Our first few years of adulthood are some of the most important years of our lives. Its at this point that most of us taste true freedom for the first time to chase our dreams and explore who we are... And for some of us we may be unknowingly biting off more than we can chew. Meet Super Sonico a peppy cotton candy haired teenage girl with a heart full of sincerity and ambition. You may know her as the mascot for a Japanese software company but the side of her you dont know is the side thats going to college to study marine biology playing guitar in a rock band with two of her best friends and taking whatever modeling jobs she can to pay for it all. Living in a tiny apartment above her Grandmas restaurant with her five cats Sonico greets everyday with a cheerful smile and a giant heart to prove that theres nothing a manufactured corporate mascot cant do SoniAni or Super Sonico the Animation was produced by a fairly well regarded anime production company named White Fox who have quite a few well known and popular titles listed on their resume. Their most popular title by far is the SteinsGate franchise but if you were to toss out the names Jormungand The Devil is a Part Timer and Girls Last Tour I wouldnt argue. And thats not even mentioning the endless list of anime that theyve performed key and inbetween animation on. Just sticking to their own primary production work though Ive seen quite a few of their titles and while I havent watched Akame Ga Kill recently enough to remember how good or bad the visuals were out of the ones I do remember I think my only real complaint is that theyve employed some pretty dodgy CG work here and there most noticeably in Goblin Slayer. SoniAni is guilty of this too but its mainly reserved for the cheesy music videos that conclude each episode and Im pretty sure they were leaning into the Uncanny Valley with those. I dont have solid proof of that but come on when you have CG bikiniclad Sonico doing the Thriller dance with a bunch of zombies they had to have known how goofy it looked and it was either part of the plan or they didnt give a shit... Which I refuse to believe because the people producing this show definitely had plenty of shits to give. I dont want to bury the lede here any further this show looks fantastic. I dont know if it had a high budget but whatever money they had was managed flawlessly and in exactly the way that I like... Actual movement is graceful and fluid and the frozen key frames are incredibly easy on the eyes smartly layered tonally appropriate and often accommodated by a pleasant slow pan. The color palette is bright primarily built around the very gentle pink hue of Sonicos hair and while some of the designs for side characters and oneoff guest stars can be a bit on the generic side the characters who are close to Sonicos orbit have thoroughly memorable designs which more often than not match their energies to a T. Okay I guess theres one design I dont like... Sonico has this one loli coworker whose overall look is garish and poorly coordinated but Im pretty sure youre not supposed to like her anyway considering the amount of jokes shes the butt of so thats fine. Backgrounds are intricate and immersive despite the fact that there are about a million different locations we visit throughout the series. Theyre obviously just drawings on paper fictional backgrounds for the characters to exist in but they often feel like real places you could actually imagine yourself in. I feel kind of obligated to talk about the music since this is a show about a musician but as Ive confessed before I dont have an ear for the quality of music... Thats a skill I just dont have and Im ashamed of all the reviews Ive written in the past where I tried to pretend otherwise... But Sonico plays in a rock band and yeah it sounds like a pretty cool rock band? I dunno someone with better ears let me know your thoughts. As for the dub this is the one and only anime appearance of Jessica Nigri a cosplay influencer who has only had a few voice roles. She stood in for Tara Strong on a couple of smaller Lollipop Chainsaw projects she plays one of the main villains in the webtoon RWBY and shes pretty damn good as the official voice of Sonico. Like I know I havent heard enough of her to judge this but I get some serious Emily Neves vibes from her... Super Sonico and Cinder Fall couldnt sound any more different and yet she brings a really complex and nuanced performance to each of them and their unique ways of speaking. Of course shes flanked on each side by two of the industrys most respected veterans each playing one of her main best friend supporting roles. The Legendary Luci Christian plays Suzu who comes off as the leader of their band despite playing Bass and not being the vocalist and she pulls the rarely seen move from her arsenal where she lowers her register to an older and more mature level but still uses the energy and mischief that shed apply to a much younger character creating a hybrid that radiates