The rigorous city life of China, while bustling and unforgiving, contains the everlasting memories of days past. Three stories told in three different cities, Shikioriori follows the loss of youth and the daunting realization of adulthood.
Though reality may seem ever changing, unchangeable are the short-lived moments of one's childhood days. A plentiful bowl of noodles, the beauty of family and the trials of first love endure the inevitable flow of time, as three different characters explore the strength of bonds and the warmth of cherished memories. Within the disorder of the present world, witness these quaint stories recognize the comfort of the past, and attempt to revive the neglected flavors of youth.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Kirik0h
The tripartite anthology "Shikioriori", is deeply ingrained in Chinese culture and recent Chinese history, in particular that of China's rapid economic development during the 1990s, so it pains me to read so many reviews that seem to exhibit no awareness and no understanding of the cultural context and demographic to which this film targets. 1) Sunny Breakfast For non-Chinese people, or those who have not grown up in Chinese-influenced societies like much of South East Asia, you may not know that food is widely recognised as the most important part of Chinese culture. That Chinese people often greet each other with "Have you eaten" and that Chineseparents will express their love for their children not with "I love you" but "Have you eaten/there is food" is merely one of the many culturally ingrained aspects of Chinese culture where food is often the basis for family bonding and socialising.
In "Sunny Breakfast", Xiaomin contemplates the ephemerality of people and things in life, with his most cherished experiences relating back to his favourite noodles. The whole vignette takes the form of Xiaomin's inner thoughts and soliloquising as we follow his life's journeys as we observe snippets of the memories he looks back to, as he feels his life is nothing more than a tasteless existence, that no longer has the "flavour of his youth" about which he reminisces and from which he begins to learn.
The extended metaphor and the experiences he goes through are very much those that most ordinary Chinese people that live in cities post the late 1980s when Deng Xiaoping begun the process of transformation Shanghai to the megacity it is today. For a short story, "Sunny Breakfast" does well in encapsulating the experiences many young Chinese adults will have gone through and the thought processes they felt. In the whirlwind of time, it is easy to forget the impermanence of that which one grows up with and just that alone is sufficient material for a short story like the first of Shikioriori's to explore.
2) A Little Fashion Show
This is the most straightforward and least attached to Chinese culture of the three and may be more accessible emotionally and storywise to MAL's Western base. It is a short story about cherishing those close to you and how family, as well as recognising the bilateral nature of such relationships. Perhaps the weakest of the three, its simplicity nonetheless means that its narrative is clear even if the experience of viewing it feels a bit rushed as the plot proceeds from one to the next, with little time for the nuanced introspection and characterisation we had of Xiaomin in the previous film.
I consider this to have been the weakest entry as its appeal to pathos is not particularly convincing and could have benefitted from more introspection of the sisters rather creating an antagonist, whose purpose had little value beyond advancing the plot whose message could have been achieved without so I felt it to be more shallow than the others. Luckily, being in the middle saves "Shikioriori" from giving a bad first impression or a disappointing finale.
3) Shanghai Love
Even though it's a homage to Byousoku 5 Centimeter, I think it's more of an indictment of MAL's demographic that this film is being likened to all of Shinkai's other works when really it shares very little with any of his works. That a mere story of 2 adolescents in love that faces struggle is enough for people to liken "Shanghai Love" with Byousoku 5 Centimeter is more of a testament to the lack of repertoire MAL's demographic has surrouding romance as a genre where people view romance as dating and "who ends up with whom" rather than romance as being a medium via which to explore human relationships, emotions, and growth etc. Regardless, that doesn't change the fact that it does not come close to reaching the sheer emotional profundity and character authenticity and complexity Byousoku 5 Centimeter achieved, nor the surgical precision with which Shinkai's film explored its themes.
"Shanghai Love" is more about Shanghai and Chinese culture than it is really about love. The story surrounds 3 friends who through various circumstances end up on different life paths that lead to our protagonist to ponder on his present and future, sparked by a reminder of the past. What I found impressive in this story was the way Chinese familial structure, relationships, and familial expectations are all accurately woven in the context of 1990s Shanghai which faced rapid modernisation, gentrification as well as technological development - themes that were all deftly used as metaphors in this romantic tale.
It is the longest of the three but aptly works as a conclusion to this anthology. Whereas the first focused heavily on one's past, the second on the present, this final film goes one step further using its additonal time to encompass the future and the film's ending culminates into an emotionally rewarding experience that feels like chicken soup for the soul.
--Final Thoughts--
Shikioriori is a Chinese production made for Chinese, or at the very least, Eastern audiences. Its audiovisuals are strong owing to its production committee and brevity but nothing exceptional. But crucially, it takes advantage of the time it has to provide a reflective and heartfelt piece about the transience of life, youth and on grasping the future, in a context that is often very ingrained within modern Chinese society. However, these themes are universal and I think audiences from all over the world can relate to the problems and feelings our protagonists hold, in a succinct package that can be digested separately in 3 parts, if you feel you don't want to commit to something long.
I think for a lot of mainland Chinese millenials in their twenties, there is something even greater to pontificate upon and extract from Shikioriori, a film that I personally thoroughly enjoyed, and captured me in its reminiscent and phantasmagorical atmosphere.
dcasparov
This is going to be my first review! (LIGHT SPOILERS) Story: 7 This movie is an anthology that is composed of 3 stories. I'll briefly comment about it one by one. "A Sunny Breakfast" 6/10 it comes off as an introduction story of an adult lingering the remnants of youth. The story doesn't really progress instead it comes off poetic and nostalgic. But that's just it. "A Little fashion show". 8/10 A story about two sisters with different careers that separates them from living a kind of lifestyle yet they share the same roof. It's pretty decent to look at it as a whole but somehow it lackedsomething. It's still predictable as it is but what brought significance to the 2nd story is that they managed to breakthrough and intermingle their different passionate careers, showing the good side of sisterhood while approaching adulthood
"Love In Shanghai" 9/10
To be honest, the last part made me cry. It's well invested with emotional flares with full of mishaps that breaks the bond between two supposed-to-be lovers. It' starts slow then gradually gives an aching slow burning experience. Cliche as it may sound. The whole execution of the events caught my attention and I felt like that I wanted it to be separate from the anthology because it deserves a movie itself. It can be as good as Garden of Words or nearly good as Your Name.
Overall. It's very decent. The stories are well narrated. The score is deserving enough since it really followed the movie's theme.—the different viewpoints of adults looking back at their tracks from their youth—ranging from familial love, love for career and the love from someone.
Art: 10
As expected, it was from the studio Haoliners and ComixWaves (The one that animated Your name, Garden of Words, 5 centimeters per second etc). I'm never disappointed by their past works so does now. From the city landscapes to the delicate food animation, the color schemes and the tame character designs. The art just gave the movie the realistic vibes. That way, I felt more resonated and connected while watching it.
