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Mar 3, 2022
There's a danger here, which Studio Ghibli has willfully evoked, of misinterpreting the oldest surviving novel in Japanese history. I've seen this story adapted in other formats, or given a small nod to in other media like the game Okami, and even just reading short plot synopses of the various ancient versions of the original tale evokes something more than this film did.
The overall story is there, true, but character development is muddled, and some characters, such as the Emperor and the bamboo cutter are turned into rather indecent characters, removing the restrained, bittersweet maturity of the original tale.
The art and music are
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fairly par for the course for Ghibli. It's a nice getaway for a couple of hours, though... overlong and boring at times. There are some tacked on flights of fancy that do nothing for the story.
It's a pet peeve of mine when historically significant cultural tales are re-imagined and presented as if they are faithful representations of the original thing. This is the way propaganda is born, or at the very least, degradation of culture and history, and while there's nothing particularly devious about the portrayals in this film, it certainly falls on trite modern stereotypes, particularly in its representation of male characters, in a way that is both culturally and historically insensitive, as well as pessimistic.
I wouldn't watch it again. Its soundtrack and some scenes that are clearly based on 20th century woodcut prints of the tale are the most memorable aspects. I have to admit there are times where I kept imagining how much better the film could've been if it was a full-fledged animation and not just watercolor sumi-e style. At times the audio felt the only thing immersive while the screen looked a bit blank.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 2, 2021
This movie holds up really well both in terms of visuals and story. Nyx and Luna, and sometimes King Regis carry the movie in terms of character, as the others all come off as pretty cliche and just sort of pawns to the whole thing. There are some missteps and missed opportunities, particularly in how the film squanders some of its promising characters, but overall this film works as a big hype up to 15 so much that it made me hate 15. I was expecting way more than what we got. Sure, I haven't played 15 since it has ben bandaided by DLCs, but
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the product I played on release was pretty pitiful and incomplete in terms of story, and most of what's interesting about this entry to the FF series happened in Kingsglaive. Nyx is a way cooler and more interesting protagonist than boy-band wannabe emo prince Noctis and I wish for once we could get an FF GAME about a real man and not some emo pretty boy. The sword warping effects and battles in Kingsglaive are off the chain, and the use of magic is more tangible and convincing than in any other FF movie to date. The ring of the Lucii seems vastly nerfed in FF15 compared to how it is used in the movie though, so again, this movie set up a lot of things that the game would later disappoint me on. All in all, I think Kingsglaive is a movie for adults and does not come off as pandering to any younger audience than that. On the other hand, the game it's a prequel too definitely panders to a teenage and young adult crowd, so it definitely feels jarring in more ways than one moving from the prequel into the main game. Not to mention going from mind blowing action to running around in the desert trying to get a broken down car running again... Yeesh. The aesthetic and realization of magic and battles in Kingsglaive are at peak form for the FF cinematic world. There are some touching moments of morality and sense of care/duty for family and friends from some of its characters but beyond that the story is nothing too crazy. It sets up the game and leaves you let down for what an incoherent borefest is to come when you play it. I think this film set the bar too high for what was to come, unfortunately.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 23, 2018
If you didn't tell me Mamoru Hosoda made this film, I would only have been able to tell from the visual style of this movie and from nothing else. Yes, you can see the elements that put the director's unique style and touch on it, but aside from visually, this film feels like a departure from my expectations. It most closely resembles Wolf Children (with a lot less resembling The Girl Who Leapt Through Time than I expected considering the title and trailers), but it's more hodgepodge and freeform with a less coherent plot.
But, like Hosoda's other films there's a very human element having
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to do with ideas of family and friendships. Some reviewers have noted the brattiness and loud and spoiled nature of Kun, the film's protagonist (which some have noted as the antagonist as well), but I think few reviewers have looked at this film from an adult/parent perspective and realized just how much Kun's parents are crucial characters for growth and development in this film (and at times acting in a way more akin to an antagonist). I love that this film examines the family unit as fragile and evolving from all angles. Kun is a bad and spoiled child who lashes out when he loses attention, but at the same time Kun's parents have a habit of suddenly neglecting those under their care when someone new comes under their care (first the dog, then their son).
