Meet the members of First Astronomical Velocity!
Directed by Kenichi Kawamura, with Yousuke Kuroda managing the script, SoniAni: Super Sonico The Animation (SoniAni for brevity) premièred in winter 2014. The anime features Super Sonico, Nitro Plus' Company Mascotnote , and follows the adventures she encounters in her everyday life. Between her endeavours in academics, modelling career, music and part-time job as a waitress, Sonico always manages to find the time to brighten up the lives of those around her. According to the promotional video
Pony Canyon released, Super Sonico is voiced by Super Sonico.note
Crunchyroll is streaming the anime, which can be viewed here for viewers living in the following areas: USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Latin America, Spain, Portugal, the Middle East, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, France and DOM-TOM, Andorra, Netherlands, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.
Despite its name, this series is unrelated to Sonic the Hedgehog.
Related media (in chronological order):
- NITRO SUPER SONIC 2006 (2006) - Where Sonico first appeared.
- Axanael (2010) - a visual novel featuring a storyline of her bandmates, Fuuri and Suzu.
- SoniComi - Communication with Sonico (2010) - a Photography Simulation game, released for the PC
- Motto! SoniComi - More Communication with Sonico (2013) - PS3 port of SoniComi, features reworked graphics and additional content. In 2016, JAST USA released a PC port with English support.
- SoniPro -Super Sonico in Production- (2014) - an Idol Simulation game, developed by Imageepoch, released for the Nintendo 3DS.
- Nitroplus Blasterz Heroines Infinite Duel (2015) - Sonico is both a playable character and an assist character.
Discography of First Astronomical Velocity (and Super Sonico):
- SUPERORBITAL (2010) - Debut single, contains the opening theme of SoniComi
- Jyonetsu Rocket (2011) - contains the insert song of Axanael
- Power (2011) - Sonico's solo single, was released on iTunes for the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake relief funding.
- Susume, BLUE STAR! (2011)
- VISION (2011) - contains the second opening theme of SoniComi
- GALAXY ONE (2011) - First full album release
- Phantom Vibration! (2011) - Sonico's second solo single, also a Drama CD
- Love&Peace+ (2012) - Mini-album, Double feature with the original soundtrack of SoniComi
- Rock&Roll☆Valentine (2013) - Sonico's third solo single.
- MOONLIGHT (2014) & RAINBOW (2014) - Compilation of ending themes from the anime.
- MORE! (2014) - Single release of the opening theme of Motto! SoniComi
- Start Up (2014) - Single release of the opening theme of SoniPro
Super Sonico provides examples of:
- A Day in the Limelight: Several of the characters get an episode that focuses largely on them, at least in their interactions and relations with Sonico.
- All-CGI Cartoon: While the show is animated using two-dimensional methods, the ending themes make extensive use of CGI.
- All There in the Stinger: Episode eight of The Animation takes the form of a Locked Room Mystery, as Kid Detective Ena helps Suzu and Fuuri try to work out who knocked Sonico unconscious and hid her guitar. The episode ends with nobody any the wiser, Ena's increasingly bizarre theories having all been debunked, and they all decide it was just an accident and head home. In The Stinger, however, Ena confronts the culprit (Miina, the venue's maid), and reveals she'd known the truth the whole time: Miina had spilled water on the band's amplifier by accident and was fearful she'd be fired if they found out, so to stop them from practicing and discovering the broken amp, she'd knocked Sonico unconscious. The door to the room Sonico was in wasn't actually locked; Miina had just pretended it was in order to throw everyone off. Ena, meanwhile, had been Obfuscating Stupidity in order to stall for time and cover up the incident; she's only interested in solving crimes, not arresting the culprits, and she didn't want Miina to get fired over an honest mistake.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Sonico in the ending for episode two.
- Author Appeal: Santa Tsuji has a soft spot for curvier girls, and although it's toned down for the anime adaptation, Sonico has generally become chubbier over time with Tsuji in charge.
- Awesome by Analysis: Subverted initially with Ena in episode eight. She is seen observing what happened at the restaurant early on, but makes a lot of baseless accusations and seems to be totally clueless on being a what it takes to be a detective. After the credits roll however, she reveals to Miina that the latter spilled water on the speaker, damaging it. Then before she could get it stealthily repaired, she was told Sonico and her friends were going to use the stage for practice, hence her surprise at seeing Sonico at the beginning. Thanks to a bunch of mishaps, including moving Sonico's guitar out of the room she collapsed in, Ena deliberately delayed the investigation and acted dumb so that Miina could save face and her job by not having the girls practice and find out about the defective speaker, which would have ruined their session anyway.
- Balloon Belly: In episode nine, Ouka enters a hot dog eating contest at the school festival and her stomach becomes engorged by her efforts, requiring that she be carried away on a stretcher.
