From Top to Bottom, L to R: Roma, Edogawa, Fumie, Sayo, Saku, Mihoshi and Hime
Saku Ooyagi is a quiet bookworm who's moved from place to place over the years, never getting a chance to stay very long or make friends. Though long ago, he remembers how he was dragged around by Mihoshi Akeno, a girl who he ended up saving after she fell from a tall tree. He returns to his old hometown and, now a first year in high school, is about to be in for the greatest upheaval in his life.
Mihoshi, one year ahead of him, is as passionate about astronomy as she was years ago, and is starting up an Astronomy Club at their high school. When she sees Saku, she sets off running after him and gets him to join, not by choice. The Astronomy Club is brand new, and thus regularly faces opposition from the student council.
Sora no Manimani ("At the Mercy of the Sky") is a romantic comedy manga written and illustrated by Mami Kashiwabara, which was serialized in the seinen magazine Monthly Afternoon from 2005 to 2011. It received an anime adaptation in the summer of 2009.
This work provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Kawamura and Minami keep calling Mihoshi "Hoshimi".
- A-Cup Angst: Hime feels this next to Sayo in the Beach Episode.
- Beach Episode: Episode 5
- Berserk Button: Hime doesn't like anyone messing with her hair.
- Or reminding her of her old nickname Drift
- Betty and Veronica: Mihoshi (wild) and Fumie (proper).
- Big Brother Mentor: Souma. Haruko is the Cool Big Sis.
- Big "NO!": Mihoshi's reaction to Saku denying ever meeting her. And pretty much to anything that prevents her stargazing. Actually, almost every main character in the show does a Big "NO!" at some moment.
- Bird Run: Mihoshi loves it.
- Bland-Name Product: Played straight for the ever popular
NikonNihon cameras, averted for the Vixen telescopes. - Blind Without 'Em: Fumie can't see a thing without her glasses, and keeps talking to random things that are not Saku.
- Blood from the Mouth: Roma's signature move.
- Bromantic Foil: Edogawa.
- Camera Fiend: Edogawa, Saku's classmate and sidekick. While he does lend his camera to the club for night sky photography purposes, he also loves snapping pictures of Sayo.
- Casanova Wannabe: Edogawa
- Chick Magnet: Saku. Unlike the average main lead in this type of series, he's set up as good-looking and one of the school's heartthrobs from the very first episode. He doesn't like his status, though.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Kawamura and Minami. They think of
constellations as teen idols, and are ...eccentric overall. - Club President: Roma. Though the official club leader, his tendency to cough up blood at random intervals doesn't do much for recruiting. After Roma graduates, Mihoshi takes up the reign of president.
- Custom Uniform: Hime is the only one who wears a yellow sweater with her school uniform.
- Cuteness Proximity: Kawamura and Minami have this reaction to constellations. "Perseus-sama moe!"
- Date Peepers: It wasn't actually a date, after all
- Description Cut: Episode 2. Roma feels a great night for stargazing is coming up. It isn't, of course.
- Doting Parent: Saku's mom.
- Drop-In Character: Edogawa is not technically a member of the Astronomy Club. But he hangs around with them so much that he may as well be.
- Evolving Credits: It's a small difference, but the clothing of everyone changes in the ED animation partway through.
- There are four different variants representing each of the seasons, starting at spring and ending at winter. The constellations shown also change accordingly.
- Fangirl: Mihoshi's love of Astronomy and stargazing is cranked up to eleven.
- Foreshadowing: Mihoshi's reaction to Saku's mom giving regards to her parents.
- Genki Girl: Mihoshi, who's constantly in hyper mode. Especially when it involves astronomy or Saku.
- And Saku's mom. Genki Housewife?
- The Glomp: Again, Mihoshi. Her favorite thing to do to Saku.
- Continuously. In public. No wonder everyone thinks they are an item.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Saku once Souma-sensei arrives and takes some of Mihoshi's attention from him.
- Hippie Teacher: Souma.
- Hot Librarian: Fumie.
