If you could turn all your memories into a song, what would it resemble?
Between being an exceptional student and taking care of the house alone during her mother's absence, Asuna Watase's only distraction is listening to her old crystal radio in her secret mountain hideout. One day, she accidentally tunes to a mysterious and melancholic melody, different from anything she has ever heard before. Soon after, an enigmatic boy named Shun saves her from a dangerous creature, unknowingly dragging Asuna on a long journey to a long lost land bound to surpass her very imagination, turning her once melodic life into an intricate requiem.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Archaeon
Stories about the dead coming back to life are a dime a dozen these days, mainly because of the current fascination with zombies and vampires, but rarely do we see a tale that's more akin to the legends of old, where mighty heroes brave the perils of the underworld to be reunited with their lost love. Sorry, that should be a 12 year old girl. Let's try this again ... Stories about children having adventures in other worlds are a dime a dozen these days, but rarely do we see a tale that's more akin to the stories of old, where brave youths traversed other realms ona journey that would teach them ... lots of stuff.
Nope, that's not going to work either. Let's try putting the two together ...
Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo, which apparently means "Children Who Chase Stars" but for some reason is called "Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below", is the latest work from acclaimed creator and director Shinkai Makoto. The story centres on a small town in the countryside, where a young girl called Asuna spends her time after school listening to the strange music that comes from the crystal radio that her father left to her before he passed away.
Everything is peaceful until one rather eventful day ...
At it's core, Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo is an adventure covered in a philosophical blanket that doesn't quite fit, and it shows in many ways. The plot tries to blend a variety of themes, but it never really manages to do this with the panache of Shinkai's previous works. In addition to this, there's a childishness to the narrative that some viewers may find a little annoying, and quite often events are resolved in a manner that is very "black and white". Because of this the story lacks a good measure of catharsis, especially in comparison to "5 cm Per Second" and "The Place Promised In Our Early Days", and the film concludes with a rather lukewarm resolution.
That said, the movie is interesting to a degree, but much of this comes from the way in which myths and legends regarding the underworld and resurrection are tied into the plot. Unfortunately, it's clear from the opening scenes that inspiration for the anime has come from a few very well known sources, and viewers may find that they spend more time playing spot-the-influence, and less time paying attention to the storyline.
One of the first things that people will notice about Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo is the very "Ghibli-esque" atmosphere it has, but while this perception can initially be ascribed to the rural setting and the young lead character, the similarities actually run a lot deeper. The scenery is a rather pleasant blend of Shinkai's trademark panoramas and the kind of countryside imagery that one might find in "Only Yesterday" or "Spirited Away". Once the action moves beyond the gate, the background art and the settings dramatically improve, and the audience is treated to the kind of vistas that one would expect in a Shinkai feature.
Unfortunately the same can't be said of the design, and viewers may be forgiven for thinking that the entirety of the movie is nothing more than an homage to a certain well known studio. The characters are so stereotypically Ghibli in fact, it's easy to imagine them searching for Laputa or farming in The Valley of the Wind. The similarities even extend to the animals, and while several of the more fantastic creatures wouldn't look out of place in the forests of "Mononoke-Hime", the strongest resemblance (in more ways than one), is between Asuna's cat Mimi and Nausicaä's pet Teto. Sadly, the comparison can only go so far as the characters lack visual refinement, which is further compounded by the lack of gradation in the colour palette used for them.
When it comes to the animation, Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo is a long way from the best work produced by the long-running Shinkai/CoMix Wave Inc. collaboration. The action sequences are pretty decent for the most part, but the characters can sometimes move in a stunted manner, almost as if there's a degree of uncertainty about how each person should act or react in a given situation. In addition to this there are several scenes where the characters seem to have irregularly proportioned bodies, and viewers may find themselves wondering why particular events leave them with the nagging feeling that something isn't right.
The theme song, "Hello, Goodbye and Hello" is a bittersweet ballad composed and performed by Anri Kumaki, and in all honesty it's a rather fitting song given the nature of the story. As for the background music, there's a rather nice mixture of placid or bittersweet orchestral tracks, light-hearted jingles and dramatic pieces, all produced by Tenmon - Shinkai's long-time compositional stalwart. Ironically, the movie excels when it comes to audio choreography, and with an array of high quality effects on offer it can sometimes feel as though more care has been given to making the feature sound good in a pretty setting, and not enough on developing the story.
The script lacks a degree of intuitive flow, and the characters can sometimes state the obvious or wax philosophical for no reason other than to add a veneer of intelligence to proceedings. It's a sad fact that the dialogue can sometimes be stunted, and lacks the nuance that many viewers might expect. While some people may believe that this is due Asuna's age and lack of knowledge, the simple fact is that it highlights more than anything else how inexperienced Shinkai is with this type of movie. That said, the more than experienced cast have rallied well, but even with their ability to project emotion and personality, there are moments when they're unable to compensate for the heavy handed script.
There's a strange dichotomy with the characters as on the one hand Asuna, Shun, Shin, and pretty much everyone else aren't really anything to write home about - especially if you've watched certain Ghibli movies. On the other hand Morisaki Ryuji is a very interesting person indeed, and is reminiscent in many ways of a more humane Ikari Gendou. Unfortunately he also suffers from the same problem in that he isn't given enough back-story to support his actions and decisions, but then, that's pretty much the tale of Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo in a nutshell. Although there is some development for the lead roles, it's often sporadic as the focus seems to be more on the journey itself.
Shinkai Makoto has made it no secret that the inspiration for this movie came from a story he read in elementary school, but it was during his sojourn in England in 2008 that the idea for the anime finally coalesced into something more concrete.
Which, strangely enough, explains rather a lot.
There's a childishness to the movie that doesn't quite fit with the major themes of the plot, and in many ways it feels more like Shinkai was testing the waters and his determination, which isn't actually surprising when one considers that Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo is also his attempt to prove that he isn't a one-trick pony. While there are some positives that can be taken away from the feature, there are far too many things that have been "borrowed" from other films, and these make it difficult to see the movie as little more than an homage. In all honesty it would have been nice if Shinkai had the courage of his convictions and relied more on his own style (like he did with "5 cm Per Second" and "The Place Promised In Our Early Days"), instead of trying to piggyback on that of another studio.
That said, Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo is a fairly easy movie to watch as long as the viewer doesn't delve too deeply, and it has a much lighter and more adventurous tone that Shinkai's previous offerings. In addition to this, if one considers it an experiment with a new type of story then it doesn't just become a reasonably entertaining feature, but also a glimpse into the mind of Makoto Shinkai, and that is a much more rewarding experience than the movie itself.