- Barely-There Swimwear: For her modelling job in the first episode, Sonico began with a bathing suit that was about three sizes too small. She is subsequently asked to wear something that apparently crossed the line (while never shown on-screen, it appears to be pink and involves glitter). Kitamura, her manager, appears just in time to spare Sonico from having to wear it.
- Beach Episode:
- While in Okinawa for a photoshoot, Sonico visits the beaches during episode three.
- In episode six, Sonico and her friends were planning to go to the beach the day after trying out their swimsuits, rainy weather precludes this from happening.
- Berserk Button: Kitamura reacts violently to any attempts to make use of Sonico in a sexual manner (ranging from a risqué bathing suit to being fondled by a tentacle monster).
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Sonico, Fuuri and Suzu jump overboard when they appear to be in danger of being eaten by other passengers during the sixth episode, but the passengers come to their senses and can only watch in horror as the three plummet into the ocean. They are subsequently rescued.
- Big Damn Heroes: Sonico's cats save Rice, the cat Sonico finds in episode ten, after it's cornered by an angry dog, despite Rice attacking two of them earlier.
- Blank White Eyes: Such a reaction ensues when Sonico is asked to wear some questionable swimwear in the first episode, and once again, when she first sees the zombies.
- Book Ends: The series begins and ends with Sonico waking up late, and then riding her bike to the university.
- Break the Cutie: Happens to Ayaka, the little girl in episode eleven. She at first is told by another kid that Santa doesn't exist despite her father telling her he does exist. Later she tells Sonico that her dad promised to be home for Christmas but won't be due to work. So she feels everything he tells her was a lie. Fortunately for her, both of her father's statements come true, and she sees both her father, who was also playing Santa.
- Breakout Character: In 2006, Tsuji Santa provided an illustration for a poster depicting a pink-haired girl wearing headphones and sporting a guitar, to promote the Nitro Plus Music Festival. Reception to this poster was overwhelmingly positive, and so, Super Sonico was born. Realising Super Sonico's marketability, Nitro Plus invested in the character to create figures, posters, music, manga, video games and anime were made. In time, Sonico has become the official mascot for their music festivals, and Tsuji Santa became more renowned as an artist, going on to create more characters similar to Super Sonico.
- Breather Episode: Episode seven is about Sonico's adventures, during which she encounters and interact with a handful of people. It's relaxed even by the series' standard, and contrasts sharply with the previous episode.
- Call-Back: In the finale, all of the characters that interacted with Sonico and her friends make another appearance.
- The Cameo: Characters from other Nitroplus works make a cameo appearance or drop by in an episode.
- Naitou-kun is the mascot character for Nitro+CHiRAL and its The CHiRAL NIGHT concerts, appearing on posters displayed in the modelling agency Sonico works for.
- A DRAMAtical Murder re:connect poster can also be seen in the same scene.
- Ouka is from Nitroplus Wars and shows up in episode three. She plays a larger role from episode six onwards.
- Ena is from Axanael and plays detective in episode eight.
- Sonico cosplays as Al-Azif and Kurisu Makise for a school festival event in episode nine.
- Chainsaw Good: Sonico uses one in the ending for episode six.
- Characterization Marches On: There's a fair few subtle but distinct differences between Sonico's characterisation in SoniComi and the later SoniAni. In the former, for example, Sonico views gravure modelling as her main career goal, while in the latter, her heart is more in music.
- Christmas Episode: Episode eleven is set during the Christmas season.
- Color Failure: The CEO of the skin cream company suffers from a colour loss after learning that her product is pulled from the shelves; it turns out that its side effects include making people extremely hungry and turning them into skinny zombies.
- Crazy Cat Lady: Both Fuuri and Sonico's grandmother warn Sonico that she may wind up with more cats than is manageable if she continues picking up stray cats in the tenth episode.
- Cringe Comedy: Some of the comedic elements occur whenever Sonico winds up nearly-naked, resulting in her embarrassment.
- Cute Kitten: Sonico raises six kittens, named Cha, Shu, Men, Ajitama, Naruto, and Rice.
- D-Cup Distress: At the beginning of episode five, Sonico sees two schoolgirls reading a magazine with her pictures in it. One of them mentions her breasts being a bit too big, making her feel a bit insecure. However, shortly afterwards she sees another big-breasted girlnote leaving a store with the same magazine, and thanks her for the purchase.
- Establishing Character Moment: Sonico's manager makes his debut by arriving just as a client tried to take a photo of Sonico in a rather skimpy bikini. His first move is to intimidate them into not doing the shoot with his demon mask, with the implication that it's to him what the headphones are to Sonico.
- Evolving Credits: The ending credits are unique for each episode and often have something to do with what took place during that episode.
- Eyes Always Shut: Sonico's grandmother is never seen with her eyes open.
