Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka?

Spoiler Free!

Just a heads up, but the story was really bad and confusing. Just because some of the people who contributed helped make Kimi no na wa doesn't mean it'll be good.
The art was alright, but Shaft's other works were better. You could say they wasted their talent on it.
No bad opinion on the sound, it wasn't bad.
The characters? Hated each and every one of them! They were all so annoying and bland, and they didn't even improve in the end.
Overall, it was a disappointment. I recommend you listen to the soundtrack online instead of watching this disaster.

I just saw this movie in theaters. This review is going to be kind of long, so let me put this in general terms:

If you're watching this movie because it has nice art: just watch the music video for the image song, Uchiage Hanabi by DAOKO. It contains almost all the nice shots from the movie (missing the ending sequence, which although is slightly odd, is very beautifully animated. So maybe watch the music video then wait for the movie to be available to stream then skip to the ending to see the pretty fireworks and surreal animation).

If you're watching this movie because ... it's Shaft or because of a famous voice actor: I don't think anything I say here will stop you from watching the movie, so go for it.

If you're watching this movie because you're intrigued by the story: just know that this 2-sentence blurb from Wikipedia (the one on MyAnimeList is very strangely worded and sounds very bad, honestly) is the entire plot: "The story takes place one day in summer. A group of young men are planning to watch fireworks from the town's lighthouse, wondering if fireworks are round or flat when seen from the side. Somewhere else, the class idol Nazuna asks the boy who likes her, Norimichi, to elope with her. What fate awaits these two in a day that keeps repeating itself?" That's it. Don't expect much more.

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Art: This would have been the best part of the movie if not for the random CGI scenes. There were several minute-long sequences where the movie would switch between beautiful animation of the characters on bikes featured in the trailer to some horrible CGI rendering of the characters on bikes, then back and forth until they got to their destination. It honestly looked horrible and ruined the look of the movie. Other than that, the fireworks and other scenes were lit beautifully, and I can't remember there being any moments where the animation looked super rushed (though of course there were parts, but I count on stuff looking better on the Blu-Ray). Overall the art was cool to look at and Shaft definitely incorporated their own style by including their signature "head tilt" use of odd camera angles.

Overall it wasn't terrible, but definitely ruined by that horrible CGI.

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Sound: This is what first drew me to the film and it was the best part of it, followed by the art (which would have tied if not for the horrible CGI parts). It was slightly disappointing that the image song only played during the credits, and there was one awkward part where Nazuna danced to a slow song for the full 4 minutes in the middle of the movie. While the song wasn't bad, its placement and length was; it made me feel like I was watching someone's ridiculous drug-fueled hallucination instead of Uchiage Hanabi.

The voice actors for the two main characters are actually live action stars rather than anime voice actors. I wouldn't have even known this if I didn't look it up. It was a bit odd to see famous voice actors play the side characters, but the only one that I noticed sounding off was Yuusuke's voice actor (who is an anime VA), who sounded really fake. There was a particular line when the boys arrived at the festival that sounded so bad both me and my friend turned to each other in confusion (we were wondering if he sounded that way on purpose to be sarcastic, but no, it was an actual line).

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Characters: I know this is not an original work so maybe cutting some characters was out of the question, but everyone except for the main characters Nazuna and Narumichi, the male rival Yuusuke, and Nazuna's parents were unnecessary. Okay, since some of the other friends sparked the "Are fireworks round or flat?" debate that the movie is named after, I guess they are necessary too, but you don't need more than 2 of them.

While I've already stated they were unnecessary, there was a particular character that definitely should not have been included. The homeroom teacher (and her boyfriend, another teacher at the school) got some screen time in the beginning and a little at the end and I can't find anything that they add to the film other than to make those watching feel uncomfortable. The homeroom teacher is female and has a large chest, and there is a 2-minute long scene when the characters arrive at school of them guessing her bra size (one of the friends has a crush (if you can call it that?) on the teacher, which is what sparks the... discussion), then again while in homeroom the student makes a comment about the teacher's chest to her face and instead of getting reprimanded is slightly teased and the whole class laughs at his "joke." My friend and I found this to be very uncomfortable and it definitely made me feel worse about the movie. I can't remember the character's ages but they seemed to be in middle school if anything.

As for the main characters, they seemed to be pretty generic. Nazuna was a quiet "mysterious" girl that the two main boys, Narimichi (brown hair) and Yuusuke (black hair) have a crush on. I wasn't paying close enough attention so I'm not sure if they had a crush on her before a certain day or if they knew both of them had a crush on her. Narimichi seemed a little nicer and more awkward than Yuusuke.

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Story: Honestly, the story blurb from Wikipedia was the entire movie. Other than that, I found a hard time understanding the motives behind the character's actions. I'm not entirely sure how to explain this without some slight spoilers for the beginning part, so for those curious I've put my explanation (skip the one paragraph if you don't want to read it) below:

I may have missed the explanation, but it is established that the character Yuusuke likes Nazuna. She asks him to go to the firework festival with her. He agrees, but then later blows her off. I'm sure there was some sort of explanation, but then later in the movie when Narimichi "redoes" the day and gets Nazuna to ask him out instead, Yuusuke flips out. I realize he has no knowledge in this redo that he was previously asked out, but his character should remain the same. Why did he freak out that Narimichi was asked out when he would have blown her off anyway? I'm sure there was some sort of explanation but it was quiet early in the movie and I must have missed it.

The story also suffered from poor writing at parts, whether it was from the original source or added in this adaptation I don't know. The movie also felt like it started to drag along towards the end when it lost its charm and it began to leap off the deep end. Two scenes that particularly stood out to be as bad are in the middle of the movie. The next two paragraphs are going to have SLIGHT spoilers, but I will describe the scenes in very general terms, so they're not huge spoilers.