Marow
Imagine someone looking at Studio Ghibli in hope of creating something similar, but end up completely missing the point and delivering a train wreck of a movie. This is how I would describe Children Who Chase Lost Voices. Although, to be perfectly honest, I do not entirely agree with the Ghibli comparison many have done. The similarities stop after a magical land, equally magical creatures and character designs that, with some small adjustments, could have come from any of Hayao Miyazaki’s flicks. The rest is characteristic Shinkai flair, albeit this time muddled with a severe identity crisis. On a first glance Children Who Chase Lost Voices doesnot sound too bad. A girl named Asuna is about to be killed by a magical beast when a mysterious boy pops up and saves her. One thing leads to another and soon she is thrown into Agartha; a land unknown to mankind.
This is a good set-up and it also tries to tackle subjects such as death and bonding. But the lacklustre execution leaves extremely much to be desired. It is hard to understand how Shinkai, who at least were somewhat coherent in the past, could end up doing this mess.
The story never really makes any sense and Asuna’s drive, a character she had known for ten minutes disappearing for reasons unbeknownst me, is a really bad excuse for starting it. Every ten minutes, sometimes even less, we have drama cranked up to eleven even by Shinkai standard. In most cases these moments are variations of Asuna needing to be saved which does not help making the drama less tiresome after the tenth overblown scene.
There is no room to for Children Who Chase Lost Voices to actually breathe and explore its own setting. Agartha itself is never properly established and neither are the people nor the creatures that inhabit it. There is some conflict, a large kingdom and so on… but these do not matter at all. This becomes almost pathetic when none of the main characters even question or act surprised at what they are witnessing. This is because they are only there to move the already non-existent story forward.
As if to rub salt in the already fatal wound, Children Who Chase Lost Voices also suffers from a directing that I never would have guessed would come from Shinkai who is an experienced person. The movie has a lot of scene transitions and cuts which results in a very fragmented story. In one second there is a chase scene, another second it has ended and then all of a sudden we are in a town. This hurts the already unexplored setting even more! Add in the tedious drama I spoke of earlier and it simply does not mesh that well.
And this leads me to the movie suffering from an identity crisis. It does not know what it wants to focus on. The setting is not important, the story is poor and the characters are shallow. Yet Children Who Chase Lost Voices incorporates them all in a hope of achieving something. But that something never shows itself throughout the movie. Even the themes, death and bonding, are thrown out of the window towards the end as a way to squeeze out a tiny bit more drama instead of something believable.
Whether or not Children Who Chase Lost Voices was an experiment by Shinkai to try out something new or an attempt to emulate someone else’s success does not change the fact that this is a disaster.
An utter disaster that makes me skeptical of his future works.
5camp
The story is about Asuna, basically the female lead from every single Ghibli movie ever, a bit of a loner girl who spends her time sitting on rocky outcrops listening to her makeshift crystal radio. One day she is attacked by a monster, who got lost on his way to a Princess Mononoke audition, but is saved by Shun, who is basically the pretty boy male lead from half of every single Ghibli movie ever (don't worry, the other half of the pretty boy male lead is role is taken up by Shun's younger brother). But then Stuff Happens that I don't want to spoil,so Asuna has to travel to the magical land of Agartha with her mysterious substitute teacher, who is basically the villain from every single Ghibli movie...wait, actually he's not. He's more nuanced than that, and was far and away my favourite character of the movie.
I'm sure the clever ones amongst you must have caught on by now that this movie is rather derivitave. Yes the movie takes many cues from Ghibli flicks, particularly Laputa which Shinkai has admitted to being a big fan of, but it plays around with the formula in enough new and interesting ways to stand out from the pack. Asuna, our female lead, does start out as rather irritatingly perfect, but as the movie goes on her loneliness and fears begin to come more to the surface. Plus it does this without ever being in your face about it. Yes, the characters sometimes have to point out the direction their character’s development is going in, such as when Asuna admits to her substitute teacher acting a bit like her father, but it flows well with the dialogue and doesn't feel the need to retread these same points over and over again.
Then there's the substitute teacher, Morisaki, who I've already eluded to as being my favourite characte. He starts off appearing like he's going to be the standard deluded villain, intent on destroying all in his path to get to his goal. This is sort of what he is, but his reasoning is sympathetic and he doesn't act pointlessly evil for the sake of things. He's quick to draw his gun, but it's for his own safety and not because he just likes shooting things. His reasoning for going into Agartha makes him sympathetic too, rather than just being power-hungry or driven by sheer greed. But what makes him great is he also brings out the best in Asuna, elevating her to an interesting character in their own right. As the two travel through Agartha, they strike up a rapport like that of father and daughter, which was very fitting given what the two of them had lost in their lives. They became the family neither of them ever had and, while he was often harsh to Asuna, there was still the strong sense that Morisaki grew to care for her immensely. He's a human character with real flaws, as was Asuna, and their relationship was the real highlight of the movie.
Animation-wise, the movie is stunning. OK, this is still Shinkai, and his tendency to focus on clouds remains completely baffling, but the world of Agartha is beautiful. It's essentially the same as earth, but there's enough touches here and there to make it seem alien. Morisaki and Asuna travelling through the countryside had this almost Lord of the Rings feel to it. The world can feel a bit barren at times, lacking magical towers and sparkles at every turn, but it fit the feel of the world. It was supposed to feel empty and dying. The other thing this movie nailed was the sheer scale of some of the set pieces. Where Ghibli films excel is in the fine detail, which I don't think Shinkai got quite as well in this film, but the scopes of some of the set pieces were jaw-dropping. Particularly I have to mention the giant hole in the world that book-ended the film and that multi-eyed monstrosity that was meant to represent the god of this world. And hey, since we're talking about monsters, special mention has to go to those skeleton-like creatures that swam on the ground like sharks of the shadows. They were flat out creepy.
It's far from a perfect film though, and I particularly have a bone to pick with the music. The sweeping orchestral score has all the subtlety of a child smashing a spanner on a table to get attention. Because the same score is used for almost every single slightly dramatic scene, it robs the music the intense effect it's supposed to have on the more dramatic scenes. It's also a bloody long film, about 2 hours long, and takes a while to get going. It doesn't really pick up until the characters visit Agartha, and that takes almost an hour. This is partly down to Shinkai spending far too much time setting the scene, showing off the landscape of Asuna's home town. Which is fair enough, highlighting the ordinary world so it makes the contrast with Agartha that much stronger, but he really spends too much time on it. I really didn't need that shot of dragonflies having sex Shinkai, and could you please stop it with the bloody clouds? Yes, these scenes are incredibly important to establishing Asuna's character for the development that occurs later on, but it doesn't stop the scenes from being boring. And no, sticking in the fox-cat from Nausicca won't make these scenes that much more tolerable. That's just cheating.
