Harmonie

What is ordinary?
Is it routine, is it fitting in? Is it being morally, ethically right? Is it not to cause others trouble?

Makina Juri has made herself into the "usualness" of high school. We all want to change. We all want others to accept us. We need others in our lives to breed a comfort zone and not stand out categorised by others. So... you compromise. On yourself. You split yourself into two, or more if need be. One for yourself, one to display to others. It's nice to act... sometimes.

Honjou Akio's days are routine. Come to class and discuss what happened in previous night's episode. ... You are moved by scenes so much that you want to share them with your friends, [like this review], and you want to recreate those scenes because they are mentally being recreated all the time. So you zip out your phone, start the Piano App and replay the tunes that you've heard. Ah! Yes, yes, yes, yes! That scene! You get even more excited because others can talk about it too and share their views. There is that common link.

So... how do you find a common link between you and someone you like? You need to have something special, which is just between the two of you. And that happens when you're ready and willing to dive into the other person's world.

In 25 minutes, we are shown snippets of 7 characters of the same class. You become familiar to their overall personality. You can notice what each of them consider trivial or significant in their lives. There is also an interjection briefly by an 8th character who provides a slight background to one of our main characters. And suddenly, one dialogue reveals a new relationship. Within 25 minutes, we touch upon the vulnerabilities of our characters, especially Makina and Honjou's. And within those slight nuances, we are allowed to enter a whole new world.

This anime is like a metaphor. Or, perhaps a haiku. It leaves spaces for the viewer to move in and out. It is open, and open-ended. It allows you to enter into their world, and by doing that, you allow them to enter your world too, and you can imagine all that might have happened and all that could possibly happen. It is that breath.

The animation is smooth, it is realistic - there are no snapshot stills to cover imaginary movements. You are given a burst of classroom noise with snippets of conversations and movements flooding from all directions. There is a multi-spontaneity.

The highlight is the one soundtrack this plot is woven around, accompanied by a dream scene, which actually looks like a dream scene - surreal and yet realistic. And now, I feel like I may see that dream too, if not already. It's been passed.

Some people may believe that they need a closed plot, with full development of characters like in a novel. I think a short story allows itself to say so much more and leave room for imagination, for more worlds to cross it with possibilities. While it is true that this could be developed into longer movie or a set of episodes, I feel it would lose its charm if anything more were said.

Harmonie is an anime made ​​by the "mirai project" animated by Studio Rikka

is a 25-minute short film which show that each head is a world and among the 34 students in a class there are all kinds.

The anime is a metaphor, Makina Juri the female lead shows that being different can make misunderstood by friends , parents, people in general, its called "dream" is something that torments him so decides to change and leave everything behind , and also in part the dream shows what will become , something like a robot waiting for someone finds it, while the male lead Honjou Akio always live ... in your comfort zone , talking about anime with friends, making music , while hiding his desire talking with Makina , while that which stands out from the rest (a good musical ear) is what makes the 2 characters are connected.

How many of us hide what we are , to not feel alone or also locked ourselves in our world, but in the end if we show our dreams perhaps we are not so alone

The animation is very good, comparable with some studies even more experience is fluid and part of the dream of Makina is very well detailed.

The characters are well-drawn and you feel an empathy towards the 2 protagonists and supporting characters personalities to contribute their narrative forward.

in general is a good story which I would like to see more.

Harmonie is a short 2014 film from Studio Rikka. You may know them as the studio what done Eve no Jikan. It also has the same creator/director, Yoshiura Yasuhiro. I don't know what to expect from it, but I did quite like Eve no Jikan. So, having the same studio and creative force as that isn't a bad sign.

Story:

We open with a young man talking about the concept that we all live in our own little worlds and can never truly enter someone else's. He posits that his world must be close to that of his two friends, hence why they get along really ... well and wishes that it could be closer to his crush's. He and his friends have a conversation while she has a conversation with her friends. During which one of them changes her ringtone. Class resumes and she gets rung, much to her dismay. He finds himself fascinated by the song and he's recreating it using a piano app on his phone. She happens to hear and wonders how he can recreate it after hearing it once for a very short time. He explains it as him just having a strong ear for music and asks her where he can find the full version. She hands him an old mp3 player, thereby inviting him for a glimpse of her world.

The biggest problem with the narrative is just that it's largely made up of very minor teenage drama. He likes her but she might have a boyfriend. Then the possible boyfriend gets jealous because they start to bond because he gets a glimpse into her reoccurring dream. It's less than compelling and something this short really needs to grab your attention quickly since you know it's not going to have a lot of opportunity to improve later. The narrative sequence is also a bit obvious.

The best part of the film, by far, is the dream sequence. The rest of it is a bit boring while that whole sequence actually grabs you attention and shows what looks to be an interesting little world.

Characters:

You wouldn't expect a twenty five minute film to have much in terms of characterisation. Which is certainly the case here. The characters are a pretty generic bunch designed to call common slice of life archetypes to mind and, thereby, build off of those characters you know to create the illusion that they're deeper than they actually are. The problem here is that the film's premise is working off of this idea of our individually constructed worlds and that doesn't exactly work as it should without characters who are actually well developed. It's no wonder the dream sequence used to showcase the love interest's own world has to be so outlandish. It's the only method they had to make her seem kind of interesting.

Art:

The film is very well drawn and animated. I'll give them full credit on that count. The dream sequence is, again, the part that really stands out positively. It has a very strong sense of atmosphere and some interesting visuals. The artwork outside of that still looks good, but the visuals themselves aren't that interesting. You've got a bunch of standard looking kids faffing about in a rather drab looking school.

Sound:

The acting is fair enough. Our main children were voiced by Ueda Reina, who I don't think I've heard in anything else, & Matsuoka Yoshitsugu who voiced Array in Rinne no Lagrange, a very minor character in Madoka and never appeared in anything else good. At least as far as things I've seen. They both deliver decent enough performances. As do the rest of the cast. The music is pretty nice. I like Kokia's performance for the theme tune.

Ho-yay:

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Final Thoughts:

Harmonie isn't nearly on the level of Eve no Jikan. Length is probably a major factor, since it's only twenty five minutes. But, ultimately, its big issue is just that the under-developed characters can't carry the premise. I do like the idea and I won't claim it's handled poorly, it's handled okay, given the short running time. So, my final rating for Harmonie is going to be a 6/10. It's an all right little film and it may be worth watching just for the dream sequence. Next week it's time to revisit a familiar franchise with a look at JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Diamond wa Kudakenai.