Soni-Ani

Summary: >

Super Sonico: College student. Gravure model. Lead Guitar. Cat lady.

Follow the every day life adventures of the pink haired girl who's always wearing headphones for some reason.

Thoughts: >

Super Sonico is a mascot for a game company, mostly associated with their music festival. Normally when mascot characters generate enough popularity for their own anime, it's a disaster. Soni-Ani: Super Sonico the Animation, is candidly about Sonico: a pink haired anime girl with big boobs doing... stuff. My expectations were low, however I was impressed this anime had just enough charm to make it worth picking up. Maybe.

If you want the super short summary: Soni-Ani is what K-On should have been. Fun, cute, amusing, with girls actually PLAYING instruments. Not boring, pointless pandering in dull nothingness. Sonico attends college, helps at her grandmother's restaurant, spends her free time playing with her friends in a band, and has a side job as a gravure model. Not the most exciting life, but she's got enough going on to fill 12 episodes.

Aside from Sonico always wearing headphones, and her manager wearing a demon mask, nothing is out of the ordinary. Sonico is busty, with a character design looking a little chunky compared to typical anime designs, but well suited to being a gravure model. This anime seems satisfied showing Sonico off a little, but thankfully doesn't cheapen itself with overzealous fan service.

Sonico is doing her best to achieve her dream of playing guitar in a band, but it's the sense of sincerity that makes her character. She doesn't say one thing, then spend her time doing something else. Sonico works hard at it. I also liked the band concept. "First Astronomical Velocity" is a rock group with catchy songs (which are fairly good) using astronomy themes. Episode end credits feature a music video, which is a nice touch in keeping the music theme.

Episodes vary in content, from murder mystery to zombie attacks, although most qualify as varying degrees of slice-of-life. If you're realistic about the limitations the setup, it's not a bad watch.

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