The inclusion of natural elements to an otherwise stale gimmick of “cute girls in serious circumstances” in an anime met with a mixed reception among casual and hardcore anime fans. These are circumstances that involve a setting, or lore to be specific, that would not have needed to have any “moe” components to make it even more or less meaningful. But we all know why: they want to appeal to what is popular and cash in on it. Unfortunately, that cash grab is more diminutive than fruitful from how seemingly transparent these elements give off in these shows and nowhere near is this evident than in Sora No Woto.

To get the gist of what Sora no Woto wants to show us with its extravagant array of colorful characters and artistic merit is how the setting is put into perspective. When you read the back story of the show’s lore, you sense that the writer had a unique vision when constructing it to facilitate the story. However, making the setting and the story compelling are separate issues; you have to have a story to tell while also making the world an imaginative wonderland. In Sora no Woto, it manages to set a friendly tone to the setting with an elaborate background story. Still, there is absolutely nothing to make that setting meaningful in regards to its story.

This is a slice-of-life anime, first and foremost. No story can be found in one, for the most part. Because of this, there is a perplexing motive to be understood from a writer’s perspective. Why tell interesting lore if your “story” doesn’t take advantage of that “lore”? This counter-intuitive realization makes Sora no Woto seem like a lifeless barren landscape with no meaningful qualities. These lack of qualities show how so much is out in the vast openness of the show’s world, but the enclosed space where the main characters occupy is nonexistent.

Why is the space nonexistent? The characters that inhabit it are what make it that way. The only exception that doesn’t make this cast of characters completely terrible is Kanata Sorami because of her charming presence. Other than her, there was hardly any reason to take these girls’ struggles with any firm conviction of sincerity. This problem can be surfaced by how so little the writers give any of these girls authentic, or unique, identities that made me think of them more than just Girl #1, #2, or #3. Not to mention that the tropes that we see in countless cute girl ensemble anime aren’t at the slightest bit engaging by how little they try to make it entertaining.

On the subject of entertainment value, it would help to find the value of Sora no Woto more revealing if you, say, have insomnia to help guide you through this. Monotony is prevalent in most scenes that would otherwise feel as if they were not needed to be there, to begin with. I can appreciate atmospheric inclusions in some locations. Still, there is almost no substance to any pointless scenes where the girls go off to some abandoned area at random. This comes out as negative due to how dull the writing comes off, not to mention how I previously said how the characters are mostly devoid of any life to their generic tropes.

Judging from the poster and screenshots, you would think that this is made by Kyoto Animation, considering how it looks very similar to K-ON. But it is drawn by the original character designer of K-ON, along with Kokoro Connect and Lucky Star, Yukiko Horiguchi. The style of artistry in all of her characters always looks very expressive. However, there is a slight aesthetic disconnect between her character designs and the public art of the environments. Everything in the world is this slight gritty wasteland, while you see these cute girls doing the typical cute girl schtick that severely distracts the main pull of the ambiance. Despite this big crux, both are independently done very well in giving some bit of ingenuity to the art.

As far as anime music shows go, there aren’t as much in the way of musical endeavors in Sora no Woto besides girls playing bugle horns every once in a while. But what music there is quite soothing and fits the atmosphere well; it gives a satisfactory experience through all the dreary, monotonous scenes.

A fair bit of wasted potential can be made into a case regarding Sora no Woto. It is one thing if you try to put forth strong lore within a show, but with a genre like Slice-of-life, you need to give at least an effort to show more of it than plainly explain it through monologue after monologue. There is never a sense of accomplishment without monologues because of how dry the pacing comes across. While not a “bad” anime by any means, there are at least a few elements, such as the art/animation and musical arrangements. The best advice is not to watch this while lying down in bed; otherwise, your eyes will flutter until you start collapsing out of sheer apathy.

Grade: C-