Solty Rei

In a future-based disaster-ridden city with an enormous gap between the rich and the poor, it is hard to tell which humans are walking around with cybernetic body parts. This makes Roy Revant's job as a renegade bounty hunter/bodyguard-for-hire even more difficult. When a young girl with unbeliveable strength rescues him from a particularly dangerous criminal, Roy realizes that perhaps help can be found in the strangest of places. ing together with a few others, they engage in a battle to find out the truth behind the giant conglomerates that are supposedly serving mankind and making life better.

Solty, an android who has lost her memory, has escaped and is being hunted by the RUC Security Bureau. She encounters the bounty hunter Roy and he adopts her as his daughter after being hired as a bodygaurd for Miranda.

(Source: ANN)

Revant, Solty Main

Saitou, Momoko Japanese

Revant, Roy Main

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Anderson, Rose ing

Asano, Masumi Japanese

Maverick, Miranda ing

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Ban, Silvia ing

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Will ing

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Yayoi, Celica ing

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Maverick, Kasha ing

Kuwatani, Natsuko Japanese

Martel, Integra ing

Hirohashi, Ryou Japanese

Warrick, Accela ing

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Sabat, Christopher Producer, ADR Director

Cook, Justin Producer

Hiraike, Yoshimasa Director

Tsuruoka, Youta Sound Director

Reviews

Nov 16, 2017

DarkRavie

Recommended

Roy Revant is living the hard life of a bounty hunter in a broken city, a city where thousands have died in a mysterious event called the Blast Fall. Those who survived share the sting of loss. Countless Resembles walk the streets, people whose mangled bodies have been rebuilt with high-tech prosthetic devices.

Yet there are those that even science cannot mend. Roy needs a miracle to escape his rut... and one night she falls from the sky. Like countless others, Solty is a Resemble, but one unlike the world has ever known. A young girl without a past, soon she will have a family. But ... in this world, pain and alienation are never too far away. (blurb from wiki)

My thoughts:
Solty Rei is the story of a broken man that lost his daughter in the Blast Fall 12 years ago. Not believing she’s dead, he searches for her to the detriment of not letting himself get close to anyone again. Enter Solty, an AI that has lost her memory and after saving Roy she stays with him. Her loss of memory gives her an opportunity to explore human emotions. She endears herself to everyone around her. Her relationships with the other characters are individual, not one is the same. I especially liked that this anime has an ending, and a happy one. It’s an anime worth watching.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 30, 2024

Joe_Devaney

Mixed Feelings

Overview:
Unless you're a serious follower of sci-fi anime or Gonzo (the latter being pretty unlikely, given their rather poor reputation in the anime community), it is highly doubtful that the words "Solty Rei", referring to an extremely obscure anime from the mid-2000s, ring even the faintest of bells. I myself only came across the anime by accident via a now-taken down video from Youtube, and ultimately decided to check it out because it seemed interesting. While I can't say I regret watching it, I wouldn't put it particularly high on my rewatch list, as it doesn't really stand out in any meaningful way.

Story (7/10):
Set in ... the distant future, twelve years after the planet was ravaged by a mysterious disaster, "Solty Rei" follows Roy Revant, a gruff middle-aged bounty hunter with a troubled past who spends his days hunting down various dangerous cyborgs called Resembles. One day, while on what initially seems like any other job for him, he encounters a mysterious girl covered by nothing but a battered cloth. Soon after, he learns three things about her in quick succession- she has very unusual-looking ears, she has strength well beyond that of any human, cyborg or otherwise, and she has no idea who she is. After saving Roy's life twice (once indirectly and once directly), the girl becomes acquainted with Roy's associates, including his employer Miranda Maverick and her daughter Kasha, and ultimately gets taken in by Roy as his adopted daughter, with Roy giving her the name "Solty". The series then follows both Solty gradually adjusting to daily human life and Roy's exploits as a bounty hunter and along the way they encounter Rose Anderson, a dashing Robin Hood-esque thief with more to her than meets the eye, and come in to conflict with the Reestablishment Universal Committee (R.U.C.), a government agency that manages day-to-day activities in the city and whose leader has some sinister plans for the world.

