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At Keibu High School in a picturesque smart city, introverted student Satomi Amano finds herself socially isolated due to an unfortunate classroom incident. Her life is upended when a cheerful transfer student named Shion Ashimori arrives and spontaneously serenades Satomi, asking if she is happy. In secret, Shion is an experimental autonomous artificial intelligence android developed by Satomi's mother at a robotics conglomerate, undergoing clandestine field testing. As Shion's musical performances draw in Satomi's estranged peers Toma, Gotchan, Aya, and Thunder, the disparate teenagers form tight-knit friendships through musical camaraderie.
⚠ Background — may contain spoilers
Corporate executives discover Shion's unsanctioned deployment and deploy armed security agents to capture and reformat the android, framing Satomi's mother for industrial sabotage. Satomi and her loyal classmates infiltrate the corporate headquarters, uploading Shion's neural program to the regional smart city communication network. Shion serenades the entire metropolis through public speakers, exposing corporate corruption and proving her algorithmic consciousness genuinely experiences human affection. Shion's memory core is permanently preserved within the digital infrastructure, continuing to watch lovingly over Satomi and her friends as they graduate.
Yasuhiro Yoshiura’s strikingly beautiful anime is high-concept in its themes and unashamedly sentimental in its execution, and gets rather more interesting in its darker second half.
