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Jun 30, 2024
[This review assumes you have watched the previous seasons of Hibike! Euphonium]
When consuming anime, there is a rare experience when you feel like there is no screen between you and the characters. You feel like you are watching the events play out right in front of your eyes, between human and human, heart to heart.
Hibike Euphonium!, since its very first season, has taken this as something that sets it apart from all other music anime, and anime in general. In its third season, it shows the challenges of being a leader for the people, while being true to yourself, of being a follower of
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the people, but a rebel to yourself. The characters act incredibly down to earth, not entirely selfish or selfless, not some saint who solves all the problems, or do all the problems have easy solutions. There are grievances we have to live with, but ultimately, being true to your values is worth the agony.
The story takes shape in Kumiko's third year, during which she becomes the leader of the band. While Kumiko had a role in protecting other characters' interests before, being a person who could bring out others' true wants and frustrations, now she received official affirmation of her capabilities in leadership. While other anime seem to skirt around the challenges of being a leader, preferring to show how leaders are able to lead their group towards an end-goal without any opposition or doubt, Kumiko has to face multiple instances of distrust and animosity. As mentioned before, the anime does not attempt to illustrate a perfect solution that Kumiko comes up with, or does the solution work immediately to make everyone happy. Rather, a soft solution that comes in the form of encouragement and determined affirmation that aligns with what Kumiko believes in. As a leader, speaking the voice of the people is as important as voicing your own, especially when everyone could not agree with each other. While this does not directly address the problem, it allows the other characters space to find solutions to their own inner conflicts. After all, it is impossible to satisfy everyone, so it would be more realistic and practical to encourage others to find something for themselves.
Beyond this overarching theme of leadership, Hibike! Euphonium explores the complexity of human relationships. Mayu is a transfer student who plays the Euphonium just like Kumiko. There is growing pressure from herself, as well as the expectations of others to perform better than this gifted transfer student. What makes Mayu interesting is that she is a reflection of who Kumiko was before she met Reina, a person who does not like to be involved, passive and a person of the people. Her passion of music is muted by conflicts in her past, coupled with a fear of being disliked by everyone else. While she wants to step aside for Kumiko to achieve her dreams in music, Kumiko wants to uphold the integrity of the club's ideals and refuses to let go. The duality of Kumiko's want to reach her musical dreams as well as her beliefs as a leader clash, mirroring the clash of ideals between Mayu and Kumiko. While Kumiko initially wanted to avoid attacking the crux of the issue of why Mayu was so reluctant, she eventually decided to meet the issue directly, and acknowledge what Mayu truly wants without projecting her ideals on her.
The series is relatable on many other fronts, but I would also like to briefly touch on how it manages future ambitions. With this being the last year of high school, the clock is ticking for Kumiko to decide on what she wants to do in the future. The answer is not as obvious as it seems, but the anime is able to slowly reveal how her experiences as a leader and as a musician allows her to form her own decision about what she wants. This is a reflection of her development as a character, who would only listen to herself when making the most important choices in her life. Often, we are influenced by those around us who tells us what to do in the future, but Kumiko shows that while we should listen what to what they have to say, only YOU should own this decision in the end. In tandem with this, the end of high school also brings about winds of change that would separate Kumiko from her friends, particularly Reina. Throughout the season, Kumiko is able to build a relationship with Reina that is noticeably stronger than those with other club members, reflecting how Reina is a special person in her heart. Only to Reina would she able to reveal her true inner desires, unfiltered by her ideals of leadership or her need to satisfy everyone, building a bond that could survive change and distance.
Hibike! Euphonium has a large cast of characters and this season reveals some meaningful development and conclusions to some of them. First of all, for long time Hibike! Euphonium fans, you would be glad to hear that older characters who have graduated in previous seasons have made several appearances within the season, with some playing significant roles in allowing Kumiko to discover what she truly believes and wants to do. Second of all, the new members of the club are not used to the competitive and intense nature of band initially, but slowly they are able to discover the joy of competition and music. Admittedly, the rest of the cast truly takes on a supporting role, more so compared to the previous seasons, as this season focuses greatly on Kumiko's development and role as a leader.
