Sora no Keion
As So Ra No Wo To looms over the horizon, I personally cannot wait to see what other Kyoto Animation influences are going to trickle down onto A1's next production. Just as how Kannagi had a Haruhi-esque OP sequence, So Ra No Wo To has identical character designs to K-ON!, which is no surprise why this show has been dubbed the latter's sequel(prequel?) and Valkyria K-ONicles, among other dubious titles made to link the two shows together.
The story takes place in an imaginary town Seize. A long war brings a gradual decline to the world. People disappear from the town and fishes cease to exist in the sea. In this quiet world, five girls guard a fortress and play brass vividly.
The plot sounds about right for a serious military themed series, with humanity trying to recover in the aftermath of a war, up until the last sentence; Even if it has the director who's done shows that include Baccano and Elfen Lied onboard with Kalafina doing the OP, it's hard to shake off the whole K-ON! feel to the show if you going to go with this guy's art, coupled with a plotline that will see the girls forming a band...
Not convinced? How about a summary of all 13 episodes of So Ra No Wo To?
Episode 1: Kanata enlist in the Military
Episode 2: Kanata gets her first weapon
Episode 3: Kanata fails her army obstacle course and the gang gives special lessons to help her pass.
Episode 4: Summer Vacation outside the fortress
Episode 5: Kanata and company lacks an officer in their fortress so they go back to HQ to get one
Episode 6: Army Parade
Episode 7: Christmas at the fortress
Episode 8: Army Recruitment Drive
Episode 9: New ℳℴℯ❤ soldier gets recruited into the fortress
Episode 10: Summer Vacation outside the fortress. AGAIN!
Episode 11: Kanata's weapon is rusted, so the gang goes back to HQ to maintain her weapon
Episode 12: Army Parade. AGAIN
Episode 13: Winter break.
Okay, so the accompanying screenshots veered way off topic pretty quickly, but that's really besides the point. For the time being, this show is has military and music listed under its genres, but if my instincts are right, comedy and slice of life will soon be appended to it 
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December 21st, 2009 - 08:24
The demise or backlash to moe cannot come fucking soon enough. Tired of this shit. No wonder I’m watching older shows.
Love the guns shooped where there should be guitars. I laff’d.
December 21st, 2009 - 09:00
I agree. K-on was probably one of the most transparent covers for shoveling moe into our collective gullets I’ve seen in a while.
That said, I like moe character designs in general, though K-on’s chipmunk cheeks are a little weird.
I hope that real moe, in the definitional sense, and not the recent K-on sense, makes a better comeback. I mean moe as in characters that trigger the “I want to protect you” urge, not just be eye candy with deflating balloon voices.
I found that Nagisa in the later part of Clannad:After Story (not as much the first season, except towards the end) epitomized this. You felt in the place of Tomoya, wanting to protect her. So bring back real moe, the dramatic style, and get rid of the K-on barbie-style moe.
tl;dr: Moe should go back to being a plot element instead of a visual and vocal attribute.
December 21st, 2009 - 09:15
Uh, it won’t let me edit my comment. Let me just add that moe should return to being a vehicle for tying the viewer to the protagonist, as demonstrated with Ranka being moe in Macross Frontier.
Alto, as the protagonist, must pick between Ranka and Sheryl at some point. This is why, when the viewer decides they like Ranka, the viewer also therefore roots for an Alto-Ranka ending. When Ranka is in trouble and Alto comes in to help, that is the protagonist acting as the extension of the viewer and helping the moe character in need, fulfilling the “protection” urge that real moe imbues in the viewer; just as Tomoya is the viewer in Clannad, and the males in all the harems are the viewer.
When you watch something like K-on, sure, it’s cute, but you’re not any more involved in the story for it. It’s like watching cute kittens play: it’s fun for a while, but then you have no tries to the story beyond the cuteness. There is little dramatic involvement, which again, comes more out of good writing than using moe character designs. Though the moe character designs are nice in addition.
January 11th, 2010 - 22:37
Am I the only one who watches K-on and yet does not give a flying fuck about the cuteness or what not of the characters?
I watched it for the comedy and personality of the characters even if they were 1d.
December 21st, 2009 - 08:29
Man, I can’t wait until the new moe soldier gets recruited.
December 23rd, 2009 - 02:03
From what I see, they’re all the same age, so there’s no junior member or anything
December 21st, 2009 - 08:59
I laughed very much.
Thank you.
December 23rd, 2009 - 01:47
Subscribe!
December 21st, 2009 - 09:42
I have an irrational hatred of K-ON!, so So Ra No Wo To is encountering some prejudice in my mind. The summary sounded ok – but then I saw the art
1st ep is getting a trial, but can’t see me keeping this on……once burned and all that 
December 21st, 2009 - 23:46
No, it is perfectly rational hatred. We should find others with similar rational hatred and form an international society.
A little moe is fine. This is excessively ridiculous moe.
December 23rd, 2009 - 01:43
Don’t hate ℳℴℯ❤ , hate the fans! Oh wait…
January 11th, 2010 - 22:51
LMFAO. You know it’s funny.
