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ファイト／ステイナイト 
OP Theme: 「Fly Away」 by THYME - AVI version (25.6MB) | PSP version (11.7MB)
This is a rather interesting series and yet I'm still on the fence about it. This mostly got to do with the mixture of live-action and animation. It feels weird looking at it even though the live action scenes are very beautiful at times. In addition to this, at least in the first episode, the focus has been changed from the main character to her helping another character in need. I have to admit that I dislike this particular element of the original Someday's Dreamer. It's especially unfortunate to happen on this series because unlike the original, I feel that the main characters from this series are far more interesting. Because of this, I hope things will change in the second episode and will focus a lot more on Sora and her new friends. At any rate, let me know what you think of this first episode.
Episode 01
A girl called Sora tells her dog that she's going to her mom's workplace. Meanwhile, Hara Seiichirou from the Department of Magic wanting to talk about Suzuki Sora's magic training. After the phone call ends, someone asks Seiichirou if the call is about that girl from Hokkaidou, wondering what kind of a girl Suzuki Sora is. At the same time, Sora arrives at her mother's workplace, which is a crops field. She's greeted by her excited mother, who tells her that her internship has been approved, explaining the phone call that happened earlier. After a little happy sobbing, Sora goes off to tell the news to her father. Well, her father has actually passed away. She simply goes to this large tree and acts like it's some kind of medium to deliver her words to her father. She tells him that she's been accepted in her internship so she'll finally become a mage. She asks him to wait for her to fulfill the promise that she made to him.
Later on that day, Sora makes a phone call to her friend, Michiru, apologizing for not calling earlier but many things happened in the morning. She tells Michiru about her internship and how from tomorrow she'll be seeing Tokyo's sky. Michiru sounds wistful about this but congratulates Sora. She then admits that she'll be lonely once Sora left. Their conversation is interrupted briefly by Michiru's father. After the guy stops talking, Sora asks Michiru about the advice that Michiru wants from her. Because of this Michiru asks Sora where she is at the moment and the two end up meeting at a riverbank. Michiru wonders if Sora will be all on her own in Tokyo so Sora asks Michiru if she'd like to come. Michiru, however, reminds Sora that she's not a magic user. Michiru then goes on to talk about how she has an unrequited love for a boy called Touyama. Unfortunately, the guy in question will be transferring away this summer vacation.
Sora admits that she didn't know that Michiru likes Touyama so Michiru points out the 'unrequited love' part of her feeling. She thinks that she'd probably be forgotten by him when he moves away. Upon hearing this, Sora urges Michiru to confess her feelings for Touyama. She takes the girl to her a farm and tells Michiru to go here at 8. Michiru, however, wonders if it's okay for Sora to do this when she's going to go away. Sora tells Michiru that her father once said that magic must be used when the time needs it. That night, Sora and her mother have dinner together. Her mother tells Sora to do her best in her internship but also asks her not to push herself too hard. After dinner, Sora goes back to meet up with Michiru, who admits that she's nervous about this. Sora, however, encourages her to at least tell Touyama her true feelings.
Because of this, Michiru goes to the barn where she and Touyama are supposed to meet. She then tells him that she's come all the way to tell him something. While she talks to Touyama, Sora uses her magic to summon snow inside the barn. Inside the barn, Touyama is surprised to see the snow so Michiru explains to him that Sora does her magic for her. The reason for this is because she remembers Touyama once said that he likes snowy days just like her. She then blurts out that she likes Touyama. She compares her feeling to winter's Akiko, a strong wheat which is buried underneath thick snow, waiting throughout winter for spring to arrive. In response, Touyama tells Michiru that he's glad he can see the snow together with her. At home, Sora's mother tells her daughter that if she finds it hard in Tokyo, it's okay for her to go back home. Sora agrees with this. That night, Sora receives SMS from Michiru, thanking her for the help.
Michiru also tells Sora that she needs to find her own boyfriend, telling her that being in love is good. Sora, however, simply sighs that she has no experience when it comes to love. The next day, Sora wakes up and ready to go to the airport. Before she does that, she bids goodbye to her mother, wishing that she has a younger brother or sister (so that her mother won't be all alone). Her mother, however, tells her not to say foolish things and urges her to do her best. She wants Sora to make new friends and see different worlds. Sora arrives at an airport, in time for her to leave on a plane that will take her to Tokyo. Before she left, she gets another message from Michiru, asking her to come back soon because without Sora, she feels lonely. After receiving warning from the flight attendant to close her mobile, Sora begins her journey to Tokyo, wondering what kind of place Tokyo would be.
