Hotarubi no Mori e

Hotarubi no Mori e is a relatively short movie that attempts to portray the developing relationship between a young girl and a spirit who stumbles upon said young girl in a forest.

Unfortunately, the movie suffers greatly from being as short as it is.

With that said, the movie does have some appeal to it.

First of all the artstyle of the movie is good. By no means will it blow your mind, but it is definitely drawn with care to it and it is detailed. There is no particular scene in the entire movie I can strike down upon and say "The animation faltered there".

Secondly, the music ... of the show brings about a decent atmosphere while you are watching, swinging from very calm and relaxing to more solemn and lonely tunes. It fits the movie and never goes beyond the limits of the different scenes. That being said, it is not a soundtrack you will immediately recognize upon re-listening to a couple of months later.

Where the movie begins to falter is in its story and in its characters. The story itself is rather basic and not at all unheard of. The main premise of the relationship between the two characters is established fast and leads the viewer to quite easily being able to predict an outcome of the story.

The characters are not dislikeable, but they are definitely not anything beyond the ordinary.

Not only that, but because such a long period of time of the main character's life passes over the course of ~40 minutes, it became hard for me to immerse myself with the character and her emotions, making the movie feel a bit dull, for the lack of a better word. Her emotions are understandable to me, but I completely failed to relate and the movie in its entirety didn't really invoke anything emotional for me.

My last big gripe with the movie was the inclusion of the supernatural. It felt very forced. What I mean by this, is that this same story could quite easily have been told without the inclusion of the supernatural. We are introduced to several supernatural beings during the movie, but nothing about them is ever really explained. To me it felt like a boring cop-out in order to add drama to the relationship of the two main characters (Making one of them a supernatural being).

Overall, the movie is not bad and I feel like if it had been longer, with more time to explain the world of the two characters, it could have actually been great. However, for me it was nothing to write home about.

This movie... I don't know. When I read reviews on this anime, I don't understand. Did I miss something ? I don't think so. I found the story too short : to me, it was impossible to deal with this subject in 40 minutes.

The story is about a girl lost in the forest that meet a forest spirit. The spirit, called Gin, looks like a normal human, except the fact that he's wearing a mask and can't touch humans. This plot could be interesting but he explains too quickly what happened to him... and he never talked about it again.
There is a lot ... of timeskips, and it shows ( I'd rather say : it TRIES to show) how Hotaru's mind evolves over time. When she decides that she wants to stay forever with Gin, it's a matter of second. I feel like the plot was set up during the first 30 minutes and the real story started only at... hum, 25th minute ?
I would like to explain more but I don't want to be redundant so I'll just tell it clearly: it is TOO SHORT. Everything is too short and that let me very frustrated. 6.

The art and sound are simple but fair. I mean that it is not bad, but not that good : You listen to the music in background (I mean that you don't really notice it), it doesn't stay in your mind. You can appreciate the art, but I don't think i'll remember the characters tomorrow. 7 for art and 6 for sound.

Oh, yes, characters. Really, they are ordinary and almost boring.
We know nothing about them (wow, she is a little girl that come to see her grandfather every holiday, wow, he is a spirit. End.) and they are not developed. 5.

In the end, it is not a bad movie, but I didn't feel anything. I was just wondering when the interesting / appealing part would come - it didn't. I think it needed one more hour to develop the story and the characters.
I didn't enjoy the film so I give a 5 for enjoyment.

The Light of a Firefly Forest is a very simple anime, which isn't necessarily a bad thing in all circumstances, but in my opinion it does this anime a disservice. It's very bare bones from top to bottom. There are very few characters, very little development of said characters, very few plot points and very little to take away from it after your viewing is over. Perhaps comparing against Shinkai- a man genuinely in the conversation of the best to ever do it- is not the fairest of comparisons, but when I look at movies of a similar length, such as The Garden of Words, ... or even of significantly shorter length such as Voices of a Distant Star, and then I compare the amount of plot and emotional impact between those and this it makes it quite clear there really is no comparison.