- Food as Bribe: After Fuuri complains about wearing a somewhat skimpy outfit in episode eleven outside in the cold, Suzu tells her that she can have all the meat buns she wants during her break, with great success.
- Giving Up the Ghost: Sonico does this during one of Ena's explanations in episode eight.
- The Glomp: During the culture festival in episode nine, two people run head-first into Sonico when trying to ask her for help.
- Got Volunteered:
- Kinomoto is a journalist who was sent to interview Sonico by her editor in episode five. Despite being against the idea, the editor decides to do it anyway. She later calls up Sonico's agency, thinking they'd reject the idea, only to have Kitamura and Sonico agree to it.
- Sonico winds up taking on more than she can handle during the cultural festival in episode nine; Sonico isn't one to turn down requests for assistance, though, rather than being forced to help others.
- Goroawase Number: The agency that Sonico works for is called 2106 (Nitro).
- Gratuitous English: Sonico's grandmother demonstrates a reasonably strong command of English during her call to book a real Santa Claus to visit their shopping district.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Kinomoto is the journalist who does a behind the scenes interview of Sonico in episode five. As she was a failed novelist, she grows a little bitter at how good and easy going Sonico seems to have it as the interview progresses. However, she gets some inspiration from the latter's notebook and Sonico says she would continue playing music even if everyone thought it was awful because that's what she loves doing. This gives her an epiphany, and she decides to pursue novel writing again, along with giving Sonico a good review.
- Growling Gut: Sonico's stomach growls in two different episodes: during a flashback where she first meets her bandmates in episode 2, and when she's offered some food by a stranger in episode 7 during her trip through rural Japan. As one would expect from someone as easily flustered as her, it's a major source of embarrassment.
- Heavy Sleeper: In addition to her several alarms, it takes five of her cats to wake Sonico.
- Hero of Another Story: Super Pochaco is a shy and chubby girl first seen as the third episode. She appears to view Sonico as a role model of sorts: over time, she changes her hairstyle, becomes more confident, dyes her hair, joins a talent agency and dispenses with her glasses.
- I Call It "Vera": Sonico's guitar was a gift from Toma-senpai that the latter named "Daydream"; Toma herself received it as a gift.
- I Was Quite a Looker: As the pictures in her restaurant attest, and through Sonico's flashbacks, Sonico's grandmother was very pretty. Three of the old regulars at her restaurant mention this, being suitors of hers during her youth.
- Iyashikei: While the series itself won't satisfy the definition, episode seven marks change in pace, being relaxing and slow-paced, with Sonico just wandering around the countryside.
- Japanese Politeness: In the first episode's moments, Sonico apologises to someone who ran in front of her bike and forced her to stop suddenly.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Sonico has at least five cats at her home.
- Locked Room Mystery: Episode eight is one: the Cold Open ends with Sonico found lying unconscious in a locked waiting room, and her guitar is later found to be missing. Turns out the door wasn't locked at all; the culprit, Miina, just pretended it was in order to throw everyone off. Her motive was that she'd accidentally spilled water over the amplifier the band were due to use for rehearsal that night, and if the band were one member down, they couldn't practice, the damage wouldn't be discovered and she wouldn't get fired. She didn't actually steal the guitar until later, when Sonico started to come to, in a further stalling attempt; luckily Ena, who was investigating, saw through the whole thing and brilliantly obfuscated stupidity in order to help her get away with it.
- Male Gaze: During Sonico's photo sessions, the camera winds up in interesting places.
- Marshmallow Hell: Ena uses this as one of the explanations for Sonico passing out in the waiting room in episode eight.
- Naked Freak-Out: Episode 2 has one happen offscreen at the very end when Sonico's dress melt off her body. While the viewer doesn't see anything explicit (the scene changes right before her nipples become visible) her petrified state implies the audience does, and the last scene is Sonico going fully red before letting out an embarrassed scream.
- Never Bareheaded: Sonico always has her headphones on, even while sleeping. Some of the images show a younger Sonico with her trademark headphones.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: While intoxicated, Kitamura, arranges for Sonico to make a guest appearance in a TV show and accidentally upstages the heroes of the show. The director throws in his unscripted rescue and is so impressed that he offers Kitamura a role in the show, which the latter declines.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Suzu and Fuuri impersonate Sonico when the latter becomes triple-booked on the first day of her school's cultural festival. While Suzu does a reasonable job of fooling Sonico's classmates (who are still suspicious), it does nothing for Sonico's grandmother, who sees through it immediately. Similarly, the emcee of the beauty contest seems to realize it's Fuuri, but plays along nonetheless.
- The Power of Friendship:
- Fuuri and Suzu help Sonico out in episode nine after she's asked for to do too many things at the same time. Suzu has Sonico attend the concert, while she goes back to Sonico's class to help out their cafe, and Fuuri meanwhile enters the beauty contest in her place.
