In a quiet corner of the city, four-year-old Kun Oota has lived a spoiled life as an only child with his parents and the family dog, Yukko. But when his new baby sister Mirai is brought home, his simple life is thrown upside-down; suddenly, it isn't all about him anymore. Despite his tantrums and nagging, Mirai is seemingly now the subject of all his parents' love.
To help him adapt to this drastic change, Kun is taken on an extraordinary journey through time, meeting his family's past, present, and future selves, as he learns not only what it means to be a part of a family, but also what it means to be an older brother.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
Karhu
Mirai no Mirai -- literally Mirai of the future in English -- is a children's movie about Kun, a 4 years-old boy who gets a little sister named Mirai and then becomes incredibly jealous because apparently his mother + father doesn't have any time for him anymore. Kun spends his days yelling, crying, begging for attention, teasing his little sister and being annoying in every imaginable way until several different time travels occur and Kun gets to meet alternative timeline versions of his family members, including the older version of his little sister... after which he still does this exact same thing, but we get tosee why. The worst part is that it all makes sense.
It's hard to decide which part of this movie sucks the hardest, but I did anyway; Old saying goes "your life doesn't suck, you're just surrounded by assholes." and this is very relevant here. Typical for kids movies, Mirai's entire story relies on parents who are portrayed to be a complete failures when it comes to parenting. They are total douches and it's a miracle that our kid isn't any more fucked up in the head than he already is. Without spoiling much, he thinks he is a dog, has a terrible attitude problem and sees people who aren't real. Great.
Let me repeat what I said a moment ago: the worst part is that it all makes sense. Apparently, the message here is that people around you as well as your family members influence you and make you who you are. The more you know the less hateful and more understanding you will become. Which is a good idea, but.
The story and characters in this movie are nauseating, fake and so incredibly bad I most definitely wouldn't recommend showing this even for its supposed target audience -- meaning children aged 2 to 7 -- unless their parents wish to be as good of a parents as seen in this movie, in which case I recommend. There are countless more psychologically accurate anime series as well as light kids movies which do better, even amazing job showing how much living environment and people close to us effect the growth of children. This one uses time travel magic tricks and bad parenting instead of anything even mildly genuine. This is just heartless + its story is more like "do this, but the opposite" which doesn't work -- at least not in this case.
Production-wise, the art design follows the safety route of kids movies, being down grated version of Ghibli in every way. OST choices are incredibly boring. Kun, age 4, is voiced by a nearly 20 years-old seiyuu first timer and (s)he doesn't sound like a 4 years-old in any way. Speaking of the Jap audio.
When it comes to enjoyment, there is a scene in the movie where the dad person browses memes or something and just goes "hmmmp" whenever Kun says anything. That's me when watching this movie. If you want to see a movie about enraged little boy who doesn't get the love he wants and starts developing some sort of mental illness to fight against solitude, then go ahead, this is perfect for you. As for me, it's not very good. Also, Academy nominated this for Oscars candidate so you know I am right.
tgaffer
This movie is very experimental in a lot of ways, and I appreciate that. Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it the best work by Hosoda? No. But it is a very cute movie, surprisingly deep, with phenomenal artwork and cinematography. Music: 10/10 The soundtrack is rreminiscient of Ookami Kodomo Ame to Yuki, and each song is gorgeous. Plot: 8/10 I think the title and trailers were misleading, because they focused on Kun's younger sister, Mirai, visiting him from the future. This does happen, but it's a small part of the plot. The true title should be "Annoying Child Repeatedly Stumbles into his Courtyard and is Greetedby Fantastical Events that Help Him Become a Better, More Responsible Child." It's a bit long, but it's more accurate.
We follow a four-year-old boy called Kun-chan, and he likes two things: trains and screaming at the top of his lungs. I'm serious, this kid is a NIGHTMARE. I can't think of another movie where the protagonist is this young (excluding Rugrats), mostly because nobody wants to follow a screaming pile of tantrums. And that is exactly what he is. By the middle of the movie, I legitimately hated this child.
Further, everyone around him is extremely nice. Even the BABY is better than he is. The BABY. The father stays at home, taking care of the children, while the mother returns to work and puts food on the table. This is a refreshing 21st century portrayal of a family, especially in Japan where they still kind of have a 1950's mindset of women in the workforce. We spend a good amount of time following the father as he struggles and learns how to do housework and properly hold a baby. Thus, Kun-chan does not get the attention he once got before and proceeds to throw vicious tantrums.
What this means is that the protagonist is the antagonist. The only real problems are caused by Kun-chan. As stated in the new title, when his tantrums climax, he stumbles into the house's courtyard and finds himself in a fantastical world, confronting one of his family members in an altered state. This includes his dog and, yes, his little sister as a middle-schooler from the future. These events have a dreamlike approach to logic and conversation, which falls in line with the idea that these are Kun-chan's fantasies. Why is the dog a human? Because Kun-chan sees it as such. Why is nobody worried about a 2-year-old walking around by himself? Because Kun-chan is the center of the fantasy, and thus his existence, in whatever state, is normal. Each event helps him in some way, and his tantrums die down afterward until the next thing happens. I can't really say that this is a coming-of-age story because the kid stays a kid, but he manages to connect with his family in a new way. Kun-chan is the deepest, most developed 4-year-old I've ever seen.
All in all, the stakes are low and nobody dies (spoilers?), so this movie doesn't conjure the feels that most Hosoda movies do. This is not a drama so much as a dramedy, with about an even split on both drama and comedy. Still, this is a very cute and refreshing story that deserves appreciation.
Art: 10/10
This is where the movie truly shines. I saw the "camera" used in a way I've never seen before. Animation allows for really cool things like that. The weirdly diagonal house allows for really cool linear transitions to different events within the house. Again, this is the same director as Ookami Kodomo Ame to Yuki, where he told the story of two siblings growing up in school by shifting the camera back and forth in a completely inventive way. The animations are clean, smooth, and lifelike. CGI is used in a non-obtusive way that allows sweeping shots behind a motorcycle. The backdrops are gorgeous, and they make use of them. The sky-shots at the end made the "camera" movement so realistic that I was legitimately terrified of falling, inside the theater...
Tl;dr: 9
Go watch. Enjoy the story. Pay attention to the animations and transitions. Be happy. I"m out.
bitchassdarius
In the planning stage of Mirai no Mirai, significant consideration was put into the designing of the house in which the majority of the movie is set. In fact, director Mamoru Hosoda employed a real architect, Makoto Tanijiri, to design the Oota house. The house is a series of four levels, not quite stories as it were, connected by a series of steps on one side of the house. It's a peculiar layout, as noted in a throwaway comment made by the grandmother at the beginning, designed in-universe by the architect father. A sloped tracking shot near the beginning of the movie, similar to WolfChildren's famed lateral tracking shot, moves between each level to show how they are attached. The first level is a den, mainly inhabited by the four-year-old son, Kun, and his train sets and toys. The next level up is a lawn-type outdoor area, followed by the kitchen and living area, then finally the bedrooms. Tanijiri planned the house so that a "child will be able to see the bottom room clearly from the garden, but an adult will only be able to see what's right in front of them." The effect? "The child's view will change as he grows up.”
What seems like a small detail of the movie is in fact the most important, as it sets up the entire thematic structure. In contrast to Hosoda's previous grand cinematic declarations on family and life, underlying the superficial coming-of-age story of Mirai is a focused meditation on the architecture of time. Of course, true to his nature, Hosoda interprets time and space as relative to our family histories. For Hosoda, time does not move laterally, rather it flows back and forth through the levels of the family tree, just as the aforementioned tracking shot shifts repeatedly between the levels of the house. Each generation experiences time on their own distinct level, yet the time of their ancestors and descendants are always within reach.
In Mirai, this platitudinous reading of time isn't a reading at all; it's the extraordinary reality of the movie. The expanse of the narrative finds Kun, in the garden of the house, drifting through time to meet anachronistic versions of family members he currently knows. The first instance of time-travelling antics (though not the first scene of garden fantasies) delivers Hosoda's vision the best. Kun, frustrated with his parents doting on the newly born Mirai, runs into the future, middle school-aged version of his sister, along with their anthropomorphic dog. The scene is filled with Marx Brothers-styled hijinks and light exploration into the logistics of Mirai's time traveling. But the scientific implications are quickly abandoned because time travel isn't really the point. Kun goes on to meet the past versions of his parents, and then their parents, learning a lesson or two from each encounter, and these subsequent scenes are more mired in heart tugging magical realism than heart pounding sci-fi. Some may find the episodic structure to be off-putting, but given the design of the house, a matching series of seemingly contained yet faintly connected stories appears to be more than appropriate.
The kicker is that pretty much the entirety of the movie, time traveling and all, takes place inside the Oota house, in the garden, in the present. And this seems to be Hosoda's insinuation: the past and the future are united in the present via the family tree, a statement he articulates in the wonderfully directed climax in which present-day Kun and future Mirai witness landmark events from their relatives' pasts, including a deeply touching famed race mentioned by the grandparents earlier in the movie.
At certain points, Mirai no Mirai offers glimpses of Hosoda at his compulsive, unrestrained worst. Pregnancy fetish and furry scenes can be checked off the "obligatory Hosoda-isms" checklist within the first act, and his penchant for exploring enclosed dimensions, seen in his earlier works, returns in full masturbatory force during the worst scene in the movie, the lead-up to the climax. Animated mostly in (decent) CGI, it's visually incongruous with the rest of the movie's style and thematically divorced as it has little to do with the nature of time or family. It's full of those (POV travelling?) shots he employed so daintily in Wolf Children, but instead of snowy knolls and forests, it's ugly, repetitive train tunnels. It also lingers for far too long, almost ruining the climax. But these pockmarks are minimal and eclipsed by moments of Hosoda at his most honed, absolute best.
fillyy
Mirai, also known as Mirai no Mirai, is an animated film directed by Mamoru Hosoda. He has directed other notably well-received anime films such as Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Mirai is about a boy named Kun who unexpectedly goes back in time on different occasions to meet his relatives from different eras. This film makes a wholesome and heartwarming statement -- that family shapes who we are and are the primary reason why we exist and we should be thankful and loving towards our family members, even in the toughest of times. This film showsthat family is an integral part of what makes a certain individual’s personality and that family is an important part of society. We can learn how to behave and how to grow up through socialisation. Hosoda accurately portrayed a misbehaving young boy and the struggles of raising up multiple children. This film is beautiful in the way that it teaches Kun to grow up and not to misbehave through experiencing his relatives’ past and future. This fantasy element was so gorgeous to look at on the screen and it was a pleasure to absorb the positive joy it emits.
The animation by Studio Chizu is familiar and meets the standards that they have demonstrated in the past. The character designs of some of the characters resemble characters from previous films Hosoda has directed which creates a familiar yet inviting environment for this fantasy-adventure film. I absolutely admired the opening shot where it's an animated shot of an angled top-down view of households and the surrounding roads. The streets and the houses were very well animated and were quite captivating.
The soundtrack is quite good. I liked the opening theme, "Mirai no Theme" by Tatsuro Yamashita, and the ending theme, "Uta no Kisha" by Tatsuro Yamashita. Both the opening and ending theme fit the anime quite well and set the mood for this feel-good anime. The voice acting is superb, especially by Moka Kamishiraishi who voices Kun. Kamishiraishi absolutely nails the voice acting of a young boy who is upset that his parents are not giving him as much attention since they had their second child, Mirai.
Character development was done well as the film explores the family tree through time-travelling. The film gives each character a moment to shine and give a sense of purpose to progress the plot and send out the overall message of the film. This film is great for all ages, but it has a very important message that might help kids get through life -- the message being that life can be hard at times and sometimes you aren’t always the centre of attention, but continue loving your family as they are very important and an integral part of shaping your personality and how you will grow up to be in the future. Having close relationships with your family members is important and you must always keep them close, by your side so they can help you and assist you in many ways throughout your life. You can’t do things alone!
