The Essentials
Name: Sora o Miageru Shojo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai, Munto TV, The World Reflected in the Eyes of a Girl Looking Up at the Heavens
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Episodes: 9
Aired: January 13, 2009 – March 10, 2009
Based On: Munto OVAs from Kyoto Animation
Director: Yoshiji Kigami
Produced By: Kyoto Animation
US Distribution By: Not Licensed
Cast
| Character |
Japanese Cast |
English Cast (N/A) |
| Yumemi Hidaka: |
Mai Aizawa |
|
| Munto: |
Daisuke Ono |
|
| Ichiko Ono: |
Chika Horikawa |
|
| Suzume Imamura: |
Hiromi Konno |
|
| Gntarl: |
Norio Wakamoto |
|
| Gass: |
Tetsu Inada |
|
Review
Sora o Miageru Shojo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai, or Munto TV for short, is a story about a seemingly simple girl, Yumemi, with an amazing gift that no one else has: the ability to see floating islands in the sky. Little does she know that these floating islands are actually the land masses belonging the various nations of the heavens, and in particular the Magical Kingdom, who is led by it’s king, Munto.
Long ago, there was a war between the nations of heaven and the “lower world” over Akuto – a power source which can be used to create virtually anything – including new heavenly beings. However, a consequence of this war is that the heavens created a space/time barrier between itself and the lower world, cutting off the flow of Akuto to the heavens. Now, several millenia later, the kingdoms of heaven are running out of Akuto, threatening to send the heavens crashing down on top of the lower world (modern day Earth), destroying both worlds. As a result, a war as broken out between the Magical Kingdom and an alliance of the remaining magical nations. As all hope appears to fade, Munto sees a vision with the aid of the royal seer – a vision that tells him that a girl from the lower world – Yumemi – has the ability to once again reconnect the two worlds, saving both.
It should be noted that this series is effectively the two Munto OVA series remastered, with what amounts to another OVA-length story added to the end. The series breaks pretty cleaningly into thirds: the first three episodes being the first OVA, the next 3 episodes being the second OVA, and the final 3 episodes being new material added to the story. However, Kyoto Animation merely uses remastered footage of the OVAs instead of reanimating them. As a result, The animation quality differs between each of the three sections of the series, which may or may not be distracting (though I think it’s less distracting if one knows this fact going in). Also, as should be obvious by now, despite being 9 episodes, one is really only getting about 3 to 3 1/2 episodes of new material if one had already seen the Munto OVAs previously.
Also, the story is incomplete at the end of the series, with a movie conclusion called Tenjo-nin to Akuto-nin Saigo no Tatakai, or Last War of Heavenloids and Akutoloids, finishing the series off
The series is rather flawed, given the before mentioned reuse of old footage, not enough new footage, and being short despite the fact that they’re using a movie to finish the story off. One kind has to ask what the point of the whole endevar was. Why not just do a movie sequel and be done with it? Having said that, I still think it’s respectable watch, though if one is familar with the original OVAs, one can pretty much skip the first 5 1/2 episodes or so.
Scores
Story: 4/5
Animation: 3/5
Music: 5/5
English Dubs: N/A
Overall: 3/5
First Watched: January – March 2009
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes
