AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across The Blue Episode #4 Review

Meat makes me happy!

What They Say:

The Kunahama Institute is one of the first in the world to give out new anti-gravity footwear to its students. Not only does this invention change the way the basic world functions, with students now being able to shoot across the sky, but it also gives birth to a new sport -- The Flying Circus. Asuka Kurashina is a new transfer student at Kunahama who has never wanted anything more than the ability to fly. Suddenly mixed in with students who have already mastered the art of flight, Asuka must overcome physical and mental barriers as she adapts to a new environment filled with new people, all while trying to master a new way of life.

The Review:

Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

As the flying circus training season progresses for the Kunahama Institute's new team, the skills and abilities of almost every member begin to skyrocket as well. Asuka and Misaki are both improving at an incredibly impressive pace, while Mashiro, on the other hand, is starting to feel like she's being left in the dust. After watching the two other girls compete in a practice match, she starts to feel like she can't even keep up with Asuka -- which is a total red flag in her book considering how terrible she was just weeks ago. Needless to say, Mashiro starts falling into a relatively depressing slump and spends most of her time laying in bed talking to her stuffed animal friends about her desire to get better. To her good fortune, however, she winds up bumping into Rika from Takafuji High who is on her way home one night. Being basically desperate at this point, Mashiro requests that Rika play an impromptu match against her. This ultimately results in Rika taking the petite and fiery white-haired girl under her wing as an apprentice.

Mashiro, who is trying incredibly hard to improve and catch up to Asuka, has some trouble with Rika's training at first. Considering that Mashiro has been as a fighter since the formation of the Kunahama flying circus team, she has a hard time grasping the basics of speeding. But once Rika coerces her into tossing aside everything she knows and just going back to the starting line, things begin to look up. After just one week of nightly training sessions, Mashiro has heightened her skills to an all-time personal peak. The most interesting part of this, however, is how quickly the relationship between these two girls grows. Just a week ago, they were strangers who only knew each other from the short-lived Kunahama/Takafuji training camp. Now, Rika and Mashiro are getting together nearly every night and eating noodles and doing other things that girls do when they hang out. It's actually quite adorable.

After the training ends and the two begin to wrap up their nightly sessions with each other, Mashiro makes a sort of confession to Rika as she is leaving. Using her stuffed animal as a medium for communication with the Takafuji starter, Mashiro claims that she wants to take their relationship to the next level. Unfortunately, it can be assumed that she means this in a totally platonic, non-yuri way (Damn). Being a delightful and cheery spirit, Rika agrees and the two laugh the night away as things go from tough to jubilant in the blink of an eye.

The next day, Mashiro takes on Asuka in a practice match. This time around, she is no longer the empty shell of a flying circus player she was just a week ago. In fact, she even has a special move up her sleeve tailored in a way that is sure to completely counter Asuka. As the match goes on, Mashiro unveils that secret technique and ultimately goes on to win the match, showing that sometimes practice really does make perfection. In the end, all of the girls wind up right back at Mashiro's house to once again eat noodles and do more girl things before the episode comes to an end.

In Summary:

This installment of AOKANA is a delightful glimpse into Mashiro's character and really helps viewers create a bond with her. Prior to this episode, Mashiro was just the rambunctious girl that was tied to Misaki's hip. However, now that the series has shone some light on her, she's seen as this hilarious and innocent, yet passionate and determined individual with a desire to improve herself as not only a flying circus player but as a person. The relationship quickly crafted between her and Rika features some of the best character chemistry in the series so far and there wasn't really any point in the episode where it didn't seem that way. I'm actually really impressed with how this episode played out in comparison to the previous three. And just as I wanted it to, AOKANA tossed aside the flying circus background information and utilized its time for character progression, which is extremely hopeful in terms of how this series should play out.

Grade: B+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across The Blue Episode #3 Review

Hinata, could you play a match against me?