This is the first film that made me tear up out of overwhelming happiness. It just made me so happy. Other films have made me cry because they are sad in nature but this one was a tear-jerker because of the joy that it put on the screen and the fantastic plot-device of seeing the adventure through Kun's point of view.
I enjoyed this film and this film had a clean and concise ending, unlike some of Hosoda's other works. The start may have been slightly convoluted, but it explains itself and resolves everything in the end to a satisfying conclusion.
I watched this at the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) on the 17th of June at The State Theatre which was the second screening of the movie at the SFF and I highly recommend that you go check this film out when it gets released in your area.
LegendAqua
Mamoru Hosoda giving us a visually accurate depiction of both sibling bonds and the stressful yet typical things families ALL grow through... Mirai no Mirai through basic means tells of a 4 or 5 year old boy by the name of Kun-chan and the trials and tribulations when his "love" is taken away by the arrival of his younger sister Mirai and thus we see his journey of not only both his looking at his family members backstories but also learning about the world one step at a time..........with MANY screaming along the way. Ok, LA might as well get LA's gripes done and away first beforecarrying on and to LA's persoanl bias would be that quite easily the most annoying thing to this movie is Kun himself, he's nothing but a selfish brat and SCREAMS ALOT, but to this defense LA will say well what did you expect from a child no less than 5 years old, OF COURSE he doesn't know any better but better yet he learns from his mistakes through the movie. Mamoru Hosoda always had a way of storytelling but Mirai was somewhat episodic in nature compared to Hosoda's other outings done mostly in vignettes of Kun's life with his imagination going wild for that supernatural element into the mix giving us both into the mind of 5 year old but also translating that into real life in many respects and him learning from what his imagination takes him to learn a lesson about life as well as his family members. The next gripe really was that things weren't explained to us in detail however considering this movie's narrative is entirely on Kun a 5 year old, LA thinks this gives itself a good leeway, yeah things DOESN'T make sense to a 5 year old be it if things doesn't goes his way or he's in the wrong or right, things are confusing and "doesn't make sense" in a 5 year old mind. Finally is the ending was abrupt to say the least and sure it gave Kun character development as not only a family member but a sibling but let's just say the transitioning was a tad rushed and it's probably the only flaw LA can't exactly defend.
Yeah, the thing is Mirai though LA has flaws to nitpick this movie about, LA can give alot of defense for alot of the flaws in the process and that is kinda because even if the movie is episodic in nature, Kun is a bratty annoying kid or "things doesn't make sense", Mamoru Hosoda has a way of making things VERY relatable and realistic even if the movie in itself can veer into the imaginary.
The episodic format and how it's structured in vignettes of Kun's life well this is Kun's story first and foremost and him diving into his family members to how they become who they they are now in many cases under related catalyst plots for Kun's next thing learn about, be it Kun's mother, father, the family dog (no seriously), his Great Grandpa, Mirai or Kun's moral compass of what his family means to him, it's KUN's narrative focus all the way. The episodic style may be "basic" but it's effective to say the least and with Mamoru Hosoda's expertise with the theme of family, it just it makes it that much more effective.
The animation done by Studio Chizu..well it's expected all things considered, from how fantastical Kun's imagination looks to Mamoru's typical character designs being an obvious mark of his. With Kun's imagination being rampant in this movie well it's expected the visuals to not only be beautiful but what with the anime's setting being limiting to Kun's house and Kun's vast imagination well it's homely to say the least getting used to Kun's house as well as Kun's cognitive imagination and how he view things and it's brilliantly animated by Chizu.
Voice acting well, as much as LA really didn't like Kun's consistent screaming and crying with Moka Kamishiraishi but nonetheless was a convincing 5 year old voice. Future Mirai voiced by Haru Kuroki to Kun's mother and father voiced by Kumiko Asou and Gen Hoshino were great as expected giving us the head strong mother type to the more struggling transitioning stay at home dad. Really as annoying Kun is, LA will praise Moka for doing a convincingly annoying 5 year old voice with a GREAT voice cast backing it up.
Mirai on the surface has ALOT of flaws to itself, from the likes of "not making sense" (be it in Kun's real life or in his imagination), annoying main protagonist to how watered down the plot structure it is compared Mamoru Hosoda's previous ventures and how abrupt the ending is but with all that LA will say it has strengths but strengths hidden in plain sight. Mirai first and foremost pretty much details what's like in the mind and perspective of a 5 year old and in comes the flaws right in the offset but the strengths of showing not only sibling bonds but family bonds which Mamoru Hosoda is extremely good at executing and telling a story VERY well. Yes Mirai as a whole as problems but as a sum of it's parts as episodic of a movie Mirai really is, tells us a MUCH deeper story of family and Mirai pulls it off, flaws and all.
Is this Mamoru's best work?, from LA's perspective no, LA sees Wolf's Children as that but LA imagines that Mamoru Hosoda wasn't trying to make another movie to top it but to tell a story of a 5 year old, see his perspective on the world he sees and learns about his family and what it means to him and Mamoru does just that.
Jonah_Lee
Not gonna lie, I want to like this movie but it did disappoint me in some ways. Let me explain: Firstly, the art style is very reminiscent of Wolf Children and I liked it a lot. The composition of the music was top-notch as well. But this movie lacks the character development and plot that makes the movie fall short on meeting my expectations. Let's talk about the character development, The main guy, Kun was a spoiled kid who had an attention child complex and demands a lot of attention. This is a good driving point but the way he handles the situation is honestly veryannoying. Throwing tantrums over everything and anything is getting really sick. But what's disappointing is that even though he did see his family's past he did not change a little bit. I can't blame him. he's a kid but still... I also think that they could have done a better job at picking the voice actor for Kun. The voice in the film sounds like thaat of a 9 year old but he looks no older than 4.