confidence and control. Monica Rial on the other hand plays the slightly lazier ditzier and hungrier Furi and while she doesnt do a bad job by any means shes using a voice shes used with possibly hundreds of other characters which I have no issue with it does fit the character but she kinda pales next to the effort Luci is giving. David Wald is also strong and dependable yet also perfectly lovable as Sonicos manager. Theres a bit of dated slang in the script but Ive heard a lot worse this is a really strong dub. So you may be asking yourself why Super Sonico? Why review this series which came out ten years ago and lost all relevance nine years ago? What would draw me to this particular anime? Well Im just going to rip the bandaid off right now we are one week removed from the day the world changed for the worst. America isnt burning down yet but the fires been set its going to start spreading rapidly in only a couple of short months and a lot of people are having a difficult time with that. Im doing okay right now but all tuesday night I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest and in the days that have followed I keep slipping into brief pockets of depression every time I remember some important cornerstone of Democracy and American cultural progress that theyve promised to take away and I know Im not the only one so while the future is looking darker and more uncertain by the day there is one kind of anime I think it helps to turn your attention to: Chill easygoing slice of life anime with a pleasant vibe For that reason I think this obvious 12 episode commercial that everyone has long since dismissed actually deserves another chance. To explain why Id like to go over a few of the individual perspectives Im choosing to analyze it from and the first one is comfy shows. Ive used this term in a few previous reviews and while I highly doubt Im the first person to bring it up in a critical context heres how I define that term. A comfy show is a piece of media thats pleasant uncomplicated and probably kinda slow that appeals to you personally in such a way that you can just vibe with it and relax when you really need to. In most cases there are a lot of other anime fans out there who dont see what you see and just consider the title in question to be boring and/or vacuous. Obviously every opinion is valid but you cant really enjoy a comfy show and defend it at the same time you just kind of have to acknowledge that its not for everyone. For example I really liked Glasslip but I would not recommend Glasslip to very many people. As for why Super Sonico appeals to me personally the next perspective Id like to discuss is personal taste which is a gentle way of warning you that we about to talk about fetishes. Skip this paragraph and the next if you want to avoid some TMI. Now a fetish doesnt necessarily have to be sexual. The term fetish is a bit more broad and can also just mean elements of a situation or story that appeal to you aesthetically and lighten your mood. To quote my favorite anime reviewer Quentin Tarantino has a sexual fetish for feet but he also has an aesthetic fetish for pulp media of the 1970s. Both descriptions are useful and accurate. Either way if you HAVE a fetish of any kind you are going to form biases towards pieces of media that cater to said fetish whether its sexual aesthetic or both and theres nothing wrong with that. Media is meant to entertain you and if it is directly appealing to you in the way you wish to be appealed to that is always going to be a good thing. Now for me personally I am asexual and a weird detail about asexuals is that for those of us who have an active libido we tend to develop very intense fetishes very early in life that we can never get rid of. I have a fetish for seeing people in embarrassing situations. I didnt choose it Im not proud of it and Ive honestly had it for as long as I can remember dating all the way back to my childhood. Im not kidding. When I was around twelve or so I saw the movie Fly Away Home and theres a scene where Anna Paquin freaks out in the shower for some reason and her Dads friend winds up seeing her naked. Im not exaggerating when I say that I spent the next 20 years being in love with Anna Paquin which is the only reason I stuck around with TruBlood as long as I did. As an extension of this I have a strange tendency to form intense parasocial emotional connections with shy fictional charactersand sometimes the actors playing them who often have to deal with embarrassing situations. Im talking Mio Akiyama Princess Ayeka even Fluttershy and while I have no desire to fuck any of these characters that sort of material is a convenient shortcut to favorite character status. So not only is the Super Sonico anime a comfortable show with a pleasant relaxed vibe but the main character is an ultra shy woman working as a bikini model clearly this show was made specifically for me. That means we can wrap this review up right guys? I just wasted your time