Slight spoilers for this scene: Nazuna's parents figure out she is trying to run away and are dragging her away. Narumichi tries to help her and runs forward and grabs the father's arm yelling for him to let go of Nazuna. Instead of shaking off this tiny middle school kid like the large father he appears to be, he whips around and punches Narimichi in the face (yes, in the face, and Narimichi has bruises for a while). The boy then drops to the floor and the scene cuts 2 minutes in the future to show Nazuna's parents driving off with her in the car and Narumichi still on the floor. Wait, what? This dad just punched a kid. who immediately dropped to the floor and didn't appear to be able to get up, and left? What kind of world is this? The parents didn't seem THAT bad; definitely not perfect, but we've seen worse.

Another scene not far from the previous one is when Nazuna's parents are in the car driving on the highway next to the train she got on. The train exits a tunnel when Nazuna is standing in front of the window and people, including the parents in their car, see her standing and begin to frantically chase after her. Narimichi then redoes this scene and makes Nazuna sit down so that she is not seen. We are then shown a shot of her parents crying in the car and don't appear to be chasing the train as frantically. Why? They literally just saw her get on the train, and this is a rural town in the middle of the evening, it's not like they don't know which train she got on? The train also didn't stop so they actually should know for 100% certainty that she is still on it. But apparently since they can't see her in the window, they don't think she is on it. As a result, they aren't waiting for her at the next stop, which is what would make sense, right?

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Overall enjoyment: The most subjective part of the rating. Honestly, for me this ties in very closely with the story, because if there are huge plot holes, I won't enjoy it. I can enjoy listening to the movie and looking at the pretty pictures, but I won't really enjoy the movie itself if there are some glaring flaws. Because of the terrible writing (in my opinion) and flow, I will have to rate my enjoyment and overall score a lot lower.

Final disclaimer: I am not a fluent or native Japanese speaker, but I was able to understand almost all that was being said, but I thought I would put this disclaimer here because as a non-native speaker, there are undoubtedly subtle things I missed.

I can describe this movie in 2 words: Almost perfect. Why? Because while it had the potential to be great, it had small mishaps that led to its inability to reach perfection.

Before I begin, let me just say that I watched this in the cinemas 3 weeks after its premiere at United Cinemas. And inside the theater, there were only 3 people. And so I began to wonder, "Is the movie not good after all?". My opinion then changed after the movie ended.

So what made it almost perfect? Was it the plot? As far as I can tell, there was nothing wrong with the sequence ... of the plot. It's a slice of life romance with a hint of magic. It's a style we're all familiar with, and so it wasn't difficult to follow.

Was it the characters? I don't believe so. The characters were appealing and memorable. Heck, they almost resemble real people. Even the voice acting was so natural that it didn't sound like it was scripted. Perhaps it's because it was based on a live-action drama.

Was it the music? Absolutely not. The BGM and soundtracks were amazing. Without the music, it wouldn't have the dramatic atmosphere during each scene. Also, that ending theme was so good that I ended up listening to it when I got home.

So what was the flaw? The animation. Don't get me wrong. The settings were ridiculously well-made, almost resembling real life locations. The signature Shaft "head turns" were apparent, so you know it didn't come from a panel manga. But what really destroyed my experience was the sudden 2d to 3d transition. I understand that 3d makes everything easier, but they would've at least used it at the appropriate scenes. There was no reason to use 3d for a bike scene or walking scene.Also, the out-of-place exaggerated reactions. I know it's common for anime to add in exaggerated expressions, but the movie didn't need to include it because it was already perfect without it.

So yes, as much as I want to give it a perfect score, these mistakes blew it for me. But in the end, I did enjoy watching the movie. And even if people think the whole movie is flat or round, I'm still glad that I saw a spectacular display: a display of fireworks.

Warning: Possible Light Spoilers

I just finished watching "Uchiage Hanabi" in theaters. It has been out for about two weeks, so the theater was about half full in one of the smaller rooms. To be honest, I am not sure what to think of this movie. While this work is absolutely visually beautiful, there were several sections where CG was used, likely to speed up production (hopefully this will be fixed in the DVD / Blu-ray release). Story-wise, it was pretty slow, but really interesting for me. It was pretty deep, playing with the concept of divergent worlds: how each decision we make can affect the ... entire world. This movie give the main character the chance to go back, make different decisions, and see how it plays out. There were several humorous moments to break up the serious atmosphere, and I think they were well timed, and flowed with the story. On the other-hand, the movie ended abruptly. No joke, this was like partial resolution, wake up the next day, end. It feels like it ended two-thirds through the movie. I always want to see more, but this really does just feel unfinished. As I was leaving the theater, many of the other viewer commented that they didn't understand the movie.

In conclusion, while I have major issues with the ending, I would suggest watching it on Hulu or Crunchyroll. I would not recommend paying to see it in theaters, and only buy the movie if you are a major fan.

*Disclaimer: Japanese is not my first language, and while I do speak it conversationally, there could be a lot that I missed. The film was not subtitled in Japanese or English.

So this is the first romance movie from my collection I'll make a review. I remember when I watched this film way back 5 years ago in my local cinemas. When I first watched it, it was so confusing. But rewatching this again wasn't any time-wasting and I gained many realizations and deep knowledge about this film.

Fireworks is a supernatural drama, romance anime film released in 2017 and it was based on the live-action movie of the same name way back in the 1990s. Many audiences rated it low and said this is confusing to watch, but yep. This was confusing to watch like the ... plot is all over the place. It's like a big jigsaw puzzle. But if you see it from a different aspect or angle, and if you can combine all of the pieces, you might fully understand the meaning of the film and its message. After watching this film for the nth time, I will carefully analyze the aspects of the film to understand what the heck happened. So you'll not get confused.

