Giovanni no Shima

Giovanni Island is a wonderful, tragic story about the difficult fate of Japanese refugees from the island of Shakotan who are in Soviet occupation after World War 2. I will not record a historical lecture, since it is so interesting, then you can turn to various sources and archives yourself.
The film really touched me, I almost shed tears, it's just impossible to remain calm at the sight of what ordinary residents are going through, who are essentially refugees of the war, they did not deserve such a fate in any way! I don't want to tie someone by nationality, to stereotypes and special ... special treatment, peace, friendship, chewing gum - that's my slogan!
Although it is historical in genre, but in order to evaluate it from this point of view, you need to familiarize yourself, but the most important thing is that this film fulfills its purpose: it teaches us that we are all human beings, have our own dreams, want to create, empathize, generally enjoy life; war is very bad, I think it obviously destroys lives, makes people unhappy and angry, but all conflicts must be overcome, children are hope, really the flowers of this world - only they can save this world, because Russian, Japanese, American, Korean - everyone is capable of both good and evil, everything it depends on the individual qualities of the person himself.

That was a great and a somewhat unique experience, especially in the audio part. While it's certainly noteworthy that real Russian and Korean speakers were used, Russian speech felt a bit artificial and forced to me. It was unnaturally soft, I'd say. While it's definitely OK for voice actors to make their voices suit the movie, it didn't really sit with me well here. Hideo's voice, on the other hand, felt very natural - maybe due to his carefree personality and way of talking. The cultural aspects of Russians were kinda stereotypical - you know, matryoshkas, Katyusha, dances...though on the other hand it's hard to ... expect something else from soldiers and their families. Still, it's a minor complaint.

*SPOILER WARNING*

On another note, I'm doomed to be "spoiled" of every story where one of the characters is named Kampanella since I know what "Night on the Galactic Railroad" is about. Although understanding the references (to the Scorpion, etc) makes some of the scenes more emotional, and even expecting Kanta's death didn't restrain me from feeling extremely sad during his death (which points at the fact that it was executed pretty well). Obvious comparisons can be made to Grave of the Fireflies (where the ending was "spoiled" from the very start too, and the kids even share a similar hairstyle).

As any movie dealing with war in this or that way, this one seems to spark divisive opinions from people. IMO, while it mostly restrained from showing violence *directly*, the antagonists of the story were obvious (even though the director seems to think otherwise) - despite commiting their violence either offscreen (as with Hideo's chase) or "merely" using the threat of it to compel Japanese people to do this or that. Though I feel like some of the moments were left ambiguous (Tanya's supposed betrayal, Hideo telling on Tatsuo, etc) in order to make friendly character interactions more believable (e.g. we're more emotionally drawn to Tanya if we believe that she's innocent, same for Hideo).

The world was drawn very beautifully, while the character designs were left pretty simplistic. It didn't harm the movie though, since there were quite some breathtaking sakuga scenes, usually animated in a distinctly different style.

Another definite strength of the movie is the fact that it's based on a real story as told by a person who actually lived through these events on Shikotan. That doesn't happen very often, and for this I thank the director, and Hiroshi Tokuno for telling his story.

Despite some of my minor complaints above, Giovanni no Shima is still a great watch, especially given the relative scarcity of such detailed movies dealing with war and its consequences like occupation, deportation, forced labor, and so on.

Giovanni’s Island is a film that I had to really grapple with. From the beginning, I was instantly entranced in its setting but, as the film went on, those feelings of awe fell away with the tiresome execution. This film has a lot of problems with characterization, but an unmistakably sublime visual direction. It’s missing the profundity of the novel, Night on the Galactic Railroad, that it consistently creates parallels to!

This review of Joban'ni no Shima (2014) contains spoilers! You have been warned!

—Story/Characters

The story begins with two brothers, Junpei and Kanta, who live on the island of Shikotan, weeks before the end of World War ... II, on August 15, 1945, *Soviet soldiers land on Shikotan and occupy the island. Junpei and Kanta, who live with their grandfather, a fisherman, and their father, the head of the firefighting force of the village, are forced to move to the stables while the Russian commander's family, among them the commander's daughter Tanya, move into the main house. At school, Russian children occupy half the building, and Tanya and the other Russian kids begin to mingle with the Japanese children at recess. After a playground jostle makes Junpei bump into Tanya, they become friends and the two brothers are subsequently invited to Tanya's house for dinner. The brothers' uncle, Hideo, asks Junpei to light signal fires at night so that he can make trips to the main island for rations as they are running low on rice. Meanwhile, their father, Tatsuo, with the help of their school teacher, Sawako, secretly supplies the rest of the village with food supplies from the Dawn Corps' emergency stores. When Hideo finds out about this, he tries to smuggle the food to sell outside the island, but gets caught instead. Tatsuo rushes to the cave where the Dawn Corps' supplies are kept and gets arrested.
*For more information about this event, read about the Kuril Islands dispute. The dispute stemmed from a dispute in which Russia had claimed sovereignty over the Kuril Islands but islands, such as Shikotan were technically not part of the treaty. Therefore, Russian troops forced the islanders off of their land.

