May 26, 2022
Wow.
I came into Sonny Boy after having the soundtrack pop up on YouTube. I thought to myself, "Hey, this sounds really good and the OST cover looks interesting, let's take a peek at the show!"
2 days and 12 episodes later, I have no idea how to even begin describing the experience I was given, but what I was given compelled me enough to actually come and talk about it.
The story for this show isn't too difficult to understand, I think, despite it being intriguing nonetheless and abstract to a moderate degree from a visual standpoint - the plot is pretty straightforward and
...
the events that occur usually aren't very confusing. However, what you infer from each episode and how you feel about the overarching themes that are presented to you is where things get interesting. I'd like to think that making the viewer feel their own way about how everything was, is, or will be in "This World" was intentional; given that this is an original show and isn't adapted from anything, there's a lot of freedom for the storytelling, and for me it felt as though Sonny Boy centered on one big thing in particular - perspective. Whether it was looking through the eyes of a certain character, or somewhat reliving a previous situation from someone else's, to having conversations about the past of someone, or relics from other worlds that had been discovered; it felt like the takeaway was whatever you felt about what you just experienced, and that's something that I appreciated greatly. Even as the main plot progressed to the finale, those final moments made me think about myself and how I felt about the outcome personally more than how I felt about the characters' outcomes. And, to be honest, it made me feel at ease. Sonny Boy is the first show in a long while that made me pull back and remember that life goes on, whether I want it to or not. And, how I feel about that is up to me.
I think the art style is interesting, but there were definite moments where the detail was lacking or just simply not there. I don't really knock it too much, because when it is detailed it's a gorgeous world and it catches my attention, but it seems pretty clear that show didn't have a huge budget; I don't think that takes away from the overall quality too much. Not for me, personally, at least.
Sound design was top notch - everything felt naturally placed and well executed, and the music for this show was phenomenal. It was the hook for me to begin with, so that's to be expected. Each song felt like it had an appropriate place, and there weren't any that were forced into a scene; if it didn't need music, they didn't use any, and this was to their benefit. There were a handful of moments where a song played and the lack of anything before it raised the impact of a scene drastically. There's nothing I could even think was an issue here for me.
Some of the characters were excellent - Mizuho, Nagara, Rajdhani, and Nozomi all were characters I both related to in some way and also wanted to relate to, either due to a fault or a positive trait that was shown. A few characters fell a bit flat for me - Like Ms. Aki, Pony, and Hoshi. Their importance to the story still doesn't really seem that high, and I found them to be relatively forgettable past their scenes. Still, what was focused on the most felt fleshed out and well executed, so having a few characters mean less doesn't bug me that much.
I'd have written a much longer review if I included spoilers, but this is a show I feel should be watched without knowing much of it, if anything. It was an interesting and entertaining trip the whole way through, and it's a show I think I'll be returning to sometime later just to really revisit my thoughts on it - it definitely has a ton of symbolism, and I think a lot of it I need to process first before completely figuring out my full feelings towards this series.
If this is the first thing you're reading about Sonny Boy, I'll simply say to watch it if you want to watch something that's more visually abstract and a bit philosophical or symbolic in its storytelling. Enjoy the journey the show gives to you and then process how it made you feel.
Maybe you'll love it. Maybe you'll hate it. But hey, that's life - just try and make the most of it.
9/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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