Now about the plot it is lacking the essence that Wolf Children has. So damn tasteless. It's all about Kun being pissed, he throws tantrum, cries like a little bitch, sees something like he smoked blunts, then ammends relationship. But it doesn't focus on his relationship with his sister like the trailer focused. I mean the name of the film is the name of the sister but what do we get? His dog's view on life, his mom's childhood, his grandfather's past et.cet.
All in all, if you're expecting enjoyment such as Wolf Children I suggest you to turn away and watch something else like Spirited Away.
potpurrycatcurry
This is not a family movie, there is no warmth or heart in this. The ending felt brittle. The story focused more on his weak family bond rather than on his relationship with his sister, which felt like false advertising. I really liked the art, the backgrounds were so beautiful; although the CGI made it look like a sims game sometimes. I watched the dubbed version and the 4 year old sounded oddly mature for his age. I'm sure its just the post-pubescent voice. The situations that Kun were placed in were actually very well written for a terrible family. His mother lashed out constantly without repercussionsand his father was weak (he had to get a manly lesson from his other dad). His entire family, even the sister, placed the blame of Kun's freak outs on himself even though he was in a very vulnerable spot (becoming the forgotten child, having the parents divide the love between him and his sister) at a vulnerable age. It's no wonder he grew up to be edgy and sad-looking (and probably in one of those isekai anime).
I think it would've been more satisfying had the parents given some time to apologize to Kun for making him feel so terrible and trying harder to love the children equally; or having the sister help him through this difficult time throughout the entirety of the movie. It felt like all of the scenes where he travels in the garden were just snippets from a series carelessly strung together.
What struck me was when the mother threatened to take his toys away when he didn't want to stop playing which led Kun to try to take away what was precious from her (aka Mirai). In the end, he feels like he belongs with the family because he basically doesn't want to be not a part of it (cliched leaves home, finds it to be rough out there, wants to go home routine). It's obvious that this family doesn't have anything holding them together other than blood, food and shelter.
Overall, the parents learned nothing and the children learned nothing.
unimportantuser
Mirai no Mirai is the latest output from director Mamoru Hosoda. Who has a pretty decent to good track record as far as I’m aware. Girl Who Leapt through time I enjoyed, Summer Wars was decent, Wolf Children I liked a lot, & Boy & The Beast I thoroughly enjoyed. So I have fairly high expectations for this movie. Lets a go Story: 2/10 The story of Mirai no Mirai is really cool in concept. A young boy gets brought to the future to get taught life lessons from his older sister the aptly named ‘Mirai” along with various other people in his life. Really interesting concepton paper. Too bad the execution blew. The problem with the story is the repetitive structure of the movie. Kun learns something, goes back to being a brat, learns something new, goes back to being a brat, rinse repeat until the final time he goes into the future to learn a new life lesson, credits roll the end. The structure is one thing, but it’s the fact the life lessons are just thrown out the window with little, if any scenes at all that showcase Kun’s growth after the life lessons take place. The movie also doesn’t flow well due to the narrative structure. After the life lesson takes place the movie abruptly cuts to the next sequence of events. It’s really distracting for me & just adds to the botched execution of what was otherwise a good concept that this movie had.
Characters: 1/10
The characters in Mirai no Mirai are completely uninteresting. Now look, I don’t expect Kun to be a very developed character at age 4. He’s only beginning his life at this point & barely knows anything. But that does not excuse how aggravating & 1-note he is. Lets take Ponyo & Sosuke from Gake no Uke no Ponyo. While Ponyo & Sosuke are just as one note as Kun is. What makes Ponyo & Sosuke likeable characters is that they don’t act like complete brats throughout a majority of the movie, or forget the life lesson that they just learned from a trip to the future from their older sister. Sosuke & Ponyo are lovable little characters who bring a lot of charm with them & actually do something more than bitch all day. One could make the argument that Sosuke & Ponyo act unrealistic considering that they’re 5 years old in the film. But if Kun is what a “realistic” child is supposed to act like that I’d rather get fingered in the ass by Edward Scissorhands than watch this movie. Because not only is Kun uninteresting as a character, but he’s absolutely aggravating on top of that, which is the worst combination in my mind.
The rest of the characters are so unmemorable & devoid of personality that even Mamoru Hosoda himself couldn’t come up with names for the characters (aside from 3 of them). “The Father” is exactly what he sounds like. “The Mother” is exactly what she sounds like. “The Grandfather” & ‘The Grandmother” are exactly what they sound like, I think you get my point. The only other characters who I can remember by name without having to look them up online are the titular character herself, & Yukko, the family dog. The only reason I even remember these two were because they help Kun develop as a character through the time-jumps to the future (except not really because as I already mentioned Kun basically forgets all of his development once the sequence of events are over & the film moves on to the next sequence of events). Much like Kun, these character are completely 1 dimensional & devoid of personality. Mirai is the generic older sister character & Yukko is just a person. Dare I say it, but this movie might actually have less personality in its characters than Girls & Panzer does. Because at least in that Hogwash I have nicknames for certain characters like “Mono-Cunt” & “Winky-Bitch” (really those are the only two)..
Art: 8/10
If I can give this movie a genuine piece of credit, it looks beautiful & the animation is top notch. I didn’t notice any discrepancies throughout the film, the character art stayed on model the whole time, & the layout of the house that Kun lives in was really well designed & interesting. I really don’t have much else to say about the art to be honest. It’s the one redeemable aspect of this movie, & a compliment I can give it that doesn’t come off as backhanded
Sound: 4/10
The sound design was alright. But the voice acting I didn’t like. Particularly Kun which, I get it, he’s 4 years old. But as I mentioned earlier in the review, Sosuke & Ponyo exists & their voices aren’t anywhere near as grating as Kun’s voice is. The rest of the voice acting is really lacking & flat. The delivery isn’t bad, but the voice actors just sound like they’re phoning it in. Aside from Kun I really struggle to remember much about the voice cast outside of Kun, & I only remember Kun’s performance because I hated it so much.
Overall: 2/10.