So the story was set during a summer break, when two middle school boys fall in love with the same girl, as the fireworks show in their place will come. And Norimichi, the main protagonist was lost in some swimming competition and so he didn't get the chance to be with Nazuna as her date for the fireworks show. But one day, he found a mysterious marble I would like to call, "IF". He used it to travel back in time, and change the reality from different conflicts, just to be with Nazuna. Norimichi and his friends will go to a fireworks show, while Nazuna ran away from her home, because of her problematic family. Her mother remarried again another man, and they had a plan to leave their place. Another sub-plot from the film was Norimichi's group of friends, who had many arguments about the shape of the fireworks. It's round? or flat?

The film has And this involves Norimichi and Nazuna, as well as the mysterious power of IF. It had a series of different realities and a series of "What ifs".

Reality #1 - "If I won that race..."
This part is when Norimichi loses the swimming race and Nazuna chose Yuusuke to be her date. But sometimes, Yuusuke didn't want to go and admitted he wasn't in love with Nazuna, after all. This moment surprised Norimichi, as he got a chance to be Nazuna's date at the fireworks show. After that, he suddenly saw Nazuna wearing kimono, carrying luggage. She revealed to Norimichi her plan to leave the town. Nazuna had an "affection" for Norimichi because she wanted him to win that race. And after that time, Nazuna's mother was caught but he didn't get to save her. In frustration, he threw IF and wished if he had won that race, and suddenly the time stopped and went back.

Reality #2 - "If I board the train with her..."
So this is the part where the story gets interesting. The time resets for all of them but the marble granted his wish to win the race. He had finally got the chance to be with Nazuna but this time, things got different and weird. Remember when I said in the first reality Yuusuke didn't have feelings for Nazuna, this time Yuusuke was dead serious in confessing to Nazuna. Norimichi didn't want him to find out he wanted to be with Nazuna, so they ran away. At the train station, Nazuna wanted Norimichi to be responsible for all the things that happened between them. But he failed again because Nazuna's mother and her stepdad caught her again. In the fireworks scene, the fireworks were flat. If you're using your common sense, there's no way that flat fireworks exist. Things got very weird for Norimichi, as he realized what happened when he threw IF. I thought things even reset for the caster so I was surprised by this. He made a wish again that he wanted to take responsibility and his chance to be with Nazuna, so they could board the train. Time reset again, while Norimichi retained his knowledge about the power of IF.

Reality #3 - "If only Yuusuke and your mom didn't find us..."
Norimichi used IF again for the second time. They got away with her parents and finally board the train. This part explained a few points, about the kakeochi stuff of Nazuna, and how the heck she got IF in the first place. IF was owned by Nazuna's biological father. The reason how he died wasn't explained so I came up with two possibilities; he was died from the ocean and committed suicide from his problematic family, or he used IF and wished to go to a different reality. I think he left IF to Nazuna for her to inherit. And Norimichi was the catalyst to make all of Nazuna's wishes come true. So how the tables had turned between them. When they saw the fireworks, Norimichi realized that his world was wrong and weird. The fireworks were weird. But Nazuna didn't care about the weird things that happened, as long as she wanted to be with Norimichi. And then suddenly Yuusuke pushed both of them in frustration. Norimichi used again the power of IF for the third time and went back in time.

Reality #4 - The world where Norimichi created
So Norimichi went back in time again but he felt weird about what happened. They noticed their train went on a different path and realized his world wasn't all real. HIs actual reality broke and he made a multiverse where anything was possible, because of his wishes. But even so, he just wanted to be with Nazuna in the end. At the time when some drunk man found IF and launched it because he thought it was a fireworks ball, IF was destroyed and its shards showed to us many different realities or possible routes, in every decision they made. When Yuusuke and Nazuna go on a date, Norimichi and Nazuna went to different places, and when Norimichi and Nazuna kiss. And after that, many kinds of fireworks were exploded in the air. This scene is beautiful, especially the underwater scene. There's a part there when Nazuna said to Norimichi that if they could see each other again, what kind of world would that be. That was pretty confusing but my theory is Nazuna made her wish to IF that no matter what the world would be, her feelings for Norimichi will never fades and she will look forward to their encounter.

I had three possible endings for those who didn't understand it. The first one is when the IF exploded, things went back to the way it was, even Nazuna. But Norimichi was trapped in the different world he created because he created different timelines. The second one is that all of the timelines were combined and went back to the original, but Nazuna and Norimichi still ran away. The third one is that all things went back to the original. Nazuna moved to a different place but Norimichi followed her. That's why in the ending scene, he didn't attend school.

But if you read the manga, Nazuna transferred to a different school so that's why her name wasn't on the class list, and Norimichi wasn't there because he followed her.

So the message of the film was that life is like a firework. It's surprising and beautiful, but it could end in an instant so you must cherish the moment. If you will apply it to the story of the film, Norimichi's wishes didn't all come true. Because even if he could turn the world upside-down, his fate of separating from Nazuna is inevitable. I'm sure you noticed it because he did many attempts, just to be with Nazuna, even though he wanted to stay in a different reality. That's why the drunken man said that IF looked like a fireworks ball. Because no matter how Norimichi wishes to be with Nazuna all the time, he couldn't escape the actual reality that Nazuna will move to a different place.

As for the romance, it's one-sided and it's not a romance. It's more of a supernatural drama. But the chemistry between the two characters was good so I'll let this one slide,

The animation and the music were a big thumbs up. As expected from Akiyuki Shinbou, he never fails to amaze me with his art style and design. The scenes, the backgrounds, and even the expression of characters were fully detailed. Especially the fireworks scene at night, it's so darn beautiful. I had some problems with Nazuna's character design because she looked like Senjougahara from the Monogatari series. I know they were from the same studio but it could be better. The CGI from the bike scene was like a joke and it should be lessened. As for the music, damn I loved the music. It suited every scene and I like how they did a variation of the "IF" theme. Overall tracks were so glorious, including Fireworks and Forever Friends by DAOKO.