What They Say:

The Kunahama Institute is one of the first in the world to give out new anti-gravity footwear to its students. Not only does this invention change the way the basic world functions, with students now being able to shoot across the sky, but it also gives birth to a new sport -- The Flying Circus. Asuka Kurashina is a new transfer student at Kunahama who has never wanted anything more than the ability to fly. Suddenly mixed in with students who have already mastered the art of flight, Asuka must overcome physical and mental barriers as she adapts to a new environment filled with new people, all while trying to master a new way of life.

The Review:

Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

The time has come for the Kunahama flying circus team to strengthen their skills and take on a new challenge -- training camp. And while that idea doesn't sound particularly hard, it becomes a lot more frightening when they find out just who they will be training alongside. Reiko Satouin's own stomping ground, Takafuji High, decides (At the recommendation of Kagami-sensei) that it would be beneficial in some way or another to host the newbies of Kunahama Institute. Now, you'd think that just having to put up with Reiko would be enough the ruin this training getaway, but when Takafuji's captain (And reigning national champion), Shindou Kazunari, shows his face, things get a little more...complicated.

The first time we see Shindou is in the middle of the night while Masaya is sitting along the shoreline being the somber and slightly-angsty teen he is. It becomes evident that the two know each other after a few vocal exchanges and Shindou quickly hints at the real reasoning behind Takafuji and Kunahama getting together -- so that he could see Masaya again (In a totally non-Yaoi way). Apparently, Hinata Masaya used to be sort of a role model for Shindou. And all the time that the two were apart, Shindou practiced and honed his abilities in the hopes that he would, one day, get to play a match against his former role model/new rival. Obviously, though, Masaya has no more interest in playing flying circus and deflects the national champion's request for a game the following day. Instead, three sets of 1v1 games are formed: Asuka vs. Rika (That girl that Masaya keeps accidentally seeing naked who apparently goes to a school miles away from him despite living next door), Mashiro vs. Reiko, and finally Misaki vs. Shindou.

The first and third matches are the ones that we really get to see the most of, considering the second match is essentially just a brief moment of proof that Reiko Satouin is still too good at flying circus. Anyway, in match one, we finally get to see Rika in action -- and boy is she fast. Even with Masaya's help, Asuka has an incredibly hard time deciphering the currently-clothed Rika's aerial maneuvers (With weird names like "Low yo-yo"). But eventually, she gives her air kick turn another try and succeeds (Bringing her success rate to 66.7%) and scores a single point before the match timer runs out. The third match, though, is where things get intense. Misaki, being frustrated over Shindou's cocky, dismissive attitude toward her, gets herself fired up and ready to annihilate the overly-purple champion. However, he is still a champion and starts crushing her right off the bat to the point where he actually stops because it's just too unfair. But instead of just giving up the match, he challenges her to a "Dogfight," in which both players become strict fighters and divert all mental and physical resources on...well, attacking the other player. After a few twisty yellow/purple lines make their way across the sky and the intensity between the two players heightens, Misaki does actually land one attack on Shindou, ultimately making her the Asuka of the day. Apart from Asuka.

Apart from the pure action and more flying circus stuff, there is still a decent amount of semi-exposition present in this episode. It is now, even more, confirmed that Masaya was once a star flying circus player. Hell, he even has a rival now. Asuka, on the other hand, grows as a player too, seeing as she is seemingly able to air kick turn whenever she wants now. Rika even gets some slight profile growth this time around and isn't just used as a fanservice tool for Masaya anymore. Oh, and speaking of fanservice, there was a hot spring scene in this episode. Do I really have to say anymore?

In Summary:

Things seem to be picking up for AOKANA. We have a clear view of who "The bad guy" is for the time being, and the characters all have balanced screen time. In addition to this, the Kunahama seems to be getting a grip on its abilities at a surprisingly fast rate. The fanservice in this episode seems to outweigh that of the former two, but that can mostly be attributed to the hot spring scene. I still can't seem to bring myself to really enjoy the game of flying circus, though. More things keep being introduced to the sport that, in no way, really change it. There are just different methods of flying around and touching the opponent's back. Being a series centralized on a sport, AOKANA needs to rely heavily on the fact that the viewers will actually enjoy that sport. And as of right now, flying circus is the worst part of the series. Hey, maybe I'll become more interested in it as the show goes on, but right now, the only things that matter to me are the characters and the potential for drama.

