Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai

The aloof protagonist: a bookworm who is deeply detached from the world he resides in. He has no interest in others and is firmly convinced that nobody has any interest in him either. His story begins when he stumbles across a handwritten book, titled Living with Dying. He soon identifies it as a secret diary belonging to his popular, bubbly classmate Sakura Yamauchi. She then confides in him about the pancreatic disease she is suffering from and that her time left is finite. Only her family knows about her terminal illness; not even her best friends are aware. Despite this revelation, he shows zero sympathy for her plight, but caught in the waves of Sakura's persistent buoyancy, he eventually concedes to accompanying her for her remaining days.

As the pair of polar opposites interact, their connection strengthens, interweaving through their choices made with each passing day. Her apparent nonchalance and unpredictability disrupts the protagonist's impassive flow of life, gradually opening his heart as he discovers and embraces the true meaning of living.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yamauchi, Sakura Main

Lynn Japanese

Shiga, Haruki Main

Takasugi, Mahiro Japanese

Takimoto, Kyouko Supporting

Fujii, Yukiyo Japanese

Miyata, Issei Supporting

Fukushima, Jun Japanese

Yamauchi, Mother Supporting

Wakui, Emi Japanese

Takahiro Supporting

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Shiga, Mother Supporting

Tanaka, Atsuko Japanese

Shiga, Father Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Takahashi, Yuuma Producer

Mita, Keiji Producer

Niwa, Masami Producer

Kashiwada, Shinichirou Producer

Reviews

Dec 26, 2024

Kyou_Ryuu

Recommended

THE GOOD:
This movie is a tearjerker. Which is good, because sometimes you need tears to understand what life really is, and an anime that starts with the funeral scene of one of the MCs might help.
We live on borrowed time, you'd better live yours to the fullest, and never alone: maybe not the most original theme of all times, but it's wrapped up in a simple story that will get to your emotional self.
Solid production especially in terms of direction. Visuals and animation are also well done. Functional OST, it perfectly fits the show, with nice thematic material and interesting developments: special mention to the ... track used to accompany Haruki's reaction to the TV news, its dissonances in harsh contrast with the rest of the sweet soundtrack masterfully depict the MC's emotions.
Also, good voice acting performance by Lynn (Sakura).

THE MEH:
The writing could be improved. With the exception of Sakura, the rest of the cast has paper-thin motivations: they simply go with the flow. While this might be OK for the side characters, it's a pretty big flaw for the MC's characterization.
It's also evident in some cases that the movie is trying to manipulate you emotionally. This isn't a big deal when done properly (all the stories do it, after all), but when it becomes obvious it can break your immersion. The best stories can pull the strings of your heart without you noticing. Here instead we have instances where you can catch the writers red-handed: you go "a-ha!", as if you saw the hidden rabbit in a magician's hat before he pulled off his trick. It happened in the beach scene, it happened in the fireworks scene, it happened in the scene between Haruki and Sakura's mom towards the end.
However, these issues are forgivable because the movie makes up for them in different ways. While Haruki's motivations are thin at the beginning, he has a quite complex personality, which develops nicely throughout the story. And while it's true that you can see through some writing devices, the showrunners managed to make them work anyway, usually thanks to effective visual storytelling (direction, animation, lighting, or a combination of them).

THE BAD:
Some characters deserved more development. In particular, the relationship between Takahiro and Sakura is confusing, and maybe a couple more minutes to clarify it would have helped. As it is now, he looks just like a throwaway antagonist for a single scene (and one of those emotional devices I mentioned above).
Beside that, there's no obvious flaw in the movie. As I said, the writing could be improved but it's never "bad".

FINAL THOUGHTS:
"I want to eat your pancreas" is a simple story that gives away the finale in the first scene, and yet manages to surprise you and keep you engaged. It features a non-original theme handled in an original way.
I won't call it a masterpiece, because it's not. But if you're sympathetic enough, it will make you think about your life.
The first time I watched it, I just got teary eyes. The second time I bawled my eyes out. I don't know if I'll be brave enough to watch it a third time anytime soon.
It's an 8.5/10 for me, bumped to 9 because of how emotionally invested I was the last time.
Recommended if you are not afraid of tears.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jun 18, 2024

Kcmichalson

Mixed Feelings

Pancreas is a decently run of the mill Dram-rom. The film sets out to be a pretty standard romance and it accomplishes such without exceeding expectations.

The film begins with a good start, a solid beginning to the main characters' relationship and establishes the conflict that arises later on. However, after the beginning, the film does little to connect its core premise to the plot until the very end. The non-main characters are inconsequential outside of a few scenes, and the two main characters offer little substance to push the film along for two hours. Towards the end the writing of these characters seems to ... falter and the side characters are little more than plot devices to push the romance along.