If this premise sounds interesting, then that's because it is. Unfortunately, the plot is greatly hindered by an extremely slow-paced beginning, with the series spending way too long stuck in an episodic format, during which it introduces a whole bunch of various topics that in most cases have nothing to do with the story at best and don't go anywhere at worst. While there are a couple of episodes that expand on the characters' backstories and provide some decent world-building, these are ultimately irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and are conveniently forgotten about once resolved. Even when the first big twist comes mid-season, it takes a few more episodes for the plot to really get going, and while things do improve dramatically afterwards, it further serves to highlight that the first half of the series was mostly just a waste of time.

In spite of all that's been said, I found myself enjoying the story quite a bit, in no small part thanks to its theme of family. When we first meet Roy, he's a bitter, lonely man desperately searching for the daughter he lost as a result of the Blast Fall, the aforementioned disaster that ravaged the planet twelve years before the story began, even though he doesn't even know for sure she's still alive. Overtime, however, due to adopting and raising Solty among other things, he gradually learns to appreciate those he has in the present instead of chasing after the ghosts of his past. While this theme is mostly in the background in the beginning, it's brought to the forefront in the second half, to the point that it serves to contrast Roy and the main villain. This results in the later episodes not only being epic, but highly touching as well, all the way up to a great ending, though this just made me wish that the rest of the series was as good.

Art & Animation (7.5/10):
As one would probably expect from Gonzo, "Solty Rei" is not a particularly good-looking series. While the character designs are decent, the colours and textures are very dull and bland and there are plenty of rough edges to be found. Also like in a lot of Gonzo anime, there's a lot of very obvious 3-D effects, namely with the robots of the series, which look so out of place in comparison to everything else that even I had trouble tolerating them, since I'm usually quite lenient when it comes to that kind of stuff.

Sound & Dialogue (8.5/10):
The soundtrack is alright, but there aren't all that many memorable tracks. Of the ones I , there's the opening "clover", the two ending themes "Float -Beyond the Sky" and "Return to Love" and one track that plays during particularly somber moments, the latter of which is probably my favourite. Instead, the best part of this category, and indeed the best part of the whole series, is the voice acting. The dub features a number of great talents, including Christopher Sabat and Colleen Clinkenbeard as Roy and Rose, respectively. Carrie Savage also does just as good a job as Solty, capturing the character's kind, cheerful nature perfectly and just making me love her all the more. The dialogue can be somewhat corny here and there, but never to the point of making you want to facepalm.

Characters (7/10):
When we first meet Roy, he's best described as gruff, bitter and apathetic. While he's kind enough to allow a girl to stay the night in exchange for saving him, which is how he and Solty first met, he means just the night and expects her to fend for herself afterwards, even refusing to take her in after it's revealed that the alternative is her getting taken away to a secure facility, though he is convinced to do so in the end. His overall demeanour is very similar to that of Rick Deckard from "Blade Runner", which is ironic since he shares his first name with Deckard's arch-rival Roy Batty. Unfortunately, this works just as much against him as it does for him, especially since Deckard is known to not be the most likable of protagonists. Overall, he starts off pretty bad, then gets worse (though not without good reason) before finally getting a hell of a lot better, so overall he has a pretty decent character arc. That said, he definitely isn't the most complex of protagonists and as far as Christopher Sabat roles go, he isn't really anything I haven't seen before.

Ultimately, the title of "best character" goes not to Roy, but Solty herself. When we first meet her, she has absolutely no idea who she is or where she came from, though we soon learn that she's a robot girl, or Genuine Resemble as she's called, with her true identity being gradually revealed over the course of the series. Despite her lack of memories, she's ultimately a very kind and cheerful girl who quickly grows fond of those who have become her new family- not just Roy, but the aforementioned Miranda and Kasha too, who spend just as much time looking after her as the former. She also has a very strong moral com, as shown by her repeated refusal to get involved in Rose's criminal life among other things, and gets some really awesome moments to shine in the second half of the series, to the point that it could be argued that she's the real main character. However, much like Roy, she's not a particularly complex character, though she's definitely a lot more likable than Roy is.

The last of the main trio is Rose Anderson, also known by her thief name, the "Blue Comet", who works with her brothers Larry and Andy as a thieving trio, stealing various valuables to give to people in the slums. While this gives them a definite Robin Hood vibe, the fact that they're thieves really isn't glossed over in the series, since it means her relationship with Roy, a cop in all but name, starts off highly antagonistic and Solty repeatedly refuses to get involved in her work despite her persistence. Eventually, though, she relents, with she and Solty developing a sweet sisterly relationship, and she warms up considerably to Roy as well. Unfortunately, in the second half of series, she's given a character arc that's pretty nebulously told, and not in a good way, though thankfully that gets resolved right before the climax. The ing cast is decent, but unfortunately they aren't given an awful lot to do outside a few specific moments. And the less said about Ashley Lynx, the enigmatic CEO of the R.U.C., the better, as just about anything genuine about him is a major spoiler, though I can at least say that he proves to be a genuinely menacing and surprisingly sympathetic antagonist, as well as a great foil to Roy.