Sound: 9
The sound is very varying from each stories. It was all distinct yet somehow forgettable. But the best part is that the orchestration is so good, it managed to weave out my emotions while the protags narrates their story. And also, for me, the sound always worked with the art/animation in tango. They are always intertwined. And in this movie, they gave us a full-scale combo for a beautiful, radiant and emotional anthology.
Characters: 7
The protagonists in every story did their roles properly in every story. Their personalities made them appear more natural and realistic. But somehow, they still lacked a little bit of substance. But I can't really blame the short amount of time. It's hard to read a character when they appear just 30mins or less and nothing more.
Enjoyment: 8
Even though some parts felt boring, the narrative is very good altogether with sound and animation that it kept me relaxed and watch patiently until it ends.
Overall: 9
It's a must watch!! Don't watch with full of expectations so you could enjoy and appreciate it fully. It's not very twisty like Your Name. Watch it alone in a calm environment with a nice cup of tea. This is a grounded movie anthology with full of bittersweet yet radiant stories of nostalgic youth!
kekekeKaj
There are two things you should know about "Flavors of Youth": 1. It's a great anime. 2. You probably won't think it's a great anime. "Flavors of Youth" strikes me as an inaccessible anime - particularly to western audiences - and not just because of its meandering, introspective nature that would put a lot of people to sleep. I would describe it as a cultural piece that, to fully appreciate, you not only need to know about Chinese culture, you must have been submerged in it at some point in your life. On top of that, the anime homes in on a very specific Chinese generation: the generation whogrew up there around the 90s, the generation who witnessed China's rise to one of the world's largest economies. My generation.
Perhaps that's why I struggle to recall the last anime with which I felt such a deep personal connection. "Flavors of Youth" captures the nostalgic feelings of my childhood spent in 90s China with such authenticity that I was utterly unsurprised to find the chief director is a Chinese close to me in age. If you're not someone targeted by the anime's laser-like focus, if you haven't the life experience of a certain time and a certain place, then "Flavors of Youth" likely feels like a poor man's Shinkai anime. This view is no doubt enforced by its nature as a work co-produced by CoMix Wave Films, a studio with strong associations with Shinkai. But despite the obvious influences, this anime also stands on its own three feet (because it's an anthology comprising three stories). With subtle social commentary and Chinese culture permeating through every pore, "Flavors of Youth" is far more than a cheap Chinese knock-off; it possesses its own identity and its own goals, with even the main locations for the stories - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, the three largest cities in China - carefully chosen as the faces of China's economic boom.
The central thread that runs through the stories is "youth". More accurately though, it's about "seishun", or "qingchun" in Chinese (they use the same kanji). While those terms seem directly translatable and therefore interchangeable, that's true only in a literal sense. Words in different languages can have the same literal meaning but vastly different connotations; "seishun", made up of the kanjis for "green" and "spring", possesses a certain poetry and an association with a culturally romanticised view of the morning of one's life, and the word "youth" simply can't capture the strength of the meanings and feelings invoked by it.
The anthology opens with "The Rice Noodles", which isn't so much a story as it is an expression of feelings, subtly blended like the seasonings of a delicious bowl of the titular noodles. The bare premise is about a guy named Xiao Ming (which is, incidentally, probably the most common name for fictional protagonists used in the Chinese education system, frequently seen in example sentences and essays) yearning for the taste of the noodles of his childhood which he ate with his grandmother. The noodles do so much of the heavy lifting in this story that it's practically the main character - it has strong associations with the memories of Xiao Ming's grandmother and with the nostalgic days of his seishun, in addition to being a metaphor for the values eroded by China's rapid economic expansion.
While having practically zero plot, "The Rice Noodles" is thematically rich. To understand the commentary, you need a bit of background. China, like a lot of Asian countries, has a strong food culture - not in the French-esq, fine dining style, but of the local street food variety. The streets and avenues are often dotted with street food stalls and cosy, family-run restaurants serving startlingly good food within tight-knit communities. As the country embarked on a decades-long growth spurt, the local restaurants got gradually replaced by more commercial restaurants and chains, particularly in large cities. On the surface level, Xiao Ming laments that the noodles from the commercial restaurants just aren't as tasty as the ones he ate as a youth, as they have less of the wholesome ingredients such as wood ear mushrooms. On a deeper level, the anime laments the loss of old values as people chase after money in an increasingly materialistic society.
This isn't just a case of looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses: China's economic rise has very much been a double-edged sword. On the one hand, hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty, and people's living conditions massively improved; on the other hand, since adopting aspects of a capitalist system, Chinese society has become a caricature of western consumerism, with people worshiping at the altar of money and material items, and scheming to become rich by whatever means, even at the cost of community, family and moral values. This is why the country's become plagued by scams and scandals in recent years. Where once people didn't even bother locking their doors, now they draw their curtains when counting their cash. But let's pull back from these dark reflections; "The Rice Noodles" does end on a positive note: even as the protagonist acknowledges that he can never recapture his seishun, the fate of the noodle shop brings hope of triumph through adversity, and of the return of non-materialistic values. Sometimes it takes a rough patch in our lives to makes us realise what is truly important.
The visuals play an important part in "The Rice Noodles", and it's a precursor of what's to come, both in terms of strengths and weaknesses in the animation and artwork. "Flavors of Youth" generally looks pretty, in a substandard-Shinkai kind of way, but falls short in the character animation department. This is particularly obvious in "The Rice Noodles", where the character animation lacks smoothness in some places, and looks overly smooth and mechanical in others. I remember in particular the scenes of people perfectly poised on bicycles, peddling in perfectly cyclical motions and moving forward in perfectly straight lines. But the weaknesses are more than compensated by the details of the background scenery, where the animators managed to capture the streets and buildings of rural and urban China with remarkable fidelity. Even in the visuals, the noodles steal the show: "The Rice Noodles" may not exhibit the scenery porn pervading Shinkai's works, but it can boast of food porn. I found myself salivating to the beautifully rendered noodles on screen, and could almost smell the aroma wafting from it. The strength of the visuals whisked me away to distant times and places and immersed me in its scenery and atmosphere ... but the magic only works because those times and places exist in my memory.
The second segment, "A Little Fashion Show", has more of a plot than the first, telling the story of Yi Lin, a fashion model worrying about becoming too old for her job, and her relationship with her little sister. While not bad, it's probably the weakest of the three anthologies. I found the story a tad over-dramatic, and it resonated with me less than the others, though the reason might be because I'm a guy experiencing a story dealing primarily with problems for women.
