Dounika Naru Hibi

Given the other reviews, I dared not give it an 8 like I was going to.

I agree with some points of the other reviews: how the stories don't go anywhere, how the characters are somewhat generic, how at points it can get a bit cringe/uncomfortable.

But, to me, these are part of what make the movie nice. It might take a certain perspective to see this, and I will try to outline mine.

First, you should not see this as some drama celebrating lgbt+. This is a slice of life, with romance. When you think the characters are bland, it could just be that they ... succeeded in making them approachable people you'd meet in real life. If you feel the stories are too common place, slice of life might not be for you. The point is to appreciate those little moments of ordinary romances. And by that, one might take it as a silent tribute to lgbt+. I'm not going back on my previous words: the point is, the stories treat same-sex relationships as any other common place relationship instead of celebrating them as special.

Second, the moments to note are the struggles. They are generic as mentioned, but nonetheless great. They are portrayed really subtly, and all the more rewarding and wholesome to witness, at least for me. The moment a girl is told that her ex from high school is getting married; the moment a guy sees another who looks like someone who might have expressed romantic interest in him, but disappeared from his life before it became clear; the moment a primary school couple is introduced to porn early (by an attractive relative acting in it), and face their sexuality in secret. Rights, I may have used 'moment' loosely and just snuck in a summary of the stories. But, the point is, each of the story shows some struggle, and will end with some change in the main characters' lives: behaviourally, they are miniscule, almost insignificant for others around them; but for us viewers, who have shared parts of their journey and peeked into their struggles, we get to appreciate the big mental steps forward they have taken.

Finally, a tad more about it as a work of animation to justify the rating. If you see the cast, there's no way the voice acting wouldn't be great. Granted, the music and art are not awe-inspiring, but, very fitting for the slice of life genre.

All in all, a nice short movie to watch.

Okay .. This movie was really disappointing.

1st story: I'm not a big fan of Yuri, so I found the story really dull. I take that back .. There was no story present! It had potential, but they rushed it and just kept the dull parts and some bed scenes.

2nd story: Wow .. The story that I looked forward to the most was the most disappointing one. A boy confesses his feelings to his closeted teacher and that's it. The story goes nowhere. Whyyy?

3rd story: Super uncomfortable to watch. A girl and a boy who are still kids thinking and talking about s*x and the parents ... are oblivious throughout the whole story. Why did they even bother putting them in the story? The p star cousin was talking to the boy about sexual things at the dinner table and the dad was smiling and enjoying his meal like he was hearing nothing wrong. I'm not even going to talk about the rushed unsatisfying ending.

I liked the simple art & animation though.

When I first heard about this series I was admittedly very excited. I saw this had a lesbian couple and wanting some representation, I was hoping that this movie would be able to handle it well unlike citrus or other things on that wavelength. As you can see, that has not happened.

Story - 1/10

A lot of this short film felt like a retelling of scum's wish.

So if you like that anime, you may like this one. There are a lot of similar plotlines in both, with different iterations. For example, possible incest is present in both, teachers, and just horribly done yuri.

Things just don't seem ... to wrap up nicely too. It makes you feel extremely unsatisfied and wondering if there is going to be more.

It also just felt so slow. 55 minutes feelings like such a long time at the pace this movie was going. This movie also had an issue with repeating jokes and lines, and it feels like we were going in circles. This is especially present in the third story following this guy and his girlfriend go through the struggles of being in love when the guy is attracted to his cousin who does porn.

It feels like such a cheap way to add tension and make jokes, especially considering the length of the time frame the issue occurs for.


Art/Sound - 4/10

They were both okay.

Not great, not even that good, but they were fine. The art was cute, but that was it. It isn't spectacular, and the colours were a bit drab at times, but it was alright.

The sound was also fine. The opening and ending were both fine to good, depending on what you favour in music. It was also quiet for a lot of the times, not a lot of noise or sound, it felt extremely empty. When background music was used some of them felt very off and some of the tracks just ended unexpectedly, bringing you out of the illusion.

There is also a scene where there is someone using the restroom, and the sound just does not fit. It sounds like there's rain pouring, but it occurs in a locked room and there's no sign of downpour.

Characters - 1/10

The characters are so very bland. Since this is a collection of short stories there are a lot of them. I completely understand not being able to develop characters in the span of about 15-20 minutes each, but they just made them so unlikable. For example, story one, the two main leads have zero chemistry. The only thing distinct about each of them is how they look, they're both in love with their ex and they both are sexually active, that's it. Even by the end of the ~15 minutes, their only real interactions are just to talk about their ex and have sex.

Enjoyment - 1/10

The feeling of checking when this movie would end was there with me the whole time. I kept checking the bar just to see how much time was left. It was boring, plain and simple. 55 minutes felt like 90, and it just dragged on and yet, It left me feeling so unsatisfied.

The endings to these stories felt like a massive cockblock and some of these lines just made me so confused, that I had to pause and think, "They really want to keep this in? Alright."

Overall - 1/10

All in all, this movie is just so boring and so mindlessly unentertaining. Stories go nowhere, and progression is just clunky. They could have made these into three separate stories spanning a few more episodes so development could occur, but they decided to just mash them all together ultimately, leaving the viewer confused as to why it existed in this form in the first place.