What's Good
Suzuki Sora - She seems out to be a lot more interesting personality-wise in comparison to Yume. It also helps that she's easier to relate. Her scene with her mother hit home a little bit for me. She also benefits from better supporting characters in comparison to the characters in the original Someday's Dreamer.
The story - This particular episode hits home a little bit. I can't help but feeling a pang of guilt when I saw Sora leaving her mother to go to Tokyo because I am also in the same situation now. Now that my father has passed away, it means I have to leave my mother on her own because she lives in different city and still working there. I feel awful everytime I think about it but there's nothing else that I can do at the moment. At least not until she retires. Just like Sora, I sometimes think that it'd nice if she has another children who lives with her so she won't be lonely. Unfortunately my brother also lives in the same city where I live.
Slice of life elements - That little things that usually are not focused in other anime: a character running and falling flat on her face because she's too excited, the reflective nature of the character, the lingering shots of unimportant elements such as riding a bike. Depending on the treatment, this could either be boring or interesting to look at and so far they're more interesting than boring.
What's Acceptable
The character design - The manga looks fantastic and the anime is not too bad either. It's definitely an improvement from the original, where the majority of the characters look like a bunch of hippies trying to look mysterious. Unfortunately, the manga's style is not completely replicated in the anime and I don't understand why of all style, the producer decides to use character design that is similar to the ones used in Beck or Paradise Kiss. In general, I prefer the design of the manga although this one is quite passable.
The Live Action/Anime mix - I have to admit that I still have reservation about this and it feels really weird to see combination of live action and anime like this. Having said that, the static shots that the animators managed to obtain are of really good quality. I wonder how long did it take them to get a perfect day shoot of each setting (the flower fields, the house, etc) and how long did it take them to combine it with the 2D animation. Despite that, I think it'd be a while before I get used to this.
The OP/ED - They don't exactly drive me with excitement but they're pretty okay to listen to when you're relaxing at home. I actually like the original Someday's Dreamer's OP/ED.
What's Troubling
The changes in storyline - I really think the manga is better paced than this. It also has better interactions with characters than this. The changes make the series feels more like a "client-of-the-week", which I don't like. That format was part of the reason why I didn't enjoy the original that much. I really want the story to focus on Sora and the other main characters not on the "client-of-the-week" who needs her magic solution.
The difference between the manga and anime
* The boy actually likes Sora in the manga version. In this one, he's like an unimportant figure for Sora while in the manga, he's pretty close to Sora. They're like childhood friends.
* In the manga, Sora actually has deficiency in her magic. She keeps creating this sunflower pattern in every magic that she unleashes. I find this to be charming and mysterious element in the manga and it's unfortunate that it's not repeated in the anime.
* Better character development for Sora/the boy/the other girl. This episode completely wipes out any kind of interesting interaction/story between the three of them. Sora's mission to fulfill her promise to her father is still intact but everything else is just not in the anime version.
* This is a minor point but in the manga, Sora was meant to go to Sapporo but she finds out that her application is sent to Tokyo instead. In this one, she just goes straight to Tokyo.
ED Theme:「乾いた花」 - Kawaita Hana by micc - AVI version (15.3MB) | PSP version (6.9MB)
Preview
I liked the atmosphere and character design. Background and characters matched better than I thought. But holy crap, this episode was SLOW. lol;;; I think pacing was the only problem I had with this series, but it was a big one. I'll have to see how the second episode goes.
Wow, Garten, I'd never thought I'd see you do a slice-of-life series like Someday's Dreamers.
Anyway, the changes in the adaptation didn't exactly bug me too much, except for the lack of sunflower patterns that appears whenever Sora used her magic.
Wow, Garten, I'd never thought I'd see you do a slice-of-life series like Someday's Dreamers.
I actually like slice-of-life series but sometimes this kind of series borders between touching and boring and when it gravitates towards the later, I end up being lazy to talk about it. But in general, I like slice-of-life series as you can see from my interest in Honey and Clover and Fruits Basket.
It's kinda strange that the anime has so much differences with the manga, since the scriptwriter is the manga writer. However, something similar happened with the first series. Maybe the author does it in order to give us 2 stories for one, or something like that :p ?
I think it looks nice but I agree that there's something unsettling about it. It's like sticking animation in front of real-life pictures. I wonder if it's easier or more difficult (and is it more expensive or cheaper) than if they just use normal animation?
