Ihatov Gensou: Kenji no Haru

How do you make a fitting tribute to a great person? Well, this is how. It's EXACTLY how it needed to be in this case: poetic and extremely heartfelt.

Spring and Chaos is a short parable on Kenji Miyazawa's life as an adult, directed by Shoji Kawamori of Macross and Escaflowne fame. Of course, one cannot expect a comprehensive account in less than an hour's time—thankfully, this movie doesn't attempt that. Colorful and deliberately surreal, it instead relays the atmosphere of Miyazawa's works and the circumstances of their creation, the physical and emotional turmoil he was going through in his short life, and his unique and vivid vision of the world around him, doing so in short and poignant glimpses that tell us exactly as much as we need to know to understand what this person is about. Surrounded by all kinds of misfortune, sadness, and misunderstanding, Miyazawa's noble soul shone through in his unrelenting dedication to comprehend the world and enrich the lives of others back when almost nobody—including most of his family members—could realize the extent of his talent, motivation, and self-sacrifice.

The movie quite fittingly gives us a good taste of Miyazawa's writing and worldview by presenting his life as a visual poem—and does so by capturing the very essence of poetry in all of its splendor without focusing too much on worldly details; in a sense, taking an approach almost exactly inverse of the over-represented slice-of-life genre. Call it an "essence of life": the genre where you say a little to tell a lot. And yes, in its relatively short runtime it tells quite enough to overwhelm. Just like good poetry should.

Many of you know how it feels to rewatch something you first saw many years ago. More often than not you fail to recapture that first-time experience. But Spring and Chaos is one of those very rare pieces of art that doesn't only stand the test of time—it also actually becomes better on a subsequent watch. I was about 20 when I saw it the first time, and, while it certainly did seem inspired and engaging the first time around, I couldn't say I was moved very much. I have, however, rewatched it multiple times since, and by the time I hit 30 it managed to completely floor me. Almost every scene, especially in the second half of the movie, is so unbelievably powerful despite its subtlety, it can move you to tears without ever becoming a forced tear-jerker. This is especially prominent considering the movie has very little actual dialogue and relies predominantly on visual storytelling. All in all a mark of an outstanding work that transcends its medium and succeeds at its ultimate task: to introduce the viewer to the marvelous world of Kenji Miyazawa. The lamp is lost, its light forever preserved. Sleep well, Kenji-san.

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I came across this movie whilst searching around and I needed something to watch so I thought I'd give it a try. It's not very long, barely and hour but for such a short movie that would seem to be a child's animation, I was very impressed. I of course watched the dubbed version - it wouldn't have mattered to me - and though the voice acting was a bit shaky, it didn't take away from the actual story. I was very impressed by it's mix of CGI renders and animation, the effects taken on during one scenes left me speechless.

This movie really isn't for everyone, the whole idea of the story is somewhat vague if you try to really understand it. But, in no less does that take away from the whole experience. I truly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a Miyazaki film or a Otomo film.

I do say though with heart, the main character, Kenji, left me to wonder a lot of things about life and its surroundings. This movie can teach you something.

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A truly unique and enjoyable anime.It tells the story of rich businessman son: Kenji Miyazawa who tries to find deeper meaning to life and his place among society. As the son of a rich businessman it would be easy to undertake the role of the family business and live in relative comfort and splendor.But kenji yearns for adventure and so tries his hand at different jobs to see if he can find any answers to life.

The main character Kenji Miyazawa is a bit of an oddball,his idealistic view of life and carefree attitude is a point of contention between him and his father and a source of amusement among children.He's immature while at the same time convincing in his lead role.

I really like the animation,the drawing was done with great detail,the like of which is rarely seen among today CGI animation.

Overall not an anime everyone will be able to appreciate but i found it enjoyable non the less.

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