For a child, Aoyama has knowledge comparable to an adult. As such, he is often teased by his classmates. He also has a crush on the friendly woman he recently met at a dental office. One morning, penguins start mysteriously appearing around his neighborhood. Nobody knows where they came from and how they managed to get there. Aoyama is determined to find out more, and he joins his new crush in researching the penguins.
As time passes, they discover a levitating sphere which they nickname "The Sea." Whatever goes into The Sea does not come back out, and the only things that can destroy it are the penguins. However, something horrifying is created when the penguins do...
Penguin Highway follows Aoyama and the woman's research on the mysterious penguins' origin, as well as the many difficulties Aoyama faces throughout his investigation.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
-HippySnob-
"Penguins inexplicably appear in a suburb some distance from the sea, and a grade-school boy seeks to solve the mystery, in this humorous and at times philosophical novel for young adults that puts author Tomihiko Morimi's playful sensibilities on full display." Adapted from the most finest work since Tatami Galaxy, The Night is Short, and The Eccentric Family "As the wind blew, the grass sparkled, wet from the morning dew. There was a squeaking noise that sounded like the school’s floors creaking. In the middle of the huge empty lot, there were a number of penguins waddling around." Going embark into superstitious child-oriented but with eccentric wholesomeness fromwithin every sense of direction and far detail like in most avant garde Satoshi Kon's films. The Mindsets of capturing the essence by it's captivating caricature can leaves a very own boundary. Visuals are usually vivid and featured through of such memoir abstract detail through surrealism.
Despite all the connections between the two, both The Tatami Galaxy and The Night is Short Walk On, Girl
Penguin Highway are also self-contained stories that can be enjoyed on their own. That said, they really are best enjoyed together. Each one provides its own nuanced perspective on the contrary between life and youth, and the fact that those perspectives are sometimes lightly contradictory just makes their insights that much saturated. The similarities are pretty obvious, and both stories arrive at similar places by the end, with the protagonists breaking out of self-precognition cycles and learning to live more emotionally fulfilling lives.
As if that wasn't enough, The Studio Colorido and his team went and recreated all of the stylistic flourishes and ambiguous format between providing the reluctant art for Morimi's original novels and often the lightning-fast absurdist monologues and ideologies.
A heaping dose of surreal imagery and cartoon exaggeration, matching and at times surpassing the visuals of the TV series. When watched back-to-back, it's probably the closest animation could get to the feeling of reading both books, in that the stories are different but the pacing, dialogue, and artwork all feel like they sprout from the same mind.
fillyy
Penguin Highway is an anime film about a boy who is mature for his age but still has some things to learn as a growing boy. He is a genius kid who finds great interest in researching new and bizarre phenomena. The film is structured quite well and uses a lot of metaphors through the animation and storytelling to represent the coming-of-age of his character. This film does have a bloated run-time of about two hours and it compromised some of my enjoyment. The dialogue is poorly written and attempts at humour in the film don't quite cut it. I do appreciate the representation ofthe mystery behind the penguins and the phenomena as a metaphor to discovery, exploration, and learning. This film is good to analyse as it presents metaphors in an effective way to tell a story.
The animation is decent for the most part. There are moments of extremely fast motion and travel that are depicted in this film which ends up being poorly animated. The animation in these select few scenes felt lazy and sloppily animated. The animation still deserves some praise.
The soundtrack is quite good. I liked the transition from the introduction to the opening theme. The songs used throughout this film fit the scenes' moods and added a sense of joy. I love the ending theme as the credits roll after a satisfying ending.
The characters were written and developed well in this anime film. The sense of the boy's determination and excitement of further developing his research is portrayed well. Some of the characters' actions felt a little forced but there was one scene where there was a conversation with the boy and his sister which tied up to the ending and connected all the dots. This film doesn't fully explain itself until the very end but it is satisfying to see the films ending scene nonetheless.
To be honest, there were moments that I didn't enjoy watching but I did enjoy the ending quite a bit. The lead up to the ending wasn't enjoyable and this film takes its time to fully explain itself. The humour in this film along with a lot of the dialogue didn't feel like it quite fit in the film which impacted my overall enjoyment of this film.
I'm not sure if I would recommend this anime to anyone but I do have to say that it's an anime film that has a lot of metaphors and imagery that can be analysed and interpreted differently to discover a completely different and beautiful meaning behind its message of growing up, the reality behind maturity, and overall life events that occur when maturing and growing up. You might like this anime film if you like interesting coming-of-age tales.
YTG21
Very good movie with excellent visuals. Recommend it. Worth your time. Shame it didn't get hyped as much as other good anime movies.I would give this a solid 9 plus. This movie is about a pretty smart and curious kid who happens to fall in love with a dentist. The dentist is an actual mystery as the little boy happens to unravel that mystery. The kid is not like super genius but your above-average kid with keen scientific experiments.Do watch the movie with good quality. Because the visuals will blow you away. Don't want to spoil the awesome experience by saying more. Do watch this if youhave spare time.
The reason I liked this anime is because of the smooth story, slight feel of romance ( hardly any romance here), awesome visual and good action. Very pleasant experience for me as I was able to fetch a good copy. I liked the characters and the story build up. Normally anime don't have morals or messages...but I felt like the movie made me remember that we all have to leave the world one day.
Saacool
So this is probably the visually best animated movie I've ever seen. If you know you're going to see it, see it on the biggest possible screen, you won't regret it. That said its not without its faults, there is one overlying issue, and a couple less intrusive issues that mean my enjoyment does need to be qualified. First and foremost the art is easily 10/10. Just absolutely gorgeous graphical quality, solid animation, the framing occasionally questionable but that's an issue for later. The story on the other hand suffers heavily. I could just leave it at: "This movie only exists for visuals" but theres definitely alot to be said, its too bad there isn't enough committal to any individual theme. Through the story the themes that come up off the top of my head are: "Scientific process," some level of "Trusting others," "Understanding love as one comes of age." among others
The first is in service of the mystery element in the plot, which is executed passably. While I personally didn't think it was a well constructed aspect, this is probably enough of a plot/conflict to tide over casual viewers.
