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Sonny Boy was a relatively hyped up anime from 2021 of which I did not care much when it came out but eventually decided to check out in my hunt of the titles that plot wise stood out the most in recent years.
The premise is mildly interesting more for the combination of elements it presents and for the time it came out, rather than being anything really innovative on its own. There were already isekai of whole classrooms before (Hyoryu Kyoshitsu, Arifureta, Kumo Desu Ga Nani ka?, for examples) and there were shows of people being transported to different worlds across different episodes (Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai, Akane Sasu Shoujo, Flip Flappers, Yami to Boushi, for examples). It’s the combination of both of them, in a time where most series in the genre are generic RPG-like fantasy worlds with self-insert gary stu protagonists, that made it stand out in a civilized Lord of the Flies meets Lost kind of way.
The series itself holds up more for its concepts and ideas than plot and characters by themselves. At first glance, it is just an episodic isekai with very slow plot progression and a focus on a different character on each episode. As the series move forward, you notice that finding out how every world worked was slowly hinting at the core of the situation the characters are in, and how their powers made it all begin in the first place.
At the same time, on a conceptual level, the series is about the characters introspecting about something within themselves that they have to resolve in order for then be on good terms with the others and help finding a solution to the situation they are in. In a way, it is also anti-escapism, since some of the worlds were manifestations of the ideal worlds of some characters.
And since the worlds are manifestations of a character’s subconscious or state of mind, that means that everyone is looked into on a basic level, exploring their backdrops, which range from typical to inexplicably weird for a mundane setting, and some development and catharsis for the main ones about facing life head on.
The main problem with the plot is how some of the episodes didn’t seem to add much to the whole, did we really need the one where they play baseball with some monkeys? Or a whole episode about the backdrop of the dog? Maybe they were needed on a conceptual or symbolic way, the show is full of stuff that could lead to different interpretations, without pretentious seemingly random imagery or quotes, mind you (a fine detail for me), but that is something that could only be appreciated on a second watch, not the first.
And the issue with the characters is that they are atypically normal, they are very low energy and although that makes them stand out in the sea of overpowered hyperactive stereotypes in the genre and currently the medium as a whole, it also makes them quite boring to watch for both a slice of life and an adventure fan.
Some other issues are how lots of the students wanted to get out at first but then seemingly accept staying at some point out of screen, or how nobody lost their mind once they found out about their identity midway through the series. Compare that to the reaction of the characters in Abenobashi, The Amazing Digital Circus, or Deca-Dence, those are way more believable in that regard.
The antagonists also work only on a conceptual level and not as characters themselves at all, that teacher was just antagonizing for the sake of conflict since nobody in the whole classroom snaps even when it looked like they would. She first wanted for the students to get out and was blaming the protagonist, then was the one convincing them to accept staying on some of the worlds in the series, what’s up with that? Then there is the God which just serves a purpose as an antagonistic force that the characters have to go against in order to move on in life, and because what kind of isekai would it be if there wasn’t any kind of divine figure? By himself, he is barely just there.
In regards of visuals, they are very solid. Good artwork, very well made backgrounds and interesting to look at because of how they change at every episode, and there are interesting perspectives and transitions used when the characters jump through worlds, or even cool visual effects when their powers affect the setting itself. The issues come from the series not having much motion, let alone good, how plain the characters look, and how at times some don’t have faces. At points, there is a narrative or a mood sense for that, at others it just happens.
A thing that stands out is that, even if there is a lot of dialogue to explain the logics of the worlds that the characters are in, lots of details are actually shown instead of told, for the audience to figure out by themselves. That’s always a sign of good directing and storytelling that always stand out as a positive for me.
The atmosphere is also very solid, although that can also alienate a lot of people. The series doesn’t have an opening song, only an ending, and for the first half of the show it doesn’t have a single theme or song as background music, thus enhancing the impact of the sound effects and the voice acting, which is also atypical in a way that’s hard to appreciate or enjoy. It is different from the usual voice acting, but not quite as serious or mature as the best within the medium, and it is also not as natural as the ones from some movies or series that specifically went for a cast with very little experience, or even people that weren’t voice actors at all.
As a whole I do think it is a worth watching show on a basic level, especially for coming out in 2021, a year which in my opinion was very poor in level of quality in the medium. It definitely could benefit from a second watch once you know how events play out and can pay attention to a lot more details, and notice how lots of different little things are slowly making a solid whole. But that is hard to do because of its style and atmosphere, which personally I don’t feel like going through again because I was bored out of my mind with the series as a whole.
6/10
