Anime recommendation: Sonny Boy (2021)
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Sonny Boy (2021) is much deeper than it appears on the surface, so at your next free moment, make sure to add this wonderful anime to your watch list.
There is little one can do to really explain what Sonny Boy (2021) is. The experience is so drastically different depending on the viewer that simply providing one explanation will be doing it an injustice. Sonny Boy (2021) is what you make of it. To you, it could be the most pretentious nonsense that tries desperately to be deep but results in messy narrative gibberish, or it could be the greatest piece of visual media created by human hands with hidden meaning lush in every frame. Neither is wrong and neither is the more “intelligent” take. Nonetheless, this would not be a recommendation if there was truly nothing there.
Sonny Boy (2021) begins with a graduating class of ninth graders who have been transported into an alternate world with rules of nature that differ from the “real” world. These students soon realize that some among them have gained super powers ranging from control over space-time to a fingertip flashlight. Hierarchies and factions are formed and conflict ensues.
From this elevator pitch depiction, one might think that Sonny Boy (2021) is a typical Lord of the Flies story or power fantasy isekai—literally translating to “another world,” the isekai anime genre is famously terrible with few exceptions. There is, however, so much more to it than that. The different worlds they travel between are governed by the absurd and inexplicable. There are episode-long anecdotes that might seem crazy at first, like the entire sports career of a baseball team consisting of all monkeys, but can be perceived as fables or parables when looked at for longer. The animation is gorgeous with imagery that is abstract and psychedelic. Music is scarce, typically favoring ambient noise, but that means when it is present, it is striking; even if you have no interest in the show, listen to the original soundtrack.
One of the most frequently recurring themes of Sonny Boy (2021) is that you cannot change the world. Refusing to accept what is true in favor of what could be true is a prominent struggle throughout the show. The fight one puts up against adversity and the absurdity of the world, compounded with teenage angst, might seem honorable and just; yet when all efforts are inevitably futile, what was considered righteous is no better than escapism. There are two reactions to this and both are represented by a character: those who fight, Nozomi, and those who do not, Nagara.
Aloof and nihilistic, Nagara takes the role of the lead character. Quite literally, his first moments of screentime are of him lazily sprawled across the classroom floor, apathetic about the situation he—as well as the rest of the students—are in. This initial impression is consistent with his behavior in the future along with his growth. This development, however, would not have happened without Nozomi. She is reckless, whimsical, and refuses to remain idle. The pressure she applies on Nagara to take action is met with reluctance and refusal, but results in inspiration near the end.
Life, at times, feels pointless. How exactly can you expect to have agency over anything in a world so seemingly rigid, predetermined, and unpredictable, especially when there are situations when you cannot even control yourself? Things end and you are left with nothing. However, there is seldom a moment when all is truly lost.
One thing many underestimate is the power of a future. You can give into yourself, your doubts, and wait to die. Or you can live, struggle, fail, try again, fail again and keep on going. As long as you have a future and the resolve to keep on trying, you will find something worthy to grasp onto. You will not have nothing forever. Is this the message Sonny Boy (2021) is trying to convey? No, probably not. Is this an unrelated aside? Also no. Art is up to the interpretation of the individual. What you get out of it will differ from others. Sonny Boy (2021) is a piece of art that may be rough to dissect, but will leave an impression regardless. Watch it and wait to see what you will see.