The second only comes up explicitly once or twice, its not given enough emphasis to feel substantial but it comes up often enough that it felt like it could be built on.
The third is a lot more pathos appeal, I don't if I can judge it, its probably more up to the viewer if the pathos hits them towards the end. There is an issue stemming from this theme though, its used to justify a lot of male gaze, which definitely isn't a great excuse
There are a number of minor themes that don't really get worked through, like the use of chess and/or science to bridge the generation gap. Or bullying and redemption, and offshoot themes from there. Just generally speaking characters are not used all that well throughout the work, although they aren't egregious either.
That lacking overall writing and theming being the biggest issue aside, in terms of smaller issues there are a number of tonally off scenes towards the beginning (some of which i suppose are meant to pay off towards the end but others are pretty straightforewardly out of place). There is the odd obsession with boobs. Its not necessarily an issue until towards the end, a scene with very "subtle" framing around two mountains, and then at the conclusion where it just awkwardly comes to mind. There are a few more points to be made but those are the most jarring. (The former not likely to be an issue mid watch but the latter definitely immersion breaking).
In the end its still greatly enjoyable just off the visuals, its just too bad that for the most part the writing is just a means to an end.
Haustlaufivindi
A very peculiar anime that is not quite suitable for a mass audience. But those who will like it, like me, may well get such moral, intellectual and aesthetic pleasure from "Penguin Highway" which watching other animated movies will hardly bring. First of all, it should be noted that although this movie is about children, it is not at all for children and not even for most teenagers. Rather, it will resonate with young adults and mature people, especially with those who were or are fond of science fiction, and will immediately recognize the roots of “Penguin Highway” in Lem's “Solaris”, Lewis Carroll's “Alice inWonderland” and Heinlein juveniles. Probably fans of Satoshi Kon's surrealistic narration will also like “Penguin Highway”, although the drawing and the general mood here are not close to him, but rather to the creations of Studio Ghibli. As if opening the “door into summer”, this anime, along the mysterious penguin highway, will take you to a childhood full of miracles and aspirations, plunge into the atmosphere of a summer adventure, a fairy tale and a warm ocean of sincere love, accompanying your journey with excellent symphonic music filled with allusions to Bach and Bizet.
For all its magic, "Penguin Highway" is full of subtle psychological observations and sketches related to the everyday life: protagonist's (Aoyama) childish curiosity and openness of mind to the new, encouraged his father, Aoyama's little sister's awareness of mortality, his inescapable absorption by the vortex of love, when Aoyama sits enchanted by the face of the sleeping Lady, feeling joy and marveling every tiny detail which makes it perfect, his boyish interest in his beloved's breasts (which he even turned into a kind of "psychological anchor", as thinking about these Lady’s charms helps Aoyama cope with anger and irritation), Aoyama's stoicism and gradually acquired ability to understand others, immature manifestations of Hamamoto's jealousy and Suzuki's love. Such a combination of realism and psychologism with surrealism can lead to the false conclusion that the "Penguin Highway" is a representative of magical realism. But it is not so - this is hard science fiction, which, like Lem's "Solaris", raises the question of the limitations of rational knowledge and, like Tarkovsky's interpretation of "Solaris" and C.S. Lewis` philosophical essay "The Abolition of Man", supplements it with the question of the ethical boundaries of scientific research and the significance of love and morality, their relations with rationality when confronted with the unknown.
Perhaps the main asset of "Penguin Highway" is the wonderful characters, especially the couple of main characters. Aoyama, although a ten-year-old boy, is as far from your “ordinary schoolboy” or the stereotypical child in anime in general as possible. Our hero is a true follower of the philosophy of stoicism, like reincarnated Marcus Aurelius. He is confident, fearless, extremely intelligent, adamant and charismatic. His character is so vividly and boldly spelled out that the rest, even rather non-standard characters except maybe for his beloved Lady, noticeably fade against his background. Aoyama has strong logical mind, an irrepressible thirst for knowledge, a vivid imagination, a strong character and firm principles. He, as a real philosopher, is driven by love for truth and love for beauty, and also by love for the Other, which does not allow him to turn into a complete egoist. He is passionate about solving mysteries, although Aoyama's logical mind sometimes makes it difficult for him to understand the feelings of those around him. Thus he seems incomplete, lacking insight and empathy.
On the example of the protagonist, the anime has a good moral message, including with regard to raising a boy who is not just a "enthusiastic nerd", like secondary character Uchida, but also quite a courageous, even fearless young man, who does not shy away from violence, if necessary, as well as a loyal friend and a principled person with an unshakable sense of dignity. He builds and orderly follows hierarchy of values, not wanting to compromise it in his pursuit for the ideal, putting all his love and reason into achieving it.
To match Aoyama there is the aforementioned Lady ("onee-san" in the original, which literally translates as "older sister" but in the context means Miss or Young Lady) - beautiful about 20-year-old girl with graceful hourglass figure, kind, cheerful and witty, who in her free from spending with Aoyama time, is engaged in fixing holes in teeth (she is dental assistant) and in the space-time continuum. Aoyama is utterly in love with her, deeply caring for the Lady, enjoying watching her face while also being passionate connoisseur of her magnificent bust. However, like Aoyama, she is also incomplete, being overly dreamy and carefree. The Lady often spends time with Aoyama, teasing him, chatting and training him to master the game of chess.
There are also slightly more stereotypical secondary characters - Aoyama's friend, a timid nerd Uchida, the excellent student Hamamoto who is in love with Aoyama and jealous of the Lady, the hooligan Suzuki who is in love with Hamamoto and jealous of Aoyama, the wise father of Aoyama, Aoyama’s little sister - they all create beautiful backdrop, enriching and advancing the main narrative.
