• About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • The Wellesley (COVID) 100
      The Wellesley (COVID) 100
    • In memory of Professor Rebecca Summerhays
      In memory of Professor Rebecca Summerhays
    • Trans flag controversy: College power washes staircase after trans flag is painted over Harry Potter spray paint
      Trans flag controversy: College power washes staircase after trans flag is painted over Harry Potter spray paint
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • The News in Conversation: Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration
      The News in Conversation: Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration
    • Editorial Board calls for keeping up trans flag murals
      Editorial Board calls for keeping up trans flag murals
    • No, Elon Musk’s Twitter will not restore free speech
      No, Elon Musk’s Twitter will not restore free speech
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • Be/longing Centers Connection and Care
      Be/longing Centers Connection and Care
    • No image
      Birds Falling Upwards: Wellesley College Theater’s The Moors is a Must-See
    • No image
      Sometimes you just need to read a YA “Groundhog Day” to feel something
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
    • Books Before Boys
  • Health and Wellness
    • February Student Athlete of the Month
      February Student Athlete of the Month
    • Athletics Update
      Athletics Update
    • Victoria Garrick Speaks on Mental Health
      Victoria Garrick Speaks on Mental Health
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Wellesley News Leadership Changes Completely Peacefully Without Any Suspicious Disappearances At All
      Wellesley News Leadership Changes Completely Peacefully Without Any Suspicious Disappearances At All
    • Solve Your Connection Problems With Wellesley Insecure
      Solve Your Connection Problems With Wellesley Insecure
    • Mayhem strikes Wellesley as paper towels removed from campus
      Mayhem strikes Wellesley as paper towels removed from campus
  • Miscellanea
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
      Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
    • 50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
      50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Heidi Yuan Arts, ReviewsOctober 3, 2021

Sonnyboy: A Goldfish Bowl Loaded with Magical Realism

"Sonny Boy" is now streaming (via Hulu).

Like any other media forms, we can sort anime into categories: adventure, romance, thriller, etc. There are those that are highly engaging, like “Demon Slayer”; those that gained popularity by building up a concrete worldview, such as “Tokyo Ghoul”; or, like “Natsume’s Book of Friends,” simply soothing slices of everyday life.

“Sonny Boy,” released in late July of this year, however, stands alone. The plot summary provided on Hulu is stereotypical: “It’s an ordinary summer vacation … except for the fact that Nagara’s high school has mysteriously drifted into another dimension.”

I immediately recalled similar ones that I had watched, with the character’s regular life getting distorted, either trying to restore normalcy or restarting a life in the new world. It gets old. Since it was a Madhouse studio, creators of “Death Note” and “No Game No Life,” work, I pushed past my doubt and gave it a try.

What first caught my attention was the sometimes highly saturated, sometimes monochromatic background and impasto style of the densely packed clouds. In parallel to this visual stillness, there is a lack of background music in the first episode, only the occasional conversation and cicadas chirping. All these details imply the dilemma the students are in. Unable to return to their original world, they are trapped in this fictional setting where the entire order structure and common senses are foreign.

The perspectives, in comparison, are dynamic. When students are exploiting their superpowers and causing destruction, a fish-eye lens is applied to the scene, making the three dimensional space warped and body dimensions distorted. When there is a close conversation between the main characters, Nozomi and Nagara, the camera zooms in and concentrates on Nozomi’s eyes, mouth and finger gestures, allowing the audience to capture the observant and lighthearted features of the character.

Interestingly enough, the anime chooses high school students for its main characters. A period of sensitivity, reflection, imitation and naive arrogance; high school is when children endure the metamorphosis from adolescence to adulthood. In the anime’s setting, the students are freed from authoritative control and moral obligations and also granted unlimited superpowers. Like “Lord of the Flies,” “Sonny Boy” conducts a social experiment where the once implicit conflicts, such as the struggle between individuality and majority will, emotions and rationality and the negative influence of rumors and doubts, are explicitly exposed and dramatized.

The plot twists with charismatic characters. Nozomi is the outlier that refuses to surrender to the popular vote. Nagara, the commoner, shows no interest in power and status. Cap is the puppet that gets drowned in vanity and self-appreciation. Hoshi is the manipulator that justifies his greed for common well being. Rajdhani is the scientist that seeks mathematical deductions to unknown phenomena … “Sonny Boy” doesn’t just spit out adjectives or long, dull speeches at the audiences. Instead, it knits patches of details together to shape roundly developed characters, intense plotlines and a fantasized world that overlaps with reality.

The world of “Sonny Boy” is like a colorful goldfish bowl, where the characters resemble fish within, and the audiences are the observers, or vice versa. A bowl with different types of fish will lead to vibrant reactions — some cooperative, some with irreversible consequences. However, no matter how fierce the action is within, to the outside, it will always remain a small bowl standing still on the table.

Young girls and boys are still floating. Who knows where they will head towards?

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleStar Trek vs Star Wars: Do They Make You A Geek?
Next articleMUNA Celebrate Lesbian Culture with “Silk Chiffon”

You may also like

Be/longing Centers Connection and Care

Birds Falling Upwards: Wellesley College Theater’s The Moors is a Must-See

Sometimes you just need to read a YA “Groundhog Day” to feel something

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

Sorry. No data so far.

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2022 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top