Sola (manga)
Sola is a Japanese work originally conceived by Naoki Hisaya with original character design by Naru Nanao. Sola is a mixed media project, first unveiled through the prologue of the manga featured in the Japanese manga magazine Dengeki Daioh on December 21, 2006, published by MediaWorks. The manga, which is illustrated by Chako Abeno, ended serialization on February 21, 2008. The manga has been licensed for distribution in North America by Broccoli Books with the first volume being released in June 2008. A short drama CD which also served as a prologue to the series was released at Comiket 71 in December 2006, and a second drama CD was released in May 2008. An anime version aired in Japan between April and June 2007; the anime contained thirteen episodes, and two additional DVD-exclusive episodes followed. The anime was licensed by Bandai Entertainment for distribution in North America in a subtitle-only box set of all fifteen episodes. The title, Sola, is close in pronunciation to the Japanese word sora. At the end of 2007, Japanese anime fans voted Sola as the best anime of the year.
Plot
Sola's story revolves around Yorito Morimiya, the main protagonist, who is a young boy attending high school. He loves taking pictures of the sky at any time of day and any time of the year. One day, Yorito decides to take a picture of the sunrise overlooking the bay, but is deterred when he meets a strange girl trying to force a vending machine that stole her money to give her what she tried to buy—a can of tomato juice. Yorito helps her with forcing the machine while attempting to strike up conversation with her, despite it being four in the morning. Yorito tells her why he is here, but by the time he has forced the can out of the machine, the girl has mysteriously vanished.The next day, Yorito goes to visit his older sister Aono in the hospital with his friend Mana Ishizuki and Mana's little sister Koyori Ishizuki. Despite it being Aono's birthday, Yorito leaves soon after to take a photograph of the setting sun near an old church on the roof of the hospital. That night, Yorito leaves to buy groceries when it begins to rain and stops on the way home to wait for the rain to stop; while waiting, he runs into the strange girl he met from yesterday again. They talk longer this time and Yorito finally learns her name—Matsuri Shihou. A few days later, Yorito goes looking for the girl in the old church and finds a man wielding a sword before Matsuri.
After a display of Matsuri's astounding powers, Yorito discovers that she is in fact a creature known as a "Calamity of the Night", who has lived for centuries. She is being chased by Takeshi Tsujidou who intends to kill her, but Yorito tries to protect her by bringing her back to his home which is when Yorito asks her to stay with him for the time being.
A "Calamity of the Night", otherwise known as a Yaka, is a supernatural being in the Sola universe. Yaka have many supernatural powers, such as: strong physical ability, fast regeneration, and never aging body, among other powers. A Yaka is hurt by direct exposure to sunlight, but the wound can be healed in time if the exposure is not excessive; a Yaka is immortal unless exposed to too much sunlight or has received fatal wounds. Matsuri explains that a Yaka is the embodiment of human agony and pain and that such creatures are meant to always be alone. Despite this, the two fall in love. As their relationship deepens, Matsuri reveals her long tragic past and her knowledge of Yorito's past.