The town in which Aoyama lives has already been studied by him, the surrounding world is logically ordered, and the plan for the future, in which Aoyama becomes a great man and marries the Lady, has been drawn up and is not subject to discussion. Interestingly, the beginning and end of the anime are accompanied by approximately the same, self-confident remarks by Aoyama which at first sound like empty boasting and yet perceived completely different afterwards.
But then chaos bursts into the carefully built rational little world of Aoyama - in a town far from the ocean, Antarctic penguins appear from nowhere. Of course, this ridiculous event challenges the wunderkind's mind and worldview. He immediately rushed to hypothesize about the causes of the phenomenon - from lost pets or falling out of a zoo van, to mutated crows. However, events take on a completely irrational turn when it turns out that the penguins are created by the Aoyama's beloved Lady, and a giant sphere of oceanic water hanging in the air is found in a forest clearing outside the town. The Lady herself does not quite understand who she is, how she creates creatures and asks our little hero to solve this riddle. So Aoyama faces the real Mystery - at the same time his scientific and love interest, which can quench his thirst for knowledge and beauty.
The novel (by Tomihiko Morimi) on which this anime is based as well as the anime itself have clear references to Stanislaw Lem's novel "Solaris" (Aoyama even mentions "Stanislaw Syndrome" at the dentist's) which has strict sci-fi narrative, questioning rational cognition. However the Penguin Highway novel was heavily inspired not only by the Lem's novel itself but by the Tarkovsky's interpretation of Solaris in his 1972 art film as well which is full of symbols and metaphors. “Penguin Highway” takes Tarkovsky's vision on the main problem (that the correct solution of the problem of relationship between the subject and the object of scientific research, the way to approach the Mystery, is to treat it not like a mere abstract object, but through empathy and love, applying high moral standards while doing so) and replaces Kris Kelvin (main character) who in the movie represents the right way to treat the Unknown but was tormented by guilt, with Aoyama - pure child with clear conscience. "Penguin Highway" basically deals with the same epistemological problem as "Solaris". This problem of limitation of rational cognition and ethical restrictions of dealing with the unknown is profoundly explained by Tarkovsky in his interview and by C.S. Lewis in "The Abolition of Man".
Tarkovsky puts the main problem this way: "The only thing that can be done is to try to take a critical look at the ways of our cognition: through the fight against stereotypes of thinking, with those blocks of logical stereotypes that often replace minutes of reflection for us. Facing something unknown will necessarily require strict moral discipline. That is why the father of our hero says that everything is very fragile there, meaning rather the inertia of human thinking, the way of human behavior in the face of this unknown: as yet unknown. And not for the purpose of preserving themselves, although this also matters, but for the sake of not injuring the unknown, which human thought touches for the first time".
C.S. Lewis deals with the same problem in the “The Abolition of Man”: “It is not the greatest of modern scientists who feel most sure that the object, stripped of its qualitative properties and reduced to mere quantity, is wholly real. Little scientists, and little unscientific followers of science, may think so. The great minds know very well that the object, so treated, is an artificial abstraction, that something of its reality has been lost… Many a mild-eyed scientist in pincenez, many a popular dramatist, many an amateur philosopher in our midst, means in the long run just the same as the Nazi rulers of Germany - Traditional values are to be ‘debunked’ and mankind to be cut out into some fresh shape at the will (which must, by hypothesis, be an arbitrary will) of some few lucky people in one lucky generation which has learned how to do it. The belief that we can invent ‘ideologies’ at pleasure, and the consequent treatment of mankind as mere υλη, specimens, preparations, begins to affect our very language… I suggest that from Science herself the cure might come… The regenerate science which I have in mind would not do even to minerals and vegetables what modern science threatens to do to man himself. When it explained it would not explain away. When it spoke of the parts it would remember the whole. While studying the “It” it would not lose what Martin Buber calls the “Thou”-situation”.
One might think that a conflict cannot but arise when Aoyama falls in love with the Lady - the same phenomenon becomes both the subject of Aoyama's scientific interest and the subject of his love interest. Modern science had rejected many moral norms and is trying to remove the "rigid fetters" of any ethics, denying objective value and turning even man into "nature" - subject to dismemberment, study and modification. Sartorius in the “Solaris” argues that conducting experiments on “visitors”, including performing autopsy, is totally acceptable - he considers such behavior to be “humane” and in line with scientific approach he believes in. As Lewis describes this worldview: “we have been trying, like Lear, to have it both ways: to lay down our human prerogative and yet at the same time to retain it. It is impossible. either we are rational spirit obliged for ever to obey the absolute values, or else we are mere nature to be kneaded and cut into new shapes for the pleasures of masters who must, by hypothesis, have no motive but their own ‘natural’ impulses… A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery. Without the dogma of objective value, no power is possible except tyranny, and no subordination except slavery”.
Aoyama faces with what sooner or later any inquisitive and honest mind faces - beyond a certain limit, that is limit of rational cognition, beyond the "end of the world" lies something unanswered, something which can not be reduced to rationally comprehensible object, and only choice left is either to believe that this Mystery is nothing, chaos, which has no meaning and value, or there follows recognition of the existence of absolute values, axioms that cannot be proven, but on which the Universe and logic are based. He came to the point where, in the words of one of the heroes of "Solaris" by Soderbergh, "there are no answers, only choices". Aoyama's choice was the recognition of the existence of axioms - the Lady, by herself, is more valuable than trying to solve her Mystery at the expense of harming the Lady. She is not a soulless subject of study, an abstract chaos of the primordial ocean, “nature” which is to be explored and tamed. For Aoyama the Lady is a person, self-containing value, and love for her, which is also rationally incomprehensible, means much more for him than thirst for knowledge or recognition in the scientific world. For Aoyama the Lady, in Buber's words, is not "It", but "Thou". He doesn’t want her to be harmed. Feeling the threat that other scientists may deny the Lady her self-value and turn her into an abstract subject of scientific research destined to be heartlessly dissected (as it happened with "visitors" in "Solaris"), Aoyama first tries to dissolve his small research circle, so that information about the abilities of the Lady may not become known to other scientists, and finally refuses to reveal the Mystery of the Lady to Hamamoto’s father. Aoyama sacrifices his scientific curiosity and his chance to become famous in order to save the Lady from scientific enquiry.
