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Bland. Frustrating. Disappointing. These are just a few words I would use to describe Sora no Method. These days, original anime are a bit more scarce than they were about 6 or 7 years ago so hearing about the release of this, and by a new studio, excitement and anticipation welled up within me. These feelings were quickly dashed within the first few episodes.

Story 6/10
The story itself, albeit nothing particularly ground breaking, appears solid and, on the surface of things, rather interesting. In short, a girl named Nonoka returns to her home town from Tokyo. Upon arriving, she discovers that a huge saucer has been ... present over the town ever since she left. The story progresses with her regaining lost memories, concerning her old friends, with the help of this shows poster girl, Noel. As things further progress, she soon realises that not all will be as happy compared to her first time in the town and thus she starts to walk down the path of pain and anguish. Now at first, this seems interesting and I must admit, I was thoroughly intrigued by the saucer itself but my intrigue was quickly cut down. Why you ask? Simply because the story wasn't as promising as it was set out to be. Yes, there were certain parts to the anime that weren't terrible and provided a good watch but the overall story itself quickly became predictable and boring. Watching it almost became a challenge. Not only did it become predictable, it also became quite annoying in stages. Without spoiling anything, certain plotlines just seemed out-right pointless and, in the grand scheme of things, not really an issue in the first place. These 'issues' were then solved quite easily which again proves my point. This is the classic case of drama being created for the sake of it. What didn't help the series was its array of uninspiring characters, which segways me into my main issue with the series, the characters.

4/10
Never have I seen a bunch of uninspiring set of characters in my life. What I want to clarify is that they aren't horrendous in any specific way, apart from Shione, they are just boring to watch. None of them make you feel anything. You don't sympathise with them, you don't feel angry for them. There wasn't one part of the anime that made me feel anything towards the characters. Even when the anime hinted at big story lines concerning character relationships, such as the one about Yuzuki and Souta. You got yourself geared up for a big reveal only to be left disappointed. Poor character writing surrounded this anime. As mentioned earlier, there is also a typical 'poster girl' in this anime called noel. She has all the traits that make certain people fall head over heels for her type such as the childish and friendly nature, the 'unique' look and so on but does this make the character memorable and lovable? Not really to be honest. All the ingredients were present to make a memorable character that whenever you think back to the series, you immediately think back to her and smile but like all characters within the series, she was like a hollow shell. I wish I could elaborate further on why, but I simply can't. The whole situation just baffles me as the ingredients were there, but they weren't used properly.

Art & sound 7/10
I give credit where credit is due. Considering this was the studio's first attempt at an anime, the art was pretty darn good. The backdrops looked beautiful and the saucer itself looked stunning. The music though was where they truly hit the right notes. Both opening and ending fit the atmosphere the creators were trying to create. On top of that, they were both memorable and stayed in my head for a number of weeks after the series finished airing. The ost was pretty good aswell, both concerning the sound and timing. I must say, I was rather impressed with these two aspects.

Overall, this anime was a disappointment. It wasn't terrible, like some series out there, but, for me, it is far from being considered a 'good anime'. Maybe it was because of my anticipation for the series that led me to expressing fairly harsh views but one can only speculate. Some may think though that the score 6 isn't actually too bad, but considering the way I personally score anime, this is quite low. Maybe if one goes into this not expecting much and with a very open mind, this might actually be considered a good watch. Who knows.

Sora not otoshimono has finally come to an end. I followed this series for a number of years now and it genuinely saddens me to see it come to an end. But enough with my personal sadness, on with the review!

The story of SNO is simply something you can't predict and that is one its real strong points. You think that your in for a nice funny/ comedic story, which is true but then plot twist after plot twist simply throws this on its head. Its hard to talk about plot progression without spoilers, so i'll refrain from delving too deep. It starts off with ... the introduction of the characters in a typical school setting and progresses in that tone but the touch of the supernatural makes the story interesting and gives the author a chance to make things difference and wild, and that is exactly what he does. With the inclusion with of the 'other world', the plot unwinds into something more than just a 'typical school anime'. I'll have to stop here when concerning the plot since i'm reviewing the manga and not retelling the story. Apologies.

