Five years ago, gravity-defying bubbles with mysterious powers rained down upon the earth. After a huge explosion of uncertain origin, Tokyo became ground zero, with the city being enclosed in a gigantic bubble. As a result of this "Bubble Fall" phenomenon, the metropolis that was once the capital of Japan drowned in a gravity-bending sea; the government declared it a prohibited zone, and the residents abandoned it. Children orphaned by the Bubble Fall now squat illegally in Tokyo, partaking in dangerous parkour team battles across the city's dilapidated buildings. Hibiki—a talented ace in these games with the ability to jump between bubbles—claims he can hear sounds from the Tokyo Tower. Determined to uncover its mysteries, he sets off toward the source, but he falls into the waters below. A strange girl, whom he later nicknames Uta, saves him. But little does Hibiki know that Uta's appearance in his life will reveal the secrets behind the disastrous event that changed their world forever. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Bubble had a beautiful world with an even better soundtrack and astounding visuals. Although it blew me away with its animation and the intricate details of character movement/design, it is extremely held back by the way the story starts itself off. it came off to me as an incohesive story and I felt no connection to the characters whatsoever. The ending definitely started to pick up and showed nice contrasts from the beginning leaving it off on a really good note I feel. I can say wholeheartedly that I'm glad I watched it just don't know how much I could recommend it. :)
The latest movie to get released from Netflix in a nutshell: Imagine Makoto Shinkai's somewhat lackluster Tenki no Ko a.k.a Weathering With You, except there's bubbles and parkour to create a decent movie. No doubt that this insanely high-profile Netflix-exclusive movie is the work of acclaimed people (most of them being from Shingeki no Kyojin a.k.a Attack on Titan since this is Wit Studio with producer Tetsuya Nakatake, director Araki Tetsuro, sound director Masafumi Mima), along with writers Gen Urobochi and others, plus the musical genius of HiroyukiSawano. With a high-calibre staff team like this, this Netflix release must look and feel the part of accomplished veterans,and just feels incredible...music and production-wise only. In a very simple storytelling way (because it really ain't much), Bubble showcases a post-apocalyptic Japan where people can parkour to their liking, so much that it created a competition-like feeling to the young-uns living there. And in comes the supposed "The Little Mermaid" twist character Uta, birthed out from saving this somewhat closed-hearted Hibiki from drowning, only to land at his familial ship Reiyo of Team Blue Blaze, became human and lead Hibiki to be a better parkour player. While it showcases that, it also does is focus on the romance aspect of both Hibiki and Uta in terms of "noise", showing that hearts can resonate together when they hear the same vocality. Case in point, this feels like a combination of 2 other movies: Belle and Cider no You ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru a.k.a Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop on both music and romance aspects but with the classic Attack on Titan twist. The other characters weren't so memorable, and as mentioned, they're only there to service for numbers and progress the plot. Honestly, when you take the entire package as a whole, it feels half-fulfilled, half-empty at the same time as well. Both Wit Studio (and their core staff) and HiroyukiSawano absolutely delivered in their craft, as are the theme songs from Eve and Riria that shouldn't come as a surprise for fans of either entity and people behind this movie. But the structure of the movie being like this just wasn't a good one, and for a movie that's very highly anticipated (or if you're one that got spoiled by reading the pre-review in the forums that was posted months before the Netflix release), it just felt disappointing and underwhelming. I don't really want to say this, but Bubble is one recent anime movie that I felt can be labelled as "mid". I usually take everything into consideration, especially when it comes to movies, but sad to say that even with the talents of Wit Studio and HiroyukiSawano, it's the scenario and character writing in this that suffers tremendously. This is a movie that's all about the musical and graphical showcase (since it has a higher budget than regular TV anime no matter the source which is Netflix or otherwise), not one that's too focused on story, though it would help if the story was written better for a more immersive experience. Can someone PLEASE make a movie that's not so heavily inspired by Makoto Shinkai for a change? Because the anime movie landscape is getting stale at this point if most movies now are created and attempting to imitate the success of the prolific author-cum-filmmaker.
