Chirin no Suzu

Chirin no Suzu (or CnS for short) is reminiscent of classic, olden-day fables in the duality it strikes between joyful innocence and overwhelming sorrow. Notable for its subversion of the sugary, saccharine nature of modern children's stories, the film refuses to pander to children's base expectations or delicate sensibilities, instead encouraging them to think about the complex lessons and ideas that are illustrated within.

The film's protagonist, Chirin, is a playful, curious lamb without a care in the world until his mother is taken from him by a vicious, bloodthirsty wolf named Woe. Rather than cower in fear at the prospect of being eaten, however, Chirin ... chooses to strike out on his own and become that which is feared. At first, his intentions are fairly noble - to avenge his mother's death by taking down Woe - but Chirin undergoes a transformation of body and soul which reflects the new world he discovers, and CnS questions the idea that his newfound strength is cause for celebration.

All aspects of CnS are consistently fair to impressive in terms of quality and presentation. The art style and animation of the film are typical 1970's fare, which is to be expected, but have aged fairly well and are overall pleasing to look at. A dynamic and moody orchestral soundtrack follows the story's emotional ups and downs, giving them additional impact. Being a children's story, CnS features somewhat simplistic dialogue, but there's little cause for concern there as it still manages to convey the story's messages quite well.

Ultimately, CnS serves as a stark but necessary reminder that life is inherently unpredictable and that, rather than expecting this part of existence to disappear when we make changes in ourselves, we must accept that things won't always go according to plan.

I think it was alright. Most of the film felt just like buildup to our ending(a very horrifying, deep ending) but I didn't feel engaged in the film because of how saccharine it was for quite a bit.
Woe and Chirin have a most interesting dynamic, the art is pretty nice in its Disneyfied pastoral way, and the music is also nice, I guess it might traumatize some younger kids, the plot is not very original, the characters are kind of flat until the end.
I like that it didn't go the way of "predator animals are evil! We defeat them and live happily after!" but ... instead it teaches that predator animals simply do their best to survive in a cruel world.
I can't say much about the movie other than that.

Stop me if you've heard this children's tale before. Once upon a time, there was a little lamb who lived on a farm with his mother and the rest of their flock. One night, a wolf raids the farm and kills mother sheep. Devastated by the loss, the lamb... decides he needs to become a wolf in order to wreak vengeance.

Well! With a synopsis like that, all I can say is: thank God the farmer didn't get to mother sheep first, otherwise this anime could have been even more fucked up!

Needless to say, it was this strangely dark premise which attracted me to "Ringing Bell" ... a few years back. Having finally got around to watching it though, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Turns out that the synopsis pretty much accounts for everything that makes this show interesting. Beyond that, the story pans out more or less as expected, and the further plot twists I was half expecting never really turned up.

Execution wise, "Ringing Bell" was okay at best. Being an old show, its production and storytelling techniques feel somewhat crude, but not to the point of being hilariously bad. The music, while not unpleasant on the ears, lacks subtlety - if a scene is meant to be happy/sad, you can be sure the music will be shouting that emotion into your ears.

The art is undeniably dated, but still watchable. During the lighter portions of "Ringing Bell", it had no problem conveying the cuteness and playfulness befitting a children's anime. However these same elements do not play nicely with the anime's darker side, and I am left with an impression of an anime comprising two halves that don't gel.

Still, the concept was interesting, and while realising it the movie did rustle up some powerful moments. Just don't expect too much - it is for children after all, and doesn't do much beyond that.

Personal rating: +0.5 (decent)

Child experiences intense psychological trauma and as a result experiences a psychotic break. In the mourning and aftermath of his loss, the child joins forces with a mass murderer in an attempt to protect himself and avoid future trauma. The child trains with murderer, eventually becoming a killing machine, only to realize that he must break the cycle of violence by stopping the murderer for good. Former-child now Rambo-lamb-o is rejected by his people, forced to live his life as a nomad for the rest of his days.

The moral of the story? If your sheep mom is killed, do not try to become a wolf ... or it will be difficult and when you eventually succeed you will realize that the wolf still makes you angry inside due to all of your unresolved trauma and you will lash out and kill the wolf because he is bad and you do not want to be bad like the wolf who is bad.