Review of A Place Further Than The Universe

Sora yori mo tooi basho is a very surface level show about self-discovery, wrapped in a fun adventure. But even though a story can be simple, it can still grasp the audience if executed well. A small group of high school girls from Japan take on the most ambitious task of their short lives while learning more about each other and most importantly, themselves. Along the way, we encounter moments of sadness but the show ultimately feels very hopeful. It doesn't have twists and turns but rather, provides some much needed emotional catharsis that peaks towards the end. The direction and pacing both feel good. The showestablishes itself adequately in the first three episodes and rides the expectations well until the end. It doesn't overstay its welcome and is a fairly comfortable binge.

I can't think of many things to complain or nitpick about. Aesthetically the show is passable, nothing too out of the ordinary for better or worse. Music does the job, although personally I found them overusing the same insert songs a bit too much.

If anything the one thing I felt missing was exploring the main cast more. We get the bare minimum about them but I really wanted to get to know them better as they seemed fun but outside of Shirase, we don't see a ton sadly. Oh and speaking of the characters, the voice acting cast at least is very stacked.

There were moments where I felt the drama became a bit too melodramatic for my own tastes but most of the time it felt real in a positive way. I definitely felt emotional during several scenes but also experienced things like comfy vibes during the more adventurous parts.

While the show wasn't an instant hit for me, I can see why it became such an original hit. It's a short and tight, well written original package that doesn't require a crazy amount of thinking to understand the message of.