Characters
;Yorito Morimiya;Matsuri Shihou
;Aono Morimiya
;Mana Ishizuki
;Koyori Ishizuki
;Takeshi Tsujidou
;Mayuko Kamikawa
;Sae Sakura
Media
Manga
The manga version of Sola was first serialized in the Japanese shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Daioh, published by MediaWorks. On December 21, 2006, the prologue was published, and then the following month on January 20, 2007, the first chapter was serialized, which continued until February 21, 2008 when the final chapter was published. The story is adapted from Naoki Hisaya's original concept and illustrated by Chako Abeno. Two bound volumes were published under MediaWorks' Dengeki Comics label, the first on July 27, 2007, and the second on March 27, 2008. The manga was licensed for English language-distribution in the US by Broccoli Books; the first volume was released on June 18, 2008. The second volume was never released before Broccoli International USA was shut down.Drama CDs
A short audio drama CD was released at Comiket 71 on December 31, 2006. The story consists of a prologue for the series that does not reveal much other than the personalities of the characters and a brief image of the setting. After the audio drama finished, an image song played entitled "Sensitive Scenery" by Ceui. This song was used as an insert song at the beginning of episode one of the anime, and then was used again in episode nine. Another drama CD based on the series was produced by Lantis and was set to be released on August 22, 2007, but it was delayed to an unspecified date and ultimately canceled for unknown reasons. Another drama CD, this time using the manga's story as a basis, was produced by Marine Entertainment and released on May 30, 2008; it was also supervised by Naoki Hisaya. The cast for the drama CDs is the same as with the anime version.Internet radio shows
There have been two Internet radio shows for the Sola series. The first show, which used the anime adaptation as the basis, aired between February 2, 2007 and February 23, 2007 called Sky-blue Radio in Charradio, produced by Charradio. It aired every Friday hosted by either Mamiko Noto who played Matsuri Shihou in the anime, and Mai Nakahara who played Aono Morimiya in the anime depending on the week. There were two separate corners which were used to further promote the series and to update on any information regarding Sola. There were four episodes, and some time was set aside for the last two broadcasts to play the audio drama released at Comiket 71. There were two guests to the show: Yōko Honda in episode three who played Mana Ishizuki in the anime and Tomoko Kaneda in episode four who played Mayuko Kamigawa in the anime.The second show, which again used the anime adaptation as the basis, aired between March 30, 2007 and July 27, 2007 called Sky-blue Radio, produced by Beat ☆ Net Radio! as well as Lantis Web Radio. It aired every Friday and had nineteen episodes hosted by different people depending on the month. The first broadcast, and the rest of April was hosted by Yōko Honda, and Ai Shimizu who played Koyori Ishizuki in the anime. The May broadcasts were hosted by Mamiko Noto and the June broadcasts were hosted by Mai Nakahara, though also featured appearances by both Noto and Honda. Finally, the July broadcasts were hosted by Keiji Fujiwara who played Takeshi Tsujido in the anime, and Nobuhiko Okamoto who played Yorito Morimiya in the anime. There were three corners named "Attack of Tomato Soup", "Sky-blue Letter", and "Futsu Ota". The show also had a series of guests that were other cast members from the anime series, but also included those who had previously hosted the show. These include Nobuhiko Okamoto who appeared in the second, ninth, and fourteenth episodes; Yōko Honda who appeared in the seventh, eighth, ninth, and eighteenth episodes; Tomoko Kaneda, who played Mayuko Kamikawa in the anime, appeared in the seventeenth episode; and Mamiko Noto and Mai Nakahara who appeared in the nineteenth episode.
Anime
An anime adaptation of Sola was produced by the animation studio Nomad and directed by Tomoki Kobayashi. The series aired in Japan on the TV Aichi television network between April 7, 2007 and June 30, 2007, containing thirteen episodes, though aired on other networks at the same time with slightly different start and end dates. The series was released in five DVD compilation volumes in limited and regular editions,each containing three episodes. The first DVD volume was released on June 22, 2007, followed by the second on July 27, 2007, and the third on August 24, 2007. Two additional episodes were made available exclusively on DVD volumes four and five; the first was released on September 25, 2007, and the second was on October 26, 2007. A poll was held in Japan by the company Spider Networks asking what was the best anime that aired in 2007. After two million votes were cast, Sola placed number one at approximately 340,000 votes.The Japanese DVDs were also released by.Anime as a "special package edition" with different cover art released for the limited or regular edition volumes. The covers of the special package and limited edition volumes were illustrated by Naru Nanao, the original character designer for Sola; the covers of the regular edition volumes had illustrations of the anime-style art by Makoto Koga. Each of the regular edition DVDs contained an eight-page color booklet with illustrations from the series. The special package and limited edition DVDs also contained the color booklet, along with drama CDs containing tracks from the Internet radio show, and poster cards.
Bandai Visual licensed the Sola anime in early 2008 for release in North America, but it was delayed. After Bandai Visual USA folded into Bandai Entertainment, the Sola anime was planned to be released in a fifteen-episode subtitle-only box set, which was released on September 29, 2009. In May 2010, Section23 Films, distributor for Sentai Filmworks, announced that they would be re-releasing Sola, but this turned out to be a clerical error and the title was soon removed from Sentai's catalog.