Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
HetakuSoda
SoreMachi taught me that an electric bass, a drum set, a violin, and an accordion go surprisingly well in a band together.
I wasn't impressed at the start, with the pretty basic SHAFT comedy setup and multiple characters having deliberately unappealing designs, but the more I watched the more I appreciated how charming and loveable SoreMachi is. Compared to shows like Paniponi Dash or Maria Holic, it's much more restrained and doesn't have many references, but it's still goofy and rowdy compared to something like Hidamari Sketch. And the closer you get to the end, the more the show will surprise you with unexpectedly touching moments, and they hit harder thanks to the show's normally grounded, silly nature. It all culminates in a really memorable finale that reminded me of Disappearance.…
Read at the sourceItIsMaynard
I went in expecting your usual cozy feel good slice-of-life vibes, and while it is cozy and feel good it's far from usual. The first few episodes really pour on the fast-paced absurdist gags and at first it reminded me a lot of of Kill me Baby, but while the show stays surreal it pulls back a bit for a much stronger focus on the characters and tight-knit nature of the titular town. It feels odd to say that it gets more grounded when later episodes get exponentially weirder, but there's a strong emotional core here you don't get in a lot of purely absurdist gag series that makes the show compelling on a deeper level than just the humor.
The characters are the real masterstroke and while Hotori is ostensibly the protagonist, the titular town is really the main character. Hotori is unique in…
Read at the sourceThatAnimeSnobRE
The best way to enjoy this anime is to be a fan of either [b] SHAFT [/b] shows or a fan of wacky episodic comedies. If for example you demand a story with a plot, evolving characters, or artsy visuals ain’t your thing, then you better not head this way.
As far as SHAFT works go, this one’s on the better half of what they have made, with a lot more actual animation, a lot less bizarre imagery and real life photographs for some pretentious nonsense symbolism. The camera does all sorts of motions and the sequence of scene transition is almost frenetic, while occasionally zooming in to cute faces and naughty female parts of the body, which is SHAFT’s trademark and recipe of success. It is a fine way to help the viewer visualize how awkward and troubled the minds of the characters are, and to…
Read at the sourceSCLFI
Considering that anime is an audio-visual medium, having some unique visuals goes a long way in drawing in viewer attention, and when it comes down to it, SoreMachi, a comedy with minor elements of romance that takes place equal parts in high school and a maid cafe, probably lost the attention of a large number of prospective viewers from the premise that is less than original. But, hidden underneath that surface, is a quality anime, that does hit all the right notes typical of a high school comedy, while also hitting plenty of others, and being a lot more artsy than I’ve come to expect. What exactly is the significance of this maid cafe having a Van Gogh painting in it, which is at what point used for a POV shot? I don’t know, but it looks neat.
The story, while sparse, is concentrated.…
Read at the sourcemouthpiece
The best way to enjoy this anime is to be a fan of either SHAFT shows or a fan of wachy episodic comedies. If for example you demand a story with a plot, evolving characters, or artsy visuals ain’t your thing, then you better not head this way.
As far as SHAFT works go, this one seems to look a lot better, with a lot more actual animation and a lot less bizarre imagery and real life photographs that border hollowed pretentious nonsense. The camera does all sorts of motions and the sequence of scene transition is almost frenetic, while occasionally zooming in to cute faces and naughty female parts of the body, which is SHAFT’s trademark and recipe of success. It is a fine way to help the viewer visualize how awkward and troubled the minds of the characters are, and to spice up the jokes. T…
Read at the sourcePixelB
It's really good. I guess you really can find some hidden gems if you search hard enough. Even though I've watched a lot of series before, this one never really caught my eye.
As a "garbage collector," nowadays I just watch random anime or new anime I haven't watched before, since I've watched so many shows that I've watched all the things I've wanted to watch, so a lot of shows I watch are less popular and usually for a reason: they suck.
But this show is great. You know, a lot of anime I watch nowadays I just check how much longer is it going to take to end. Sometimes though, when I'm lucky, I actually hope the show has more episodes, like this one.
A series focused around comedy, regardless of the other genres, is always hard to pull off, regardless of any medium, anime being no excep…
Read at the sourceFuerzo
If you've watched enough anime, you've surely noticed that some anime studios have their distinct in-house styles that transcend franchises or genres, and perhaps no studio does this as clearly as Shaft. Akiyuki Shinbou and his team made themselves known through critically acclaimed adaptations like the Monogatari series and original anime like Puella Magi Madoka Magica, as well as other popular anime series, through a signature visual surrealism, quick cuts, and a focus on the strange aspects of ordinary life. While 2010's Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru (SoreMachi) lacks the flashiness of Shaft's more successful adaptations, it provides one of the most immersive settings I've seen in a slice of life series, as well as a likeable cast and solid comedy.