The trailers for this movie honestly didn’t inspire much confidence. The visuals were undoubtedly gorgeous, and I was extremely excited to see what this outstandingly talented group of industry veterans was going to create, but the premise and characters looked so boring, and boring is the last word that comes to mind when I think of Tetsuro Araki. Typical “boy meets girl” story; obsession with the Tokyo Metroplex; generic Eve pop song; inconsequential-looking friend group; pretty boy protagonist wearing Beats™ by Dre. If you told me those were the trailers for the next Makoto Shinkai film, I would’ve been like, “Wow! Why is his directionsuddenly so engaging?!” But I still would’ve believed you. However, after having actually watched the movie, I’m glad to say many of these elements were likely included for marketing purposes only, none of them are ultimately a detriment to what makes the film good, and the actual execution is quite something. I was surprised to realize this film was inspired by The Little Mermaid. More specifically, the Hans Christian Andersen tragedy, not the Disney fairy tail. Its highly symbolic world and setting is visually breathtaking and a total joy to become immersed in the beauty of, but it’s also deliberately mystifying. A giant bubble has formed around the city, and gravity has gone haywire, but never do you comprehensively understand why. The film provides the audience with the exposition necessary to understand what’s directly relevant to the plot, but otherwise, it let’s your imagination run wild, and it’s done not in a way that feels cheap and underdeveloped, but instead deliberate and magical. If Bubble had deep and memorable characters on top of everything else it has going for it, it could’ve easily been a genuine masterpiece, but without them, it’s not suddenly a bad movie, because everything else about the film suggests it might actually be one anyway. Araki’s imagery combined with the thrill of Sawano’s music never fails to blow your mind. The artwork and animation is simply stunning, even for WIT, Obata’s designs are splendid, Sawano is rightly praised as a legend by virtually everyone, and Araki is one of my favorite directors for a really good fucking reason. With more and more studios desperately trying to copy WIT’s 3D environments, it’s worth reminding ourselves why WIT’s were so impressive in the first place. Yes, the renderings and graphics were perfect, but the real reason they felt so exhilarating was because Tetsuro Araki was the one directing the shots. If you saw the trailers for this movie and didn’t immediately think, “Well, alright. This is obviously just an excuse to have people parkour around a weightless and inventive cityscape with jaw-dropping animation and electrifying visual action.” Then, honestly, you need to do yourself a favor and watch more of Araki’s work. Watching this felt like watching Promare in theaters. Around half an hour in, I realized it wasn’t trying to be Imaishi’s next Gurren Lagann or Kill la Kill; it wasn’t trying to be deep; it was just trying to be a visual feast, and it succeeded. GKIDS had a translated interview with some of the creative staff which played after the screening, and if I remember correctly it was Shigeto Koyama who kept talking about how the “movement” of the film was constantly bringing him to tears. Everyone laughed as if he was joking, including himself, but he insisted he was serious, and when asked to elaborate, he just kept repeating that same word. “Movement.” While Bubble didn’t move me to tears or anything, I completely understand what he was saying after watching it. I wasn’t terribly invested in the story or characters, but I understood and appreciated them, and with even such a simpleminded connection established, I was able to get swept away by Araki’s sheer creative vision. People, generally speaking, think I’m a cunt. They think I hate anime, and I just make excuses to bitch and complain. They think I nitpick and overemphasize every tiny little issue I can find as a cynical excuse to hate on whatever anime I’m talking about. I insist this isn’t true. I insist my harsh analytical criticism is merely a product of my high standards, and should an anime meet those basic standards—a competent production, a competent script, a competent director, and so on—then I’m actually extremely generous. As long as an anime has a solid foundation and doesn’t actively annoy me, I’m very easily entertained, and Bubble is irrefutable proof. It’s not that the film is nothing special, because it is special; it’s that the film isn’t tremendously deep or complex. If, by the sound of things, you think you’re too good for something this fast and loose, then Bubble may not be for you, but I cannot say the same for myself. Indeed, this film may just be too good for me. Thank you for reading.
*Spoilers marked* I can't say a lot about this movie, because there is not a lot to speak about. We start with the foundation which is basically Akira, going down into the route of Weathering with You, The Little Mermaid, and countless other "outsider must learn how to behave like a human" anime—I swear at one point I felt a Chobits vibe. This should already sound alarm bells that there is too much inspiration from other works, and nothing here to call their own. Even when attempted, it'd just be forgotten as fast as it came in (see last few minutes and Hibiki backstory). Seriously, if Ihad to go and think up what was originally here, I'd have to go and rewatch the entire thing because I got nothing for you. The actual inspired content was nothing too heartfelt anyway. I suppose that's a given with some elements here, like how the side characters exist to only aid the main guy in whatever he wishes, but it's not even like the main dude was the strongest of characters I've come across in recent time. The same is also true for Uta. That reminds me, the romance here is mediocre as well since it only existed during parkour moments or moments that were dramatic. There was nothing of natural romance which is quite a shame. The only selling point here, although somewhat of a sellout way to go, seems to be only the audiovisuals, which are undoubtedly amazing. Well, maybe not Shinkai level if we are going to talk about crystal looks being on a pedestal compared to the actual story, but you know, it's stuff people would usually look at with starry eyes. No less expected from Wit. Music was good for the most part too, Sawano did well on that. Everything was correct to the scenes that took place. Although it was just a variation of the main theme and song only Hibiki and Uta can hear, they still delivered to high quality if nothing else. --------- *Spoilers here* Now, this part is going into spoilers and the review has essentially finished, but whilst watching this movie I came up with too many damn questions. It was unreal. In fact, some moments were so flawed my initial 7 is now turning into a 5 lol. I usually don't like being too critical, and I find enjoyment in most things I come across. But when you hear the following, led by a team of elites, you will see where I am coming from. The biggest issue I have is some of the world's logic and questions are never answered. Let's start with Hibiki's mom. Some no-one who looked like she wanted to kill her son. For what reason? Dunno, probably because he had hearing aids or something, but her existence feels so wrong in what she does, or at least, the directing made it confusing to present her in a light that was simultaneously two different things. She's a no one in this story, but since she is connected to the main character I thought I'd talk about her. Hibiki seemed to have no problem with her from what I recall tho, maybe I am overthinking. There's also another question as to why the hell Hibiki is even the prince to Uta anyway, of all people. Because he could hear the song? Would love to know but it never goes into detail. They just found each other and fell in love. Some world logic that makes zero sense. Towards the end of the movie, Shin's prosthetic leg is perfectly fine in kicking steel from Tokyo Tower AND well enough to continue on inhuman parkour with zero problems, but breaks when Hibiki jumps from it lol. Also, the Under Takers are literal plot devices. Those guys streamed all the parkour in an illegal area and no one is coming to bust down the place. Odd if you ask me. It also made zero sense for them to help out Blue Blazes save Uta when they had no issue with sending people close to their deaths via that blackhole thing. Lol. You could call all this nitpicking, but I found it funny that this existed. There are a lot more irregularities that feel unnatural but I'd be here forever if I listed them all so I just left my favourites. --------- That's all from me really. Can't keep expectations too high these days, but I don't really regret watching this, it's a time killer thing rather than anything to look back on with great pleasure. It is what it is.