Plus since it's basically Ghibli, it carries over not only the strong points of magical worlds and amazing attention to detail that these films have, but also carries over the warts too. Towards the end it really starts to get a bit silly, especially when the giant monster thing swallows the main character and jumps down a bizillion foot drop in order to transport her, looking rather like a pregnant woman crossed with those robot things from Laputa. It even brings over the forced in environmental message that Miyazaki works into his films with the grace and subtlety of a hippo doing ballet. It did only got a passing mention and, while clunky, wasn't anywhere near as bad as Miyazaki's tend to be. Besides, the movie earns so many points by adding the much needed nuance to the main character and the sorta villain that I can forgive most of the mistakes it makes. Asides from the clouds. Please stop with the damn clouds.
There is one final problem I'd like to highlight. There was something off about the pacing. The story was very well told and wove the themes of loneliness and loss in extremely well, but the transition from set piece to set piece was clunky, as though it was adapting a TV series and these were the gaps between episodes. As I said, it's a two hour movie which is really a touch too long, but I also wouldn't want to cut much out of it (asides from all the clouds). I think it may have suited a short Noitamina length TV series or OVA instead. You could have delved into some of the characters pasts a bit more, or told us more about Agartha. That was one thing I was a bit miffed about. There was an interesting conflict between Morisaki and the people of Agartha where he accused them of accepting their decay and being lazy, which tied quite well in with his own story, but it didn't really tackle the Agartha side of the story once he'd left.
While there are plenty of flaws with the movie, I did end up enjoying it a lot. Not sure how fans of previous Shinkai films will take this, as it's a drastic change from them. I suppose the themes are kind of similar (or at least I'm told the themes are similar, I was too busy gnawing my arm off in an attempt to stay awake to notice the themes of his previous films). But if you like Miyazaki's films, you'll like this. It's too long, take a while to get going, gets a bit silly at times, and someone needs to bop the composer over the head and tell him to lay off the full orchestral sweeps every once in a while, but it's a genuinely entertaining film with a well told story. And clouds.
Tyblazitar
Disclaimer: As this obviously hasn't been subbed yet, and my Japanese is nowhere near fluent, it's possible that certain minor details in the plot might have escaped me. Please keep this in mind while reading the review. Makoto Shinkai's most recent work is something quite new for him. The main criticisms of his works has as far as I can tell been the character designs being to simplistic and rough, as well as all his three longer works being quite similar. Though I would contend the latter point, it's certain that Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo is different, in both aspects. It would seem that Shinkai hasmoved away from his tragic love stories with sci-fi elements and to something more Miyazaki-inspired. But does he succeed? (OK, I guess this isn't much of a cliffhanger considering my scores.)
Story: Our heroine, Asuna, lives a relatively normal, albeit busy life somewhere on the countryside, until she one day gets attacked by a strange beast and saved by a mysterious boy. This leads to an amazing adventure in the strange underworld Agartha. Sure, this doesn't sound like anything new, but the progression of the story is quite interesting, unpredictable and exciting. All the characters have their own stories and agendas, and the film manages to involve us in all of them without losing focus. The climax is extremely moving in the way only Shinkai can manage, and nothing ever feels unnecessary or forced.
Art: Art is certainly one aspect where one have high expectations of Shinkai, but he delivers anything one could want and more. Takayo Nishimura, the man behind the character designs in 5 cm/Second is back, but Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo looks distinctly different. The designs are still relatively simple, but bursting with life and charm. I would compare them to the designs found in Hayao Miyazaki's films, which certainly seems a plausible influence. In this way, Shinkai has ridden himself of what some people thought to be the weak point in his aesthetic, while still keeping true to the relatively simple designs he's always used.
The rest of the art is amazing. The backgrounds, whether they're clouds and stars or forests and plains, are breathtakingly beautiful, and what's particularly interesting about Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo compared to Shinkai's other works is the setting. While he certainly has used nature before, there has usually been more focus on cities or space. In this film, both the Japanese countryside with mountains and forests, as well as the fantastic world of Agartha with its plains and ruins, are brought to life splendidly.
Animation-wise there is nothing to criticize. The animation flows smoothly and beautifully, and Shinkai certainly knows how to work the angles and perspectives to get the most out of the scenes. This is very evident in many of the action scenes, and I was particularly impressed by a swordfight during sunset, the amazing colors of the background framing an intense burst of life with the "camera" flying all over the place, creating an incredible impression.
Sound: Tenmon is back, and he's better than ever. Utilizing a range of instruments including his famous piano pieces as well as some wonderful violins, his music set the mood for the film perfectly. What struck me the most was the way the music could change mood in a heartbeat without seeming out of place, particularily evident in a scene where you first get the "hero riding out to save the princess" mood, and when the scene shifts to the damsel in distress, as it were, it seamlessly changes to an intense "our friends are in great peril" theme.
On the voice actor side, Shinkai has managed to score some very talented people. All the three main characters are quite big names, and Kazuhiko Inoue's role as Asura's teacher, as well as Hisako Kanemoto as Asura herself both excel, and really do their part in making their respective characters believable. Miyu Irino as Shin and Shun is also a very fitting choice. However, one of the most impressive voice actors was Rina Hidaka as Mana, a character who doesn't use words, but conveys all her feelings with random sounds. A challenging role to get right, but Mana's character turned out perfect.
Character: Asuna, our main character, is a very busy girl. She lost her father at a young age, and her mother is very busy at work, so she does a lot of chores, while at the same time keeping up her perfect grades and finding time to climb the nearby mountain to listen to the radio her father left her. As the story progresses, she is faced with quite a lot of hardships, and one can see her progress through dealing with them. She is not quite sure why she's on the journey she ends up on, and seeing her discovering more about herself as she faces new challenges is quite moving.
Morisaki is Asuna's new teacher, and one of the main catalysts of the adventure. He starts out mysterious, but one quickly learns of his goal and the lengths he will go to reach it. He's cold and blunt, but though he will not give up on his goal, he is also considerate of others, and his relationship with Asuna develops in quite interesting ways.
Shun is a mysterious boy from Agaruta who, like Morisaki, starts out mysterious and cold. We learn that he's a conflicted and confused boy trying to find his place in the world, and he develops greatly during the course of the movie, finding great courage within himself.