- Hot Springs Episode: The final episode. Complete with implied Skinship Grope and Modesty Towels.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl : Saku next to Mihoshi.
- Imagine Spot: Mihoshi has them with regularity.
- Innocent Innuendo: Mihoshi's conversation about stargazing with Saku sounds like something else entirely to his classmates when she walks in unannounced.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Fumie.
- Lens Flare: It's a show about lights in the sky, after all.
- Like Brother and Sister: Mihoshi and Souma.
- Love Triangle Hime is in love with Saku and is afraid that Mihoshi might get him, although Mihoshi's love for Saku seems to be entirely platonic. Saku doesn't seem to be interested in either girl (yet?).
- Love Dodecahedron once Fumie joins. And Saku does seem slightly interested in her.
- Master of the Mixed Message: Mihoshi obviously likes Saku... but what does Saku mean to her exactly?.
- Mundane Made Awesome:
- Edogawa explaining how to take photos of the night sky in Episode 4... with Battle Aura and a Shout-Out to Fist of the North Star
- Episode 6 makes a thrilling psychological battle out of the question who is going to press the "stop" button in a crowded bus.
- Episode 7 has Saku doing headdesks while Also sprach Zarathustra blares and the solar system has gone mad in the background ...because he agreed to help Fumie on her club activities instead of helping his own club.
- Episode 11 has the clubs tried to help Hime and Mihoshi to find their way in a blizzard after they have gone missing, by firing their [1] (or rather, a camera flashlight flashing through a telescope) in the night sky. What is more awesome is that it apparently can really be done with a large enough telescope, complete with the firing SFX.
- My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: Hime before being rescued by Mihoshi.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Mihoshi doesn't believe in "personal space". Particularly Saku's.
- Not What It Looks Like:
- Saku keeps repeating this because of Mihoshi's knack for Innocent Innuendo, but a textbook example of this trope happens in Episode 7.
- Fumie recalls an old incident where Souma-sensei was mistaken for a predator while playing tag with Sayo and Mihoshi.
- Older Than She Looks: Mihoshi and Maibara from Oumi's Club.
- Posthumous Character: Mihoshi's dad.
- Scenery Porn: Since stargazing is the club's focus, lovely shots of the night sky are quite the sight.
- School Festival: The highlight of the show ends up being the club's handmade planetarium, or "Plane-tan". Previously known as Star Shining Astro Max Star Ship.
- Sensei-chan: Sakai-chan, the club advisor of the Takami All-girl School.
- Serious Business: All the clubs in the show treat their subjects as a Big Deal. Mihoshi and Roma specially.
- Sexual Euphemism: What Mihoshi talking about stargazing with Saku sounds like after Gossip Evolution.
- Shes Not My Girl Friend: Saku is not Akeno's boy.
- Shout-Out:
- Before meeting her again, Saku imagines an older Mihoshi as Takeshi's sister.
- Fist of the North Star and Saint Seiya come up, of course.
- The Antares star evokes its train namesake from Galaxy Express 999
- Could a series about stargazing avoid mentioning Orihime and Hikoboshi?
- Edogawa is seen performing a Kame-kame-ha in the opening.
- Mihoshi can enter Super Saiyajin mode.
- You can see a life-size Elizabeth plush among the things Mihoshi bought during the School Festival.
- A double-camera set-up in an equatorial mount reminds Edogawa of Kuroi Sabato.
- Shown Their Work: The astronomy trivia is surprisingly well researched. Justified because the author is also interested in astronomy and (especially) stargazing.
- Spoiler Opening: Hime isn't introduced until the second episode but she's shown as part of the main cast in the opening.
- Team Mom: Sayo.
- Those Two Guys: Both Hime and Fumie have their own set of Those Two Girls.
- Tsundere: Rare male example: Saku.
Souma: So, do you... like...
Saku: It's not that I like her or anything! - Victorious Childhood Friend: Oumi gets Roma at the end.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Mihoshi and Fumie, Type 1.
- Waif-Fu: Mihoshi and Hime beating up the delinquents at the beach in Episode 5. Hime later knocks down Musa. It was a misunderstanding