There is an anecdote told by Aoyama early on in the movie in which he compares the Lady's breasts and his mother's breasts, which are abstractly belong to the same category of objects, but in reality affect him completely differently. In fact that's how aforementioned epistemological problem may be simply illustrated: the subjects of scientific study should not be treated as abstractions, but rather as quite specific phenomena, to each of which, despite the quantitative similarity, a special, qualitatively different attitude should be formed. The object, stripped of its qualitative properties and reduced to mere quantity, is not wholly real.
Aoyama's love, openness of mind and honesty with himself allows him to calmly go where many confined scientific minds stumble - either due to self-deception, or weakness of mind, or even maybe due to outright thirst for power and wealth. "The serious magical endeavour and the serious scientific endeavour are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve. but they were twins. They were born of the same impulse... There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the wisdom of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique; and both, in the practice of this technique, are ready to do things hitherto regarded as disgusting and impious... You will read in some critics that Faustus has a thirst for knowledge. In reality, he hardly mentions it. It is not truth he wants from the devils, but gold and guns and girls... In the same spirit Bacon condemns those who value knowledge as an end in itself: this, for him, is to use as a mistress for pleasure what ought to be a spouse for fruit. The true object is to extend Man’s power to the performance of all things possible. He rejects magic because it does not work; but his goal is that of the magician".
Aoyama is alien to such an approach - he does not seek to use knowledge in order to gain power over the Lady, to subjugate her, to use her for his own purposes against her will. In this sense, he is not a modern scientist, but rather a philosopher in the classical sense, a natural philosopher, or even a theologian. He strives to knowledge only in order to walk along the narrow, accessible only to a few, "Penguin Highway" to meet again with the one he loves - with the Lady, to return to the Mystery, beyond the "end of the world" - the limits of human rational cognition, where is "God playing around". So once selfless monks, exploring the world created by God in search of traces of God, laid the foundations of genuine science in Western European monasteries, which was only later profaned and made practical instead of formerly popular secular magic and alchemy, which were abandoned.
Another layer of the "Penguin Highway" is the interaction between male and female, where the male logic of Aoyama is called upon to unravel and structure chaos - the “primal ocean” which represents feminine principle of the Lady, which is the Mystery, opposite to the light of Aoyama's Logos. After all, the Lady herself does not understand who she is, why she appeared and where she draws her strength from. Like the heroine of “Solaris” she doubts her humanity and reliability of her memories before her meeting with Aoyama - perhaps she is manifestation of the Ocean created out of Aoyama’s dreams. Although the Lady has the energy of the chaos, a huge potential for creation, she is not able to streamline and control it without Aoyama, who brings meaning, structuring the world and Lady's abilities.
Tarkovsky said that "Solaris, as it was, materializes the vilest thing that was in these people, as if it moves a mirror towards them, and they are forced to look at themselves... A man and the Ocean, roughly speaking, cannot understand each other for a single moment, because they have nothing in common. And we are talking about the fact that contact - if we can talk about contact - first of all arises here in the soul, in the spiritual sphere: for a man. But as they communicate, something else happens that Kris himself does not expect. From this "scheme" Harey - from communication with him - turns into human. She is animated as a result of this feeling of love and became real human being".
Indeed, even though Aoyama structured the chaotic nature of the Lady by his rationality (Logos) it is through Aoyama's love the Lady became real human being. Her imitation of Aoyama's strictly rational experimental approach to solving problems (by abstinence from food) leads her to creation of numerous Jabberwocky which ate penguins and thus enlarged the Ocean from which the Lady drew her energy. This "rational" yet selfish scientific approach of hers potentially may have lead to the catastrophe. However Aoyama's sheer love and worry for the Lady evoked reciprocal love in her. Love means so much for Aoyama that he even sacrifices his scientific curiosity and his chance to became famous in order to save the Lady from scientific enquiry. She in turn loves Aoyama so much that she sacrifices her presence in his world in order to protect it from destruction. Thus Aoyama's male rationality in interaction with Lady’s female chaos gave it structure and allowed her to understand herself, but it was Aoyama’s love for this alien being (the Lady) which aroused reciprocal love in her and led her to selfless act in order to save Aoyama (in a way, like Harey sacrificed herself in "Solaris" in order to save Kris). On the other hand, through love for the Lady, Aoyama is also "humanizes" in a way - he goes beyond the boundaries of his ego, overcomes the narrow limits of any egoism, even scientific, and puts Lady's well-being above his own good (when he gets sick, he worries about her more than about himself), learns to understand other people not only logically, but through empathy.
Symbolically here both male and female became complete through their mutual love - the Lady learns about herself, of how to use her abilities and accepts her responsibility to repair the hole in the Universe, while Aoyama gains empathy and insight through his love for the Lady, realizing that rational analysis and theoretical hypothesis are not the same with reality, that abstract object is something different than particular phenomenon, that not all mysteries should or could be solved and that if they should, they must be treated carefully in order to avoid harm. He grew up through realization that answers he seeks for, including the answer to his love for the Lady, lie not in the field of rational cognition.
The other characters of the anime reacts differently to the Ocean, which represents different approaches among humans to the Unknown - fear (Uchida), aggression (Suzuki), strictly abstract interest complicated by jealousy (Hamamoto), etc. But there is no dialogue between these different points of view like in the movie interpretations of “Solaris”. Aoyama does not seek to convince anyone of the humanity of the Lady, unlike Kris, who is trying to prove, first of all, to himself, the humanity of Harey. Aoyama, on the other hand, simply acts out of strong convictions. And the mood of “Penguin Highway” is completely different than that of “Solaris” - bright, similar to the sad joy of the last days of summer with the sound of “Summer Moved On” by a-ha.