There's also a great supporting cast, such as Asuna's mother, who's very busy, but still manages to care a great deal about Asuna even after her husband's death. The previously mentioned Mana, as well as Shin, are also great characters for their purpose, but the one that really sticks out is Mimi, Asuna's cat, who follows her through the journey and whose vivid personality really makes one attached to it.
Overall: Though I'm a huge fan of his other works, it's great seeing Shinkai going in a new direction, this time aiming at a much larger group of people, from children to adults. The similarity to Miyazaki's adventure films is certainly present, in particular there were quite a few parallels to Mononoke-hime, but he still manages to keep his own unique style, including the extremely emotional scenes that he excels at. I certainly look forward to more Shinkai works, and would recommend Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo to anyone, regardless of whether or not you liked his earlier works.
Psychotik
Every year or so, there is usually an epic movie that comes out on the silver screen. A story of a kid sucked into a fantasy world of some kind, willingly or not, and embark on an adventure of a lifetime. These films have almost become a dime a dozen these days, so they really need to be excellent and memorable to become a classic. Sadly, I don't really feel like this one treads new ground. In this tale, we follow Asuna, a regular, independent teenage girl. We also meet a substitute teacher (Morisaki) and follow them through an underground world to play God and revivethe dead. Ambitious, you can call them, though it is an understatement. The concept of resurrection is certainly very interesting to explore, though this movie doesn't really do that, even if it is a main focus. It lead to a very anti-climactic ending. They made very quick work of the ending. They could have really explored more about resurrection and be more imaginative, but instead it felt lazy. Everything leading up to the end felt cliché and predictable, thus, a little boring.
The characters didn't really standout, either, though they aren't terrible. Asuna is a fun little character, always happy and optimistic, though also a little bland. Morisaki was also a little boring, always serious and never letting loose. They could have played around with him a little but we got nothing. The same can be said about most of these characters. They're pretty one-dimensional and not very believable.
Of course, I have to praise the art. "Scenery porn" as many like to call it. The landscapes are all very beautiful and detailed; they remind me of shows like 5/cm. It's probably (okay, definitely) the strongest point of the movie. The lighting can be really exquisite at time and DEM CLOUDS. I can jerk off to those clouds all day, but I digress. Being a movie, the animation is very good but not exceptional. Standard movie stuff.
Overall, the music is nice and fits the scenes well. They used the music well, as well as silence for those tense moments. The only qualm I have with it is that it just isn't memorable at all. It's hard to recollect any song from memory. Voice acting is decent, but even they couldn't save the sort of bland characters.
This movie is just another fantasy story that doesn't standout or offer anything new. It isn't really remarkable at anything, except perhaps the art. The story left more to be desired and a lot felt somewhat unexplained, especially near the end. I still kind of enjoyed it though. The characters were a little boring, but I still enjoyed their interactions with the new world. If you're looking for something just to enjoy on a boring night, or need a movie the whole family can enjoy, you can give this a try. If you're looking for a masterpiece, you should probably look elsewhere.
Fel_Temp
I think the best way to describe this movie is Cargo Cult Hayao Miyazaki. The director clearly loved Miyazaki's films and knew that they worked, but had no idea as to why. You'll see character designs, scenes, and shots that you can place to exact moments in Nausicaa, Totoro, and the like, but they're all in a string of events that seem to happen just because. Seriously, the fucking "Nausicaa's fox-squirrel jumps on her shoulder and runs to the other" thing is done at least five fucking times. Shinkai clearly noticed that Miyazaki films often have female protagonists, but he didn'tseem to get that they needed character and agency. Seriously, our "protagonist" has no control over anything and virtually never tries to actively do anything, and she always needs to be saved by a man every time something bad happens. There's even this unintentionally hilarious scene where someone tells her how she has to make a choice about whether she's going to cross into another world while he drags her there by the wrist. And the music is some of the most baffling I've heard in ages. There's swelling dramatic music for almost everything, as if the director thought every other scene was the most dramatic, meaningful thing in the universe. It starts becoming funny the third time it does this when it's just some character running somewhere for no reason.
In short, it's a string of scenes that look beautiful on their own without context, but taken as a whole, it's an unoriginal, plodding mess.
Oh, and there's a scene of two dragonflies fucking for some reason. No idea what the fuck that was about.
Savepoints
Story: (8 / 10) The movie follows Asuna Watase on her journey through a new world, and we get to see all the hardship she faces, as well as those precious happy moments. “Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo” tells a story about love, loneliness, and learning to let go of the past, among other things. This story is supported by numerous mythical tales, which gives it a nice touch. It does take quite a while before things really kick off, and not as much time is spent in Agartha as could’ve been, but it’s a minor problem. However, even with this the story moves at a rather fastpace, leaving little room for any form of additional backstory, whether it’s about Agartha or about the characters pasts. This was really too bad, as there are some pretty obvious questions left unanswered by the end of the movie.
(Several people have talked about this being a way too “Ghiblified” movie, but I don’t feel like I’ve seen enough of either director to really comment on this, though it does have sort of a Ghibli feel to it.)
Art: (9 / 10)
The art is absolutely stunning. The backgrounds, the characters and the various creatures all look simply amazing. From what I can tell, backgrounds like these are sort of a standard thing in Shinkai movies, and there are several moments where the camera will just pan over the landscape, allowing the viewer to really take in the beauty of the world that’s been created.
The characters all look good, and the variety and detail of the creatures is very well done.
The animation was very fluid and well done most of the time, however there were times when it just felt a bit off, or when there would be a bit too many/long scenery shots.
Sound: (8 / 10)
The voice actors did a pretty great job with their respective characters, and the music was very good as well. The music did a good job at “emphasising” the scenes, whether it be a sad scene or a more action-focused scene. The credits song, “Hello, Goodbye and Hello” by Kumaki Anri, is an amazing song, and really brought back all those feelings from the movie.
However, there is a minor problem here, as well. Some songs, including an orchestral version of the credits theme, will play often, and I mean really often. Of course, if you don’t mind these songs, then this won’t be a problem, but it could reduce the effect they have on scenes later on.
Characters: (7 / 10)
The characters were mostly fine. They weren’t however all too great, to be honest. There is some backstory and development to certain characters, while some characters are barely fleshed out at all, and are only there to serve a very specific purpose in the plot. This was obviously a bit unfortunate, since I feel like there was certainly time for more time to be spent with the characters, and yet we’re left with this.
Luckily, it’s not at the point where you can’t feel or sympathize with the characters; in fact, there are several times when this will happen throughout the movie.