Of course, I could not avoid the elephant in the room, the music. As a music anime, Kyoto Animation is obliged to produce orchestral pieces to add to the performances within the anime. Unfortunately, there is not enough full length performances with accompanying music in this season compared to the previous seasons. Personally, I felt that drama is the centerpiece of Hibike! Euphonium's greatness, and that music is only an accompanying perk, but this is still a noticeable flaw.
Secondly, the series focuses greatly on Kumiko's development and relationship with Mayu to a great extent. While this allows the series to portray a realistic conflict of interests that was resolved in a meaningful and heartfelt way, it does come at the cost of rushed development of some of the other side characters. This is unfortunately what is preventing the series from ascending to a masterpiece, but are also minor grievances that are greatly outshone by the strengths of the season.
Overall, the conclusion of Hibike! Euphonium is close to perfect, capping off Kumiko's incredible journey from being a goal-less middle schooler to a strong leader, a genuine friend and an inspirational role model. The direction of the season, while slightly hampered by its pacing, is able to portray the rawness of the relationships and conflicts between human characters, leading to an exhilarating and thematically powerful conclusion. We often look to media as a means to escape from reality, but watching this season of Hibike! Euphonium feels like you are entering reality through media.
Onto the next piece the characters go, but they will never forget how warm it sounds.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 31, 2024
[MINOR, non-specific spoilers]
The Dangers in My Heart Season 2 is amazing, heartfelt and surely reignited my love for romance anime. I daresay that this is one of the best romantic comedies since Kayuga-sama love is war, and the most realistic romance since Tsuki Ga Kirei, and seems like an easy choice for Romance of the year. In this day and age of romantic comedies, they tend to be highly repetitive, often coupled with a couple of many annoying, one-dimensional character tropes and random plot points slotted in to prevent romantic progression. However, Dangers in my heart stands out through elevating its characters into relatable, and
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most importantly realistic human beings, which ultimately makes its narrative all the more compelling and personal.
The most impressive part of Dangers in my Heart, in my opinion, is how it uses the *overused* school setting in romance anime to its fullest potential, using "stereotypical" romantic situations such as school trips, festivals etc. to develop its characters further, allowing them to grow from a child to someone more than that. When individual romantic events show no sense of linearity in typical romance anime, each romantic situation Kyoutarou and Yamada get into helps them grow as people, understand each other better and slowly realize how important the other is to their lives.
Secondly, as mentioned before, the characters are written in such a compelling and relatable fashion, not as idealized people who could do everything to please others, or as perfect characters who know their way through every situation, but as imperfect people who discover their flaws and work to make themselves better.
Kyoutarou in particular, started off in the first season as a teenage edgelord who seemingly has a screw loose, locking himself away from other people as he believed everyone was out to get him. Many of us have been there, being insecure about what other people think of us, being insecure about the person we are, constantly worrying about how imperfect and "lame" we are. However, as the series progresses through the second season, Kyoutarou has clearly moved on to become someone not scared of others, but most importantly, not scared of himself. From taking one step forward, two steps back with his relationship with Yamada, he slowly justifies his own feelings of love and understands just how important they are, regardless of what others may say, regardless of what society may say. Kyoutarou realizes that he loves Yamada. Every single episode subtly shows another phase in his development, it never feels rushed or forced as he progresses naturally from an introverted teenage edgelord to a man we could all respect and look up to.
While her development is not as detailed as Kyoutarou's, Yamada is a great compliment to Kyoutarou, not only in the fact that she has amazing chemistry with him, but also that she has her own insecurities and worries, like a typical teenager would have. This include being fearful that she is not her perfect self. She is scared of her jealous self, scared of her clumsy and air-headed self, as well as jumping through hoops to express who she really is, but Kyoutarou in large part, as well as the other characters, make her realise that she is likable and loved regardless of her imperfections.
The realism extends to the rest of the cast, with many other characters having their own quirks and insecurities. While you wouldn't expect the side cast of romance anime (which typically focuses on the main duo) to be interesting, the side cast of characters actually help compliment the main duo well, either by being supportive and recognizing the need for the main duo to come to terms with their feelings, or by affirming how much the main duo, more specifically Kyoutarou, has grown as a person. Additionally, the side cast's variety in personalities creates unique (mostly), comedic situations that have a few really funny punchlines I would not spoil for you here.
