episode is either going to be very awesome or is going to fizzle out right at the start as Yorito shows up to break the fight, and then sending the rest of the series to the path of finale. Maybe.

Sola Episode 7 Review:

To start right off the bat.. my first reaction after watching this episode was a similar reaction after watching episode 8 of Claymore, which is, whoa! To be more detailed, I was surprised that Yorito stabbed Matsuri. As they say, we hurt the ones we love, although he did appear that he was being controlled by his now very evil-intentioned sister Aono. Didn’t I say I didn’t like her very much since the first episode? Now she’s even worse.

Most of the episode was pretty boring as most of it was spent reflecting on the aftermath of Matsuri’s departure from Yorito. Just to be more descriptive of what happened in the episode, in short, Aono tries to force herself back into Yorito’s life while at the same time trying to remove Matsuri from his thoughts. She makes him take her outdoors and to various places. Yorito, however doesn’t want to stop looking for her. He ventures out to all the areas where he thinks he might find her, but is unsuccessful.

We also find out early in the episode that Takeshi’s Yaka, Mayuko, has disappeared and he can’t find her. It’s not really revealed why she’s missing, but Takeshi believes that she ran away from him because he wouldn’t tell her about his injury. We do find out that she is being taken care of by Matsuri in some run down apartment shack.

The episode finally picks up when Yorito catches Matsuri at the convenience store and starts to chase her down. And then he stabs her right at the end of the episode. This show sure knows how to keep things interesting. Of course the character can’t be killed off so soon, but my interest getting peaked right at the end of the episode is killer. At least things have really picked up for the show. It’s starting to look like a 12 or 13 episode series now, however.

Here’s a quick music video I made based off of Bleach episode 58 as all the clips are taken from there and are all in sequential order. Anyway, I just wanted to go for a shortened down version of the initial battle between Ichigo and Byakuya.

Blizzard never seems to fail to amaze me. And as Tychus Findlay would put it, “Hell, it’s about time.” The cinematics alone is enough to raise my anticipation for the release of this game. I saw some screenshots already and they looked pretty badass. I just hope Starcraft 2 doesn’t require one to buy a new computer just to play. Good thing RTS games don’t require too many resources, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a graphically intensive computer game.

Sola Episode 6 Summary and Review:

We return back to the cloaked figure that was shown briefly in the very episode. He’s struggling to reach a cave. When he reaches the cave, we see that it’s Yorito and in the cave is Aono and Matsuri. He tells Matsuri that he’s found a way to bring her out under the sky. Matsuri then wakes up from her dream to find herself sleeping in Yorito’s bed. Yorito is leaning against the bed mumbling something while asleep.

I was wondering what was happening here in this opening sequence. What the hell happened to the continuity between this episode and the previous episode. Although I wanted to know more of what was going to happen, I was somewhat glad it was just a dream (albeit, a premonition type dream) because I get to find out what happened after Yorito protected Matsuri from Takeshi.

Mana found the two outside in the previous episode, so it’s natural that she’s aware of what happened between the two and Takeshi. Mana is not just aware that Matsuri is not human, but also a Yaka. She suspected it ever since she met Matsuri as Yorito wouldn’t just take in a runaway girl. Mana also tells Matsuri that she likes her, which is nice of her. But who wouldn’t like Matsuri? Her character’s designed to be loveable. Anyway, the two notice that Yorito is missing, so Matsuri heads to his room to wake him up, but he refuses. She resorts to her “Iron Claw” technique. The way she says it just cracks me up.

I’m surprised Mana just accepts Matsuri as non-human so easily. She doesn’t even flinch when she says it. Now that’s an open-minded person. Another thing I’m surprised about is that there’s really no real concern over the obvious injury Yorito received in the previous episode. Everyone just shrugs it off.

At the hospital, the doctor tells Takeshi that his arm has signs of necrosis, which is the death of cell tissue. Takeshi says he’ll be okay, but Mayuko doesn’t believe him. She wants to know what happened to him between him and Matsuri. Mayuko chases after Takeshi, and bumps into Koyori by accident. Koyori tells Aono that Mana and Yorito have something to talk to Aono about when it rains.