Enjoyment: (9 / 10)
After all, I quite enjoyed this movie. It tells a good story, and combine that with the great musical score, and the stunning art, and you have yourself a great film. I can’t deny that there also weren’t a couple of times where I cried...
Pros:
+ Tells a well-written and emotional story.
+ Absolutely stunning art.
+ Great soundtrack.
-----------------------
Cons:
- Questions left unanswered at the end.
- Some odd animations.
- Characters not really all too fleshed out.
Dracus
NB: I'll try to avoid the spoilers as much as possible, but if you're not sure, don't read it before watching the movie. In the cinema theme of overcoming the most severe loss in the lives of everyone is one of the most difficult to implement. Too easy to drop down to the banal repetition of precepts of the ancient sages or even go away from believable emotions, depriving the viewer of not just the answers, but even a simple empathy to heroes. No wonder that both in live-action and animation few authors dare to even approach it. In Makoto Shinkai's "Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo"this topic continues theme of parting loving hearts of his previous works, but it does so in an unexpected setting, clearly reminiscent of "adult fairy tales" of Hayao Miyazaki.
The first thing one can say about the film - its visual component is simply breathtaking. These words can be applied to both animation and design. Previous films of this director were also very rich with details, but here, in fantastic Agartha, such attention creates a stunning effect. Every second the picture plays with light, colors and shapes, masterfully using 3D animation, where necessary, and creating fantastic immersive experience. And while the roots of many design elements can easily be seen, they acquire here such a new charm, that the movie holds the stage until the very end.
The other sides of the film are more ambiguous. The plot takes a quick start, jumping at a gallop speed from scene to scene. The first 20 minutes take approximately the same pace of events as the rest of the movie. And here one of the director's weaknesses become evident, which he obviously did not manage to completely overcome - the inability to combine individual dynamic episodes into a smooth and solid sequence. Despite the fact that the beginning of the film shows us all that it should be in a prologue - everyday life of Asuna, her acquaintanceship with the other main characters and events that give impetus to the main plot, the absence of natural transitions not only evokes a sense of theatricality and staging of what is happening but also calls into question the reliability of experience and motivation of Asuna, who made such a difficult journey. It takes too little time to develop relationships of characters for a viewer to believe in such a strong attachment of them to each other, which is like a red thread going through the whole picture.
Music only reinforces this impression. Shinkai's permanent composer Tenmon decided this time to move away from the calm and soulful melodies of the previous films, resulting in every second scene accompanied by loud epic composition. Such pathos really makes an impression when it is used moderately and appropriately. On the contrary, here we have an emotional soundtrack which is often does not correspond to what's happening on screen, and in the viewer's perception music moves into the background, not emphasizing the really important moments in the climax.
As soon as the plot develops, it becomes increasingly clear how little of the potential of the film's setting is used. Information about the life and history of Agartha is being given dryly and very schematically. The same can be said about the past of the protagonists: the relevant scenes and remarks, though sometimes decorated like character's memories, rather resemble the notes in everyday conversation, the topic of which concerns something completely different. I believe there is only a single scene in the whole movie where country's people and villages are portrayed not as scenery, introduced by director just for the sake of the story. Unlike Idzoku tribe, which plays a key role in the storyline - in spite of their mystique, the origins and motives of creatures, so alien at first glance in this world, are left behind the screen.
Nevertheless, the one can somewhat empathize to characters, because their desires are clear and understandable. Following along with the story till the end, we come to the message of the film. And I must say, I was expecting something more here. Of course, under the given artificial conditions set by the author, the actions of the characters can be easily divided into right and wrong ones. However, what was the point in all that mess if all the director wanted is to show us something so obvious while not digging into the main question? "You are as naive as that visitor from the Upper World", the village Elder blames Sin. In turn, we can blame of naivete the Elder and, further, maestro Shinkai himself, which brought up a global problem, but instead of at least try to solve it, hit the peripheral ethical issues.
Summing up, I can not say that the film touched me. The unambiguous bright side of the movie is its astonishing beauty and concept. Shinkai could create a masterpiece on this basis, but it did not work. Instead, he made "just" a good adventure film, which can certainly take its place in the collection of every fan of animation. And it is not that bad, is it?
Doublas_Mk-II
So this is what happens when someone with a huge boner for Miyazaki and Takahata , but not half the writing skill, makes a movie. I mean come on, Heidi, Alm-Öhi, and Teto were in the fucking movie, not to mention homages to the God Warriors, Lupin/Laputa robots, and more. I can't say I didn't enjoy parts of the movie, but it would have been much better had it had a competent writer that didn't depend on tired cliches. It would have also been nice had it tried to be original, instead of just stitching together concepts from Miyazaki and Takahata's work. For what it's worth, theart was really beautiful.
loviiidae
While the animation is absolutely gorgeous, Children Who Chase Lost Voices is a movie that lacks story content and character development. The characters have potential, put they fail to meet even half of that potential; leaving them boring and incomplete. Asuna is, in my opinion, an irritatingly unoriginal character who fails to create any sort of attachment to me, thus leaving me indifferent as to what may befall her. The story was dry and, while the concept was interesting, the execution was poor. They did not follow up on very important concepts regarding their world, and lacked logic or understanding. If you are looking for goodsound effects and animation, then this movie is perfect for you. However, if you are looking for a deep, well written story then Children Who Chase Lost Voices is - quite frankly - not the ideal choice.
ktulu007
Hoshi wo ou Kodomo is a film written and directed by Shinkai Makoto, the same gent behind 5 centimetres per second. Like that film, it was produced by CoMix Wave Films. Is this film as strong as that one was? It has the same writer/director and the same production company so that's probably a good sign. And I only use the qualifier 'probably' because I've been disappointed in the works of people who I had previously known for making quality works before. Let's just hope this isn't one of those times. Story: Our narrative opens with our heroine, Asuna, going to her secret base after school tolisten to her makeshift radio. She hears a mysterious melody unlike any she's heard before. Not long afterwards, she encounters a strange creature when she's crossing the train tracks to reach her base. Fortunately for her, a mysterious young man comes to her rescue. He calls himself Shun and claims to come from the land of Agartha, which you my recognise from esoteric ideas related to the Earth being hollow. To be fair, those ideas can make for interesting fiction in spite of having no basis in reality. After her meeting with Shun, he dies of plot necessity and Asuna is just beginning to cope with the loss when she hears her teacher mention Agartha and how it supposedly holds the key to resurrect the dead. After returning to her base, she encounters a young man who strongly resembles Shun and, after a hectic series of events, finds herself in Agartha. What secrets will she find there and what trials will she face?