"A Little Fashion Show" tackles the loss of seishun in a more head-on fashion than the other stories, in particular its implication for Chinese women. Age-ism is a problem for women worldwide, especially when it comes to an appearance-based careers like modelling, but Chinese women feel it more acutely than most. While it may seem absurd to say that Yi Lin is raging against the dying light of her career, it's also fair to say that strong stigmas still exist in Chinese society for women like her, who have reached a certain age without getting married and settling down with kids. And as one of a vast number of career-focused, unmarried women in her generation, Yi Lin is certainly not going gently into that good night. Her story is one of defiance: defiance against an industry's bias for youth, and defiance against a traditional society's expectations for women.
But it's also a story of defiance against something else.
The other topic "A Little Fashion Show" deals with is of family and parenting. And if the first topic I mentioned didn't resonate with me personally, this one certainly does. Yi Lin lives with her younger sister as their parents had passed away. Tradition dictates that Yi Lin, as the eldest one, should play parent to her younger sibling and take good care of her. And Yi Lin tries to do exactly that. To a fault. During a heated argument between the two sisters, Yi Lin busts out the what is possibly the most memorable line in the whole anthology: "Who do you think I'm doing this for?" This line, along with its classic variant "I'm doing this for your own good" are immortal conversation enders weaponised by Chinese parents against their disobedient children, so I'm sure it triggered a familiar, visceral reaction in many others as it did in me.
Family and Confucian values underpin Chinese society, and children are always expected to be obedient to the parents who pour their souls into raising them, because parents always know best. Of course, that's not always true, and even when it is, sometimes children need to be allowed to make their own mistakes. The tragedy is that while many of us grew up knowing that, when we become parents ourselves, we often end up acting just like our own parents. In acting as a parent towards her sister, Yi Lin ends up making the same mistake as a typical Chinese parent: she does not realise her sister has grown up, and does not respect her rights to forge her own path in the world.
Ultimately though, "A Little Fashion Show" doesn't explore the theme of rebellion against suffocating parents too deeply. However, this rebellious spirit roars into life in the third and final story, "Love in Shanghai".
Better directed, better animated and better written, "Love in Shanghai" is in a different league to the other two stories. Like the headline act of a gig, it finally steps up after the supporting acts have warmed up the crowd. While Shinkai's influences are rooted in all three stories, they go especially deeply in "Love in Shanghai", all way down to the communication gimmick used as the central lynch-pin of the story. "Love in Shanghai" features the budding romance between the protagonist Li Mo and his classmate Xiao Yu, and its development across multiple snapshots in their lives.
The craftsmanship of the story is impressive, managing to spin an intriguing little mystery around everyday settings. Deliberately paced and carefully plotted, "Love in Shanghai" also delivers at its zenith a perfectly weighted emotional punch. For those reasons, a lot of viewers should find this enjoyable, and certainly more accessible in comparison to the other stories. Nevertheless, I expect those who grew up in China to feel a deeper connection. One reason is the familiarity of seeing overly demanding parents putting academic achievement ahead of everything else. Several scenes depict the literal heavy-handedness of Chinese parenting, and the lack of fuss over them - while may seem shocking or unbelievable to some - is exactly what makes the depiction feel genuine: it really isn't too far outside the norm.
Straining against the kind of parenting symptomatic of a culture that emphasises strict social order is the burning teenage spirit of rebellion, and it spearheads this last love letter to seishun. "Love in Shanghai" celebrates seishun in all its glory: its inherent ephemeral beauty as well as the emotional baggage; it embraces the flaws of that time in our lives: our hotheadedness, our prideful stubbornness, our naivety, but also acknowledges the purity, the idealistic dreams and fiery determination not yet dampened by the cynicism of experience; and it accepts all of that as part of growing up.
Like the other stories, a lot goes on beneath the surface of "Love in Shanghai". The spliced timelines exhibit the pace of change in Shanghai over a decade: some shots of the same scenery highlighting the rapid erection of high rises in the city, others of old town areas underlining the rate at which the old buildings gave way to the new. While I did not grow up in Shanghai, the scruffy outward and interior appearances of the buildings felt exceedingly familiar as the same scenes and changes played out in other cities across the country. Despite all the progress, run-down areas still exist in the latest timeline (and even now at the time of writing), their presence exposing the shabby underbelly of a developing nation hiding beneath the veneer of a glittering, modern cityscape. The regeneration of housing is a contentious topic, and one the anime also touches upon, with the sprinkles of dialogue hinting at the tension between the government's desire to modernise and the needs of people - particularly the older generation - to hold on to something achingly familiar. A brief scene of a TV showing the 2002 football World Cup gives a nod to the first - and so far only - appearance of Chinese men's team in the finals. Despite being only a couple of seconds long and lacking any related dialogue, the inconspicuous shot subtly marks the landmark event as a source of pride. The amount of information and feelings that "Love in Shanghai" manages to convey through minute details in animation, dialogue and story is simply astonishing.
After watching "Flavors of Youth", I was tempted to make a quip about how, despite being an anime heavily inspired by Shinkai, it affected me more deeply than any of Shinkai's works. But that's not really a fair comparison: Shinkai's anime aren't tailored to someone with my experiences, whereas this anime is. For example, while I may have understood on an intellectual level how "Your Name." connects with a people constantly battling natural disasters like the Japanese, as an outsider I can't really *feel* it. So it's worth noting the important meta-lesson that "Flavors of Youth" serves up: that our reaction to a piece of art isn't just down to the art itself, but its intersection with our identity and the lives that we have lived.
So for me at least, "Flavours of Youth" is a great anime.
Personal rating: +2.0 (great)
Zerity
As I was sitting down and scrolling through kissanime new anime additions something caught my eye, like a a really pretty bowl of noodles in a fish shop. That would obviously be this movie. Obviously. Throughout watching the first part of the movie there was a lot of thoughts swirling in my mind. Why is there only narration? Why does this sink look better then the entire movie? Why aren't there more noodles? To many questions were going through my mind. One minute the dude is eating noodles and looking at this pretty girl next second were at his grandma's death bed and I'm liketf is going on, but it was fine, cause next thing I knew there were noodles on the screen again so it was all good.
Next we have the worst part of the movie. The Not Noodles but Fashion Show part of the movie. If there could be a more predictable story then this I wouldn't believe you. Now having things be predictable is fine to an extent. As long as the pacing is good, it's enjoyable, and there noodles for all to share. News flash it didn't have any of it. Twas just a bunch of forced and random drama that really didn't even need to happen and would of been better without it. If only she wore a noodle dress would she have not lost her shady boyfriend. At least I think that's what he was, i don't know they never really explained what he was.
The third one actually not that bad to an extent, it was actually really interesting and if done right, was the only part of the movie, and had more noodles this movie would of been an easy 8 or higher. Honestly just watch the third part and the first part.