At the school, Yorito continues to take pictures of the sky for Matsuri to show her what the sun is like. There’s a flashback of him pinky swearing with Matsuri making her promise not to step outside until he shows her the sky. Mana reveals that Yorito plans to introduce Matsuri to Aono tomorrow. He believes that he can’t hide her any longer from her. He plans to introduce her as a friend. Mana is worried that Aono would not accept Matsuri the way Mana does. Mana has a plan though, which is to introduce Matsuri as Yorito’s boyfriend. Yorito isn’t too fond of the idea, but Matsuri doesn’t mind. Matsuri insists that the two practice to be a couple. The seeds of romance has just been planted. Yorito, in the awkward situation, runs off. At the hospital, Aono has a bloody finger and as she drips some blood onto her paper frog, the blood evaporates, not even leaving a trace.

Well, by the looks of things, she’s definitely not human. So she must be just like Matsuri. The girlfriend aspect is always used when it comes to avoiding telling the truth. Take for example, Onegai Teacher, where instead of telling the school that what’s her name was an alien, they just make up a lie about her being married to what’s his name. Sorry, I just can’t recall the names.

Yorito explains to Matsuri that he has sun dried the futon so that it would have the smell of being bathed in the sun. The two lie down on the futon and Matsuri falls asleep. Yorito puts his hand on Matsuri’s head and thinks about the idea of her being his girlfriend. Matsuri tells Yorito to keep his hand on her head and even suggests that they have a kiss. Yorito is shocked by the suggestion, but he goes for it anyway. The moment is broken as Matsuri breaks out laughing at how Yorito fell for it. She tells Yorito that she has many things to tell his sister, but the atmosphere changes when Yorito mentions Aono’s name. Everyone goes to visit Aono the next day, but she is asleep when they arrive. However, she is only pretending to be asleep.

Though Matsuri claimed to have been kidding, she did have that tone and look that she was serious about the kiss. They even drew in plenty of blush on her face to indicate some of her feelings. At least Yorito tried to take advantage of the situation. This was what I mentioned in the previous episode’s review. They are going to kiss, and the first kiss attempt never happens.

Matsuri questions about why Aono is hospitalized. Yorito explains that she was hospitalized when they moved into this city. That was also when Yorito and Mana became friends, probably because her sister was in the hospital too. Matsuri sees Aono across the street while they are waiting for their ride home. She tells Yorito that she’s going to walk home and takes the chance to have a conversation with Aono. The two meet up at a train yard and they have a conversation in one of the train cabs. Aono explains that she has finally regained the powers that she used too much of, confirming that she is also a Yaka. We then see a scene with Aono with a knife to her throat and cutting herself, splashing blood onto Matsuri’s face. Aono also confirms that Yorito is her one and only brother, although Matsuri doesn’t believe her.

Aono looks kind of creepy as she walks in the shadows and when Matsuri finds her at the train station, she looks even more creepy just standing inside behind the glass staring at Matsuri. Creepy, I tell you. This anime has turned bloody all of a sudden. I’m not too fond about it. After I thought I had a good grasp of what this show’s about, it changes on me.

At home, Yorito and Mana are debating on how to make their dinner, when Matsuri enters followed by Aono. Aono tells Yorito that she will be staying home as a condition for Matsuri to stay at the house. After dinner, Matsuri asks a favor of Aono. Yorito and Matsuri show up at the school that night. They break into the school and enter Yorito’s classroom. It appears that Matsuri just wanted to see what it was like to be at school. Yorito shows Matsuri where he takes his pictures of the sky. Yorito continues to ensure that he’ll show her the sky, which brings some tears to her eyes.

They obviously didn’t mention what favor Matsuri asked of Aono, but it probably had something to do with taking Yorito out alone to the school. I just don’t see why it had to be the school. Probably just to waste time by having Yorito explain more of his life activities.

Matsuri goes on to explain that when people sleep, they cast all their pain and anxieties away. That pain and anxiety are what create Yakas. During her explanation, it shows Aono dead on the floor in the cave and then coming back to life when Matsuri pulls her back into the shade. Aono explains that she can’t bear to live a life without Yorito, indicating that perhaps the real Yorito is already dead. Matsuri, then walks over to Yorito and kisses him. She then walks away. When Yorito turns around, she’s already gone.