- Friendship is at the forefront in the final episode, where Sonico and her friends make good of all the contacts they've made over the course of the series, to make their New Years Eve concert a resounding success.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Kitamura accidentally upstages the heroes of the TV show Sonico was guest starring in during episode three after the actors playing the villain crosses the line. They hilariously keep his actions in the show and crediting him as a guest hero.
- Product Placement: An iPhone, a Nintendo 3DS and Daikoku Beer can be seen in one of the trailers.
- Raised by Grandparents: Sonico's parents are conspicuously absent in her life, and even in her flashbacks to when she was younger, Sonico is shown her with her grandmother.
- Real-Place Background: Most of the anime takes place in and around Kichijoji, a city in the Greater Tokyo region: Sonico appears to live near Zenpuku-ji park, and this location later becomes the basis for her song "Kichijouji Supersonic".
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite the scary mask he wears all the time, Kitamura does try to look out for Sonico, and attempts to prevent photographers from taking advantage of her.
- Recurring Extra: Super Pochaco is a shy, chubby and busty girl that sometimes shows up in the background. She is seen as the Hero of Another Story, as she undergoes a gradual change in appearance over the course of the show.
- In addition, Taito has made a couple figurines of her, based on her blonde, glasses-free look.
- The Rival: In SoniPro, Sonico competes with a fellow famous idol Starlight Bellstar.
- Sex Sells: To help the local shopping district compete with the new department store, Suzu makes use of this approach in episode eleven. While initially effective, the department store turns its resources towards hiring a popular idol group, and later tries to get a male idol group in, as well.
- Sexy Santa Dress: Sonico wears one in episode eleven, while Fuuri is dressed up in a reindeer one. Ouka wears a cute one.
- School Festival: Sonico's university hosts a culture festival in episode nine.
- Shout-Out:
- The zombie outbreak in episode six alludes to I Am Legend, in which a skin ointment turns people into something not quite human, and the English dub of the episode references Resident Evil by having one zombie groan, "Itchyyyyyy... TASTYYYYYYY!"
- The ending credit for episode six alludes to both Michael Jackson and his song Thriller, as well as Lollipop Chainsaw.note
- In episode nine, Sonico is playing a game that seems to resemble BioShock. Sonico also cosplays as Makise Kurisu during that episode.
- Sonico is dressed up as Hatsune Miku during a photoshoot in episode ten.
- The bar Sonico's grandma runs is named after Led Zeppelin.
- In SoniComi, the cameraman considers calling Sonico Tits McGee.
- Slice of Life: The anime emphasises Sonico's day-by-day interactions with the people around her, and the fanservice elements only appear whenever Sonico is doing her modelling shoots.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: In episode three, Kitamura "saves" Sonico from a squid monster instead of letting the heroes of the show do it.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: In episode eight, Fuuri claims she didn't arrive late to the rehearsal because she was waiting in line to buy a meat bun, all while eating a meat bun.
- Those Two Girls: Sonico's two classmates at college.
- Title of the Dead: Episode six is appropriately titled "Cruising of the Dead".
- Triple Shifter: Sonico is a college student, band member, part-time model, part-time waitress and takes care of at least five cats.
- Truth in Television: During Real Life press events involving Super Sonico, one or more demon masked individuals are used to protect Super Sonico's purity.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Sonico's headphones and how Kitamura's hanya mask are never seen as unusual by other characters in the series.
- Wardrobe Malfunction: Invoked by Suzu in Episode 2 where she tries to get Sonico to wear a "melting dress," made from a special material that would dissolve when Sonico sweats onstage. Needless to say, Sonico shoots it down and Suzu orders a proper dress. However, Sonico unknowingly puts on the melting dress before their show, and sure enough it begins melting right in front of their audience at the tail end of the episode.
- What the Hell, Hero?: This occurs in a comedic manner during episode eleven, where Suzu tells Fuuri, Ouka, and Sonico to wear some skimpy Santa outfits at the shopping district outside in December. She later sees the three of them huddled by a heater in the evening the next day, complete with draining health bars, and tells them they're not devoted enough if they're complaining about the cold. She gets called out on it, since she isn't wearing the same kind of outfit and working out in the cold like they are.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Episodes two and four provide Sonico's back-story, illustrating as how she met her band-mates, and how she came to acquire her guitar from an older student in her club.
- Zombie Apocalypse:
- This idea is invoked in episode six, when the cruise ship passengers and crew try out a new weight loss cream that gives them a zombie-like character. While they look and move like zombies, the passengers are still human and only have an incredible appetite. While the girls feel they're going to be eaten, the zombies are only chasing Fuuri around because of the snacks she's carrying, and after a few hours, return to normal.
- During the ending credits, Sonico fights off zombies with a chainsaw while also singing and dancing, with some of the zombies as background dancers.