There are times where Kun's parents acted so callously toward their very young child, that I sympathized way more with Kun than with his parents. Sometimes the ways they spoke to him were very cold, and other times they ignored him and his needs to a truly irresponsible level. When Kun has his breakdowns, I felt the neglect, not just a bratty spoiled kid. Part of what makes this film wonderful is that it has messages of growth for both children and parents. By the end of the film, Kun learns that it's time to grow up a little more and learn that he is not the center of the universe, that his parents are separate people with their own names and lives, whose existence is not solely to take care of him. But there are messages for parents too. You won't get parenting right all the time. It may take several tries to learn a balance between discipline and care. Most importantly, have lenience and patience for your child because, don't forget, you were just like your kid in so many ways when you were that age (to me this an explicit message of one of the flashback scenes). It's these takeaways for young and old alike that make this film a really thoughtful and moving work of art. It has depth and meaning that is accessible to anyone.
Music: it's a 10/10 with very emotionally driven and beautiful songs similar to the Wolf Children soundtrack. I have to say Masakatsu Takagi plays with irregular time and rhythm in a way that I often feel his music creates entirely new genres. It's genius. The best example I can point out is Marginalia Song (from the motorcycle scene), which has a lilting, very inconsistent time signature and layers diverse instruments and styles in a way that is truly original and astonishing.
Voice acting: 9/10 While the English and Japanese voice casts are pretty equal in quality here, the most decisive factor here for me was Kun's voice actor, which was way more convincing in the English version. They cast a talented and clearly young male child actor for the English dub (Jaden Waldman), whereas in the Japanese dub Kun's voice sounds too old for his very young age and size, and it's quite obvious that an adult woman (actress Moka Kamishiraishi) was used for the part. I find this disjointing to the overall feel and narrative of the film since Kun is the main character, so for me the English dub is superior. The supporting actors all did an exceptional job in both versions with the exception of Rebecca Hall, who voiced Kun's mother. While her acting isn't by any means bad, it takes you out of the film a bit, especially early in the film, because her delivery is a bit deadpan and sounds like a script-reading. It definitely improves later in the film, but takes a bit to adjust to, and anything that takes you out of the immersion of a film experience is a detriment to it, so that's my only complaint where acting is concerned. On second thought, the dog's voice actor is a little over-the-top at times in the English version, but since it's a comedy role, I let it slide.
Animation: 9/10
Overall, the film is beautiful and very emotive. Hosoda is a master of capturing emotion, especially facial emotion, of characters. For me the only hiccups are some disjointing CGI integrations. Some are phenomenally well done and look beautiful (the motorcycle sequence) while others could've used some more polish to not blatantly stick out of the movie and pop you back out of immersive mode and into judging viewer mode (like the heavily CG'd black train and the oddly-animated cartoonish train station workers).
Story: 9/10
While the overall message and fantastical journey of Mirai is quite beautiful and in many ways original, I have to say it was a bit under par for Mamoru Hosoda. There are a few weaknesses. For one, the film does not explicitly explore Kun's father's past the way it explores his other family members. It also (quite deceptively) does not explore much about Mirai's future or who she really is as a teenager. There are also some very extended scenes that rely heavily on drawn-out humor, with nothing happening to advance the plot. It's enough to make you almost cringe as you wait for the joke to pass and wonder how much of your moviegoing time (and potential plot) is being frittered away to showcase these jokes. There are elements that feel tacked on and unnecessary, or even out of place. The biggest one for me is how the tree is significant in the ending. The scenes of that sequence are without argument absolutely crucial to the film, and beautifully done, but the framing of them using the tree does not seem necessary or even very believable even as a fantasy element of the story and almost feels like it was just added to have a moment that showcases Hosoda's visual style seen in similar scenes in Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Digimon, etc. While this film has a lot of momentary emotional weight and charm, it doesn't feel like it will have as frequent rewatchability as Hosoda's other works. Overall, it's the dual message for children and parents about growth and learning your mistakes that makes this film's story a gem and that is the reason I still rate it quite highly despite some flaws.
When this film's trailers were released, to me it seemed like it would be some kind of mashup of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Wolf Children, and Summer Wars, and I even wondered if the film would attempt to link them in some way, but honestly Mirai felt way more experimental and not really related to any of those films (other than in visual style and theme), so while the film did not really meet my expectations, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected direction it took. It's a departure in tone and tempo from Hosoda's other works, and may even feel like the director is stumbling a bit in terms of vision, but I think it showed so much raw emotion and reflection of life and human growth that it is overall a success and maybe a much needed catharsis that Hosoda needs in order to plan a more cohesive and focused film in his next project.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 28, 2017
I won't waste your time with a windy review, so here's the deal.