I knew they were going to share a moment eventually. I just wasn’t sure who was going to make the first move. Now we know that it was Matsuri to take the initiative. But I don’t know what to make of how the episode ends. Does it mean that Matsuri is not planning on returning to Yorito’s home? Was it a goodbye kiss she gave him? Now I have to wait for the next episode.

Sola Episode 5 Summary:

A flow of blood covers the floor giving off a reflection of a boy staring at a dead girl’s body. The boy turns out to be the bearded man as he is thinking about how it’s already been 17 years since it happened while staring at Yorito’s house. It would appear that he has found where Matsuri has been living.

While shopping for food, Matsuri dumps a load of her favorite tomato drink into the shopping basket. Yorito is surprised the store actually sells them. In an alleyway, the bearded man finds Mayuko sleeping inside a trash can. She tries to get out, but the trash can tilts over, resulting in a rather embarrassing position for Mayuko. In front of the convenient store, Yorito and Matsuri are drinking the tomato drink. They end up talking about how the sky would look like during the day throughout the city. Yorito points out where each part of the city looks best at which times of the day. He mentions that he needs to become a friend to a particular resident in the city so that he could get a good photographing position.

The man takes Mayuko to the same church that Matsuri was staying at. He tells her that she can stay her during the day, instead of inside boxes and trash cans. Mayuko finally identifies the man as Takeshi. She asks if he’s going to go to Matsuri tomorrow. She wants to go with him, but he won’t let her. It starts to rain that night, and Takeshi is unhappy about it because the clouds blot out the sun. The next day, Matsuri has on a different outfit and invites Yorito to go out with her. They walk the streets in the rain and Matsuri takes Yorito to the residence he mentioned the night before. She rings the doorbell and runs away. Yorito, in his moment of panic, runs away with Matsuri, but realizes later he left his umbrella at the front door.

The two end up sharing Matsuri’s umbrella. They reach the river and Matsuri wants to go on a boat ride. She leaps onto the boat without much trouble. When Yorito steps onto the boat, his momentum almost capsizes the boat. On the boat, Matsuri is the one rowing the boat. She tells Yorito to sit next to her and hold the umbrella over so that it would seem that she’s under a blue sky. The two share another one of those “sky” moments. Yorito assures Matsuri that he’ll show her the sky someday. The next day, the rain is gone and Takeshi sets out to hunt down Matsuri.

At the hospital, Aono tells Koyori that she would show her how to fold one of her origami items on one condition, but it’s not revealed what the favor is. Back at Yorito’s house, Matsuri has placed sets of clothing all over the living room to coordinate all the clothes Mana gave her. Yorito leaves to go visit his sister. Moments later, Matsuri is humming the opening song of the show busying herself with the clothes. The door is quietly unlocked and a person heads upstairs. Matsuri hears footsteps and calls out for Yorito, scaring Koyori who trips and starts to fall down the stairs. She is caught by Matsuri. Koyori explains she is on a secret mission, obviously for Aono who stares at one of her dolls whose stuffing is coming out from one of the seams.

Koyori leaves and when Matsuri walks back to the living room, Takeshi is inside. He immediately goes on the attack throwing his light explosives. He starts pulling down all the curtains, pouring sunlight into the house. Yorito, at the same time, just missed his ride and has to wait for the next trolley. Matsuri is forced upstairs while Takeshi continues on the hunt. Matsuri is worn down by all the light and she finds herself on the floor in Yorito’s room. Takeshi pulls out his sword ready for the kill, and Matsuri lays there accepting her death until she sees the sky on the ceiling. She blocks Takeshi’s attack and uses her power to corrode Takeshi’s right forearm. She takes the moment to jump out the window.

Yorito returns home and notices that something bad has happened. It doesn’t take long for Takeshi to find Matsuri resting on a tree. Takeshi goes for another attack with his sword, but Yorito blocks the attack with his back. Yorito refuses to step aside as he explains he has a promise to fulfill for Matsuri. Takeshi has a flashback of himself protecting Mayuko from a gang of people and he walks away. Matsuri passes out afterward. Mana shows up shortly after and notices the two don’t look well. Back at the hospital, Koyori gives Aono the sewing kit she retrieved at Yorito’s house and she mentions Matsuri to Aono. Upon hearing about it, Aono stops what she’s doing and has a surprised look on her face.