The biggest flaw with the film is the ending. It's pretty formulaic and it gets rushed through. The film spends a lot of time on the setup and the journey itself and then tries to wrap everything up within a few minutes. There are also some plot points that aren't really resolved very well. I also have a petty complaint about the way they use “quetzacoatl”as a term to describe a variety of monsters. If you know your mythology then you know that the term comes from the Nahuatl name for the feathered serpent God and it just seems like a strange thing to use as a general term for a variety of creatures when the original term is so specific. It's admittedly a petty complaint, but it did bug me a bit.
That aside, the film does do a lot of things well. The setup is really stellar. The world building is also really compelling and has a lot of good ideas going into it. The theme of loss throughout the story is handled really well. The climax, in spite of being rushed, does have some really strong setup and ideas behind it. I also do like that the film effectively illustrates the ways that Asuna is capable without stretching it to the point of being unbelievable.
Characters:
The film does a really good job of establishing characters who are believable and largely sympathetic and of developing them throughout with the three major characters all having their own story arcs that are connected thematically and that intersect, but that do ultimately remain pretty unique. Even the secondary characters are pretty fleshed out and do have verisimilitude. I will give Shinkai credit. The gent does know how to craft a compelling group of characters.
Art:
The visuals in this film are gorgeous. The creature designs are really interesting. The action sequences are well done. The backgrounds are stunning. Honestly, the art reminds me a bit of a Studio Ghibli production in its high level of quality and in its general style.
Sound:
The vocal cast is pretty strong. Kanemoto Hisako, Irino Miyu, and Inoue Kazuhiko all give good performances as the leads. The side characters have strong performances behind them as well. The music, both incidental and lyrical, is really good as well. Kumaki Anri's song is actually very good at supplementing the major theme of loss.
Ho-yay:
There really isn't any to be found in this film.
Final Thoughts:
Hoshi wo ou Kodomo is a really good movie. It's not perfect, the story has some noticeable issues but it also has a lot of aspects it does well. The music, acting and artwork are all very high quality and the characters are complex and endearing. All in all, it is well worth a watch. My final rating is going to be an 8/10. Tomorrow we'll continue our week of film reviews with Appleseed.
KingdomOfCows
Okay before I start, I just want to say that this is my first review, since this is the first anime I've ever really felt the need to write a review about. So I hope you will find this review helpful and enjoyable. Alright, here goes. This is truly one of the best animes I have ever watched - hand down. The intensity and emotion behind each of the characters and their actions is overwhelming at times and these emotions certainly won't fail to move any person who has had any relation to love, loss of someone important or simply just a person who has thefelt the warmth of motherly love.
Story: 9
The story of this movie could - to some people - seem a bit rushed and somewhat not thought through completely. But I beg to differ as I don't think the story is what's most important to this movie.
Anyway, I think the story is great and I like the fact that it doesn't beat around the bush but it constantly keeps focusing on the most important aspects of the movie. The development of the main character, Asuna, and her relationship to the other characters as we move forward in the movie.
Art: 10
The art was what was truly amazing about the anime and definitely its selling point. Nearly every scene involving the environment or the atmosphere around our characters was simply breathtaking and almost without comparison. In addition to these scenes being absolutely amazing there weren't just a few of them but this movie was filled with beautiful landscapes and sky sceneries. Especially the night skies are particularly beautiful.
Sound: 10
The sound was almost as amazing as the art and gave me goosebumps several times. It fitted perfectly with the sceneries and the movements and expressions of the characters.
To sum up I don't think that the music could've been any better than it is.
Character: 9
At first the characters seem very classic and maybe a bit overused. The typical main character being a girl who's a bit lonely but diligent nonetheless. She meets a boy who saves her from an evil creature thus being her hero. But as the movie progresses you discover that a lot of the characters aren't really your every day run of the mill.
Enjoyment: 10
I was really entertained throughout the whole movie and it kept moving me. If not by character interactions then by the beautiful soundtracks or the amazing atmospheres created by the art and sound combined.
Overall: 10
So overall this anime gets a 10 from me. Great story, beautiful animation, perfectly fitting soundtracks and very enjoyable characters. Apart from a this, the movie had a lot of touching morals and enlightening views on life and death. Two very heavy subject which were handled with grace.
I hope you will enjoy this movie as much as I did, although I think it'd be almost impossible~ :3
CloudsPrince
Is the story unique? Would I recommend it ? Definitively yes and yes. In a nutshell, the story of Hoshi o Ou Kodomo, or "Children Who Chase Lost Voices", is about a young girl, called Asuna who is having a quiet common life on the countryside. Her daily activity after school, is to go on a rock to listen to some self-constructed radio and watch the stars, but one day this radio is going to give her a music that she never expected. From here on starts the real story, where she will discover a new world and new people. Moreover, I was strongly surprisedto see how the director focused on the landscapes and the discoveries of the new world that Asuna will meet; besides, the duration of the movie is around 2 hours, which could have been shorter.
On the story herself, I would recommend Mr. Makoto Shinkai next time to focus on the past of the characters and explain more in details their personalities or ambitions. As many Japanese anime movies, a part of imagination is kept in the story. The public can meet numerous silent parts (the central figures do not speak a lot), where the actions of the characters explain their believes and situation.
I put a 7/10 for the story.
Regarding the art, I appreciated the realistic style of the landscapes, clouds, (which are strongly shown in this adventure), even characters, to the imaginary style of the elements above nature such as the represented gods that you will encounter. This art brought me a terrible sense of nostalgia into my heart with the charming music, which melodiously accompanied it.
It is my believe there was a good combination of the art used for reality and imagination, nonetheless there could have been a few efforts made on the daily-life's sceneries; instead of putting the main character, Asuna, in the countryside, she could have been in a town or at least discover an underworld where there would be more activities, rather than just landscapes all the time and a few beings.
The last thing, I could say on the art is the conventional design of the characters, which in my opinion could have been different. Asuna, Shin or Shun looked quite similar to the Ghibli's anime heroes.
Furthermore, the background music was fitting for the story and atmosphere; I particularly liked the last song on the generic with the "hello, goodbye, hello" lyrics, who made me feel a certain melancholy on the ending.
In general the music did not especially catch my attention, but was clearly good enough to make the story go on an enjoyable rhythm.
I put an 8/10 for the sound and a 9/10 for the art.