There are the fans of K-On who will not watch this because they think it’s a rip off and then there are the K-On haters who will not watch this either because they think it’s a carbon copy of what they hate.
So it seems either way, tvtokyo loses out in the end.
Only question is given that the otakus went on a guitar buying spree after watching K-On how will the react to Moe Military? Yvan eht nioj?
December 21st, 2009 - 13:15
I have just finished So-Ra-No-Wo-To…WTF name is that for an anime.
December 22nd, 2009 - 02:10
It tells you how to spell romanji right.
December 21st, 2009 - 14:59
Ah ha ha… What made me laugh the most were the Modern Warfare 2 references. Especially the last one… I can just imagine them doing the mission…
I’ll probably watch this series anyway. Half of the shows I watch each season are ones where I can just turn my brain off, so this should fit that slot nicely.
December 21st, 2009 - 16:51
That makes my day. It seem like you are also a modern warfare 2 fan as I am or the opposite? The theme of Moe have really drop and to be honest I’m kinda sick of them now.
December 21st, 2009 - 16:54
Oh god the Modern Warfare 2 references.
December 21st, 2009 - 17:05
hahaha
Yeah, I’ll be watching the shit out of this show
And I’m still not completely sure what it’s about
December 21st, 2009 - 19:47
I laughed so hard now my housemate hates me
December 21st, 2009 - 20:02
oh lol wtf
December 21st, 2009 - 22:44
If you ask me, they’d be better off copying of the character designs from Detroit Metal City.
December 23rd, 2009 - 01:28
>implying non ℳℴℯ❤shit character designs will sell
December 23rd, 2009 - 19:54
>implying DMC does not have ℳℴℯ❤ characters
December 22nd, 2009 - 00:26
Oh lawl. xD;
But the manga should be close enough to the anime, so it’s more like slice of life + music. Not much comedy so far.
It gives me ARIA vibes though.
Also, Kanata can’t play to trumpet. Hmm…
December 23rd, 2009 - 01:26
Main character who can’t play a musical instrument….
I don’t think we require any further evidence.
December 22nd, 2009 - 02:43
I laughed so hard on ‘vacation again’ and ‘that’s how you break a neck’ scenes
I’ll give this one a chance at least for a few first episodes, though.
December 22nd, 2009 - 05:38
Good, now I have another series where I can hide behind the banner of moe while searching the nets for H-doujins of the series so I can “satisfy” moe urges.
http://animewriter.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/me-and-k-on-when-moe-turns-into-eros-desire-my-resistance-was-futile/
December 23rd, 2009 - 01:25
Oh why would you want to hide it??
December 22nd, 2009 - 09:05
This made K-ON! worth watching. And I don’t know whether to be elated or depressed because of it.
December 22nd, 2009 - 14:20
Moe Warfare meh. Same shit, different day. It’s like A1 is trying to be the Treyarch of KyoAni’s Infinity Ward. All of them rehashing the same formula, just better (or worse) everytime.
December 22nd, 2009 - 14:42
Loll at the screenshots.
I’m actually kind of looking forward to moeblob war anime. ^ ^
December 23rd, 2009 - 01:13
@Scypher – @Canne – @kadian1364 – @Canne – @bluemist – @Yi – This is all purely conjecture of course, but I guess we can all agree that with those kind of designs, it’s more or less guaranteed it’s going to be ℳℴℯ❤shit
@Toiski – @Shockerz – @Setsuna-san – If I’m going to insert military references, may as well go for something popular and memorable
December 23rd, 2009 - 06:09
Thanks for the laughs, i get the same feeling from this show another K-ON but i will watch it anyway just to see how the setting for this fits and works or not /shrug we shall see ;D
December 23rd, 2009 - 11:43
oh god i laugh so hard.
December 24th, 2009 - 03:50
Lol. pic from episode 2. :)
December 24th, 2009 - 04:52
remember – No Russian
that made me lol…
hard…
I do hope someone bloody dies in this anime…
December 24th, 2009 - 20:46
The exposed upper teeth style was actually ripped off from Hyakko.
December 25th, 2009 - 18:10
Oh darn you got me good. LOLOLOLOLOLOL
December 25th, 2009 - 21:14
LOL at No Russian. I guess Modern Warfare 2′s getting into me. Hey well, I can’t compare the silver-haired girl to Ritsu the way I compare everyone else with everyone else in K-On. Their complete opposites.
December 26th, 2009 - 08:23
Since when does Sawako care about danger close?
January 2nd, 2010 - 12:10
Lol, shopped guns. Btw, looking at your blogroll, why am I a pedo lol? Btw, I moved from AnimeSugoi to Chibified.com
January 3rd, 2010 - 13:28
You might be absolutely 100% correct, Sir.
But I’m still gonna watch the whole focking thing!
January 5th, 2010 - 09:16
Oh gods.
It’s out.
And it’s EXACTLY THE WAY YOU DESCRIBED IT OH FUCK
January 7th, 2010 - 14:10
ahaha… i like the reference to KON and CoD MW2 XD
January 10th, 2010 - 13:28
Shin, you left out the nuclear explosion scene for a summer vacation.
How could you!