Ao no kanata no Four Rhythm

"I believe I can fly; I believe I can touch the sky." In the first few minutes, I thought that starting with a song was not such a bad idea, so I was inspired. Admittedly I am not a cute little Lolita girl on a boat, and I chose a different song too (even though it is related to the theme). However, I believe it will have the same effect as the first scene of this anime series, which I quite enjoyed. It would not surprise me if people said it is too sentimental; the main female protagonist is a complete cow, the animation is not that great, and the way it is trying to evoke cuteness with chibi is once again too damn cheesy. If someone mentions that it is a pretty ordinary anime series set in a high school with generic characters that can fly and compete in some weird race that is not super exciting, I can understand that too. Still, I can say with a clear conscience that the cheesy chibi worked quite well for me, I found the main female protagonist very cute, and I found the other characters likable as well. I enjoyed watching it, and it was quite a pleasant experience where I was able to let go of the perceived negative aspects and enjoy this anime series. The races in the "flying circus" were not extremely impressive at first, although it got better as time went on, and I eventually really enjoyed the last race. Overall, I once again find myself torn between the very pleasant feelings I had about this strange spectacle and the logical arguments for why I should rip this anime series apart. Of course, my good feelings ultimately win out due to the last few episodes, and I am going to ignore any reason because I enjoyed this show quite a lot. So I guess I am going to be the only one. However, I am going to award this show four stars because there are bound to be enough voices of reason here over time, so I need to add some based purely on impressions. 7/10. (11.01.2016)