Yoake Tsugeru Lu no Uta

In the seaside village of Hinashi Town, Kai Ashimoto's grandfather is one of the locals who reinforces the legend that mermaids lurk near Merfolk Island and consume humans. Due to allegedly attracting merfolk and subsequently causing the death of the elder's mother, music is seldom discussed in the Ashimoto household. Even so, Kai finds solace in making looped beats on his laptop and uploading them to the internet.

Despite his reserved and glum demeanor, Kai is approached by Kunio and Yuuho Ebina, two cheerful classmates that happened upon one of his videos. The pair ask him to join their rock band but are met with apathy. Nevertheless, Kai agrees to accompany them in a practice session on Merfolk Island, where he soon witnesses something that he cannot explain.

Later that night, Kai is composing music in his room when he attracts a familiar entity—a mermaid. As she twirls and grins to the sound of his stereo, Kai discovers a number of aspects about the being who introduces herself as Lu: she possesses incredible water manipulation powers; she buds a pair of functioning legs with the sound of music; but most notably, she is a truly benevolent creature who simply wants people to like her. Fostering a dynamic friendship, Kai and Lu gradually come to express their genuine selves, testing the long-standing boundaries that have deafened the resounding harmony among the people of Hinashi Town.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Lu Main

Tani, Kanon Japanese

Ashimoto, Kai Main

Shimoda, Shouta Japanese

Lu's Papa Supporting

Shinohara, Shinichi Japanese

Ebina, Yuuho Supporting

Kotobuki, Minako Japanese

Kunio Supporting

Saitou, Souma Japanese

Ashimoto, Grandfather Supporting

Emoto, Akira Japanese

Fuguda Supporting

Kawashima, Tokuyoshi Japanese

Isaki Supporting

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Chief Priest Supporting

Sasaki, Mutsumi Japanese

Ebina, Father Supporting

Cho Japanese

Choi, Eun-Young Producer

Yuasa, Masaaki Director, Script, Executive Producer

Kimura, Eriko Sound Director

Yoshida, Reiko Script

Reviews

Aug 11, 2017

moonbell

Recommended

I watched this film at Annecy Animation Festival, right after I'd seen two other anime films (In This Corner of the World and A Silent Voice) neither of which I will be reviewing or spoiling here but both of which were, while wonderful films, not particularly cheerful. Therefore, as the last anime film I was seeing in the programme I kind of expected that kind of tone to be present in Lu also.

I had also seen the trailer for it and it very much made the film seem to me like a bootleg Ponyo... yet I somehow really wanted to give it a chance.

And I ... am so, SO glad that I did. All my expectations were subverted and the trailer does the film no justice. The only way I can really describe Lu Over The Wall is by saying it simply feels like the feeling of sheer joy, in film form. I'll admit, when it started off, with the slightly sulky male protagonist and his musician friends right at the start I thought "oh no, what did I get myself into", but the moment Lu enters the scene that was all gone and the film was an absolute joyride. At points when I thought I couldn't be having more fun, it got more fun. I was grinning for a solid 60% of the film and the audience was laughing at multiple points and if that's not proof that this film is pure joy, I don't know what is.

Catch me buying this film on DVD and playing it if I'm ever down, and in the unlikely event I ever have children I promise you they will be raised on this stuff.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Apr 18, 2018

Karhu

Recommended

Lu Over the Wall is one of Yuasa "Yuusa" Masaaki's three anime titles that were produced under his new animation studio he himself founded after Ping Pong the animation in 2014 in purpose of "inventing anime again", but for some reason not even his loyal fans watched Lu.


If we say Devilman Crybaby (2018) was what he wanted to achieve with Auers Blu AKA Kemenozume already in 2006, we are not far from truth. On the other hand, if we look into Yoru wa Mijikashi Aruke yo Otome (2017) AKA The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl AKA The Maiden Galaxy, it is just a tribute ... to Tatami Galaxy like the last name suggests. What is Lu Over the Wall then? Well, for one thing, it is the closest of "inventing anime again."


By inventing anime again, Yuusa decided take a look into Europe. More specifically to the country which has created the most original animation movies for over a decade now: France. This was of course not even a new idea. Ghibli had alredy expanded its production to French studios, creating movies such as "The Red Turtle" which is not considered an anime unlike "Da Yu Hai Tang" because reasons. If we think the less anime reminds anime equals inventing anime again, then Yuusa has clearly succeed.


Basically a mermaid who can controll water meets people who hate mermaids and then they make music together. Music and dance moves can apparently turn mermaids into humans, but people don't like this very much because fuck mermaids regardless. The story is less generic and quite a bit more mature than in most children adventure movies. The main focus is in the animation directing, details of art and in the audiovisual execution. The music plays a big part in the work, but unlike with the Hollywood garbage movie Coco (2017) -which won the animated feature oscar over Lu because people are fucking idiots- Lu's music is not out of the place. Instead, the whole animation of the movie relies on the music presented during the music sequences.


Yuusa did some avant-garde experiments with his ideas this time around. These vary from anti-gravity water physics to obstacles blocking sunlight. I wouldn't say that I am impressed, but some of these scenes really burned in my mind, remaining memorable to say the least. All of this is quite irrelevant to those who watch anime for the sole purpose of being entertained.. From Lu's core, it, above all else, aims to be entertaining movie to watch, and it does its job. I can recommend this to pretty much everyone just for the scene where guy goes to save his computer whilst yelling "muh PC."

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Nov 20, 2017

kokuborou

Mixed Feelings

Let's take a different approach about this movie....from a child's perspective this movie is very attractive and he feels vey connected to the story ,art and characters and will have a great blast watching it. One thing for sure this movie was made to be viewed together with all family members on a Sunday afternoon . It's has a simple and catching formula with a little fantasy and magic added to spice up things.The visuals are appealing and the ost is catchy.

What's remarkable about this movie is how it handles the bond between humans and mermaids and how it influenced ... the lives of the human characters and their choices. It doesn't try to go deep or portray a dark side of it, it stays the same innocent , simple and magical story from a book that your mother would have read for you when you were a child before going to bed.

From my point of view this movie didn't feel so appealing for my taste or left something memorable especially the characters. Some characters didn't have enough screen time and they could have shown us more about their past (for example Kai's dad band) to leave that emotional impact and connect us to them. Although i gotta admit that the last 10 minutes did a great job of that but despite all of that it seemed rushed and the attachement was lost. The story seem akward in some parts but hey that's just my own impression and how i felt you can judge it with your own mind after watching it.

To end my review if you want to have a reminiscence about your childhood and you don't mind the eccentric and childish style of storytelling then this is your perfect choice otherwise if you don't like this genre you may avoid wasting 2 h.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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	Poll: Yoake Tsugeru Lu no Uta Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) alexanderthekek - Nov 19, 2017	54 replies	by owonism »» Jul 16, 9:16 PM
	Another Horrendous Anime Translation "Lu Over the Wall" (ENG DUB) Westside209 - Feb 8, 2019	6 replies	by TeeRaySays »» May 24, 2022 1:20 AM
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