PS: My enjoyment is a 9 cause I watched this on rabb.it with friends so it was more bearable that way.
Fatality13
• SLIGHT SPOILER REVIEW • Shikioriori, English name: Flavors of Youth, is divided into 3 Chapters: First (Sunny Breakfast), Second (Small Fashion Show), Third (Shanghai Love). Similar on what Shinkai did on 5 Centimeters per Second. The movie is placed in China and even the main character’s name is all in Chinese. But the studio and voice actors are Japanese. Here’s my quick review of the film: Story: As the film begins, you're greeted with an aesthetically beautiful art and animation followed by a few words and the first chapter’s title. The MC of the first chapter then is introduced. As the first chapter ends, the second chapterbegins. The transition is the same as the first one. As the story flows, the movie gives a very heartwarming slice of life, with a slight touch of love, heartbreak, and a mediocre drama. The story travels from the perspective of a young man experiencing youth, first love, and being unknowledgeable about adults. Being able to wonder why do people leave? The story then jumps from a young man to a 20-ish women. The movie shows how life has plenty of trials to overcome, and how people be able to overcome those difficult trials. In this chapter, the movie also questions you, ”The job you choose, are you really enjoying it?” ”Have you really live life to the fullest?”. Then from 20-ish women to a young boy, in this chapter, you are able to realize how communication is really important at any times. This chapter is so far the best among them. A really strong friendship of a group of best friends followed by a trial they should, with the emotion of love, anxiety, and fear at their backs. This chapter shows how this group of friends reacts to their current situation and how time could never be rewind even you wish to. Overall, the plot is filled with tons of great slice of life, paced on a slow start and an explosive ending. There are no big expectations, to begin with. The story might be boring to some non slice of anime fans. 7/10
Art: As the Studio who created Your Name, 5 Centimeter Per Seconds and Garden of Words, it was amazing. Tho there are times where you can able to see some lousy animation, but overall its good. The budget might not be too big as compared to Shinkai’s work, but CoMix Wave really give a shot especially to those beautiful backgrounds! The CGI of the cars are actually good too. Nevertheless, the animation is amazing, tho they have flaws, but the positives overpowered all the negatives. 8/10
Sound: Sound effects are great. The food preparation during the first few minutes of the film is amazing. The chopping of ingredients, up to the sound of rain. It's actually pretty decent. The credits song is actually good too. 8/10
Character: The character designs are mediocre for me. I mean, CoMix Wave actually has pretty decent animation and art skills. But their character design is just .... meh. Its nothing to be amazing and shock about. VAs are good. They did choose a very warm tone for the VAs of the MCs. There is really no character development that can be seen in the movie. But on how the MCs end their chapter is really a big thumbs up for me. It also relays a message to the viewers and few life lessons. Overall, 7/10
Enjoyment: I’m a fan of slice of life anime, so I’m pretty used to a slow-paced plot. A slow pace movie also gives the audience time to enjoy the great art drawn by the studio. Afterall, it is a great animation that leads the viewers to finish the movie at the end. I somewhat enjoy the movie. There are no explosives and huge plot twist like Your Name, nor a heavy drama and heart pounding ending like 5 centimeters. Just pure slice of life with a glimpse of love and a tiny drama. Overall, 8/10
Conclusion: As I said a moment ago, this movie is pace differently to other famous one. So you should not compare it to them as they are way different from each other. I would definitely recommend this anime to SOME, as non slice of life and drama fan might get really bored to this film. Overall, a great film if you are looking for something to cry one. Overall, films score is 8/10.
hvaddi9
The 3 parts covered in Shikioriori are the about the 3 basic needs of human life. It's my first review. Excuse me if it's not structured properly. Spoilers Ahead! 1. Food "Hidamari no Choushoku" (Sunny Breakfast) It took us through the need for food. The magical taste of San Xian noodles. How the loss/change of the taste would make us feel, the people with whom we eat and the atmosphere of where we eat.2. Clothing
"Chiisana Fashion Show" (A Small Fashion Show)
It shows how fashion has changed the Clothing industry in a good/bad way (depends how you see it). And the people/models who work in this industry are working so hard to be at the top. Finally, it shows that just a normal type of clothing of your favourite colour made by your sister would make you feel better than a super-costly dress.
3. Shelter
"Shanghai Koi" (Shanghai Love)
It shows that the main character is interested in Architecture. Also, the area where he grew up will soon be demolished and renovated as it is kind of old currently and is in the middle of a great city. It also covers other important needs of life like Love, Education, and you know Life itself.
Post credits scene:
Its kind of a happy scene where we see all these characters of individual stories at the same place very near to each other. And it shows how small and simple the world is but we just don't notice it.
It's really great to create an anime of such quality with such basic needs in life. I'm glad to notice this without reading the description of the Anime.
I've seen people comparing Shikioriori with Kimi no na wa and review Shikioriori as a bad anime that just copied the style. That's completely absurd. Both the anime are unique in their own style. And yes, the art looks like Kimi no na wa and its good. Because anyone would love to see an art with such great detail and quality. And that's one big factor we all watch anime.
Karhu
Netflix refuses to stop with their nu-animu. This time we have the privilege of experiencing the walk of our lifetime, offered by the Chinese because why should anime be Japan exclusive. This movie is split in 3 section that all are about walking, 1) The first one is really poetic. Walk and talk because why would person just want to simply enjoy scenery and relax. No, being treated like some plebeian tourist is much more rewarding. I personally recommend turning off the sound to avoid this thing from ruining the visuals as well. This in case you, for some weird reason, still decide to watch this anime 2)The second one is a fashion show walk the catwalk which was pretty philosophical because apparently old people can also walk, but future generations walk faster. This is pretty interesting as I didn't know anyone would ever in the history of never make a story about such nonsense.
3) The third one is some sorta 5 centimeters per second alternative which is the best of the 3, but still feels way more pointless than any of the above because the original 5cmps anime (and especially the manga) still exist + it isn't filled with some Chinese words no one cares about.
There are also characters in this anime, but I am not sure why anyone would care about them or what they do. In all honesty, I would have found this thing more interesting if the characters had been invisible because at leas then, I could have called it deep for visually representing their personalities.
The art is kind of interesting, but what art isn't in this day and age really. As a conclusion: only watch this if you have 2 monitors and are rewatching Hunter x Hunter 2011 at the same time from another. Or at least that's what I did and it was still a waste of time.
