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Mar 20, 2016
While the premise of this film is interesting, I actually believe it's what ruined the film. My opinion on the story is somewhat divided; I thought the first half of the film was terrible, followed by a pretty great latter half. This makes it difficult to say I don't recommend this movie; I honestly think it's worth the slog through the first half.
Colorful follows a lost soul who is given an "internship" in someone else's dead body. This soul is place into the body of Makoto, who recently killed himself after seeing both his mom and the girl he was crushing on at a
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love hotel. While this is an intriguing concept, there are issues with this from a basic story-telling perspective. First of all, the first ten or so minutes of the film are in first-person (presumably to avoid putting a face on this lost soul). While many have referred to this as beautiful and interesting, I found it immensely disorienting and kind of aggravating. I was relieved when it finally moved to a normal view.
The problem with placing a new soul into the body of someone dead is that there's no knowledge of what's going on. To that end, we have this distance between the emotions the main character is feeling and what's actually going on in the film. In fact, it mostly just seems like the main character is being an asshole for the first of half of the film. Sure, his mom having an affair isn't cool, but that's no excuse to be a total dick to her for the course of the film. From day one this kid has an attitude problem. Sure, depression can make you act out, but for the majority of the film we don't even know if this person does have depression; it's just a person inhabiting Makoto's body.
As far as art and sound, it's nothing special. A lot of important scenes lack music at all, and the animation was stiff and lifeless at times. For a film called "Colorful," the tones used in this are fairly muted. I suppose this could be to add to the depressing nature of the film, but in execution it just makes the film somewhat unpleasing to look at. Also, the animation is absolutely terrible for a movie; I'm amazed I was seeing people say the animation is good in this film.
[Note: to avoid spoilers, skip the next paragraph]
While all of this is aggravating, a slight reveal made the plot somewhat better in retrospect. I did happen to see it coming (as anyone would, I think), but it's revealed that the soul inhabiting Makoto's body is none other than... Makoto. I thought it was a solid way to wrap the film up, but I still think framing him as a different person didn't really do a service to the film. I thought it was a poor way to depict depression and, if anything, made it less moving. Instead of seeing the isolated and sad Makoto, we see the Makoto that doesn't even know he's Makoto. It's somewhat ridiculous. Everything that happened in this film could have happened if Makoto was simply revived as himself -- it's not as if the film plays into the whole "trying to find out who I am" trope; it stuck mostly to internal struggles relating to Makoto anyway. This isn't poignant -- it's awkward and messy story telling.
Other than the soul inhabiting Makoto's body, the characters are great. The issue is that this is the main character. The family is good, the classmates are good; they're all compelling, solid characters. I think that's part of the reason the second half was so much better. It focused on these much more likable, better characters. Overall, this film isn't bad -- there's a lot of good stuff going on here. I just feel, at least in it's first act, that it kind of missed the mark in a lot of ways. 5/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 18, 2016
Oh man. I'd been putting off this show for a while, but I've finally gotten to it. While the ending may annoy many, I personally didn't see this as a flaw; just an indication that the story isn't over. Ultimately, this isn't very different from ending at any point in the manga; no matter what we wouldn't have the full story here (even the manga isn't over yet). I haven't yet started the manga, and I don't plan to until I buy it, but I fail to see how the ending of Berserk is bad.
As far as the story goes, it's quite possibly the
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best plot I've seen in an anime. It was extremely well paced, and while the last few episodes were very different from everything preceding them, they were still led up to very well. The political elements of the show were on point, and every action and plot point had purpose. Not a single episode in this show feels like filler; all of it feels absolutely necessary. I don't want to go too deep into the plot points just to avoid spoilers, but every episode is solid. I will say that while the first episode takes place after the ending of the anime, it's never quite explained how we get there. While I know this is in the manga ultimately, it did irk me slightly that this was even included at all; this may be the one chink in this plot's armor.