This is my first review and probably the last. I usually watch anime and don't give much thought to what other people think, but I just can't ignore the reviews this masterpiece of anime is getting. I know you shouldn't comment on other people's reviews or opinions but in this case I just can't help it so I apologize in advance and hope for the best. I've seen people claim the story and plot doesn't exist, which I think is absolute nonsense in my Opinion. The Film begins and you are thrown into a story that focuses on the Plot and the Fate that binds the twomain characters from start to finish, You yourself as a viewer are completely sucked in not only into the story itself but also into the world which Art and details are beyond amazing underlined by melodies and sounds that perfectly support and harmonize with the anime and the world. In addition, there may be people like me who now forever have the certain melody in there mind that will bring them back to this anime. I'm willing to admit that if you were expecting an anime that has parkour as its main focus, you might not be entirely convinced but i think even this part was handled quiet well. I also think it was to be expected that this film also had more of a Your Name or Weathering with you vibe. For my part, I am completely convinced and picked up by the masterpiece that this film is the emotions were completely believable for me but maybe they are just not for everybody. I for one think if you were expecting an exciting parkour anime and now you are disappointed then please don't write a bad review based on your disappointment when it was absolutely not what the anime was aiming for! :) Ah that felt good to get out. Thats it for my review. Great day to everyone reading this.
At Wit headquarters: - Yo I just had this crazy idea for a movie! Bubbles plus parkour! What do you think? - Yeah thats great I had been working on a nice cute girl design. - We can also add some nice music! They liked that in Vivy. And so the whole team puts their heart and a lot of passion into this project, making crazy visuals, scenes and score only to realize at a half way point: - Shouldn't we make some kind of plot for this? Your enjoyment of Bubble is gonna depend on how much you can ignore a lack of story or real characters for the sakeof beautiful eye candy. This movie doesn't really have a story, everything serves as a setup for some crazy next scene they envisioned in Wit which is why there is a strong feeling of randomness while watching Bubble. We need a cool parkour scene? Let's introduce some randoms which kidnap one of the characters for views. We want crazy cosmic bubbles? Let's just make some bubble portal in the middle of Tokyo which leads to some other dimension or something. This ideology extends to characters. Authors introduce million characters because they had nice designs for them and wanted more people in parkours, which means they don't develop any of them making them into some kind of stereotype for a character. We also have our main characters: Cute girl and of course Cool dude. Cute girl learns how to speak. On the other hand Cool dude was for 5 seconds an Edgy dude before becoming a Cool dude so there is something. Cute girl and Cool dude become friends and I think fall in love. That's about it. Visually this is incredible. Beautiful landscapes of flooded Tokyo, weird gravity, all the different bubbles make gorgeous scenery with something interesting always on screen. Artwork is elevating this movie into a spectacle which is enriched with a feel of mystery by the mesmerising soundtrack. Direction of parkour sequences and the animation in them make it all engaging despite action having no stakes at all. Unfortunately some of the moves they do are so outrageously impossible it takes me out of the scene. It is a shame that they don't have any good writers in the studio because this could have been a masterpiece.
Bubble: *8-9ish? Story - 7ish Art - 10+ Sound - 10+ Character - 8 Enjoyment - 9+ Overall - 8-9ish Bubble was good, it was an absolutely cinematic experience and Wit did what Wit does best.It is gorgeous from start to finish and Araki cuts with Sawano still absolutely bang. Production was absolutely phenomenal: sound design, OST, character design, backgrounds, animation and direction were all amazing. Uta was fucking adorable, and I really liked the climax and ending. Wit, Araki and Sawano never fail to make pure cinema. If you’re looking for a movie to just watch for a dopamine fix via pure sakuga and OST, you’ll definitely enjoy. However, it very much feels like a flex/passion project; much of the movie feels aimless but nonetheless a pleasure to watch especially due to the SawanoAraki effect. Going into it’s flaws, there are some issues with the plot or more “substance” but no where near like Takt., Garden of Words or Kabaneri levels of mediocrity. I’d put it comfortably above Tenki no Ko personally. Spoilers Below: || Urobutcher played it really safe here so plot didn’t really hit for me until the end. His reputation definitely hurt this movie due to expectations alone for certain people. The movie also runs into classic “movie” problems, namely pacing, I feel like an additional hour to build up the characters and HibiUta dynamic would’ve greatly benefit it, but not gonna fault it too much there. My main two complaints come from the side-cast and plot: The characters beside Hibiki and Uta are also basically just “there”, while some have roles to play, none are really developed upon barring a support role either in the parkour scenes, or to dump exposition to the viewer. The beginning 2/3rd’s of the film have no relevance to anything besides the HibiUta building. The last 1/3rd of the movie is where the “plot” finally starts to kick in, but no real answers are given to most of the questions you have/had going into the movie, namely the origins and “intent” of the bubbles. || Regardless of it’s flaws, I still enjoyed a lot. It’s an absolute pleasure to the eyes and ears; the ED song was great, and HibiUta was pretty cute, I liked their dynamic and the ending. I just wish it was longer and the characters, mystery and plot were fleshed out more.