The characters were pretty nice. They were a bit childish but as expected because they were middle schoolers. They had some development but still, it could be better. It is based on an old movie after all.

Overall, this film felt underrated to me, especially to those who didn't understand what the heck happened. Even though I rewatched this for the nth time, it never fails me to enjoy this and feel nostalgia for it. I know that potential viewers will be confused and hate this at first, but I hope you will understand the message of this film. Despite its inconsistencies in terms of character writing and storyline, I enjoyed this film, and still one of my favorites. But I wish, it could be better.

Story: 7.5/10
Animation and Music: 10/10
Characters: 7.5/10
Enjoyment: 8.5/10
Romance Factor: 8/10

I have to say, this anime is rewatchable.
The only part that was off was the english dubbing. I prefer you keep it on subs, because japanese fit a lot better on this anime than english dub.
Other than that, the storyline was quite interesting, the relationship of the characters, and the art wasn't bad.
The art gave off a more modern vibe,was pretty detailed, and the scenery was magnificent. So I rate it a 10/10
I enjoyed watching this anime, and was on the verge of tears.
The story could probably cover just a little bit more detail in the storyline, but overall
I rate this anime 10/10

spoiler free review

I write this review after returning from a 40 mile drive to see it in my not so local cinema.

What's to be expected of Shaft on the silver screen? With the recent sucess of films such as Kimi no na wa & A Silent Voice I feel like people were expecting too much from this.

The story was fairly generic, centred around a highschool romance and a coming of age crisis with bits added on for special effects. While the implementation was done well I think, the actual plot itself was lacking in any real substance, but none the less, enjoyable.

The visuals were fantastic ... excluding the odd bit of awkward CGI animation, though this is to be expected. Lot's of pretty colours, the odd headtilt here and there. It is worth watching for the animation alone. though sometimes the character design was a bit iffy.

The sound track was good, though it didn't invoke emotion as with other movies/series which is always something very important to me as a viewer.

Overall, This is a movie that while enjoyable, isn't life changing. One thing to be noted from this is that the community need to lower their expectations a bit.

But hy, As a westerner, does my opinion really matter?

Slight spoilers due to interpretation of movie.

Though I’m not sure why all the poor reviews on this movie, it’s really not as bad as it is made out to be. Though the characters were, let’s be honest, poorly developed, and the story following a somewhat cliché path (along the lines of re;zero and erased) this anime has a rich message if given some thought about it. While the ending may not have been appealing to some, I found this to be one of the most important aspects of it, especially considering the metaphorical sense the movie contained. Heavily implied by “if” showing up multiple times ... on the ball, then proceeding to move to an alternate universe (refuted by the fireworks) the movie was essentially a metaphor for how we miss out on many opportunities because we are too busy contemplating ‘what if’ questions; things that make us reconsider something. Even if we try to change things, if we waste opportunities given to us, just like the ending, no matter how much we wish things to change, nothing will if we don’t act in certain situations.

Shaft thought "hmm how can we make the popular time reversal due to a certain circumstance trope, but not copy what's come before" A high school romance !

I have just returned from watching this in the Cinema, and i felt compelled to write a quick review. I won't be going into detail about the couple next to me getting a little to involved with the romance genre, because that wasn't the films fault.

I have to give Shaft some credit, the visuals and backdrops were absolutely stunning, especially at the beginning. Though I wouldn't place it upon the same tier as some other recent anime ... films (You know the ones) but that isn't a criticism in the slightest.

For the sake of the review, I'm going to call the main characters as Monogatari Copy (Female) and Monogatari Copy (Male), anyone familiar with Shafts art style would instantly recognise some blatant comparisons, and yes there was a couple head tilts.

I did feel that the characters were a little underdeveloped, though the limitations of a 90 minute film are obvious, it just would have been great to see the potential utilised. The comedic moments sprinkled throughout did manage to get a few blowing out your nostrils in appreciation and grins across the audience, but there wasn't any other emotions being extracted.

I only intended to write up a quick review, so to wrap up, Fireworks (as it was printed on my ticket) was a nice film that had a great potential, but was enjoyable never the less, if you're looking for a quick and easy to watch film, give it a watch.

As always, in the end, as a westerner does my opinion really matter anyway?

*The ending credits song was great, but i feel I may have heard it somewhere before...Oh well*

I watched this movie today so I'm going to tell you how I feel about the movie:

The movie was about Norimichi time-travelling again and again with a firework marble or some sort, just to save Nazuna from moving away from the town.

The story was confusing yet hard to understand. The story went here and there.

Yusuke, the one who won first before Norimichi accidentally time travelled back to the swimming race, was actually an asshole to Nazuna, even though he said he loves Nazuna the other time travels, in the first timeline, he said Nazuna's a pig.

Nazuna's mother remarried 3 times and is a total ... bitch because she kept forcing Nazuna to move even though she doesn't want to. Like, you could just stay with that fancy-ass house you got!

Plus, so many mistakes were in the movie:
+Suitcase is gone after escaping Nazuna's step-step-dad and mother.
+Railway just suddenly vanished on the fourth time travel (or is it the 3rd? can't recall)
+Norimichi clearly stands in water.

Plus, the cliffhanger ending where Norimichi Shimada was not at school gave so many theories into my head. Did he escaped with Nazuna? Did he die? So much.

Alsooo:
At the strange world where it has circular barriers, Nazuna took of her dress and shoes and then throw it into the sea, same goes to Norimichi's shirt and sneakers, like what the fuck? They're expensive!

Plus, they made too much "If..." sentences, like stop! Too much if-ing.

Did I mentioned how they kept asking each other I F fireworks are round or flat the entire time? Please, they're round.

The only thing I love about this movie is that between the real time before time travelling and the first time travel, Nazuna's emotions changed. This leads to that Nazuna has no interest in Yusuke, even if she said she liked him, which is a total lie.

But overall, this leads to nowhere and I gave it 5/10.