Sola Episode 5 Review:

This episode had a bit of everything. It had a murder, some comedy, a date, action, drama, a covert mission, and more blood in this episode than all of the previous combined. Actually, the last four episodes didn’t have any blood.

I’m just glad that the pace has picked up in contrast to the previous dud of an episode. This episode again is all about the relationship starting to build between Matsuri and Yorito. I’m also glad the bearded guy has finally been identified as Takeshi. I’m tired of identifying him with his attributes.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a character actually change outfits. Usually, they just wear the same outfit throughout the show. Matsuri actually wears a different outfit along with a different hairstyle in this episode, which is nice.

I would like to know more about the history between Takeshi and Mayuko. What’s with the dead body in the opening scene of the episode? Who is the dead girl that Takeshi is staring at? Why is there even a murder/death like that in this series? The series turned a little towards the dark and serious side in this episode. And I must say, Takeshi is pretty relentless when he’s after Matsuri. Also, when Koyori entered the house, I knew it was her. The scene made it so obvious that it wasn’t Takeshi and they made it even more obvious that Takeshi would be there after Koyori leaves.

I guess the most important part to this episode was the time spent between Yorito and Matsuri. They’re shopping together and then they’re walking around the city and even on a boat ride. It can probably be assumed that the two shared a moment while on the boat. I guess at this point, anyone who’s watching the show right now is waiting for Yorito to make his move on Matsuri and the two share a kiss. It’s going to happen somewhere along the line. Of course, it’s going to almost happen on a number of occassions, but someone will interrupt in those situations. Can’t wait for the next episode. It’s going to be interesting.

Sola Episode 4 Summary:

At the hospital, Koyori is being visited by two of her friends. They are surprised that she doesn’t look as lonely at the hospital as they imagined. Koyori explains that her sister Mana visits her everyday and she also has a friend at the hospital (Yorito’s sister, Aono).

At Yorito’s house, Matsuri is examining the doll Yorito is going to give to his sister. She tells Yorito that it’s adorable. Mana shows up at the house. She gives Matsuri the morning salutation while Matsuri returns with a nighttime greeting. Mana gives Matsuri some of her clothing and then the two start bashing on Yorito on his faults.

Yorito shows Mana the doll for her opinion. Mana doesn’t like it and is surprised that Matsuri liked it. Afterschool, the two go to a doll shop. The doll shop is dimly lit, with a lot of similarly weird looking dolls that Yorito has been buying for his sister. Mana asks Yorito why he keeps buying dolls when they don’t seem to matter to Aono. Yorito wants to continue buying dolls until she can go home so that they can temporarily serve as him while she’s at the hospital.

Aono receives the new doll and throws it in with the rest of the dolls in the box next to her bed. Mana notices her sister is not in the room and goes to look for her. She finds Koyori in her own room, and finds that Koyori has yet to tell Aono that she’s leaving the hospial. Koyori says she’ll tell Aono personally.

That night, Koyori thinks back on how she met Aono. It was during the first night she was in the hospital and couldn’t sleep. She walks around the hallways and finds Aono sitting on a bench holding a cup of coffee. Koyori introduces herself and asks for Aono’s name. Aono doesn’t give her name, but instead talks about how she wanted one drink, but ended up with coffee, which she doesn’t like. The two bond when they realize that the both of them can’t sleep because they’re lonely.

The next day, Matsuri is staring at another doll because Yorito forgot to take it with him. At the hospital, he’s afraid to enter Aono’s room because he senses that she’s in a bad mood. Mana shoves him inside anyway. Aono continues to despise the hospital and wants to go home. For forgetting the doll, Aono wants him to bring in five next time. Aono reveals that she keeps count of how many Yorito has given to her so far and also reveals which one is her favorite, which happens to be the first one he bought for her. Koyori tries to tell her about her leaving, but she’s unable to do so and runs away.

Later that night, Koyori is holding a cup of coffee at the same place she and Aono first met. She offers Aono the coffee and asks her to try some. Aono still doesn’t like the taste of coffee, but at least it’s warm. Aono tells Koyori she’ll teach her how to fold origami. Koyori tells Aono that she will be leaving the hospital the next day.

