Anime Watch: Super Sonico the Animation

Hello Hello, Lil Buns!

Today's post will be:

ANIME WATCH

☆Super Sonico the Animation☆

For the next completed entry from My Anime List, I decided to finally watch the series that I see so many adorable merch and cosplays from - Super Sonico! I saw that it was only 12 episodes and somewhat slice of life, so I said why not. But even after watching it, I'm still on the fence about it.

Synopsis:
Super Sonico is a character created for the Japanese computer and video game software company Nitroplus back in 2006. Since they held many musical festivals, it was only natural for Sonico to sport the iconic headphones which she never takes off. I'm not even sure if she does when she bathes since she still wears them when she goes to the beach...

Anyway...
The anime is about a cat-loving, young and very voluptuous pink-haired girl named Sonico (Super is actually her family name). She works two jobs as a waitress at her grandmother's restaurant and a model. As a model, she gets various jobs given to her by her oni mask-wearing manager - Manager Kitamura. We never see his face but he is kind to her and is almost like a father. Where are her parents? Sonico also goes to college and plays in a rock band - First Astronomical Velocity. It's made of three members including her friends Suzu and Fuuri.

Even though she's very klutzy and tends to get flustered easily, everyone loves Sonico.
Everyone.
...
And no matter what, things always work out. No matter how ridiculous or silly or even if there's no hope. It will be fine in the end.

☆Rating Summary☆

Plot/Story 5/10
It's a very short series showing how Sonico balances all of the various things going on in her everyday life and how much people adore her regardless. There isn't much to go on here. There is a lot of silliness and fan-service that happens. But it's definitely mostly for the marketing for the company Nitroplus.

The series started very weak for me. As everything just went too perfect for her. I don't think she had a single enemy. The first 3 episodes were just too boring. Most series have some sort of conflict by episode 3.... And depending on the series, I try to give it up to episode 5 to decide whether to continue or not. With Sonico, I almost gave up on it a few times...

While the anime is very nice-looking, story-wise it fell flat and it wasn't until episodes 4 and 5 that it felt worth watching at all. You actually got a little bit of backstory as how she started playing the guitar and helping a new friend realize that your current situation is not your final destination. Which I thought were really nice episodes.

Then there's episode 6.
I really didn't understand the point of this one. Zombies and a magical beauty cream having horrible results? Ugh...it was more painful to watch than anything.

Episode 7 was definitely my favorite episode as it reminds us to all take a break and appreciate nature and its beauty. Nothing special happened but the scenery was just beautiful.

Episode 8 was a fun watch. Especially if you like mystery cases.
It actually reminded me slightly of Super GALs!

9 and 10 just reminded me of the original Cardcaptor Sakura series.

And finally, 11 and 12 were sweet but nothing amazing. Cue all of the people Sonico met along the way and story ends with a huge group photo.

Animation/Design 8/10
I have to say that the art and animation are actually really nice. The colors and character design are soft and from a pastel palette. There was a bit of CGI for certain parts though. And while it gave the series a different look, it just made me wonder if Sonico is just a robot... At least, that's what the animation made me think of...(not to mention that we never see her without her headphones and again, where are her parents?!). But the background designs were amazing and made me actually want to live there. I did think it was kind of cool, even with the CGI, that each episode's ending credits was actually a music video for First Astronomical Velocity's songs.

Characters 7/10
Sadly, this is another spot where the series wasn't that strong. Which is not good. Sonico, being the main character as well as who the series is named after just didn't have much to her at all. Yes, she is cute and I appreciate that she rescues animals and loves kawaii things. But she just seemed to play that of a fantasy girl.

I read somewhere that the headphones are what makes her Sonico. But take that away and she's just the otaku's anime dream girl with huge boobs, pink hair, EXTREME politeness, VERY klutzy and just as shy.

Her friends Suzu and Fuuri are cute but they don't have much going for them either. But that could be due to not seeing them as much as Sonico. I would have actually loved to have seen more of Suzu...

As the story continues, Sonico meets more and more people which later in turn really help her out like she did for them. But it's these other characters I feel are more fleshed out! Especially the 3 old men that are good friends to her grandmother! They were hilarious!

It's kind of bad that I like the random characters more than the main 3 girls...
I would have given a lower score if not for those supporting characters.

Audio/Soundtrack 6/10
I honestly think there was nothing special with the soundtrack. Anything that wasn't the girls singing was not really noticeable and/or just regular anime background themes. Something similar to other slice of life series I've already seen. The songs "performed" by First Astronomical Velocity were cute and catchy with just a couple of them being memorable.

Overall Rating 6.5/10
Imagine taking all of the filler episodes from a series and making it into its own anime. That's how I felt about Super Sonico. It was cute and had nice animation, but it just didn't have much else. I know that Sonico was basically created to promote Nitroplus so maybe the anime creative department had a lot to be desired. I'm not sure but whatever the case is, I'm a little disappointed with the series. I can't say I hate it but I'm not entirely happy with it either.

Maybe it needed more than just 12 episodes???

With a character that gets so much love and merch, I would think that the anime would be the same. But sadly, that's not the case. So if you love fan-service, ridiculous situations and cute anime girls, then this is your anime. If you do get a chance to watch this series, don't expect a whole lot out of it. It's something to watch on a lazy day or you could have on while you work on something else.

Hope you enjoyed! Please let me know your opinions in the comments if you watched it!

That's all for now! See you next time!

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