Bonus:
+One of the students love their teacher just because she has big tits.
+The guys kept guessing the teacher's boob size
+Yusuke's still an asshole after every time travel
+Time travel at least 6 times?
+Nazuna's step-step dad punched Norimichi and I'm not okay
+The drunk dude is my non-spirit animal.

I love the animations, scenery, voice acting and all but, they overused the power of 3D animations. I was expecting 2D animations.
+My squats kept mocking the movie for the mistakes and I agree
+The teacher's boyfriend asked if her tits and small and flat and gotta say that's brilliant.
+ #SuitcaseLivesMatters
+One of the characters was named Oikawa and I almost freaked out because Haikyuu even though I don't even watch that
+So little people in the theater that we were confuzzled






That's it. That's my opinion bye.

“A purehearted, sincere romance that showcases how bittersweet young love can be.”
“A trainwreck of a movie that unyieldingly chugs on till the final climax and disappoints.”

» Today I watched uchiage hanabi in theatres. (English official subs)
To be totally honest I only watched it because of the theme song and because shaft.

» My verdict:
plot was flimsy and bad, characters were bland as hell. BUT! It’s actually not that bad. The overall ambience was done well, and you will be intrigued to find out more (well some will find it boring as the pace is very slice of life-ish)

» The plot. What plot? The whole movie ... didn’t make any sense. Two boys (black/brown hair) in love with one girl, which was established in 5 minutes. Then boom swimming thing, eloping (???), time leap, re zero, insta-love, movie end. NANI?? I was in the theatre, half the movie had passed but I had no idea where this movie was going. I know it’s a romance, but the romance was... missing. Like it’s a mystery movie, but the detective is still looking for a case. You know this movie is not good when the movie is near its end and you still have no idea what the fuck is happening. And then you remember yes it’s a romance and you nod to reassure yourself it really is one.

The end was very very unsatisfying. It was like “yesterday I got assaulted by illuminati people and today I went grocery shopping. The end.” Very abrupt. I only knew it was the end because theme song started playing.

I’ll throw in a good note here: the last scene (THAT scene) was absolutely gorgeous, the whole atmosphere was dreamy and beautiful. The ending also left me thinking. The movie just ends like that and you’re left with “what happened to them?” (Spoiler: did they die? a dream? a parallel universe? I thought about it, actually the truth is less glamourous.)

The plot may not be the most original (huh) or amazing, but it is bearable (good) and it will suck you in, you will be engrossed in it.


» Character-wise, this movie failed in this aspect completely. Maybe I’m not reading into it deep enough, but each character’s motives were unexplained or unclear. Their personalities were very one-dimensional, and there wasn’t any development over the course of the story.

Let me try to describe Norimichi. Looks like 12 year old, exaggerated reactions, likes video games... has friends.... likes nazuna. Black haired kid: no idea what his name is, likes nazuna too, friend with mc... uhh...
Nazuna is a typical cool girl. Adrift, detached, pretty, family problems. Looking at my descriptions, you’ll see you know almost nothing about the characters. I know some people can stomach this kind of characterisation, because the romance is all that matters (in the end). it is a light hearted romance after all, not a study on human psychology. While I thought it was the worst part of the film, you might be okay with it.

» The negativity is over. I will move onto sound and art. The sound direction is excellent. There are no standout tracks (except for the insert songs) but nothing felt out of place. They all managed to evoke a sense of longing, beauty, young love that sort. ALSO UCHIAGE HANABI THE SONG IS INCREDIBLE 10/10 would listen again
One thing is that I thought the norimichi’s voice sounded really weird. I don’t know if it was the theatre’s fault but it was a bit echo-y (unlike the other characters).

» Art direction is wonderful. I loved it. The movie had Shaft’s signature flair, and a great art style to boot. To everyone who hates head tilts, interesting cuts, and weird angles, jeez. For those complaining about the CGI used, it’s not as bad as you might think. There was only one scene I thought cgi was used weirdly (the first bike scene), but I thought overall the cgi didn’t really hurt the film.

» Enjoyment:
Broadly speaking, hmm, I liked it. but I would not watch again.
After inspection: It was underwhelming and lacklustre. It gave me what I wanted (song+shaft) but nothing else.

» tl;dr
Shitty storyline, shoddy specimens.
Stunning scenes, similarly superb sound. Sasuga shaft.
Should suggest to scrolling spectator? Sadly, simply second-rate.

NO SPOILERS - A review of "Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka?"

"Should we see it from the side or the bottom? Will they look flat or round depending on where you view them from?"

As the continously asked question above - in which acts like a theme - suggests, this movie is to be viewed from a analyctic discourse. It is not to be taken lightly, as many elements of the movie bears heavy allegorism and metaphorical value which are central to the overall understanding of the plot, hence many people do not understand the ending and main aspects.

The story itself, may ... appear rather simple at first glance. The story revolves around the question "What if", which is NOT to be associated with "Kimi no na wa" as much as many people would like to. With that said, it is of relevance to look beyond what meets the eye. With the use of allegorism, the story itself is excellent which leaves you thinking about what could have been, but also the importance of not being stuck in such thoughts and the relevance of moving forward.

The characters themeselves are very believable, and I can definitely see my friends and myself in them. There is definitely complexity to most of them, and more depth to them than meets the eye. It all correlates to the complexity of the plot, and how you have to view it from "the side".

The visuals are stunning, beautiful key frames that could serve as backgrounds and make for great screenshots. However, there are occasionally some emerge-breaking CGI-scenes - specifically the biking scenes. Despite those, the overall visuals easily make up for it.

To summarize, "Uchiage Hanabi" is a movie with a lot of depth, stunning visuals, beautifully composed music and is definitely worth a watch. Please note to give this movie a fair chance as a STAND-ALONE, with other words, do not start watching this thinking this will be just like "Kimi no na wa". WHilst both movies are great, this one in my opinion is something completely different. "Kimi no na wa" holds your hand throughout the entire movie, whilst "Uchiage Hanabi" set you free to interpret things however you want.