Sola Episode 4 Review:

This was a very boring episode. Pretty much a waste of an episode as it really didn’t progress the story much at all as it spent the majority of the episode focusing on Koyori, who I doubt will play any pivotal role in this series. The episode also focuses on Aono, who I don’t exactly like because she lacks emotion and personality. Two boring characters being the main focus of the episode makes this episode rather boring.

And what about the main character Matsuri? She shows up for maybe a combined total air time of three minutes. What’s up with that? I want more character development for her and more development of relationship between her and Yorito. Throw in some misunderstandings and people getting in the way and start picking up momentum.

Again, this episode was such a huge waste of time. Both watching it and for me writing about it. And I’m just writing about it so that it keeps with the continuity of my posts. There’s nothing to analyze for this episode.

Sola Episode 3 Summary:

While Yorito prepares to head out for school, he tells Matsuri to not do anything to the appliances around the house and to just behave herself. On his way out, Mana appears in front of his house. He tries his best to keep her from seeing Matsuri. He fails, but Matsuri herself kept away from view and watches the two walk off to school from upstairs.

At the hospital, Yorito presents Aono with another doll, but she rejects it. Koyori tries to make Yorito feel better, but he tells her it’s okay. He decides to leave immediately, and his sister is unhappy about his decision. Outside the hospital, Mana suspects that Yorito is hiding something as he is acting weird.

At the diner Mana works at, the man and Mayuko again are eating there. They talk about what their next move will be. Mana serves them their food and assumes that the two are a daughter/father combo, at the surprise of the man. Mayuko tells her it’s something like that. She continues to embarrass him. Mana’s co-worker has an infatuation with the man. Mana leaves early for work claiming having something to do.

Matsuri shows Yorito a table full of instant avocado-flavored ramen bowls. She bought them while they were on sale, but Yorito doesn’t believe they are edible. Yorito is still worried about Matsuri getting into trouble with what happened at the church. Matsuri tries some of the ramen and realizes how bad the ramen tastes. The door bell rings and Matsuri goes to open it. Yorito stops her and answers the door himself and finds Mana at the door. She’s there to cook him some dinner.

Yorito doesn’t want Mana going in, but she forces herself into the house anyway. She heads straight to the kitchen and finds all the ramen bowls. She starts preparing dinner while Matsuri upstairs wonders if Mana is Yorito’s girlfriend. Mana notices all the seasoning and spices are all gone, so she sends him off to get some. While Yorito heads off, Mana starts looking around the house to see what Yorito’s been hiding, but she finds nothing. When she goes back downstairs, she finds Matsuri eating some of the vegetables in the kitchen and they introduce themselves.

Matsuri and Mana strike up a discussion while waiting for Yorito to return. After he returns and the three are eating, Yorito is pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place. Mana requests that Yorito explain everything that’s going on. He starts making up more lies, and eventually gives up and just tells Mana that he found her outside and she looked hungry, so he let her stay. Mana accepts that explanation and they continue eating dinner.

Mana continues to grill Yorito on why he didn’t tell her from the start. Yorito admits that he didn’t want his sister to know about Matsuri. Mana tells Yorito she won’t tell anyone else about Matsuri and accepts Matsuri. Matsuri heads out of the room, and when Mana goes to talk to her some more, she cannot find Matsuri and is led to believe that she ran off. Yorito tells Mana she’ll be back, but Mana talks Yorito into thinking Matsuri actually ran away. As they are about to run out to look for her, they find her at the door with a bundle of items on her back. She explains she went to get her stuff.

Sola Episode 3 Review:

Another fabulous episode of Sola. This time, it’s all about introducing Mana to Matsuri, albeit in a non-traditional manner. This episode leaned more towards the comic relief side than it did on the serious side. Such moments included Yorito talking about how Matsuri broke a number of appliances in his house from her strategy of using aggression to get things to work. Matsuri, of course, continues to be as care-free as ever as she just smiles and not worry about life.

It would seem this time that this episode took a page out of School Rumble, as misunderstanding after misunderstanding pile on between Yorito and Mana. Well, the odds were stacked against Yorito and though I didn’t expect the meeting between Mana and Matsuri to happen the way it did, I was somewhat relieved that it did happen because all the tension of trying to hide her from Mana was gone and now the love triangle is complete, despite Yorito and Mana both agreeing that they share no interest for each other. We’ll see, won’t we?

