We Without Wings – Under the Innocent Sky

Once upon a time the world considered mental illness to be a taboo subject, so much so that those who suffered were often shunned or locked away, and it was often the case that stories dealing with the issue were thought of as ... controversial. Nowadays there is greater understanding of the ailments of the mind, and with that has come a rise in the number of tales featuring the subject as a central theme. That said, there is a tendency to focus on clinical depression, schizophrenia, psychosis, and other well known illnesses, which may seem a little odd until one realises that the mostcommonly fictionalised ailments have one underlying connection - they all made the national news. The press is rife with tales of psychopaths, suicides, serial killers and more, and while there are stories that are based on one (or more), of the lesser known mental illnesses, the majority of authors and screenwriters will immediately utilise those that the public finds familiar. Based on the eroge of the same name by Navel, Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai (We Without Wings) – Under the Innocent Sky (or OreTsuba as it's more commonly known), follows the daily lives of Haneda Takashi, Chitose Shuusuke and Narita Hayato, three young men living in the city of Yanagihara. Each leads a life that is very different to the other two, and at first they seem to have no connection to one another ... And that's about as clear as things get for quite a few episodes. From the outset there's no apparent direction or focus to the plot, and this continues until late in the series, at which point the shape of a storyline begins to appear. Now given the ultimate focus of the narrative one might argue that the somewhat dizzying sequence of events during the first half of OreTsuba are a purposeful attempt to elicit a sympathetic reaction from the audience by making them confused and uncomfortable. Unfortunately that sort of reasoning is a bit too far fetched in the cold light of day as the story appears to have been written by someone with little to no knowledge of mental illness whatsoever. In addition to that one does have to question the sanity of the person who decided an ecchi, harem romantic comedy was the best vehicle for a narrative where the core themes are not only being mentally ill, but also how it affects those around you. Speaking of harems ... OreTsuba features an array of characters who are paraded across the screen like pedigrees at a dog show, and the sheer number can initially seem impressive until one realises that the majority of them are nothing more than window dressing. There's little in the way of actual development going on, which wouldn't be a bad thing if some effort had been put into defining the characters from the start, so it's unfortunate that this is yet another anime populated by cardboard cutouts. Even worse is that almost every opportunity for growth or added definition during the first half of the series is wasted on stock events that grace many an ecchi harem tale, and while the latter portion of the story does present a few interesting scenarios, these are not enough to raise the show from mediocrity. If nothing else, OreTsuba is consistent in that the generic characters and plot tokens are very clearly reflected in the acting, and unrealistic voices abound in this series. The lead roles seem to lose interest in the project after the first episode and appear to perform little more than lines by rote for the rest of the series, but maybe it's not the fault of the seiyuu as the dialogue is sorely lacking in originality and imagination. This apparent lack of creativity also extends to the music, and many of the background tracks are of the type that one might find in just about every other ecchi harem romantic comedy, including the pieces used in Gretagard. The opening and ending themes are no better, and OreTsuba manages to uphold the best traditions of eroge and dating sim adaptations by finding the most generic J-pop tracks it can for the series OP and ED. Now given that this is an adaptation there's an inherent limitation placed on design, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing for some shows, viewers should remember what the source material actually is. The problem is that OreTsuba, like so many other eroge and datings sims, uses a stock set of character designs that have gone beyond a simple stereotype, and are now more of a hallmark for these types of story. In addition to this the animation is workman-like, and that blandness is most prominent when the character are undertaking some sort of frenetic activity. In all honesty Nomad, like so many studios before them, appear to have been unable to muster the effort to produce a good looking series. On a side note, one of the most annoying things about OreTsuba is that the visuals sometimes show a few flashes of original thinking, but these moments are often derailed or buried completely by the sudden and pointless introduction of fanservice. There are far too many occasions where events are progressing in an interesting manner when all of a sudden the screen is covered with underwear or jiggling ... things. So is OreTsuba enjoyable? Well, the story lacks any real charm or grace and the core theme has been handled in a far more sensitive manner by Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~. In addition to that, the seemingly mindless adherence to the stereotypical production methods of eroge and datings sim adaptations and the overabundance of pointless fanservice actually detract from any efforts to move the plot in a more meaningful direction. The simple fact is that OreTsuba is about as subtle and sensitive as a hammer to the face, and one event in particular highlights this as there's nothing in the series up to that point to justify the sudden revelation that one of the characters had an imaginary little brother. OreTsuba is a singular example of pretty much everything that's wrong with the anime industry these days, which is actually the only good thing about it. Watching the series is far more work than it should be, and while the source material appears to have been written and designed by people who like to wear jackets with lots of straps and really long sleeves, that's no excuse for a poorly executed adaptation. There are many ways the series could have been handled (as Tears To Tiara proved), but it looks like nobody really cared enough about this anime to make the effort. So the only question left is why on earth was it made in the first place?

Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai, simply put, is probably the most confusing anime I have ever watched. The one weird thing for me, is that this is kind of my “guilty pleasure” anime. I know it’s horrible, but I enjoyed it for some reason despite not knowing what the fuck was going on for over half of the 12 episodes. I give it a 9/10 on my list simply because there I rate things based on enjoyment, but I’ll be more critical in this review. Plot – 5/10 What Oretachi attempts to do is to put a twist on the usual “harem” genre where three or moregirls fall in love with one guy. I won’t explain much of the plot because, honestly, I don’t necessarily understand much of it myself. Art – 8/10 I thought the characters designs were pretty good. It’s kind of a mix between seinen and shounen so it’s not too much of either. The only problem is maybe some odd colors for school clothes and some weird gang member in the earlier episodes with a bizarre design. The art of the city they live in which I suppose is Tokyo is fine though it doesn’t stand out as being exceptional. Music – 8/10 I don’t count Openings and Endings in reviews but I just want to mention that I really like this show’s opening since it was what initially convinced me to watch this show. But the music during the episodes isn’t anything remarkable, just kind of average like the art so not much to talk about. Characters – 7/10 The characters are interesting, but pretty stereotypical. There’s girls working in a maid café, a loli or two, and the main personality-split guy. There are three main characters and one not-as-important character. The problem here being that the not-as-important one is one the most hilarious and amazing minor characters I’ve ever seen. He only really gets an appearance in one episode (I believe 7) but it makes it the best episode of the series. You could honestly just watch that episode, laugh, and go on to watch something better as far as I’m concerned if you don’t want to be extremely confused. Enjoyment – 9/10 I did enjoy this show. As much as I was confused and noticed how bad it was, I liked it for no reason that I can explain. Hey, we all have some show like that don’t we, something we know we shouldn’t like but still do? This isn’t one of my favorite shows by a long shot, but I’m glad I watched it. Still I wouldn’t recommend it, since I doubt many other people would feel the same weird feelings about this show that I did, but if you want to go for it. At least try episode 7, it had me laughing non-stop and it’s basically a filler episode so not too much problem in getting caught up on the events of the story.

So i just finished OreTsuba for the 5th time and i spent an entire hour writing a review (and then closed it by accident so this is the 2nd take and i'm not even gonna bother trying to sound smart like all these other kids do) even tho i normally don't write reviews or care about reviews or about monkeys that get infuenced by reviews but this anime is so good that if my review made 1 more person watch it, it'd be worth it This anime is the best, not even exaggerating. I have no reason to be biased and i only watch animes forentertainment and i have plenty of other shit to do so if you think fanboying over some random stuff on the internet is healthy or good for me you better think twice, the only reason i'm saying it is because its actually true - i still have yet to see a better anime than Oretachi ni tsubasa wa Nai and when you read this you should have in mind that at the end of the day this is a comedy, romance, ecchi anime so you can't possibly watch this and expect robots or space exploration or some shit like that so if you're going to hate on it only cause its an ecchi then you have some issues - no one is forcing you to watch animes that you normally don't enjoy just like how i don't watch animes that i normally don't enjoy. Oretsuba is awesome for its genre and discriminating it based on genre is stupid and i seriously don't see how can i rate this any lower The art is 10/10, the anime was made seven years ago (2011) and it still looks better than animes coming out to this year. The backgrounds are detailed and well-drawn and the waifus are top tier and you can't really get better art, just different, which is subjective and taste based so my rating of its art is based on the execution not the style but i do like the style as well cus they're cute af. The sound is 10/10, there's barely a single character who's voice annoys me a bit but all others sound perfect, they also sound unique (not like other animes where everyone sounds like a character from another anime) and the background music is actually good as well so the production value is quite high The plot to me is 10/10, mainly because of how it's portrayed but the story is also good and a believable one. The portrayal of the story is unique and it's also a big confusing which is why you shouldn't watch this anime on autopilot else you'll get angry cus you're a lil triggerlord. It does take a few episodes to ramp up and become a bit more clear on your first watch but if you pay attention perhaps you'll be surprised in a good way instead of confused little rage god diva Characters? Well - 10/10 obviously. There are a ton of characters in this anime and most of them are awesome and the only 'downside' is that we don't really get to know any of them that well but for the amount of time we see them they are clearly defined and good. I don't think the length of the anime is a downside as well because i think that the anime's story progression is perfect and doesn't feel slow or rushed and this may not be the best anime to get overly-attached to some of the characters but nonetheless they're still good. This is based on a visual novel but it doesn't really matter what its based on as we're only reviewing the anime and the only thing that matters is the anime and how good that was. I've seen a lot of people complain over bad adaptations or manga being better and what not but this doesn't matter at all when you're talking about anime so i don't think the VN has anything to do to the anime and what i'm judging and rating what i saw so i'm not going to get biased over visual novel this visual novel that. Despite the overwhelming amount of fanservice the anime is actually grown up, the characters are grown up and they also swear and insult a lot plus they're members of a gang and there's actually some violence (well it's not that big of a deal) and i actually believe that the creators are grown up and reasonable as well, unlike most other animes where you're thinking "wtf who made this character dude?" I dont think the fanservice is