After writing a K-ON review, I felt like doing one for Sora Yori as I think these anime have a lot in common. Though, writing a review one something else that K-ON is hard… Really hard… But I’ll try my best! I’ll avoid spoilers until the last part of the review (not counting the conclusion) , so if you haven’t watched the anime yet and don’t want to be spoiled, feel free to read until that point.

~STORY~

First, let’s talk about the overall story. I won’t do a summary of the show as I consider it a bit useless (if you want one, just read the one written on the anime page), so I’ll jump right into it.
The first thing I’ll talk about is that, it may seem weird, but the actual point of the story is not Antarctica. It probably sounds strange due to the fact that the objective of the characters is to go there, but it is not the one of the story. The point of the narrative is trying new things, get the best out of life, believing in your dreams and the nature of friendship (not just some random “friends are important and they make you stronger” or power of friendship bs that you could see in Fairy Tail like anime, but more like what friends can do to help and support each other and how they can make one another grow). It is also about numerous aspects of life like taking risks, grief, finding your place in life and many more.

Though, the fact that the show isn’t about Antarctica, that still brings, for me, a downside. I really wish we could have seen more of them spending time there and goofing around like in the opening. I think a lot of people could easily feel that way as probably a handful of viewers thought that was the point of the story. But even aside from that, I personally just would have wanted to see more of them there. The show shouldn’t have made them arrive faster or anything like that, this would have made the real point of the story weaker and we would have missed a lot of good things, but I would have liked 2 or 3 more episodes (it's the only thing that keeps me from giving it 100).

Nonetheless, the trip in itself is also good, even with those aspects aside. It’s also really enjoyable due to the way we can relate to the characters and what they are experiencing. For example things that are pretty bad or annoying when you experience them, but end up being fun memories and such.

While writing this review, I read some from people that didn’t like the show to know why so I could write about those thoughts. What I found is that most found this anime generic and predictable. I think that they simply missed the point of the anime. Yes, what happened at the end was pretty obvious (I’ll talk about it in the spoiler part), but just like Antarctica isn't the point of the story, any kind of “plot twist” or event related to that aren’t either. It’s the type of story where the journey is more important that the goal. ~~And maybe in the end, the real Antarctica was the friends we made along the way?~~ It’s during the expedition that each character will grow, improve themselves and mature with the others and that is the point of the story (though if you haven’t watched the show yet, I would still advise you to not read the spoiler part, because the feeling towards the moment might still be affected).

Overall, I would say that this anime is not just a CGDCT. As K-ON or Hibike Euphonium, it uses the CGDCT to go further ~~than the universe~~ and to tell a deeper story. The sand structures that Tamaki used to build when she was a kid just to let the water run free afterward are not only a metaphor of Tamaki herself, that she was too scared of doing anything special that built on some frustration until she finally let herself run wild (which can also be seen in the chase during ep 02, but I’ll talk about it in more depth in the next section), those constructions also reflect the story which tells a tale of build ups that lead to a powerful strong release of emotions.

There’s also an aspect that the anime nailed, the execution. Having a great story doesn’t make everything, you also have to tell it correctly. MADHOUSE managed to nail this too. The timing and pacing are really on point. Just like the build up I was talking about earlier, the jokes themselves, may they be big or small will always make you laugh (or just smile for the smaller ones) but never make you sigh or your eyes roll and most importantly, will never feel forced or break the atmosphere of the scene.

~VISUALS~

Just like the “feel real” of the trip, the overall visuals are also going that way. I even heard that a lot of people from Singapore thought that the city sponsored ep 06 due to how much it felt real, though I didn’t find any source about that (aside from things that compare how close the real Singapore is). I think the best aspect about this (and probably why they tried so hard to give the anime some realistic vibes) is that thanks to that, we feel like we’re travelling with them.

The animation and art style are really pleasing. Though it’s a bit hard to elaborate as the art-style is completely subjective and while the animation is also pretty much the same (with still some kind of objective base), except saying that it’s good, there isn’t much to say.

Another important part of the visuals is the way the backgrounds, the scenery and the shot composition are used in a meaningful way. For example, as I mentioned earlier, in the second episode while Kimari is running on the bridge and finally doing something. Aside from the happiness and excitement on her face, all of the backgrounds reflect the way she feels as they change and move to emphasise her feeling of freedom and accomplishment.

