I love how you can immediately tell by the animation style and storytelling that this isn’t a Miyazaki film. It’s not as conceptual or story driven, instead this is a very mature, emotionally draining character study. Seriously, show this to anyone who thinks that animation is just family entertainment. You could easily accuse this of being misery porn, in fact it’s hard to disagree with that, but I think it’s tastefully done. It’s really a movie about the loss of youthful innocence. There are two very compelling, human characters at the center, both of which are well performed by the voice actors. The animation, filmmaking and score all work in tandem to create a journey that’s dark and heavy, but without ever becoming completely hopeless. A lot of the more intimate scenes are about distracting oneself from the hopeless reality these characters find themselves in. The melancholy is always palpable, but it’s not unrelentingly bleak for the most part. Until the final scenes, that is. While the ending is a touch predictable, the turn it takes is so devastating and depressing that the emotion I felt will stay with me for a long time. Prepare yourself for a tough watch, but one that’s absolutely essential.
Review by JordyVIP 8BlockedParent2023-07-02T22:37:26Z
I love how you can immediately tell by the animation style and storytelling that this isn’t a Miyazaki film. It’s not as conceptual or story driven, instead this is a very mature, emotionally draining character study. Seriously, show this to anyone who thinks that animation is just family entertainment. You could easily accuse this of being misery porn, in fact it’s hard to disagree with that, but I think it’s tastefully done. It’s really a movie about the loss of youthful innocence. There are two very compelling, human characters at the center, both of which are well performed by the voice actors. The animation, filmmaking and score all work in tandem to create a journey that’s dark and heavy, but without ever becoming completely hopeless. A lot of the more intimate scenes are about distracting oneself from the hopeless reality these characters find themselves in. The melancholy is always palpable, but it’s not unrelentingly bleak for the most part. Until the final scenes, that is. While the ending is a touch predictable, the turn it takes is so devastating and depressing that the emotion I felt will stay with me for a long time. Prepare yourself for a tough watch, but one that’s absolutely essential.
9/10