Kurokure
--- > *Minor spoilers*wouldn't care at all. This story might hit the spot for some viewers but it wasn't for me. The story wasn't bad just wasn't interesting enough for me. 4/10
Now the third story, bruh that was like mad heat ong no cap. The third story revolves around 3 childhood friends that were really close together. 2 males and 1 female. One of them had glasses and the other was irrelevant. So the girl and the guy with glasses liked each other and that was pretty poggers. But then, my boy started trolling and throwing away his chances with this girl. We then see him living his life in the future while we slowly learn about the past and the events that had lead to where he is now. At the end it doesn't really explain how he got there and how the girl magically found him again after all those years but it was lit. I wish I was able to see more development between those 2 but it's aight. 8/10
So now we moving onto the music. They were BANGERS no other way to describe it. Every time an emotional scene happened, the music came creeping in and before you realized it you were BOPPIN to the song. Anyways I highly suggest listening to the ost on your own free time. 9/10
The visuals were aight as well. They put a lot of their effort into the noodles and cooking but after that it felt a little off and kinda weird. (just my personal opinion) but it wasn't bad by any means just felt like it went downwards after they went ham on the noodle animations. 6.8/10
LegendAqua
Shikioriori or Flavours of Youth reaches out to Chinese and by extension Asian youths but ohh boy does has that tinge of pretentiousness in the mundanity as it's biggest obstacle. Shikioriori is made up of 3 short stories spanning 25 minutes each to make this "movie", "Rice Noodles, "A Little Fashion Show" and "Shanghai Love" all of them covering different perspectives of the changing times of being a Chinese youth through differing aspects of their lives, be it noodles, fashion and sibling bonds and friendship. Rice Noodles - "You know what...his inner monologue about noodles melds oddly well with Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san..they need to get togethersometime". Rice Noodles follows Xiao Ming who grew up with rice noodles all his life. His tale is mostly consisting of his many flavours of noodles he had in his lifetime and how the changing of noodles from handmade to manufactured and processed is different and "doesn't taste the same". The change of rice noodles over his youth is telling of the Chinese before and after with how the noodles change with the times but still that Xiao Ming as an adult will always find his homemade rice noodles if he looks close enough.
A Little Fashion Show - "Sibling Love and Overworking". A Little Fashion show follows Li Yin a rising fashion model and an older sister to Lu Lu and her wanting to strive to have both of having a good job and making her younger sister happy. This tale is VERY obvious what the message is as LA said the first statements of this section and that is of Chinese's overworking ethnics (and by extension Asian work ethnics) and how doing too much will achieve nothing and this is easily manifested to Li Yin and her struggles of juggling of being a family member and older sister and her staying at the top.
Shanghai Love - "Your Name.....Lite". A love story spanning years. This tale follows Li Mo finding an old cassette of his childhood friend Xiao Yu which begins his reminisce of his youth and finding Xiao Yu. LA will get straight to the point with this one, it's the best of the three stories if not taking cues from Your Name, the similarities are there, friends through a link, now as adults they try to find each other, heck their character designs even look similar to Mitsuha and Taki. Anyways there is another layer to this love story and the more obvious one is of Xiao Yu's strict family and this links and affects to their love story, yes it's extremely cliche by this point of the "strict family" but it's predictable what happens as well, even if the message of Shanghai Love is showing the differing family values affects your life to compare Xiao Yu's strict family and the mess it causes with Xiao Yu wanting freedom with how Li Mo having that freedom becomes restricted from his friends and as an adult becomes jaded and disillusioned to get his goal that he's forgotten over the years.
Shikioriori's animation was done by CoMix Wave Films and if this studio sounds familiar they also did Your Name, Garden of Words and 5cm per Second (another words, alot of Makoto Shinkai works) and Shikioriori is no different with having the hallmarks of Your Name and Garden of Words for animation from the character designs, beautiful backgrounding and huge attention to detail, though Makoto Shinkai doesn't have his foot in this movie, Takayo Nishimura a key animator in Your Name and Animation Director of 5cm per Second makes sense to the animation quality. Nonetheless if there is a high point to Shikioriori then it's the animation.
Shikioriori for LA falls under the pretentiousness when it's trying to convey it's messages (maybe the exception to Shanghai Love but nonetheless). LA "gets" this is targeted towards a Chinese and Asian audience with all the struggles they go through on a daily basis but there are still many ways of at least making it seem genuine and LA just didn't see it especially from Rice Noodles. Shikioriori for the most part does it part of showing it's stories and the struggles of it's characters but making it's messages one blatant, two long winded and forced and finally three cliched in it's mundanity then you lose LA and with the exception of Shanghai Love, Rice Noodles and A Little Fashion Show shows these in spades one way or another.
With all that being said, Shikioriori is not a terrible interpretation of Chinese youths as it's messages of "changing times, sibling love and family values and freedom" was done to some good degree and LA isn't ignoring that as even blatant the messages comes out, the messages follow through each story nicely and solidifying it's themes. However it needed to do better in it's execution and maybe it's premise at times to make Shikioriori a bit more genuine in it's delivery, instead of the cliched plots and characters in giving us what we typically expected.
Aisukurimu
Move along, I’m Chinese, this show is targeted at me and I’m telling you, it’s shite, other Chinese people think so too. End of review. Okay. This review took a yearlong because I struggled to finish the film when it first came out, here I am a year later, finished it, felt compelled to write a review because it was bad bad. First of all, the Netflix version and the Bilibili version is not the same, not only the voice actors are different, the music is different. The Netflix Chinese dub was absolutely awful, the writing was extremely inarticulate, almost seems like it was written and read bya 7-year-old. Even the English dub sounded way better, heck the Brazilian Portuguese was good too and I don’t even understand it. Netflix didn’t even bother dubbing the second story in Cantonese or the dialects in the third story.
Second, after switching to the ‘original’ version, it’s still shit! What the fuck!! Like the voice acting is slightly better, but it’s still terrible! The second story was set in Guangzhou, so the characters spoke Cantonese, but it wasn’t done very well not because the Cantonese was inaccurate, but the voice actors just read lines with no emotions put in. The dialogues across the whole film sounds like as if I wrote it (and I have Chinese writing skills of a 5-year-old).
I have very fond connections and memories with the three cities in the film and was excited to see a film around them. The name of the film could also be translated as "four types of youth”, the three types are the ones in the film and the final type is supposed to be your story, you’re meant to self-insert your youth to make up for the fourth type. Poetic sounding right? Except, the other three types of youth story are a bit lame, even my pathetic youth have better dialogues. The first story may as well be “noodle noodle, noodle noodle noodle noodle, noodle.” Second story is shallow and unlikable. Third story is rich pretentious dude reminisce missed youth except he didn’t miss it because he’s rich.