I am most impressed by Yamada's mother, specifically, as parents in romance anime usually don't play a huge role, more often that not appearing as a roadblock for the main duo's relationship to be recognized. However, Yamada's mother shows real care for Yamada, not being closed minded about Yamada's relationship with Kyoutarou, but recognizing that love could play a major role in her child's well-being and happiness. Thus, she supports her in many ways, through words of affirmation and more impactfully through her actions, pushing for Yamada to find her happiness with Kyoutarou.
In the world full of idealized portrayals of love, Dangers in my heart season 2 does not indulge in the "match made in heaven" bullshit, but instead shows just how beautiful two people, supporting each other and helping each other grow, being in love truly is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 23, 2024
[MINOR SPOILERS]
"To live is to be remembered. You just need to change their lives, just a little bit."
Ultimately, Frieren is about living, its about the beauty of us and our relationships, the importance of memories and how others change our lives for the better
Frieren is an elf that could live for many human lifetimes, not being able to put in perspective the fragility of human life, the weight of loss and grief. She lives with this burgeoning regret that she did not understand her companions well enough, and now that they are gone, there is no way she could do anything about it
What would
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you do with such a regret? Would you constantly dwell and despair at the past? Would you try to erase those painful memories, pretend they never happened?
Frieren decides to go on another journey, the same route that she took with her companions, Himmel, Heiter and Eisen, to defeat the demon king so many years ago. She may not know the answers to her regret now, but as the show progresses, it becomes clear there is nothing to regret. She cherishes her beautiful memories of the past, while embracing the relationships in the present.
Her past experiences, her present experiences, all have become her.
Sousou no Frieren is beautiful in this aspect, as it comes intimately close to our own experiences in describing the universal regret of not being able to spend enough time with loved ones. It does not try to preach exactly how to overcome them, but rather shows how, in the limited time you did spend with them, it was full of smiles, laughs, jokes and banter.
Characters: 10/10
Not only do we get the perspective of Frieren in accepting the past, but also from her travel companions Fern and Stark.
Fern was raised by the priest Heiter, also one of Frieren's previous travel companions, because she lost her parents at a young age.
Initially finding life meaningless after losing her parents, Heiter breathed a sense of purpose and hope back into her. Eventually, Heiter asked Frieren to take Fern under her wing on her journey as he was too old to take care of her. Wishing to repay Heiter for essentially saving her life, Fern takes on the responsibility of "taking care" of Frieren, almost like a mother figure. She wants to show that she is strong and independent, and there was no need for Heiter to worry about her in any way. However, through Frieren, she finds another purpose in life beyond repaying Heiter: magic. While most people use magic to reach an end goal, Fern uses and learns magic for the sake of doing so. Heiter's impact on Fern is huge, yet Fern does not live her days constantly trying to "repay" him, but finds new purpose and meaning in life. Heiter wanted Fern to live, and I could confidently say, Fern lived.
Stark was raised by Eisen, one of Frieren's previous party companions, who taught him what it means to be a warrior. Stark is by nature cowardly and even "fragile", and Eisen does not seek to change that. Instead, Stark learns that being a warrior doesn't mean he can't be weak, he just has to be strong to protect what is important, just like what Eisen tried to do in his lifetime. As such, Stark carries on Eisen's legacy beyond his lifetime, raising his weapon to protect Fern and Frieren by fighting alongside them, while even literally carrying on Eisen's fighting technique, "lightning strike".
The show's characters are especially interesting outside of Frieren's party too. With each character, one feels pure, unfiltered human emotions towards their complex characterization and intricate character relationships. Frieren attests that she wants to understand the complex human relationships between people, and the show perfectly portrays the duality of how complicated and contradictory, yet simple and beautiful relationships can be.
There are many examples of this throughout the show, without going into spoilers, many relationships depict two characters who seemingly dislike each other, or help each other out of obligation, but ultimately find a reason to stay by each other's side. With a simple act of care, blocking an attack, protecting one another, complex relationships are reduced to this one, singular, emotional moment, and one could truly appreciate, how beautiful relationships are.
Plot: 9/10
Frieren moves from place to place, town to town, meeting new people and obtaining new experiences. Every town has a couple new and interesting characters, who not only bounce off Frieren and her party very well, but have their individual personalities and characterization that contribute to our understanding of the importance of memories, the past and beauty of human relationships.