9/10

[FREE SPOILER REVIEW]

This anime film I liked so much, the history is good, I liked it so much, the final can be bad for someone else, this is normal in the Genki Kawamura's films because they don't show "the final", how so "the final"? It leaves you to imagine what happens next like Two people get started dating, the anime ends here, without showing if they married, if they broke, I like it. I think that is the reason to so many people hates this film, if you like anime "without a final", it's a good movie, if no, don’t even waste your time with ... it.
The story is a bit confused, that have some time that I didn't know what was happening, but after I understand, something isn't explained, but it doesn't disturb anything.

"At that time, if only- if only I had...!" - Norimichi Shimada

In this review, I will make several references to a "gimmick" in this movie. It refers to a surprising element in the film that drives the plot and its core theme. Since the preview does an excellent job of concealing it, I do not want to spoil the gimmick in case people want to experience it for themselves completely blind, but it is difficult to talk about the story without referring to it, and I am sure once the movie hits more western theaters, knowledge of the gimmick will be as much of a ... secret as the identity of Saber in Fate/stay night in the English-speaking anime community.

Numbers in brackets refer to information in the spoiler section. The spoiler section contains more commentary related to the gimmick, which would spoil the gimmick if you don't know what it is.

Tags: Drama, coming of age, (slight) romance, [1]

You might like this movie if you:
+ enjoy drama sprinkled with romance
+ appreciate Shaft-style animation
+ like stories without fanservice
+ enjoy movies that feel like live-action and contain few anime clichés
+ have had something happen in your life you want to change very much
+ are fond of relationships set in high school

You might not like this movie if you:
+ dislike bad CGI
+ hate open endings
+ dislike the concept of the "gimmick"
+ want relationships that develop slowly and organically
+ want to watch a show heavy in romance
+ don't like foreshadowing that is about as subtle as a sledgehammer

Similar anime I would recommend:
- Anything from Makoto Shinkai (esp. Kimi no na wa if you enjoyed the "gimmick")
- ef: a tale of melodies (if you want a more "romantic" dramatic romance)

Despite some key flaws in the plot and character development, Uchiage Hanabi was able to convey to me an enjoyable and interesting story about adolescence.

For the romance fans out there, don't expect the romance of the movie to be the focus. You will probably be a bit disappointed with how little there is.


********* In-depth

The following section contains the breakdown of each category and score justifications.


Art: 9/10

The art of Uchiage Hanabi definitely has a Kizumonogatari-feel to it. The animation is slightly wonky at times, but also I feel like it fits quite well in certain sections of the story. There is plenty of the surreal art that Shaft is known for, and they complement the story quite well, enhancing the impact of some scenes and making it distinct from an "animated live-action movie".

Shaft is known for randomly pasting photos into their anime, and this movie is no exception. Shaft also opted to use some CGI as well, and while some of the CGI is less than stellar, there were some sections where I legitimately could not tell if something was a CGI or a photograph, making it feel like a constant game of "Fake or Foto" (For example, that glass cup. Is the glass cup CGI? I might never know). I do not recommend you watch this anime if you are very sensitive towards CGI, but personally I have a fairly high tolerance towards bad CGI, so this doesn't bother me very much.

Overall, the animation is standard. It is not bad, but it is also not a significant improvement from Kizumonogatari and doesn't experiment with anything revolutionary. Hence, my final score for this section is 9/10.


Sound: 9/10

The music in Uchiage Hanabi is on point. The covers of the originals by DAOKO were really catchy, and I sometimes still catch myself humming the tune randomly. If I only considered music in this section, this would be an extremely easy 10/10. Unfortunately, the voice acting is not quite on the same level as the music. It's rather weird because some of my favorite anime voice actors are in the movie (Kana Hanazawa, Mamoru Miyano), but the voice actors of the main characters are voiced by live-action stars. Perhaps the director was going for a more realistic portrayal in a style similar to Shinkai, but somehow I feel like they missed the mark.

I don't particularly dislike live-action stars voicing anime (I have no issues with the voice actors of Kimi no Na wa), but I personally feel like the voices of the main characters do not fit very well. I can't help but think that a more "traditional" voice actor like Aoi Yuuki (Kayo from ERASED) could pull of a mysterious and conflicted Nazuna more effectively than Hirose Suzu, and I feel like swapping the voice actors of Yuusuke and Norimichi would enhance both characters. Hence, a single point deduction for a score of 9/10 for sound.


Story: 6/10

If I had to summarize Uchiage Hanabi in two words, the words would be "if only". The entire movie is devoted to answering the question "what if that happened differently?" We have all had our fair share of unfortunate events in our youth. Perhaps it was something out of your control, perhaps it was something you could change. Uchiage Hanabi's message is about how to stop wondering and start doing. This is something I personally strive for, so this premise holds great appeal to me.

I think it's interesting how the portrayal of themes in this animated version of Uchiage Hanabi differs from the original. Although there are some plot-related similarities between these two versions, the message and the themes of the anime are quite different compared to the original. Perhaps the difference is simply due to different directors having different opinions on how to answer the question "if only". However, it could also be due to evolving social views in Japanese society. Who knows...

Curiously enough, the words "if only" not only capture the essence of the story of Uchiage Hanabi, but also the essence of my feelings towards the plot. I hate open endings. I suppose it is personal preference, but the movie just ended out of nowhere. When the credits started rolling I was just like "uhh... that's it?" If only they could have expanded on the ending just a little bit, I would have been able to raise the score up by two points.

[2]

The film also felt quite rushed, especially towards the second half. A lot of things happen that are rather confusing. The plot ramps up in speed extremely quickly. I got a bit lost as I was losing track of what was happening. Coupled with a less-than-stellar ending, I cannot give the story more than a 6.