This type of short story telling really challenges the writer to be concise and deliver an impactful story in significantly less time. In a traditional film you may get an hour or two to build up characters and plot whereas here there’s only 20 minutes to tell one story. If I was the writer, I would really contemplate the purpose and message that you want to deliver to the audience. Quite frankly, I failed to see a good meaning (I didn’t say deep because not everything needs a deep meaning, but it needs at least a good meaning) in the three stories. The first two was just boring and the characters serve no purpose, the third one is slightly better but then I got frustrated because the guy indirectly got the girl lying on the hospital bed, then at the end he got rich because his old house got knock down and the girl came back, what kind of pretentious Mary Sue is that, it would have been more emotional if she never came back, it could have delivered a ‘sometimes we pass by things that were important to us’ kind of message. For once, a sad ending might have made it a better story. After the credits, it forcefully put the characters in the three stories together, what was the point of that??
However, there is one good thing about the film and that is the still background scenes, it’s got that Shinkai look to it, that’s it, nothing more because the character designs were bad.
TLDR: bad story, bad characters, don’t bother watching. It might actually be worse than Uchiage, is that even possible.
DangoDa1kazoku
To begin, this anime was premiered at AnimeExpo 2018 if this is in fact what I think it is, so despite the fact that I haven’t been able to add it to my watched list, this is a review for a show that was shown long before MAL said it first aired (and I’m still slightly upset that MAL wouldn’t let me say I completed it, but that’s not your problem) While I normally review in the same boring style based on the categories of story, art, sound, character, enjoyment, and overall as per MAL recommendation, Shikioriori/flavors of youth (FoY; sorry but I will be abbreviatingit to this for simplicity) follows 3 different stories, each about as long as a normal 25 minute episode. It will be tough, but try to follow my thoughts because I will be trying to review all 3 stories at the same time to make it easier to discuss each part.
Story:
Split into 3 parts, each has a different message about different parts of life. While it’s not a big issue, it didn’t seem as though there was any sort of connection between any of the 3 stories other than that they all were dealing with their own problems and drama.
The 1st story (6/10)
is about a kid who has very strong ties to his grandmother and to eating some kind of noodles or beef udon or something if I remember correctly. Either way, it had to deal with eating food and how he establishes connections and meaning in his life through eating this food throughout life as he grows up. By no means is this story bad, but it is incredibly boring. It seems kind of like it was going for a Sweetness and Lightning or Isekai Shokudou, attempting the homey vibe of food, but it didn’t have the same emotional buildup that resonated with me during those shows (particularly the former). It also felt iyashikei style, but as a full movie and only 1 part, it doesn’t work particularly well the way I can imagine Non Non biyori’s movie working, supplemented by cute and already acquainted characters and good comedy. Overall, it’s not bad for completion if you plan to watch it through, but not particularly amazing or interesting.
The Second Story (4/10)
Is about 2 sisters who I guess used to be pretty close, but have drifted apart over time by the look of the show. The older sister is a model and supports the younger one after some kind of family circumstances occur, while the younger sister falls into the cliche “I just want to support my sister” role. The model is getting older and outshined by younger stars, causing the dramatic internal struggle. What made this part so hard to watch was that the drama wasn’t all that great or emotionally investing and the characters weren’t likable enough to care about their drama. The whole story felt contrived. Somehow, the worst part about it is that it’s hard to skip because it’s right in the middle, but honestly it’s not worth watching.
The Third Story (9/10)
If you stayed this long through the boring and hard to watch stories, CoMix Wave treats you to a brilliant story that makes you wonder if they could all be this good if Shinkai took over all of them. As it stands, this studio is batting a .333 right now, failing with the first 2 but stunning with this one. Of course, people who endlessly complain about too much school anime won’t ever understand, but this part is about a man who is moving into a new apartment. When he is unpacking, certain things remind him of the past and we are shown flashbacks. It follows a group of 3 kids, he and his 2 best friends, when they were little. One friend is a rambunctious boy while the other is a clearly “embodiment of perfection” girl. With the gimmick of he and the girl exchanging cassette tapes, this is pretty straight as a teen school romance, but it is really well directed by contrast to the other 2 parts. For the first time, there is actual character growth, but more than that is that i managed to feel deeply emotionally connected to the characters and cared about their relationship. I know I didn’t explain it very well, but I highly recommend this specific part.
Art: 9/10
A universal strong point is always the art. Animated by Studio CoMix Wave (Normally the Shinkai studio) the art is consistently great, even based on my hazy memory and with poor seating at Anime Expo. Expect every part to have beautiful backgrounds with strong visuals. In particular:
The first story had extremely detailed food. Which is an important aspect of a story about food. It didn’t mean that the story was any deeper, but they made it look tastier but just as realistic as my instant noodles.
The second story still had strong visuals; it meant nothing but outfits and characters looked good I guess.
The third story somehow made me wonder who on their staff still owned a cassette tape to model, but somehow it was very realistic. This part had particularly good backgrounds which contributed greatly to immersion into the story’s town and giving me an idea of the kind of people of the town.
Sound: (8/10)
It was fine. Nothing seemed wrong, and if it was I probably blamed the poor sound quality of Anime Expo and the downside of not having speakers for all people in the room. I know I can’t say anything bad about it at least.
Character: (6/10)
It should not be surprising that my assessment of the characters line up with my assessment of the story. As a very straight dramatic film, the characters are far and away the most important aspect to creating the atmosphere of the story. All my sentiments line up exactly the same, with the first story’s MC being boring, the second story’s being almost unbearable to watch, and the third’s being super strong and making me care about their struggles, and end up rooting for them.
Enjoyment: (7/10)
I found myself well entertained and if watching the first 2 parts ranged from bad to boring, i still wouldn’t be upset watching them if it meant getting to something as good as the 3rd part.
Overall: (7/10)
All 3 had the universally important art and sound done well, and I felt as if the good part was multiple times better than the bad parts sucked, but not enough to overlook the fact that 2/3 of the anime was either boring or bad.
Take the time to develop your own opinions about these characters; I just wrote to release pent up frustration with MAL for not allowing me to mark as watched for a full month.
Canlnon
Shikioriori 8/10 but uniquely enough for me to write a review for the kind you to give it a try This movie's theme is: REGRET I know we humans are bitterly imperfect, but please give your best. I plead with you to do it every time. This movie's storytelling is different from the usual. 3 individuals with their own monogatari (story). Each has made a mistake by not trying their best in their own respective way. 1/ Not trying to confront his own feelings and always choosing to watch from sideways 2/ Misplacing her priority between work and family. A major setback e is part of life, stay strong. 3/ Acting basedon anger or bitter feelings is the worst self-punishment. You can lose things forever; please give your best: time, effort, and whatever shame you may think you need to go through.
This movie didn't leave a bad taste for me. I can say that giving or striving for my best will make me satisfied, it's a wrong notion that the world has been preaching: you try harder, and you fall harder when you lose (It's a falsehood) Only when you try harder does the door open wider. Same as when the world claims love hurts (It's not entirely true; love is the essence of a true knitting connection that heals all wounds, even all the hurt you have been through).