Grade: B-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across The Blue Episode #2 Review

All right! Three new members in one day!

What They Say:

The Kunahama Institute is one of the first in the world to give out new anti-gravity footwear to its students. Not only does this invention change the way the basic world functions, with students now being able to shoot across the sky, but it also gives birth to a new sport -- The Flying Circus. Asuka Kurashina is a new transfer student at Kunahama who has never wanted anything more than the ability to fly. Suddenly mixed in with students who have already mastered the art of flight, Asuka must overcome physical and mental barriers as she adapts to a new environment filled with new people, all while trying to master a new way of life.

The Review:

Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

Following what could be considered the upset of the century (To put it the way AOKANA's Madoka Aoyagi did), Asuka Kurashina has discovered a hidden love for the sport of Flying Circus. Even though she only beat the semi-professional Reiko Satouin by sheer beginner's luck, Asuka and the other girls believe that they might be on to something. And so, in an effort to renew Kunahama's flying circus team (Which had been reduced to a fan club considering it only had two members), Madoka recruits Asuka and the others with hopes of making it to the next seasonal competition. The problem is that not only does Asuka have no experience in flying circus, but none of the girls even have competition gear. Did someone say shopping spree? I distinctly heard a "Shopping spree" just now.

If you couldn't tell from the last two sentences, the new members of the flying circus team make their way to town to invest in some new competition gear. We learn a few more things about the different positions of the strange sport (Fighter, Speeder, and All-Rounder) and each of the three girls chooses which shoes they think best suit their playstyles. Asuka, being the newbie, goes with the all-rounder shoes, while Misaki and Mashiro both choose the fighter ones. Well, I mean, technically Mashiro chose the speeder shoes, but she had them programmed to be fighter shoes because that's what Misaki had. (Calling it early, but these two might be the best non-yuri yuri couple of the year. I ship it). 

After the girls go clothes shopping, the flying circus club begins their first practice. Things take off (No pun intended. Maybe) right away with Misaki immediately challenging Asuka to a match. And, of course, that match goes essentially the same way Asuka's last one did -- with her being absolutely dominated until a last minute attempt for a comeback. Just, this time, that comeback doesn't actually happen and Misaki wins 9-0. From this, I can deduce that Misaki is actually the best flying circus player in Japan and that it isn't Reiko Satouin at all. That's it, wrap it up, folks. Series over.

We also see our first signs of subplot/character development in that of the series' main male protagonist, Masaya Hinata. Through various vocal exchanges made between him and the teacher, Aoi Kagami (Who is easily the most attractive girl in the show), it is hinted that Masaya has had some experience with flying circus in the past. However, considering both him and the teacher are frowningly serious in these exchanges, it is safe to assume that whatever experience he did have with flying circus didn't really work out the way it was supposed to. I take this as a sign of big things to come in terms of that needed dramatic plot aspect I detailed in last week's review. Also, I'm all for any more serious conversations with Kagami-sensei (Whose name I can't say without having flashbacks of Denpa Kyoushi (The Ultimate Otaku Teacher). Man, they really should have given her a different last name.

In Summary:

Episode two of AOKANA serves as another outlet for exposition and details on how exactly flying circus works. The moments of fanservice are plentiful but extremely brief for the most part, and the comedy is that of the same caliber episode one possessed. Character development and dramatic subplots will most likely commence within the following episodes. But apart from some more flying circus information and some slight propelling of the coming story, this week's episode of AOKANA was a bit lackluster compared to the former. With that being said, I still expect great things to come in the following weeks.

Grade: C+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll