Iriya no Sora UFO no Natsu
"Iriya's Sky, UFO's Summer" ("イリヤの空、UFOの夏"; "Iriya no Sora, UFO no Sora") is a light novel written by Mizuhito Akiyama (秋山瑞人), illustrated by Eiji Komatsu(駒都えーじ), and serialized in Dengeki Bunko (電撃文庫). It is animated as 6 episodes of OVA from Feb - Jun 2005, and the episodes were first broadcast on the web.
Introduction
In the summer break, Naoyuki Asaba spent his sumjmer days searching for UFOs in the mountains, together with Kunihiro Suizenji, the self-proclaimed President of Sonohara Radio News Club (園原電波新聞部).
Then, on the last night of the summer break, Asaba sneaked into the school pool, and met the mysterious girl called Kana Iriya.
An SF youth story, with light but touching encounters of boys and girls.
Titles
Vol I (published Oct 2001)
- Third Encounter
- Love Letter
- The Right Way to Steal Gen-Chari (1/2)
- Extra: Because of That
Vol II (published Nov 2001)
- The Right Way to Steal Gen-Chari (2/2)
- 18:47:32 (1/2)
- 18:47:32 (2/2)
- Extra: Washing the Corpse
Vol III (published Sep 2002)
- The Legend of Dining-Without-Paying
- Answer, Suizenji! (1/2)
- Answer, Suizenji! (2/2)
- Extra: ESP's Winter
Vol IV (published Aug 2003)
- Another Summer Break (1/2)
- Another Summer Break (2/2)
- The Last Way
- Southern Island
- Epilogue
Characters
- Naoyuki Asaba (浅羽直之)
- #1, Class 2-4, Sonohara Junior High. A member from the beginning of Sonohara Radio News Club. Though he does not notice himself, he is easily influenced by the surroundings, and is frequently pushed around by President Suizenji's reckless actions. His home runs a barber shop, and he is good at hair-cutting, so he also runs a barber shop for students using a club room. He is always concerned with Iriya who cannot mix well into the class, but he is such a klutz that he do not know what to say when the time comes. Also, he does not notice at all Akiho's affection towards him.
- Kana Iriya (伊里野加奈)
- The girl Asaba met at the pool on the last night of the summer break. She is transferred into Asaba's class. She claimed that she was in a foreign military base with her brother, who was an officer of the Air Self-defense Force. However she holds many mysteries: a silver bead is embedded in her wrist; she sometimes suddenly nosebleeds and passes out; and she carries around with her large amounts of medicine. Also, she often leaves school early and takes leave from school. She is isolated in the class due to a certain includent. From the first encounter by the pool, she is attracted towards Asaba.
- Kunihiro Suizenji (水前寺邦博)
- President of Sonohara Radio News Club. #12, Class 3-2. He is 175cm tall, scores a deviation value of 81 in the mock national exam, runs 100m in 11 seconds, and has a pretty good face, but he is a complete wacko who seriously writes down "CIA" in the prefered career survey. He has the threatening mobility that will do just anything in his quest for the truth. However his target of interest changes pretty quickly, and he investigated on supernatural power, and then ESP before his interest in UFO. With a bottomless stomach, he holds the unsurpassed title to finish an ironman meal in the youngest age. His family is a great landlord, and he lives in the warehouse of his family premise. He is not good at handling his elder sister.
- Akiho Sudou (須藤晶穂)
- Same grade as Asaba. #14. A member of Sonohara Radio News Club. Fighting every day to reform the always-amock Sonohara Radio News Club under President Suizenji. A serious and dependable character, she regards Asaba who always gets pushed around by Suizenji as pathetic. She is also always in opposition with Suizenji, as they have different opinions towards club activities. Same as Suizenji, however, she has the supersized appetite despite her looks. She has a secret crush towards Asaba, and does not like Iriya who got close with Asaba.
- Enomoto (榎本)
- Self proclaimed "Elder bro of Iriya." He is always concerned with Iriya, and has a gentle side in his character, but he is mostly a mysterious figure with deep secrets beyond measure. His hobby is star-gazing while sipping instant ramen on the roof.
