Sonny Boy

All of the students at a school suddenly find themselves teleported to another world - now it's time to find out how this happened and whether there is a way back.

The name of the anime "Sonny Boy" didn't become clear to me after I finished the anime, but that's not really important.

I really like "Sonny Boy" in terms of art style. The bright colors in the surroundings make the simple school uniforms look beautifully out of place.

I also really liked the fact that they used a very simple character design. There are no crazy hairstyles with bright hair colors and huge eyes, as is not uncommon in anime, but simply the image of average people.

Speaking of the characters, I also really liked their personalities. The characters aren't particularly deep, but they just seem very human in the way they handle things and express themselves.

The anime tries a special narrative technique, which I find very commendable because I like it when series dare to do something different, but unfortunately I didn't really warm to this narrative technique here. The anime often confused me because it was difficult to find the story. It probably would have taken more episodes to get used to it.

I really like the premise, but unfortunately the potential of it is only moderately exploited.

If the anime were longer and the story was deeper, this would probably be a breathtaking anime. So it remains a good anime, but unfortunately nothing more.

It would be pretentious to say, "Sonny Boy isn't for everyone." Sonny Boy is accessible to everyone, but it demands patience and an open mind. If you're willing to solve this puzzle of an anime, the payoff is worth it. Rewatching it, you will notice clever foreshadowing, irony, and metaphors within the complex story and mesmerizing visuals.

Sonny Boy is about an entire class that suddenly shifts into the void-comparable to a sci-fi take on Lord of the Flies. Out of the thirty-six stranded students, a couple dozen of them gain mysterious supernatural abilities. The students clash with each other's values, causing all kinds of interpersonal conflicts. Each argument represents a more significant societal issue. Controversial political topics, including capitalism, totalitarianism, freedom, religion, and authoritarianism, are covered throughout the show. They present these themes objectively. The plot is not straightforward in the slightest. The writers purposefully wove it like a maze. Understanding it requires you to pay close attention. Often I had to rewatch episodes to follow along, pause scenes to process what I saw, or rewind. Understanding fighting a final boss each time-though challenging, the reward is always satisfying. The cycle of confusion, curiosity, and solving the puzzle becomes addictive. Anyone who struggles to understand Sonny Boy is perfectly valid, it is intentionally obtuse, and that's not everyone's cup of tea. Though the complex themes and tangled narrative may lead you to assume the character writing is thin-they are anything but one-dimensional.

Rather than focusing on one point of view, the narrative follows multiple students to explore new themes. Nagara, the self-insert protagonist, is at the center of the plot, as the author has confirmed himself. He is one of, if not the best, self-insert lead characters I've seen in anime. Nagara's journey involves finding a reason to live. His arc is a classic coming-of-age story-beginning as a depressed teenager. Along with his friends, especially an eccentric girl named Nozomi, he transforms into a new person. Nagara's deadpan personality makes their dialogue oddly funny, though you must still pay attention. Each person is utilized as a mouthpiece for the author's philosophical musings. Their conflicts in values allow us to peer into his mind.

The show is as much of a journey of self-discovery for Nagara as it is for the author. The classmates who accompany him, Nozomi, Mizuhara, Rajidani, and Asakaze, undergo character development. Asakaze is the weakest of the bunch because he grows much less than his friends. He began as an average teenage rebel. He lacked the intriguing background and internal strife of the other, much more compelling characters. Nagahara has a monotonous voice, and he is a coward, but we know why. There is depth to him that's not shoved down our throats. Even though his outlook on life is wildly different from his classmates, they share a goal. Find how they get home and who sent them to the new world, and why. That's what makes Sonny Boy's characters so good-they have motivations. Even though we may not necessarily agree with them, it is obvious why they do the things they do.

As the show explains the superpowers and complicated logic of the setting, you will notice character development is seamlessly woven in. We learn about Mizuho's power simultaneously that we know she can create anything she wants. We find Nagara's power when we see him get confronted and anxious, not told through info dumps. The writers treat us like adults. We see characters act out their distinctive personalities then create our judgment. There is one slight exception to this: After the mysteries occur, such as spontaneous blue fires, there will be a follow-up explanation from the most intelligent person in the class: Rajidani. He gathers together the students to lecture them about how their new world works. He does not set rules, unlike the authoritarian student council. He learns as much about reality as possible because his goal is to escape. Rajdhani sticks with the main cast to conduct his intriguing experiments with them. The author develops the multiverse concepts through him: There are days and nights in the alternate world, but the characters do not age or need to change clothes. All of them are permanently stuck as middle schoolers. Through their inability to age, the author pries open the door to eternity; some students find peace, and others futilely attempt to escape their solitude. The anime begins as an inconspicuous middle school drama, moving through group hysteria, personal anguish, then endless lamentation.

Sonny Boy is visual poetry. Every setting could be framed in a museum, whether it be shots of nature or the trippy visualization of the multiverse. The atmosphere flows from whimsical, melancholic to cosmic horror-the director's clever use of hard cuts slicing apart the show like a layered cake. Tonal dissonance would typically be a source of criticism, but it illustrates the group dynamic's fragility. When the characters are framed at a distance, they fade into the background like an oil painting. Their figures quietly morph into shapes rather than human forms. This passion project was helmed by Shingo Natsume, known for directing One Punch Man's first season. Given how good the writing is, I'm shocked to see he has never written anything before now.

The soundtrack is one of the best of the year-with 20 distinctive tracks. Every instrument works together, the basslines are strong throughout, and the talented singers suit the rhythm. The songs build up and have direction, used to guide the show's narrative. Numerous audio effects combine to make the setting feel grounded and realistic. The sound engineers did not use stock sound effects; they expertly recorded the sounds themselves with foley techniques. Although the audio was overbearing at first, they found their groove as the episodes progressed.

Not all is explained in Sonny Boy, but enough is there for vibrant discussion to break out the minute the credits roll at the end of every episode. I've got my theories about all of it, and everyone will walk away from it feeling differently. What's undeniable, though, is the staggering profundity that emerges from a seemingly innocuous experimental anime. This is one we will look back on for years to come.

Sonny Boy is unique and special. If I had to categorize it, to enable people to get an idea, I would say that it belongs to that mysterious family, not entirely understandable, of anime where one could put Serial Experiments Lain or Evangelion (or Nolan's Inception, if we were to go to the movies, for its originality, photography and bewilderment).

It is hard for me to think, after the experience, that this series can leave anyone indifferent. While it is true that in its course I did not get to understand everything, the series corroded me, disturbing my mind and body until an existentialist doubt took hold of me, an uneasiness that was progressing until it materialized in a slight pressure in the chest. There are several moments in which everything that happens disturbs your being and reason to the sound of reflections that you can hardly get rid of or respond to the moment. The merit of inducing such sensations seems to me commendable. The visual and narrative means used tell the story in such an effective and attractive way...

It is worth noting that Sonny Boy is a visual spectacle with wonderful shots worthy of competing for the award for best anime cinematography (in my opinion of all time), if there is such a category as there is in cinema.

I recommend watching it when you are ready to be solely focused on it.

I don't know what's happening but ep1 literally hooked me up on this show, it's truly great.

I enjoyed it a lot but neigh honest there were some parts that I didn't understand that well but with all the experimentation of the series made me enjoyed it for what it was.