Finally my favorite theme, the characters. My treasured person in this movie was Morisaki. He is the professor of Asuna and is in constant research to bring his wife back to life. Asuna seems to consider him once as her father, but he keeps changing sides, being the good and the bad guy. Nevertheless, he is one of the main figures of the movie and will reveal a terrible past, which can bring the lector to sympathize with him all along the story.
Despite knowing that Asuna lost her father and is living most of the time alone, due to the hard work of her mother, we do not know her ambitions until the end. We do not know her past. It made me uncomfortable and I kept trying to imagine, but I thought the director could have improved this part. Otherwise, the sudden impact to change the side character, from shun to shin, one brother to another, would not have been necessary. It just makes the main plot more complicated and does not bring a suitable feeling to the viewers.
For the characters, I put an 8/10.
Beyond a shadow of doubt, I liked this movie. It tells a good story, combines a great musical score with a stunning art, and you can mostly relax on your sofa to watch it. Have a nice show !
Gabornsmith
This movie is boring, really boring. I actually fell asleep and had to rewind to see it all though, after making it to the end I realized I shouldn't have bothered. Despite being a very pretty anime the story overly complicates a simple concept while pretending to explain what is supposed to be happening and giving you characters that I just didn't care about. I think this movie will only appeal to people who don't mind overly dramatic tragedies.
Lord_Lamington
This right here is the definition of mediocre. I came into this movie with good expectations and was severely let down. It took 3 sittings before i could finish it. Lets start off with this movie's one and only strong point. The art and animation. It's right up there with one of the most beautiful animations, paired with a pleasing art style. I felt myself hooked on the visuals of this movie. But that's where the fun stops. Most stories follow the same tension over time graph. Starts off slow, the tension gets higher and higher until it reaches the climax. Then it settlesdown again at the end. However, Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo's tension was all over the place. It felt like it had 3-5 different climaxes, making it a not very enjoyable roller-coaster ride. The story was too fast paced and left me unattached and uninterested in the development of the characters and story. Parts where it was obvious the viewer should be sad or happy or on the edge of my seat, left me feeling nothing.
The sound for this movie also felt lacking. It was too quiet a lot of the times and i feel that if the soundtrack was a bit more present, this movie would have improved more.
Overall, this movie was bland with good art and animations. It definitely had potential, but just wasn't executed well. I wouldn't recommend anyone to watch this
Drakestalker
Makoto Shinkai’s massive success for the past decade, which even he seems to be surprised by, has led to him being incessantly called “the new Miyazaki”. Why? Why would he be called that? The compliment is effectively a result of Western media being incapable of discriminating wildly distinct filmmaking styles and its tendency to just label any breakaway success in Japanese animation as a competition to find the next Miyazaki. This sort of cartoonishly oversimplified heuristic thinking reminds me of a particular gag from The Big Bang Theory. If you’re unfamiliar, TBBT features an Indian (dots, not feathers) character, Raj, who has a crippling fear ofwomen, to the point that he literally becomes mute when in their presence. However, if he ingests alcohol, however little, he becomes very relaxed and able to speak freely. On one such occasion, when Raj is competing with another main character for the good graces of a woman they were both trying to seduce, he is troubled and at a disadvantage until he finds some alcohol. Once he has had a drink, he immediately starts to successfully flirt with the girl and develop great chemistry with her. To that, the guy he was in competition with bitterly remarks: “Do you believe him? Normally, around women, he has the personality of a boiled potato. Put one beer in him and he’s M. Night Charmalarmalan.”
See, in spite of the show’s harsher critics, I’ve long defended it as not being the superficial mockery they purport it to be, and I’ve always been able to have a decent time with it and found it, dare I say, funny. It was this gag, however that changed things for me. It just hit me over this one joke. Why? Why is that funny? Why does that joke work? What do Raj and M. Night Shyamalan have in common to make that joke work? Is M. Night known for being a smooth talker? Is he known for being a ladies’ man? Is he known for being an alcoholic? No to all of the above? So, then the only connection is that they’re both Indian? That’s it? M. Night’s name was the only famous-enough Indian one you were reasonably sure your audience would recognize? That’s all there is to it? Yes. This dude is Indian and, uh, that guy is also Indian, so they’re like, uh, kind of the same, right? Sounds good enough to me. Run it!
It's the same kind of cultural ignorance that Makoto Shinkai’s comparison to Hayao Miyazaki is borne of. They’re both Japanese and they both write and direct feature length animated films that make a lot of money. It comes down to nothing more than that. It’s as deep as a puddle. It would be the equivalent of calling every single Hollywood director who makes a moderately successful movie “the next Kubrick” or “the next Coppola”.
That being said, to Shinkai’s credit, he’s seemingly always tried to distance himself from the Miyazaki comparison. It’s easy to find interviews in which he states that he not only is no Miyazaki, but that it’s foolish to try and copy him. He has stated in an interview that while Castle in the Sky was the first movie he paid to see at the cinema, and that he’s both a fan and admirer of Miyazaki-sensei, his style has always been pointedly different and not really comparable at all. Just in case we’re keeping track, he is indeed correct in saying that.
Which then begs the question, why did he renege on all of that and make a Miyazaki rip-off? I mean, Children Who Chase Lost Voices is still arguably a Shinkai film at the end of the day, seeing as trains and shots of feet have made it into this movie, as well, but his signature identity is so faint, it’s nothing more than window dressing for an off-brand Miyazaki creation. The amount of direct references to Miyazaki’s work, both in the visuals and narrative, reaches an extent that greatly exceeds tribute and enters the realm of plagiarism, but with very little understanding of what to do with the elements it plagiarizes. We have Asuna, our archetypal Ghibli girl protagonist à la Chihiro, who we learn is generically kind, hardworking, curious, and adventurous, as all Ghibli girls are. That’s it. That’s her entire character description and development for the whole movie. She then meets, Shun, her classic mysterious and handsome Ghibli boy, à la Haku or Howl, whose entire point in the story is to be handsome and mysterious. We also learn she has a cute animal pet as a mascot à la Kiki’s Delivery Service, because of course she does. She also has a magic glowing rock à la Castle in the Sky. Then we have the dumb bad guys in uniform representing state violence à la Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Then we have the weirdly unnerving supernatural creatures à la Princess Mononoke. And then we have the aforementioned bad guys in uniforms senselessly destroying that which they do not understand and cannot value à la… basically all of the above. It’s virtually impossible to even enumerate all the little animations and facial expressions which are lifted straight from Ghibli films.
