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This is my all-time favorite animated film. Everything about it makes me happy. For context:

I turn 26 in one month. Ten years ago, I had a dream. I was going to become a biomedical engineer and cure as many cancer variants as I could. I dropped out of college and didn't even make it out the gate.

It's a common occurrence to give up on your dreams and idealism as you age. I thought I could take on the world and make a major difference in people's lives. Unfortunately, life happened and beat me down. Despite that so-called real world experience, I still haven't given ... up on idealism. Some people call it naivete, but I hate that term. I hate it because it's used to dismiss and belittle people like me who have faith in humanity and individual humans being good people worthy of kindness and support. It's extremely misanthropic. It makes us become individualistic, selfish creatures that don't care about and support one another. In Judaism, we have a core belief of fighting for human rights and justice, and I take it a step further by fighting for human happiness. The world is not an irredeemable place, and HaShem has made every single one of us worthy of grace.

Yasuhiro Yoshiura directed my previous all-time favorite anime film, Time of Eve. His approach to humanity's future and potential is something that spoke to me on a deep level. A lot of media portrays artificial intelligence as an existential threat to humanity's very survival. I've seen far too many robot uprising films to count, and I don't appreciate them. AI can let humanity have untold potential and fearing it greatly hinders us as a species.

Yasuhiro sees AI as a benefit for humanity, and this is impeccably beautifully captured in Sing a Bit of Harmony. The sense of wonder and care that Satomi and her friends show to Shion despite knowing that she's an AI is a perspective I love and wish was shown more in media. The fear that people my age and older have of things that are different is so depressing. I relate hard to Saijou, someone far older than me that hasn't given up trying to benefit humanity. People say that a sense of wonder and drive like hers is childlike, but that's just a lie told to us by a capitalist society that wants to suppress truly revolutionary idealism. We can be so much better.

Shion is the character I can understand most in Sing a Bit of Harmony. I'm autistic. I work as a computer hacker for a consulting firm. I usually jack into my laptop when hacking and tune out everyone else. When I interact with clients, or my coworkers, I get an uncanny valley feeling. I also get it going to bars, clubs, concerts, poker rooms, or wherever else I go to. The feeling is like, everyone around me looks like me, but I don't look like them. I don't act like them. My brain is wired differently. I frequently don't feel human in their sense, and that's why Shion is my favorite character. Even if she looks human but isn't, she wants to make people happy. She loves people in her own way, even though she doesn't understand the emotions of people, especially those closest to her. It could be argued that she only does this because she's programmed to, but I see her as an entity that represents the best of humanity. At the end of the day, we both love humanity and want them to be happy, even if people would get frustrated with us and call us naive.

I only got a chance to watch the English dub, but I loved Shion's songs and VA. The music to me was a lot more impactful and meaningful than an anime that recently got released in the US, Mamoru Hosoda's Belle. The visuals were pretty and I found myself very awestruck at some of the scenes. I know that people argue that it's cliche, and while that is somewhat true, it doesn't diminish the impact the film had on me. I love a story where I can remember what it was like to be super idealistic and double my efforts to better all of humanity.

Thank you, Yasuhiro Yoshiura, for this underrated masterpiece.

Ramblings on how this anime changed my life:

I'm not very good at reviewing. I know what I like and don't like, but I can't explain it well, fair warning. 

This anime is stellar. Everything about it is top-notch, and the only thing I wasn't absolutely in love with was the OP, but it wasn't bad, it was pretty good actually. The animation was great, the humor, despite not being new or groundbreaking, was quality and I laughed frequently. The soundtrack was great. The ED was stunning and is now my most favorite ED of all time. I'm inevitably going to spoil the story when I talk ... about why this anime changed my life, so you have been warned. 

Backstory: I first watched this anime in March 2019, at the lowest point of my life. I was so depressed that I could not feel any emotions whatsoever. I also frequently dissociated and have major gaps in my memory. The only reason I even watched this anime was because Gigguk said it was his favorite of 2018. I now consider it the greatest piece of media ever produced.

On to the story: Have you ever wanted to do something amazing with your life? Something that not many people have done? Before watching, my answer was a resounding no. I was perfectly fine wanting to be a background character in mine and everyone else's life. But that was not the answer for Kimari. She decided that she had to do something to make her high school days special and meaningful. She hears about a schoolmate who wants to go to Antarctica and decides to go with her, enlisting the help of two other girls. Against all odds, they make it work and go to Antarctica. 
Seeing their struggles and triumph made me snap out of the all-consuming depression and realize that I couldn't keep living like that. I didn't want to just have every day pass by in emptiness and despair, I had to do something. So I decided to make a change and start my own journey. 

I decided that no matter the struggles I may face, I'm going to become the person I've always been on the inside. I have to make my life meaningful. I have to make my life have importance. I have to live as myself. 

I decided to transition to being the woman I've always been. 

Because of this anime (and the whole being transgender thing as well lol), I started hormone replacement therapy, which was the single best and most significant decision of my entire life. My depression vanished and hasn't been back in months. I finally know what it feels like to be truly happy for more than a fleeting moment. If I had never seen this anime, I would most likely still be living in sheer misery pretending to be a guy, never realizing that I can just say fuck it and transition, and would have never found happiness.
 
Now that I'm on this transitioning journey, it's time for me to start my second journey and fulfill my ultimate dream, which is to win an Oscar for a screenplay I write.

Thank you Madhouse and everyone that worked on this anime. You have changed my life for the better and I can never repay you all. I'll make sure to shout you all out in my Oscars acceptance speech.