Characters: 6/10

The characters... leave a lot to be desired. Nazuna is pretty distinct and is fleshed out pretty well. On the other hand, the development of every other character seems to be minimal if not nonexistent, including Yuusuke and Norimichi, arguably the two most important characters in the movie after Nazuna. Nazuna has her own interesting personality and quirks that make her pretty enjoyable to watch. Norimichi, on the other hand, you don't exactly know much about him.

Comparing the depth of Nazuna's character development to Norimichi's is like comparing the depth of a book to the synopsis of the book on Wikipedia. It's not that Norimichi has no character development at all, it's just that his character unfortunately a bit plain.

Normally, I do not mind this very much. However, when contrasted with Nazuna's character, Norimichi's lack of development becomes really problematic. This contrast creates some unfortunate side effects when the characters interact, causing the relationships between the characters to appear really shallow. This makes the whole movie basically about Nazuna. Everyone other than Nazuna is rather forgettable.

I watched this movie on August 18th. This review was written about three weeks later, and I have all but forgotten the personality of every character except Nazuna. Granted, three weeks is pretty long, but normally I remember key moments that illustrate personalities of characters for much longer than three weeks. This did not happen with the shallow characters in Uchiage Hanabi.

In addition to an unbalanced allocation of character development, the movie also suffers from having their development happen within a small amount of in-universe, which just exacerbates the existing problems with shallow relationships. Despite all of that though, I can't discount the fact that I really liked learning more about Nazuna. Her development was stellar and deserves credit. Therefore, I have decided to give this section a 6/10.


Enjoyment: 8/10

Despite all the problems with the characters, the ending, the rushed development, etc., I enjoyed it. It was a nice film. It had a premise that was very appealing to me, and it was able to explore that premise in an interesting way. It had a pretty interesting message, and Nazuna's character was interesting. Therefore, 8/10.


Overall Rating: 8/10

I rate anime I watch by enjoyment and nothing else.


******* Spoiler Section Below ********

If you are reading the spoiler section, I assume you know what the gimmick is. Last chance to turn back.



















******* Begin Spoiler Section ********

If you are reading the spoiler section, I assume you know what that the gimmick I was referring to the whole time is the glass ball.

[1] Elements of: magical realism

[2] Story:

I understand the presence of the glass ball and why it's there, but I really dislike its treatment as simply a plot device in the film. The movie attempts to portray it as something metaphorical or mystical, but I can't help but feel like the ball just doesn't quite fit in there. It feels a bit out of place. That being said, I don't have a good solution on how the glass ball should be treated.

I went to a special screening of this and watched without knowing anything about it. I actually liked, since it's a well-intentioned coming-of-age story with some magical realism as a plot device to make the story happen.

The basic premise is somewhat close to Bill Murray's Groundhog Day, with the difference that the day isn't fully reset, but it restarts with some kind of checkpoint, just to correct the last mistake the main duo, that is running away from their boring routine, made.

The main complaint about this movie is about the "density" of the characters. Let me tell you something: you don't have space ... to develop multi-layered characters in a short story like a movie. You need more time to make it. What we need to understand is that both protagonists are upset with their lives and they want to change it. The main mistake, I think, is the way the movie presents the boy first as the main character instead of the girl. Without this choice, we wouldn't feel like something is still missing at the end.

The sound is Ok and the same goes for the art, besides the ugly CG that they used for almost everything.

What matters is that the movie is entertaining. I'd rather watch a simple movie like this one instead of a pretentious deep and complex story that makes me bored.

Looks like people are butthurt that this isn't a new Your Name than anything.

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know.”

These two lines, which the main couple says multiple times, perfectly represent how I felt during the movie. I found myself asking, “What the hell’s happening?” about every two minutes. Not even the art could save the train wreck that was the convoluted plot. Also the characters were illogical, annoying, and stupid... The art, though beautiful, probably made the story even more confusing. And don’t even get me started on the weird cutscene of Nazuna singing in the train. I have never been so. irritated by a movie before. This movie had no redeeming features. Sure the art was beautiful, ... but you spend the entire movie having no idea what’s going on.

Also... the ending tried and Failed at being open and meaningful. It just left me confused. It also took 33 minutes for the movie to like. just barely HINT at its purpose. I feel cheated out of my time right now. The music was bad too.

Not worth a watch.

In an age where beautiful art in anime movies catches the eyes of audiences, "Fireworks" is not unlike other anime movies in this sense. The reason why I had watched this movie in the first place was because of the art in the trailer alongside the song by Daoko.

Nevertheless, the entire movie plays as if someone got excited over the age of eye-catching anime movies that they forgot to actually include actual content alongside the good soundtrack and beautiful art.

If you're just in it to see a slideshow of pretty CG alongside soothing music - I'd say to go watch it. But if ... you're looking for something more? Please rethink if this is really how you'd like to spend the next 90 minutes of your life.

Story (1/10):
Story? What Story?
I'm pretty sure that if the sounds of horror that resonated at the cinema when the Daoko song started playing and the credits started rolling was any indication of how people felt about the story, it was definitely a good indication that most people were as horrified about the plot as I was.

The most important thing about any series is the plot. Sure, you can add imagery or symbolism in a movie - but if there's no plot or any development in the actual movie? It adds no depth and leaves viewers even more confused.

The entire movie rolled as if someone just wanted to make a movie from the concept of the symbolism of Fireworks and then forgot that they had to include actual plot to make the concept be fulfilling to viewers. From the numerous plotholes to the weak dialogues that added no depth to the storyline (if there was any), it was no wonder that majority of the people at the cinema I was at was disappointed.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the synopsis on the Wikipedia article is literally the plot - or the trailer for the movie.


Art (7/10):
I admit, the art was still gorgeous throughout the entire movie. If you enjoyed the look of the art style in the trailer, you'll really enjoy the different landscapes portrayed throughout the movie.

