Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka?

So this is the first romance movie from my collection I'll make a review. I remember when I watched this film way back 5 years ago in my local cinemas. When I first watched it, it was so confusing. But rewatching this again wasn't any time-wasting and I gained many realizations and deep knowledge about this film.

Fireworks is a supernatural drama, romance anime film released in 2017 and it was based on the live-action movie of the same name way back in the 1990s. Many audiences rated it low and said this is confusing to watch, but yep. This was confusing to watch like the ... plot is all over the place. It's like a big jigsaw puzzle. But if you see it from a different aspect or angle, and if you can combine all of the pieces, you might fully understand the meaning of the film and its message. After watching this film for the nth time, I will carefully analyze the aspects of the film to understand what the heck happened. So you'll not get confused.

So the story was set during a summer break, when two middle school boys fall in love with the same girl, as the fireworks show in their place will come. And Norimichi, the main protagonist was lost in some swimming competition and so he didn't get the chance to be with Nazuna as her date for the fireworks show. But one day, he found a mysterious marble I would like to call, "IF". He used it to travel back in time, and change the reality from different conflicts, just to be with Nazuna. Norimichi and his friends will go to a fireworks show, while Nazuna ran away from her home, because of her problematic family. Her mother remarried again another man, and they had a plan to leave their place. Another sub-plot from the film was Norimichi's group of friends, who had many arguments about the shape of the fireworks. It's round? or flat?

The film has And this involves Norimichi and Nazuna, as well as the mysterious power of IF. It had a series of different realities and a series of "What ifs".

Reality #1 - "If I won that race..."
This part is when Norimichi loses the swimming race and Nazuna chose Yuusuke to be her date. But sometimes, Yuusuke didn't want to go and admitted he wasn't in love with Nazuna, after all. This moment surprised Norimichi, as he got a chance to be Nazuna's date at the fireworks show. After that, he suddenly saw Nazuna wearing kimono, carrying luggage. She revealed to Norimichi her plan to leave the town. Nazuna had an "affection" for Norimichi because she wanted him to win that race. And after that time, Nazuna's mother was caught but he didn't get to save her. In frustration, he threw IF and wished if he had won that race, and suddenly the time stopped and went back.

Reality #2 - "If I board the train with her..."
So this is the part where the story gets interesting. The time resets for all of them but the marble granted his wish to win the race. He had finally got the chance to be with Nazuna but this time, things got different and weird. Remember when I said in the first reality Yuusuke didn't have feelings for Nazuna, this time Yuusuke was dead serious in confessing to Nazuna. Norimichi didn't want him to find out he wanted to be with Nazuna, so they ran away. At the train station, Nazuna wanted Norimichi to be responsible for all the things that happened between them. But he failed again because Nazuna's mother and her stepdad caught her again. In the fireworks scene, the fireworks were flat. If you're using your common sense, there's no way that flat fireworks exist. Things got very weird for Norimichi, as he realized what happened when he threw IF. I thought things even reset for the caster so I was surprised by this. He made a wish again that he wanted to take responsibility and his chance to be with Nazuna, so they could board the train. Time reset again, while Norimichi retained his knowledge about the power of IF.

Reality #3 - "If only Yuusuke and your mom didn't find us..."
Norimichi used IF again for the second time. They got away with her parents and finally board the train. This part explained a few points, about the kakeochi stuff of Nazuna, and how the heck she got IF in the first place. IF was owned by Nazuna's biological father. The reason how he died wasn't explained so I came up with two possibilities; he was died from the ocean and committed suicide from his problematic family, or he used IF and wished to go to a different reality. I think he left IF to Nazuna for her to inherit. And Norimichi was the catalyst to make all of Nazuna's wishes come true. So how the tables had turned between them. When they saw the fireworks, Norimichi realized that his world was wrong and weird. The fireworks were weird. But Nazuna didn't care about the weird things that happened, as long as she wanted to be with Norimichi. And then suddenly Yuusuke pushed both of them in frustration. Norimichi used again the power of IF for the third time and went back in time.