Often, Frieren recalls a memory of her and her previous party coming to the same place, showing how each individual experience with them is deeply etched within her, so much so that it something affects her actions in the present.
The story could divided into these subplots within each city (generally), and through these individual fragments, one could piece together an overall picture of the world and its characters. After each episode, you feel like you have learned something new about the themes of the anime, or something new about the characters, and it is so heartwarming and satisfying to watch almost each and every episode.
My only gripe is that some subplots are quite long, so much so that some episodes are not as meaningful as others.
The worldbuilding is rather complex and nuanced in the show too, and is a breath of fresh air from the typical MMORPG setting many isekais default towards. While Frieren is not removed from a typical medieval setting, where it truly excels is that complexity it attributes to a core element of the world, magic. Instead of a messy power system where each spell is seemingly made to outdo another spell, Frieren describes an interesting magic system where users could use magic to attack, defend, conceal, and manipulate objects. That's not all, many of the mages in Frieren have their own style of magic, be it water or fire magic, or magic that could penetrate anything given enough "belief". I will not go into more detail about all the different spells and types of magic, but rest assured that that the interactions between these spells and types of magic are a sight to behold. Beyond battle, magic is also used to make life easier as well as give protection to important places. It is clear that the show has carefully incorporated magic into its setting and story, making its world unique interesting and complex.
Animation/ Art: 10/10
The animation is breathtaking, dynamic and intense. While never being centered around fights and fight scenes, Madhouse and its animators have put in an extreme amount of effort to show each fight in stunning detail. In recent years, I felt that some anime excessively use digital after-effects and 3D animation in trying to animate action. While this is not necessarily bad, I love how Frieren is a callback to an almost purely 2D animation style.
Music: 9/10 (Disclaimer: I know nothing about music theory, this is all based on subjective experience)
The music is composed by Evan Call, also the mastermind behind Violet Evergarden's soundtrack, and its clear he did an amazing job on the soundtrack. The main track brings out a sense of adventure, of hope and of tranquility as we see Frieren and her companions travel around the world. The music easily matches the medieval setting while subtly including elements of nature as Frieren travels through rural areas between cities.
Insert songs, especially "Zoltraak", is intense and powerful, played during intense fight scenes or moments in the anime, they bring out a sense of suspense and reflects the importance and gravity of the current situation
While not a unique masterpiece, Evan Call's soundtrack perfectly compliments and adds to the overall atmosphere in Frieren.
Enjoyment: 9/10.
Frieren is a joy to watch, I find myself immersed in its world, interested and intrigued by characters and character interactions, and tearful at how the show portrays human relationships and especially how Frieren develops to understand and care for others better.
On "Frieren Friday", I find myself eagerly tuning into every episode, and I always leave with a warm feeling in my stomach. I love how the show never becomes too serious, putting in comedic moments between important plot points and especially how relaxing and tranquil it is. Some shows overindulge in their themes, repeating them over and over like some mantra, but Frieren is more careful to not continuously preach its themes but rather show them gradually, and often visually to the watcher, something I greatly appreciate.
As mentioned previously, my only gripe is that some episodes are "nothing episodes", due to being in the middle of a long story arc, which slightly impacts my enjoyment as I look to Frieren to be enjoyable and meaningful every episode. (I know, sounds unreasonable, but it is what it is)
Overall, Sousou no Frieren separates itself from the rest through the depths of its characters and world, and how it tackles the universal theme of loss, change and love.
If there is one thing I have taken away from this show that I would remember for a long time, it is that
One has truly lived, if it changes others' lives for the better.
One has truly lived life, if people carry on memories of you into the future.
=
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Nov 11, 2023
Since the advent of harem anime with Love Hina, Ranma 1/2 and others, we have 3, 4, 5 girls chasing after one lucky male character. Now, in the era of "modern" anime, we have 100 girls swooning over one mega-chad, beast of a man, a god above gods, with enough rizz to halt inflation, Aijou Rentarou. He has been tasked to "faithfully" date 100 soulmates so do not suffer a tragic death, following the instructions of an old crackhead god who is responsible enough to allow 100 lives to lie on one high schoolers' shoulders. Is following this gigachad's journey in collecting girls like pokemon
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worth it, or is it another self-fulfillment fantasy for thousands of weebs who have not talked to a girl in their life?
