Honestly, this was one of my most anticipated anime releases of the year after the little buzz that it gained sometimes in 2022. Unfortunately, the interesting premise and meaningful message of the film were not enough to make it a truly compelling story like its counterpart that also came out this year - Suzume.
Let's start with the positives. The movie had a really decent theme about cherishing what you already have instead of opting for a shortcut to gain what you want quickly. The most recent film in my memory that executed it well was Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. As for the main couple, the film did try to give them reasonable motives so the audience can get behind their actions.
However, unlike Puss in Boots, this film lacked the proper execution to really transmit its ideas and messages to the moviegoers. The first problem was with the runtime - 1h22m. Excluding the credits that's probably just a bit over an hour. That's at least 30-40 minutes short compared to other films of the same genre. As a result, a lot of the story threads and character conflicts were resolved in a matter of seconds without any slow time for the characters to process what was going on. As mentioned before, I understood the main characters (Anzu and Tono) motivations, but they literally explained their backstory within a few lines. A classic example of "show, don't tell". Both characters also have personal problems with their families, and the film could have explored a beautiful story them, but the film just kinda forgot about those story lines. What happened to Tono's dad? Has Anzu made up with her parents? How do their friends feel about all this? The ending was extremely rushed as well, with Tono making a difficult decision with very little hesitation like it was nothing, and it seemed to be happy ending. Okay, I'm going to spoil a bit about the ending now, so stop reading if you haven't seen the film or read the light novel.
So it was revealed in the end that Tono was in the tunnel for at least 10 years. How does he feel about all that time being gone (I know it was probably a few days for him, but that's not how a regular person would react when 10 years of their life was gone in a flash) How would he confront his father or friends after all these years? How would the public react when a man who's been gone for years just popped back put of nowhere? And as for Anzu, was she seriously hung up on a guy she knew for a month in over 10 years? Honestly, the ending probably aimed for a moment of satisfaction when the couple reunited, but it all felt shallow to me.
The animation was fine, but nothing exceptional. The voice acting felt underwhelming, and some of the insert music choices really put me off the scenes.
I haven't read the light novel yet, but I sure hope it is better than this film. I would not recommend seeing the movie in theaters (like I did). Wait for it to come out on streaming because I don't think it is worth getting to cinema to see this.
Let's start with the positives. The movie had a really decent theme about cherishing what you already have instead of opting for a shortcut to gain what you want quickly. The most recent film in my memory that executed it well was Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. As for the main couple, the film did try to give them reasonable motives so the audience can get behind their actions.
However, unlike Puss in Boots, this film lacked the proper execution to really transmit its ideas and messages to the moviegoers. The first problem was with the runtime - 1h22m. Excluding the credits that's probably just a bit over an hour. That's at least 30-40 minutes short compared to other films of the same genre. As a result, a lot of the story threads and character conflicts were resolved in a matter of seconds without any slow time for the characters to process what was going on. As mentioned before, I understood the main characters (Anzu and Tono) motivations, but they literally explained their backstory within a few lines. A classic example of "show, don't tell". Both characters also have personal problems with their families, and the film could have explored a beautiful story them, but the film just kinda forgot about those story lines. What happened to Tono's dad? Has Anzu made up with her parents? How do their friends feel about all this? The ending was extremely rushed as well, with Tono making a difficult decision with very little hesitation like it was nothing, and it seemed to be happy ending. Okay, I'm going to spoil a bit about the ending now, so stop reading if you haven't seen the film or read the light novel.
So it was revealed in the end that Tono was in the tunnel for at least 10 years. How does he feel about all that time being gone (I know it was probably a few days for him, but that's not how a regular person would react when 10 years of their life was gone in a flash) How would he confront his father or friends after all these years? How would the public react when a man who's been gone for years just popped back put of nowhere? And as for Anzu, was she seriously hung up on a guy she knew for a month in over 10 years? Honestly, the ending probably aimed for a moment of satisfaction when the couple reunited, but it all felt shallow to me.
The animation was fine, but nothing exceptional. The voice acting felt underwhelming, and some of the insert music choices really put me off the scenes.
I haven't read the light novel yet, but I sure hope it is better than this film. I would not recommend seeing the movie in theaters (like I did). Wait for it to come out on streaming because I don't think it is worth getting to cinema to see this.
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