Mirai no Mirai gets a 2/10, this movie sucked hard, & I thoroughly hated it. I hated that the awesome concept was botched down with a terrible, repetitive narrative structure. Kun basically forgets all his life lessons seemingly at the drop of a hat just so this movie has an excuse to be longer than it has any right to be. Oh yeah, this movie was a slog. The Boy & The Beast was about 2 hours in runtime & it felt shorter than this movie. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya felt shorter than this movie, which was 2 hours and 42 minutes yeesh. Top that with uninteresting characters, an annoying MC, & lackadaisical voice acting on top of that. Yeah, fuck this movie. My disappointment is immeasurable & now I’ll always have to think about this whenever Hosoda makes a new movie. It’s one thing to have a misstep, every director has those at some point. It’s another to have such a through & through fuck up on the level that is this movie. Before I inevitably get asked by somebody. No, this doesn’t mean I’m going to forget Boy & The Beast & Wolf Children. I’ll always love those movies & think highly of them. Hosoda is still a good director, but Mirai no Mirai is more than just “a misstep”
kojinai
It’s 2am and I have a busy day that starts early tomorrow, so - what better time than to type out a couple lines worth of notes and impulsively decide to fill it out to full review length? You’re looking at a priority mastermind. The art is amazing, as standard for Chizu. Anyone who grew up, like me, watching Hosoda’s other works (the first Digimon Movie, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, etc) will recognise the style in a heartbeat, and appreciate the airiness and consistently clean execution with a lot of character. Voice actors could have used some .. tweaking, or changing altogether.Having a child of just 2-4 as the main character would call for an extremely young-sounding voice and this one at times sounded way too grown up or cohesive. Mature? I would have loved more personality, a little less polish around the edges, but that’s just personal preference - I can totally imagine how finding someone that young to reliably read lines or want to partake at all would be a struggle. It’s not a dealbreaker at all.
My cons all kind of .. merge, I guess, into this soup of general confusion about the film’s target audience. I don’t know who is supposed to be able to relate to the main character. If you write an annoying character competently, he’s still going to be annoying. Anyone close to around his age is too young to watch this film and anyone old enough to have children his age will most likely suffer a PTSD-esque flashbacks from the amount of crying and spoiled brattiness his character exhibits. They wrote this young kid really well, and that’s the problem. It’s unappealing in that sense - especially for someone who doesn’t find children (or their behaviour) cute, at all.This instead feels like the type of film that parents would go and laugh at and be able to relate to the positions of the exasperated parents, but judging how stressful and, at times, jarring the grown-up characters’ reactions are, it’s really hard to imagine any parental figure watching this film and willingly putting themselves back into those situations in their leisure. Just feels masochistic.
As a sidenote, though I appreciate that the father’s inattentiveness and the mother’s somewhat flippant / aggressive nature is later addressed (somewhat), I feel like the former didn’t get much in the way of development at all, and the latter came off as overly snappy in their petty arguments with little justification. I understand that just having given birth is a stressful time, and of course I’d rather prefer an accurate portrayal of home life than a sterilised, cookie-cutter perfect family that is often the case in other shows - but this happened more than once and it made the mother character feel unlikeable to me, personally. The main character had the same problem, but he had the excuse of being a toddler.
Overall, it was good to cross this off my list, and the core concept is a heartwarming chance to peer into the legacies and histories of a character’s extended family. I did cry a number of times - but that’s because I’m hyper-emotional when consuming media, and the subject of family remains a soft spot for me, it seems. I probably won’t watch it again or recommend it, but it was a good way to kill time. Watch it if you’re a Hosoda/Chizu fan, like kids, or if the subject of familial dynamics really gets you. Otherwise .. still give it a go. If the crying and selfishness gets to you, come join me in the realm of staying 100000 feet away from babies at all times. Forever.
Atlos
(TLDR at the bottom, thanks for reading.) A short and sweet review for a short and sweet kids film. If you took everything that Mamoru Hosoda has ever made and blended it all and condensed it into a 98-minute film you'd get Mirai. Depending on who you ask this can be good or this can be bad. You could say that Mirai is just reusing Hosuda's old idea's and you could say Mirai is a refinement of everything Hosuda has been building up to. Both of which can be true (depending on your perspective). Mirai doesn't really follow a specific story, there isn't a set goal or taskto complete, but instead, it is a story about maturing. While most coming of age anime focus on older teens maturing into adults Mirai focuses on a 4 years-old boy, Kun, learning to be less of a brat. He has gone from being the apple of his parent's eye to being only a part of it. And because he is four years old he reacts about how you would expect him to. But the film isn't about learning life lessons or overcoming challenges, like the most coming of age stories, but about the unrestrained wonder of being a child. Whether it is through interacting with his time travelling sister, or his shapeshifting dog, or Kun shapeshifting into a dog, or him having to tidy up the dollhouse with his dog and Mirai, or time travelling to see how his parents lived or just anything in this film. You can say that the story is unoriginal but it has been refined in such a way that this film could only have been made because all the constituent parts have been perfected.
It's just fun.
While its individual parts have been perfected that doesn't make the film perfect. Since it runs through a bunch of Hosoda's idea and not focusing on one for most of its story that leaves some of the individual parts underdeveloped. And while Kun gradually grows up throughout the film he still starts as an annoying brat, so depending on your level of tolerance for this kind of thing your enjoyment of this film could vary.
Are you looking for a film with interesting themes, likeable characters, intriguing yet entirely original premise? Then this isn't your film. But if you are looking for a film that you can just put on and be entertained this should do the trick.
And a quick note on the audiovisual side of things this film looks great, it has the same aesthetic as all of Hosoda's previous films, but just like the story side, it has been refined so it is among the best of Hosoda's films and everything else is spot on.
TLDR: As long as you don't go in expecting something widely new to add to Hosoda's catalogue of films they will do you just fine.