However, just because you have access to all the same ingredients as Gordon Ramsey and all the same tools as Gordon Ramsey, son, that don’t make you Gordon Ramsey. The whole thing feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of Hayao-sensei’s work. Sure, Miyazaki films can be quite dark and violent for the standards of family entertainment, but they don’t exactly contain huge blood splatters from some dude chopping monsters in half with his sword, and the dudes with modern military gear and weaponry and helicopters clashed so badly with the film’s fantasy aesthetic, it just took me out of the experience entirely. To be clear, I believe the aesthetic clash was intended, but that does not obviate the calamitous effect it had. I may be harping on the Ghibli comparison a lot, but I feel it is incredibly misguided to wholesale copy the style of a man literally regarded as a god in the domain of animation.
As an adult, I would posit that it’s entirely possible to have a decent time with the movie. For one thing, the background art and a lot of the visuals are breath-takingly beautiful, and for another, there’s really nothing offensively bad in it. I didn’t hate it. It just did not speak to me – at all.
The closest thing I can liken it to is Tales of Earthsea. That movie was written and directed by Gorou Miyazaki, Hayao-sensei’s son. It is Ghibli’s worst rated film, but I wholeheartedly disagree with that consensus. It’s just as long and similarly slow, but Tales of Earthsea is a Ghibli film made by someone who understands the essence of Hayao-sensei’s work and decided to take it a different direction. Children Who Chase Lost Voices is a Ghibli film gone wrong made by someone who does not understand the essence of Hayao-sensei’s work, but attempts to imitate it anyway.
All of that is to say that if you’re in the camp that hated Tales of Earthsea, you’ll hate this even more.
Still, the film was a critical and commercial success, even if it doesn’t come up often when people talk about Shinkai-sensei’s work, so maybe you’ll see in it the same entertainment value that so many of his fans clearly did.
Pylgrim
Children Who Chase Voices is an undisguised love letter to studio Ghibli and the anime of the early nineties. With a setting and visual elements reminiscent of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and character and monster design that you could insert into Princess Mononoke and not notice an intrusion, and a narrative structure and a plot following conventions from fantasy anime from that era (championed by Escaflowne, which the movie references visually at least a couple times,) it is clear for the long-time anime watcher that Makoto Shinkai is crafting a beautiful "thank you" card to the medium that inspired him to becomewho he is now.
It is also -as we all have learned to love and expect- breathtakingly beautiful in its large panoramic vistas of long-grassed fields and cloud-layered, color-tinted skies and his signature railway crossroads. The world is imaginative and vibrant and the action scenes beautifully animated and choreographed. Speaking of expectations, the theme of "distance" is heavily played but manages to never cloy.
However, the movie falls prey to its own good intentions. Trying to include too many trappings and conventions of the medium he's paying an homage to, the result is not unlike that of a patchwork that had to sacrifice character development and proper, cohesive narrative to make room for all of it. The jerkiness in plot and character development make the story hard to believe and the characters hard to empathize with, giving the general effect of having cut most of the "boring" character-establishment, emotion-development, sense of wonder and personal reflection to give you all the thrilling plot-advancing bits it could pack in two hours.
Without a doubt, this story would have been much better served as a 24-episode series than as a movie and that without adding much new, really: Just filling the blatant holes in the narrative and pacing the events properly. Having said that, I understand why this is a movie and not a series: its very own premise makes it wholly unoriginal and derivative which would make the series painfully unnecessary and redundant. As a (superbly visually beautiful) movie it stands as a statement of love and gratitude rather than as a rehash or a cash-in.
At this point, I think it's necessary to acknowledge Makoto Shinkai's shortcomings as a teller of epic narratives, which we have seen in his other plot-driven movies. Hopefully, he'll become aware that his real kind of genius is that of the deeply personal, character-driven stories and manage to expertly make of that the focus of the big, sweeping epics he obviously loves to tell.
I still wholeheartedly recommend this movie, specially if you are a fan of nineties anime and studio Ghibli. Its plot may leave you slightly unsatisfied but everything else will make you smile.
quazzymaximus
I can't believe how highly rated this movie is. It was just abysmal. While the backgrounds were beautiful, every visual element and plot device was stolen from a (better) Ghibli movie. The characters' motivations were poorly explained, it was cheesy and melodramatic beyond belief, and the plot was pretty much nonexistent. What little plot existed was ham-handed and and every moment of pathos felt like a parody of the scene it should have been. Let's just say that at the points where I was supposed to cry, I cried laughing. None of the characters were compelling or interesting, except perhaps the teacher, but I'm notreally inclined to like him either since every scene between him and Asuna had an unfortunate pedophilic tone. And don't even get me started on Asuna. Possibly the most uninteresting character ever crafted. She has no flaws, and no personality except "disgustingly sweet". The plot meandered and lacked tension. All around, just a terrible movie. The monsters looked pretty cool though.
lensaamiranda
One sentence review: A Ghibli-like adventure with a darker undertone. I was intrigued when I saw this movie as it's directed by Makoto Shinkai, known for his great works that does NOT involve adventure, so I decided to give it a go. At first, I thought that this movie would have a light adventure-y storyline. Well, not exactly light, but I didn't expect that this movie which seemed like a typical children's adventure fantasy movie to have such a heavy plot. For me, the storyline is unique, as it incorporates both adventure and mystery elements into the story seamlessly eventhough it's not tagged as a mystery genre show.Since the beginning of the movie, I felt that there was an air of mystery although nothing really mysterious has happened. The early part of the movie almost felt slice-of-life like, but the subtle odd hints that were shown ( A girl listening to music from a mysterious pendant on a cliff...The new eccentric teacher...) made this show felt mysterious.
A bit later, a heavier theme would be explored: The death of a loved one.
The three main characters all had lost someone very dear to them. Struggling to move on, they harbor the desire to bring their loved ones back to life, no matter what it takes. This movie shows how awful humans could be when they've lost their humanity to get what they desired. Yup...It's quite heavy. But above all that, it is actually a touching story of growing up and learning to say goodbye.
The art is absolutely gorgeous. The use of shadows and lightings, along with the colourful blend of sceneries is sure to grab anyone's attention. Most of the landscapes, especially in the Underworld were very pretty.
The soundtracks used really help to set the mood, and the ending song got me all teary-eyed. It was beautiful. The voice actors really did great job bringing the characters to life.
The development of the characters were quite decent. There were actually reasons why the characters behaved that way, like why Asuna's teacher were so determined to seek Agartha. However, there are some unanswered questions, like where did Asuna's father get that stone? Shin's background were also blurry and Shun's motive was blurry too.
I really enjoyed this unique and heartfelt movie. For those who love the adventure and feels genre, try watching this :)