The one core rule of the film- our main human character must never ever touch our main spirit character or he will disappear forever- is clearly established and repeatedly reinforced quite early on in the film, so it was very irksome to me that the characters took no precautionary measures whatsoever to prevent accidents and regularly walked extremely closely to one another and were one bad step away from accidental contact. It felt like neither character was particularly concerned about the enormous, irreversible consequences of a single accident.

The ending of this film felt predictable, anticlimactic and abrupt. I can't imagine most viewers would be wowed or find it overly satisfying, nor can I imagine a viewer fighting off tears or feeling truly emotionally impacted in any lasting or meaningful way.

For being over a decade old this movie is pretty, but anime that look good to various extents are more and more commonplace these days and it's nowhere near enough, as with every other part of this, to make it remotely memorable long term.

Ultimately I don't actively recommend AGAINST watching it- it's short, simple and inoffensive and you haven't "wasted" a great chunk of your time if you choose to give this a go- but it's super super skippable and forgettable if you choose not to watch it, and for that reason I find it very difficult to recommend.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 6 to GENEROUS 7 for the right viewer
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 6-6.5

Wow this movie is the biggest letdown for an animated movie thus far. I don't remember how I came across this anime on MAL, but after seeing the 10/10 reviews and everyone calling it a masterpiece and everyone saying how it was the most beautiful piece of art and how they shed beautiful manly tears I decided I had to watch it. I don't regret seeing it but boy... was I let down.


Everything in this movie seemed so mediocre... The story went by so slow and then I realized this was only a 40 minute film. What does this translate to? No real character ... development, no real complex plot, everything was just super simple. And maybe that's what people liked about it. But to me it was just a simple love story with a slight twist. The story had potential but it was quickly lost in the end. There's so much build up to this ending that just feels underwhelming.


I liked many cute anime's that I've watched over the years. I've even enjoyed many G rated films and find them highly enjoyable. But this was over before I could know it. No emotion felt throughout the whole film. The art and sound was just meh. Characters... well there's basically 2 characters and they don't get developed at all. You learn almost nothing about them other than the very basics and that makes it hard to connect to them.


Overall: 6/10


If this movie was perhaps 2 hours long with more development and more plot then this would work better. But as it stands it's just a mediocre film with some cute elements which make people instantly fall in love with it. But I mean it when I say I felt absolutely nothing during this film. I will show this to my little sister most likely. For everyone else- I only recommend it if you absolutely have nothing to do and have 40 minutes to spare. Don't buy into the 10/10 reviews though. This is far from a masterpiece.

I decided to watch this movie because of it's high point and it's short amount of time. I thought if they could get this much of a rank with only 45 mins, it must be really awesome.

Well yeah, I can't say it's bad, it's worth watching; but it's not one of those shows&movies "you'll miss so much from your life if you don't watch this". It's just a tool to escape the boredom of daily life for a short time.

As for the story, it's just so plain and predictable. It wasn't even a drama for me, I knew totally what was going to happen ... and didn't see the need of a tearshed. Though dramas are usually like this, because they are "drama", you know there'll be a bad thing, but I predicted the exact same thing happening and it was just no fun watching that scene afterwards.
But the main idea is actually pretty good and there could be a much more enjoyable movie if the time was a little longer. (Even if there are some needless scenes in a 45min movie.)
And there is also some nice messages about love and life, like in nearly all this kind of anime or movies.

As for the characters,... MASK. Actually I saw the masked guy and: "Oooohh this guy is the one from that fanart!" *adds to plan to watch*
The girl is not significant at all.
For the character development, they just go on living as one of them age and the other does not. So what happens? Love happens. Because at one time they got to be in the same age and "Oh he's my age now."

I expected this movie to be great by my trust to MAL but it just didn't impress me as I thought it would So I watched to the end just to make it appear in my completed list. That's why I couldn't give a "good", but "fine" suits well for me.