There are many psychological observations in this movie regarding childhood (first love, relationship with parents, openness of mind, dealing with bullies, awareness of mortality, etc.), but it would be a mistake to consider "Penguin Highway" as a coming of age story. Indeed there is no development of Aoyama's character - the anime opens and ends with the pretty much the same speech of the protagonist. In fact "Penguin Highway" represents idea which is opposite to coming of age. It is about returning to innocence, to child-like pure heart, open-mindeness and to the immediate perception of the world. The only scientist (Dr. Kris Kelvin) in the “Solaris” who managed to establish contact with the Ocean did it not through rational observation, but through empathy - he established emotional connection with Solaris through his deceased wife, recreated by Solaris. Yet as her death was his guilt (at least he blamed himself) this connection could not last long as both of them were tortured by Kris' guilt. So the only solution for Kris to reach Solaris was to return to his roots, return to his home and innocence - to childhood. Solaris materialized his dream by creating his old family house and his father on the Ocean's surface - it was clear reference to the "The Return of the Prodigal Son". Tarkovsky's movie begins and ends on Earth, in the protagonist's house.
We can find reference to this in the anime, when the Lady tells Aoyama in his dream that "she has always been on Earth" as well as river which ends where it begins and words that "everything ends and returns to where it started". "If you go far enough, you return to where you started" says the Lady to Aoyama, stating that she is on Earth despite Aoyama's travel to another planet. While saying good bye to him later in the movie, she hints that he'll be able to solve her mystery after becoming astronaut and going to space - "then I want you to come and find me". This also alludes to Kris' returning to home from the space in order to reach his ideal, but in the same way this "returning" of Kris was symbolic as in reality he comes to replica of his home which was artificially recreated by Solaris as Kris at last become able to establish communication with the Ocean through empathy.
Aoyama is virtually Kris which has returned to his childhood, with clear conscience, highly intelligent but still innocent. The Ocean (manifested in the Lady) and Aoyama also established connection not through rationality, but through empathy, through mutual love, which gave common ground to completely alien beings. For Aoyama the same "returning to home", returning to the Ocean by penguin highway (it is a path by which penguins go to and from the ocean), in other words reaching his ideal (the Lady), means to grow up "good adult" not just intellectually, but first of all morally, through realization of limitations of rational cognition. Thus Aoyama’s growing up lays through overcoming rational reductionism which in a way means returning to childhood when phenomena precepted immediately as particular and whole. The answer to the Mystery lies out of the reach of scientific approach in the rationally incomprehensible sphere of human spirit and only through devoted love and determined strive for the Lady Aoyama may be able to reunite with her - the Mystery.
However, the complex epistemological message of the "Penguin Highway" will not at all prevent you from enjoying watching this anime without understanding its meaning at all. Many will enjoy the bright, beautifully drawn summer adventure, the feeling of childhood, enchanting music and the atmosphere of a fairy tale, the psychological observations, the relationship between children and parents, not to mention the unusual, humorous and loving relationship between Aoyama and the Lady (however, in order to perceive this unusual relationship, many may need to experience the same level of struggle with stereotypes of thinking and accept openness to the perception of the unknown, as scientists in their study of Solaris). Someone may perceive this anime as a children's fairy tale or a coming of age story, someone as magical realism, a surreal adventure or a first love story - all these will not interfere with enjoying this wonderful masterpiece. This movie is so unusual and magical that it easily became my favorite anime.
laingalion
First, be wary of which translations you use. The some translations are off and cause a ton of confusion. The original Japanese dialog is carefully crafted which is important because the witty responses are the main character's selling point. On the contrary, the English translations are basic and often grammatically wrong. One example of bad translation is of "Onee-san", one of the main characters of this movie. The closest translation would be "Lady" as it is written in the character list of this website. However, the English translation sometimes refers to her as "the dentist's wife" but no where in the Japanese dialog does it mentionthat she is married. The English translation creates unnecessary questions like "how did she get married?", "does the husband know his wife's history?".
Based on my second viewing of the movie, I would say 75% of the translation is incorrect, 25% being completely off. This is so unfortunate as the dialog is one of the strongest points of this movie.
The movie itself is imaginative and visually pleasing. Most of the movie is in a style resembling modern Studio Ghibli with transitions to abstraction that minds me of Paprika. However, the quality of the visuals is not always consistent. The drop in quality can sometimes be jarring.
I would recommend watching this movie with an open mind and no expectations. Let the movie take you on a ride... and make sure to find a good translation.
Zergneedsfood
I really disliked this movie. I merely thought it was disappointingly mediocre when I finished it a few weeks ago, but the more I've thought about it, the worse it's become. Coming from someone who loves some of the previous works of the author (Tatami Galaxy, Uchouten Kazoku), I was pretty stoked for this. A more recent movie, The Night is Young, Walk on Girl wasn't my favorite anime movie of all time, but it had some decent pieces that was really just hampered by Yuasa's over indulgence in his artistic ego. I felt like a different director this time could really bring this movie tolife. And I love penguins; they're cute!
Instead what I got was an incoherent plot, a vapid non-story that preys off people's inability to properly distinguish between an aesthetic story and a lousy package masquerading as such. It envelops itself with cute penguin art and good animation that laughably fails to mask its mediocre story and characters. The other parts of the movie are pretty unremarkable so while I wouldn't rate it any worse for its soundtrack or ideas, they certainly didn't add anything substantive.
But honestly, the worst part about this film isn't the fact that its characters are just archetypal cut outs, poor renditions of some of Tomihiko Morimi's better works, or that it was needlessly long for how little of a story there was, or that I even lost my fondness for the penguins over the course of the movie. No, the worst part is that the movie is littered with a very feeble and perfunctory "on the fence" optimistic sheen about life and its circumstances, excessively abusing this veneer of optimism to give it more substance than it really has. It doesn't help at all that the ending is a spoon fed moment where everything is left to one's interpretation, as if the movie didn't already need massive suspensions of disbelief to pass as a good film.