If you've followed all of Makoto Shinkai's films up to this point, this film will likely feel like worn-out territory. There are many scenes which are practically copy/pasted from his earlier works and the theme and concept is similar. What emerges might be described as a polished and culminating attempt at Shinkai telling a story he has tried to tell in several other films, with varying success. If you've never seen a Shinkai film, you might easily feel "Your Name" is a masterpiece. Even if you've seen them all, you might still feel
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that way, but if you're like me, you start to feel this plotline and concept is going stale and want to see Shinkai explore new ground. When the trailer for this movie came out I recall very distinctly feeling like it was just like all his other movies (exception: Children Who Chase Lost Voices, which only varies in plot by being a Studio Ghibli knock-off), and I was worried by it. My concerns turned out to be justified.
I think I was more moved by "The Place Promised in Our Early Days", but when I saw that film, Shinkai's metaphysical "connected over time and distance" concept that he loves to explore was fresh to me and not something I'd seen experimented with much in films before. I tend to feel bored when I see a film that explores a unique concept less well than its predecessors. In this case the uniqueness of the concept feels like a gimmick. While American audiences were raving about how life-changing "Interstellar" was, I watched it and felt mostly disappointed by it as it seemed like an unnecesarilly convoluted re-telling of Shinkai's "Voices of a Distant Star", stretched out over 6 times the length and with a less heartfelt effect.
I've also seen a handful of other anime that explore the body-swapping idea with much more heft than Your Name. Kokoro Connect's first story arc comes to mind, and Your Name doesn't ever reach near that level of empathy and dramatic intensity. There are definitely missed opportunities throughout the film.
The animation is top-notch and Shinkai's obsession with light and lens flares seems toned down a bit this time around, which at least gives the film a fresh stylistic approach in his repertoire. The lush color pallet is beautiful and fully takes advantage of HD color space. Music is great but there are at least 3 or 4 sequences where the film feels like a music video. One or two would seem artfully agreeable. Beyond that it feels like unneeded filler.
Despite that the film feels a bit stale to me, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The deep connection to Japanese culture and the beautifu scenes that show an immense appreciation for both the city and nature make this film a wondrous experience to sit through. The characters are just shallow enough to make you wonder more about them.
If I was rating this film with regard to Shinkai's other works I'd rate it lower, but if I pretend I haven't seen the others and just rate it independently, I think it's worth about a 9/10. I certainly don't feel it should outrank every anime on this website though or be considered the gold-standard for anime movies.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 30, 2014
Having really liked the first Kokoro Connect series (I rated it a 9), I was really excited to find out almost two years after watching it that there was an OVA sequel. I had no idea! And seeing that the only problems I had with the first one is that its three plot arcs seemed to decrease in intensity and were ultimately rather inconclusive... I was ready to give the series one more chance to "bring it all home".
Did it do that? I think so, though not in the manner expected. The new phenomenon introduced was more compelling than the one to precede it, so
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that's a plus. I think it also answered the question of "Will Heartseed continue to keep plaguing them?" much better than the original series did.
Some people criticize Iori's character development in the OVA as being unbelievable or repetitive. I didn't think it was either. My only disappointment was that the writing seems to have a bit of a gender bias in that it never really made one of the guys the target of a breakdown due to Heartseed's meddling. They had their low points and weak moments, but they never became reclusive or the focus of the group's attention as the others did. I had wished to see that explored.
This series also brings to a conclusion the "love triangle" between three of the main characters, which was kind of left hanging the first time. It isn't quite the outcome I expected, and it seemed that Taichi's decision/reaction was very rushed at the end the way the events had unfolded, but as I am not one to get too caught up in romances in stories (as they are often so unnecessary to the overall development) I didn't really mind the outcome.
One thing is for sure, the developments the characters made throughout the series were more apparent, as for most of them they seemed more solid and less victim to their prior weaknesses, so that was a nice change.
To touch on a few other elements: I find the art of the series very pretty and atmospheric, so no complaints there. As for sound, it got just a bit repetitive to hear the same score reused during the episodes, but since most of the songs are rather atmospheric and not terribly attention-drawing, they integrate with the series well.