Recently I had a chance to see Hotarubi no Mori e - a Japanese animation from studio Brains Base released in 2011. It’s an adaptation of manga by Midorikawa Yuki with the same title. “The Light of a Firefly Forest” is a drama - romance movie however it also possesses some supernatural traits. Generic as it seems but they managed to pull it off without it being needlessly boring.

The story is really easy to follow as it basically revolves around two people. Girl named Hotaru and mysterious teenager boy named Gin. They meet when small Hotaru loses her way ... in an enchanted forest. That’s where she meets a boy disguised behind a mask. They start to hang out and grow accustomed to each other. However there are some obstacles they must face. The boy is actually a spirit of the forest meaning that he can’t leave it, moreover he is prohibited from touching any human and can’t grow old. Most of the time we see them chatting, walking or playing with each other. As time passes by Gin becomes more and more open and considerate for Hotaru. The girl also slowly becomes older to the point when she realizes she’s fallen in love.

The movie does a decent job as for generic romance story but it manages to stand out with unusual setting and original character of the mysterious forest guardian. However you can’t shake off the feeling that you already seen it somewhere. It doesn’t really have any kind of well-built story, it’s just main characters hanging out. Of course they get to know each other and their past is revealed but that’s it. Character development is easy to predict, and you basically know what will happen later so why to bother watching it at all?

That’s when you start noticing beautiful visuals and amount of hard work put into this piece of work. The trees, grass, sky, water – all beautifully drawn, seem like they are about to burst out of your screen and make your room a miniature enchanted forest. The immersion is also magnified by gentle soundtrack coming out of your speakers. The music is pretty nice but nothing really stands out and I take it as a nice addition.

Looking at the big picture Hotarubi no Mori e is rather an ordinary drama with simple story but it’s splendidly disguised by the visuals, soundtrack and original characters. Moreover it doesn’t get boring because it’s not that long and interaction between the hero and heroine is enjoyable and brings a smile to your face. It’s great for when you have some spare time at night and want to watch something calming, heart-warming and maybe shed a tear or two but overall don’t expect anything out of ordinary.

*Spoiler Warning, It's hard to get your point across without a few mentions of what happened*

So with this only being 45 minutes, I thought it was more fair to go into this show as it was a OVA instead of a movie. In example if you were to watch Pale Cocoon. That is even shorter. It's 23 minutes. So on time wise it would be more like Koe de Oshigoto! The Animation which is 60 minutes.

I really liked Pale Cocoon though. It was very intriguing setting but I could help but to think what this could of been if it was a full series ... and I was only able to give it a 7 out of 10. So that is where we transition into talking about the topic in hand. Is 45 minutes enough to constitute breaking the barriers that Pale Cocoon couldn't?

I think a lot of that is going to have to be through it's presentation. We see Hotaru growing in age throughout the 45 minutes. Giving us glimpses of how she changes. That seemed to fulfill the character progression part.

There is two main points in the story line
Gin can never be touched and that Hotaru eventually will be older than Gin as the years continue to progress.

When watching I couldn't help but to think of Gin as an imaginary friend. I am the oldest child in my family and had a imaginary friend until the age of 9. I eventually was able to fill that void when I finally had another sibling. But Hotaru continues on because Gin is actually real but we as the viewer only have that as a connection to the situation.

By this time we have also eclipse the time of Pale Cocoon.
We are able to have one more factor into the story that is love.
This new factor is able to utilize the both of the beginning factors.

But...sadly they didn't go down the right path of human temptation.
Being so short, having an outside factor being the reason of Gin's demise irked me.
Then my desire for this to be a full movie was there too. This happened when the other spirits were talking to Hotaru after. It would of been nice if we had Hotaru not only befriending Gin but the other spirits as well. So that we would have a better connection to the love the spirits had with Gin but it is left more of just a side condiment. A little dash of pepper.

So in conclusion, I think the time was not the issue here.
I think you can give a stand alone a 8 or 9 with only being 45 minutes but because of that 45 it has to be centralized. The conclusion needed to be more of a direct correlation between Hotaru and Gin instead of a outside influence. That made the ending feel rushed and made you feel more thinking of what could of been.