triggering or anything like that, if you're getting triggered by small stuff like this you should re-think your internet life cus it doesn't sound very healthy. Just take it with a smile or something. The humor is absolutely fantastic, i've seen it five times and i still laugh at the jokes (altho it was over the years so it's not like i remembered everything down to the last line) This is NOT your typical harem no matter what others are saying, i've seen a lot of typical harems and most of them have a ton of unreasonable characters or a garbage story or both and most of them are full of kids or teens which isn't the case here. I don't think the anime ever tries too hard or forces things too much, to me it felt completely natural and it never felt like a drag like a lot of other animes do. The last episodes were wrapped up nicely as well (unlike most other animes.. again) and finishing it leaves me with a good feeling in my tummy instead with annoyance I did read a bit of people's thoughts to understand oretsuba's low score and it seems like some people are blaming the anime for them not understanding the anime which is dumb as hell. I understand the anime so there's clearly no problem with that, don't blame something else if you're the problem in the first place. I also read some people comparing this masterpiece to some garbage and saying that this is bad cause it has pantsu shots, seriously? How does a pantsu-shot make the story irrelevant? You know panties exist in real life too right? At the end of the day this is a comedy and an ecchi anime so these two things are expected and it's supposed to make you smile not rage and perhaps you don't need comedy but a mental treatment if things like this annoy you. I will almost certainly re-watch this anime in the future as Japan seems to prefer to release some utterly forgettable garbage as most of the stuff that's airing right now (that's almost a pain to watch and if not that it's also incredibly ugly with a low budget art , which simply isn't the case here) and we're not helping them by letting kids down-rate masterpieces like this. I was watching Oretsuba while it was airing and it had 6.8/10 before half of the anime was even released and that makes absolutely no sense as the story wasn't even remotely developed by then but then again this is democracy so everyone can vote and everyone has an equal voice. The farmer's vote is the same as the Doctor's vote even if the subject at hand is actual medicine so that goes to show you how stupid democracy is and why you should never trust the majority of people.. simply because they're not qualified to judge correctly (and yet they still do). Watch this anime if you're into FUN and CUTE GIRLS and ROMANCE (those 3 things are basically the point of life). I can't find a better one, you probably won't as well. Hell this anime even has diversity (not that i care), there are black people and there are gay people what more do you want? Don't watch this anime if you're a little rage-god diva and if you hate laughing and fun. I'd say "and cute girls" but this anime actually has good male characters so even if you dont care about cute girls there's more than that in here!

We Without Wings - Under the Innocent Sky, often abbreviated to Oretsuba, is not an anime that appeals to the majority of viewers. Yet, the thematic construction and unraveling of the narrative leads to one of the most unique psychological presentations I have witnessed within the medium. It is an adaptation of a visual novel of the same name by Navel and is notoriously impossible to translate due to the author’s complex and culturally unbridgeable prose, restricting the source material from those who do not speak or understand the nuances of the Japanese language. The plot follows three men and their connection to various women,Haneda Takeshi, a feeble and chuuni high school student who escapes from bullying through the belief he is a knight from another dimension; Chitose Shuusuke, a lively and affable yet unsuccessful playboy who works multiple minimum wage jobs in order to sustain himself, and Narita Hayato, a brooding and edgy delinquent who roams the streets of Yanagihara city at night. While these men may initially seem disconnected on the surface, they share a substantial commonality connecting them intrinsically. Unfortunately, the girls lack substantial characterization and development, mostly existing to flesh out the male leads and provide often overwhelming and unnecessary fan service. That being said, each girl’s relationship with the corresponding male protagonists serves to highlight how each character’s shattered psyche indirectly affects others around them. In contrast, the male leads are fairly well-written, all representing different forms of psychological turmoil and mental illness, which leads to the construction of the unique narrative structure. Oretsuba’s narrative and story are analogous to a disharmonious band which plays entirely out of tune, yet within the deafening cacophony, a wholly new melody can be found, one which is beautiful in its unorganized discord. Equally parts perverse and chaotic, the anime is a mess of garbled comedic elements that seems too disconnected to amount to anything meaningful. Yet, given the psychological state of the main characters, the randomness makes sense through the lens of mentally ill individuals who cannot perceive reality in a cohesive or neurotypical manner, and the unique comedic elements create an absurdist outlook on the world where nothing makes sense and is enveloped within a veil of neurotic confusion. However, this extreme amalgamation of comedy, psychology, and ecchi is a double-edged sword, as Oretsuba can be perceived as disgusting, unfunny, and nonsensical depending on the viewer's perspective, which is understandably what makes the anime so unappealing to wider audiences as a whole. There isn’t much to say about Oretsuba’s music as it is unmemorable and stereotypical for a production of Oretsuba’s caliber, consisting of the typical J-pop tunes which dominate so heavily within the industry. The animation is crisp and luminous but not particularly special or atmospheric; it is reasonably visually appealing but not a memorable aspect of the anime in the slightest. Overall, We Without Wings - Under the Innocent Sky is an anime that is exceptionally unique yet difficult to recommend to others due to the confusing and perverted elements of the story, yet underneath the facade of a raunchy comedy, it creates and perpetuates an intriguingly complex perspective into the minds of disturbed and traumatized individuals who cannot view the world through the viewpoint of an average person.