Penguin's Memory: Shiawase Monogatari

[SPOILER FREE/SHORT REVIEW]

This is a hidden gem. The fact that only 340 people have got this on their list is quite disappointing. I am currently taking part in the recommendation clubs August/September challenge. I have to watch a show from each year from 1985-2004 in the next two months. I found this browsing the archived seasonal charts and thought, "Hmm, this might just be stupid enough to be enjoyable!".

Let me say, I was wrong. This is not stupid at all! This was such an eyeopener for me! This film looks silly. Bearing in mind my thoughts going into it, the first shot was a ... bunch of penguins lined up in bush firing M16's at other penguins and I laughed so hard I had to pause to take a breather. However, once this action tones down a bit, we are introduces to our main characters. Three best friend penguins, one of which was just wounded. They have a good talk and at this point it all sinks in. This film is serious.

This film focuses less on the combat and much more on character development and what war does to an individual. An individual who has lost things very close to them. An individual who wants to live a quiet life as a librarian, where he can be surrounded by the poetry that motivates him to keep pushing forward through tough times.

This was released in 1985, and I would say that the artwork is average even for its time, though with the exception of the first and third scene, there isn't a lot of heavy animation anyway. It is a very dialogue and character driven story. The music and sound was also pretty average, though I couldn't point to anything I disliked.

A 7/10 is a good score, something I give to anime that I don't want to forget about. It isn't given to a "meh" piece of throwaway entertainment. Its something that I enjoyed immensely.

It is almost sickly sweet but in a good way. It is a very good presentation in tone and mood. Perfectly conveys the emotional states of the characters. Music is high quality and memorable and very melancholy. I cried like a baby through most of the movie. The external conflicts weren't that great or were resolved easily. The internal conflicts were the main draw dealing with war,death, ptsd, survivors guilt, finding peace, and whether to choose love over your dreams. A very good movie to watch when you're in a sad place mentally as it can provide catharsis and optimism. Especially with the people being ... cute penguins, there is a juxtaposition between an almost idealized small town America and the heavy themes. While the movie doesn't delve too much into the hard topics, it leaves the viewer to interpret the main character's struggles with them. Not bad considering it's apparently an ad for Suntori Beer.

Hmmm this was certainly an interesting watch. But the most interesting thing is actually how uninteresting it is. This movie is just a regular movie from the 80’s that happens to use animated penguins instead of actors. No penguin puns or references whatsoever, no flashy animation sequences that would be lost in live action. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t bad it was just absolutely nothing special. The only original thing it has going for it is the novelty that it is penguins. I will go in depth in the body but my final judgement and reccomendation lies in the conclusory paragraph if you wish ... to skip.

Story: 6/10
I feel like I have seen this story at least 3 times before. It is nothing original. One could easily predict almost every single plot developement well before it happens. There are no twists, no new angles on the old clichés. Additionally since it is targeted at a slightly younger audience the violence, love, and tension are sort of dialed down and minimized, making for a rather flat roller coaster ride. This movie is just plain vanilla. This might be partially due to the movies age but then you can’t say it has aged well. Additionally, at least tome, the ending was sort of chintzy as it apppeared pretty melodramatic tho this might be due to a difference in the legal system and societal attitude towards convicts and propriety in the japanese 80’s and modern day America.

Art: 8/10
I personally don’t have much experience with art and animation criticism, and I have taken into account this movies age, so there isnt much to pan it on. It looks nice enough to even pretty good at times. I do have a few complaints tho and that is with the character design. The penguins rarely wear clothes and are for the most part drawn indistinguishably from eachother aside from a few minor details such as an accessory or slight change in head shape. This never becomes an actual issue as far as differentiating characters but the relative lack of diversity, especially among the main characters, makes it sort of boring i liked the unique design of some of the side characters and I wish there was more of that throughout. Another slight issue with the art direction is that the penguins small eyes, beaks, and plump faces did not lend themselves to being very expressive. This often left the voice acting and music to carry the emotionality of the scene once again resulting in a plain/boring product. So overall the art was good but not flawless imo. I can say that it was fun to look at the male penguins and in your head switch between a big eyed perspective and a big forehead perspective.

Sound: 9/10
The music was probably the all around best and most unique part of the show. The insert songs were spectacular. They were catchy and well suited suited to the scenes/ overall plot. The background music was fitting though not super memorable or inspiring but it blended well with the mood of the scenes. The voice acting was probably the weakest part of the sound production it was just so plain and sounded like voice acting rather than sounding like it was the penguins themselves speaking, this might just be a product of the timesbut I can’t help but feel a little disenchanted. So overall average asides from the insert song which might be the one thing that redeems this show from a sentence of deserving to fade in the sands of time.

Characters: 6/10

For most characters the most interesting thing about them is that they are penguins and this is an issue. It once again is probably due to age but most of the characters are boring to one dimensional. They were completely predictable and none were particularly compelling. The doctor was maybe the most interesting character and he had very little screen time. Another anachronism is just how weak/dependent the female characters are. I’m no feminist and I can definitely see merits in the argument but it still slightly put me off how one of the themes is that the female lead should give up her dreams to be a happy housewife instead. Especially since this theme countered the idea of the male lead making a full recovery from his PTSD and living a rich life rather than quitely pittering out. I guess these themes/character developments add a touch of realism to the story but it once again makes it sort of boring. My dinal issue/nonissue with the characters is why are they penguins. It ads nothing meaningful to the piece. In fact i think several arguments could be made that it detracts from the piece as far as relatability as well as the ability to read their emotions and emphasize. In reference to another work I recently finished, it was like a reverse oyasumi punpun. Representing the characters as penguins served to dull them and their emotional output, while punpun’s varying highly juxtaposed physical representation is one of the most lauded literary techniques in manga for how well it let you look inside punpun. So in short I don’t understand the choice of making them penguins. At the same time the fact that they are penguins and the novelty value this commands is pretty much the only reason anyone, including myself watches this movie in the first place so I guess in one way or another it was an overall good choice.

Overall

the movie wasn’t bad. Heck I won’t even forget the fact that I watched it just because the fact that its penguins. But I can’t say I particularly enjoyed it. It is pretty dull. In fact I watched it over the course of 8 or so hours because I kept on getting bored and having better things to do. I almost enjoy watching completely shitty movies because it then at least gives me the satisfaction of being disgusted at them. This movie is just plain and bland. In the end, I can only recommend you watch it for the novelty value/memes or in order to discover the insert songs. Other than that the movie is destined to fade away as the years go by or maintain its small novelty value because it simply doesn’t bring anything of substance to the table to keep it relevant. Thank you if you read this far. I also appreciate any feedback you have, whether your opinion differed on the movie or you have ideas on how I can improve my reviewal method. Thank you