This isn't a knock against movies that attempt to be optimistic, mind you. There are plenty of great anime with a positive, comfy, and encouraging perspectives. Penguin Highway is not one of them.
It's just bad.
No_H0RNY
I recommend this show because it doesnt get a lot of attention. it does the job as slice of life mixed with supernatural movie. it is one of my best anime films. A story with a child perspective and the curiosity as the plot goes is well put together. the premise is very much a mystery until the ending. while theres some unnecessary scene or maybe plot , it doesnt bother too much. Dont worry about the visuals, It does very well captivating your eyes, but not may be par with makoto works with comix wave films. The Design of characters maybe looking bit more ofghibli style but this is just my preferences and i love it. With interesting story to cover and Very amazing sound design as well, it is a well done movie. I hope after you read this u give this show movie a try and maybe put your thoughts in a review or maybe share mouth to mouth.
SlaceTheDark
Welcome to my review to the 2018 movie 'Penguin Highway'. It's runtime is almost 2 hours so be prepared for it. For this review I will try to limit myself from giving spoilers as much as I can. Before I forget it, this movie is done by Studio Colorado. Plot/Story: Aoyama is a very intelligent kid. He always looks for experiments and things he does not yet know. One day however, something very unusual happens. Penguins. In the middle of an empty field. As out of nowhere penguins appear everywhere in the city and Aoyama and his friends try to solve this experiment. Oh, and thereis also an older girl that is friends with Aoyama and asks him to solve a certain puzzle, a mystery for her.
Now that the synopsis is out of the way, let's get this bread. This plot and movie is crazy. A lot of very weird and fascinating things happen and Aoyama and his friends get entangled into these mysteries. I won't spoil any plot-related things but it's a wild ride. That much I can say. There are also things that not necessarily make a lot of sense, even after the end of the movie. But that's okay. This movie is not immensely deep but it also doesn't want to be that. This movie exists to be a fun and weird movie. Something exciting and fantastic.
Art: Outstanding. There are a large number of beautiful shots throughout this movie and you can feel how caring the guys behind this anime were. One certain segment at the end of the movie is just breathtakingly beautifully animated. It's a fest for the eyes.
Sound: Very beautiful compositions throughout the movie. Not really heavy-hitting on the SXF side this movie proves its worth with good music and BGM underlining each moment. Also one shout out to the beautiful outro song.
Characters: Let's start with Aoyama. An intelligent young boy, always striving for more knowledge. During this movie Aoyama experiences a number of events switching from normal to unknown, to hurtful. It is Aoyama who gets his whole share of emotions and strong moments, especially towards the finish line of this movie. The next import St character is Onee-san. She doesn't have a name and is just called Onee-san or the dentist's wife. I will call her Onee from this point on. Onee amrks the second most impactful and important person in this. Most importantly her relationship with Aoyama. It is very apparent that Aoyama likes Onee, even though their age different is....more than 10 years possibly. If some viewers might find this weird and unsettling I found it to be actually normal. It is perfectly normal at some point to suddenly be attracted to the opposite sex. Onee's importance in this movie is on the same level as Aoyama, heck they are both on the cover. The personality changes she gets throughout the almost 2 hours are significant and almost always, if not always affect also Aoyama. Other than those two we have Aoyama's male friend Uchida and the classmate Hamamoto. Uchida is a wkmp, that pretty much sums him up. At the end he does make one thing outside of his character symbolizing his growth, but since the focus is not on him at all he is pretty much irrelevant. Hamamoto on the other hand is I would say the next important character. She's really good at chess and is also very intelligent, just as Aoyama. Even thought she's also just a side character she does have a more significant role in this than Uchida. But because of spoilers I can't tell. I can just say that she more or less acts human. As one should. There's also the class bully Suzuki but he's pretty unimportant in a lot of ways.
Overall Enjoyment and verdict: Penguin Highway is an amazing movie. Exactly my kind of weird but beautiful movie. There isn't really a grand thing to get from this movie. The reason you want to watch this is because it is a fantastical experience of a pretty movie with likeable characters and a cool and freaky plot. I give this movie an outstanding 9,5/10!!!
And that's it for me with this review. See you in the next review!
Bye!
pocketcroc
Morimi adaptation (tick) Coming of age story (tick) It's about penguins (tick) It's beautifully imaginative and has a fantastically unique premise it executes and takes flying with glee. Just try watching its opening sequences or its climactic half hour or so without grinning ear to ear. It's brimming with youthful wonder, like Hosoda's Mirai dashed with generous helpings of Ghibli and sprinkles of Pixar. Fantastically written flawed MC and holistic perspective-taking from his viewpoint, great dialogue (comparing Aoyama to the penguin puffing out its chest- 'so proud for someone so small', Aoyama's faux-objective dialogue collapsing under the weight of emotions he can't process or admit yet, the motifsand symbolism such as the titular 'penguin highway', etc.), outstanding micro-pacing due to slick direction. It's visually glorious, with absolutely gorgeous backgrounds, consistently fluid character animation, great attention to minute detail, and some exceptional sakuga. This is especially excellent considering Studio Colorido has a resume of shorts, adverts (one for McDonalds, funnily enough) and only a small handful of other earlier films which I am now compelled to check out! It's just outstanding in the first and last third of the film.
The soundtrack AND sound design are magnificent and serve to enhance already wondrous scenes throughout the film with pretty atmospherics.
The middle drags and drops the ball in most of the defining aspects which make the rest such a marvel. My largest gripes is that Suzuki is a trash character, and Hamamoto has her moments but is a little cardboard too. And an echoing gripe i'm noticing a little while after seeing it is the portrayal of dentist lady as so accepting of Aoyama's pretty creepy objectification of her- his obsession with a stranger's boobs is smacks a little of subtle misogyny behind the scenes.