ArchimedesGoat
I was looking forward to the release of this film since I seriously love the director other works (especially Wolf Children). So it goes without saying that when I saw this film get an oscar nomination I was ready for it to be the second coming of Christ. Well, it was far from that I found the Story quite boring and unintersting. It felt that something that was mostly directed for small children. I think it would be more fitting for this to be a short collection of episodes, since the sections of the movie felt like that. 4/10 Now for the art, what could I possibly except?As usual the visuals are beutiful, even though there was some annoying cgi at some points. But it doesn't really ruin the experience since it's trippy visuals are enough for anyone to forgive the cgi. 9/10
As for the soundtrack, I was not a fan of it. I don't know why, I just thought that it could be more fitting to the film (and maybe more than just average). 4/10
The character were...boring and annoying. I don't really have anything else to say about this. I mean yes the main character is a small 4-year old child so of course it would be an annoying little shit ( like how everyone is in the age of 4) but I found nothing intersting about his character. As for every other character, I really didn't feel them. Same goes for their designs (except maybe the baby and the great-granpa, who I really liked). 5/10
p.s. dog
Now I watched this film with some friends' of mine, and it obviously made me enjoy the movie a lot. So yeah I guess if you want to watch the film watch it with friends and joke around about how the kid is probably on drugs. 8/10
Overall, if you like good animation, trippy visuals, cute children (I guess) and also liked the director's previous work, it's certain that you'll get at least a small amount of enjoyment out of it.
Though from it, I don't know if it was the high expectations I had for the movie or anything else but I found the movie just a little over average. I will probably revisit this at some point and I hope I like it more then than I did now.
lethargilistic
I'm just now watching "Mirai", the anime movie nominated for the Best Animated Film Oscar as an apology for snubbing "Your Name" the year before. This... This is "We have 'Your Name' at home" energy. Which is a bad sign because I thought "Your Name" was just, y'know, fine. This is 90 minutes of kids screaming because they're being in turns unreasonable and emotionally abused. The kids being unreasonable part I can understand, because they are especially little and little kids can get quite loud. But the main kid just screams So Much, and his parents largely ignore his feelings. Which is where this goes intoshades of emotional abuse, what with the mom frequently threatening him with over-the-top punishments in response to temporary inconveniences. That's just a recipe for inter-generational trauma and, to the movie's credit, we find out that it is exactly that because her mom treated her that way.
Mostly, I thought the movie was trying to use its time and family themes to say a bunch about how we're connected to our ancestors, but it didn't land for me. The time travel cutaways just had no rhyme or reason to them and they began to run into each other. That said, one of the only times the movie really did work for me was near the climax where we got to see the individual family stories and lore play out. The great-grandparents' engagement because the grandmother decided to lose a race to the grandfather with a war-busted knee was especially good.
But as a whole? Frustrating watch.
Joshimatsoo
Mirai is truly precious and downright heart-melting, while rarely coming off as treacly or overly-saccharine thanks to the clear place of experience and insight showcased in the portrayal of family and siblings that Hosoda possesses. His understanding of the essence of family grows more profound with every film. The man has always been fascinated with the theme of family and how our bonds to our lineage form us into the people we are. Mirai is perhaps the most resonant implementation of this theme the visionary director has yet conceived. Truly a beautiful, heartwarming and downright infectious and endlessly charming experience. The film doesn't follow atraditional plot structure and is possibly the director's most "arthouse" work yet, and this may not work for viewers less inclined to be fully absorbed by its child's eye view of the world, but the film perfectly captures that essence of a child's point of view.
In less capable hands the main character Kun, as a young child, could have easily been unrelentingly obnoxious and insufferable, but in his grasp the character is often more endearing than not. And when he isn't, its purposeful. The entire family feels extremely real and grounded. Kun feels like a real 4 year old kid. The parents feel like real, well-meaning but exhausted people simply trying not to screw up raising these little gremlins. Their relationship together is often chaotic and just barely avoids tearing at the seams, but ultimately their intrinsic love for each other always brings them to reconciliation.
Like many of his works, Mirai is an ode to the bonds that tie multiple generations of family together. It wasn't structured like a traditional narrative, or even most other Hosoda films, working rather as an interconnected set of dreamlike vignettes tied together by the recurring theme of familial ties and Kun's arc of understanding them instead. But the 4 year old protagonist made the film's childlike perception of the world and the blurring between reality and imagination believable. The film isn't interested in exploring the sci-fi mumbo-jumbo implications of the time-travelling aspect and it's honestly probably better for it. It would unnecessarily convolute its simple message.
Production-wise, this was possibly the director's best-looking work yet, with lots of interesting and diverse implementation of both traditional AND CG animation. Particularly, the use of CG for the house in the tracking shots to convey time passing through different sections of the massive structure was super cool and reminded me a lot of the extended take in Wolf Children that continuously shifts between the classrooms to show the children growing progressively older and climbing grades, only much more ambitious in scale. The final act was possibly the most exciting portion of the film for me, filled with dark, twisted imagery in a vast, disturbing and purgatory-esque train station. The art and color choices on display here was absolutely entrancing, expertly blending the 2D and CG mediums together.The level of detail in the character-acting in general was truly impressive. They went above and beyond to make every character's movements in the world perfectly fit their personalities and age.
This is simply one of the most effective cinematic expressions of a pure idea/theme I've ever seen, and the stunning visual and sound direction (particularly in the final act) can not be understated in its contributions to this. And regardless of one's opinions on the Oscars as a legitimately respectable awards ceremony, Mirai was certainly more than deserving of its nomination for Best Animated Feature, as well as being the first to hold the distinction of being the first non-Ghibli/Miyazaki Japanese animated film to earn such an honor.
Ixact
Spoilers: Read at your own risk. The movie I was expecting to see was something that combined the best parts of "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" with the best parts of "Wolf Children", two of my favorite films from Mamoru Hosoda. I wanted to see a heartwarming journey of recognizing the importance of family through time travel shenanigans. I was a little disappointed when this was only partially realized. Story: 6 The story had a lot of promise for an extremely heartwarming story of young Kun coming to appreciate his younger sister, Mirai, and his family, even though he initially hates Mirai for taking hisfamily's attention from him. I fully expected the story to be focused on Kun being thrusted into a fantastical world with the future version of Mirai. I imagined that through this journey of trying to get back to his family, Kun would gain more understanding and sympathy for his younger sister.