overall, VERY disappointing.. the animation, music and voice acting were great. that's about all I can say was good about the movie... plus they had some disability representation which was nice! if you (like me) signed up for a cool parkour anime with beautiful setting - this movie is not it. this film suffers from 'DON'T QUESTION IT' syndrome. NONE OF IT MAKES SENSE. there is no plot, there is no tension, there is no buildup and there is no payoff. normally, I would be fine with it. but... man, those characters suck. I am unable to say that they even have a sense of personality. thereis no driving idea or motivation for characters, neither the 'antagonists' (if we can call the rival team that?). it all feels so lackluster. I felt literally nothing except frustration watching this anime. in a nutshell - forced hetero romance can ruin yet one more film. all in all, I have no idea why they copied 'Weathering with you" and then pushed "Little Mermaid" in there... this film doesn't feel like it's own story and looks very generic for some reason. I cannot put my finger on it but it just all look so poorly organized.. it's all just a compilation of situationships happening without any reason. just like the 'romance' of the movie. it was so unnecessary... and boring and weird? especially because the female lead acts like an animal or a child.... I have no idea how is that supposed to be cute or romantic? if you want a feral inhuman girl, there you go I guess? I genuinely want someone to explain to me if they were interested in what was happening and why lol. spoilers? the characters are so bland I don't even remember their names... plus none of them even had a distinctive personality (if we can say that they had any to begin with). first we have a generic black haired MC with little sad backstory. fine. I have no idea if the creators did it intentionally, but he was basically a walking autistic representation (which I though was nice, but at the same time 'Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop' had almost the exact same character archetype, so to feel like Hibiki was genuine is a lie lol) again, I have no idea what his character is except he seems autistic. Main female lead... oh boy, guess what? she does not even behave like a human most of the time, barely speaks and acts like what? a CHILD. I absolutely despise the trope. pretty girl out of nowhere, obviously not a human, acts like a wild animal, can't speak, but guess what; that's fine because everyone loves her for some reason, she also has unexplainable crush on MC and serves no real purpose, except she is good at parkour, which is supposed to be half of her personality- the other half being pretty girl that just learned how to speak lol. YAY... she basically upgrades from a pet to a child in my eyes. I thought we were over making women in media look dehumanized and void of any personality? apparently not hehe next up we have random and pretty forgettable characters filling the screentime: lowkey annoying sexy girl that fills the role of a 'mother figure' I guess? but she mostly is there to be sexy ofc... a child, a guy that has a loud voice and is into the sexy lady for some reason, two filler characters with almost no dialogue, a dilf who's there to be cool and um.. there I suppose? and of course - background characters with no purpose or motivation. if you just want a pretty movie to look at, it's fine. don't have high hopes, but it's there. I have no idea if it's enjoyable though, guess you have to watch it yourself. it's a PERSONAL opinion of course! if you like the movie then that's great for you! have a good one :>
Tldr: it's a flawed story with likable characters, a lot of cool yet mostly unexplored ideas, top tier animation and an amazing soundtrack. by no means a must watch, but still worth watching if you're interested in the concepts or want some top notch parkour animation. ******************************************************************** For the lack of a better word, this movie was lacking. But why? the concept is great, the music is amazing, the animation is some of the best out there and the writing while not the best of the best, it is also far from being bad. So why? what could possibly be the reason...******************************************************************** Loosely based on little mermaid. a well known story, that even if you somehow don't know it, you will since the movie tells it, and says how it ends not too far into the first act, and to me, that's this movie's biggest downfall. Basing your main plot around a well known story, means audience having a good idea of what the story beholds from the start, which obviously is not the best thing, specially when you say how it ends and make sure the few who don't know it are also spoiled. But unlike what you may think, that's not always a bad move ,while that type of story in most cases is not as good or at least not as interesting as a truly original idea, it can and has worked before in many cases. But for that to happen you need a little something called, "reasons" if those reasons aren't present, you are just actively spoiling your story for no, well, "reason". and to no ones surprise, all spoilers do, is lessening the impact. and ruining the shock factor. again, it can work. you can use the known story, to set up a twist by breaking the audiences expectation. you can expand upon the idea and add to it. or you can even just remake it in a different setting, but in that case telling the audience what you are based on from the start becomes a moronic move. The problem with bubble is that other than the elements mirroring the little mermaid story, it doesn't expand on ANYTHING. *********************************** Out of context spoilers for this part: Where did the bubble came from? who knows. Why had the time stopped in the tower? who knows. why was the girls sister which was the other part of these "bubble" angry when she left? who knows. Where did the