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「う…ど…ん…?」 (U…Do…n…?”)
“Udon…?”
Contrary to the title of this episode, I got no udon! Where is my food porn these days? Seriously missing the Shokugeki no Souma foodgasms in my life. Anyway, we don’t get any food, but we do get the formation of the Flying Circus team at school. The “team” at school was not so much a team before as it was one individual that hung out with his sister, but now we actually have a chance to see them go to competitions and train. Thankfully Misaki has actually played before and with a little coaching from Masaya (and hopefully his participation too), we’ll see Asuka get much better. Her performance last week looked like it was a fluke that she was able to do such an advanced turn. This week she proves that she does have the skill but she needs the proper trainer to help her harness it.
Not much flying this week except for the training and battle between Misaki and Asuka at the end. The slice-of-life and school-life portions of the anime are cute, but nothing substantial compared to the Flying Circus game. Misaki’s little follower goes by the name Arisaka Mashiro (Yamamoto Nozami) and although she gets on my nerve, she’s actually considered one of the possible routes in the game. Not sure how she develops a relationship with Masaya if she’s always around Misaki but that’s one of things we’ll have to keep an eye out for. I don’t generally gravitate towards the female routes that act too dependent on the MC or other characters for that matter. Out of all the possible routes, including Masaya’s neighbor, Ichinose Rika (Yonezawa Madoka), whom barely has any lines yet, my preference goes to Misaki. She’s definitely the type of that I would like… if I were into women. She has a good head on her shoulders, she’s not overly cutesy or fluffy or fanservice-y so I’d probably pick her route to cheer for. Unfortunately I also think that if Masaya does end up with anyone, it’d be Asuka since she’s clearly the canon choice.
All in all, Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm continues to be what I expected. It fits the stereotypical visual novel adaptation with cute girls, an MC with a past (in this case, he has experience with Flying Circus) with the school-life backdrop. There’s nothing that screams individuality except for the Flying Circus aspect which I hope gets expanded on next week (with the introduction of new characters and opponents). So far, Masaya hasn’t even played too large a role in the anime so he’s really taken a back seat to the girls who drive the show. I know this because I struggle to get even a handful of screenshots with his face. Unfortunately a poor male protagonist in a harem anime isn’t that fun to watch if he’s not doing much. I don’t get a sense of his personality, what he wants or who he is so there’s really no empathy from me at all. Shion does more and he’s a secondary character! Let’s hope that changes soon otherwise Asuka will continue to drive the show.
Full-length images: Some more for you!
ED Sequence
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ED: 「a-gain」 by Ray
Preview
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The ED is “a-gain” by Ray. Another anime who’s OP/ED done by I’ve Sound (or former I’ve Sound).
Oh shoot! Forgot that, thanks for the reminder. I like it =3
Girl needs to learn to close the curtains. Once is an accident. Twice or more is just dumb. It’s not his fault you keep changing with the curtains open. Though, since he does seem to consider the possibility that she will be changing with the curtains open, preemptively closing his own curtains would have solved the issue as well. But he shouldn’t have to close his curtains to avoid seeing her changing through her open curtains.
can you be my lawyer when i get sued for sexual harassment?
I don’t know if it’s just me but i find Asuka a tad annoying… and Misaki is definitely my favorite so far. She’s calm and collected, yet at the same time kind of goofy and hilarious to watch. Too bad it seems like its going towards the Asuka route, or who knows… maybe misaki will come out as best girl XD
I’ve just watched episode 2 and it was great!
These series are worthy!
Continues with the rewievs!
Who ever is in charge of that flight school, We salute you for enforcing tat girls still wear the standard short fluttery miniskirts.
Yours truly, most of the male population in the area.
I Salute you, too!!!!
But, i bet the Anime will surly block the line of sight as always, teasing us with that. Or perhaps we get to see an “Rope only” costume, like in Walküre Romanze when both was locked inside the windmill after an suddenly Rain
(yes, i saw this anime)
For crying out loud, learn to close your curtains after the first time, girl!
You say that like it’s a bad thing. I personally think a show that treats the girls like the protagonists is much more interesting than one that lumps us with another male MC. We get the latter all the time, but the former, particularly in the genres that this series seems to cover, are far more rare.
I guess that goes with the fact that it doesn’t match with my expectations for this adaptation. I’ve read a bit of what happens in the visual novel and Show Spoiler ▼
but I’m not seeing that so far. So yes, I do think that if he’s meant to play a pivotal role in the series, he should uh… have more screen time and do more. If this is going to be a series more about how Asuka triumphs on her own, then sure… she can be the star, but it seems like she should be the female protagonist not the only protagonist.