So my score on the show is going to be a 6/10. It is average.
It gets lower than Pale Cocoon because I have disappointment with the ending.
There was no disappointment with Pale Cocoon.

i had high expectations for this movie but i was a bit disappointed and Shocked at the high ratings.
this is easily one of most overrated movies in animation history, I will try to explain why and keep it short and sweet.

the story is about a little girl who got lost in a spiritual forest then she met this masked dude, after he saved her he told her not to touch ever or else he will disappear.

the movie is actually not that bad however it was too short with a big story and the way they present the storyline was ... just bland, it didn't grab my attention – and my imagination in anyways, it lacks both thrilling and suspenseful elements, it was so obvious, if she touches him will be gone and there is nothing she can do about it!
She keeps meeting that masked dude on every summer and all they do is just play and walk and that’s pretty much Hotarubi no Mori e.

STORY: interesting, but nothing is developed- 4/10

CHARACTERS: your typical couple.. nothing more- 2/10

ART AND SOUND: pretty impressive visuals and soundtracks- 9/10

OVERALL: its not that bad, if you want a quick emotional hit you can watch it - 5/10

Let me play devils advocate for a moment here (although my opinions are genuine). Hotarubi no Mori e, or The Light of a Firefly Forest, is one of those rare anime which left me with next to no impression what-so-ever, and because of this I can't really say much more about it. Feel free to stop reading now if you wanted my general opinion, but read ahead if you want my full review.

On the technical side of it, kinda mediocre. The setting detail and character designs were well done although were completely forgettable, which is a shame. They had a magical forest, full of spirits ... and wonder and so on, but did little with the setting outside of the final scene. If I'm being entirely honest, the music kinda bugged me, feeling almost out of place at times, and in general not very pleasant.

Without exaggerating, it bored the hell out of me, and while I'm certainly not the kind of person who needs an anime to be fast paced or action packed to enjoy it, nothing kept me interested. The premise, while certainly not bad, really wasn't anything new or exciting: small child meets spirit's in a magical wood, forms relationships with said spirits, and continues on from there. But it didn't do much with it, the fantasy itself was for the most part uninspired and felt almost unimportant. Although to be fair, it is trying to be a character drama first and foremost.
The character and romance aspect of it however, which made up most of the anime mind you, was fairly lackluster. It clearly tried to get me emotionally invested in these people although again, they had very little to do and had next to no interesting dialogue. Without spoiling it, when the ending finally came along and it was trying to get me to tear up, I could only respond with an, "Ok then. That happened."
Other short movies such as 5 cm Per Second at least had something to say about love and relationships, but this anime left me with nothing.
I could nitpick minor scenes here and there, claiming that this moment seemed a little contrived and such, but I wont.

Hotaubi no Mori e in summary, was competently crafted but completely forgettable.

Hotarubi no Mori E is a simple story about a girl and a young man in a forest, mixed with spirits. This short film gives off a Natsume-esque vibe, which isn't surprising since it is created by Brains Base who also created the Natsume series. The premise of this film is unique and interesting, however there are some issues with the execution that prevent it from being great.

At first, this film appears to be a story about a developing friendship between the two main characters that is very cute and interesting. Hotaru meets Gin at a young age and they quickly form a bond. Over ... the first half of the film they appear to grow somewhat closer as Hotaru hits her teenage years, while Gin doesn't age. The second half of the film is where the real story begins as it turns out that Gin will disappear if he is touched by a human and the relationship between the two main characters is turning into a romance. It is the transition from the first half to the second half of the film that was not executed well. At no point is it established why Hotaru has fallen in love with Gin instead of just being friends. The same goes for Gin who for the most part seems to enjoy her company, nothing more.

The climax of this film involves the dynamic between Gin and Hotaru as they explore their romance without involving any physical intimacy. This is a very unique way of portraying a relationship that I haven't seen before. Sadly, due to the short duration and the disjointed build up, it is hard to feel the impact of the situation. Instead I was left wondering other things, such as what does Gin do while he is alone and when exactly did he begin to love/be infatuated with Hotaru?