bubble go? "yOu sEe thErE arE tHeSe vorTex" no that is not an explanation. That's cop out answer/theming at best. At the very least the movie could have it match the themes of the show like what parasyte The maxim did. ******************************************************************** The show had a lot of ideas, but it didn't even attempt to go through any of them outside of the bare minimum. I just don't get it, if all you had to offer in terms of story was the little mermaid story, why would you even think of telling that to the audience DIRECTLY. And I do mean that, the romance barely functioned since it was kind of rushed, and the characters where just ok. nothing bad, but in no way special either. There is no message, there is no symbolism, there is no clever foreshadowing, theming or plot twist. All the story had, was the little mermaid story and some unexplored ideas, and for some reason decided to spoil a massive part of it by telling you what the story is based on. it's not all disappointment though. The animation and art are out of this world. the background were also some of the most wall paper worthy I have seen in a long time. The music was also great. It didn't blow me away and become one of the best I have heard, but It was great through out the whole movie. But the sad truth is that, this movie felt unfinished. it left a lot to the imagination in the worst way possible. Wit has never missed the mark as far as I have seen, and this too was by no means a bad movie, but it was certainly disappointing. thanks for reading
The new and highly anticipated Netflix original film with the best staff gathered, a new anime with the most respected people working on it, a not so new story? Bubble is a movie that takes place in Tokyo which had suffered from a supernatural phenomenon and left the capital of Japan uninhabitable with floods on the ground and bubbles in the air. The story starts off with introducing us to the characters, the characters are not too different from most anime movies that have come out in the past years, the main character is a stoic person who does not bother being with other people, aneccentric and energetic younger kid, a boy who seems to have anger issues, funny enough, it also features a story that seems familiar, a survival type romance which is taking place because of a supernatural phenomenon. For the first half, it becomes quite hard to be interested or care about the story or the characters as nothing new or special is shown, no character interaction that catches my attention and no development that I want to witness, just some parkour racing that the characters are involved in, which looks like something that would be more attractive to someone who likes 1) Parkour 2) anime like beyblade or bakugan. The story does take a turn when our stoic protagonist encounters a near death experience and gets saved by this bubble girl who turns out to be someone who took a shape of a singer or actress and is originally a bubble that looked like it had a soul. Our protagonist and the girl start to form a relationship and this relationship is what starts the development of our protagonist who gradually starts to care more and show more emotions. In the second half, things became more interesting with the protagonist: Hibike and the bubble girl: Uta, as they take part in a race together to save another one of the characters, this race was one of the more interesting parts which was uplifting and enthralling however as the story continued the pacing did not get better, switching between high action scenes to normal conversations, not maintaining a balance and often forcing me to zone out. It introduced side characters that had a role in the movie but their roles were not much fun either and it failed to make the characters seem important to the story. Now with a good deal of pacing issues, boring characters and story, we move on towards the ending which I think suffered the most from all the previous issues such as pacing and being able to make anything seem important, with some backstory which made me think that things are more interesting now, with bare explanation to the phenomenon and my lack of interest for the parkour concept and a declining interest in the main couple I did not enjoy the final part enough, there are movies like Weathering with You in which I felt more attached to both the story and the characters and enjoyed it throughout, this movie barely had anything fun or interesting for the first 75 percent that what was supposed to be the best part of the movie, I could not be invested in it. I still give credit to the main couple who had backstories and development complemented with beautiful animation and sound that made scenes with them together more beautiful and had more feeling in it. The animation was my favourite part of the movie, with amazing camera movements during parkour scenes, beautiful and vibrant colours that you would just want to frame on your wall. The movements were fluid and dynamic, the camera following the characters created a great cinematic experience. Some of the shots which closed up on Uta and Hibiki's face were cocaine to the eye with the colours and the details. The sound was top notch, great soundtracks which were used well and created a deadly combo with the animation. These were the things that gave scenes in the movie more feeling to them and more joy to watch when things were at the best, although at some points these elements did not match the feeling of the scene, or at least it tried to force the feelings on to the viewer. Personally, someone who is less invested by the parkour races and a story and characters that look like a repeat of other films, the style was not enough to make up for flaws, even the state of the art animation and sound only partially helped. I'm convinced that Netflix original anime are now to just try things out that's it, no one on this platform wants to make a complete story with a good idea put to use.