The primary setting of SoreMachi is th…
Read at the sourceephemerry
And Yet The Town Moves, or Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, has as much substance as a g-string. It’s thin, flimsy, and far too voyeuristic to have any lasting significance. The plot revolves around three teenage girls who you constantly see talk about quirky, shallow things, while working in an uncanny valley café with an elderly woman in a maid uniform, and that’s really all there is. Oh! And an uncomfortably intimate view of their bodies to bridge dialogue gaps!
• I usually don’t care about fanservice, but this series is so saturated with it that the characters are practically a pair of talking ass and tits. It’s to be expected of SHAFT because the Monogatari series is a thing, but to NisiOsin’s credit―he knows how to flesh out characters with more than just flesh, if you know what I’m sa…
Read at the sourceAria_90
If you like slice of life genre so much, then this one will be your favorite. In this show we will find daily life of Arashiyama Hotaru which is really enjoyable. The character of her is someone like always cheerful and almost airhead. The people araound her, friends, family, people in neighbourhood, are so enjoyable too. Actually i can say that you can find somekind of warmness by watching this anime.
Ups, lets put it aside. There something in this anime that any other SOL genre dont have. Yeah. The producer of Monogatari, Mekaku City Actors, Hidamari Sketch, hm, maybe you can guess what i meant. Like those anime, which are having really, you know, long dialogue, frame to frame with weird motion, and sometime a single comedy part that seems not funny, dark, but sometime it can be really…
Read at the sourcecash_money_hoes
This is my first ever review, so please excuse any oversight I might've unseen.
With the general grind of seasonal, 12-episode shows, it is not often that one comes along with an essence to redefine a genre. And Yet the Town Moves is not one of those shows. SoreMachi does not seek to redefine anything, but merely portray the life of a girl as the life of a girl is, in an abstract-reality sort of way. The show itself embraces real life at its core, and yet happens to use abstract ideas and hidden messages to transfer a meaning that is beyond a normal show of its calibur. I believe that this show's goal is to be as normal as possible, and yet, in the pursuit of that goal, SoreMachi has become an outlier in the Slice-of-Life genre, piecing together life both at the surface and at its core.…
Read at the sourcejohnbradshaw
Somehow, from very the first episode, strange story settings, head tilt, weird camera angles, i talked to myself: "My god, this show is made by SHAFT". The studio that is both hated and loved for their unique approach to directing anime (thanks to Akiyuki Shinbou). Many times, they actually improved the anime but many times, they just created a disaster. So what about this show ? Is it lucky enough ? Very Fortunately, it is.
In fact, SHAFT has directed many great shows : Monogatari Series, Madoka Magica, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei,... And even among those famous shows, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru or And Yet The Town Moves is quite a stand-out anime, one of the most joyful experiences i had with a show made by SHAFT.
The story follows the exploits of whiny Hotori Arashiyama, her friends, f…
Read at the sourceFlawfinder
Soremachi is an anime centered on a high school girl named Hotori, who is chipper, energetic, and is voiced by Chiaki Omigawa, which means you’re getting a voice so nasal that it makes the Irate Gamer sound…well actually Chris Bores sounds a lot worse than her, so that comparison is utterly screwed. After school, she works for her grandmother at a maid café and helps her out whilst dealing with the customers and all sorts of wacky adventures that come her way, from matching wits with her math teacher to learning how to be a proper maid according to otaku standards to discovering space cookies left behind by time travelers. Did I mention this was a Shaft show?
Each episode is composed of two or three segments separated by those confusing raccoon segues that are sometimes interconnected wit…
Read at the sourceDanon6
And yet the town moves.
In truth, i didn't expect absolutely anything from this anime, in my view you shouldn't spoil your own expression from watching anime with some expectations or even by reading reviews before you will complete it.In some cases even getting to know genres is more than enough to knew denouement, i mean that when you see drama you already know in variations how it will end. Unfortunately,almost nobody can avoid it.
There is nothing remarkable in the story,in my opinion: it's a typical slice of life and comedy story,sometimes diluted by fantastic and mystical inserts.But this in no way be regarded as a negative position , after all, no nothing repulsive here.