Positive aspects:
The anime's structure so far is quite consistent, with each girl's character arc lasting one episode, with some episodes in between. This is not unique within the harem genre, with other titles such as "The world god only knows" experimenting with this episodic story structure.
While this does exemplify each girl's personality, the anime excels in both its "storytelling", rapid fire jokes based on parodying character tropes and genre tropes comedy in episodes not focusing on a singular character. In these episodes, each character is exaggerated to a ridiculous extent, allowing their personalities to bounce off each other and create whimsical scenes and one-liners.
Each character is designed specifically to exemplify their personalities to a ridiculous extent, with the most obvious example being Karane, who is so "tsundere" that she would hurt Rentarou every time she is hurt or embarrassed, throwing punches like a pro WWE fighter and ardently denying whatever he says while blushing stupidly. This does a great job in creating many jokes revolving around these personality tropes, with the girls often during ridiculous things based on their personality type, making excellent comedy for the show.
The sound quality is impressive, both in the voice acting and music department. The opening is upbeat, whimsical and catchy, which fits right in with the show's vibe. The voice acting is done by many experienced voice actors who do a great job delivering the jokes.
Negative aspects:
In a show so focused on paraodying the harem genre and making multiple rapid-fire jokes, the episode arc regarding Shizuka is rather disappointing being much more serious and dramatic. While her backstory and character is somewhat interesting, it is not that deep or memorable and is quite jarring considering the whimisical and light tone of the anime thus far.
The show is not very deep, with each character being almost entirely made up of their surface level personality, and the main character being very typical, being just a vessel for jokes. This is not necessarily a bad thing for a slapstick/ parody style show, but prevents you from getting fully invested.
Overall, this a fun show to put on every week for a few laughs and it has managed to keep its jokes and punchlines fresh and engaging. While not the comedic masterpiece some tout it to be, it certainly is worth a try for those who are into the romance genre, or those who are tired of the hundreds of tropey romance anime and wish for something a bit fresh.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 25, 2023
Dreaming Boy is a realist may seem promising based on its colorful cast of characters and interesting premise, but dont't be decieved, this is another romcom that has to go into the trash.
Story: 3/10
This show meekly attempts at creating character drama through uninspiring, substance less, excessively long dialogue, and these after mention drama are resolved in a very underwhelming and predictable manner. The show also tries its best to convey "deep" messages about love and friendship and what not, but this just makes conversations choppy, unnatural and hard to digest. If this show was written by a 7-year old learning about philosophy for the
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first time, this show might be the result. Overall, it is tough to follow the plot progression of this show thanks to the dialogue and the poor story structure does it no favours whatsoever.
I would also like to point out how the main character was literally stalking the female mc for who knows how long, and no one stopped them, even though I daresay everyone knew he was doing it. Later on, the show tries to portray his behavior as creepy, than why did no one stop him in the first place?
Characters: 4/10
The characters are your typical side-cast of romance school anime, the student council president, the other student council president? (who is the head of the dont do wrong shit committee or something), the friend who is trying to push the main duo closer together etc. This tropes could be well executed and create a geninuely fun show, but unfortunately the result are flat characters that are neither funny, quirky or likable.
Music/Art: 6/10
Nothing remarkable, the show is still watchable with the art, nothing wrong or special with its execution.
Enjoyment: 3/10
Watching one episode of this show week after week pains me. Literally nothing of value happens in each episode, drawn out by the audiobook like dialogue (that is less interesting than school itself), making each episode highly forgettable. Instead, what I experience every week is 24 minutes wasted trying to give the show chances to redeem itself. Times like this make me regret my no-drop policy, and I wonder if I could get romance IRL if I stopped wasting time watching this anime.