I just want my fellow bros and sisters here to not regret living: By striving to be your best (don't give in to fear, shame, and whatever is holding you back), we will sail through; without trying, we stand to have zero chance; 0%.
Rating: 8/10
Osyx
Beautiful animation, though not quite on the same levels as they have produced in other films. The problem comes with the stories, firstly because of the short run time and the choice of making 3 short films rather than 1 long or 2 semi-short. This makes it so that there never really is that much time to delve deeper into the characters in each one, so they feel kind of distant and not as relatable as they could be. There is also an issue with how the films build up their climax and end game, because there is no build up. They introduce the characters,drop a bomb and then leave the empty characters to try to clean up the mess. Not an ideal scenario if you want to make touching stories.
The last story was by far the best, but even then the progression was as clear as a guess 1 sec into the future, especially if you have seen Makoto's films before this.
Take Your name., which the marketing was based upon, as an example:
* Remove 90% of the film by condensing the beginning of the film to 5 min, take 10 from the middle and squash it together and then take the last 10 min and cut it into 5 min.
* Cut it together so it sort of makes sense.
* Wholá, a finished short film! Yeah, "great".
CyanCheetah
Flavors of youth. Damnit why does Anime have to portray food that looks like that? Even though I cannot eat beef, I want some San Xian Noodles so bad... the way they animated it.... holy It was advertised as the same people who made Your Name, but no Makoto Shinkai this time. What you get is the beautiful animation.This movie is about 1 hour 10, so it's quite short. I've seen single anime episodes longer.
This movie is very very similar to 5 Centimeters per Second in many ways. Both movies are shorter, and are split up into episodes. The episodes here are different subjects tho while 5 cm per second is all connected.
I liked 5 cm per second, like a lot.
but like neither of them are Your Name level (My favorite movie of ALL time)
5 Centimeter per second would be a normally mid movie, but that ending.... that ending was one of the best endings for a movie.
This movie?
1st episode was very very cute. Quite sad towards the end but a very cute episode and made me hungry lol.
2nd episode quite frankly was bad. No message, nothing.
3rd episode was amazing...
The 3rd episode was actually really good. 3rd Episode is the type of stuff Makoto would make.
So its super weird to rate it. To be fair this would be a 5/5, but that 2nd episode brought it down to a 4.
I liked this better than Suzume and Weathering with You though. THey didn't have as much emotional baggage as this does.
Animation: Some of the best animation for an anime. Newer movies def look better, Suzume is still the best looking anime so far.
Music: Nothing beats Your Name soundtrack
All in all 4/5
Amazing worth a watch!
Thanks!
-CyanCheetah
Ethan_07
Each story has a beautiful ring to it. The first story, depicts the story of the love towards food and shadowing the relationship between a grandmother and grandson behind it. It inspires us on how important it is to appreciate the moment while it lasts. The second story, reflects on the relationship between two sisters, how their life influence each other and the beautiful they share, supporting each other despite the fights that they had. The third story, has just shown how we all make mistakes and yet the time cannot be rewinded, what is done in the past has already gone. You could only continue your life,make a better tomorrow, either to fix your past mistakes or enjoy the present moment with your loved ones.
Slight note: There's an end-credit scene. Watch until the very end!
Mrooney
I must say, I found Flavors of Youth pretty disappointing. Firstly, I'm all for short films, but I felt like the second and third stories deserved their own full films. They were emotionally compelling, and I just wasn't given enough time to become emotionally invested. Especially with the third film, it progressed so quickly that everything became quite predictable. And, I found it really hard to sympathize with Li because, at the end of the day, there is no fucking way he deserves to be with Xiao Yu. At least not according to how he is portrayed in the movie. Rewinding a bit, the firstfilm just left me cold. The bits that could have been a bit emotional were just so melodramatic, like when he arrives just in time to see his grandmother before she passes. I credit this simply to the speedy pace of the story. Ultimately, I was left trying to figure out what at all the story was and what I was supposed to feel. It felt more like the first 20 minutes of a movie that was never completed. And, it could have been a great movie from what I did see. The short film on its own, however, just really did not impact me. I'm struggling to remember bits of it writing this review even though I saw it less than an hour ago.
The second film had a much more compelling story. My major qualm with it however is that it doesn't really stay true at all to the theme of the three films -- youth. It is entirely centered around the present-day lives of the two sisters; I'd honestly be surprised if more than three or four minutes were dedicated to discussing or mentioning their childhood. And, of course, the biggest disappointment is that it couldn't be a feature-length film. I would have loved to have seen more development of the younger sister especially. It's honestly tremendously sad because it's a great story.
As for the third film, most of what I have to say I said earlier. It was certainly the most emotionally compelling of the three, but, unfortunately, the emotion I felt throughout was honestly a bit angry. There are plenty of movies out there where the clueless guy ends up hurting the girl who loves him. And indeed, in many, they do end up together at the end of the film. But this is only after the guy's quest for redemption and his million apologies. Ultimately, the film would simply have to be longer to have a true emotional impact on me (and I'm sure it would if it was).
Truthfully, I have been absolutely spoiled recently, having watched A Silent Voice, Your Name, and Your Lie in April these past few weeks. I LOVED all of them, and I absolutely cried my eyes out at the end of Your Lie in April. Perhaps I set my expectations a bit high for Flavors of Youth, but then again, the film was marketed as "by the studio that produced Your Name". At the end of the day, it is no Your Name. It feels like some director thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if we have three stories and then they all meet in this airport at the end and the guy who eats noodles ties it all together with some cheesy line?"
The tragedy is, they are indeed three wonderful stories (the first; the beginning to one), and truly deserve their own full-length films. I don't think anyone could have combined the three any better, so I applaud the directors for their efforts. At the end of the day, there are some beautiful animations, and a few moments that may inspire emotion in a person who is more prone to that kind of thing. But then again, I am that kind of person and yet I was not. I do recommend you see it because fuck what I think, but I wouldn't rush to.
Ser_Junkan
[Spoiler Free Review] I am someone who was born and raised in the country of Iceland so I've never really properly experienced urban life for long period of times, yet even though these stories take place in china, the reminisced quite well with me and my old cold heart. The Movie Follows the sweet young love stories of three characters from different areas and in different cities of china. I've always been a big fan of china and its rich juicy history, and have even considered moving there if it was not for its urban pollution problems and messed politics. Its obviously directed towards the Chineseaudience and each short story manages to sneakingly capture some underlying problems in Chinese society while giving the average viewer a treat for their heart.