The art and sound for Hotarubi no Mori e are definitely the strongest aspects of the film. The forest and the spirits are drawn wonderfully, capturing both the mystery and beauty of nature. The sound accompanies the art well by providing a relaxing atmosphere. Watching this film is a calm, tranquil experience which occurs in very few anime, such as Mushishi.

Overall, Hotarubi no Mori e is an above average short film. The premise for the story is unique, however the execution may leave you feeling that there should be more. If you're keen on relaxing for a night, this should be a satisfying film.

A basic story with not great animation but quick and somewhat enjoyable to watch.

From the first minutes, you already know how this will unfold and it does so beat for beat. There are no nuances, no surprises. This doesn't mean it's bad, however, just very, very predictable.

Characters are shadows of how people act, but you can kind of like them because sugar will always taste sweet even if it's boring and bland.

The spiritual world is very barren, quickly makeshifted to give a semblance of a story and it's so frustratingly shallow that it just highlights the hollowness of it. The world that isn't spiritual ... (the normal ass countryside japan) is pretty well done and what made me enjoy the anime, accompanied by some good music too. That rural japan atmosphere is achieved, and as I'm a sucker for that, it carried the whole 40 minutes of the movie.

It is a very quick watch. People love it. I didn't, but I don't regret giving it a try at all, becuase you can derive some enjoyment out of it and as you already know what's going to happen, you can relax and take in the atmosphere.

At first hand the movie seemed like it had a lot of potential in terms of storyline/plot. Theres a good little plot revolving around a girl and yokai set at the beginning which seemed promising. However in the end, I was greatly disappointed by the ending. The ending seemed very rushed and abrupt. This sudden ending made it seem like the movie was missing a scene or two that wouldve "completed" the plot. I thought that there would be an epilogue scene to at least wrap up the quick ending but sadly, that time was taken up by five minutes of credits. Overall the movie ... was cute with the character relationship development of the girl and yokai, but the ending was disappointing.

*first review so please take it easy on me :)* SPOILERS
Story - 8
Art - 8
Sound - 6
Character - 8
Enjoyment - 6
Overall - 5

"I miss him, I want to touch him"
That's about as heartfelt it got for me in this anime but considering all of those high ratings this sounds like a pretty decent movie. Right? I wouldn't ever even consider recommending this movie to anyone. So then why?
...
The plot of this movie was intriguing and original, as I've not seen a plot quite like this one. Shortened into a few sentences, Its about how a six-year-old girl, who was with her uncle on summer vacation, was rescued by a human resembling spirit after getting lost exploring a spirit mountain she was told not to visit.What a Rebel. Unfortunately for the spirit, he can't touch any humans because the Spirit God didn't want that or something but that didn't stop her from going. But instead made her more interested in the spirt and she visited to play every day until she had to go back to her hometown. She did that every summer for a solid 10 years straight. Over time she started to develop feelings for him and he started to develop some for her, they go out on a date and then he dies after preventing a kid from falling down after tripping over

Yes. That the whole movie in a nutshell, minus the scarf. honestly, this infuriated me so much
1. Why was there a human kid there in a festival for spirits.... they might as well have branded "Truck-kun" on his forehead to show they couldn't find a better way to kill him off
2. This kind of death reminds me of animes which kill of important people just in order to jerk some kind of emotional reaction from the audience. When the Spirit died I thought it was some kind of joke. It was almost pathetic....
3. Why on earth was it only 45 minutes? It was like it HAD to be. With more time they could have reached a much better build up, more in-depth character development and a better conclusion, The whole movie felt rushed.

Simply said, in my opinion, it was a good story, just poor execution. It's a real pity, this could have been a much better film. It's not a bad watch, just full of disappointment.

A pleasant work focused on portraying the importance of time in the development of a relationship, while putting in perspective the fragility and fleetingness of all lives in them.

Unfortunately, the fatal sin of the work, occurs in its short duration, which leaves all the content presented too superficial to the viewer, thus making all the moving weight lose its pulse and failing to obtain the necessary impetus to deliver the emotional proposal and captivating that the work seeks in its plot / narrative.

