Harmony

Indeed I was quite excited to notice that Harmony was finally available, subbed, on my favorite streaming site. I've been anticipating this movie ever since I first heard about it. What I got, opposed to my expectations, was a mediocre film wrapped in beautiful visuals, animation and sound.

The story begins with a red haired girl named Tuan Kirie who is first seen doing some sort of illegal operation with a refuge group. We then learn about the setting that our story takes place- a future utopian society in the very distant future. The world is supposedly perfect as issues such as disease are no ... longer a concern. The narrative is told through the perspective of Tuan: both in present and via flashbacks.

The most important thing to note about the story is the complexity of it- and I must say- if I have one major complaint it is that the movie did no justice to the story. The execution of the story was pretty poor and the movie would require many re watches in order to fully comprehend it without looking up explanations online. I feel that the enjoyment of this show will be lost to most who will be unable to fully understand the story. I don't mean this in a condescending way- as I only grasped parts of the story myself and was left clueless at many parts.

The other main character we learn about is Miach who is the main character's childhood friend. We learn about Miach mostly through the flashbacks of Tuan, which has its pro's and con's. I for one believed Miach to be the most interesting character of the series and the most meaningful philosophic statements to be expressed were expressed in scenes dealing with Miach. Unfortunately, she barely resembles a main character as she gets little screentime in the present day Utopian world.

Without spoiling anything about the story that isn't basically given in either the first couple minutes or the synopsis- I can only mention that the ending was another great disappointment to this show. Not that I didn't like it necessarily- but because it felt incomplete and anti-climactic. The show felt like it was progressing towards the ending which would be epic and mind-blowing and what we got instead was confusion along with disappointment.

While the characters are interesting- many of them are too complex to relate to and sometimes- even after learning a great deal about them- their actions are unpredictable and hard to interpret. The ending is a great example of this- but there are many moments in the show where your perceptions about a given character will change suddenly due to an out-of-the-blue action.

The pacing for this show is another major problem for me as the beginning was ridiculously slow to the point where the person I was watching it with got bored and uninterested. Meanwhile- the ending felt pretty fast paced whereas I would have liked there to be more substance near the end of the show. You watch through this show hoping there will be more but you just receive more vagueness and ambiguity.

While the writing suffers and can be super confusing and hard to interpret: the production value of this show is amazing. The visuals, animation, and sound are all above average and quite excellent at times. The stunning visuals are apparent from the beginning of the series and some breathtakingly gorgeous shots are presented later in the film.

But a film with great appearance cannot fix broken writing. I DO recommend this show for people who are looking to challenge themselves intellectually. If you like works like Paprika and Penguindrum perhaps this movie will be up your alley. But I fear that for most, the story was presented in such a way that it is hard to keep up. With complex dialogue and narration- many people will feel lost without looking to the internet for an explanation for this movie. And having to look up what happens in a movie kills the enjoyment for me.

Just gonna be honest on the story, i dislike it. it doesn't mean it was bad. i dislike it. "the way to sacrifice one's freedom to achive absolut safety, peace, and a perfect world" that is how the world in this anime works and i dislike it for the first time i saw/heard it. but i was expecting a good ending where all of those bullshit utopia would be destroyed in the ending but instead the utopia went into another level.
The story is about a world where people can live with absolute peace because of the system called "WatchMe". people can't even get sick/diseases ... because those system called "WatchMe" is protecting every people's body. but you know, nothing comes without any price. the price is your freedom. every people who planted "WatchMe" inside their body will be controlled by the goverment. so "WatchMe" is something like a server or for the easiest way to say it, it's something like a mobile phone/computer that connected to the host server. and the host server is the goverment. they are always watching their citizen from "WatchMe".......and i really dislike that concept of story.

to me, the characters are meh. no one even want to try to destroy the utopia. no one. well, some of them really hate it including the MC but none of them were trying to destroy it.

on the other side, the art was really good imo. they were using CGI in some of the scene but i think it's okay. there was almost no long action in this show. from what i remember, it only happened in the beginning and it was pretty good.

Soundtrack is meh......and i don't think there were many soundtrack in this movie....but the ending song is so nice. well yeah.....obvious it's nice. supercell was singing the ending song xD.

tbh, i enjoy the show, but in a different way or more like i was into it especially the story or maybe because of the story, i was into the show so much and the other part was because of the suicide case. that was really thrilling and interesting to me. the ending isn't satisfiying enough for me because in the end, the utopia still exist and went into another level. this show could be better if they changed the ending where the MC destory the utopia and turn the world back to normal.

6/10 for this show or more specifically 6.5 (0.5 because of the ending song; Egoist xD) it could be better if they changed the ending imo.