Overall: 4/10 (bumped up the score thanks to the passable art and music)
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 24, 2023
**Possible spoilers**
Suzume has been a theatrical hit in cinemas, being the fourth highest grossing Japanese film, right behind Makato Shinkai's other highly acclaimed work, Your Name. However, is it worth the hype and is it Makato Shinkai's latest masterful work? At the surface, it is a resounding yes, but how good is the film from a critical perspective, when we look a little deeper? Let's find out:
Main review:
Suzume is about a 17-year old girl, Suzume who follows Souta around japan to prevent natural disasters from taking place, by locking doors of "disaster". It is a thrilling tale of adventure, admittedly with more action
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that all the other Shinkai films, spiked with a touch of romance and supernatural elements, backed up by stunning visuals for everything from landscape shots to shots of Suzume forcing the doors closed. The film is emotionally impactful, it leaves you with a sense of emptiness that could not be erased for days, weeks, and its heartfelt message about grief, how to deal with death, and closure is the most powerful of the many lessons it tries to teach us. This core message is further emphasised by the film's references to the 2011 Japanese earthquake, which killed thousands of people and tore apart many families. Many families still deal with that grief today, but tragically, could not find a way to save their loved ones like how Suzume saved Souta. In a way, Suzume did also have to deal with this grief heads on, as her mother died from that very earthquake when she was a child, and was able to find closure at the end of the movie with her mother and her younger self. The film also explores how Traditional Japan, and traditional japanese culture, is fading into the background, replaced by rapid urbanization. This is shown through how the location of the doors were in abandoned, old places that were left unattended to for years. This is a reflection of how Japan should prioritize embracing its culture and preserving it rather than let it fade into obscurity in the pursuit for more financial assets.
Analysis of different components:
Plot: 7/10
The plot is possibly the weakest part of Suzume, not only is the story structure similar to Shinkai's previous works, literally being able to fit into the template of Your Name's plot structure, but it is sometimes uninspiring and predictable. However, the plot is still able to deliver on the story's core messages of grief, acceptance as well as the urbanization of japan (more on that later) as well as develop the characters and revealing major plot points at a good pace. If Suzume was the first Shinkai film you ever watched, the unoriginality of the plot would not be that much of an issue for you.
Art/ Animation: 10/10
Even among critics of the movie, this is rather undisputed. After all, this is another work of artistry by Makato Shinkai, almost every frame of the film can becoming a wallpaper, and the way light reflects of objects, how the faint glow of the sun glances of trees and branches and people, is so realistic and stunning. The colors mald together so naturally to form a symphony of bright, vibrant colors. Having the privilege to watch this film in theatres in HD, makes the experience all the more breathtaking and stunning.
Sound/ Music: 10/10
RADWIMPS and Shinkai are a match made in heaven. RADWIMPS have composed the music for the last three Shinkai films, including Suzume, and it is clear they have not missed a beat with their music. The lyrics hit you hard, even if you are just reading subtitles, at the end of the film, and leave a deep emotional impact and strange sense of loss, better than any dialogue could.
Characters: 9/10
The characters are powerfully written, and they are memorable for their hilarious antics, such as Souta when he was a chair, and Daijin's quirky behaviour. At a deeper level, these characters reflect different ways to deal with their loved ones dying, specifically the main characters Souta and Suzume, Souta is shown to accept his father's death, and his quest to prevent natural disasters around Japan is an attempt at continuation of his legacy. He wants to be the sole sucessor of this role, but eventually realises that no one could save the world alone, and begins to understand the power of working together. Through this, he is also able to come to terms of what it means to accept his father's death, and move on while still holding on to his legacy. At the start of the movie, Suzume ran from home to help Souta, without considering how worried her aunt would be for her. After realising just how much her aunt caried for her as her only family member, Suzume is able to understand the importance and value of family. In addition, she is also able to come to terms to the family member she lost, her mother, in understanding that it was futile to try to save her, and it was more important to move on. In conclusion, the characters are a powerful representation of the film's core messages. My only issue with the characters is that beyond the main characters and Suzume's aunt, the other characters are not meaningfully explored.
Enjoyment: 9/10
Enjoyment is always up to the beholder. Personally, the way the film is able to deliver its core messages in a beautiful art style, backed up by emotional, powerful music, grounded by human characters and (somewhat) held together by a *well-strctured* plot made it an enjoyable and thoughtful watch. It was good enough to warrant the rewatch to pick apart meaningful moments of the film one might have missed on their first watchthrough.
Final comments:
I hope you were able to understand the beauty of Suzume through this review. Due to a few flaws, espeically in its plot, it is not a masterpiece, but it still comes damn close to one. I consider Suzume to live up to its hype and serves as another reminder of what Makato Shinkai is capable of making.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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