Reality #4 - The world where Norimichi created
So Norimichi went back in time again but he felt weird about what happened. They noticed their train went on a different path and realized his world wasn't all real. HIs actual reality broke and he made a multiverse where anything was possible, because of his wishes. But even so, he just wanted to be with Nazuna in the end. At the time when some drunk man found IF and launched it because he thought it was a fireworks ball, IF was destroyed and its shards showed to us many different realities or possible routes, in every decision they made. When Yuusuke and Nazuna go on a date, Norimichi and Nazuna went to different places, and when Norimichi and Nazuna kiss. And after that, many kinds of fireworks were exploded in the air. This scene is beautiful, especially the underwater scene. There's a part there when Nazuna said to Norimichi that if they could see each other again, what kind of world would that be. That was pretty confusing but my theory is Nazuna made her wish to IF that no matter what the world would be, her feelings for Norimichi will never fades and she will look forward to their encounter.

I had three possible endings for those who didn't understand it. The first one is when the IF exploded, things went back to the way it was, even Nazuna. But Norimichi was trapped in the different world he created because he created different timelines. The second one is that all of the timelines were combined and went back to the original, but Nazuna and Norimichi still ran away. The third one is that all things went back to the original. Nazuna moved to a different place but Norimichi followed her. That's why in the ending scene, he didn't attend school.

But if you read the manga, Nazuna transferred to a different school so that's why her name wasn't on the class list, and Norimichi wasn't there because he followed her.

So the message of the film was that life is like a firework. It's surprising and beautiful, but it could end in an instant so you must cherish the moment. If you will apply it to the story of the film, Norimichi's wishes didn't all come true. Because even if he could turn the world upside-down, his fate of separating from Nazuna is inevitable. I'm sure you noticed it because he did many attempts, just to be with Nazuna, even though he wanted to stay in a different reality. That's why the drunken man said that IF looked like a fireworks ball. Because no matter how Norimichi wishes to be with Nazuna all the time, he couldn't escape the actual reality that Nazuna will move to a different place.

As for the romance, it's one-sided and it's not a romance. It's more of a supernatural drama. But the chemistry between the two characters was good so I'll let this one slide,

The animation and the music were a big thumbs up. As expected from Akiyuki Shinbou, he never fails to amaze me with his art style and design. The scenes, the backgrounds, and even the expression of characters were fully detailed. Especially the fireworks scene at night, it's so darn beautiful. I had some problems with Nazuna's character design because she looked like Senjougahara from the Monogatari series. I know they were from the same studio but it could be better. The CGI from the bike scene was like a joke and it should be lessened. As for the music, damn I loved the music. It suited every scene and I like how they did a variation of the "IF" theme. Overall tracks were so glorious, including Fireworks and Forever Friends by DAOKO.

The characters were pretty nice. They were a bit childish but as expected because they were middle schoolers. They had some development but still, it could be better. It is based on an old movie after all.

Overall, this film felt underrated to me, especially to those who didn't understand what the heck happened. Even though I rewatched this for the nth time, it never fails me to enjoy this and feel nostalgia for it. I know that potential viewers will be confused and hate this at first, but I hope you will understand the message of this film. Despite its inconsistencies in terms of character writing and storyline, I enjoyed this film, and still one of my favorites. But I wish, it could be better.

Story: 7.5/10
Animation and Music: 10/10
Characters: 7.5/10
Enjoyment: 8.5/10
Romance Factor: 8/10

I watched this film after it spent an unholy amount of time being shelved on a watchlist, slowly gathering dust over the years. The primary reason behind such a long delay was due to my high expectations for it, due to the phenomenal 1995 film on which this one is based, the involvement of Shaft, and the music and OST that I had previously heard.

Needless to say, that backfired tremendously and the fact that I was a major fan of the 1995 film meant the plot failure for this adaptation only highlighted how it fared against the original. If this were an independent or original ... film, I would have certainly rated it a 7 (or a 7.5 at best), but a 6 seems to fit it best due to the injustice it does, compared to other great animated adaptations.

Overall, go into it with a fresh mind, and you shall not be disappointed.