Anyway, '' Hotarubi no Mori e '' is a film that proposes a great reflection for our lives, however, it fails to deliver ... enough to what it proposes and ends in an overpriced way, making the entire work Shallow.

~ Português BR~

Uma obra agradável focada em retratar a importância do tempo no desenvolvimento de um relacionamento, ao mesmo tempo que põe em perspectiva a fragilidade e fugacidade de todas as vidas em si.

Infelizmente, o pecado fatal da obra, se dá em seu curto tempo de duração, que deixa todo o conteúdo apresentado superficial demais ao espectador, fazendo assim, todo o peso comovente perder o pulso e não conseguir o ímpeto necessário para entregar a proposta emotiva e cativante que a obra busca em seu enredo/narrativa.

Enfim, ''Hotarubi no Mori e'' é um filme que propõe uma ótima reflexão para as nossas vidas, porem, não consegue entregar o suficiente ao que propõe e termina de maneira apreçada demais, tornando a obra inteira Rasa.

*Nota: 5.3*

~Buninho

Personally, I think this movie is overrated. I personally think that the 40 mins didn't fit the story. The charachters weren't depth properly and fall in love just because. The art is also a "copy and taste" of all modern animes, really poor. Also all the backgrounds were poor of details, the author could do a better work. But it had a lot of potential though. The plot is very good, and it's very different from the other shoujos. Also the music is just amazing.
Ill give it a 5 (mediocre), but remember that it's my own opinion.

I gave a 7 for the plot because ... it's a really good idea, perfect for shoujo animes, but the author didn't develop it properly and, at the end of the movie, I already got tired and it felt sickly sweet.

I gave a 4 fot the art because I don't like that kind of drawings

I gave a 8 for the music because piano felt so nice and the melody wasn't foregone

I gave a 2 for the charachter because they were flat and they, and also their relationship, didn't develop during the story.

I gave a 3 for the enjoyment because all the little things (and also the bigger ones) that I disliked didn't let me appreciate the beautiful story.

Hotarubi no mori e deserves a 5 because it could be much better but, after all, the story is nice and enjoyable.

i watched this movie a few months ago,i was expecting to cry or get really emotional as i watched vids that have this that it was good so i watched it expecting a lot.

damn i was disappointed,the story was way to short and i didnt got attached to anything,the characters except gin is boring and flat,the animation is so bland and basic doesnt complement the ... story at all,the ending was sudden so i didnt feel anything other than getting annoyed by that kid and the girl didnt feel that emotional like she just accepted that gin is now gone.

even tho i find this movie extremely overrated and boring the message of the story is nice and that the only redeemable reason i have for this movie also meruem voiced gin

Honestly, I think this is one of the most overrated movies, and this is why:

Negatives:

There are just too many things. I know this is a pretty short movie, but because of that the movie is bad. Its just lacking so much things it shouldn't be.
The characters are kinda okay, but you dont really get to know them and there is no real connection between the viewer and the characters. They dont really have something to work on, you don't see any of their personality, in fact they could be basically replaced by any random character of the movie (there even are not much character which ... make that even worse).
The Story was something you could've shown in 5 minutes and to fill the whole time of the movie, the story is being pulled out to get as much out of it as possible. The sound was also nothing really special, it helped a little bit with the atmosphere, but was just average if not below the standards.

Positives:
What makes the movie even though there are so many negatives still better than average is the art. The movie got a beautiful design, animation and the way they convey the ideas is made well. And because of that you can enjoy the anime even though it lacks in so many different things

Overall I'd give the movie a rating of 6/10, because there are so many missing things which are very important of making a good movie. I know that this is a shorter movie than normal, but even though they didnt made it as well as could be. The people probably just like it because its a sad story of two loving people who slowly but surely have to drift apart from each other, with a message which isn't quite something special, but people yet tend to think it is.

I apologize for my english, I'm not so good at it since this isn't my native language.

