Solty Rei

Synopsis:

Set in an unnamed futuristic city filled with humans and Resembles, which is anyone whose had a limb replaced with a robotic counterpart, a man named Roy Revant has had life deal him a bad hand and he has become an emotionless bounty hunter that looks forward to nothing more than his pay at the end of a job. Twelve years ago a cataclysmic event took place called the Blast Fall as the sky above the planet has an aurora shell which supplies an atmosphere, but also acts as a prison as anything straying too close to the sky is instantly destroyed by lightning. Due to a scientific experiment gone wrong at the Reestablishment Universe Committee building in the center of the city, it caused the Aurora Shell's lighting to hit the center of the city and cause massive death and destruction, this caused Roy to lose his only daughter Rita and he has been searching for her ever since. After his most recent bounty though it seems that Roy has made some new enemies as he was assaulted the next night by the criminals partner that is also a resemble that happens to be equipped with a bladed chain whip. Wounded and almost out of ammo it seems that Roy has finally met his match when from above a young girl literally falls out of the sky and lands on his enemies weapon before it strikes Roy saving his life. Even though his enemy gets away Roy's not about to leave an unconscious girl lay on the street so he scoops her up and takes her home to let her rest, the next day she awakes but can't remember anything but for some unknown reason will not leave Roy's side for a second.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 24


Review:

This was a fantastic series and the sci-fi aspect was great since it wasn't overpowering and yet highly original. I'll admit I was expecting some cutesy little loli protagonist that spends alot of time in a euphoric stage and giggling for no reason... not so here, Solty doesn't come across as cute nor is she supposed to be. She does deal with alot of hardships for being quite young, one of them is Roy's grumpy exterior but lucky for us Roy is the type of guy that puts up alot of emotional barriers but lets everyone around him tear them down resulting in him usually sighing and giving a gruff "fine...". This results in some great characterization as you'll start connecting with everyone that comes in contact with Roy and Solty and the plot uses this and does things in a backwards manner of storytelling that, in the end, is just plain sneaky. The series puts it's lighthearted events first instead of toward the end allowing the viewer to laugh while watching everyone on screen have a great time but after a few episodes the show let's you know that that's enough and brings in the suspense and drama and puts everyone in *alot* of emotional distress which has you questioning if anyone will ever get a break. In the end it uses those comical moments from earlier in the series that made you laugh and represents them as memories which is remarkably effective in bringing closure to everything and showing the strength of family ties. Presented with great animation and unparalleled character depth to match a great sci-fi story, Solty Rei is definitely worth seeing if only once.

*Note - FUNimation seriously needs to stop using that angle option on your DVD player. It's beyond annoying and 75% of DVD players out there don't have the option to turn off the on screen 'angle' notification.

Solty Rei (opening)

Recommendation: |High|