Sora no otoshimono is for me one of the best examples of combining a load of genres and actually making it work. This is generally classed as an Ecchi manga before anything else, which in all honesty is very much true but don't let that fool you. These days, Ecchi manga/ anime have a stigma, not a bad one but they do have the a certain 'tag' shall we say that may in turn put someone off when they see ' Ecchi 'as an attached genre however, whilst SNO (abbreviated) is certainly an Ecchi manga, it isn't your archetypal Ecchi manga. One simple comment covers this, it isn't thrown at you constantly. That's the beauty of SNO, there is enough Ecchi moments to satisfy your 'desire' but not so much that it would put people off full stop. Very well spaced out.

If there is one thing that SNO does brilliantly though, it is the splicing and intertwining of genres. For instance, in one chapter, you may be laughing at a very comedic moment whilst only a few pages later, your breath may be taken away by a sudden plot twist. This certainly applied for me.

Just a quick mention about the 'tragedy' tag without giving away any spoilers. That genre tag certainly applies to this series. 100%. There are quite a few moments that will leave your mouth hanging. I guarantee it.

Onto the characters! Now for me, this may be only part of SNO that is a bit of a let down. In short, the characters are very 'typical'. Each character from Ikaros to Astraea doesn't seem to have any real stand out traits that make them really unique. But I should mention that this does change, to a degree, since most characters do go through some sort of development. For example, Tomoki is seen as just a simple pervy character at the beginning of the story but later on, he matures and in turn, helps most characters through difficult situations.

So that is that. SNO has finally come to an end I hope you enjoy it as much as I have over the years. Ciao!

Let's get one thing out in the open, I played the VN. Little Busters has always been close to my heart with the story itself one of my favorites around. But enough of that, let's get the review under way! Oh, and this review will contain comparisons between this and the first series and occasionally, reference to the VN.

First things first, this series is a massive improvement in every aspect compared to the first series, be it art style, script, or timing of music. If I were to choose one stand out improvement however, it would have to be the animation. I found the ... previous series almost unbearable at some points but this series, well was top class compared to what we have already witnessed within the Little Busters universe. This series blitzes the first series. One thing I must add is that to those who didn't watch the first series and have noticed the popularity of this series and wondered 'can I watch this series without watching the first?', you must watch the first series to fully embrace this series.

This series kicks off right where the previous series left off, focusing more on the 'Secret of the World' and the original Little Busters themselves. When the 'Secret of the World' starts to become more apparent, one realizes that this series itself is far darker and serious compared to the first. A personal love of this series is how subtle hints are dropped throughout concerning 'the secret of the world'. Some moments are incredibly clever and well, blow your mind!

One thing that is very apparent in this series is that it is very emotional. In the first series, there were incidences that weren't emotional at all and yet in the VN, they had me reaching for the tissues. This was due to things being lost in translation, literally. For me this was most obvious during Haruka's route but let's save this rant for another time. However, I was simply blown away at how well they transferred the emotional scenes over from the VN. I even felt that at certain points, the anime was actually more emotional than the VN!

Unlike the first series, Refrain actually contains character development! Hooray! This in turn makes you feel more connected to the characters and thus enjoy the series more. Whats more is that this 'character development' didn't just apply to the 'original little busters' but the newcomers aswell such as Kurugaya. Happy days!

Now, before I tie up this review, I wanted to dedicate a section the music. The music in LB is simply astounding. Be it instrumentals like 'Lamplight', which sends a shiver down my spine due to how harrowing it is or songs like 'Faraway' or 'Song for Friends'. I must add 'Faraway' is simply one of the most emotional songs I have ever heard.

This story is full of so many twists and turns that you couldn't possibly predict what could happen. Its a compelling, sad and funny story all in one! But the main reason I gave this series such a high rating is simply because of how well the JC staff adapted this story into an anime. I knew what was going to happen and yet I was glued to the screen from the get go.

This is a must see. One of the best of 2013!