- Mayumi Shiina (椎名真由美)
- The new school doctor. With great looks and affable character, she gains great popularity among students. In reality, she is an intelligence officer of the Ground Self-Defense Force.
(to be posted soon)
Reader Comments
Mizuhito Akiyama's four-volume series "Iria no Sora, UFO no Natsu." A series that got animated and got to the news. The cover was quite otaku-tic, and made one hesitate to take one from the shelf. However, don't hesitate; just buy it! This book's glamor is on its thoroughly well-set characters. Every character is written with great charisma, and it is fun reading about them. Of course Kana Iriya scores high in the moe scale, but hey, the side character Hiroyuki Suizenji is gold! (>_<) This guy leaves a great aftertaste, to the point that one would die for a sequel with Suizenji as the protagonist! Too bad that the main character, surrounded by so many charismatic characters, does not seem attractive enough... (;'p') Others are glamorous to the point of wasteful. The story is touching, and pulls me gradually in. Excitement index (9/10)
- -- カムさん
It started at Sonohara Government Junior High, which neighbors military facilities, and is awashed with rumors like "war" or "UFO". Naoyuki Asaba, a member of the news club, sneaked into the pool at midnight as a memory for the last day of summer. There he encountered a mysterious girl called Kana Iriya, and Naoyuki's "UFO's Summer" had started ever since...
A work that holds a view of the whole world, or specifically, "the lineage of EVA." There are surprisingly many people (including me) who got caught by what the anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion" started at the middle of its storyline: the ambience of school love comedy, nurtured with the background of world crisis. There are enough of us to make Gainax keep churning out "School Eva" themed games and manga, but these are just a reuse of the Eva settings and a trap into the mere shell of love comedy. "Iriya no Sora," on the other hand, features an alien heroine's ephemera, a common life next neighbor to breakdown, a fragile boy-meets-girl that breaks upon the slightest touch. It interweaves the "crisis" and "heartache" we secretly embraced in "EVA," in such fiery tension that it can only be called fantastic. With this icy needle, those literature sissies who stubbornly holds on their admiration for a sweet Moratorium Utopia like "eternal summer break" or "never-ending culture festival" would definitely be stabbed without mercy! In fact I could not even bring myself into reading the second volume onwards. Hey, it is Mizuhito Akiyama, the author behind "Neko no Chikyugi (Cat's Terrestrial Globe, 猫の地球儀)"! I flip the pages with fearful heartbeats, thinking every minute what cruel incidents lie ahead!
It is so good just to look at it from afar~ (Thinking stopped)
- -- ガルシアの首さん
When something like a novel, anime, manga -- a story -- gets good past a certain point, there is a strange opposite effect where the slightest inconsistency or flaw or unfulfillment starts to grate at you, eventually to haunt you. This is because the story now affects you at a level more normal stories do not. Its slightest shiver sends ripples.
"Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu" did this for me, and despite being haunted, I can say that I'm grateful for it, because it hasn't happened in awhile. I have the forboding feeling that despite the promise of a continuation from the anime's events, that it will end as bittersweet as the anime. Yet, I find that I still have to know.
I hold no illusions that this is the best story in the world, but those who always hold out for the best will never enjoy what's good. For me, it's enough if I can say that this is one story I'm not going to forget any time soon.
It's too bad about things like these; they just don't advertise so well. Anybody can say that something is good, but in the absence of trust, it's all noise. All we're left with is a bunch of stats. Purple hair, frail constitution. Moe. As evidenced from my own turnaround, the best teaser is the anime, or (hint hint!) a few pages translated. However, from the synopses (spoilers ahead, obviously) I've read, the story moves (at least at the start) quite slowly. Apparently events don't really set themselves into motion until Chapter 2, and then things slow down after the beginning of the next volume.
I personally am not against a slow moving story, if I am assured there IS a story, and if the interludes serve to build the world in which the story takes place. From what I have read, this is true of the novels.
It really is too bad that people may not be able to appreciate the novel unless quite a bit more than a teaser has been translated. It's a chicken-egg dilemma, and the only thing I can say to people who don't know what this story is about -- is to watch the anime. And then vote afterwards.
- -- the_naming_game
