Sonny Boy

 Sonny Boy is a supernatural anime that was produced by Madhouse and written by Natsume Shingo.  The 12 episode anime originally aired over the summer season of 2021.

    A group of middle school students find themselves and their school stranded in a void of space and time.  Some of them have developed super natural abilities, the supplies replenish themselves and injuries to them and destruction to the environment repair rapidly.  Not all is well though in the small isolated community.  When individuals who yearn for structure and organization to help form their existence, stresses begin to appear between everyone.  Once order and rules begin to be enforced punishments begin to manifest in their small world.  As some of the students rebel against the imposed order reality shifts around them and they find themselves in a different location, an isolated tropical island.  The sudden change of location sparks life into the group returning to their previous lives and helps temper the strain of confinement.  Yet the work to find a real solution to their problem brings greater challenges to the groups as a whole.

    As the group see's a possibility of escape, leaders begin to emerge.  One in particular, an exchange student named Rajdhani, begins to study the world, the way certain members of the group can manipulate it and formulate a plan through the scientific method.  Through testing and analyzing the results he recognizes that one particular member of the group is capable of, in the the very least, moving them to different areas.  The person, Nagara, is skeptical of his responsibility related to finding a solution for their problem.  His reluctance begins to cause some of the more frustrated members of the group to look for scapegoats..  They move between various outcast members of the group but ultimately lay the blame for the origins of their situation at Nagara's feet.  The group begins to fracture further when they learn there are others also trapped in this reality, some who have been there for thousands of years.  The strain and stress of the situation forces them into different groups as they try to search for salvation, in the face of an impossible imprisonment.  Can Rajdhani find a solution or a reason for them being lost to time and space?  How much control does Nagara really have over the realities around them?

    This is a fantastic original anime that presents a story that is out of the ordinary.  On the surface it feels like a sci-fi take on the classic horror manga Drifting Classroom.  But in reality its closer to something like Tatami Galaxy, just serious instead of fantastical.  The concept is enjoyable and the mystery keeps you wanting to watch more to unravel it.  It does feel like it looses clarity as the climax begins, shifting into weird metaphysical self analysis, not dissimilar to the original ending for Evangelion.  The pacing is slow at first, focusing more on establishing the circumstance and the characters personalities.  Once the groundwork is laid out the narration begins to branch off into different directions, dropping random pieces of the mystery as it goes, leaving the viewer to solve the mystery.  In the end things are not clearly laid out, leaving interpretation to the viewer, for better or worse.

    The artwork is as strong as the unique story.  The characters are not highly detailed but fit the feel of the story quite well.  This was a welcomed escape from the current standards for anime stories.  It highlights that there is still room for fresh and enjoyable original content, instead of continuously plumbing the depths of existing manga and light novels to create what amount to long form commercials.  I suspect that this story wasn't able to gain enough traction to shake things up though.  Its a story aimed at minority audience, instead of some blockbuster well recognized title that draws a ton of eyes.  Its not flashy or familiar, so it would be hard to draw in a lot of casual viewers out of pure curiosity.  On top of that, as it was airing I saw very little in chatter on the internet about the show.  Regardless, it was a very welcome distraction to the current trends in broadcast anime.  These random experimental shows are what make continuing to consume this medium worth it.  There is still interesting writing out there, even if this one does lose its focus as it wraps up the narration and shifts into bizarro world.

    The anime is currently available in sub and dub format on Crunchyroll after it was initially broadcast on Hulu.