Disclaimer: This ‘review’ merely describes my own experience with this movie (and I only watched it an hour or so ago). Spoiler-free until stated otherwise. POSITIVES: Most of the music was pleasant, and fit the vibe of the movie. The art (subjective as it is) was easy on the eyes and often ‘wallpaper worthy’. Special praise must go to the dynamic scene direction, fluid animation, and smooth angle changes. There was one sequence in particular that paired dynamic animation and soft background music excellently. In fact, these factors alone could be enough for a particular kind of viewer to love watching this movie. NEGATIVES: The writing herewas nothing special. Most of the characters (even the main two) had next to no depth to them. There was very little momentum to the plot, and rather cheap (if not nonsensical) tricks were pulled to trudge us along it at times. Another movie I had a similar experience with was ‘Weathering With You’, although ‘Bubble’ has marginally less pretty art and a marginally more cohesive narrative. SPOILERS SECTION (Skip ahead to OVERALL if you want no spoilers) : Despite my suspension of disbelief, the whole basic premise of ‘orphaned boys engaging in team versus team urban parkour in a crumbling Tokyo setting with supernatural dangers’ rang hollow to me. This initial premise, having not been adequately fleshed out, laid a shaky foundation. A central issue with the movie arose not soon after: investment in character, or the lack thereof. None of the characters were given sufficient backstory or personal focus for the viewer to care about them much, or to even understand their reasons for engaging in ‘high stakes urban team parkour’ in the first place. The movie might often make you ask yourself, “Why do I care about what’s happening here?”. I could go into details about how frankly ridiculous the whole ‘rescue arc’ was: “we are the conveniently evil looking generic bad guys, who kidnapped this woman from your squad, and you must rescue her by beating us at a high stakes urban team parkour match, so we can get internet fame” was pushing limits of credulity. I think it was just an extremely cheap way to create an imitation of stakes/drama so that the main characters could have a motivation to learn to work together and bond before the final act. The final act naturally suffered as well. The supporting cast of characters had very ‘convenient’ contributions ham-fisted into the narrative, which were probably intended as the payoff for the ‘teamwork’ theme. Explanations for the supernatural forces were vague, which by itself I did not mind much. The foundations/motives for the two main characters were not laid down early or clearly enough. In fact, it is only towards the end with the narrator’s monologue that we start to see the full(er) picture. Ultimately, the conclusion and ‘sacrifice’ of the main character girl lost some of its impact because of the one-to-one ‘mermaid tale’ told before. Expectations—far from being subverted—were barely met (if that). OVERALL: There were many narrative choices that landed poorly, and the movie unfortunately spent huge chunks of its runtime on flashy but ultimately non-cohesive elements. I could go on about the deficiencies of the writing, and praises of the direction, art, and sound; but I want to focus on what I think the vision behind this work possibly was: **“In the fleeting moments between grand cycles of death and rebirth, the precious beauty of the human connection is what gives value to life.”** I believe this was the narrative core of the movie, but had very little time devoted to it. This movie could have been split into two—much better—films: 1) An excellent, impactful drama/mystery/romance with the focus clearly on the two main characters and their story. 2) An equally great action/sports movie with the focus on themes of teamwork and found family. The melding of these two concepts together was not done cohesively and thus diluted the impact of both sides into a single, ultimately shallow/mediocre work.
With an OP from Eve, an OST from Sawano and gorgeous 3D animated sequences and an original premise, it was hard not to be excited about Bubble. That doesn’t mean it’s without its flaws, however. Bubble is a spectacle of animation and if it’s any indication of what’s to come from WIT in the future I’m very excited. After dropping Shingeki no Kyojin, WIT last released Vivy, my pick for original anime of the year(2021) and Bubble retains many of the same qualities we saw in Vivy. Where they diverge is that while Vivy stays a well written story throughout, Bubble’s final act lets itdown. The post-bubble disaster world where parkour is a way of life is a fun and unique concept, but the story fails to really explain key details about the world. There’s quite a few leaps in logic taken particularly about the origin of the bubbles, what exactly Uta is and even the state of the outside world. The main attractions of the movie are the OST, animation and Uta and Hibiki’s relationship. All of which are really good and definitely make for a worthwhile viewing experience. Despite the story being weak at the end, the combination of Sawano’s OST and some incredible parkour animation made the last 35 minutes or so an emotional ride. I would have really liked to have got a little more story/lore out of the movie, but I do understand time constraints and that WIT probably decided to just stick to a character driven story, which worked ok, but not great. If only for the music and the animation, Bubble is worth the watch. Its story does let it down, but it’s not the worst written out there. I do think most people will be able to enjoy this and have fun with what is a rather unique concept. Bubble gets 8 out of 10.
"Not Being Able To Develop Any Connections Whatsoever With The Characters, The Story Or The Theme For 1 And A Half Hour Straight" - The Animation. 1,5 hour is just not enough for all the hyperbolic symbolizations (which anime makers should really drop it asap) and a love story about an emo boy who got da coochie thanks to something he did and I quote "unintentionally" to be able to collaborate. Literally nothing in this show feels like it's rightfully earned and can be related to, everything just looks like magic, feels like magic and runs on magic. Nothing is explained, even in a very perfunctorilyway. Who is HQ? How come they're of a team? What are the bubbles? Why do they invade Earth? What's with the song? Where's the rest of it? Was that 8 notes the whole song or perhaps the aliens were baking an EDM billboard hit but the adlib was leaked so they got mad? Sup with the chad looking dude who acts like it's been 20 years? Sup with the boots? Why are they sniffing sponges? How come a bunch of 13 y/o kids know how to fix up and operate a naval vessel? Every question just solves itself out with magic. I feel like I just spent 1,5 hour watching an ad for compelling action sequences and music design that featured an extremely two-dimensional cast. I don't know what Gen-san what smoking this time but I will pretend he didn't involve in this mess of a script. And I'm probably the last person on Earth who would want to say this but, a let down by WIT and Hiroyuki Sawano. I didn't watch any of the trailers, but from the very first scene and the first few seconds of the OST I immediately knew it was them, and that's the sign of Hiroyuki-san kinda getting lazy by using the same formula over and over, even tho I would have guessed the purpose of this movie was to show off that the iconic duo is still going big in the game. Even the main character talks like he doesn't give a damn at all.
