Ano Yama ni Noborou yo

So...I randomly stumbled upon this anime and thought it looked cute. It's apparently one of many short anime created by Toei and another company called Shinano Art and Culture Consultant, to promote children's books written by one Daisaku Ikeda. Ikeda is a famous philosopher and nuclear disarmament advocate who wrote a lot of books campaigning for peace. The Rainbow Mountain is one of those short anime based on one of his children's books. But...I'm not gonna lie, having seen this, Rainbow Mountain is just...bad. The story is about a bunch of five-year-old kids who learn about a magic mountain that makes rainbows, and they find ... it and try to climb to the top to see if it can make a new rainbow while facing various adversaries along the way. That's it.

The animation is fine, as Toei usually does decent work on their anime, and the character designs remind me a bit of Ojamajo Doremi. But that show had far more depth and nuance to it than this...schmaltzy piece of fluff. The soundtrack is overly saccharine, repetitive, and sounds like it came right out of a cheesy Christian film aimed at kids. But those are the least of this short anime's problems. All of it comes down to the story, and...it's pretty much overly fluffy, saccharine children's fare, and it makes no attempt to even try to make sense whatsoever. For one, the movie's plot is utterly flimsy. A bunch of five-year-olds are somehow able to climb a tall mountain, and said mountain doesn't require them to use any climbing equipment. Oh, and they meet a fairy and a bunch of sentient rocks that try to make them turn back, with said fairy making it so that anything they need on their journey, they can just draw whatever they need and it'll magically come to life! Plus, any danger they face does little to create any tension nor stakes, as anyone above the age of six will know the trio will find a way through it via believing in themselves.

But surely the characters are interesting, right? Nah. The kids are just a bunch of kiddy archetypes: The adventurous boy, the girly girl, and the happy-go-lucky prankster. That's it. They're all as bland as wheat toast and devoid of anything that really makes them stand out, little more than cutesy-wootsy goody two-shoes kids that adults drew up thinking actual children will watch and relate to them. It doesn't help that their dialogue is also equally saccharine, with them constantly spouting and preaching about friendship and courage and never giving up and strength in your heart like crazy. The English dub, which was the only language I managed to find this in, really didn't help, as the voice actors were made to give forced, cheesy performances that sound like they came straight out of a bad eighties cartoon! Seriously, I've heard these actors give far better performances in other shows. Also, if I have to hear their mantra "Up the mountain let's go up! Onward, forward, to the top!" one more time, I'm going to explode, and the movie REALLY loves to have the characters say it over, and over, and OVER! It wasn't cute the first time they said it, and it never will be!

In all honesty, Rainbow Mountain just feels like one of those direct-to-DVD specials that you slap on the TV to babysit your toddler for half an hour. And no, it being a kids movie does not give it an excuse to be this overly preachy, saccharine, and patronizing. I can understand wanting to have kids learn good morals about friendship and courage, but this is not the way to do it. The whole movie just feels like brightly colored junk food that'll put you in a diabetic coma. It's not as bad as, say, My Little Pony: Newborn Cuties or anything, but seriously, don't waste your time on Rainbow Mountain. Kids deserve better than frothy pieces of cotton candy like Rainbow Mountain.