There are also always few details and more subtle elements in the background or the overall scenery that either exist to help to convey the feeling of the characters or sometimes just make little jokes that are kind of hidden or simply small and might easily get missed.

~CHARACTERS~

All of the main cast of the show shares one thing in common: their dissatisfaction with the current life they have.Mari Tamaki Kimari is an easy-going and kind of airhead girl who wants and needs to do something in her youth. She’s frustrated that she never did anything special and that when she has the opportunity to do so, she’s lacking in courage and will to follow her desire. It’s thanks to Shirase that she will have the push needed to finally do something special.Shirase Kobuchizawai Her dissatisfaction comes from mainly two things. The fact that she wants to go to Antarctica to find her mother, and her loneliness due to the fact that she doesn’t open herself to others. One really good thing about her is that she could have been an easy “pity sadness” and her loneliness and rejection from the others could have forced upon the viewer to make them feel sorry for her. But instead she uses these things as fuel for her motivation and to grow even stronger.Hinata Miyake The tomboyish and joyful girl of the group. Sadly, it’s a bit harder to talk about her motivation without going into some spoilers, so I’ll have a small spoiler part here.

Spoiler, click to view

She’s a high school dropout who needs to do something that separates her from her school life. During the trip, she will have to learn to trust and rely on other people after being backstabbed and kind of bullied in her high-school..

Yuzuki Shiraishi And last (of the main cast) but not least, Yuzuki. She is a child star that didn’t get to know much about real friendship and the meaning behind it. So her main struggle will be dealing with people who actually care about her for who she is and not what she is.Others I don’t really think I will talk about other characters (such as Megumi and Gin) since most of what I could talk about would be more or less spoilers (and this review is pretty long already). But at the same time, they have their importance in the story so I struggle a lot about what I should do… Let’s say that mentioning them is enough ok?

~AUDIO~

In terms of audio, the anime is (once again) amazing. I love the songs, but with still a bit of a downside though, the lack of variety. Because aside from the OP, ED and 1 or 2 BGMs, there isn’t much I remember and the same songs are used a lot (especially the main theme). While I absolutely love those, it would have been better to have more (but I’m still happy with those).

Regarding the VA, I will only talk about the Japanese one, because I never heard anything about the English dub at all.
So, regarding the JP one, all I can say is that it's amazing and has some really big names such as Kana Hanazawa, Inori Minase and one of my personal favorite VA: Saori Hayami. But that was for the main cast. Supporting characters are not left behind with Sayaka Oohara, Jun Fukushima and my beloved Youko Hikasa to just name a few. Again, a point where I don’t know how to really elaborate further (but the backgrounds of the VA speaks for themselves).

~SPOILERS~

Ok, if you don’t want to know the end, you should skip this part and go straight to the conclusion (or leave the review… Or start it all over again, I don’t know! You can do whatever you want! I’m not your mom!)

So… Of course the ending is pretty obvious. In what world would someone be able to survive this long alone in Antarctica? From the very start of the anime, it was clear that Shirase’s mother was dead. And it’s pretty evident that she didn’t get to read her emails… But God damn it the scene hits hard… That’s the execution I was talking about earlier. The sheer amount of emotion in this scene is unbelievable.

On a smaller note, I’d like to speak a bit about the scene where Hinata gets a call from her former teammates. I find this moment to be a really strong moment due to it giving more depth to Hinata and explaining more of her background. Hinata is the archetype of character that will always try to be positive and the less they are fine, the more they will smile to hide it. So seeing her burst out and be somewhat of her true self has a lot of impact not only on the moment, but also on what happens next and what came before.

~CONCLUSION~

In the end, this anime is the kind of anime that will (or at least should) affect you and makes you feel kind of empty once you finish it. It’s a strong story that aims to motivate people and give them the push to finally do what they really want to by telling a narrative that’s easy to pick up but pretty hard to put down.

So if you like those types of wholesome shows that aren’t just cute for the sake of being cute, I definitely recommend you to watch it and if you’re not sure, I think you still should give it a try and it might honestly make you discover a new type of anime!

It really reminded me of K-ON, not only because it had similar characters (we can easily see Tamaki as Yui, Shirase as Mio, Hinata would be Ritsu and Yuzuki Mugi), but also the way the story makes the characters grow together and such, with a side note that I think it would be less easy to consider it “boring” by people who would miss the main point of the show.