I am going to be honest. 20 minutes in and I knew it was bad, but I kept watching and my initial reaction wasn't wrong. This was probably the worst movie I have ever wasted 1 hour and 40 minutes on. It was a waste of time, and I won't get that time back, maybe i'm getting too old. The good: The art is beautiful, breath-taking even. The voice acting is done well and the score kept my interest. I also thought this was a neat concept, it seemed so fun and fresh(?). I was excited to watch it. Also, the animation was super fluid,I loved the scenes where no one was talking and there was no mention of the plot. The character designs are fun too. The bad: Oh dear god where do I start. The plot was nonsensical and barely fleshed out. Like many are saying, it feels as if the producers and creators relied on the animation to carry weebs into liking this movie. Uta is your run of the mill manic pixie dream girl who really is only there to fall in love with the male lead. Like, no really, she comes to life because she wants to save him. She's kind of annoying, and I feel bad saying that. Hibiki is another cardboard man made for the "my god, he's just like me!" crowd. He's unlikable right off the bat and doesn't really get any better. Even with scenes explaining why and how he is, and basically try to make you like him more, did nothing for me. The other characters: what other characters? You mean the ones who aren't fleshed out and are just there to stroke the protag's d- I mean ego? Overall: Yeah, it's just a bad movie and I am so sad it was because I was hyped to see it. I only rated it because of how bad it was, like nothing good outside of superficial aspects. I feel like there's been this batch of overall bad movies or ones that miss the point in order to showcase their unique artstyle and animation skills. Oh well.
I'm well aware of the fact that this anime is not unique. Most aren't. But it's refreshing to watch something devoid of the usual tropes, with some of them being shouting attack names, never-ending monologues or conversations in the middle of a fight scene, plot armor that's so ridiculous to the point it makes no sense, power of friendship, exaggerated facial expressions, and so forth. All of these are prevalent in most action anime. I get it. That's just how it works. Bubble, however, is devoid of these tropes. That alone should be an obvious indicator of why I appreciate it so much, though it ismost certainly necessary to note that Bubble is not action-based like the tropes I listed. The premise is a breath of fresh air. Partly. I don't mind it being a mixture of Weathering With You and The Little Mermaid. Whoever came up with this has added something new to it. The bubble phenomenon. Most other anime I've watched are a simple rehash of something else. Maybe the issue here is my not having watched many anime, but that doesn't matter at all. I have my own preferences that don't align with those of others'. Another thing I like about Bubble is the total lack of cringe scenes, seemingly forced humor, and pointless fanservice. The only downsides I see here is a plot evoking confusion, and lack of sufficient explanation. I had to rewatch it to fully understand it.
In the everlasting debate of which animation studio is the best we often hear the names KyoAni, MAPPA, ufotable, but with the release of Bubble, I think Wit Studio has taken the top spot for now. Just from the production standpoint, this is a perfect masterpiece and there is no denying it objectively. Plain backgrounds, lackluster animation, background characters not moving? Yeah, no, not with Wit Studio. Bubble always shows a colorful and dynamic background in every scene. The amount of details is beyond insane. And you can see the sheer effort in literally every frame. You can pause this movie at any second and spendminutes just looking at all the details. But the animations might be even better. At this point, Wit Studio was just flexing their abilities. Moving camera shots with even more movement of the characters while also providing an dynamic background. The parkour scenes might be the best thing of this movie. There is so much movement on the screen and still you can't spot something that does not scream effort and detail. This is as close to an orgasmn for your eyes as it gets. The soundtrack was made by Sawano Hiroyuki, nothing really more to add. The music is perfect, the sound effects themselves are gorgeous, simply an amazing package in terms of sound. As for the voice acting, I was really impressed by the performance of the main duo (Japanese), especially for their first pure dubbing roles. Those two really embraced their roles and I hope to hear more from them in future anime. And on a personal note, I just love anime movies with "rather unexperienced" voice actors in the main roles, surrounded my veterans of the industry (in this case Kaji Yuki, Miyano Mamoru etc.), another plus for me :D The story might be the weakest point of the entire movie, but with such an amazing production it's really hard to surpass that. BUT, that doesn't mean the story is bad. I personally loved the story, which I won't spoil here, I loved how the characters interacted, I loved how the set up this world of bubbles (who would have thought that a movie called "Bubble" had a lot of bubbles), how they built up Uta and Hibiki and especially the conclusion. (I must add, the backstory of Hibiki had me a little teary for whatever reason, he is sooo cute and innocent :c) Overall, Bubble is a masterpiece when it comes to production, animation, sound (design), voice acting, everything is absolutely stunning. But it also comes with a great story, so at the end of the day, I must really recommend it to everybody, just for its production. And I highly recommend it to people that like beautiful stories with a slight emotional touch!
