Anime Review: Sola

Perhaps one of the stranger anime I've watched recently, is Sola. With animation produced by Nomad, Sola's character designs aren't so bad, but some will say that the storyline is just way out there.

Sola was first aired over seas in April 2007, take note that I watched the subbed version, however you can check out the English dubbed version by Bandai Visual USA, which should be coming to DVD here in the states soon.

This series has a very weird story as stated above, however it's not a bad one at all. It all starts off with a boy named Yorito Morimiya, who for some reason loves to take pictures of the sky, he even skips school to go to the roof top and take pictures.

He goes to the bay before sun rise one morning to take pictures of the sky, and he spots a girl trying to force a strange drink (Tomato Juice) out of a vending machine near by. Of course he goes over to help her, but when he finally gets the drink out of the machine she has already disappeared.

The next time Yorito sees the girl, he learns her name is Matsuri Shiho. Then a few days after that he goes looking for the girl and finds her at a near by church being chased by a man named Takeshi, who happens to carry a sword.

Matsuri gets away, however Takeshi warns Yorito to stay away from the girl, and that she is a "Calamity of the Night" or "Yaka." In other words she is referred to as a creature of the night, by this point while watching I was thinking "This is so strange."

Like most other good anime, Sola has it's twists and turns that you wouldn't really expect. Yaka die if exposed to sunlight, much like vampires, however Yorito has been living with one all his life and hasn't noticed, and it seems she (his older sister) has quite a interesting past with Matsuri.

It also seems that Matsuri knew Yorito long ago, but that couldn't possibly be correct she thinks, after all she is hundreds of years old. Takeshi also has his fair share of worries, he cares for a Yaka that happens to be stuck as a little girl forever.

To reverse the "curse", Takeshi goes around hunting Yaka so that he can turn the girl into a normal person so that she can age once again, just like him. Yorito's close friend and class-mate also joins in on the story, she seems to look after him quite a bit.

All the way to the end Sola is one of those anime's that really shocks you with twists, I wont mention any, however I will say they are grade-a material, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. As the story goes on Yorito falls in love with Matsuri, so you come accustom to cheering the two on, its pretty entertaining to say the least.

Final Score 5/5 (5 being the best)

I recommend trying out Sola, at least a few episodes even, whether your a fan of romance of just weird supernatural aspects in anime. There is almost something for everyone when it comes to Sola, even action.

Keep an eye out for Sola here in the states as well, I'm looking forward to checking out the special features on the DVD's, and checking to see if the English cast is any good.