The art is great as well. The animation leaves a bit to be desired, but the design itself is great. I actually haven't seen a show where all the characters look badass in a while. The armor in this show is fucking cool, especially Casca's toward the end. The animation has its fair share of flubs and weird angles, but I can tell this is a budgeted production. All is forgiven. I also heard somewhere that the show has a bad OST, but I have to disagree. The Engrish OP and ED are a bit silly (though I do like the OP and have memorized all the words), but the actual songs presented in the show are solid. The battle theme is good, and I found the vocal snippet played in more emotional scenes very moving. It's a solid soundtrack, just not the best.
While the plot is excellent, I think the characters here are the true selling point. They are some of the most human characters I've ever seen. I can think of shows that show the most positive and negative aspects of humanity, but these characters are just plain human. Guts is trying to figure his life out, Casca is in love with someone who will never love her back, and Griffith is trying to achieve his goal no matter what. I may not agree with all their actions, and shit, they make so many mistakes. But they're all people. Even with aged animation (that frankly wasn't even good for its time), these characters sometimes made me forget I was watching a TV show. They felt like people I could reach out to and have a conversation with.
Overall, this is an easy recommendation from me. I tend to prefer physical volumes of manga (at least, for manga I've already seen the anime adaptation of), so I will be holding off on the manga for a bit, but for any of you who read online, just expect to instantly get into the manga after this. I can't wait until I get around to it. 10/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 17, 2016
I’m just going to get this out of the way: this may well be the most disappointed I’ve ever been in an anime. I suspect this will shift whenever I get around to watching Eureka Seven: AO, but Beyond The Boundary tops the list for now. This show actually managed to squeeze some real tears out of me, but everything surrounding this event is so flat and lifeless that it loses quite a bit of potency. Do note: I don’t really think this show is worth the time investment, so this review CONTAINS SPOILERS.
Beyond The Boundary is the story of Akihito Kanbara and Mirai Kuriyama,
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as well as a few others. In this show, there are youmu (spirits) and spirit world warriors. Basically, Akihito is a half-youmu (he was born to a youmu and a spirit world warrior). Kuriyama happens to be a spirit world warrior. The show opens up with her attempting to kill him. Multiple times. It's later revealed that in an injured state Akihito basically goes full youmu. That's a problem. Outside of that, the plot has little direction until the last four episodes, where it's revealed that there WAS a point and that this WAS worth the time investment.
Frankly, the side characters are of little importance. I actually do like both of the main characters presented. Kuriyama’s character design is actually what attracted me to the show the begin with, and I was quite satisfied with it from a visual standpoint. Actually, I take back what I said earlier to note one exception: if all you care about in a show is high animation quality and fairly good comedy, then stop reading this and go watch Beyond The Boundary. Animation is top-notch; it’s actually some of the best of seen. Of course, that’s not all that makes the show pretty to look it; the art and design are great too. Kuriyama’s blood power is super cool and… oddly beautiful. I will say her power reminds me of Deadman Wonderland, but originality is tough these days. Additionally, I found her to be quite a compelling character. Her backstory is interesting, as well as somewhat tragic. As far as emotional impact goes in this show, she’s at the heart of all of it. Akihito, while also a visually well designed character, falls flat comparatively. This isn’t to say I don’t like him, but I honestly just didn’t find there was all much to him when digging into the meat of the show.
Unfortunately, the same holds true for pretty much every other character, of which there are quite a few. I have difficulty remembering a lot of the names in the show just because there’s so little to identify anyone by. I mean, I remember the Nase family, and their role in getting Kuriyama to try to kill Akihito, but other than that I’m drawing a blank on anyone’s name. Normally, I would go on the wiki and just get their names for the sake of this review, but I feel, in this case, the fact that I don’t remember their names (and don’t care enough to try) illustrates just how bland and lifeless this show is.