As someone who has managed to fuck up a relationship with the person i cherish the most i can only tell the younger viewers reading this should to try and enjoy the simple pleasures of life rather then rush ahead like i did, wasting a huge part of my youth.
Each and every story was filled with heartwarming pleasures that warm the soul and something ill probably come and re-watch again and again until I've milked it as much as i can.
The art was pretty great and definitely deserves a 9 but due to the fact i love bright anime styles it gets a +1 point from me.
The sound was great and each and every detail had a sound that made everything feel real and comforting.
The Characters are one of the best aspects of these shorts and seeing them reminisce and fix their mistakes or aspire to get what they wanted was a great experience.
I Personally Did not like "Your name" at all and i came into this expecting nothing special but man was i wrong. This is a great piece of anime art and something i recommend to most who have the time on their hands.
As by my review tradition, The best thing you can have while watching this is a cup of instant noodles while you sit in a soft sofa/chair.
Overall (9)
[Story:8 // Art:10 // Sound:7 // Characters:9 // Enjoyment:10]
Noto0803
Flavor of Youth, A box full of happiness wrapped in 1 hour with 3 different segments This Spoiler Contains No spoilers, Shikishiori/si shi qi chun / Flavor of Youth is like a bowl of "chicken soup" contains a lot of spices which makes it spicy and full of surprises. Shikishiori is a movie with 3 short stories in it, we do hope the short stories connect each other but sadly comix had a different plan for this one. In order to explain it in details, i've breaked down the story into 3 paragraphs. The first story tells us about a story of a young man with all hislife eating a Chinese Ramen for breakfast. What I love about this story is how you can tell someone life with a single ramen, how he eats the ramen every morning with his grandma during his childhood, how he found his first love through the ramen and how ramen at that time very much different from when he was a kid. The exposition director approached in this section is absolutely beautiful and of course, it brought me down to tears. The background music was much much much much awesome and struck me to the bone because of it synchronizes well with the animation.
The second story tells us a story about a successful model with her dilemmas which is from a newcomer competitor which she's aware and her 'strained' relationship with her sister. the story is composed well enough because how you build up that "dilemmas" and how it reached the peak, but sadly it lacks on the conclusion part of the story and a bit bland if I might say so. The BGM absolutely beautiful with strings and piano that can build the scene very well in this story.
The last part of this movie and my favorite part is a story about 2 childhood friends, sharing cassette as a method of conversation (considering at that time they don't have LINE chat it actually a good method communicating to each other), then things got complicated realizing they both in love. The last part of this movie totally has that "5 cm per Seconds" vibe, because it's about how you develop feelings for your friend and how it went bad and all sudden you realized that you actually messed up and it's too late to fix it because you all grown up. I am very much adored this story, how it reached the climax and how it concludes. The only bad part of this segment is how you fit a 1-hour movie into 30 mins and I think that a lot of details were skipped and the story feels like "jumped", other than that all good
The Music is the best part of this movie because it takes you to every scene very well. With a combination of Strings and piano, it surely has that "Garden of Words" vibe. unfortunately, the sound director made poor mistakes by some part of conversations feels bland and not suited or should be retaken. also, Vickeblanka really up to that standard set by Radwimps, Motohira Hata, and Yamazaki Masayoshi by delivering the same vibe for ending song. Its a bit play safe, but I think still acceptable and very much enjoyable.
Overall, its very much warm your soul by watching this movie. already a bit bland in the mid, but still a good movie you can get in 2018. 8/10
CaninnTurtle
I will admit, I'm a Shinkai fanboy, though its probably obvious if you look at my scores and see my high scores for all of his movies. Something about his stories really strike a chord in me, even if he seemingly retells the same story over and over again. He could tell it probably a dozen more times and I'd still love them all. This is probably the biggest reason why I didn't dislike Flavors of Youth, despite it being a little bit lacking in the emotional investment department. Half of every great anime, but especially anime movies, comes from the visuals and soundtrack. It's anextremely rare occurrence when an anime movie can falter in one or both of these categories and still be considered decent. In the case of Flavors of Youth, it doesn't disappoint in either. The visuals are top notch, as expected from CoMix Wave, from which we got Your Name and Garden of Words, two of the most beautiful anime of all time. Also, big shout out to the San Xian noodles in the first story, Sunny Breakfast. Even now, I'm thinking back on those bad boys and getting hungry. The soundtrack for Flavors of Youth is really good, if not a little reserved. You'll not find anything quite as evocative as "Sparkle" from Your Name or as powerfully emotional as "A Rainy Morning" from the Garden of Words, but it's extremely hard to measure up to those masterful works anyway. The ending song, WALK by Vickeblanka is probably my favorite song on the soundtrack, but that's probably because it's the most memorable song.
Now I can talk about the stories, which is where the main issues lie. I've already alluded to the first story, Sunny Breakfast, a little bit. Character-wise, it's probably the weakest of the three, but that's to be expected. After all, its a story about one guy narrating his youth and how many of his most cherished memories were spent eating San Xian noodles with his loved ones. It's actually kind of beautiful in its own simplistic way. I've heard a lot that this is most people's least favorite story in Flavors of Youth, but it may just be my favorite. At least, favorite based on the story.
The second story, A Little Fashion Show, is probably the weakest in all aspects. I couldn't bring myself to like the characters very much and the story was really predictable. I'm not one to complain about simple stories, as is evidenced by my appreciation of the first story, but I'm a little less forgiving of the completely mundane story of A Little Fashion Show. It was just a mess of cliches with the message of....I'm really not sure actually. I guess you can say it was a coming of age story, but that just makes it sound even more generic and cliched.
The third story, Shanghai Love, is the story that is most Shinkai-esque. In fact, it kind of mirrors 5 Centimeters per Second perfectly until the ending. Personally, I really liked the story and characters outside of the main boy, Limo. I mean, that boy was basically a walking mistake, he deserved neither his best friend or best girl with his attitude. But that's a personal gripe, I suppose.
I feel like it's somewhat pointless to do a favorite character for this since there's only one character who got enough characterization to deserve the title, but oh well, I'll do it anyway.
Favorite Character: Mistuh- I mean Shao Yu
Yeah...Not much to add here, she was the best character by default, since she got the most development and actually has a personality. Also, she's Chinese Mitsuha, so bonus points.
Despite me not loving Flavors of Youth, I'd still recommend it to anyone. It's so short and such a pure story that, even if you have gripes with it, you can still appreciate it for being what it is, a contemplation of short stories that each lean heavily on a different theme. The first on the cherished memories of eating with loved ones, the second on coming to realize that beauty is not forever, and the third on communicating your feelings. Each of these themes are tackled really well, even if the surrounding story and characters aren't amazing. But if you have any appreciation for Mokoto Shinkai's work, then you'll probably enjoy the Flavors of Youth.