Why does the male lead exist again? I quite enjoy the moe SOL/sports aspect of the show, but every time our brooding harem lead shows up I almost feel as if it would be much better off without him. Given the recent track records of VN adaptions coughGrisaiacough, I think I’ll just read the VN instead when its translated unless I hear good things once it finishes.
Given Ao Kanata’s based on an erotic VN, it’s likely the sex and romance could be cut, and the male lead’s role diminished in favour of the girls. The anime adaptation of the Walkure Romanze ero-VN did something like that too, IIRC.
Yeah i really hate it when anime adaptations do that… its like they are ignoring their roots in order to appeal to a wider audience.
Like everyone else has said already, girl needs to close her curtains. Unless that’s just going to be the running gag in every single episode.
https://randomc.net/image/Ao%20no%20Kanata%20no%20Four%20Rhythm/Ao%20no%20Kanata%20no%20Four%20Rhythm%20-%2002%20-%2004.jpg
I love Misaki <3
I would have to say this… Looks like this would become a ‘sleeper’ anime for this season.
And Misaki continues to be the best girl. I really wish it was her route the show was following (no offence to Asuka, of course).
I was pretty sure that the anime was purposely taking away his protagonist position and demoting him to secondary character status (as I noted before, the official website lists him under “Other Characters”)…and yet…
Seriously, I feel like the plot is trying to play Masaya up to be important, and yet won’t give him the amount of screentime he should, and heck, even if he didn’t get top billing, he should at least be listed in the top bracket with heroines (he’s barely done anything, and yet he’s already done more than Rika in this two episodes).
well its doable… since its evident and clear that the main plot here is how kurashina asuka, a complete klutzy beginner becomes their school’s best prima (you thought its ballerina eh?) FC player (if it would reach on that point). but given how, the story push kurashina and masaya together, i think it would be kurashinaXmasaya (should they reach to that point) and we are yet to see a flag that misaki have some form of interest to masaya so for now, in short, i can say, its doable but given how the story goes its kurashinaXmasaya
“a little coaching from Masaya (and hopefully his participation too)”
If you watch the game opening, the first few lines of text kinda hint at why he is reluctant. Also the game OP is really good.
i’m glad they brought back Kawada Mami back to sing the anime’s OP but i agree Wings of Courage is infinitely superior.
Spam is expensive? It’s two dollars a can when it’s on sale and you can use one can for a while, though your mileage may vary.
SPAM is like… $4-5 in Canada each o_o on sale, it might be $2.50.
The Flying Circus which suppose to be the center of the story is super lame based on what they show in past 2 episodes.
It’s like a game the author thought out in 5 minutes… Even just a simple run & tag using their flying gear is much interesting than this…
That my point out before but the story is getting really good in terms of character development enough for me to overlook the whatever flaw of the unappealing FC sport
well, perhaps here is the more “The way telling this Story” the target, than actually win an FC tournament
Sports in general are pretty lame. Who’d want to watch a bunch of guys kick a ball between two posts? Or watch a bunch of guys as tall as a mountain dribble some balls and throw them into a string net? Or a bunch of guys giving each other concussions and run with a ball to the other side of the field? Sports are fun to watch because there is some depth or strategy or “meta” in the sports.
Im sure if Flying Circus was real, we’d see the same depth as other sports. Like maybe instead of a straight line to the post, doing a dive from the start to pick up speed then using the energy from that dive to fly up would be faster.
https://randomc.net/image/Ao%20no%20Kanata%20no%20Four%20Rhythm/Ao%20no%20Kanata%20no%20Four%20Rhythm%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
four routes?
the left 2 Girls are perhaps on “lightly Yuri” vibes… So four routes, no. more 2 or 3.. for the Boy
Both Misaki and her admirer are routes in the VN.
Judging from the ED they’re planning to work only on two (or maybe even one).
We Fans know that it is the Song that calm her down, to do this Miracle. It is just a matter of Time, when she find this herself out. Perhaps she was flying since she was a Kid, but somehow forgotten it with time. Or she down this Flying with her Mother, and this Song reminds her of her Warmth and calms her down to focus her mind in actually flying. She knows how to fly, but her mind focus is all over the place. She has concentration problems, and this Song helps her. Like Naruto need an mind trick to gain his Mana. You surly know this…
Oh, I forgot to mention! I wonder why only Asuka and Misaki were featured in the ending. I’d expect them to either just do Asuka or all of the heroines, rather than just the main and the obvious best.
P.S. The first three shots that Cherrie chose for the ending, as well as the last one, look very nice.
i really don’t like how they made the MC really useless in the anime. he was perfect in the VN. anyways you’ll start rooting for him more once you learn his past.
10/10 seiyuus work right there.
Especially Fukuen Misato. Her -desu is godly.
ep 03:
I think i put this Anime on my Watchlist, too