WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. Once again, Sora no Otoshimono produced another fantastic episode. Sora no Otoshimono Episode 8 may very well be the best episode in the series so far, and that’s saying a lot given the ridiculously high standard this anime has set for itself with how fantastic it’s been. It was loaded with humor, action, emotion, compassion, intrigue, plot development, and character development. In addition, it was very sad and incredibly beautiful. We finally got our first large glimpse into Ikaros’s past, and oh boy is it both groundbreaking and horrifying.
First, the Guy at the Shooting Range was the new character for Sora no Otoshimono Episode 8. As a character, he seems remarkably cutthroat, a rarity for the individuals in this series. His cutthroat nature actually serves as a nice balance to the calmer nature of the other characters. Despite being ruthless, he was still crazy given he fed live ammunition into the gun stockpile. Thus, his crazy nature still manages to fit in well with this anime. It’s unclear how much of him we’ll see later.
Next, the action was very exciting. The shooting festival was a nice mixture of humor and action. It was cool to see the personalities of the characters on display and see how it guided their fighting styles, especially with Sugata and Mikako. The showdown between Ikaros and Nymph was much more serious, and thus more intense. We hadn’t seen Ikaros do any fighting up to this point, so it was interesting to find out just how dangerous Ikaros truly is in combat. In both cases, there were moments of fear and being on edge as to how things would play out, especially when Ikaros took the bullet to prevent it from hitting Tomoki.
Looking at the comedy, the humor was hilarious, as is the norm. It’s truly impressive how many good jokes and laughs Sora no Otoshimono is able to pump out. Once again, the humor relied on the hilarious character personalities and their interactions with each other. This was especially evident with Tomoki’s pervertedness and his lovable loser image. As usual, the humor also relied heavily on just how crazy and absurd this anime truly is.
As for the more serious emotions, these were outstanding. The great music helped to set the tone and bring out the emotions beautifully. Much of this episode was sad, and I had to feel sorry for Ikaros for all she’s been through. It’s awful that Ikaros had to experience such horrible trials.
Still, Sora no Otoshimono Episode 8 didn’t reveal everything. Instead, the episode gave us a large glimpse into Ikaros’s past while leaving many of the details hidden. This was true not just with Ikaros and Nymph, but also with the mysterious blue-haired angel we keep seeing. This is truly beautiful storytelling and narrative work. I love it when media give viewers bits of the traumatic pasts of characters instead of just revealing everything at once. This keeps the viewer on edge trying to figure out what really happened and trying to piece together the story bits into a clear picture. I’m looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.
Though it’s hard to tell for certain what’s been going through Ikaros’s head, this episode may also be the first time we’ve seen Ikaros show true sadness, which makes sense given her emotional ability and memories were blocked. She obviously loves Tomoki and cares for him greatly. Likewise, Tomoki obviously loves her and cares for her as well. The two of them are clearly becoming closer. In addition, it’s nice that even after remembering her dark past she stayed righteous and pure in nature. She even spared Nymph’s life despite all the horrible things Nymph did to her.
Speaking of Nymph, we found out more of Nymph’s villainous nature. Nymph has seemed eviler by the episode. The way she attacked and tortured Ikaros in this episode was downright nasty and brutal. To make matters worse, she didn’t simply torture Ikaros physically but emotionally as well. It’s unclear what will occur with Nymph going forward, given she seems to have left after her failure. I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of Nymph’s story goes, as she’s truly a great villain.
Sora no Otoshimono. Funimation, 2009. Web.