I'm very excited for whatever colorido comes out with next!
thedarkbillymays
This film is an absolute classic in the making. Taking a page out of Studio Ghibli's book, the artwork is phenomenal, with warm, bright colors taking center stage for the majority of the film. The characters are enjoyable and have subtleties all their own. Our protagonist, the young genius, is analytical and strange, but feels about as innocent as a kid his age would be. His supporting cast, including his dentist's assistant/neighbor, and rival/ new friend all play wonderfully off of each other and make them feel organic and lively. The environment plays an amazing role in making you feel right at home in a bizarresleepy town as events unfold. It's almost like I could feel the passion put into this project oozing out of the screen while I watched. If you don't feel charmed the first time you see a penguin appear in this film, I'd recommend seeing a doctor and making sure you have a heart.
trung_mal
Here are a few of my thoughts: The most similar anime I've watched prior to this one was Hello World and to compare I felt more lighthearted and satisfied after credit rolled than with Hello World. The movie has a refreshing art style and fascinating objects of mystery for a fantasy world in the eyes of a bright and curious kid. the surrounding characters are portraited fittingly to the lyrical thoughts and attitude of the boy toward each of them. I like how the mysteries built up intensity with sensible pacing, convoluted, disentangled toward an end that felt very boyish and personal to the main character's view;to which I'd feel it doesn't matter if I tended to find the conclusion non-sensical. In the end, in the shoes of the boy, I'd find the sense of melancholic wonder in the dentist lady.
Overall it's a feel-good to watch if you aren't usually nitpicking after watching an anime.
Vinyl_Acropolis
This is the first of these I've written, so it's less of a review and more of my own thoughts. Penguin Highway, on the surface, looks like a fun story of kids investigating a cute mystery in their town while dealing with the struggles of growing up. And it is, and a very good one at that. The artwork is great, the soundtrack is nice, and the story is easy to follow and intriguing as you peel back the layers. But if I could offer my opinion on what the film is about, I think it's there where the core of the movie is. PenguinHighway is a movie about the mystery of life. The conflict is resolved by the end of the movie, but the mystery still goes on in a way. Not all the questions are answered, and I think that's the point. Life, which the film refers to a lot both as a journey and as a physical anomaly, isn't easy to understand. But it's when you start enjoying it, and really trying to figure it out, when its value becomes clear. I apologize if it seems like I'm rambling, and I'll end by saying: You should watch Penguin Highway; and when you're done, maybe take a few minutes to come up with your own hypotheses.
RaidzAnimez
This movie was a really decent movie to watch and enjoy with family. It was a kids hunt type of film solving a mystery and as a teenager it was a great thing leaving a tear in my eye at the end. The magic with penguins in Japan suddenly came there. One boy wanted to know how and why it happened. The animation was great plus with the art-style making a nice blend to the blender. The pacing was really slow, but you will manage to watch it. The voice acting from dub and sub were really good as-well. I prefer both. The soundtrack as-wellwas really great and a blend with good music for the backgrounds. The movie was such a treat to watch. would recommend it to anyone who is new to anime and like slow pacing movies.
yernco
*Spoilers* What even is there to say about this movie. A lot actually. Coming into this movie I was expecting a wholesome movie with good animation but nothing really special, but instead, I got a movie that could compete to be one of my favorites. This movie was beautiful in a lot of ways. The characters, the story, the animation, and the music were all so amazing that they outweighed the very little bad that there was. When I say there was very little bad I really mean it, I could only think of maybe one thing that I could call out as "bad" but inall reality, it's more of a nitpick of mine. Let's start with that one bad thing, then move onto all the good things.
Starting with the only nitpick I had with this movie. The relationship between the main Lady and Aoyama was honestly a little strange for me. In this, I directly mean the way the Lady interacted with Aoyama. I think that her relation to Aoyama should've maybe been expanded on a little more because the way it seemed was very weird. I assume from what is shown is that the Lady is some type of babysitter for Aoyama, but that just doesn't really make sense sometimes. If she were Aoyama's babysitter why doesn't she also take care of his sister? Also, it's shown multiply times that Aoyama's mother stays home, so why doesn't she take care of him? It's a very small detail but it can sometimes just be seen as weird.
With that out of the way, I can move on to the many things I loved in this movie. I'm going to touch on the characters, animation, and story beats.
First off, the characters in this movie seem so based in reality and I enjoyed that aspect of them a lot. Starting with our main character Aoyama, he's just a boy that happens to be really smart. That's his character and I really love that. He tries to act like nothing bothers him and as if he's above everything but, in reality, he does get put down and put his place by the Lady and his bullies. When he's with the Lady is where he tries to flaunt and be big, but it's actually when he's the most childish. The Lady speaks on this when she compares him to the penguin in the photograph that puffing up its chest even though he's the smallest one in the pack. I think that was really smart for the writers to implement. I really loved how Aoyama was so invested in the Lady's chest. As a young boy obviously he's going to be curious about a woman's body, mostly with how beautiful the Lady is. Next, you have Uchida who is the comic relief character. There isn't much to say about him. He does his job as a comic relief character and I really loved him for it. He was so cute and funny when he was just being clumsy here and there. With Hamamoto, there's a lot more depth and a lot more enjoyment to gain from it. She's not as flat as Uchida but also isn't too deep that she competes with Aoyama for screen time. She is smart and is shown as Aoyama's equal and it's portrayed pretty well. She helped push the plot forwards and added a little side story with Suzuki. Talking about Suzuki, he was one of Aoyama's bullies that ultimately ended up helping him. There wasn't much to him, but as a bully character that's what I expected. I thought it was really predictable that he liked Hamamoto but it still added to the story's overall enjoyment. All the rest of the characters weren't really important.
Onto the animation, it was amazing and beautiful for all of the 118-minute runtime. There wasn't one bit of this movie where I thought the animation could be better. I enjoyed this movie for its characters and writing but the amazing visuals really tied it all together. I would rewatch this movie without the subtitles just to see how pretty it really is. I have high respect for all the animators working on this anime.