This movie made me cry from start to end. If you love movies like kimi no nawa, u should definitely watch it.

It was a well made story, that you could tell what was going to happen but makes your cry anyways
The art style is lovely, the color scheme is really fitting to the story
Characters feel a little off on somethings but mostly human.

It may seem like the same "impossible love history" for most people, but you can tell that it's not a romantic love, but a lovely friendship built on trust.
If you have some spare time, you could give it a try and 70% not ... regrett it

I grabbed a box of tissues and got comfy in my bed and started this movie. I had heard lots of good comments about this movie and so, I decided to give it a go.

Character: The two main characters, Gin and Hotaru, are not very put into dept. Yes, the movie is only about 40 minutes and of course, within that short amount of time, developing a whole backstory for the two characters would be nearly impossible without having a rushed story. BUT I seriously would've enjoyed the movie(and would have cried) if I knew more about the characters. 4\10

Art: Art is fine. The ... art wasn't my cup of tea but it wasn't something that needs to be critizied. 6\10

Sound: I'm not very observant when it comes to sound so I'm going to keep this one short. The music was fine and the voice acting was fine as well. I don't believe that there were any other sounds that particularly stood out. 7\10

Enjoyment: I did enjoy the movie. I laughed at some parts and was not too bored throughout the movie. 7\10
Story: Hotarubi no Mori e is your normal girl and boy love story, with the added fact that they cannot touch. I'm not very harsh when it comes to story plots. A movie can have a loose or heavy plot and I would enjoy them both, but the reason I abruptly developed a strong dislike for this movie story is because of the ending. Honestly, if the ending had been different, I would've given the rate for story a 8\10 BUT NOPE it's a 5\10 because of the terrible ending.

{(SPOILER IS AHEAD})
THE ENDING. OH MY GOODNESS. As I was watching the movie, I had a few scenarios planned out in my head of how this movie might end. I knew this movie was a tearjerker so I expected something on the level of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso. What I got was a rushed death of Gin.
So the festival scene ended and the two "lovers" were walking, until a boy ran towards them and almost fell. Then of course, by stupid instinct, Gin catches the boy and then he dies. Was it really that hard to add an extra 10 minutes to make the ending a bit more meaningful? Some random boy kills Gin. It just doesn't even fit into the story. I couldn't cry because I wasn't able to comprehend what was even happening until the screen turned black and the credits showed up. I didn't have time to cry.
Let me tell you that I am a very emotional person. I cry easily. Heck, I even cried during Frozen. Twice. But I didn't even drop a tear for this movie. Maybe it was because I had too much of an expectation. Or maybe it was because I had watched Wolf Children right before this and didn't have any more tears left. I don't know.


OVERALL: The movie was good. I think the plot was fine and the way the movie progressed was smooth. All I'm disappointed by was that the movie was too short. I would've liked the characters to have had more time to develope their feelings(because tbh, there was no reason why Gin would've suddenly just like Hotaru). Also, there might've been a different ending if the time duration was longer. I do recommend this movie and I hope that you have a good time watching it(and not get all debatey over the ending). Hope this helped in any way.

I'm gonna be very honest and warning this contains SPOLERS so maybe look out
The story is nice, the characters are nice it's pleasant and you know...nice.
But when you actually sit through it and end up finishing it, the ending is horrible, not only is it the most silly ending ever, but it's predictable in the way you say "oh i bet now he's gonna touch someone in a really random way, that would suck though lmao" and you say that not actually thinking it would happen because if it did then the movie would be ridiculous.
Well, it does happen. And that makes my rating go ... for 8/10 if it was a good ending, to a 6/10 because of that horrible stupid ending. My honest opinion? the writers probably thought "you know i'm sick of every movie always ending up in a happy not and everything goes well, how about we make a completely out of the box ending that is so unpredictable, it will for sure make the whole movie much better" Well folks, it doesn't, it makes it a gillion times worse. And i wouldn't be surprise if the writers came out saying the were actually high when they chose the ending.
This is just my opinion of course if you don't agree that's ok!