SPOILER WARNING AHEAD!! I did NOT like this anime, I'm probably not the best review writer but considering my strong negative feelings and the fact it has just premiered I thought I'd share my opinion. Story: 2 This story was kinda lowkey dreadful. I am EXTREMELY disappointed. Good art does NOT equate to a GOOD anime. The heart of a film should be its story and I stand by that. This story has HINTS of something that could be good, but that's all it has. It does NOT dive into any depth. For instance, the exposition is awkwardly delivered, where one of the unmemorable side characters says "youknow I don't have any parents, just like everyone else here". Who even says that in normal conversation, a no-shit Sherlock moment if I ever saw one. This is also NEVER developed any further, they don't go into how the characters have changed and how they cope with losing their parents, it's just brushed off as the reason they do parkour. Many questions left unanswered: Are all the bubbles people? Why was Uta the only bubble that became a person? Why was she SO important that she could stop the disaster? Why randomly out of nowhere does she have a sister? Does that imply there are more of her out there? Why are there bad bubbles? And why can they be neutralized from Uta's song? Why is Hibiki so special, no one else could hear the song that came from the tower? It was Uta, but also the tower, why was it coming from both of them at the same time? What caused the whirlpools and explosions? How did Hibiki anger the bubbles? Do bubbles have feelings? HOW TO STOP WAR....... BUBBLES!!!!! Art: 10 The art in this movie is amazing, the action scenes are immersive as hell. I would expect nothing less from Wit Studio. This movie is basically just them flexing their skills, it is STUNNING. The creativity in the world-building and all the details left me struggling at some points to keep up as it was one of the most immersive things I have seen in a while. Sound: 8 Overall the music was nice, maybe slightly repetitive on the main theme, but that's just a personal nit-pick. Character: 1 If you like 2D characters, this movie is for you. There are only three characters in this film. Hibiki is the awkward sad boy who has trouble connecting with everyone else in the anime. Uta, the manic pixie dream girl character, whose purpose is to bring the MC out of his shell. And Shin plays the role of a wise mentor, who looks after the boys in their parkour adventures. Shin is the only character other than Hibiki to have a hint of a backstory, with him having a picture of an inferred deceased family on his boat. All other characters have no depth, Makoto the scientist is solely used for exposition and fan service. It disgusts me. Like as a girl with tits I would NEVER sit with my chonka honkas on my desk, that is NOT even comfortable like wtf. Uta is, as stated, a spin on the classic manic pixie dream girl, who literally dies at the end turning into bubbles, leaving Hibiki a big old sad boy. Hibiki does have an auditory disorder, which is his reason for being isolated from others, but some girl comes along and suddenly IT'S NOT A PROBLEM ANYMORE. He falls in love with her after ONE PROPER CONVERSATION where he trauma dumps, that is literally just him talking to her and Uta just stares at his lips (which were strangely plump and shiny). All Uta does is follow him around and laugh. Also, what the even is Hibiki wearing, crop top more like not top. I don't wanna see a man's belly button at all times. Also, not gonna lie, I lowkey ship Hibiki with his team-mate Kai over Uta, they had far greater chemistry. That cheeky kiss tease excited me for NOTHING. Enjoyment: 5 This film was stunning, but as I said, art and story are different things. With the repertoire of people behind this film, I would expect better. These Netflix anime releases are CATFISHING ME AHHHHHH. I always go into them expecting more than they are.
This won't be a full review but this movie was such a waste of excellent animation and a great soundtrack that I just have to write why this movie is MID. The plot seems to be based on the Little Mermaid motif combined with a strange world where Tokyo has been locked in a huge bubble with a different gravity inside and the outcasts who stayed there take part in "parkour races" Leaving aside the unconvincing romance that refers to the little mermaid, the basis of the whole story makes no sense at all, the plot is built on stupidity that makes it impossible to take thisstory seriously. In the beginning... They meet a girl who acts like a retard, she hasn't said a word and no one has thought about who she is and they don't ask any reasonable questions, no one has tried to talk to her and they accept the fact that she acts like an animal, especially a scientist who is a fucking SCIENTIST. This scientist is an adult, she wouldn't think that someone might be looking for this girl and she didn't report it anywhere, everyone just wants to include her in the team right away XDD and the only doubts about it are only one boy but he's simply jealous of her, although his jealousy or something didn't matter in the end and disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Besides The strangest anomaly in the world, some strange red thing floating in the air...and only one scientist who investigates it further and is there, besides literally no one was assigned to protect her from above even though the city is full of "outcasts" and she has expensive equipment for research XDD it should be a phenomenon and the most guarded and researched area in the world, something more should take place around it and not serve as a playground for children, would such governments of the world allow this? The action in this anime makes no sense... These parkours make no sense, the only goal is to capture the flag, the antagonists have special equipment that gives them a big advantage and they could quickly fly to the flag, but they prefer to use some strange complicated strategies and even when they succeeded and our heroes stood still because they were trapped, the antagonists did not capture this stupid flag at that time and probably also stood still for some reason XDD I don't want to talk about this anime, I could elaborate on the fact that the plot is predictable, boring exposition, flat characters and mostly really meaningless despite this, this anime gives them some big moments from the ass, that the plot of the blue-haired girl who is a "copy of the little mermaid" is completely unengaging because unlike the little mermaid, we didn't see her previous life and we don't buy her addition at all that she "is finally herself" blah blah the ending is of course the standard boring ray into space (that weird red thing) like in Avengers and characters who forget about the instinct of self-preservation, go to risk their lives for a girl they knew very briefly, all without exception in the name of the ult anticlimactic power of friendship (I probably forgot something and there is more) I could expand on all this, maybe add some pluses apart from the animation and soundtrack but as I said, this movie is so boring and unengaging that it's a waste of time. I'll give it one plus... These perfidious ads for Coca-Cola, Fanta and something else were pretty funny XDD 5/10
Loved the music/visuals. Tolerated the story. Eve's track (without animation) convinced me to watch the movie and I feel the track perfectly conveys the emotion of the entire movie. The movie supplements it with vibrant colors and animations that carries momentum of the tunes being played (amazing audio/video mixing). The story is definitely not this movie's strong suite. It's capable of carrying the movie through emotion/hype, but to anyone prone to analyze in real time it will fall apart. There's a supernatural event occurring that is referenced all the time but it barely gets explored. It's nice in a sense it keeps a mystery up, butconclusion left me disappointed. There are antagonists, which feel like cartoon villains, as they seem to only be "evil" to move the plot along. The story is having a massive identity crisis by touching on 3 themes and not really going all out on either of them.