The animation/live-action mix just looks jarring to me...it seems like they're just trying to save money by not having to draw real backgrounds. I liked the way the original Someday's Dreamers had detailed backgrounds, but they were still clearly animated--it just blended in better with the characters, IMHO. Still hoping this will be good overall, though.
Are those really photographs? I mean, I'm sure they used photos as references, but the grass and the leaves look like thin brush strokes to me. Oh well.
I liked it, but this was screaming "this is just the setup!". It will take time for me to get used to this Sora's voice since I keep thinking about Sketchbook's Sora.
I have no problem with the "client-of-the-week" structure but I understand why some might dislike it. I also love the slice of life elements. Hal Film Maker seems to be specializing in this, so I'm not too worried about this getting old or boring.
Also, when you compared your experience with the one shown here made me wonder if in fact this kind of shows are hated by people that either have not experienced such things or, at least, don't have a predisposition to feel empathy towards characters. Mmh...
Well, I liked this episode, but let's see how this fares.
Are those really photographs?
I think some of them are actually still films. As in someone put a camera in front of a train track and let it runs for 5 minute while there's no one around.
Also, when you compared your experience with the one shown here made me wonder if in fact this kind of shows are hated by people that either have not experienced such things or, at least, don't have a predisposition to feel empathy towards characters. Mmh...
I sometimes wonder about that. I notice that people who are more lenient towards Shinji in EVA, for example, have had their own share of really difficult times/depression, etc and as a result, are more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. When I took film class, my teacher always emphasized that viewers' own life experiences shape the kind of view that they have towards a film/modern art. I think that's true to a certain extent (the exception is where the writer/director has been so specific about his film that no other interpretation can exist).
It looks....interesting? I mean it kind of looks plain at times but at the same time, the style is unusual that it's intriguing.
I wonder if I can stay awake throughout all 12 episodes though. I agree with others who said that this is slooow as hell.
It definitely looks a bit like Beck, which is worrying considering how that series ended not to mention the animation wasn't that good. At least they're saving on background so hopefully the character won't look ugly halfway through.
Those backgrounds definitely aren't 100% photographic/filmed -- if I were to guess, I'd say they are photographs/filmstills which have then been reworked on the computer. Based on what I can see in most of these screencaps here, it looks as though the images have been softened a bit (even objects like the doghouse have that slightly "hazy" glow), and then coloured/drawn over in a number of areas. The degree of added paint seems to vary, it's not always that obvious, but I think most scenes are at least slightly touched up.
So, well, for instance: The building in this scene looks only marginally worked over, but the grass definitely shows a lot of brushstrokes. The original scene likely just wasn't quite as, well, lush and nostalgic in reality!
Someday's Dreamer was a real disappointment at the way the story was presented. I hope this one doesn't end up as the same. The change in the plot does bug me though, especially if it is leading to a story-of-the-week. Its not that I don't like story-of-the-week stuff, Bartender was good for its story-of-the-week, but unlike that Someday's Dreamer had more of a half-a-story-of-the-week. I just hope this one doesn't end up the same way.
A lot of potential just hope they don't ruin it or run out of budget.
I think the backgrounds are actually CG mixed with real-life painting. That's why some of the grass looks painted and not life-like. I think you can see this better on the detail of the plane in the last shot.
Doing it in CG makes sense because it means they can reuse the same setting more than once and they can shoot it from any angle.
A little bit too slow for me. I think if the story was a bit more interesting, I can tolerate the slowness. Otherwise, I think they should speed it up a little bit. I'm not sure we need that part where Michiru talks to Sora on the phone needed to be shown on screen.
"This mostly got to do with the mixture of live-action and animation. It feels weird looking at it even though the live action scenes are very beautiful at times."
They're all done in CG
They're all done in CG
That certainly is another possibility. It's quite realistic and rather hard to distinguish though. However, that explains why some of the shots have that artificial look to it (ie. the places are empty/not crowded, etc). It should be interesting to see this next week when the setting moves to Tokyo, where there should be a lot more people on the street.
I love the slow nature of the series. Most anime these days are about hack and slash or flashing panties so it's refreshing to see something that tells a story about life.
I'm not sure about the character design though. In some scenes, they look like they're just round shape with lines in them.
I thought the production team used photographs as reference and basically repainted the closer portions and fixed up the farther ones? At least that's what it looks like to me; the backgrounds aren't like how Makoto Shinkai's team did theirs (they are slightly sharper and the lighting is amazingly distinct), but I think they're using the same basic concept here.
Thanks for the summary... I haven't read the plot section yet; I'm about to watch Episode 1 now...!
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