The whole scene at dinner was entertaining. Yorito lying about Matsuri turning from a cat into a human or coming from the future to save his life were such horrible lies. Although the setting of this series does allow for supernatural beings, namely Matsuri, the view from Mana’s perspective is of the normal world, free of strange phenomena, and Yorito saying such weird things are obviously not going to work.

I think the end of the episode with Matsuri grabbing her belongings was like a taste of reality. I just assumed all she had on her was some money and the clothes she was wearing. This element at least added some realism to the series. Didn’t I say this was a fabulous episode?

Sola Episode 2 Summary:

Continuing off from the first episode, Yorito is looking at the scene in front of him as he recognizes Matsuri. The man turns around to get a better look at who just entered the church, and Matsuri takes that moment to mount a getaway, by grabbing a candle staff and running towards the exit. The man throws his sword at Matsuri, but she jumps over the sword and flies towards the glass window above the church doors. She looks down at Yorito while in the air and recognizes who he is. She then throws the staff through the window to break the spotlight and in the process flies through the same window to the outside of the church.

Then roll the opening sequence that was missing from the first episode. The song is called Colorless Wind by Aira Yuki and you can find the song and the opening scene on my site too. Very catchy song. Alright, back to the episode.

Outside, the strange girl that was in the cardboard box is headed to the church. The bearded man goes out to chase down Matsuri. He finds her catching her breath outside towards some construction platforms and runs towards her. Matsuri uses her hand to corrode the structure, causing it to collapse. With the distraction, Matsuri disappears into the surrounding trees and bushes. Yorito runs out and the man asks him if he’s related to the “Yaka” (night woe). He tells him to not get involved if he’s not.

The man continues with his search for Matsuri. He notices her in the bushes and throws a metal rod he picked up from the rubble. She jumps out into the air and the man throws another one of his “flash bangs” at her. This time it’s a direct hit, sending her flying downhill. Yorito goes down the hill to chase after Matsuri. He runs past the girl in the cardboard box as she’s walking up the stairs to the church. The man puts his sword away when he sees her and identifies her as Mayuko.

Down the hill, Yorito spots Matsuri’s beret and then spots an unconscious Matsuri. He takes her back to his home and rests her on a bed. He touches an ashy gray spot on Matsuri’s hand and it starts crumbling, which freaks him out. Later that morning, he finds Matsuri awake with all the curtains drawn as she is looking at all the pictures of the sky on the wall. Matsuri thanks Yorito for saving her and asks if there’s anything she could do for him. The look Yorito displays upon that request gave Matsuri the impression that he had something perverted in mind. She decides to repay him by cooking him a meal.

Matsuri grabs a random assortment of food and starts jamming everything into the microwave. She doesn’t know how to program the machine so she takes a couple of steps back and prepares to give it a good kick. Yorito quickly stops her before she ends up breaking it. Yorito takes the day off to learn more about Matsuri. Matsuri shows him why she’s not human by placing her finger into the sunlight resulting in some slight distenegration happening.

At the hospital, Aono is unhappy that Yorito’s not there. Back at Yorito’s home, Matsuri explains she’s lived for centuries without being exposed to the sun. Matsuri decides to leave as the sun has gone down. At the same time, the bearded man finds Mayuko in another box as she is waking up. Yorito tries his best to persuade Matsuri to stay at his house. Matsuri tells him it just can’t happen because he’ll end up hating her. Their conversation is cut short as Mana calls in telling him that Aono is heading home if he doesn’t come see her at the hospital. Yorito sets out to leave for the hospital to make sure his sister stays there and makes Matsuri promise him that she doesn’t leave during that time. After he leaves, she says goodbye.

Afterward, Mana leaves the hospital and arrives at the diner she works at. There at the diner, Mayuko and the man are eating there. The man tells her that there was no Yaka, only Yorito. Yorito returns home and notices that all the lights in his house are off. He finds a short goodbye message written on one of the picture frames on the wall. He starts to run out when he hears a sound upstairs. He finds Matsuri on his bed looking at his ceiling, which is a large picture of the sky. Yorito tells her he’ll show her the real sky someday.

Sola Episode 2 Review:

This episode is where things start to pick up. Episode one took care of the introductions while this episode is starting to give insight on what’s going on. I just want to know if Matsuri is really a vampire since she likes tomato juice and turns ashy upon contact with sunlight. Probably not though, but she sure does share similar properties. Then again, who’s to say what kind of properties vampires truly have?