Sorry for bad english.
Hope my review can be helpful to you all.
Thanks. Have a nice day

Everything about the “Harmony” is in between “Oh, it is awesome” and “EEhhh, does it make sense?” for me
I admit , I enjoyed the movie. First of all, sci fi is a relatively rare beast in animation production and a lover of a genre would probably appreciate any attempt. Besides, it was entertaining with a storyline unfolding dynamically and turning unexpectedly; it had memorable and beautifully crafted backgrounds; it was thought provoking … and it certainly provoked me to think what was actually wrong with the movie.
To tell a story is to cook a cake for happy guests, which ... would enjoy a traditional taste or be amazed by an unexpected combination. “Harmony” cake was backed from futuristic sceneries, a concept of pseudo-utopian restricted society, questions about meaning of happiness, value of will and rebellion (pseudo-utopian society and rebellion is like bread and butter, right?). All the ingredients are recognizable and taste as expected. But… one may start to question was it a real flour or just a substitute or, even, was the cake prepared by loving hands of a grandma or stamped by soulless machine in a fabric! … Ok… In other words, the images and ideas in the movie seem to be taken from modern popular culture. They are well recognizable and succeed in telling an enjoyable story. They do not have depth and images are sometimes meaningless. But they make the work done, right? It is a good movie, I think …

Images (just a couple of moments, which characterize the movie the best)

From the start we can appreciate the stylish design of the movie environment. It is filled with symbolism which can be intuitively understood. Clear-cut, white mp3-player shaped device communicates using xml (or was it html?). It is expected from an mp3 player, right? It does not know Japanese or English… it has to communicate using tags… because it is programmed, it does not know better
The future was painted just like I would expect. Textured and patterned Middle East, rose-colored futuristic Tokyo with empty freeways and flesh of buildings growing and pulsing with blood vessels …. Stop, stop, stop… Flesh of buildings? I went overboard, but I certainly have seen it somewhere… Anyway, I say it looks like something designed to be expected of future. And Tokyo is rose-colored because it is interesting, looks good, and designer wanted it like this. Which I appreciate – the design is not obliged to be meaningful anyway. And I am in love with the scene with carpets!

Characters design is also noteworthy, but again it is hard not to spoil the movie. Shortly, the behavior of major characters, their mimic even their clothes where done prettily. But they may not not make any sense in a context of the environment. They were created to appeal, but had little meaning or functionality.


Story line (shallow spoilers)
Beautiful start - young girls on the border of adulthood and an ultimate rebellion against restraining healthcare dictatorship. But, this beautiful start does not have any meaning without manifestation of society problems. These problems were assumed in story development, hinted here and there, but they were not demonstrated explicitly enough to justify the development. The plot gives answers we recognize, even if the questions were not explicitly spoken. It creates a sentimental and moving environment … which seems a little bit empty. It is hard to illustrate without spoilers though...

Harmony is a sci-fi drama which is yet another utopian future with dystopian elements where medical technology controls the very health, ethics, and social interactions of its human populace. Our female lead, Tuan, is one of the residents of this world who attempted to kill herself with two of her friends in defiance of this established order as a teenager, but survived and now lives as an officer who is tasked with averting a global crisis where control of the medical technology has allowed an unknown party to manipulate the minds of thousands internationally to commit suicide.

Harmony has quite a number of issues that make ... it less engaging of a sci-fi title with a similar premise as it like Psycho-Pass. First would be its choice of main character in the form of Tuan. Psycho-Pass featured its female lead Akane confronting the realities of the so-called utopian world she lives in and these experiences shaping up her character's beliefs and mentality as episodes progress. On the other hand, Tuan's character is difficult enough to even establish a connection with as she still stays the same moody and bitter person she was from the start of the movie with her disgust of the world she lives in and still stays as such, even with the revelations she comes across with the power structure that runs her world.

The second problem that comes up with Harmony is its heavy dependency on character conversations to advance its plot. Some might take offense to this as an issue as there can be titles like .hack//SIGN that effectively pull such use of this storytelling device to further explore its world, develop its characters, and unveil more elements to its plot. But whereas the use of said character conversations in .hack//SIGN are balanced out by exploring character chemistry and the world of its series, Harmony is heavily dependent on character conversations for plot advancement as such where a number of relevant characters in the film exist only to infodump Tuan with information needed to move on to the next point of the film's plot and said characters get little fleshing out to be anything more than flimsy plot devices.

The third and major problem that comes into play with the film is its very plot. The first half-hour of the film is focused on establishing the bond between Tuan and her two friends to show what drove the three of them to defy the established societal order of their world and the remainder explores her taking on the case involving the mass suicides. Outside of the mentioned issues I highlighted from earlier, it felt like whoever wrote up the story and characters for Harmony approached the matter from the eyes of an angsty and nihilistic teenager as the film plunged too deeply into exploring the dark side of its world without realistically considering the ramifications for what would happen if its future went down the tubes if its worst-case scenario played out.