On September 25, 1947, the Japanese on the island are made to assemble at the harbor sent back to the mainland. Junpei and Kanta set out with Sawako, while their grandfather chooses to stay behind, determined to spend his last moments on the sea. The three are reunited with Hideo while boarding the ship, and arrive at an internment camp at Maoka, in western Karafuto, a few days later, where they wait for the ship that will take them back to Japan. Hideo finds out that Tatsuo is alive and at another internment camp on the other side of the mountains ‘just a stone's throw away.’ Kanta, taking his words literally, sets out to meet his father, aided by Junpei. Sawako and Hideo track the two down the next day, and to Hideo's surprise, Sawako decides to visit Tatsuo's camp as well. The four of them drive to a pillbox where they spend the night, but in the morning they spot Soviet soldiers who've managed to track them down, and Hideo runs ahead as a decoy while Sawako and the children make their escape.
The trio are able to make their way to the internment camp holding Tatsuo, where they have a tearful farewell, with Tatsuo promising he'll find a way to reunite with them no matter what. However, as they try to return, Kanta suddenly falls extremely ill and they are caught by the camp guards. The warden arranges for the trio to be sent back to the harbor by truck, but Kanta succumbs to his illness en route. Junpei and Sawako reunite with Hideo at the harbor where they line up to board the ship back to Japan. Junpei keeps talking to Kanta about the story of the ‘Night on the Galactic Railroad’ to fool the guards into thinking Kanta is still alive so they won't dispose of his body. As he talks, Junpei has a vision of Kanta's spirit riding a ghostly train up into the stars.

56 years later, Sawako and Junpei return to Shikotan and pay their respects at Tatsuo and Kanta's graves. Junpei's school holds a graduation ceremony for those who never managed to have it, and a blonde girl, Tanya's granddaughter, approaches Junpei at dinner. She hands him a notebook, containing one of Junpei's sketches of Tanya, and Junpei gives her his old copy of ‘Night on the Galactic Railroad’ in return. Junpei is saddened to learn that Tanya had died a year earlier. The Russian hosts then begin to play music and the partygoers, both Russian and Japanese, begin to dance. Tanya's granddaughter invites Junpei to dance with her, and the scene morphs to the spirits of Shikotan's original residents dancing with each other among the stars. The end.

The story of Giovanni’s Island was greatly ruined for me because of my familiarity with Kenji Miyazawa’s Night on the Galactic Railroad. When I found out that Junpei was named after Giovanni and Kanta was named after Campanella, I was like ‘oh no, the younger brother is going to die!’ It’s one of the many cursed names, like Ophelia from Hamlet, where the mere mention of them harkens in a premonition of death.

While the visuals for Joban'ni no Shima were beautiful, I had difficulty feeling an emotional connection to the characters. Especially the relationships with the older characters—Tatsuo, Hideo, and Sawako—felt rushed. I know that the perspective was a telling of Junpei’s recollection from that time, but I feel like there could have been more clues that hinted that (1) Hideo was in love with Sawako and (2) more about Sawako’s relationship with Tatsuo. When they’re at the interment camps in Russia and Hideo begins flirting with Sawako, it came out of left field. Hideo could have mentioned Sawako’s favorite color or a memory that they shared in childhood to anchor the audience in on their familiarity with each other.

Another big discrepancy that I had was the adults complying with the children’s demands to see their father in the prison camp. It led to Kanta’s death and their uncle, Hideo, getting maimed. It is lightly implied that the kids were never going to see their father again because of his detainment in Russia but Tatsuo promised the kids that he would be released. Is it a lie? The film never hints at the truth, and because of it, Kanta dies and Junpei has to carry his little brother’s corpse on a freight ship; all the way to Japan! The whole plot digression just feels like misery fuel that could have easily been avoided.

Joban'ni no Shima was a lovely visual spectacle but the character writing left me feeling empty. I really wanted to like it more than for its historically accurate portrayal of the Kuril Islands, circa 1951, or the stunning sakuga that Production I.G. always manages bring to the table. With how poor and predictable the scripting was, I would have probably rated it a couple of notches lower if the visuals weren’t up to par.
Note: The only two scenes that emotionally moved me was (1) when Tatsuo is taken to a prison camp in Russia and (2) when Tatsuo reaches out and touches his children’s hands through the barbed wire, in the freezing cold winter. I attribute that flood of emotions to Masachika Ichimura’s incredible performance as Tatsuo Senō! This guy is so talented that he was able to make every scene with Mewtwo, in the Pokémon films, emotionally riveting!

—Technical

Mizuho Nishikubo is credited as the chief director for Giovanni’s Island—while more obscure in the western hemisphere, Mr. Nishikubo is a seasoned veteran, responsible for directing: Akai Kōdan Zillion, Bakuen Campus Guardress, California Crisis: Tsuigeki no Jūkai, Otogizōshi, Video Girl Ai, and the 30th anniversary film for Tokyo’s Disney Resort—Yume ga Kanau Basho.
Note: The stylization in Giovanni’s Island is different than Nishikubo’s usual animation style, it resembles Kemonozume and Yojōhan Shinwa Taikei so much that I could have sworn that Yuasa Masaaki had a hand in it… if he did work on key animation and character designs, he’s not credited for it!