Enjoyment (7/10):
As a result of the very slow-paced beginning, "Solty Rei" is an anime that definitely requires a lot of patience to sit through, as while there are some good episodes in the first half, most of them are ultimately rather forgettable, so a lot of you may end up giving up on the series before things start to get interesting. In addition, while things do get a lot more exciting in the second half, it comes at the cost of the story veering into some very dark places, particularly in regards to the revelation of the world of the series as well as the true nature of the Blast Fall, though thankfully the series does manage to end on a happy note.

Overall:
It gives me absolutely zero pleasure to say that "Solty Rei" fails to leave any real lasting impression, thanks to the dated visuals, likeable but fairly underdeveloped characters and a story that, while decent, takes far too long to really get going. The only thing it really has going for it is its theme of family, something it doesn't explore to its fullest until the last few episodes. It's not a terrible anime by any means, and I did enjoy watching it, but there's still no denying that it could have been so much more than it is.

Score:
7+7.5+8.5+7+7=37/50=7.4/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Aug 20, 2021

Resting_Bonfire

Not Recommended

Solty Rei

ソ ル テ ィ レ イ




Reading the description again after watching it, I really have to it that it looks quite interesting compared to the actual content.

I liked the basic idea of ​​this Show.
The story revolves around the protagonist Roy Revant, who lost his daughter in the "Blast case", a catastrophe that caused enormous damage to the city. After this, he could not find his daughter again and fell into direct despair, lost his old self, and became a bounty hunter who hunts criminals. But he didn't just do this for money, but also to let off steam. Since he was finished with ... his life, there was not much left in him. But then he met the protagonist, "Solty" as she was called (probably one of the most annoying female characters in fiction).

As far as you can see from the description, it doesn't sound too bad, in fact almost inviting. Also, based on the genre, you might think it's going to be a more serious and gritty plot.
-
If only that had really been the case. The story revolves around Roy in the foreground and all other characters get enough screen time depending on their priority. Roy simply cannot assert himself in this work. Everyone rides around on his head all the time, destroys his everyday life and he has no assertiveness. Then comedy often simply takes over, although the genre shouldn't be present here. Anyway, the work was also blessed with plenty of "fan service" and shower scenes that totally jump out of the overall picture.

Until episode 14 the anime is total everyday life, practically absolutely nothing happens. Every day a new experience, the characters are introduced and introduced. There was a slight tension curve with twists in the middle part, but until Ep 20 it was quiet again and nothing happened until a rather monotonous finale occurred.

Well, in the end at least everything was cleared up, which made the plot more likable. Yes, it was actually a decent statement that resolved all questions and actually opened up a big picture of the world. But apart from that, it was actually pretty average. Most of the female characters' dialogues, in particular, were practically a waste of time. Rose and Solty were practically never able to express themselves and their ways were quite annoying, especially Rose, who was really compulsively focused.

Well, otherwise the work had a few clichés, but nothing earth-shattering.



Story:


For me personally, the plot was probably the best part of the work. Sad that I actually had to wait so long for it. Most of the Show was more about her everyday life and a few small jobs, nothing more. Towards the middle, something surprising finally happened, which quickly lost tension and dragged on again until the final. The finale was also pretty weak, mainly action and a few scenes that didn't make any sense. In the sense that they didn't have to be at all, they weren't essential in any way and just ate uptime.

But otherwise, I liked the clarification at the end about the city, the characters, and the disaster. What was really behind everything and what connection everything had with everything? At least this has rekindled my curiosity. It's just a shame that the whole thing was only spat out at the end, which meant that you had to fight your way through the other episodes.

Unfortunately, the tension in this work was quite sluggish.

Animation / Pictures:


The animations were nothing special either. The style is ok, but alternative animations for machines and cars of all kinds were used again, which just jumps out of the overall picture. The animations of the surroundings, movements, and lights, were satisfactory

Conclusion

Is an interesting older title, unless you are hoping for too much. I don't regret looking at him. Despite everything, he had some strengths and some interesting scenes. Unfortunately not enough to ever be viewed again.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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