Sorairo Utility

Sorairo Utility

OVA Overview

Sorairo Utility (空色ユーティリティ) is a 14-minute OVA about girls playing golf. When the anime was first announced, I thought it was going to be a full series. So, I was disappointed to find out this wasn’t actually the case upon its release at the end of 2021.

Before getting any deeper into what the OVA is about, though, let’s look at the title. Sorairo simply means sky blue. Sora as in sky and iro as in color. That part of the title makes sense since the protagonist references the beauty of the sky multiple times.

What doesn’t make sense to me is the second half of the title. Why is it “utility?” That might make sense to golfers reading this. But to me, that seems like a poor translation of whatever the creators wanted to say. Maybe “technique” would be a better word here?

Minami and Ayaka from the anime OVA Sorairo Utility
Minami and Ayaka

Regardless of what the creators were going for when they decided to use the English word “utility” in the title, the rest of the OVA is fairly nice. I like the art style, the character designs and personalities are good, and the animation is, well, underwhelming.

As far as animation is concerned, the best-animated part of the OVA is the opening scene. That’s not to say that the rest of the OVA is animated terribly. But there are a lot of still shots and the characters are frequently off-model to reduce the detail needed.

Considering this OVA is only 14-minutes long and by the studio that did the Azur Lane anime, I would have expected it to move more. But, at the same time, maybe this project simply wasn’t important enough to put all that effort into. I don’t know.

Characters

There are three characters in Sorairo Utility. These are Minami, Haruka, and Ayaka. It’s unclear if they’re golfing together as part of a school club, or if this is just their hobby. But what is clear is that their skill levels aren’t the same and they only play for fun.

Minami is the protagonist of the OVA and the least skilled golfer of the three. Considering her skill level, it’s implied that she’s newer to golfing than the other two. But we have no real confirmation of this — only circumstantial evidence.

The first piece of evidence is that Minami is pretty bad at golf and her goal is to get her first par on a hole. The second piece of evidence is that Minami buys fancy golf balls thinking they’ll magically help her perform better. That’s a classic beginner’s mistake. And Haruka even points out that Minami’s main issue is her form, not her equipment.

Ayaka, Minami, and Haruka from the anime OVA Sorairo Utility
Ayaka, Minami, and Haruka

Speaking of Haruka, she’s the best of the three at golf. And since she’s the best, we can assume that she’s been playing the longest. Haruka seems to be the most serious about golfing. But she’s not serious about it in an off-putting way. She wants others to enjoy the sport.

Lastly, we have Ayaka, whose skill falls between Minami’s and Haruka’s. However, I’d say that Ayaka is closer in skill to Haruka than to Minami. Ayaka can actually hit the ball in a straight line and in the right direction, unlike Minami.

However, Ayaka also comes across as the least interested in golf of the trio. Don’t get me wrong, she clearly enjoys it. But I got the feeling that she’d participate in and be decent at any activity as long as she got to spend time with the other two.

Would It Work as a Full Series?

To answer this question simply, yes. There’s really no reason that Sorairo Utility wouldn’t work as a full series with full-length episodes. Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater is just about girls fishing and it works in that format. So why wouldn’t an anime about girls golfing work?

Now, that’s not to say that a full series of Sorairo Utility would work exactly as it is now. It definitely could. But I think a few adjustments would have to be made for it to really work in that format.

First of all, some additional characters would need to be added. They don’t need to be main characters. But it would need at least a couple of supporting characters — like how Super Cub has three main characters and some supporting characters.

Haruka and Ayaka from the anime series Sorairo Utility
Haruka and Ayaka

Even though I’ve only seen this one, small bit of content, I do think the characters are good and can be interesting on their own. But supporting characters can add a bit more interest to a full season of episodes.

The other addition a series would need is more of a plot. This OVA follows the girls during a single day of golf. They start in the morning, take a break for lunch, and then finish out their game in the afternoon. That’s fine for a short OVA. But a series needs more than that each week.

In reality, I think it would have to follow the classic sports anime trope of the girls working towards competing in some tournament. The start of the series would focus on practice, the middle portion on games, and the end on competing in the tournament.

I don’t watch many sports anime, but Iwa Kakeru!: Sport Climbing Girls is one I’ve reviewed that follows this same formula. And, no, just because they compete in a tournament doesn’t mean they need to win.

It would be kind of odd if Minami turned into a great golfer over the course of the season. I would expect her to improve, but not surpass Ayaka and Haruka.

Conclusion

I was going to give Sorairo Utility a 5/10. But after thinking it over for a bit, a 6/10 is fairer. I enjoyed it. It’s just that it’s held back by the fact that it’s a 14-minute OVA. A full series would likely be better. And if one ever comes out, I’ll watch it.

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