The seiyū in this production are atypical. First of all, the voices of the child characters: Junpei and Kanta Senō, are voiced by ACTUAL child actors. This shocked the hell out of me because, while not directly a war story, covers very dark areas of *Russia’s occupation of Japan’s Kuril Islands AFTER World War II—I didn’t expect children to be able to act well in those kinds of scenarios! The rest of the cast is full of well-renowned Japanese actors, a musical theater performer, an enka musician, and a former gravure idol!
*The film conveys a sense of dread when the Russian navy raids an elementary school and holds up the school with military-grade rifles. Another instance of this is when Junpei and Kanta’s father, Tatsuo, is taken to Russia to be held in a labor camp.

Junpei Senō, the adult iteration of the protagonist, is Tatsuya Nakadai. Though Mr. Nakadai hasn’t starred in many anime features, he is a VERY famous actor. He has acted in five Akira Kurosawa films, as well as in some of Japan’s most highly regarded films: Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another, Mikio Naruse’s When a Woman Ascends The Stairs, Kihachi Okamoto’s The Sword of Doom, Hideo Gosha’s Goyōkin, Shirō Toyoda’s Portrait of Hell, Kon Ichikawa’s Enjō, and many other classics! In 2015, Nakadai received the Order of Culture (Bunka-Kunshō) award from the Japanese government. This award is given for contributions to Japan’s art, literature, science, or anything related to its culture. Recipients of the order also receive annuity for life. His notable anime roles include:
• Sumiyaki no Rōjin, Kaguya-hime no Monogatari
• Devil, Kanashimi no Belladonna
• Narrator, Uchū Senkan Yamato: Kanketsu-hen

Hideo, Junpei and Kanta’s uncle, is Yūsuke Santamaria. Mr. Santamaria is an award-winning actor and singer. His noteworthy roles are in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Doppelgänger, Katsuyuki Motohiro’s Negotiator, and Kiyoshi Sasabe’s The Legacy of the Sun.

Sawako, Junpei and Kanta’s homeroom teacher, is Yukie Nakama. Ms. Nakama is a Japanese actress, singer, and former gravure idol. She has dabbled in just about every performative field including—dramas, films, anime, video games, and dubbing for foreign films, such as Jurassic World. Nakama’s noteworthy acting roles are in *Gokusen, Love & Pop, Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, Ring 0: Birthday, Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, Oh! Ōoku, The Big Bee, and many others! Her notable anime roles include:
*Gokusen is a live-action manga adaptation, based off of Kozueko Morimoto’s original story that has an anime adaptation with the same name.
• Asahina Mutsuki, Haunted Junction
• Lapis Lazuli, Kidō Senkan Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness

Genzō Senō, Junpei and Kanta’s grandfather, is Saburō Kitajima. Mr. Kitajima is an internationally famous *enka singer, lyricist, and composer. He has had no acting credits prior to this film.
*Enka is a style of music that resembles traditional Japanese music stylistically. The term enka was first used to refer to political texts set to music which were sung and distributed by opposition activists belonging to the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement during the Meiji period (1868–1912) as a means of bypassing government curbs on speeches of political dissent—and in this sense the word is derived from "enzetsu no uta" (演説の歌), meaning "speech song."

Tatsuo Senō, Junpei and Kanta’s father, is Masachika Ichimura. Mr. Ichimura is mostly known for his role in stage plays, particularly musical theater. He has performed in Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story, Equus, Cats, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera, and many more! He famously played the role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and was Macbeth in Yukio Ninagawa’s adaptation. He has also acted in films and television dramas, as well as dabbling in video games, anime, dubbing, and puppetry. Ichimura is Jack Skellington in both Kingdom Hearts and the official Japanese dub of the The Nightmare Before Christmas. His notable anime roles include:
• Red XIII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
• Mewtwo, Pokémon

Giovanni’s Island has won ten awards:

• Jury Distinction, 38th Annecy Animation Film Festival (2014)
• Satoshi Kon Award, 18th Fantasia Film Festival (2014)
• Audience Award, 18th Fantasia Film Festival (2014)
• Jury Special Mention, 13th Nueva Mirada (2014)
• Jury Award, 5th Scotland Loves Animation (2014)
• Children's Jury Prize, 31st Chicago Int'l Children's Film Festival (2014)
• Adult Jury Prize, 31st Chicago Int'l Children's Film Festival (2014)
• Excellence Award, 18th Japan Media Arts Festival (2014)
• Best Animation Film, 69th Mainichi Film Awards (2014)[2]
• Jury Award, 13th Imaginaria Film Festival (2015)

Conclusively, Joban'ni no Shima could have been much better. The script seems like it needed to be doctored more before publication and the scenes during the internment camp slogged on a bit too long. Fictional writing can be metaphorically compared to walking on a tightrope. You can either say too much or too little in a narrative—the perfect balance being the middle: implying a lot, while showing enough visually to create a sense of intrigue. Giovanni’s Island showered us with flashy visuals, but forgot to leave a trail of breadcrumbs along the way!