This is part of a series of re-posts of older reviews on 100 Word Anime. The original review came out in June 2016 and can be found here.
I’ve watched this series a couple of times since my initial review and while some of the shine may have come off of this show on repeated viewings, there’s still something pretty great about it. I was kind of happy revisiting this one for a repost and to reconsider where it sits.
Like last time, one of the most striking things about this anime was how beautiful it was. Every scene is just a feast for the eyes. Whether they are showing souls dancing in the air, the trees, leaves, sunlight or anything else, it is truly beautiful. And the music that accompanies most scenes is rich and lovely to listen to while conveying a lot of the mood of the current scene. And this anime is all about atmosphere.
While at first it seems Ai is just another overly cute anime protagonist who is going to save the world with peppiness, there are a lot of dark undertones to the world in Sunday Without God and the plot never shies away from dealing with these. And Ai, to her credit, tackles most obstacles head on with very little denial of reality of insistence that something isn’t right. She works to overcome things on her own.
Which means the aesthetics of this anime are amazing and our protagonist (after we get through the initial scenes of her life before she was aware of anything) grows in leaps and bounds and takes us on a journey of discovery about life and its purpose (even if it gives us few answers on the way). The support cast are also a great asset to this story.
I’ll admit though, that Ai is probably the part of this show that is the weakest when you rewatch it. Though the first viewing was great, in follow up viewings her excessive optimism and overall cuteness kind of get a little harder to take so even her development as a character doesn’t manage to off-set it. However, if you like up-beat moe characters, Ai is going to be a hit.
Sunday Without God is episodic in that there are distinct story arcs within the greater journey Ai is taking. The first few episodes deal with her meeting a stranger who changes her perception about the village she was raised in. The next arc takes her to a city that is almost entirely populated with the dead who are trying to live their own lives. Then we have a school arc, because they just kind of had to stick a kid in school (and to be honest this is the weakest of all the arcs but it does lead very nicely into the final arc). And lastly, Ai is recruited by a boy named Alis and asked to help him destroy his world. The explanation behind that request is more mundane than it at might at first appear but it is an excellent story to end on.
While some characters travel with Ai, each arc brings new characters into the fold and then they go their own ways. This is both a strength and a weakness. The strength of this is that we continually meet new characters appropriate to the current setting and we also don’t have to keep inventing reasons for others to still be hanging around. But it’s a weakness because some characters are really interesting and then they are left behind. In a longer series, this could have been a nice touch as Ai may have had a chance to revisit these characters when she was a little bit more worldly. Unfortunately, in 12 episodes, mostly these characters are simply forgotten.
And the more I think about it, the more I wish Ai had returned to the city of the dead and after seeing some other parts of the world and meeting the other characters. I feel that this would have helped to show how far she had come in her journey, and more importantly there were some great characters left in the city of the dead that I wouldn’t have minded seeing how they had fared since encountering Ai. I would really love to see this further explored but at this point it seems unlikely.
I’ll be honest and admit that if you are after something fast paced, Sunday Without God is not for you. Even though there are occasional moments of action, the show focuses very heavily on character dialogue and interactions. This is a story about how people deal with life, death, and what comes next and it is very focused on their reasons and their emotions. Large lengths of time are focused on characters either sitting and talking or driving together and talking or eating together and talking.
There are so many unsolved mysteries in the world of Sunday Without God. And a lot of that can be laid at the feet of the episode count. 12 episodes is barely enough to scrape the surface of this world where people do not stay dead and wishes come true. The world here is bizarre and intriguing and there’s a certain pessimism underpinning everything that happens but Ai brightens each and every situation with her presence preventing it from becoming truly depressing. More time to develop this world and more time to unravel these mysteries would have been fantastic.
This is a show full of fascinating moments and ideas. I love the initial story and watching as Ai confronts her rapidly expanding world. I also love the city of the dead and how we see the different views on death and life. But my favourite character is Alis who isn’t introduced until the school arc and doesn’t really do much until his request for Ai’s help. The relationship between Ai and Alis and how they work together to save/destroy his world is really interesting.
Overall, I loved Sunday Without God, though will admit the rewatch value is pretty ordinary as the missing pieces of the story become more apparent and the shine comes off the protagonist. However it is sweet and thought provoking and just a pleasure to watch. However, it is also heavy at times and the plot is slow moving. I’d strongly recommend that if you haven’t watched the anime, at least watch the first three episodes and see the first story before you make up your mind about it. It’s well worth checking out.
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
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