I read a decent amount of manga, and tend to watch a decent amount of anime. Sadly, I had not heard about Aokana – Four Rhythms Across The Blue before. So when this title landed in our inbox, I went out on Crunchyroll to binge it, or at least tried to bing it. I was happy I did before starting the actual game since it gave me some … pointers?
Aokana!
Aokana is your non-typical school-slice-of-life manga/anime. It got everything you expect from it, from the students that want to excel at everything to students with a tormented past. Oh, and let’s throw in a transfer student as well, to keep it interesting. Does this mean it’s a bad story? Neh, I would still rate the anime with a 7, since I enjoyed it, but you’re not here for a review of the anime, so let’s dive into the game – or should I say Visual Novel.
With the invention of anti-gravitational shoes known as Grav-Shoes, the ability to fly freely has become an everyday experience for the people inhabiting a four-island archipelago south of Japan. This invention has brought the people new ways of living, and also, a new sport is known as “Flying Circus,” where participants gain points by either touching floating buoys or their opponent’s back. It felt a little bit like Quidditch, without balls and brooms (you’ll get it when you see it).
Flying Circus
The gullible and clumsy Asuka Kurashina, newly transferred to Kunahama High School, enters this world of flight unknowingly when she can pull off a tricky maneuver the first time she participates in a Flying Circus match. Eventually, this leads her to join her school’s Flying Circus club. Led by their coach, Masaya Hinata, their members consist of the experienced Misaki Tobisawa and her overprotective friend, Mashiro Arisaka. Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm follows this rookie group soaring high above the skies and toward their dreams, armed only with their unwavering passion against an uncertain future.
I mentioned the anime before, and I highly recommend you watch it before starting Aokana. Why? The game will make more sense since it follows the story of the manga/anime to the letter. In the anime, the perspective is more prominent, since they have more room to tell and show specific details. Aside from that, it a good VN; it follows the story, and you are given a fair amount of freedom in the word choices you make. As typical with VN’s this leads to a total of four different endings, which I’ll let you discover on your own. The main question before playing this game will be, am I interested in the story of Aokana? I was a little … hesitant at first, but thoroughly enjoyed my time with both the game and the anime.
Conclusion
To conclude, Aokana is easy to follow, easy to master. It’s fun to work through and has a lighthearted theme to back its a colorful setting. It’s one of the better anime VN’s I played, but it could be that I’m influenced by the fact that I watched the anime beforehand. So, are you ready to dive in and let your shoe-wings soar through the sky?