Lastly, the story was just as phenomenal as any other aspect of this movie. The story changed a couple of times but any good movie does that. It never had a dull moment with the changing mysteries and with the kids searching around their city. Even with the changing story it managed to all come together and give a satisfactory ending. One thing I didn't like at first but ended up enjoying was the idea of death and goodbyes. It felt abrupt when Aoyama's sister came crying to him about their mother's death but it added another layer to the overall story that by the end was necessary. Deaths are never an easy thing to portray in children's movies but I think this movie did an amazing job with it.
Overall this movie was amazing I truly would recommend this for anyone and everyone. There's so much to enjoy in this movie and I wished I watched it earlier. Imma give this a 10/10, even though I did point out a small nitpick I had with this movie everything else in this movie vastly outways the small inconvenience that detail left on me. Go watch this movie with a family remember, a partner, or just by yourself, just make sure to watch it on a display that will show all of this movie's beautiful colors.
Pingu_the_weeb
With a wholesome story and beautiful visuals, it's great to watch. The parts, in the beginning, are hard to follow, but reaching the end makes things more clearer. If you wanna watch it, go in with an open mind, try not to figure out everything, the movie will make sure that you are satisfied with the ending. The overall mood of the movie is jolly and there are not a ton of emotional moments. Hiroyasu Ishida has got some great sense of 3 point perspective drawings, which turned me into an instant fan. Its aesthetics are great and the animation is beautiful.
AeroGunz
“Penguin Highway” is what happens when You want to write a mystery but You lack the skills to pull it off organically. We follow Aoyama - a fourth grader with knowledge compared to that of an adult… or at least he thinks so. He likes to indulge himself in pseudo scientific experiments that probably fuel his ego. One of his journals is entirely dedicated to “Geometric study of boobs”, now that’s a branch of science I can get behind. He has an ego, he treats others with reservation and sees himself as more than a child. To be honest… he’s annoying. Watching him is like watchinga dollar store ripoff of Sheldon Cooper from “The big bang theory” (and writing a worse character than him is a real achievement as his really badly written). His boring and a lot of his “deductions” are just an ass pull powered by deus ex machina. Shame because there is a solid foundation to make him organically come to the conclusions. But that would require some work.
Aoyama has a pretty big crush on a buxom, pretty, mysterious young woman that works at the local dentist who he call’s Onee-San (Lady in English subs). She has a mysterious and fascinating power which gives Aoyama an excuse to get closer to her. She’s the most cliché character of the show. She only has one side and that is a laid back, kind side. Lady treats our little MC like a child seemingly not knowing, or more likely not giving a damn, about his infatuation towards her. If I have to point out the most wasted character of the story it would be her and that’s a problem because of her importance to the story.
It might seem like the movie doesn’t have any good points but that is not true. The supporting cast is pretty cool. Aoyamas friend Hamamoto is probably the most 3D character of the show. Yes… it’s a bit cliché that she has a crush on Aoyama but due to the fact that she shows a few sides of her personality I can forgive it this time.
The plot itself also has potential. Up to a point it’s pretty logical and organically grows the mystery. That said all that goes out the window somewhere around the 3/4 mark. After that the show relies too much on deus ex machina for my taste. I think the script writers wrote themselves into a corner. They wanted to explore a lot of themes and make us care about the main duo but had a time limit to the move. The movie could use another 30 minutes (at least) to nicely and organically round up the plot. The way it is… it’s just rushed and it shows.
Despite all that, it's not a bad movie, it has a nice calm vibe in the beginning and the visuals are very well done. Aoyama is annoying but after about 30 minutes You won’t really notice it that much… I hope so at least, for Your sake.
Certainless
Penguin Highway is a very lighthearted and joyful experience. It's one of those movies that brings the kid out of everyone. It does something creative without trying to try hard and making it fun to watch without confusing the audience. Story 8/10: The story is about a city where penguins are appearing out of the blue despite the tropical climate of the city. It's not the most creative or thoughtful plot but the movie uses this to its advantage. Instead of digging deep and taking the matter seriously, the movie centers around the different experiences of the main characters while also progressing the plot. It is enjoyableto watch whether you like the story or not
Characters 8/10:
The characters in this movie are quite different from what you would usually expect in anime. The characters are elementary schoolers but they never act like it. They always act like adults especially the protagonist who's main trait is how prideful he is. It's always entertaining to see the arrogant yet not annoying kids act as they know more than the rest. The dialogue is actually interesting because they never say stupid cliche lines that every family-friendly anime movie has.
Art 9/10:
The art is genuinely impressive. It's not something out of this world but the colors are very vibrant and eye-catching. I didn't expect to see good animation considering this movie isn't so popular. But even if you don't like mystery slice of life anime, you might like this one for the amazing art.
Overall 8/10:
This movie does something different without being uninteresting. The story is intriguing and the character interactions are enjoyable. It's sad to see that it didn't get the attention it deserved. All and all, this movie is definitely worth the watch if you want something to watch while you want to relax.
loeweeb
From the author behind masterclass pieces, Tatami Galaxy & Night is Short, Walk on Girl, Penguin Highway tells a coming of age story that is visually stimulating & enjoyable. The story basically follows a young 4th grader boy, Aoyama, embarking on research upon being curiously enticed by the mystery of penguins seemingly popping out of nowhere in their town. But the story is still not without Morimi's magical shenanigans as these penguins themselves are products of urban fantasy. It is in Aoyama's tireless & innocent pursuit of research in demystifying the penguins' true nature. The film teems everything with eye-popping artwork coupled with the smooth and seamlessanimation—especially during the opening sequence when the penguin innocently travels around the town while showing background shots of the residents' reactions. Not to also mention that the soundtrack is top-notch which fits the mood with its childish endeavor while also being forlorn at serious moments.
I love everything about Penguin Highway especially on some of its symbolism. Though it is still up to the viewers' interpretations but personally, I think the story neatly wraps up the usual motif in Morimi's works being positively determined. Highly recommend!