establishing how this anime series discovered the secret formula for my heart while completely neglecting to relate it to you right? No. Everything I just said is true or at least a matter of my personal opinion but just because I have a heavy bias towards this series that doesnt change the fact that this show is still on its own merits pretty fucking good. For starters Sonico is a good main character. I know I probably gave you a certain mental image when I called her a corporate mascot earlier but her actual depiction is a lot closer to an idol. Instead of shilling the brand and spouting cool catchphrases like a mascot in the west would do shes a kind of character you dont see much outside of Japan... Shes a brighteyed sincere optimist whos chasing her dreams so that her legions of fans can support her by cheering her on... Do your best Sonico We dont really have that in the west which is one possible explanation for her failure to catch on over here but I still think its well done for what it is. She has several interests all of which feel believable and authentic in the way she talks about and pursues them and there are a handful of flashbacks that do a great job fleshing them out further. I wont pretend she doesnt have some MarySue like qualities but its mostly in relation to her flaws which I will admit are less character defects and more the kind of lame shit youd pull out if you wanted to make a character charmingly ditzy. Oh shes kinda clumsy cant wake up on time and is easily overwhelmed... Yeah could be more interesting. But thats as far down the Sue boulevard as she goes because she is not ultracapable deified or anywhere near perfect. If anything the supporting cast is just as strong as she is and theyre given more than a generous amount of time to shine and be reliable in the narrative. They complement her and vice versa. Speaking of the narrative it is a bit sitcommy. Its your typical episodic array of thirty minute scenarios that are resolved in short order and then returned to the status quo for the next episode and I know a lot of people wouldnt go for that but speaking as someone who has fond memories of even the worst TGIF shows I dont mind so much. Theres nothing really deep or challenging about the writing but the slowish pacing is put to good use here. When it tries to be funny the jokes land most of the time because the timing is on point more often than not. When its trying to be heartfelt and emotionally resonant it takes its time to earn those payoffs. And of course when it wants to be goofy and creative it fucking WILL be. Theres a zombie horror parody episode where Sonicos agency gets wrapped up with a snake oil weight loss cream saleswoman and the cream works by sucking nutrients out of your body which leads those wearing it to shrivel up and chase anyone carrying food... And one of sonicos friends is always carrying a bag of snacks. Thats pretty fucking funny. Super Sonico is one of many anime that Ive heard referred to as A show where nothing happens and not only do I completely disagree in regard to this show I dont honestly believe that term applies accurately to ANY anime. Even the most boring anime Ive ever seen Smartphone Isekai I could not in good conscience say nothing happens in. Shit did happen in that show just like shit happens in this show. Not every anime needs to be exciting and/or eventful. Theres a good reason youre not likely to see some slice of life highschool melodrama interrupted by a fucking alien invasion. My favorite episode in this show is the one where Sonico goes on a random bus trip just meeting new people and its so fucking chill. Sometimes you dont need an inciting incident or an epic battle of good versus evil. Sometimes you just want to watch likeable characters chase their dreams even as the world burns down around you. SoniAni: Super Sonio the Animation was originally available from Sentai Filmworks but has since gone long out of print. Several manga and game titles have not been released stateside. The world is a dark and scary place and its only going to get worse over the next four years. The future of America... Hell the world at large in so many ways... Has never been bleeker and while the most ideal course of action would be to figure out something active to do about it thats not always a feasible option. Im no therapist but in times like these I dont think there are any wrong answers when it comes to coping. Comfort comes in many forms and if were talking about the anime medium I think the Super Sonico anime is worth checking out. My very real personal biases aside I think its a very gentle lighthearted uplifting show with a likeable main character a sharp sense of humor and way better writing than you would expect from the outside looking in. In case you were wondering no I have no idea why she wears headphones all the damn time nor do I know why nobody in her orbit ever points this out but frankly I dont really care. I give SoniAni: Super Sonico the Animation an 8/10