I find that this series is very dramatic, and as a person who is not too big on dramas, I'm surprised how much it spoke to me. I think it easily borders on melodrama, but considering the characters are teenagers being faced with an incredibly stressful situation outside of their control, the interactions are mostly believable. The underlying theme of "finding oneself" is a perfect one to explore with a group of adolescents, as it is a struggle so many youth face at that age. I found that every character had very real struggles that were easy to relate to, and to those who criticize much of the characters' actions as childish and selfish... well a lot of it is, and they don't hide the fact (there are so many realizations of this in the series... and apologies), so I don't think that's necessarily a negative. A lot of the feelings they struggle with though are ones I have struggled with personally at a very deep level, so honestly I appreciate the writer's devotion to the subject matter, and how it is handled with such grace... there is plenty of forgiveness and acceptance despite everyone's flaws and identity crises.
Overall, I think Kokoro Connect is a very touching story and it is one that has helped me a lot personally to accept some of my own shortcomings, so in that alone, it achieves all it needs to.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 4, 2014
Darker than Black (the original season) is the best anime I have ever seen. It is very hard for me to choose a favorite, but if forced to pick just one, it would be Darker than Black. Every aspect of it is tightly woven to create this incredible tapestry of imaginative concepts, enjoyable characters, heady philosophies, mystery and suspense, beautiful art, emotional music, and most of all the story has a very deep, important and relevant message to deliver to viewers about society and the consequences of treating minority groups as subhuman and unequal. There is immense social value to the story outside of just
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entertainment and art.
Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor takes everything beautifully crafted by the first season and smashes it with a mallet. Unfortunately it does not find its way back together to form a cohesive story. The returning characters from the first series are portrayed in ways completely counter to everything that's been set up for them in the first season and there is no believable reason for it. It actually destroys some of the characters' images so badly they are no longer likable in the full context of the story, despite they were incredibly enjoyable characters in the first series. For example some have gone from caring individuals to abusive degenerates. Not to mention some characters who we were glad to see make it through the first series get expelled quite unceremoniously from the second, which is really disappointing, while some characters whose fates were hinted to be somewhat conclusive in the first series are brought back, making their story arc climaxes in the first season seem meaningless or much less effective.
For the most part, the abilities of the contractors are far less imaginative in Gemini and border on cliche. As for the story, it is boring, trite and convoluted, with an ending that seems random, makes no sense, and leaves many unanswered questions. There are some very unsettling themes such as child abuse and pedophilia, and when you see such potentially harmful themes in storytelling, it's important for the writer to handle them tactfully and clarify the significance of them in the context of the story. There's really no tact or significance to be seen here. It seems careless and thrown together.
If you want to know the positive things about this series (there are so few), some of the action scenes and fights are entertaining to watch. Seeing returning characters can be fun for a moment but watching where the writer has the audacity to push their storylines quickly becomes disappointing. My favorite part of most episodes was the ending credits because of the beautiful song "From Dusk Till Dawn" by Abingdon Boy's School (who sang the opener "Howling" in the first season). It's one of the few things in the series that invokes enjoyable emotions or a sense of beauty, sadly. I had a bad feeling when I saw that Yoko Kanno would not be scoring this series. She only signs on to quality projects, as far as I've seen. I knew that either the budget or time constraints of Gemini of the Meteor had likely prevented it from being able to achieve anything like what the first series did before I even saw it. Shame I was correct. I don't know if Kanno was offered and declined the role as composer, or if she was out of the budget altogether.
My biggest warning to those who have seen the first season and loved it and are considering seeing the second is this: If you watch this show, a lot of what you will see will go against what you saw in the first show and will warp your perception of events in the first show, potentially harming the experience next time you watch the first season. For many viewers, myself included, it is sort of a slap in the face. I have trouble believing that the same writer wrote both shows because the first is so evocative and intelligent, while the second attempts to convert the series into a magical girl anime and is riddled with controversial fan service that deconstructs the first series in quite unwelcome ways. The first series was a self-contained story that needed no expanding upon, so to even create a sequel risks a lot. It'd be like a sequel to Cowboy Bebop, which if I'm not mistaken, the creator of the series actually said the reason he wasn't interested in a sequel to that show is that it is better to leave people wanting more and quit while you're ahead.
I watched Gemini of the Meteor before ever hearing any opinions about it from other people or reviews, so I had no idea whether or not it was well-received when I watched it. My opinion emerged independently from that, and while it is disheartening in a way to know so many find it genuinely poor quality, I'm glad in a way that so many others can see how awful this anime really is because it gives me hope that the integrity of quality storytelling like we saw in the first series is valued and defensible among the anime community. Sadly, Gemini of the Meteor really manages to take the humanity out of Darker than Black, and if you ask me the humanity of the first season's story is the most important thematic element that gave the series it's freshness and substance.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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