What threw me off however, was the random CGI at multiple times in the movie that didn't make sense.

Studio SHAFT did well in this aspect.


Sound (7/10):
Great soundtrack that does not disappoint.
Throughout the entire movie, you get music which is very fitting for the scenery or the action that is occurring. However, I'm disappointed that they did not feature the Daoko song as a more prominent aspect of the movie. Used correctly, I believe the trailer song could've added more depth in the movie.


Character (1/10):
When the most exciting dialogue to come out of a character's mouth is in regards to pooping/tetanus - you know the characterisation is terrible.

I don't know how many times I heard the following dialogue;
Character A: "Are fireworks flat or round?"
Character B: "They're flat"
Character C: "Fireworks are round"

I'm pretty sure the above dialogue occurred at least half a dozen times throughout the entire movie, and added nothing to the plot itself other than the symbolism of the changing day.
Look, I love a good time travel/alternate universe/groundhog day plot element - but there's an extent in which you have characters commenting on the symbolising change in environment in this vague way. It gets boring, and we don't even know that much of the characters back stories.

Honestly, when I don't even know the names of the characters other than "oh the funniest character is a secondary character voiced by Miyano Mamoru", it's a let down in characterisation. There was a lot of backstory hinted at the heroine, but as it was never fully explored - both the male and female protagonist ended up being viewed as one-dimensional bland teenagers that we don't really care about.


Enjoyment (2/10):
Honestly? My friends and I felt so disappointed watching this movie. I did not have any expectations and this was a huge let down.

Most scenes I could guess what was going to happen because it was a cliche playing out on screen. Time loops can be either done extremely well or extremely poor and this was the latter.

I could not enjoy this movie over the fact that I was bored, did not understand what was happening nor did not care about the characters because they were not explored/likeable.


Overall:
Please rethink your need to view this movie. What are you looking for in a movie? If it's just pretty visuals and a storyline that can be wrapped up in 5 minutes but dragged on for 90 minutes? Go ahead and watch this.

But if you're looking for anything else - this is definitely not for you.

It doesn't matter what world we are in, as long as we're together

======

This review is not spoiler free read with caution (This review will probably make you not want to watch the movie anymore)

Story 4/10

The story was not very well done. It was of no relation to fireworks whatsoever. The main target for the characters was to find out the shape of the firework. But... the movie went circles around the main focus, dragging the movie time.
The movie is more based on rewinding time and is more of an atmospheric movie that didn't actually have a plot. The movie was extremely predictable for me, what ... comes next etc. This may be because I watch alot of anime but... I can tell by the story that this anime was dragged. The writer literally threw in as many alternate universes he can think of to drag the movie time (at least from my perspective)
I could still understand where the writer was going at. He wanted the MCs Norimichi and Nazuna to sort of keep separating and eventually end up together (every romance anime ever :^P) but he didn't have a good plot. With that said, the story was pretty creative, using a firework shell to reset time? Never heard of that before. But even so... Bad plot.
According to other viewers I went with, the movie was difficult to understand. Because of the many alternate universes, they cannot tell from the real world and the alternate world (I can, but I have film education and I watch alot of anime) so it might not appeal to many viewers.
The ending was also a cliffhanger, a poorly done one. Many people could not predict what would happen next (to me it was pretty obvious but I practically had to explain to all my friends what happened...)

Art 9/10

The art is what you'd expect from Shaft! Flawless! You can even say I just wanted to watch because of the art. But, the art could not depict the story, unlike "Shelter" by A-1 Pictures, the art itself wasn't enough to explain the messy plot the movie had.

Music 10/10

I literally went there for the music, followed by the art. You can even say that I paid to watch the art and to listen to the well-synced music. The singing was also amazing! I was literally waiting for DAOKO to start singing her 5 minute song. They put her song at the end of the movie so I basically watched the entire movie because I was waiting for DAOKO.

Character 3/10

The characters were poorly developed. At the end of the movie, I still felt like I didn't know the characters and they didn't even know each other. No relationship development between the MCs, they literally just like each other when they just met... No character background was even given too... They were a mess.

Overall 4/10

All I can say is...
I watched because of the graphics and the music.
The noticeable use of trains was also wrongly used. Trains should normally help emphasise on relationships that cannot happen and eventually happens but the trains in this movie was just a way of escape and getting to know each other better...
The trains might be used because the MCs were trying to separate themselves from the SCs I honestly don't know about this one...
But if its about getting to know each other better, I recommend an empty bus.

This movie was badly done.
I heard people saying it was rushed... My ass, it was dragged...








Take note that this review may be outdated. Always check my profile for my latest rating, I may have changed my rating due to various reasons.

Muito bom o filme, bem emocionante. Uma bela arte, sonorização, desing de personagem e historia.

Infelizmente não possui um final fechado para entregar um "Fan Service" mas ainda sim e um bom filme. (E do diretor de Kimi no na wa então era o esperado).

Assim como qualquer filme japones ele tem sempre uma lição no final, onde ele mostra que o "E se" não existe e não há como mudar o destino, então não fique parado, mude sua vida, para não ficar depois se perguntando "e se eu fizesse isso diferente", pois infelizmente a vida não e um anime, então nada vai mudar como em ... um passe de magica.

:D

While animation wise it looks like a couple of TV episodes the film is still a great alternative to Your Name.

Most of the great animated scenes can be seen in the music video par a scene near the ending.

It feels like two or so somewhat boring slice of life episodes and then turns into a time travel like story.

The music was great though.

While in some moments you can feel Akiyuki Shinbo's style the rest feels like some low budget CGI weekly series. Shame but the movie itself was pretty great.
Some of the scenes are cheesy like the musical scene out of nowhere that ... looks like some vaporwave video.

Was a decent movie but it likely would have worked better as a TV movie ala Ocean Waves than being released at the cinemas.