Evidently, people really liked this film, and I can see why, but I can't say for sure that you'll be a fan of this if you don't already find yourself interested in other Dram-rom plots with basic characters. The art is fine and the music is pretty good, but it can only do so much to elevate the average writing and plot.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Nov 21, 2023

Kizna_Towryk

Not Recommended

Funny

Tackling the reality that people actually die in real life can be an interesting focus, considering that all of this could happen to literally anyone at any time. Stories revolving the realization and process of death should be very moving, at least to those who have never experienced this type of thing and to those who have an affinity for these type of shows which should be cathartic.

I am of the latter persuasion and dealing with grief is definitely my wheelhouse. You might even say I have an unhealthy obsession with it. Unfortunately this 2 hour forced cliché dumster fire is neither cathartic nor pleasant; ... if you're interested in viewing themes of coming to terms with death executed masterfully in an anime I would suggest viewing Grave of the Fireflies, the series Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 or Magical Shopping Arcade Abenoboshi, not this movie.

NGL, 5 minutes into this and my eyes were already rolling out of my head. Predictable generic mediocre overplayed sobstory: The movie. This is literally Jarmush's 1991 Night on Earth, the Helsinki Cab.

I doubt an individual who is aware of how fragile human existence is can find this work enlightening or moving, much less feel a sudden ephiony over such work. I found it callow and unsophisticated as another one of those fantastical self-insert type of "entertainment" pieces of media serving only those who are proficiently unaware of how life works.

The characters felt one dimensional, leaving much to be desired. In multiple instances I found myself distanced; unable to immerse myself due to the inability to relate to them. They don't feel like authentic realistic people at all. The exchanges between the two feel more often than not, forced and unnatural.

At least in Your Lie In April they broaden the dialogue to include music, these two only talk about death (rigidly, like beating a dead horse) the entirety of the run time of their relationship and didn't feel like genuine conversations one would have. This is especially the case with the concept of the fear of death that was partially addressed at the hour and a half mark, the potential this movie had was utterly wasted and it doesn't seem to care.

Maybe if this was given a show format there could be time to expand and grow the characters and hopefully their interactions and dialogue could be handled better. As someone who's experienced someone ripped from their life by the clutches of violence, I found myself shaking my head with disdain over the "twist" its ensuing fallout and the process of moving on post credit scene. The movies forceful attempts to hammer home that I should empathize with these 2 cookie cutter protagonists left me empty. I never felt moved, sad, or even angry.

The themes of loss and the pursuit of closure when intermixed with a genre ie. sci-fi, romance, or fantasy when executed correctly; are one of the most powerful and beautiful ways to convey life. So it bothers me terribly when the industry reduces raw heartfelt emotions to cheap ploys and force feed me crying teenagers and cliche death throes.

I think this is why I'm super picky about watching certain things of this nature as well. I still haven't watched Death Parade, A Place Further Than The Universe and a handful of others because I'm banking on them to be bangers. So I save them for a day I know I'll probably need a good cathartic cry or a full free day to reflect on the media I consumed.

Not being faithful to the tragedies that befall the female leads is what infuriates me about these kinds of movies. It makes a mockery of people who have had difficult and tragic things happen to them and they're being used as plot points to tell an unfaithful rendition for the sake of 'entertainment' and its unflattering.

At least if they were truthful and honest in the depictions ( citing again Graveyard of Fireflies or HBOs Chernobyl as perfect examples ) or the character died before the start of the program and the work is just showing the fallout after. I would even buy the use of an improbable element at play like they were eaten by monsters or invisible xyz, I would be absolutely inclined to get behind it. But this...This is absurd misrepresentation and borderline pandering.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Kisaragi - Sep 1, 2018	390 replies	by InnerVortex »» Jan 16, 10:17 AM
	I cried so hard to this, I wish I could hug someone wcdonalds - Jan 2	39 replies	by Goodbye2021 »» Jan 10, 1:48 AM
	*SPOILER* did anyone cry in this movie? ( 1 2 ) ichigo23sterling - Apr 11, 2021	97 replies	by shanheartsanime »» Jan 5, 8:21 AM
	Am I the only one not feeling any attachment to Sakura, making the whole movie less sad? griddyweeb - May 21, 2024	25 replies	by tacaloking »» Aug 26, 2024 10:15 AM
	The only movie I refuse to rewatch. dmdm597 - Jul 21, 2022	49 replies	by EzioMorte »» Jul 25, 2024 9:59 AM