Despite the imminent danger that Matsuri is in, she still seems to be very care-free as she’s rather upbeat while at Yorito’s house trying to make him food and talking about who she is. I’m sure anyone watching the show would find it humorous that Matsuri would resolve to kicking as a method of getting things to work. However, sometimes hitting machinery and electronics do get things to work, but that’s a whole different story for some other day.

In particular anime series, there’s always some kind of annoying, liability-type character. In regards to this show, I’m going to have to point my finger at Yorito’s older sister Aono. She is straight up annoying in my opinion. She lacks emotion in her speech and appears to be very needy and pushy. An example of this type of character is Kazumi Yoshida from Shakugan no Shana who pretty much gets in the way of the storyline and serves no benefitting purpose to the overall series. Another example is Koishi Herikawa from Onegai Teacher. A rather annoying character. So in prospect, Aono is going to cause a lot of problems for Yorito. As for Mana, she’s close to that, but she’s more likeable.

After watching this episode, it’s confirmed that Mayuko also cannot be in contact with sunlight. She also seems to be ageless just like Matsuri. Unfortunately for her, she’s stuck at an age that requires her to have someone pretend to be her guardian. It’s also rather convenient that Mana works at the same diner Mayuko and company are eating at. I find it weird, however, that the guy didn’t tell Mayuko the truth about finding Matsuri. I’m guessing he’s scared of what Mayuko would do to him if she knew that he found her but let her get away.

As for Matsuri, she’s the star of this episode as a good amount of background information and personality is revealed about her. I did believe that she was going to run away the moment Yorito left for the hospital, considering she said bye and left a message. I was surprised to find her still in the house when Yorito left. Another hint at what kind of person she is. I was even more surprised at the obsession Yorito had with skies with the image of the sky in his room.

Overall, this episode was great. There was a lot of character development with the main characters and the episode ends with a feeling that Yorito just opened a very large can of worms by being acquainted with Matsuri, which means a really good series for this series. Please let this be 26 episodes long. I’m tired of 12 to 13 episode series.

Sola Episode 1 Summary:

A teenage boy grabs a camera and heads out into the dark early morning and starts biking through the city towards a pier. He’s preparing his camera to take pictures of the sunrise when he hears some noise behind him. Here he meets a girl kicking at a vending machine trying to get a drink out after the machine ate her money. Their eyes meet and the two feel somewhat of a connection. The girl asks what he’s doing and he explains that he’s waiting for dawn to take a picture of the moment the dark sky turns blue.

He helps the girl kick the machine and a can drops out (a tomato juice drink). He turns around to give it to her, but she’s already gone. The scene changes to show some kids playing outside, while a girl stands inside a cave away from the light. Then there is a person in a cloak struggling through some barren landscape.

Back at the highschool of the teenager, he is on the rooftop of his school with a digital camera looking at the sky with through the LCD screen while talking to a female friend about the girl he met earlier. His friend is astounded by how much interest he has in taking images of the sky. She also mentions to him about having to buy a present, in which he counters by telling her he already bought one.

He shows her the present in class, which is a rather bizarre looking stuffed doll, but she doesn’t think it’s a good idea. He tells her girls like that kind of thing, but when shown to the other girls in the class, they share her opinion of how bad the present is. After school, they ride the trolley to a hospital.

At the hospital, we find this girl in a bed while a younger girl is sitting next to her. The older girl is impressing the other girl with some origami tricks when the two other characters walk in. The younger girl jumps off the chair to meet them. She identifies the teenage girl as Mana, but Mana tells her to refer her as “onee-chan”. The little girl identifies herself as Koyori and the guy as Yorito. It turns out that Yorito is here to visit his older sister, who is the girl in the bed.

They present her with a birthday cake and that her name is Aono. He presents her with the present, but she discards it to a pile of similar looking stuffed dolls. While they light up candles and turn off the lights, they hear the church bells ringing, which Koyori points out as broken and that they are working on fixing it. Yorito opens the curtains slightly to take a look when Aono tells him to stop. He is about to close them when he notices something outside and he runs off to the rooftop. He pulls out his camera and takes a picture of the sun setting with the church to the side.