Instead of doing that, the movie repeated a certain pattern: Kun throws a temper tantrum (which makes sense since he's just a kid), have him be thrusted into the past alone to meet one of his relatives, and quickly come back to the present after he's learned something from them. I found this formula to be actually quite interesting since it went against what I had initially believed the movie to be, but I quickly realized that the movie gave up on having deep emotional connections with any of the relatives since each relative took up each other's screen time, forbidding any real development with any of them.
If there is one good nugget of the story I can appreciate is that Kun does show change as he goes through these time traveling vignettes with his relatives, and the at the end when he has a moment with baby Mirai, it almost felt like the ride paid off. Almost.
Overall, I appreciated the story for its back and forth time traveling, but I strongly believe that the film would have immensely benefited from more focus on Kun and Mirai. Mirai shows up about three times in the entire film, which is more than any of the other relatives, and I still couldn't feel a strong bond between the two, even at the very end. The story was decent, but it just lacked oomph to really pull off a satisfying ride.
Art: 9
The art, of course, was great. There were so many sequences that were beautifully animated and really brought fantastical worlds to life. They even had sections where they animated characters in CGI (very much like they did Houseki no Kuni) for some scenes. I saw some great scenes that reminded me of the time jumping sequences in "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" and fun familial scenes from "Wolf Children". The art, in essence, was what I wanted the story to be.
Sound: 8
Voice acting for both dub and sub were both pretty spot on. I was particularly surprised by how good the dub sounded, though some scenes in the dub I found somewhat uncomfortable because of the way the lines were delivered (I won't get into these scenes, but I was extremely uncomfortable). If I were to recommend sub/dub, I would recommend the sub - I found it to be far more impactful.
The soundtrack was full of heart and I often found myself immersed into the scene purely because the of the songs.
Character: 5
Kun was the only one who had any character development, with nearly everyone else in the main cast being static and unchanging. I actually liked this, since I loved the initial team dynamic of Kun, future Mirai, and their dog Yukko at the start of the movie, and I looked forward to seeing them be forced through different time travel adventures and hardships together. But this team almost immediately dissolves and Kun simply faces his adventures alone in quick and unsatisfying time hopping bursts. I soon became somewhat unimpressed with Kun's development, even when he did show incremental changes in his character. In short, I really wanted to care, but it was just extremely hard to.
On the other hand, the supporting characters, such as the mother and father, had their own developments that I saw through very subtle scenes. I found these legitimately fantastic and heartwarming. I would even daresay that their struggles were more interesting than any of the main characters' struggles. If anything, the supporting casts' struggles and development were in danger of overshadowing most of the main characters' struggles in terms of catching my interest and emotional investment.
Enjoyment: 6.5
Despite my comments above, I did appreciate the movie. I can't deny there were moments that the culmination of the music, art, and some emotional moments got to me. I blinked away a few tears. But I think this movie could've had me bawling. I wish it did.
NatsumeHyuuga2
It's pretty clear everyone knows this movie was made by the same director who made The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, so this show has some pretty big expectations. While both of these movies are a sweet slice of life, coming of age, I wouldn't put them together. This movie was good. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was an instant hit. This movie wasn't quite how I expected it to be when I first heard and read of it. It was a strong start but grew tiresome in the middle, and then it was over. With a collage of stories that inform us of whothe main family is, I realized after finishing the movie that I couldn't remember everything clearly. The movie isn't too long, in fact, it's about the average length of a movie, but it felt long. I didn't finish this movie feeling like I learned something, but rather it reminded me of childhood. I guess you could say there are lessons to be learned here, but nothing too unique, apart from how they tell the story.
My favorite part of this movie would have to be the characters. Certain characters I found annoying, while others were inspiring or the ideal person that, in your head, you want to be. While I understand the characters were all written as they were for plot reasons, I can't say (for the annoying ones I mentioned) that it was still acceptable. The characters who were written to teach a lesson were instantly living a more interesting story. They made me want to see that story, not this. I didn't not like this story, but it just wasn't entertaining. I almost stopped midway, and I've binge-watched many slices of life before.
At times, this felt like it shouldn't be a movie and just several different episodes. The movie already seems to be made that way. There were also many art quality drops in the later parts of the movie, which seemed to bother people. I personally don't mind such things, it usually gives me something to kinda poke fun at, but I mention it for people who do mind. I feel like if this was instead several episodes, the art wouldn't have dropped, the story could be fleshed out, and it wouldn't have me fading in and out through certain scenes.
Overall, I still enjoyed the movie. Characters in anime have almost always been enough for me to enjoy something, and a few terrible ones can't drown out the really amazing ones. The sound was great, no real complaints. There were several backgrounds and some certain attention to detail that really made an impression on me. If I had to say, those few moments and those few characters are the real saving grace of this movie. My score speaks for itself from here on, and thank you for reading my review.
Baba_Zone1
Thank You Australia for releasing this film to the cinema, I thankfully watched this at the cinema while not having many people annoying me it was quiet and people were respectable. BTW this film is 8.5/10 so the overall score would be 8 in MAL but 8.5 my real score. Story This doesn't really have a traditional structure, this can either be a pro and con because one we really don't know what happening and interesting to see. However, the downside is the pacing u wonder what the point at intervals. They isn't really a proper plot like a 3 act structure if they are it'sreally loose which isn't a bad thing. This story is mainly in the perspective of a 5-year-old kid Kun having a baby sister and introducing various emotions like jealousy, wants attention, not feeling as love, he's way of life has changed for him and his parents. Even though the film mainly about Kun its also about his parents you probably wondering why don't u say they name well u don't know they name u just remember them as Dad, Mom, Grandma .... like a real kid would. This is an experimental film to say the least, it feels like a ghibli film as a positive aspect it with the plot not being the focus but characters, if anything close to My Neighbor Totoro as they no real plot or objective but a wonderful look at characters and how they deal with life.