The year was 2021 and I was in the early stages of getting back into anime. One of the things I really enjoyed doing at the start was watching AMVs, usually of Shinkai films like “Your Name” or “Weathering with You” with the theme song playing. During this time I came across this awesome song & music video by DAOKO and Kenshi Yonezu titled “Fireworks”. It was an instant favorite of mine and I’ve listened to it again and again over the years. I knew the AMV was about a movie, but it seemed that the general consensus online was that the film was disappointing ... so I held off on seeing it. Well yesterday (17 April 2023) curiosity killed the cat and I finally watched the full film. Is it worth it?

Short answer no. Hell no. “Fireworks” also known as “Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?” is not only one of the most disappointing anime films I’ve seen, it’s also one that’s downright bad. There very few if any redeemable features of the film, and it fails in far too many aspects of cinema.

The plot for the film goes something along the lines of a school romance with a fantasy element. The girl, Nazuna, is told by her family that they are going to be moving soon from their small town home, and she is extremely upset by this. The protagonist of the film and her highschool classmate, Norimichi, uses this orb-thingy he found (a la "The Girl who leapt through time") to try to go back in time to reverse this change, so that he and Nazuna can run away together.

There are several issues with the story, for example why does Nazuna want to runaway if she’s so upset by her family moving away in the first place? It’s said that she’s distraught she’s leaving her friends and boyfriend, but never once in the film is she ever shown socializing with anyone, and the few interactions with Norimichi are all brief and awkward, its implied that they don’t even know each other that well in the beginning, she doesn’t even acknowledge him the first time she walks into school. Also how did Norimichi know how to travel back in time? What do they hope to accomplish by running away? There’s one especially stupid scene where Nazuna out of the blue tells Norimichi while waiting for the train that she’ll give up on her dreams of being a singer and instead will work as a bar tender or prostitute in Tokyo. Why exactly? Isn’t the whole purpose of them running away so that they can be free?

Even for the generic summer anime romances, the characters of “Fireworks” are extremely bland and dislikable. Norimichi, the supposed protagonist, spends most of his time whining and moaning. His only defining characteristic is that he likes Nazuna. Nazuna is equally boring, a sassy tsundere who’s never given a reason for being anti-social and whom all the guys at the school like, despite ironically having the smallest assets out of all the female cast. Also her character design is a pretty clear rip-off of Senjougahara from “Bakemonogatari”. The supporting characters are even worse, Norimichi’s school friends spend their onscreen time doing two things 1.) gawking and commenting on the breasts of the female caste, especially of their teacher 2.) debating over the pedantic argument of whether fireworks are flat & round or spherical, from which the film gets its full title. None of the characters ever really develop, and there is never any reason why we should care about them.

The pacing of the film is all over the place, especially in the beginning it just jumps from one scene to the next with very little purpose or transition, giving the whole thing a very disjointed feel. The animation and music are decent I guess, I’ll just say the most visually impressive scenes are in the music video, and the theme song by DAOKO, while great, is only played during the end credits. The camera angles, head tilts, and character designs were similar to some of the other anime by Shaft (the studio) like Bakemonogatari. Overall the production for the film is decent but nothing overly noteworthy.

I won’t comment too much on the ending for the sake of spoilers, I’ll just say it’s disappointing and kind of dumb. I get why the story ends in this open-ended and vague manner, but it’s just as bland as what preceded it. If you were expecting something emotional cap off, like how films of this genre usually end such as in “Your Name” or “A Silent Voice”, well prepare to be even more frustrated that you already were.

In conclusion “Fireworks” is a disjointed, bad, and mediocre film that is not worth your time at all. The few good scenes and song are already in the music video, so stick to that. If you’re a fan of the whole high school kid’s romance time travel thing, “The Girl who leapt through time” is basically the same story which at least was done somewhat competently. “Fireworks” as a film is just a poorly mixed bag of tropes and clichés, there are significant amount of people out there who praise it for its “What if” story structure, and power to them for enjoying this, but personally I’d strongly recommend you skip it.