At the church, we find the girl Yorito met earlier that day. Back at Yorito’s home, Mana is making dinner for him. She chastizes him for running out to take pictures instead of spending time with his sister. While making dinner, Mana notices she needs ginger and sends Yorito out to buy some. Elsewhere, a bearded man with glasses is out searching for something when it starts to rain.

Yorito gets out of the rain when he notices the same girl at the same vending machine, again kicking at it. Her umbrella is blown out of her hands into the air and Yorito notices that the inside of the umbrella is a picture of the sky. The two meet again and Yorito hands back the umbrella. He goes to help her get her drink out again. He tells her that her drink doesn’t look very tasty. She tells him to stand aside as she takes several steps back and starts running at the machine. He sees what’s happening and instinctively runs in to stop her and the two end up knocking heads. The drink rolls out afterward.

She tells Yorito that the drink is good and that he should drink it by pretending he fell for her lie. He drinks it and says he fell for it. She brings up the topic of the sky and she shows him a picture of the one picture of the sky that she has. The picture, however, looks exactly like the image Yorito took at the hospital. Yorito goes on naming a number of different cloud formations. She thinks about the different clouds and imagines herself in a field with white clouds and a blue sky. The imagination disappears and a stream of tears is on her face. She thanks him for the information and tells him to keep the umbrella as she runs off. Before she could, Yorito asks for her name. She tells him it’s Shihou Matsuri after finding out his name. She then runs off.

Back with the bearded man, he finds a cardboard box and when he opens it, he finds what he’s looking for, which is a girl inside, who tells him she’s hungry. The next day, Yorito does not go to visit his sister, as Mana explains to Aono that he told her that he had something to do. The man brings food to the girl, and she asks him if he’s found “her”. He tells her he has a good idea of where she is.

At Yorito’s home, he recalls the image that Matsuri showed him. He pulls out his camera and scans his pictures and finds out that it’s the same picture he took with the church. At the church again, Matsuri is awoken by one of the doors being opened. She looks outside, but finds nothing. As she closes the door, the bearded man appears. The man goes on the attack throwing objects at Matsuri. He activates light to shine through the windows, while Matsuri tries her best to avoid the light. He then pulls out a sword when Yorito opens the door and everyone is at a standstill.

Sola Episode 1 Review:

As I mentioned on my First Impressions post, this anime started out as a simple, normal life type of show with some person with a hobby of taking pictures of the sky. And it’s pretty evident that the show is about skies as the title of the anime literally means, well, sky.

Like almost all shows, this episode serves to introduce all the main characters. Here we have Yorito, the main character; Matsuri, the other main character; Mana, who is Yorito’s friend; Koyori, Mana’s sister; Aono, Yorito’s sister; and the bearded man and the child he’s taking care of, although she’s probably not a child in terms of age.

After all that, this series could have been as boring as staring into space, but it’s saving grace is Matsuri who has some qualities that might deem her as a vampire. In the ending scenes, we see that Matsuri cannot be exposed to sunlight or anything similar. And then we have Yorito who loves daylight. There’s the mismatch, the love interest, and the ensuing dilemmas waiting to happen. Now that’s a good series to follow. Not to mention, the animation quality is very nice. Everything is drawn in all seriousness, so there’s no over-exaggerated faces.

There was no opening sequence for this first episode. Instead, there was an insert song to take its place. But you can tell that there was an opening sequence song ready for use as the show takes time out to introduce their sponsors.

And just like a good number of anime series, the first episode ends in a cliffhanger of sorts that make you stay tuned in for the next episode. As I’m writing this, I’m anxiously waiting for the next episode like everyone else.

Overall, this episode does a good job introducing the characters, while leaving enough ambiguity to start making assumptions and deductions on what’s going to happen. For me, from what I can tell from this first episode is that Yorito and Matsuri will fall for each other, but Matsuri’s need to avoid sunlight will cause a big dilemma down the line. Yorito’s sister Aono seems to be the same as Matsuri. Mana will probably admit that she has feelings for Yorito and the love triangle will begin and someone’s going to get their feelings hurt, probably Mana’s. The bearded guy will probably end up as an ally while the girl he’s helping is someone also afraid of the light and needs something from Matsuri. And Matsuri is probably going to die by the end of the series. Sad, but it’s leaning towards that direction.