Overall, Harmony makes a failed effort at trying to have something deep to say regarding its premise thanks to its unlikable lead character, being too dependent on character conversations and infodumping to advance its plot, and said plot lacking a deep and cohesive enough narrative to be engaging to its viewers. It's a title I wouldn't waste any time on tracking down or even rewatching a second time.

Today's ScruTiny: Harmony the Movie.


- A Lesbo-erotic, Dys-Utopian Sci-Fi future with Above average Animation.

- Featuring Sci-Fi Society staples like:

- Governments controlling people through near-forced "suggestions" using a built-in device (refer: Psycho Pass).

- Main characters dissatisfied by their "perfect" society so they rebel by sending "a message" ... through self harm.
...
- The "Visionary Villainette" aiming to rid the world of the human darkness which led to her existence so it never happens to anyone else.

- Well drawn Art , i.e. the main characters look cool and are shown as accomplished pros in their field. Which is good because what's behind the drawings are bland and without personality. Also Has locales outside of Japan, mainly Arabian but outside of a few set pieces you wouldn't know.

- No nudity but great use of Tits.

- Has nothing cerebral to offer. Includes standard "a world of this sort is not too far off, HUMANS OF THE WORLD, BALANCE YO'SELF" message.

- Is 2nd in a series of 3 anime films based on novels by accomplished Japanese Sci-Fi writer Project Ito. Also Co directed by Michael Arias who gave us Tekkonkinkreet.

Verdict:
If you've never touched Sci-Fi OR "Mature" Anime content then this may be a good entry for you. It's a simple enough premise to process and it has everything a passable Anime movie should from art to sound. Which is the issue.

It uses the style and plot lines that have been in shows / movies (both Western and Japanese) for over a decade and a half now. Containing none of the pacing that's worked before. Want Animated Action and philosophy? Ghost in the Shell. Want a live action version? The Matrix. A series of shorts that build up story? The Animatrix.

See a pattern here? Well that's because GiTS inspired much of The Matrix. The Matrix of course led to The Animatrix. Which got produced by the one of the guys directing Harmony (i.e. Michael Arias)

In closing, You can find much better out there that builds upon these concepts. Be it Pacing, clearer explanations, interesting portrayals and/or reveals and just plain better Writing. So get Psycho Pass, Ghost in The Shell perhaps Ergo Proxy. At least ONE of these will fare better than Harmony.


Do you agree with the ScruTiny? or are you all "Screw-Tiny" Vote and let me know!

Harmony is an... odd movie.

Beautiful and yet jarring.

The visuals are based on artwork by Redjuice (who I personally love) and it shows. Everything looks clean and Sci-Fi. Sometimes it felt like the designs would have worked far better as still images rather than animation.
Using CG in this setting fits pretty well since it makes it feel otherworldly. This CG, however, can also often and easily feel so out of place it's jarring. The by far best looking shot ever is already revealed during the trailer(s) and appears in the movie during the first quarter. Everything after it just doesn't live up to it ... visually.

Interesting and yet boring.

The characters are by far the biggest flaw in Harmony.
This might not be too much of a problem if Harmony wasn't so character driven. It completely drives on making Miach and Tuan this deeply interwoven relationship but that just doesn't work if Miach is just an edgelord and Tuan can be described in a single sentence. Having the movie linger for 2 hours on those two is boring. If the movie was cut down considerably, which can easily be achieved by removing every part of monologue that was already said once, it might actually be a very interesting and well-paced movie.


Complex and yet simple.

One of the most appealing aspects of this movie is the setting and this weird atmosphere. The idea of people being controlled by the government is nothing new but how much of the life (literally) it controls is astonishing. Something that doesn't feel too farfetched, positive and yet extremely frightening. It makes Tuan's decision to abandon the system quite understandable. The problem is, that this setting is nothing else but a tool used to tell the story rather than an actual breathing environment (and the fact that Tuan just doesn't shut up about it). The only reason why Harmony could even exist is that they put so much thought in fleshing out the setting as quickly as possible and then just hitting play, with what they've established but never expanding on it.
Psycho-Pass also has a controlling government as it's setting but during just 2 episodes it goes way deeper into its own setting than Harmony does over its entire runtime.

The OST does its job and conveys the proper music for the proper times but nothing to get excited about. It's as sterile and calculated as the background art looks.

The movie like I said early is odd. As in you know it's overall bad, but it has something special to it, that I always want to rewatch it until I stop halfway because I want to do better stuff. Cut down all the repetitive stuff and replace it with scenes that flesh out the characters, show action scenes (too break up the flow occasionally), and setting and this could have been a good movie.

