UFO Gakuen no Himitsu

Ray, Anna, Tyler, Halle, and Eisuke are five high school students who are suddenly wrapped up in a mysterious incident.

An alien species called Grey abducts Halle's sister and embeds her with a special chip inside her brain. The five stand up to save Halle's sister and try to reveal the existence of aliens, but continue to be met with mysterious events.

The high school students' story progresses into a shocking development!

What truths hide on the dark side of the moon? What are the true intentions of the aliens that are infiltrating America, Russia, and China? What is the true crisis that is closing in on Earth and what hope can we have towards the future!?

(Source: HS Pictures Studio)

Eisuke Main

Hatano, Wataru Japanese

Halle Main

Kanemoto, Hisako Japanese

Tyler Main

Kakihara, Tetsuya Japanese

Anna Main

Seto, Asami Japanese

Ray Main

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Yoake Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Imakake, Isamu Director, Chief Animation Director, Character Design

Lee, Wendee ADR Director

Ookawa, Ryuuhou Original Creator, Chief Producer

Oono, Kazuhisa Assistant Director

Reviews

Apr 15, 2016

rhaphazard

Recommended

I will preface this by saying I enjoyed this movie. If you have some interest in philosophy, sci-fi, religion, and global politics you might get some enjoyment out of the viewing. If you're looking for a good plot or characters, stay away.

This movie is a prime example of trying to do too much but not committing.

Gakuen no Himitsu had a lot going for it, but the great art direction in the second half of the movie (Vega was beautiful) was marred by a plot with too much stuffed in it and characters with no personality.

This is particularly evident in the scene where the main cast ... is on their way back to Earth. They just travelled >1000 light years, went to the spirit world, saw alien species on inhabited planets, and revealed to themselves their past lives. Like they're in class reading their essays out loud, each of the friends feels the need to chime in what they learned. The guy who has shown no interest in engineering or building things wants to build a UFO (they butcher this term throughout the whole movie, by the way), no interest in moves wants to be a filmmaker (probably the director/writer's projection), the anime otaku wants to be a teacher (this actually makes sense), one realizes it's okay to be introverted and be yourself, and the last one wants to figure out a path forward for Earth.

Lets's talk about that title. Which school are they talking about? And which mystery, because there are a bunch of small ones that don't seem worth naming the movie after. It seems like they were trying to go for a sci-fi thriller mystery with some action thrown in, but there wasn't anything mysterious about this at all. The audience pretty much knows what's going on as it happens.

As if exposition is the only story-telling device, the movie tries to hammer in a new point every 5 minutes. If the director/writer honed in on a central theme, the movie could have been much stronger.

It was slow at the beginning, they do a half-ass job character building, the story picks up in the middle, but then it all starts falling apart when the aliens start to fight.

The main cast had potential, but only the main male protagonist really did anything at the end. And even that was mostly to get the shounen tropes checked off.

Despite it's shortcomings, I enjoyed it as I watched. There were many times where I felt like I was being talked to (in a bad way); bringing the sledgehammer of "Let's make the world a better place" and "Be yourself" down on the viewer (listener?) over and over and over again. But there was an odd beauty to its ambition.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 2, 2015

iceize

Recommended

A classic masterpiece only rivaled by the geniuses of shows like "Mars of Destruction" and "Pupa.

Story 10/10
Very good story, very coherent, Ryuho Okawa is an actual genius when it comes to writing plots. This might be his strongest work to date.

Sound 10/10
The voices scared me.

Characters 10/10
The brown guy was pretty annoying but the blonde guy was OK. The main girl was also not bad, but the other girl was weird. Bee best girl.
...
Enjoyment 10/10
2 hours of pure laughs. You will love this if you liked shows like Steins;Gate or Full Metal Alchemist

Overall 10/10
A must watch, a generational gem. Okawa masterfully blends beautiful music, intriguing characters, and a genius plot to create a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all audiences.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Oct 28, 2018

idioticname

Mixed Feelings

This is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen - and trust me, I have seen some very weird stuff.

I don't think this is qualified to be called scifi. Sure, it had aliens and UFO's, but I think it was more philosophical than science fiction. It was more like searching one's true self, trying to figure out what is inside one's mind and heart.

I found it somewhat enjoyable, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who gets bored easily, because the plot wasn't really going anywhere.

The animation style was beautiful... Even though, characters faces very kinda funny looking. Well, the style was more ... realistic than most that I've seen, but it was somehow weird. Backgrounds very beautiful. It had amazing visuals. Just not with the characters.

All in all it was a cute story. I just don't know whether I liked it or was weirded out by it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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