This review (expanded from the one I wrote for MyAnimeList: https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=282934) is based on the version of Fireworks screened in American cinemas during the first week of July, 2018. I might revise this review if I get a chance to see it again and take proper notes, and/or watch the live-action film that came first.
Uchiage Hanabi was simultaneously engrossing, cringe-worthy, beautiful, and shallow. It's quite the accomplishment in its own way.
The art is gorgeous… with the unfortunate exception of some truly awful CGI scenes. (One of these, showing a staircase at the school, is used repeatedly throughout the film). When SHAFT puts in the effort to deliver a properly animated shot, it shows. Unfortunately, it also shows when they don't. I didn't really notice the character stiffness mentioned in other reviews I've read on MyAnimeList or Trakt, but I definitely felt that CGI was overused. With that in mind, I decided to award the art 8/10 based mostly on the non-CG segments, so as not to let the CGI drag the traditional animation down too much.
I have no doubt that the soundtrack contributed immensely to my enjoyment of the visuals. DAOKO is now on my radar solely because of this film. (Kosaki Satoru was already familiar from his work on the Suzumiya Haruhi franchise, OreImo, and others.) With no aural equivalent of CGI to detract from its score, the music earns a solid 9/10. Foley and environments sounded above average to me, so that doesn't hurt either.
However, I'm afraid that's where my praise must end. The story and characters were beyond shallow, earning just 3/10 and a pathetic 1/10, respectively.
I couldn't keep track of any of the school boys at all. Even Narimichi blended in with the group for the first third or so until the plot ramped up, and without him around the other four guys were just interchangeable cutouts to me. Nazuna was just a generic moeblob with no personality to speak of. Her desire to run away from home seems unmotivated by anything in particular. She's not doing it to avoid being torn away from anyone, and her home life seems perfectly fine. It's really just there to kick off the story, much as the boys' conversations about whether fireworks are flat or round merely give them a reason to walk to the lighthouse.
Sadly, it's also not much of a story at all. I would go even further than other reviewers and say that the whole film can be summed up in two words: "What if…?" That's the only character motivation I saw, and the only thing driving the plot (if one can call it that) forward. I was planning to watch the live-action film at some point after this, and I probably still will—but I'm not excited to do so any more. Without stunning anime visuals to lean on, I guess the soundtrack is all I can hope for.¹
The most disappointing thing about the script is something all too common in the anime world, and in cinema generally: wasted potential. What could have been a deep, philosophical, existential reflection on the nature of reality turned out to be just another shallow teen romance. Steins;Gate, this is not.
Hell, I'm not even sure if he got the girl or not. That ending could spawn an entire review of its own, but I've prattled on enough already.
Despite the story and characters, I did find the ride worthy of an 8/10 Enjoyment score, borne on the backs of the art² and sound departments alone.
Overall: 5.8 (arithmetic mean of the ratings given to each element)
Story: 3
Animation: 8
Sound: 9
Character: 1
Enjoyment: 8
Oh wow, what a terrible movie this was. I watched this in the cinema with 5 other people and we all hated it.
My main issue is that the characters are unlikable and the story feels completely inconsequential and pointless. From the trailer I was expecting something more akin to AnoHana (e.g. Nazuna dies and he tries to save her by changing the past) or maybe even a bit of Steins;Gate with the reality marble thing, but instead it used for the most mundane, unimportant and inconsequential changes. I kept thinking "there must be more to it than this", but no, the guy basically just wants to go out with the girl and keeps jumping back in time/rewriting reality when things don't go his way. Not exactly high-stakes.
Then there's the fact that the Nazuna just comes across as a brat, rather than the mysterious girl I think they were going for. Again, I kept thinking that there must be more behind her trying to run away from home, but no, she's just being an immature brat. The main guy's friend was awful too, acting like a jealous jerk when he didn't get to go with her to the fireworks (even though you've already seen that given the opportunity, he chickens out anyway!) and all the other characters barely had any personality or involvement in the story.
And good lord, I got so sick of the stupid "are fireworks flat or round" conversations. I guess that was supposed to be profound/the motif of the film, but it was just stupid.
The animation was pretty poor too. There were a few well-animated segments but in general it just looked like a TV anime - and the CG, oh god the CG. It was absolutely terrible and cringeworthy whenever they used it, e.g. when they were riding bikes around looking like stiff, low-polygon aliens. How anyone can look at that and think it's okay is beyond me. It doesn't surprise me when I see that kind of thing in TV anime but for a movie you'd expect them to try a bit harder. I don't expect every anime movie to match that level of visual quality, but good god did this look cheap.
This is easily the worst thing I've seen by SHAFT and it's even more disappointing as a big fan of the studio myself. I've never seen them as a "big budget" studio but they're normally pretty good at still making their works look good even on a small budget (fans will be familiar with their unusual visual quirks - there were very few in this either), hell at the time of this comment "March Comes in Like a Lion" (also by SHAFT) is airing and it looks gorgeous by comparison and probably cost a lot less to produce too.
It feels like this was SHAFT attempting to create an answer to the likes of Your Name/A Silent voice etc and falling incredibly short.
Awfully Story! Good Animation! Average Characters!
Overall time waste.
This is nothing more than Shaft's very own 'Tales from the Earthsea' moment. There are some absolutely gorgeous moments, but too many other scenes are janky, and the story is nothing more than utterly pointless melodrama exacerbated by grating characters. This movie has no right to be holding such a banger OST hostage like this and should have been much better looking at the staff involved.
The only good thing about this waste of time was the ending song.
Beautiful, really beautiful... And pointless. I wouldn't recommend it.
Are the fireworks flat or round? And if ... Beautiful movie. I prefer the beautiful drawings and the feelings that it generates, because the story is a little loose.
The movie doesn't stand for itself. Some weird 3d animations and a lot of anime cliches. Kind meh.
Shout by CatsyBlockedParent2017-10-07T21:56:29Z
This movie rides on the coattails of Your Name. It does feature some nice animation but falls into several anime tropes (like the love interest glowing with shoujo bubbles and sparkles, falling on a girl and blushing, etc.). There was a segment about 3/4 through where I really enjoyed the animation style. It features a lot of 3D models and they look really stiff and robotic. The story is decent but overall I don't think Fireworks (should we watch them from the side, or below?) isn't that special. See it in cinemas if you want to support the anime industry and your local theatre.