This movie does not justify its runtime

This anime is very relevant for today in the age of global pandemic and, in my opinion, it presents a logical model for the future society, in which death would be a curable decease and, as a result, human death and potential instability from it would be the ultimate central problem of society.

The social system and technocratic centralisation envisioned would definitely not be the only way a society could organise itself based on an ultimate value and veneration of life, and the film is a bit pessimistic, focusing on risks and not the perfection - it's a shame that authors showed the future of ... not aging as a dystopia, while it definitely could be made a real utopia, if human freedoms were really respected. Such a movie would be much more beneficial and a breakthrough, even a compass for achieving a society of the future.

One more interesting theme is the the one of human self-awareness and free will, the possibility of making rational decisions without second thoughts and once again the movie is too vague and pessimistic. In my opinion, it is easy to reject the idea, which was pushed by a certain group of characters in the movie - instead of discussing their ideas, we have a fanatical cult-like group, with the movie transfroming from a general vision of dystopia to a mediocre action movie, which did not do any good.

Basically, the movie states a number of interesting problems (which is double plus good in itself), but not only offers no solutions, but not even a meaningful discussion of the topics, providing mainly emotions and action, kinda moving away from its philosophical premise. One more troubling element was the projection of a Japanese crime against humanity during WWII (the "comfort women" stations), which, as we know well, is being actively denied by many Japanese, on Russia (never massively practiced anything like that, this even forced me to do double checking on this in Wikipedia, Google and multiple history books on the history of the Caucasus for a couple of days, including openly anti-Russian literature), which came out of the blue during the movie and spoiled the impression about the movie even more. In general, if you like to think about modern and potential societal/philosophical problems, I recommend this, but keep in mind its bad/biased/fraudulent civilizational perspective 5/10

Light Spoilers warning.
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Harmony is a decent dystopian movie from the novel with the same name written by Itoh Project.There are appealing art scenes,coherent story line and intriguing characters.However,there are also obvious flaws or even failures.
As for art presentation,there are amazing scenes like when Cian commited suicide ,or those absurd skyscrapers attempting to present the idea of 'supremacy of life' and permeate the sense of anxiety of this 'Utopia' bordering on collapse.However,the overall immoderate 3D paintings are tiresome and kind of disruptive from my personal perspective.
I love the OSTs.The background music is beautiful and mysterious,following how the story goes.It can ... be serene and soft,but also dramatically tragic when it reaches the climax(the massive suicide).Moreover,I love the theme song"Ghost of a smile",which I have lingered on that arousing voice.
However,good soundtracks cannot remedy the flaws in enjoyment.Overwhelmed by frustratingly tedious conversations and monolouges,I find it extremely difficult to enjoy it since there is little excitement.Indeed Harmony is talking about serious matters.The entire movie is based on "mind","dystopia" this kind of complex and thought-provoking connotations.Nevertheless it can be better to add some excitement like what Urobuchi did in Magical Girl Madoka:Rebellion,which was sucessful in both serious connotations and excitement,or even another Itoh project movie——The empire of corpses.(Although this movie unfortunately fails in the story telling)I can see 4degree studio strives to solve tiredness,like when Cian and Tuan are having a long conversation,the camera keeps revolving around them,which is rather annoying but better than static powerpoints.I can also understand that there are difficulties since plots from the original novel had been there,but such boredom is an inevitable failure in this movie.
There is another failure in the story line.The opening is good,with coherent development and the truth gradually unfolding.Everything seems to be not bad.And then,in the ending:
"I love you....."
The relationship between Tuan and Miaha is supposed to be comarades sharing "seemingly" similar dispositions.(Actually they are different,which is also the reason Tuan did that in the end)They are both anti-social and desire to revenge this suffocating society that relates nothing to lesbian love....This is absolutely a failure devestating the atmosphere.
Last but not the least,the characters,especially Miaha possess intriguing developments.I will take Miaha as an example.Miaha,with innate loss of counsciousness,was victimised during war when she was young and thus formed a "simulation" of counsciousness.However,she chose to escape. and commit suicide together with Tuan and Cian.Here comes the crucial plot that Tuan misintepreted her weakness as a kind of fearlessness or strength and what's more significant, her initial intention.That orchestrates the conflicts between them and supports the twists of this story,graually unfolding the connotations behind their behaviors.
To summerise,despite the pathetic enjoyment,it is not a bad movie with thought provoking connotations and at least a complete story.I would like to reassess this movie to better absorb the implications as well as Miaha's character development which is intresting from my humble opinion,but more endeavors need to be paid to make it a masterpiece.
Scores:
Story:5(supposed to be 7,2 points discredied for the ending)
Art:5
Sound:7
Character:8
Enjoyment:3
Final verdict:5
postscript:
Tag "Dystopian" for the movie is in fact controvertial,but at least Harmony has dystopian element.
There might be personal inclinations.