Then there’s the issues I have with the show just from a plot structure standpoint. The first few episodes were solid. They set up the world we’re looking at, set up the youmu vs. spirit warrior stuff, and set up the main characters. I will say the ideas presented in the first half of the show are inconsistent with those presented later (money is illustrated as an idea in the first half in a way it just isn’t later). Then there’s this god awful filler episode (where they fucking dance as IDOLS for fucks sake). Then the show drops any pretense of really focusing on anyone other than our two mains and just barrels to the finish. That being said, I didn’t really have a problem with this; I felt the show was finding it’s footing and focusing on the truly interesting parts of the world it was focusing on, as well as the central character relationship. We find out that the youmu in Akihito is Beyond The Boundary, which is a dangerous youmu with no physical body. Kuriyama dies to destroy Beyond The Boundary without killing Akihito, and it was honestly pretty touching. Actually, had this show ended on around episode 10, where Akihito receives a text from the dead Kuriyama, I would have given this show a fairly high score. I mean, at least that would be tragic. At least it would mean something. It’d be like a 5 Centimeters Per Second or Steins;Gate type ending; he found love and then lost it. Also, I think “I don’t feel unpleasant” was a wonderfully touching last line for Kuriyama to have. It turns this phrase that she uses for comedy and general disdain and uses it to show she’s finally happy. THIS part made me shed a tear or two. Unfortunately, the show doesn’t end there, and has two and a half episodes left. After this, it just goes off the rails. Kuriyama is still alive on an alternate dimension that also happens to be in the sky and she is part of Beyond The Boundary and… wait, what? I watched the 11th episode twice because so much damn shit happens so fucking fast. Also, I was really trying to see if the main villain has any clear motive, but nah, he’s pretty irrelevant. I questioned if he even need to be there (I’m not really clear on his role in the show. I think he doesn’t have one). Basically, what ends up happening is Akihito ends up reabsorbing Beyond The Boundary, and then because Kuriyama is part of Beyond The Boundary she dies. And yeah, that was sad. But I wouldn’t say it was any sadder than when Akihito got that text from her (if anything it was less sad because it was somewhat more intimate). Then Akihito goes on the most fake-deep ending monologue I’ve heard in a long time (it made me laugh, honestly), and then KURIYAMA IS FUCKING ALIVE. There is no explanation. Did they forget which character they made immortal? Because that was Akihito. I mean, what the fuck is this? That character died and came back to life twice in like three episodes. That’s just poor writing.
Here, I’ll make a list of things that would have made this show good.
-cut out the filler (episode 6)
-replace it with an episode or two fleshing out the supplementary characters
-cut off the last two episodes
-remove the spirit warrior villain; Beyond The Boundary is enough to have as a villain
-end the show when Akihito receives a text from Kuriyama
That would have been a great show. But that's not what we have here. This isn’t the worst show I’ve seen, but it sure did disappoint me. I give it a 4/10, maybe a 5 on a good day. I wouldn’t really say it’s worth your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 17, 2016
While I haven't completed many manga, this is one of my favorites. This is a wonderful story of love, loss, and family.
The story centers around Natsuru and Rio, neither of whom have particularly strong families. Natsuru's dad passed away when he was young, and Rio lives alone with her younger brother, Yuuta. In the first chapter, we see Natsuru playing soccer, a sport he loves. Sadly, his old coach is in the hospital with cancer, and he's been presented with a new coach who, sadly, isn't very nice. Through happenstance he happens to meet Rio, and this is the beginning of something beautiful.
The art
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itself is rather good, but it was nothing astounding. I found the characters and the backgrounds pleasing to look at, and the art is very good, but it's not the best I've seen. I will say there's a unique style to it, though.
While the plot itself isn't incredibly special (though, two young children forming a bond over their lack of families isn't often shown in media), the characters really made it. Even in these five short chapters, we see Natsuru fall in and out of love, and they both grow. Natsuru ultimately grows into a strong boy who seeks to protect Rio from being found out. It's the kind of thing that if executed poorly could have been incredibly cheesy, but instead we're presented with a story of falling in love and forming new familial ties. These two children are incredibly important to each other, not because they like each other, but because they want to be there for each other. Both of these characters are presented as incredibly kind and loving, which makes the reader empathize for them even more.
I will say (without spoiling it) that things don't really work out favorably, and this may move you to tears. But really, you can read the manga in only a bit more time than it took to read this review. You should do that. I give this a strong 9/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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