Art/Animation
For the most part it has some stunning animation, that is truly breathtaking. This film contains beautiful artwork and cinematography in particular whenever he has to interact with something, not in the present ( no spoilers), it has some imaginative transition. The art showcases a really lived in environment where stuff isn't too clean but is clean and from inside they house u can tell the personality of the parents. Its feels like somebody actual house which is wonderful it doesn't feel stale and the amount of detail when it comes to the environment like cracks in a wooden door really evaluates this movie.
Alot really well done subtle animation like in the beginning of the series how kun walks down the stairs, how he plays with his toys, how he touches a baby ( Mirai). Its visually almost a masterpiece, however, they are problems with the art and animation I will discuss in the next section.
CGI:
well most of the CGI is well integrated it's so smooth at times its hard to tell however problem comes with the human body. especially in crowds it feels really jaring especially because of how well drawn the characters are as 2D when they is a CGI person it feels weird. However the external environment as CGI was really good for the most part especially that 1 train i won't spoil.
Characters:
The characters feel real especially the mom and dad. However Kun acts like a real kid that maybe like no shit, but in media, like movies or shows kids really don't act like kids so it great to see that. Getting jealous over the smallest things, not doing what ur told like if u don't clean this place then i'll chuck ur toys. The Dad and Mom are strangely relatable, its nothing like my mom or dad acts like them however those few parental moments feel like yeah a kinda remeber something like that when i was a kid. How the kids packed his bag and wanted to leave the house for a stupid reason is literally what i did when i was a kid i got a bunch of sweets in my bag and was going to leave however my parents are responsible lol.
Problems:
Well this movie is brillant however they are problems reason why i won't give 9 upwards.
1st Pacing - the pacing is awkward for a film, I can say it feels like if u put all the episodes of FLCL into 1 film ( 3hr film) instead of separating it into 6 episodes. This feels similar in a sense u can probably make this as a 5 episodes anime as alot of parts resets the beginning, middle and end of a story. Even though their is actual 1 main reasons it feels better if it was more spread out as a TV show, however my opinion due to the structure of the series.
2nd Kun - its not he a bad character he's really well developed the problem lies he is a 4-year-old child so he screams alot and has temper tantrums which can get annoying. I would say alot of my problem lies solely on me as at times he gets annoying but then he becomes really sweet i think something with the VA performance or the script she was provided.
3rd Story- the story is well done but really confusing, the main story like the objective of the film makes sense however its other things. This anime blends fantasy and reality so when these supernatural things occur it feel like a fantasy made by the kids but then u realise wait that actually happened. Its not like Isao Takahata when where it clear which bits are fantasy or exagerations of emotions. Or Saotshi Kon which loves playing the concept of reality vs perception.
4th CGI Model- i explained above the CGI character models was distracting and took me out of the scene. However 1 moments that jarring CGI works for the film advantage.
Conclusion
Well this movie is solid yes it has problem but what film doesn't This is a perfect film for family to watch together especially kids with silbings, it has good morale and not entirely black and white. This will resonate well with families in my opinion and i recommend everyone to watch it however just i feel like those are the target market of the film. The fact i can see this film in Australian cinema is impressive, it definitely worth buying a ticket to support great films.
This film for me is a 8.5/10 but definitely not 9 and above so in MAL it say 8.
Hopefully this reviews comes in useful for people who are considering to watch this film.
Nebby524
It's a cute movie. I have a younger sister and the movie is really relatable when you are an older sibling. I like how the dog has a human personification LMAO. Its about this kid and his imagination. And honestly it gave me the feeling of "wow. Was I that annoying?" Lol. I feel like not many people liked it and I can see why some might. The main character is kind of annoying but I mean he is 4, what do you expect ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. And I think the only ones who will truly understand this movie are older siblings. I honestly really likes howhis sister from the future came to see him and the backgrounds are absolutely beautiful.
Spindleglass
I understand slice of life shows means you're getting a slow, slow anime with not much, if anything, of a story to offer. I understand. This though? Please, some substance would be nice. It's pretty, I'll give it that. It can be soothing and sometimes, very few of the times mind you, but sometimes you do find yourself in the state of mind the film was planning to achieve. A bit in awe of how time passes, how each person lived their lifes how they saw fit and how it'll all disappear and be forgotten as new people and stories are brought to life. Unfortunately I mostly spent thismovie being bored out of my mind, and the modern architecture the house offered wasn't enough to make it go away.
Could this be my fault because I'm just not receptive to these kind of genres? For sure, I could wave it off as so, but I do think it truly did fall flat.
Demonaru
Mirai no Mirai, Future of Mirai in English. To start off, you can immediately tell it's a Mamoru Hosoda done film. Which immediately gives off a "good news vibe." I'll try to avoid spoilers to heavily. The movie is great. The Story is definitely an experiment playing with classic ideas coming from such things as even Christmas Carol and the link. Moral lessons being essential to the plot. Wonderfully done in execution, for the most part, really cool plays in the character involved teaching. The trailer was a bit dishonest as far as execution, but unbelievably great story idea and playing on it from it. As faras music goes, the movie opens with a pretty cute poppy song and ends with a notably disco-ish pop tune, which are both nice. The soundtrack plays its role and doesn't call much attention but was definitely noticeable occasionally in the more "surreal" moments of the movie.
And here comes the big negative of this movie for me personally:
The kid, Kun, on the other hand (the main focus of the film), watching him really tried my patience for most of this film. It almost feels like a necessary evil, As the brattish pestering nature of kid is almost completely needed for the story to be told and make sense, Which knowing helps teaspoon some sugar down with the sour. But it still doesn't help how absolutely annoying Kun is. Watching a child act like a brat for that long just gets frustrating. And upon thinking about it, if you've seen Wolf Children, you know that Mamoru Hosoda has totally been able to make child characters working through issues and being rebellious or having massive child issues without shoving how shitty a kid is acting down your throat.
The shoving down your throat metaphor is a bit exaggerative, but not by a crazy amount. On top of all that, to be fair to the movie, I am a person who doesn't really like dealing with children, to begin with normally, but I also didn't feel this way in Wolf Children (not to compare the movies directly, obviously.)