Throughout the 12 episodes we will observe the life of ordinary people in ordinary circumstances , or almost ordi…
Read at the sourceflowerscissors
Unlike many anime comedy series that try to be funny with randomness but come across mostly as weird, SoreMachi is the type that leaves you snorting juice up your nose laughing at the absurdity of it all. Behold, the anime equivalent of eating pure sugar, in all its hyperactive wonder!
Each episode consists of sketches about main character Arashiyama Hotori, a clumsy and completely clueless employee of a poorly-run "maid cafe" who loves mystery stories and tries (not always so successfully) to act as a detective, and her equally strange friends and acquaintances. The mood is set by silly rants by the narrator on some tangential topic at the beginning and end of the episodes. The stories themselves are mundane and aren't particularly memorable, even though they are often outlandish and dea…
Read at the sourcegwern
For the first few minutes of the first episode, I was all 'what on earth was I thinking downloading this cutesy maid crap' and then slowly the humor ramped up and by the end I was laughing and had remembered that it was by Shaft. May still not watch the whole thing, but it's looking good. Unfortunately, then I was pretty disappointed at episode 2, episode 3 was OK, episode 4 was pretty good, episode 5 was back to being only OK. I think my favorite character at this point would be the math teacher, which is a little sad. Doesn't look like this series will be moving up to a 8 rank series. Finishing _Soredemo_ entirely, there were a few moderately good stories like the time travel one, but a weirdly dramatic finish. Overall, didn't impress me, but I don't quite feel like I wasted time watchin…
Read at the sourceDVTClark
"Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru" (or "Soremachi" in short) is based on its original manga series, "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru", and follows almost exactly the way how manga directs events. Only minor adjustment to orders,.
Soremachi's atmosphere is light and very relaxing. The art is colorful and drawings look interesting, my eyes were never bored. Musics fit the situation and very easy on ears. Characters are very interesting and has distinctive personality with different his/her own side of story. I liked the way how the anime pays attension to side characters as well as main characters.
Although not many, Soremachi gives bits and bits of real life philosophy or rather little things to think about. Soremachi gives reminders of things that are very common in life that aren't so noticabl…
Read at the sourcefoxnewsnetwork
It's no secret that Akiyuki Shinbou and the usual suspects at SHAFT productions tend to produce avaunt-garde shows with weird intros, strange camera angles, odd positioning, and artsy flares. Yet, even amongst the veritable flood of Shaft shows (actually, all anime in general), Soremachi stands out. It has become a rare example of when good source material meets good animation production. Everything from the loosely connected story-line, to the elegantly constructed setting, to the personalities and interconnections between all the characters spin perfectly into one gem of an anime.
People often argue that a "good" anime must have a "good" story; such an all-encompassing statement is simply not true. Lucky Star, Hidamari Sketch, GA, K-On, etc. did not bother with trying to tell an "epic"…
Read at the sourceOnigiri-man
i love the randomness of this anime, the hilarious twists and turns that you don't really expect, and above all Joseophine.
the creator of this story has taken maids to a new level, one that is better and more interesting than they were before (especially of you're female like me and don't care for moe)
plus their songs totally rock!
i was sad that it ended and hope for a new season
Read at the source8thSin
'Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru (The World Still Turns)' is about a dull maid café in a small shopping district, and the daily lives of its employees and customers.
It sounds like just another slice-of-life comedy, but it is one of the most thought-provoking comedy series I've ever encountered.
The town is a microcosm of the world. Conversely, 'SoreMachi' attempts to explain the way things work by studying the lives of ordinary citizens in an ordinary town.
The protagonist of the show is Arashiyama Hotori, a carefree, clumsy, and air-headed, yet very proactive girl who works in the maid café. Her irresponsible and unpredictable actions gets her into all sorts of strange situations and irregularities (such as aliens, ghosts, and time travelers) seem to be attracted to her as well. A walking…
Read at the sourceSalsk
To be honest, I didn't know what to expect from this adaption. I was familiar with the source material, but since the production was in the hands of Shaft, yeah. For the unitiated: If Japan's anime industry was a party, and the studios were the invited, Shaft would be the high guy smoking joints on your favourite couch while eating all your snacks. They're just completely unpredictable. Some times they'll create excellent animation and sharply delivered dialogue, other times they'll churn out something that looks more like a slideshow and the boring, endless monologues which are associated with them.
I was pleasantly surprised.
The plot of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru is fairly straightforward. Enter Hotori, a quirky high school student whose dreams is to become a teenage Sherlock Holmes…
Read at the source